The Official English Rugby Thread

Where goats go to escape
Yeeb
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Choc wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:41 am
Yeeb wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:34 am
Choc wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 10:28 am

I’m a Quins, I really don’t like defending Saracens but “ There is no suggestion or evidence that any player was complicit in any of the club's actions” is from the official report.
I know. I choose to not beleive the official report , as would have meant perhaps players getting sanctions and not being available for England - anyone getting a few k appearance fee for events they don’t actually have to rock up to, should be suspicious.
Spivs gonna spiv.
You’ve spent all morning creating bullshit narratives to defend your increasingly risible positions. I didn’t expect anything as trivial as official court documentation to change that.
You were the one who started the name calling & wonky stats to try and support your risable position. All that’s contentious is that I feel there is bias toward itoje , which you didn’t like - why is it so hard for you to accept someone else’s point of view ?
On real PR the match thread had others commenting similar about overuse of the word dominant and him - so it’s not exactly as if I’m the only one with this view, just one you don’t agree with. Tough shit !
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SaintK
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Yeeb wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:55 am
SaintK wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:52 am
Yeeb wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 9:25 am

Go fuck yourself, prick
I didn’t say itoje had a bad game, my comment is that it was laughingly obvious a few mins in that the presenters and cameras have been told to praise him and follow him on the camera more, because he’s Itoje. He is a prick , and seemingly has prick fans if you are the norm. Racism works both ways.
Racist or not you really a try-hard twat at times!
You joining the prick bus then today ? Fair enough
Nah, not with you driving it/. I'll just wait for the next one thanks.
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JM2K6
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Itoje made an absolute mess of their breakdown and lineout, while also doing huge amounts of grunt work. No surprise he was motm.
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SaintK
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JM2K6 wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 11:16 am Itoje made an absolute mess of their breakdown and lineout, while also doing huge amounts of grunt work. No surprise he was motm.
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Ymx
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Balls, I completely missed this as you lazy English buggers did no match thread.
sockwithaticket
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Game of the weekend (Wasps - Bristol) about to kick off.

Second non-Englisher chastening us for not creating a match thread. I suspect we're unlikely to do so in future, either. I may be speaking out of turn for some, but I think all those who've made the jump to NPR got in the habit of conducting our business solely on the national thread since dedicated match threads became pretty much unreadable if you wanted to actually discuss England's peformance.
sockwithaticket
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Mostly Bristol in the opening 10, but Wasps doing enoughin defence to stop them from scoring more than 3.
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Ymx
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:03 pm Game of the weekend (Wasps - Bristol) about to kick off.

Second non-Englisher chastening us for not creating a match thread. I suspect we're unlikely to do so in future, either. I may be speaking out of turn for some, but I think all those who've made the jump to NPR got in the habit of conducting our business solely on the national thread since dedicated match threads became pretty much unreadable if you wanted to actually discuss England's peformance.
I guess it depends upon what you want on your national thread.

I’ve always seen the national thread as a place to escape or retire to to have reflective sensible discussions about your own teams and players performance. Ie when you are done with the watching game at the pub level discussion of the opposition fans and the “neutrals”.

Having these on your own threads, you will lose that distinction, and end up with all sorts of undesirables stomping around on your national thread. :wave: :wtf:

Up to you of course.

Our national thread where our own views and balanced chat appears to be called “FOSTER OUT” :lol:
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SaintK
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:15 pm Mostly Bristol in the opening 10, but Wasps doing enoughin defence to stop them from scoring more than 3.
Loads of possession and territory but only 3-0 up
sockwithaticket
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20 minutes gone and Wasps haven't done much, but the scoreboard's level.

Bristol always seem to make a ton of handling errors in the face of our defence.
sockwithaticket
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Ymx wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:21 pm
Having these on your own threads, you will lose that distinction, and end up with all sorts of undesirables stomping around on your national thread. :wave: :wtf:
I think we're generally the less Brexit-y sort, so merely being non-English doesn't make you undesirable. :angel:

That said we probably don't want too many incursions into our safe space. As the Welsh seem to have made the jump here in reasonable numbers, perhaps the next game will be worth doing a thread for.
Last edited by sockwithaticket on Sun Nov 22, 2020 1:32 pm, edited 1 time in total.
sockwithaticket
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Oof that looked marginal (with my Wasps specs on). Would've been a nice try.
sockwithaticket
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Forwards were very shallow coming onto Vellacott's passes there. A lot of continuity, but not going anywhere.

Willis with his first turnover of the new season. be amazing if he could get close to the same number as last year.
sockwithaticket
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Pretty sure Piutau was the assist tackler and never released there, should've gone the other way.
sockwithaticket
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3 point game at half time with both sides struggling for fluency in attack. Wasps seemed to be getting slightly on top in that second quarter.
sockwithaticket
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Wasps seem to be edging the scrum now, but Gopperth can't convert to nudge us bacl ahead after Randall's try.
sockwithaticket
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Game's getting very loose, just 1 point in it with 15 to go. Amazing run from Barbeary leads to nothing as he caught his whole team off guard.
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JM2K6
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Young Umaga has been dire so far. So many mistakes.
sockwithaticket
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JM2K6 wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:34 pm Young Umaga has been dire so far. So many mistakes.
Think it's showing how much hand holding Robson does.
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JM2K6
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Given the total illegality of the attempted tackle on Willis there's a case for a penalty try here.
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JM2K6
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:37 pm
JM2K6 wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:34 pm Young Umaga has been dire so far. So many mistakes.
Think it's showing how much hand holding Robson does.
He has the best creative 12 in the league outside him, mind.
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JM2K6
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Barbeary's impact is ridiculous. Is he actually any good as a hooker?
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JM2K6
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Try saves the yellow card.
sockwithaticket
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Fark.
JM2K6 wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:42 pm Barbeary's impact is ridiculous. Is he actually any good as a hooker?
Don't think I've ever actually seen him there, when I caught him for the U20's he got red carded pretty qwuickly and he's been exclusively back row for Wasps since breaking through aside from a brief sub-appearance in his supposed main position.
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JM2K6
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Bristol drop off tackles to hand wasps the game. Good work by Bassett.

Dodgy turnover started it all off, mind
sockwithaticket
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I fucking love Bassett. He's not especially flashy, but he's bloody effective.

Fingers crossed that's situation rescued.
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JM2K6
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Feel for Bristol there, don't think they deserved to lose. Leiua was immense. Shame their reserve 10 was so bad.
Ovals
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Entertaining 2nd half with an exciting finish. :thumbup: Great work by Barrett for the final try.

Jack Willis MoM for the 4th time in his last 6 games !!
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SaintK
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Ovals wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:57 pm Entertaining 2nd half with an exciting finish. :thumbup: Great work by Barrett for the final try.

Jack Willis MoM for the 4th time in his last 6 games !!
LOvely winning try!!
sockwithaticket
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Ovals wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:57 pm Entertaining 2nd half with an exciting finish. :thumbup: Great work by Barrett for the final try.

Jack Willis MoM for the 4th time in his last 6 games !!
Somewhat more pleased today than I was earlier in the week that Eddie turfed him back to us!
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Un Pilier
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 3:08 pm
Ovals wrote: Sun Nov 22, 2020 2:57 pm Entertaining 2nd half with an exciting finish. :thumbup: Great work by Barrett for the final try.

Jack Willis MoM for the 4th time in his last 6 games !!
Somewhat more pleased today than I was earlier in the week that Eddie turfed him back to us!
He handled the post- match interview pretty well and seemed ok with it (as far as anyone can tell, usually). No doubt he got good feedback and reassurance that he has not been cast aside. I certainly hope so.
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Kawazaki
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Something for the (many) Owen Farrell haters to watch. Nice example of reading the game, identifying the danger and taking responsibility of dealing with it.


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Hal Jordan
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I wouldn't read the thread if I were you.
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JM2K6
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Farrell for fullback!
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Kawazaki
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For those who think Billy Vunipola had a bad game against Ireland and needs dropping for Sam Simmons to replace him, an interesting article for you...

"Inside Line: What makes Billy Vunipola so valuable to England and why he is not in competition with Sam Simmonds anyway"

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... -simmonds/
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Kawazaki
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Why coaches pick Owen Farrell.

And why money has bugger all to do with why Saracens kept winning.

HTH

Nick Tompkins has outlined what makes Saracens’ England stars so special after making a case to start for Wales against them in the Autumn Nations Cup.

Tompkins helped Wales end a run of six successive defeats with an 18-0 victory over Georgia in Llanelli on Saturday.

But Saracens centre Tompkins, who is on a season-long loan at the Dragons in Newport, knows it will be a lot tougher when Wales complete their Autumn Nations Cup group games against England this weekend.

The Six Nations champions overwhelmed Ireland 18-7 at Twickenham on Saturday to top Group A, with six Saracens players – captain Owen Farrell, Elliot Daly, Mako Vunipola, Jamie George, Maro Itoje and Billy Vunipola – in Eddie Jones’ starting line-up.

“I know a lot of their boys and they always come with that competitiveness, especially Faz (Farrell),” said Tompkins, part of a Saracens squad who won four Premiership titles and three European Champions Cups between 2015 and 2019.

No drop-off
“To watch those guys bringing it in training just like they do in games, there is no drop-off.

“I think that’s what makes some of them the world’s best players. That’s a credit to them as they bring it day-in, day-out.

“Their competitiveness on the pitch is just as much on the training pitch. That’s what makes them so good.”
Rhubarb & Custard
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It doesn't mark Saracens out as unusual they had a high salary spend, all top sides do. Bath were the big name, then Newcastle for a brief period, then Leicester for a long time, for a very short period Sale, then Saracens started to emerge and now Exeter. And all those teams were big payers if not the biggest payers. And we see the same thing in other sports.

Yes they still need cohesion and a work ethic, but I'll believe the money doesn't matter when someone takes Newcastle to 3 league titles in 6 seasons and 2 HC wins in that period too with the salary spends staying basically as is
sockwithaticket
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As has been explained exhaustively (but I'm bored and avoiding work, so one more time) the money translates into increasing the average quality in the squad which has a muliplier effect on training.

Mako being able to scrummage against Koch and Figallo likely improved him more than doing so against Cooper-Woolley and Willgriff John for example.

Sarries at their peak had a denser concentration of internationals than any other team.

We'll need to wait and see how they get on once back in the Prem with a cap compliant side to see whether it's just coaching and attitude that made the difference.
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Kawazaki
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sockwithaticket wrote: Tue Nov 24, 2020 11:54 am
We'll need to wait and see how they get on once back in the Prem with a cap compliant side to see whether it's just coaching and attitude that made the difference.

Most people were impressed with how they still kept playing (and winning) in the league after they'd had 105pts deducted and 17 players left their squad.
sockwithaticket
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The second half of the season just gone is very difficult to extrapolate anything useful from (for anyone, not just Saracens), given the extent of squad rotation and fairly regular A team v B team match ups. Leicester, for example, knowing they were safe, seemed to be chucking out sides no one could reasonably expect to win apparently so that Borthwick could see fringe and youth players he knew nothing about in match conditions.
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