The Official English Rugby Thread

[Paddington Bear]

I sometimes wonder what sort of international Goode would have turned out to be were it not for that one absolute shocker of a game.

The same one who played in all the other games, presumably.

Yeah, Goode had plenty of chances at international, and never looked great, but did look poor a few times. Just one of those players that failed to make the step up.

He played his best rugby in the years after said fuck up IMHO, which was my point.

[Madness]

Will say having seen the team that, despite missing a load of first choice forwards, Eddie has picked a balanced back row with no Lawes or Itoje at 6 and no 6/2 split on the bench.

[JM2K6]

The same one who played in all the other games, presumably.

Yeah, Goode had plenty of chances at international, and never looked great, but did look poor a few times. Just one of those players that failed to make the step up.

He played his best rugby in the years after said fuck up IMHO, which was my point.

Never improved the parts of his game that were his biggest weaknesses at international level, though.

[ASMO]

Will say having seen the team that, despite missing a load of first choice forwards, Eddie has picked a balanced back row with no Lawes or Itoje at 6 and no 6/2 split on the bench.

Yes but regardless, he still has Youngs at 9 who will manage to stifle any creativity in either the forwards or backs by delivering glacial speed ball over their heads or by their ankles.

[Madness]

Will say having seen the team that, despite missing a load of first choice forwards, Eddie has picked a balanced back row with no Lawes or Itoje at 6 and no 6/2 split on the bench.

Yes but regardless, he still has Youngs at 9 who will manage to stifle any creativity in either the forwards or backs by delivering glacial speed ball over their heads or by their ankles.

Are we due the one in 10 world class performance from Youngs? Maybe not as he did play well for his 100th cap against Italy.

[Paddington Bear]

Will say having seen the team that, despite missing a load of first choice forwards, Eddie has picked a balanced back row with no Lawes or Itoje at 6 and no 6/2 split on the bench.

Yes but regardless, he still has Youngs at 9 who will manage to stifle any creativity in either the forwards or backs by delivering glacial speed ball over their heads or by their ankles.

Are we due the one in 10 world class performance from Youngs? Maybe not as he did play well for his 100th cap against Italy.

No Youngs apologist here but in fairness he had a pretty solid autumn all round

[Torquemada 1420]

He is promising, what are his core full back skills like? I genuinely haven't seen him outside his limited England appearances to know whether he can catch a high ball and tackle, or whether he's another Goode - titan at club level, lovely for the highlights reels, opinion pieces and internet chat, but actually a bit crap doing the hard stuff at Test level.

I sometimes wonder what sort of international Goode would have turned out to be were it not for that one absolute shocker of a game.

A poor one. Genial character he may have been to many but his laid back attitude to fitness had no place in professionalism at intl level. It was fine at Brive.

[Madness]

First round Six Nations games are normally a bit rubbish, new combinations and systems etc so it'll come down to power and I reckon we can outpower this Scottish team. I think not picking Graham at 8 is a mistake and the Scots are going to get a lot of traffic down 10/12 channel.

[Madness]

Have just realised that with Robson, Ford and Malins we could actually end up with a back line of

Robson
Ford
May
Slade
Daly
Watson
Malins

That would be great off some front foot ball against a tiring team. Won't ever happen though

[Raggs]

Youngs was good in the autumn, arguably very good towards the end.

[sockwithaticket]

He is promising, what are his core full back skills like? I genuinely haven't seen him outside his limited England appearances to know whether he can catch a high ball and tackle, or whether he's another Goode - titan at club level, lovely for the highlights reels, opinion pieces and internet chat, but actually a bit crap doing the hard stuff at Test level.

I sometimes wonder what sort of international Goode would have turned out to be were it not for that one absolute shocker of a game.

A poor one. Genial character he may have been to many but his laid back attitude to fitness had no place in professionalism at intl level. It was fine at Brive.

Wrong Goode, Torq. I don't think even the most one eyed Tigers fans lament Andy not getting more game time at international level.

[Hal Jordan]

I'm quite pleased with Lawrence being selected, he looks a promising player and the unit/skilz centre combo is a tried and trusted selection down the years.

[Torquemada 1420]

I sometimes wonder what sort of international Goode would have turned out to be were it not for that one absolute shocker of a game.

A poor one. Genial character he may have been to many but his laid back attitude to fitness had no place in professionalism at intl level. It was fine at Brive.

Wrong Goode, Torq. I don't think even the most one eyed Tigers fans lament Andy not getting more game time at international level.

LOL. I wondered what I was missing!!!

[JM2K6]

I'm quite pleased with Lawrence being selected, he looks a promising player and the unit/skilz centre combo is a tried and trusted selection down the years.

He's like 5'9 or something, he's not a giant.

[Un Pilier]

He is promising, what are his core full back skills like? I genuinely haven't seen him outside his limited England appearances to know whether he can catch a high ball and tackle, or whether he's another Goode - titan at club level, lovely for the highlights reels, opinion pieces and internet chat, but actually a bit crap doing the hard stuff at Test level.

Well he's looked better in the air than Daly, better in attack too I'd say. One of those fullbacks that just seems to be able to unlock defences.

Seen quite a bit of him. Always looked a very exciting and well-rounded prospect to me. Good to watch.

[Paddington Bear]

First round Six Nations games are normally a bit rubbish, new combinations and systems etc so it'll come down to power and I reckon we can outpower this Scottish team. I think not picking Graham at 8 is a mistake and the Scots are going to get a lot of traffic down 10/12 channel.

My assumption is we're aiming to be pretty attritional for 60 mins and then try and cut loose. Up front I think we have them, Russell remains such a wild card though.

[Kawazaki]

Yeah, Goode had plenty of chances at international, and never looked great, but did look poor a few times. Just one of those players that failed to make the step up.

He played his best rugby in the years after said fuck up IMHO, which was my point.

Never improved the parts of his game that were his biggest weaknesses at international level, though.

Huge weaknesses and gaps in required skillsets hasn't stopped loads of players getting loads of caps for England. Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Mike Tindall, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, and Ben 'Jesus Wept' Youngs of course to name just half a dozen.

[JM2K6]

lol

[Hal Jordan]

I'm quite pleased with Lawrence being selected, he looks a promising player and the unit/skilz centre combo is a tried and trusted selection down the years.

He's like 5'9 or something, he's not a giant.

"He seemed taller."

[sockwithaticket]

He played his best rugby in the years after said fuck up IMHO, which was my point.

Never improved the parts of his game that were his biggest weaknesses at international level, though.

Huge weaknesses and gaps in required skillsets hasn't stopped loads of players getting loads of caps for England. Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Mike Tindall, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, and Ben 'Jesus Wept' Youngs of course to name just half a dozen.

Imagine how devastating Goode's weaknesses must be not have joined them in becoming regular internationals.

[Lobby]

First round Six Nations games are normally a bit rubbish, new combinations and systems etc so it'll come down to power and I reckon we can outpower this Scottish team. I think not picking Graham at 8 is a mistake and the Scots are going to get a lot of traffic down 10/12 channel.

My assumption is we're aiming to be pretty attritional for 60 mins and then try and cut loose. Up front I think we have them, Russell remains such a wild card though.

That's certainly a better strategy than rushing into a 30 point lead and then going to sleep for the last 60 minutes.

[sockwithaticket]

Teams for tonights game.



Hard to see past a Bristol win.



Teams for the Wasps - Saints clash at 13:00 on Saturday



Umaga paying the price for shitting the bed last week. Sopoaga gone from the 23 entirely is nice to see which possibly explains Vellacott coming back in, he provides wing cover in a pinch. I certainly don't think Porter warranted dropping completely, but for the fact he only covers scrum half and without Sopoaga we only have 3 fit and available back three players. Great to have Miller available again, he's had some good games against Saints in the recent past and he's a solid player. We can really do with some of that at 15 after Soapy's recent shit shows.

McIntyre has overcome his knock, so Harris won't be our only available looshead. No uncontested scrums and pizza party after all. Young, unfortunately, was more severely damage and we're at a poitn where we have to start our 3rd choice hooker at openside

I'd like to think we can't be as abject as last week again...

[JM2K6]

I liked the look of Sleightholme Jr last season, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

[Saint]

I liked the look of Sleightholme Jr last season, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

First game back from injury.

Furbank seems to have come away from last week without serious injury, but I reckon he could be several weeks working through the return to play protocols

[JM2K6]

I liked the look of Sleightholme Jr last season, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

First game back from injury.

Furbank seems to have come away from last week without serious injury, but I reckon he could be several weeks working through the return to play protocols

Ah fair enough, I won't expect too much from him then!

[ASMO]

I liked the look of Sleightholme Jr last season, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

First game back from injury.

Furbank seems to have come away from last week without serious injury, but I reckon he could be several weeks working through the return to play protocols

Mallinder still crocked i assume

[Saint]

I liked the look of Sleightholme Jr last season, will be interesting to see how he gets on.

First game back from injury.

Furbank seems to have come away from last week without serious injury, but I reckon he could be several weeks working through the return to play protocols

Mallinder still crocked i assume

Supposed to be a couple of weeks from match fit

[Oxbow]

Sadly he seems to be permanently a couple of weeks from match fit.

[tc27]

The last game at HQ was mental wasn't it - 40 mins of the best rugby England played for ages and then a collapse and to be fair some excellent 'fuck it' rugby from Scotland.

[Paddington Bear]

The last game at HQ was mental wasn't it - 40 mins of the best rugby England played for ages and then a collapse and to be fair some excellent 'fuck it' rugby from Scotland.

So much of this narrative of an amazing game comes from the fact that Scotland were the better team in the second half. We threw at least two intercepts for 14 points of the comeback. Both sides produced a shocker of a half of rugby each, never seen much more to the game than that myself

[ASMO]

Sales defence beating Bristols attack quite easily

[ASMO]

Need more refs like Pearce, beasting scrum halfs to use the ball fast.

[sockwithaticket]

Sale remind me very much of Gatland's Wales. They'll attempt to suffocate and grind, keeping close all the time. They'll not blow anyone away, but it's bloody difficult to do much against them.

[ASMO]

This will come down to bench quality

[SaintK]

This will come down to bench quality

Think Sales tactics have been spot on

[sockwithaticket]

I do enjoy how much Pearce is harrying the halfbacks to make use of the ball.

[Ovals]

I do enjoy how much Pearce is harrying the halfbacks to make use of the ball.

Can we keep him on hand to speed Ben Youngs up.

[Kawazaki]

Never improved the parts of his game that were his biggest weaknesses at international level, though.

Huge weaknesses and gaps in required skillsets hasn't stopped loads of players getting loads of caps for England. Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Mike Tindall, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, and Ben 'Jesus Wept' Youngs of course to name just half a dozen.

Imagine how devastating Goode's weaknesses must be not have joined them in becoming regular internationals.

The consolation of five Premiership winners medals and three European cup winners medals will help.

Imagine placing Ben Youngs on a pedestal just to try and 'win' an argument against a winner like that. That's Eddiesque madness.

[sockwithaticket]

Huge weaknesses and gaps in required skillsets hasn't stopped loads of players getting loads of caps for England. Mike Brown, Chris Robshaw, Mike Tindall, Dylan Hartley, Dan Cole, and Ben 'Jesus Wept' Youngs of course to name just half a dozen.

Imagine how devastating Goode's weaknesses must be not have joined them in becoming regular internationals.

The consolation of five Premiership winners medals and three European cup winners medals will help.

Imagine placing Ben Youngs on a pedestal just to try and 'win' an argument against a winner like that. That's Eddiesque madness.

Conceding, albeit tacitly, that the above players had flaws while acknowleding that they were able to have long international careers while another flawed player hasn't = placing Youngs on a pedestal now apparently. Good to know.

Touting the domestic medal hauls of players who aren't up to international standard is how the likes of Louis Deacon end up with 30 caps for England.

[Paddington Bear]

Anyone else nervous?