NPR

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:12 pm I watched that half on the tablet while cooking and eating, so maybe I missed something, but why did we get no advantage, scrum or otherwise, for their 15 tapping the ball down and forwards towards the end?

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:13 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:12 pm I watched that half on the tablet while cooking and eating, so maybe I missed something, but why did we get no advantage, scrum or otherwise, for their 15 tapping the ball down and forwards towards the end?

No idea.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:15 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:13 pm

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:12 pm I watched that half on the tablet while cooking and eating, so maybe I missed something, but why did we get no advantage, scrum or otherwise, for their 15 tapping the ball down and forwards towards the end?

No idea.

Something else for the young ref to discuss with his assessor then.

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:50 pm I know Mullins is decent, but what was this lad doing on the bench?

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:19 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:50 pm I know Mullins is decent, but what was this lad doing on the bench?

He isn't bad for his 2nd start.

Oh ..... and he's one of triples !

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:23 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:19 pm

Margin__Walker wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:50 pm I know Mullins is decent, but what was this lad doing on the bench?

He isn't bad for his 2nd start.

Oh ..... and he's one of triples !

2nd start?

Was talking about King. The lad who came off the bench and replaced Mullins.

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 9:26 pm
Yeah your right. Last week against France was his 2nd start.

Hugo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:32 pm Assumed that the sending off would make for a boring, one sided contest, ended up being the match of the championship IMO. Utterly engrossing. England kept the floodgates closed 10-15 minutes longer than expected.

Hugo Keenan caught the eye for a couple (maybe three) brilliant catches in the second half when England had whittled the Irish lead down and seemed to have a lot of momentum. Also, got to give credit to Sexton for taking that hammering from Itoje and not coughing up possession. Key moments in the match from my point of view.

Will definitely watch again in midweek.

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:44 pm

PCPhil wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:42 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:39 pm

He was swatted out the way regularly

Back to Farrell then ey?

It's nice that Slick is so concerned for Smith at international level, but given he's played against most of the major nations with one poor performance in defence, I don't think any England fans are too worried. No more than we were with Ford at 10.

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:28 pm

Hugo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:32 pm Assumed that the sending off would make for a boring, one sided contest, ended up being the match of the championship IMO. Utterly engrossing. England kept the floodgates closed 10-15 minutes longer than expected.

Hugo Keenan caught the eye for a couple (maybe three) brilliant catches in the second half when England had whittled the Irish lead down and seemed to have a lot of momentum. Also, got to give credit to Sexton for taking that hammering from Itoje and not coughing up possession. Key moments in the match from my point of view.

Will definitely watch again in midweek.

TBH, it was only our dominance in the scrum that kept us in the game - without that, unexpected bonus, we'd have been dead and buried by HT. The extent to which we mullered the Irish scrum was very surprising - we have done that for years. It gave us several easy exits from deep in our 22 and some very cheap points.

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:44 pm

PCPhil wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:42 pm

Back to Farrell then ey?

It's nice that Slick is so concerned for Smith at international level, but given he's played against most of the major nations with one poor performance in defence, I don't think any England fans are too worried. No more than we were with Ford at 10.

Having watched the highlights on the BBC I’m minded to double down on this. How many times was he out of position, hanging around in useless positions, racing out at the wrong time, it was very poor. Can’t blame him for getting dragged along the ground like a rag doll at every tackle, but certainly can for being so obviously badly positioned

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:44 pm

It's nice that Slick is so concerned for Smith at international level, but given he's played against most of the major nations with one poor performance in defence, I don't think any England fans are too worried. No more than we were with Ford at 10.

Having watched the highlights on the BBC I’m minded to double down on this. How many times was he out of position, hanging around in useless positions, racing out at the wrong time, it was very poor. Can’t blame him for getting dragged along the ground like a rag doll at every tackle, but certainly can for being so obviously badly positioned

You must be very worried about hogg, Russell, et al having made fewer tackles and missed more against the mighty Italians

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sat Mar 12, 2022 8:44 pm

It's nice that Slick is so concerned for Smith at international level, but given he's played against most of the major nations with one poor performance in defence, I don't think any England fans are too worried. No more than we were with Ford at 10.

Having watched the highlights on the BBC I’m minded to double down on this. How many times was he out of position, hanging around in useless positions, racing out at the wrong time, it was very poor. Can’t blame him for getting dragged along the ground like a rag doll at every tackle, but certainly can for being so obviously badly positioned

You must be very worried about hogg, Russell, et al having made fewer tackles and missed more against the mighty Italians

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:11 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:46 pm

Having watched the highlights on the BBC I’m minded to double down on this. How many times was he out of position, hanging around in useless positions, racing out at the wrong time, it was very poor. Can’t blame him for getting dragged along the ground like a rag doll at every tackle, but certainly can for being so obviously badly positioned

You must be very worried about hogg, Russell, et al having made fewer tackles and missed more against the mighty Italians

Your fixation on stats over what’s actually in front of you is constantly funny

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:18 pm There is absolutely no way that one try from attacking play in three matches would be passed off as one of those things with Faz at 10. Like Smith a lot but serious room for improvement

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:18 pm There is absolutely no way that one try from attacking play in three matches would be passed off as one of those things with Faz at 10. Like Smith a lot but serious room for improvement

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:25 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:11 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:04 pm

You must be very worried about hogg, Russell, et al having made fewer tackles and missed more against the mighty Italians

Your fixation on stats over what’s actually in front of you is constantly funny

Yes, it's common that weak players out of position make lots of tackles and miss very few, while players you constantly boost for their defending make fewer and miss more. Everyone knows that missed tackles are better than tackles made. Uh.

Smith isn't a big guy and is going to make softer tackles than a lot of other players, well done for spotting that. You are slightly obsessed with him though, probably because he's a hyped young English talent who is mentioned in the same breath as a Scottish player of a similar type. Similar to the whole curry/Watson farrago during the Lions.

No English fan is worried about Smith's defence, certainly not after a brutal game where despite defending a man down all game, as our "weakest" defender he made plenty and missed one.

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:54 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:25 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:11 pm

Your fixation on stats over what’s actually in front of you is constantly funny

Yes, it's common that weak players out of position make lots of tackles and miss very few, while players you constantly boost for their defending make fewer and miss more. Everyone knows that missed tackles are better than tackles made. Uh.

Smith isn't a big guy and is going to make softer tackles than a lot of other players, well done for spotting that. You are slightly obsessed with him though, probably because he's a hyped young English talent who is mentioned in the same breath as a Scottish player of a similar type. Similar to the whole curry/Watson farrago during the Lions.

No English fan is worried about Smith's defence, certainly not after a brutal game where despite defending a man down all game, as our "weakest" defender he made plenty and missed one.

Honestly no idea what you are on about in the first paragraph so I’ll move on.

No idea what you are on about in the 2nd paragraph so ill move on.

Maybe your not ( 3rd para) but you should be. I’ll not be in the least bit surprised to see him dropped for the France game. I think it’s fair to point out that I am never wrong about over hyped English players - Brown and May for example

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:05 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:54 pm

JM2K6 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:25 pm

Yes, it's common that weak players out of position make lots of tackles and miss very few, while players you constantly boost for their defending make fewer and miss more. Everyone knows that missed tackles are better than tackles made. Uh.

Smith isn't a big guy and is going to make softer tackles than a lot of other players, well done for spotting that. You are slightly obsessed with him though, probably because he's a hyped young English talent who is mentioned in the same breath as a Scottish player of a similar type. Similar to the whole curry/Watson farrago during the Lions.

No English fan is worried about Smith's defence, certainly not after a brutal game where despite defending a man down all game, as our "weakest" defender he made plenty and missed one.

Honestly no idea what you are on about in the first paragraph so I’ll move on.

No idea what you are on about in the 2nd paragraph so ill move on.

Maybe your not ( 3rd para) but you should be. I’ll not be in the least bit surprised to see him dropped for the France game. I think it’s fair to point out that I am never wrong about over hyped English players - Brown and May for example

You've got your head up your arse if you think Smith is going to be dropped.

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:18 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:05 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:54 pm

Honestly no idea what you are on about in the first paragraph so I’ll move on.

No idea what you are on about in the 2nd paragraph so ill move on.

Maybe your not ( 3rd para) but you should be. I’ll not be in the least bit surprised to see him dropped for the France game. I think it’s fair to point out that I am never wrong about over hyped English players - Brown and May for example

You've got your head up your arse if you think Smith is going to be dropped.

You don’t think France are going to relentlessly attack him? Might be a bit of a stretch, but wouldn’t be surprised

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:26 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:18 pm There is absolutely no way that one try from attacking play in three matches would be passed off as one of those things with Faz at 10. Like Smith a lot but serious room for improvement

It takes time to bed in a relationship between SH & OH; & not putting together two younger players before now, is one of Eddies biggest failures.

And if you're trying to build up those combinations; it obviously helps if you don't continually pick key players around them out of position, just to reverse ferret for the next week. International Rugby is tough enough, without some prick picking the players positions out of a hat every week.

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:18 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:05 pm

Slick wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:54 pm

Honestly no idea what you are on about in the first paragraph so I’ll move on.

No idea what you are on about in the 2nd paragraph so ill move on.

Maybe your not ( 3rd para) but you should be. I’ll not be in the least bit surprised to see him dropped for the France game. I think it’s fair to point out that I am never wrong about over hyped English players - Brown and May for example

You've got your head up your arse if you think Smith is going to be dropped.

You don’t think France are going to relentlessly attack him? Might be a bit of a stretch, but wouldn’t be surprised

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:41 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:26 pm

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:18 pm There is absolutely no way that one try from attacking play in three matches would be passed off as one of those things with Faz at 10. Like Smith a lot but serious room for improvement

It takes time to bed in a relationship between SH & OH; & not putting together two younger players before now, is one of Eddies biggest failures.

And if you're trying to build up those combinations; it obviously helps if you don't continually pick key players around them out of position, just to reverse ferret for the next week. International Rugby is tough enough, without some prick picking the players positions out of a hat every week.

I agree largely - I like Smith. He’s a serious talent with a good head. He’ll be a much better player in a year.

Slick wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 8:44 am

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 10:41 pm

fishfoodie wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 9:26 pm

It takes time to bed in a relationship between SH & OH; & not putting together two younger players before now, is one of Eddies biggest failures.

And if you're trying to build up those combinations; it obviously helps if you don't continually pick key players around them out of position, just to reverse ferret for the next week. International Rugby is tough enough, without some prick picking the players positions out of a hat every week.

I agree largely - I like Smith. He’s a serious talent with a good head. He’ll be a much better player in a year.

I agree really, not being completely serious with the criticism. I actually feel a bit for him with all the hype, it's not his fault. Not his fault he has a seriously annoying face either.

Completely agree he will be much better in a year. One thing I've found fascinating watching him in this 6N, and this is NOT a criticism, is how much a new 10 has to learn at this level. The 50+ cappers he has been playing against just have so much better game management and decision making which can only come with experience. The other thing is how important a 12 is to a stand off, he is getting no help at all outside him which means he is having to force a lot - see Finn against Wales and France - and I understand he has that support at Quins.

shaggy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:52 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:28 pm

Hugo wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 7:32 pm Assumed that the sending off would make for a boring, one sided contest, ended up being the match of the championship IMO. Utterly engrossing. England kept the floodgates closed 10-15 minutes longer than expected.

Hugo Keenan caught the eye for a couple (maybe three) brilliant catches in the second half when England had whittled the Irish lead down and seemed to have a lot of momentum. Also, got to give credit to Sexton for taking that hammering from Itoje and not coughing up possession. Key moments in the match from my point of view.

Will definitely watch again in midweek.

TBH, it was only our dominance in the scrum that kept us in the game - without that, unexpected bonus, we'd have been dead and buried by HT. The extent to which we mullered the Irish scrum was very surprising - we have done that for years. It gave us several easy exits from deep in our 22 and some very cheap points.

I always find it amusing when people confidently talk about front rows en bloc and compare results against opposition when the critical factor is individual matchups. Furlong can be part of a very successful scrum and beat all comers but as soon as he comes up against a loosehead who puts him in trouble there is nothing the rest can do to make amends.

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:58 am I strongly suspect that Marcus annoying people over a certain age has more to do with his lovely hair than anything. Some jealousy perhaps that they're unable, either folically or socially, able to get away with a similar 'do.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:06 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:58 am I strongly suspect that Marcus annoying people over a certain age has more to do with his lovely hair than anything. Some jealousy perhaps that they're unable, either folically or socially, able to get away with a similar 'do.

For those with an instagram account, his girlfriend is *ahem* worth a follow

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:00 am

shaggy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:52 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:28 pm

TBH, it was only our dominance in the scrum that kept us in the game - without that, unexpected bonus, we'd have been dead and buried by HT. The extent to which we mullered the Irish scrum was very surprising - we have done that for years. It gave us several easy exits from deep in our 22 and some very cheap points.

I always find it amusing when people confidently talk about front rows en bloc and compare results against opposition when the critical factor is individual matchups. Furlong can be part of a very successful scrum and beat all comers but as soon as he comes up against a loosehead who puts him in trouble there is nothing the rest can do to make amends.

I'm not convinced it was just down to Furlong. Healy has been threading water for some time and Sheehan is an unusually tall hooker. Lot of problems to sort out there.

EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:45 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:15 am

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:06 am

For those with an instagram account, his girlfriend is *ahem* worth a follow

I remember seeing her in the crowd during the Summer test he played. Can only say fair play to the lad. While not being a bad looking fella, he's definitely punching above his weight.

Smith is an awful looking yoke. Here he is on a night out

Uncle fester wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:00 am

shaggy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:52 pm

Ovals wrote: ↑Sun Mar 13, 2022 8:28 pm

TBH, it was only our dominance in the scrum that kept us in the game - without that, unexpected bonus, we'd have been dead and buried by HT. The extent to which we mullered the Irish scrum was very surprising - we have done that for years. It gave us several easy exits from deep in our 22 and some very cheap points.

I always find it amusing when people confidently talk about front rows en bloc and compare results against opposition when the critical factor is individual matchups. Furlong can be part of a very successful scrum and beat all comers but as soon as he comes up against a loosehead who puts him in trouble there is nothing the rest can do to make amends.

I'm not convinced it was just down to Furlong. Healy has been threading water for some time and Sheehan is an unusually tall hooker. Lot of problems to sort out there.

Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 10:06 am

sockwithaticket wrote: ↑Mon Mar 14, 2022 9:58 am I strongly suspect that Marcus annoying people over a certain age has more to do with his lovely hair than anything. Some jealousy perhaps that they're unable, either folically or socially, able to get away with a similar 'do.

For those with an instagram account, his girlfriend is *ahem* worth a follow