Six Nations Round 2: England vs. Wales

[Big D]

That's a penalty.

[Oxbow]

Should be a penalty that.

[LenCohen]

Did this ref win a competition or something?

[Raggs]

Brain fart by Steward to kick that.

Different bounce and he'd have scored.

Should be a pen against ford.

[Blackmac]

That's a penalty.

You would think, but these guys seem full of surprises today.

[tc27]

Both teams are a tad shite

Yeah unfortunately both on the same level.

[Big D]

Brain fart by Steward to kick that.

Different bounce and he'd have scored.

Should be a pen against ford.

Takes the tackle and the game is likely over.

[Sandstorm]

16-14 England. FT

2 point win. Greedy.

[salanya]

That's a penalty.

You would think, but these guys seem full of surprises today.

Some shocking decisions by ref and players.
Including the motm decision.

[Raggs]

I'd do a stupid short lineout and accidentally knock it into touch.

[Hal Jordan]

Hahhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!


Bullshitting their way to victory, what a pile of toss.

[tc27]

Two poor teams.

England are actually trying to play some rugby instead of kicking everything RWC style bit can't execute.

[Oxbow]

That was deeply unsatisfying despite the win.

[Insane_Homer]

That was as clear a pen as there can be, but just ignore it

[C69]

That was deeply unsatisfying despite the win.

Deserved win for England. Clear pen at the end though.

[fishfoodie]

Both teams are a tad shite

Yeah unfortunately both on the same level.

Wales at least have the excuse of the massive clear out & the state of the clubs, but Scabnose has had a year now, & okay losing Smith wasn't idea, but Ford is a bloody good OH, & there's no sense of progress from where they were when he took over.

[Blackmac]

Regardless of the results. That has been two terrible games, marred by some appalling refereeing.

[PCPhil]

Regardless of the results. That has been two terrible games, marred by some appalling refereeing.

Yip

[Paddington Bear]

Hard game on the heart rate. Shithouse grand slam - still on.

We’d be on double the number of pages had Faz had the conversion issue

[Hal Jordan]

That was deeply unsatisfying despite the win.

Shit on a stick rugby.

[petej]

Both teams are a tad shite

Yeah unfortunately both on the same level.

Wales have excuses with injuries, player base size etc..
England are just shite. The sign of a good coaching set up is players look better in it then they do at their region or club. Gatland passes that test, Borthwick fails it.

[JM2K6]

Insipid shit by England, who can't be accused of not playing in the style of their head coach.

Extremely bad ref. Gave up trying to understand some of his decision making. Both sides must have been pulling their hair out trying to deal with him.

Far too many England players merely present today. Marler, Stuart, George, Roots, Slade, Daly... Dingwall extremely useless again, too. Underhill hasn't threatened position ball at the breakdown in two matches.

At least Earl was great.

[ASMO]

Steward incredible under the high ball, Freeman did ok, rest of the backline was utter trash. Theo Dan and Cunningham South both had big positive impacts, Chesum really adds nothing much, Earl was his usual very good...the rest mediocre

[Stranger]

Both teams are a tad shite

Yeah unfortunately both on the same level.

Wales have excuses with injuries, player base size etc..
England are just shite. The sign of a good coaching set up is players look better in it then they do at their region or club. Gatland passes that test, Borthwick fails it.

I have to agree with that

[el capitan]

It was crap. Again. Very little cohesion or skill with the ball in hand, a tad more ambition but still hugely negative overall, little power, even less pace, and a lot of plodding about.

I'm seeing very little, make that nothing, to suggest Scabbers should be in this job. Good guy but lets face it, at the top level he was an insipid mediocre player/captain and the team he coaches has played every single game in that image. Add to that we have an attack coach who made a career out of standing at a ruck for eons before box kicking it into the upper atmosphere (repeat to infinity), I have no faith we're going to see anything dramatically different to what we've seen so far.

Amongst a myriad of problems, ultimately the fault is with the RFU. Too accepting of mediocrity at the end of the day, the World Cup was a banter run playing terrorist rugby and should be seen as no achievement or vindication we're on the right path. And even if they did have standards and were ruthless and prepared to change, the barmy fuckers gave him a 5 year deal and they can't afford to sack him.

About at the end of my tether tbh. If it was even executed well I might find some straws to clutch, this is just boring rugby executed in the main appallingly.

[ASMO]

Was Borethick watching the same game as me?

[Simian]

You’ve definitely got the players to be a good side. You don’t have the coaches to do that tho.

[petej]

Insipid shit by England, who can't be accused of not playing in the style of their head coach.

Extremely bad ref. Gave up trying to understand some of his decision making. Both sides must have been pulling their hair out trying to deal with him.

Far too many England players merely present today. Marler, Stuart, George, Roots, Slade, Daly... Dingwall extremely useless again, too. Underhill hasn't threatened position ball at the breakdown in two matches.

At least Earl was great.

Backrow has been selected on tackle basis so other backrow players with more rounded skill sets won't get near the team. We know underhill (hence the underworsley name) offers nothing accept tackling unlike his opposite number. On the front row I can't understand why you select the old guy in front of the younger player he rotates with at club level (Cole and heyes). We all knew the balance in the centers is not there without a runner be it a marchant or Lawrence or move Freeman inside. We all know that Steward has + and - and needs to be balanced with some proper pace in the back three.

Borthwick is like a stone mason given carpentry tools still trying to cut stone.

[sockwithaticket]

It was crap. Again. Very little cohesion or skill with the ball in hand, a tad more ambition but still hugely negative overall, little power, even less pace, and a lot of plodding about.

I'm seeing very little, make that nothing, to suggest Scabbers should be in this job. Good guy but lets face it, at the top level he was an insipid mediocre player/captain and the team he coaches has played every single game in that image. Add to that we have an attack coach who made a career out of standing at a ruck for eons before box kicking it into the upper atmosphere (repeat to infinity), I have no faith we're going to see anything dramatically different to what we've seen so far.

Amongst a myriad of problems, ultimately the fault is with the RFU. Too accepting of mediocrity at the end of the day, the World Cup was a banter run playing terrorist rugby and should be seen as no achievement or vindication we're on the right path. And even if they did have standards and were ruthless and prepared to change, the barmy fuckers gave him a 5 year deal and they can't afford to sack him.

About at the end of my tether tbh. If it was even executed well I might find some straws to clutch, this is just boring rugby executed in the main appallingly.

Not to mention we were on a side of the draw that allowed us to avoid any serious team until the semi-finals, at which point we were beaten.

Agree with all that. We don't look like being anything other than a middling outfit that tries to be hard to beat rather than attempting to win games.

[tc27]

We have squeeked through the 'easy' games but the rest of the championship could be pretty brutal.

How long Borthwick can ride that credible RWC semi defeat for remains to be seen.

[petej]

We have squeeked through the 'easy' games but the rest of the championship could be pretty brutal.

How long Borthwick can ride that credible RWC semi defeat for remains to be seen.

As long as the money keeps coming in at Twickenham?

[Hal Jordan]

There are some things out of Borthwick's control - midfield injuries, no tight heads at club level, Marcus Smith injury, but the things he can control he's muffing.

Picking a cart horse in Daly.

Backrow picked to defend.

Making Ford play a Faz clone game.

A team looking to kick first on advantage.

Appalling, boneheaded discipline.

What appears to be deliberately slow passing from the ruck to totally static pods of forwards.

Dallaglio summed it up when he said it was a team that plays better without the ball than with it.

[Guy Smiley]

Frustrating game to watch (my first 6N game this year)...

firstly, the structure of the game these days. That solid line of England defenders standing right up and the ineffective Welsh attack in the face of it is hard to watch. When they did attempt a kick over the line they went either too deep or straight to Steward. That coupled with the incessant tactics from both 9s... faff about behind the ruck, wait for the ref to call use it and then wave a couple of defenders through to extend the tail of the ruck to give them more time to fuck about before sending a box kick straight down the throats of the most attacking defenders on the park.

Wales suffered for their subs... the front row got decimated after the bench moves and they lost that attacking edge they'd held. Both teams looked dull in attack with a few bright moments through broken play. Neither looked capable of creating opportunities, just sat back waiting for them.

Music at Tests can get stuffed.

I agreed with the charge down decision on Ford's penalty shot. He had set up and 'addressed the ball'... he took that step sideways which initiated his kicking run. He was caught out... if he was still setting up he should have maintained some motion in doing so.

The final non decision of the game was inexplicable to me. Dyer was in the air and got shouldered into touch... surely, that's a penalty at least, it was deliberate with no mitigation.

The commentators were awful. Hooray Henry style cheering for England with endless references to Welsh club allegiances for balance.

At least the crowd sang a bit so the atmosphere was... nice.

[Biffer]

Is it unfair to say that was a game between two teams who aren’t particularly good?

[sockwithaticket]

Is it unfair to say that was a game between two teams who aren’t particularly good?

Not unfair at all. Both teams going through fairly major post-world cup rebuilds and whose coaches weren't doing particularly well with their sides prior to that.

[JM2K6]

Is it unfair to say that was a game between two teams who aren’t particularly good?

It's unfair on teams who aren't particularly good, maybe. Both teams are shite, but at least Wales can expect serious improvement.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

The final non decision of the game was inexplicable to me. Dyer was in the air and got shouldered into touch... surely, that's a penalty at least, it was deliberate with no mitigation.

Wasn't the England player running towards the ball rather than running a blocking line? Sure you'd get pinged for simply blocking, but if you've got the defence you were running towards the ball maybe not so much. I don't doubt for a moment he knew he was blocking, but you're not obliged to get out of the way of someone trying to jump over you when you're otherwise legal

Awful game mind, just awful. And yet sadly also an as expected.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

There are some things out of Borthwick's control - midfield injuries, no tight heads at club level, Marcus Smith injury, but the things he can control he's muffing.

Picking a cart horse in Daly.

Backrow picked to defend.

Making Ford play a Faz clone game.

A team looking to kick first on advantage.

Appalling, boneheaded discipline.

What appears to be deliberately slow passing from the ruck to totally static pods of forwards.

Dallaglio summed it up when he said it was a team that plays better without the ball than with it.

And without the ball we can be undone by two competent passes, luckily Wales kept trying to kick it wide or in behind, I guess it's not exactly a Welsh midfield picked for handling ability

[Guy Smiley]

The final non decision of the game was inexplicable to me. Dyer was in the air and got shouldered into touch... surely, that's a penalty at least, it was deliberate with no mitigation.

Wasn't the England player running towards the ball rather than running a blocking line? Sure you'd get pinged for simply blocking, but if you've got the defence you were running towards the ball maybe not so much. I don't doubt for a moment he knew he was blocking, but you're not obliged to get out of the way of someone trying to jump over you when you're otherwise legal

Awful game mind, just awful. And yet sadly also an as expected.

Unless there's been a change in directions on this, the onus is on the defending player to ensure they don't endanger the attacking player... so regardless of intent, contact with a player in the air is a sanction.

[Rhubarb & Custard]

The final non decision of the game was inexplicable to me. Dyer was in the air and got shouldered into touch... surely, that's a penalty at least, it was deliberate with no mitigation.

Wasn't the England player running towards the ball rather than running a blocking line? Sure you'd get pinged for simply blocking, but if you've got the defence you were running towards the ball maybe not so much. I don't doubt for a moment he knew he was blocking, but you're not obliged to get out of the way of someone trying to jump over you when you're otherwise legal

Awful game mind, just awful. And yet sadly also an as expected.

Unless there's been a change in directions on this, the onus is on the defending player to ensure they don't endanger the attacking player... so regardless of intent, contact with a player in the air is a sanction.

So you're running towards the ball, someone runs from behind you but faster tries to jump over you and tumbles and that's on you?

I'd say yes if you were simply running a blocking line, but to say to a defender you can't run towards the ball because someone is approaching you from behind can't be what's intended.