The England v Italy match thread

[Torquemada 1420]

Miserable defending. SH runs almost 20m sideways and no-one smashes him.

[sefton]

Amazed Arundell saw the ball.

[RodneyRegis]

Yeah, Farrells made that tryby calling for the quick pass from Mitchell.

[RodneyRegis]

Slade off for Smith. For fucks sake.

[geordie_6]

Now that was something out of nothing.

Kept the ball away from Farrell.

[grimoald]

Miserable defending. SH runs almost 20m sideways and no-one smashes him.

The only thing he has in his game as well.

[Torquemada 1420]

Someone please explain to me how 2 f**king more blatant cripplers of backlines you could not find beyond Farrell and Ntamack and yet we have at least 4 intl coaches who cannot see it.

[CM11]

3/5 top metres made from Italy. Says it all.

[sefton]

Bloody Harlequins players, ruining all of Owen’s great work.

[Deveron Boy]

The 80’s called, they would like their game plan back…

[Torquemada 1420]

How TF is Laurence supporting his own weight there?

[MrMojo]

We don’t think clearly when the backs have space. So frustrating.

[Slick]

Skippy the Speedbump going for the record for missed tackles in an 8 minute period

[tc27]

The positive for England is I think Italy's tries would be scored against anyone

[Hal Jordan]

Fair play, but "supporting his own bodyweight"? He was literally on one knee.

[CM11]

How TF is Laurence supporting his own weight there?

He's supporting it on his knees. That's how!

[MrMojo]

How TF is Laurence supporting his own weight there?

Thought it was fine.

[Winnie]

How TF is Laurence supporting his own weight there?

Absolutely nowhere near it
Shocking call by the ref

[sefton]

OLM clearly not supporting his body weight, this commentary team.

[MrMojo]

Skippy the Speedbump going for the record for missed tackles in an 8 minute period

Smith has looked terrible since he came on. Just in the way.

[ASMO]

Farrell is just cancer for that England backline.

[dob]

Lawrence ran that back and threw the skip pass to his front row who looked at it zipping past himself and wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

[Turbiner]

How TF is Laurence supporting his own weight there?

He's supporting it on his knees. That's how!

He actually lay down on top of the ruck to get out of the way of the clearout.

[grimoald]

We don’t think clearly when the backs have space. So frustrating.

It's to be expected given the lack of understanding/combinations tbf.

Though that said, even if they get 5 or 6 tests in a row together, I don't think anyone will be scared of a Farrell, Lawrence and Slade midfield.

[MrMojo]

5/10 for England. Scrum, line out and maul good. Lawrence good. General backs play toothless and error strewn. Lots of aimless chips behind wasting possession in good attacking positions. Defence worryingly porous again when a team runs at us.

[Torquemada 1420]

Skippy the Speedbump going for the record for missed tackles in an 8 minute period

Smith has looked terrible since he came on. Just in the way.

Mehh. I sympathise. Mirror of Jalibert been thrown on at FB yesterday to enable Ntamack to carry on poisoning the backs at FH. Asking a player to show his merit totally out of position and then being surprised at errors

[Slick]

Farrell is just cancer for that England backline.

To be honest I don’t think anyone can get that backline going, it’s just not very good all the way across. I don’t watch much English rugby but thought the 10,12,13 combo might be pretty good today, it wasn’t.

[Slick]

5/10 for England. Scrum, line out and maul good. Lawrence good. General backs play toothless and error strewn. Lots of aimless chips behind wasting possession in good attacking positions. Defence worryingly porous again when a team runs at us.

That’s about right I think. Italy will be kicking themselves that they didnt show up today because they wont come across many England teams that poor. They seem to have a real mental block with Twickenham

[Kawazaki]

Slade getting a free-pass from any criticism I see. He was easily the worst England back, by a distance. Probably Farrell's fault that Slade couldn't pass, tackle or catch.

[JM2K6]

Skippy the Speedbump going for the record for missed tackles in an 8 minute period

Smith has looked terrible since he came on. Just in the way.

Was very strange but he was clearly trying to tackle everyone. 6 attempts (2 missed) and desperate to make something happen with ball in hand. Guess that's what happens when you sit on the bench watching your rival play like a drain and have 8 minutes to make your case.

[Kawazaki]

Skippy the Speedbump going for the record for missed tackles in an 8 minute period

Smith has looked terrible since he came on. Just in the way.

Was very strange but he was clearly trying to tackle everyone. 6 attempts (2 missed) and desperate to make something happen with ball in hand. Guess that's what happens when you sit on the bench watching your rival play like a drain and have 8 minutes to make your case.

Smith did try a grubber unsuccessfully. Almost like the 10s were told to grubber the ball.

[Paddington Bear]

Never felt nervous, which would be the main positive from that

[sockwithaticket]

Farrell is just cancer for that England backline.

To be honest I don’t think anyone can get that backline going, it’s just not very good all the way across. I don’t watch much English rugby but thought the 10,12,13 combo might be pretty good today, it wasn’t.

Clearly. Sorry Slick, but the idea no one can move that backline is rubbish.

It's partly down to whatever they've been told to do, but also with selecting Farrell. The backs can do the square root of fuck all if he insists on booting the ball as frequently as he does. Some of the most notable moments from the backs came when he wasn't involved (the van Portvliet non-try, the Arundell try).

[Hal Jordan]

Slade getting a free-pass from any criticism I see. He was easily the worst England back, by a distance. Probably Farrell's fault that Slade couldn't pass, tackle or catch.

I would address you to my post of 4.37 p.m.

Also Torq, but he"s always off the chain.

[MrMojo]

My England ratings:

Steward - 6/10 didn’t do much. Failed a couple of aerial battles against the Italian midget.
Hasell- Collins - 3/10 was he playing?
Slade - 3/10 nothing much came off for him.
Lawrence - 8/10 good game. Made yards every carry and high energy.
Malins - 6/10 looked very solid in everything he did.
Farrell - 4/10 wasted lots of scoring opportunities. Defence was pretty poor too.
JVP - 5/10 OK but nothing much to get excited about.
Dombrandt - 5/10 nothing much coming off for him. Frustrating as he has potential.
Willis - 7/10 did well and looked comfortable.
Ludlum - 7/10 gets through a load of work and big presence.
Chessum - 7/10 good acceleration and a good addition.
Itoje -7/10 his best game in a long time. He was everywhere and didn’t make any errors I can remember.
Sinckler - 6/10 solid at scrum time and carried well.
George - 7/10 good darts and carried well.
Genge 7/10 solid and good in defence.

Subs - Mitchell and Arundell’s try apart, seemed to disrupt the team rather than add to it. Smith was awful.

[sockwithaticket]

My England ratings:

Steward - 6/10 didn’t do much. Failed a couple of aerial battles against the Italian midget.
Hasell- Collins - 3/10 was he playing?
Slade - 3/10 nothing much came off for him.
Lawrence - 8/10 good game. Made yards every carry and high energy.
Malins - 6/10 looked very solid in everything he did.
Farrell - 4/10 wasted lots of scoring opportunities. Defence was pretty poor too.
JVP - 5/10 OK but nothing much to get excited about.
Dombrandt - 5/10 nothing much coming off for him. Frustrating as he has potential.
Willis - 7/10 did well and looked comfortable.
Ludlum - 7/10 gets through a load of work and big presence.
Chessum - 7/10 good acceleration and a good addition.
Itoje -7/10 his best game in a long time. He was everywhere and didn’t make any errors I can remember.
Sinckler - 6/10 solid at scrum time and carried well.
George - 7/10 good darts and carried well.
Genge 7/10 solid and good in defence.

Subs - Mitchell and Arundell’s try apart, seemed to disrupt the team rather than add to it. Smith was awful.

Generous to Steward (couple of key missed tackles from him on top of other errors) and Itoje, harsh on Dombrandt.

[RodneyRegis]

Dombrandt makes more ground than the entire pack combined, nothing came off, 5

George, Sinckler, carried well.

[RodneyRegis]

Slade missed 4 out of 8 tackles and zero metres gained.

Thank goodness marchant's gone.

[JM2K6]

Yeah uh... not sure of the logic on praising Chessum (7 carries for 38m) and Sinckler (3 carries for 12m) specifically for their carrying but digging Dombrandt (12 carries for 71m, 2nd only to Lawrence) who was an obvious success today.

I missed George - 3 carries for 7m.

[Slick]

Farrell is just cancer for that England backline.

To be honest I don’t think anyone can get that backline going, it’s just not very good all the way across. I don’t watch much English rugby but thought the 10,12,13 combo might be pretty good today, it wasn’t.

Clearly. Sorry Slick, but the idea no one can move that backline is rubbish.

It's partly down to whatever they've been told to do, but also with selecting Farrell. The backs can do the square root of fuck all if he insists on booting the ball as frequently as he does. Some of the most notable moments from the backs came when he wasn't involved (the van Portvliet non-try, the Arundell try).

Well, no one has for about 3 years so I’m pretty comfortable with the statement. I haven’t watched them this season but haven’t the Sarries back line been going well?