The Official English Rugby Thread

[JM2K6]

One of his best performances, just ridiculous man vs boys stuff

[Torquemada 1420]

Brizzle's season not going well.

[sockwithaticket]

45 unanswered points.

45!

[JM2K6]

Who'd be a Bristol fan? Or someone who's dumb enough to gloat prematurely...

[Hal Jordan]

Good match to give Robshaw a proper send off.

[JM2K6]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

[Hal Jordan]

Crikey, Dombrandt is already Quins' record try scorer in the forwards with 25, and he passed Easter on 24 taking half the number of matches to do it!

[Hal Jordan]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

Like an Ireland team of yore.

[Lobby]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

Like an Ireland team of yore.

Ireland used to run out of puff after 60 minutes. Bristol barely managed 40.

[Kawazaki]

Who'd be a Bristol fan? Or someone who's dumb enough to gloat prematurely...

Living in your head

[JM2K6]

Crikey, Dombrandt is already Quins' record try scorer in the forwards with 25, and he passed Easter on 24 taking half the number of matches to do it!

One third the amount of matches actually! Absolute madness. Sam Simmonds is of course the impossible benchmark, but it's still special.

[JM2K6]

Who'd be a Bristol fan? Or someone who's dumb enough to gloat prematurely...

Living in your head

Your desperation is pretty heart warming tbh!

[Kawazaki]

Who'd be a Bristol fan? Or someone who's dumb enough to gloat prematurely...

Living in your head

Your desperation is pretty heart warming tbh!

No desperation. I'm impressed by Quins. I always call it as I see it. Always have done. Care was shite, called that in the first 15 minutes.

[Tichtheid]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

That didn't seem to be a problem last year, did it?

It certainly wasn't when Lam took Connacht to the Pro14 title playing all court rugby, or when Bristol won the Euro Shield comp.

I'm not saying it's not a problem now, just if it is then lack of fitness then it's a new thing

[JM2K6]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

That didn't seem to be a problem last year, did it?

It certainly wasn't when Lam took Connacht to the Pro14 title playing all court rugby, or when Bristol won the Euro Shield comp.

I'm not saying it's not a problem now, just if it is then lack of fitness then it's a new thing

It's the number one reason they lost the semi-final against Quins, and they did have a tendency to drop off in matches - but Quins play at a tempo Bristol want to play at but can't match. Definitely this season it's been more obvious from what I've seen.

As Kay pointed out, they were shattered after 50 today.

[Tichtheid]

Austin is bang on about their fitness, they seem to give it a lash early on then drop off massively.

That didn't seem to be a problem last year, did it?

It certainly wasn't when Lam took Connacht to the Pro14 title playing all court rugby, or when Bristol won the Euro Shield comp.

I'm not saying it's not a problem now, just if it is then lack of fitness then it's a new thing

It's the number one reason they lost the semi-final against Quins, and they did have a tendency to drop off in matches - but Quins play at a tempo Bristol want to play at but can't match. Definitely this season it's been more obvious from what I've seen.

As Kay pointed out, they were shattered after 50 today.

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

[Hal Jordan]

Not enough monkey glands?

[Kawazaki]

That didn't seem to be a problem last year, did it?

It certainly wasn't when Lam took Connacht to the Pro14 title playing all court rugby, or when Bristol won the Euro Shield comp.

I'm not saying it's not a problem now, just if it is then lack of fitness then it's a new thing

It's the number one reason they lost the semi-final against Quins, and they did have a tendency to drop off in matches - but Quins play at a tempo Bristol want to play at but can't match. Definitely this season it's been more obvious from what I've seen.

As Kay pointed out, they were shattered after 50 today.

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

Bristol don't have the fundamentals. Their set-piece is average but it's their defence that is so poor. It's neither quick off the line or well organised but it's the lack of dominant collisions that really hurts them. I lost count how many tackles they kept falling off. If you wanted to describe Bristol in one word then 'soft' sums them up perfectly.

Massive questions marks over the coaching leadership team for me. Bristol look like a team that are poorly prepared and conditioned.

Harlequins looked good but they had so much room.

[Tichtheid]

It's the number one reason they lost the semi-final against Quins, and they did have a tendency to drop off in matches - but Quins play at a tempo Bristol want to play at but can't match. Definitely this season it's been more obvious from what I've seen.

As Kay pointed out, they were shattered after 50 today.

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

Bristol don't have the fundamentals. Their set-piece is average but it's their defence that is so poor. It's neither quick off the line or well organised but it's the lack of dominant collisions that really hurts them. I lost count how many tackles they kept falling off. If you wanted to describe Bristol in one word then 'soft' sums them up perfectly.

Massive questions marks over the coaching leadership team for me. Bristol look like a team that are poorly prepared and conditioned.

Harlequins looked good but they had so much room.

Since Lam joined them having won the Pro 14 with Connacht, Bristol have won promotion, won the Challenge Cup and placed 9th, 3rd and 1st in the league over the regular season.

They need to get over the line, (it seemed to take them ages to get promotion, I have a recollection of watching them go for it every year for ages) but it's not a record of a team who are poorly prepared and conditioned.

[sockwithaticket]

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

Bristol don't have the fundamentals. Their set-piece is average but it's their defence that is so poor. It's neither quick off the line or well organised but it's the lack of dominant collisions that really hurts them. I lost count how many tackles they kept falling off. If you wanted to describe Bristol in one word then 'soft' sums them up perfectly.

Massive questions marks over the coaching leadership team for me. Bristol look like a team that are poorly prepared and conditioned.

Harlequins looked good but they had so much room.

Since Lam joined them having won the Pro 14 with Connacht, Bristol have won promotion, won the Challenge Cup and placed 9th, 3rd and 1st in the league over the regular season.

They need to get over the line, (it seemed to take them ages to get promotion, I have a recollection of watching them go for it every year for ages) but it's not a record of a team who are poorly prepared and conditioned.

I think they're nearing the end of the cycle with this squad. A top squad for the Prem has a certain balance of youth and experience, players good enough to be playing internationally but aren't (Exeter benefitted massively from this for a while) and depth.You only get x years (I reckon it's 4 - 5 at best) before retirements, non-frontline yet good players getting better offers elsewhere and the salary cap wear down a squad making a rebuild necessary.

[Hal Jordan]

That's where a top coach comes in, changing sport, see Belichick and the Patriots. Brady aside, he was ruthless about using up players and moving on as soon as he needed a replacement, and by and large the replacement was as good as or an upgrade.

Obviously the NFL franchises are structured completely differently from the Prem teams, but the principle of knowing when to refresh the system is along the same lines.

[SaintK]

It's the number one reason they lost the semi-final against Quins, and they did have a tendency to drop off in matches - but Quins play at a tempo Bristol want to play at but can't match. Definitely this season it's been more obvious from what I've seen.

As Kay pointed out, they were shattered after 50 today.

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

Bristol don't have the fundamentals. Their set-piece is average but it's their defence that is so poor. It's neither quick off the line or well organised but it's the lack of dominant collisions that really hurts them. I lost count how many tackles they kept falling off. If you wanted to describe Bristol in one word then 'soft' sums them up perfectly.

Massive questions marks over the coaching leadership team for me. Bristol look like a team that are poorly prepared and conditioned.

Harlequins looked good but they had so much room.

.........and on the pitch as well. I think with Piutau Senior leaving and when Luatua doesn't play there is distinct lack of leadership on the field. Injuries to Afoa and Attwood compound the problem

[Kawazaki]

Fair enough, it was a genuine question. I followed Bristol's results without watching all their games last year. (just coz my daughter was at Bristol uni and I wanted to get to a game - sodding pandemic did for that idea)

Lam had Connacht playing up tempo rugby for 80 minutes, I wonder why he's struggling to get Bristol to do the same?

Bristol don't have the fundamentals. Their set-piece is average but it's their defence that is so poor. It's neither quick off the line or well organised but it's the lack of dominant collisions that really hurts them. I lost count how many tackles they kept falling off. If you wanted to describe Bristol in one word then 'soft' sums them up perfectly.

Massive questions marks over the coaching leadership team for me. Bristol look like a team that are poorly prepared and conditioned.

Harlequins looked good but they had so much room.

.........and on the pitch as well. I think with Piutau Senior leaving and when Luatua doesn't play there is distinct lack of leadership on the field. Injuries to Afoa and Attwood compound the problem

And they've not replaced Earl and Malins either. Given the resources the club has, they simply shouldn't be capable of suffering a performance like the semifinal last season let alone a repeat less than half a dozen games later like last night. It's just unacceptable.

[JM2K6]

I don't understand how a player as talented as Earl loses the ball so often.

[Kawazaki]

I don't understand how a player as talented as Earl loses the ball so often.

Because he's quick.

[JM2K6]

I don't understand how a player as talented as Earl loses the ball so often.

Because he's quick.

Does that make him drop kicks, lose the ball on the ground, get stripped by scrum halves, and knock it on in mauls?

[Kawazaki]

I don't understand how a player as talented as Earl loses the ball so often.

Because he's quick.

Does that make him drop kicks, lose the ball on the ground, get stripped by scrum halves, and knock it on in mauls?

No. Maybe you could imbue him with your vast playing experience?

[JM2K6]

Because he's quick.

Does that make him drop kicks, lose the ball on the ground, get stripped by scrum halves, and knock it on in mauls?

No. Maybe you could imbue him with your vast playing experience?

Well, that's certainly a strange set of responses.

[JM2K6]

Saracens looking like they're going to win this now. Newcastle's half time talk seems to have been "give away every stupid penalty and free kick possible".

[JM2K6]

... And still they continue to give away stupid penalties

Gary Graham has been responsible for plenty of them

[JM2K6]

Genuinely strange passage of play. Radwan makes space and Lucock just... runs straight into touch under no pressure. Then a few minutes later, Lucock goes to pass and just yeets the ball into the ground in front of him.

No surprise that he got hooked a minute later.

[JM2K6]

Farrell's a lucky boy there, that looked high on Welch who stayed down after. Hasn't been looked at.

[JM2K6]

Newcastle sub shells the intercept that would've tied up the game

[JM2K6]

Saracens get the bonus point at the end. They'll be very happy with that given how bad they were in the first half, and how rattled they looked. They really had lost their heads.

Questions have to be asked of Newcastle, their second half discipline was as bad as Quins at their worst. 20+ penalties compared to like 7 for Saracens. Bizarre performance from them.

[Tichtheid]

Farrell's a lucky boy there, that looked high on Welch who stayed down after. Hasn't been looked at.

Shurely shome mishtake?

[JM2K6]

Farrell's a lucky boy there, that looked high on Welch who stayed down after. Hasn't been looked at.

Shurely shome mishtake?

I went back and looked and it's not clear - Farrell made it look worse with a swinging right arm that didn't do much, and I think the head injury might have been more the collision with a body.

[sockwithaticket]

Only kept half an eye on this one as I expected a pretty straightforward Sarries win, even when Newcastle were 2 scores ahead.

Shocking penalty count, you don't get anywhere with discipline like that.

[Kawazaki]

Saracens not at their best but they had enough control to win when they went through the gears. Malins looks class. Itoje and Koch still to come back.

[Ovals]

Saracens not at their best but they had enough control to win when they went through the gears. Malins looks class. Itoje and Koch still to come back.

They seem to have a way of getting the job done - pretty solid in the 2nd half - not great to watch but quite efficient - probably should have won by more.

[Kawazaki]

Saracens not at their best but they had enough control to win when they went through the gears. Malins looks class. Itoje and Koch still to come back.

They seem to have a way of getting the job done - pretty solid in the 2nd half - not great to watch but quite efficient - probably should have won by more.

I've described Saracens before as playing more like a test side then a club side. They build a score, keep the ball in front of their pack, have a very good set-piece, great defence, great attitude, and they know when to change tempo.

The last two points are probably their greatest assets and why they're so difficult to put away.