NPR

Ovals wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 7:04 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 6:34 pm I’ve seen a few people picking Chessum at 6 for this weekend, does he play there much?

He's gone - injured in Training !!

geordie_6 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:07 pm Bevan Rodd retained, about time.

Ovals wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:40 pm

geordie_6 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:07 pm Bevan Rodd retained, about time.

Still unlikely to make the matchday squad if past selections are anything to go by. Fingers crossed though.

Ovals wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:40 pm

geordie_6 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:07 pm Bevan Rodd retained, about time.

Still unlikely to make the matchday squad if past selections are anything to go by. Fingers crossed though.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:22 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:40 pm

geordie_6 wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:07 pm Bevan Rodd retained, about time.

Still unlikely to make the matchday squad if past selections are anything to go by. Fingers crossed though.

There's no way Mako & Cole should be in the EPS.

They're probably the most expensive GBP/Minute paid players in the damn thing

There was still a sense of shock within the England camp at the manner of their record home defeat to France, who went ahead inside two minutes with a try by Thomas Ramos. “You look at that first passage of play and it was about 80 seconds long, lads looked out on their feet,” Sinfield said.

“They have not been like that the whole campaign so why is that? What is that about, we didn’t change our training load last week, we have been really smart in monitoring and the players have had a say in how we move forward and the sort of sessions we put together. It has been difficult to really go ‘it is that one thing’.”

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:44 pm

There was still a sense of shock within the England camp at the manner of their record home defeat to France, who went ahead inside two minutes with a try by Thomas Ramos. “You look at that first passage of play and it was about 80 seconds long, lads looked out on their feet,” Sinfield said.

“They have not been like that the whole campaign so why is that? What is that about, we didn’t change our training load last week, we have been really smart in monitoring and the players have had a say in how we move forward and the sort of sessions we put together. It has been difficult to really go ‘it is that one thing’.”

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 2:44 pm

There was still a sense of shock within the England camp at the manner of their record home defeat to France, who went ahead inside two minutes with a try by Thomas Ramos. “You look at that first passage of play and it was about 80 seconds long, lads looked out on their feet,” Sinfield said.

“They have not been like that the whole campaign so why is that? What is that about, we didn’t change our training load last week, we have been really smart in monitoring and the players have had a say in how we move forward and the sort of sessions we put together. It has been difficult to really go ‘it is that one thing’.”

Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 1:06 pm From French media comic take on the game:
"Apart from a sharp counterof Steward, the American fridge mounted on wheels, the XV of the Rose remained harmless. Marcus Smith attacks the line and at this level, we can even say that he harasses it to such an extent that he risks ending up in a hashtag on Twitter. But the Harlequins FH gives the impression of playing alone, without knowing if it is because he is deeply selfish or if his teammates have too limited an imagination to understand what he is trying to do"

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:38 pm If true, that strikes me as being bad player management.

If Farrell is to be first choice number 10, he shouldn't have been dropped last week. If he was deemed to have been playing poorly enough to warrant dropping, then I don't see why the entire team, but crucially the forwards, being dominated last week should be a black mark against Smith in particular and lead to Farrell being restored to fly half.

Honestly, I think Smith would best be served by being left to get on with doing his thing at Quins, in an environment that wants to play to his strengths, rather than being dicked around by conservative national coaches who don't seem to know what they want from him.

Oh and Slade is a lucky, lucky boy.

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:31 pm Times are going with a Farrell/Tuilagi/Slade midfield.

inactionman wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:59 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 4:31 pm Times are going with a Farrell/Tuilagi/Slade midfield.

I'm not an avid Times reader - are they usually on the money with this sort of stuff?

Lawrence's injury - and that of Kelly - has unfortunately opened the whole inside centre debate again, which might regress us back to where we started.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 5:37 pm (Also let's not mention the dreadful Farrell pass that led to a French try, for... reasons...)

Kawazaki wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:33 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 5:37 pm (Also let's not mention the dreadful Farrell pass that led to a French try, for... reasons...)

You fannies do like a Farrell conspiracy theory don't you?!

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:56 am

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:22 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 9:40 pm

Still unlikely to make the matchday squad if past selections are anything to go by. Fingers crossed though.

There's no way Mako & Cole should be in the EPS.

They're probably the most expensive GBP/Minute paid players in the damn thing

Cole has won scrum pens every time he's come on, in fairness. Saturday will be his 100th cap I believe.

Rhubarb & Custard wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 6:53 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Wed Mar 15, 2023 11:56 am

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 11:22 pm

There's no way Mako & Cole should be in the EPS.

They're probably the most expensive GBP/Minute paid players in the damn thing

Cole has won scrum pens every time he's come on, in fairness. Saturday will be his 100th cap I believe.

What's the ratio between scrum penalties won and tries conceded?

Quite rightly many will stand and applaud his 100th cap, that's a huge achievement in any role and especially his. And yet a lot of those cheering on his milestone will be wondering if he should be there

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:23 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 4:05 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Tue Mar 14, 2023 3:53 pm Jack Willis has apparently signed a season extension with Toulouse with an option for another after that.

Obviously would love for him to come back to the Prem, but after the experience he's just had with Wasps, not to mention his two serious, long term injuries, it's hard to begrudge him the wages and stability of a Top14 powerhouse team.

In other random news apparently there are rumours that Dave Walder has left Newcastle with immediate effect. Odd time of the season for a head coach to go.

That's a Jake exclusive and seems to be on the money, although not announced.

Davison also left for Saints with immediate effect today with Heffernan coming in on loan. Tough spot for Newcastle as they are struggling on the pitch and seem to be cutting costs at the same time (likes of McGuigan also leaving mid season). Will take some clever recruitment and coaching for them to compete next season.

People in the game always say Falcons already spend significantly under the cap. Whoever they can get to replace Walder has a hell of a job on their hands if the expectation is to keep them a Premiership outfit if there's even less money to put towards players and some of the best ones are already being offloaded. Carreras still needs a semblance of a team around him to keep scoring tries.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Thu Mar 16, 2023 5:41 pm We were promised rugby 2.0 from this cycle and instead in the last competitive game of it return to a 10-12-13 partnership that last served us well in 2019 having tried a billion other options. I don’t blame Borthwick - there’s no point playing Smith if your pack is going backwards and you’re not planning on running it, and where the team is is hardly his fault. But fuck me what a waste of four years. That 2019 side are pretty much all still playing and we’ve just gone backwards at a rate of knots. Worst of all on Saturday they just didn’t seem to give too much of a shit, Genge basically admitted it. If Sweeney had any decency he’d walk.
I think we’ll play better, much better than last week but there’s only one result in the offing here.