Re: 2023 Six Nations
Posted: Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:11 am
FFS, ER go you your bed.EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:16 amYour ma isn't very try hard. Its just a thing
FFS, ER go you your bed.EnergiseR2 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:16 amYour ma isn't very try hard. Its just a thing
The French and Irish BR's must be creaming themselves at the prospect of facing Smith, all lateral movement and hitch kicks. I suspect he'll get a doing both matches.Slick wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:58 pmIt’s more getting rid of Smith in my opinion. Unless he gets it given to him on a plate I just don’t think he has been good enough at this levelMahoney wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 6:52 pmHe played 10. I reckon Smith was outside him at at least 75% of phases where both were available. Lord knows why they wore the wrong numbers.
It makes no sense to me. Smith at 1st receiver, Farrell inside centre, maybe. Farrell or Smith at 1st receiver with a proper centre outside them, sure. Smith at inside centre though… no.
AWJ, North and Sanjay long past their best and I cannot see the point in coaches playing Canute in this regards. Doesn't matter if youngsters aren't good enough.
Is that you Reggie?Paddington Bear wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:14 pm Signal failure at Willesden, a fine advert for watching on the sofa and not caring about the result
Scotland didn't compete at many breakdowns which was clearly a tactic designed to tighten up the discipline. It's hard to watch when it's what you expect your team to do but it certainly paid off yesterday.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:40 am Very little commentary on what was a key factor in Scotland's win for me: for once their discipline was pretty good and it was Eng who gave away the dim penalties. Question is whether the Scots can avoid reverting to type for 2 matches on the bounce.
Maybe perception but England’s penalty count seemed down from the dizzy heights of late as well? As for the Scots it was noticeable that in quite a lot of our attacks in the 22, at the point they normally give away a pen and free ball, they didn’t. Makes a difference.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:40 am Very little commentary on what was a key factor in Scotland's win for me: for once their discipline was pretty good and it was Eng who gave away the dim penalties. Question is whether the Scots can avoid reverting to type for 2 matches on the bounce.
Out of curiosity I looked on the Bath forum. They were raving about Russell's performance. That he made mistakes was not missed, but the point generally made was the way his passing to players in space was opening up the defence, and how Bath have the backs who can really profit from that.
Good point. You'll need to change that against Ire (especially) and France though i.e. compete and retain discipline.Blackmac wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:46 amScotland didn't compete at many breakdowns which was clearly a tactic designed to tighten up the discipline. It's hard to watch when it's what you expect your team to do but it certainly paid off yesterday.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:40 am Very little commentary on what was a key factor in Scotland's win for me: for once their discipline was pretty good and it was Eng who gave away the dim penalties. Question is whether the Scots can avoid reverting to type for 2 matches on the bounce.
Out of curiosity I looked on the Bath forum. They were raving about Russell's performance. That he made mistakes was not missed, but the point generally made was the way his passing to players in space was opening up the defence, and how Bath have the backs who can really profit from that.
Agreed.
I'm laughing my hole off over breakfast.
He had been fucked around at Worcester and had his wedding arranged in SA when there but following collapse of Worcester and return to Embra it ended up slap in middle of a run off games. He was carrying an injury when he came back to Embra and then made it worse just before wedding. He got married a couple of weeks ago and came straight back to join Scotland squad. He took time to settle back in - given above that's fair enough.LenCohen wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 11:19 pmThat's very interesting, thanks. Apparently his attitude hasn't been all that impressive since he rejoined Edinburgh but when he can do stuff like he did today...Tichtheid wrote: ↑Sat Feb 04, 2023 10:26 pm Richard Cockerill saved Duhan van der Merwe's career. He was out of contract, no club and had a very badly injured hip. No one was interested in him. He failed his medical at Edinburgh, but Cockerill had seen enough from his time in France to make him go to the SRU and press the case for getting van der Merwe into an operating theatre and rehab after.
It was a big personal move from Cockerill, he put a lot of his own reputation on the line for Duhan and it has paid off handsomely.
Cockers ultimately fucked up at Edinburgh, but not everything he did was bad.
England are getting rid of Richard Cockerill, maybe the failings are not all down to him and the previous regime, maybe they are, I don't know, but all I do know is that without Cockers' intervention, we would not have seen van der Merwe on the park for Scotland today
It was funny because it was just so far off his usual standards.Uncle fester wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 9:35 amI'm laughing my hole off over breakfast.
I think we had studied the ref before the game and decided we needed to play that way to avoid penalties. Often playing playing the ref is just as important as playing the opposition - we did it well. Also I think we were waiting for England to kick the ball away, we flooded the back pitch and knew we could field and return their kicks well plus the quality of kicking from England was very poor. For me it was clear we knew England were going to kick long all day - our last try was started off from a high kick from England that went too far and by then the English team were blowing out of their arses so Russell caught and we ran it back right and then left against a disorganised England defence. Ditto VdM try earlier - caught by Hogg and then returned with interest by VdM against an English defence that hadn't got itself organised and was all over the place. Kicking is a reasonable tactic but it does require the team to have a well organised defensive system to make it work - I suspect Borthwick will be all over that in training.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:59 amGood point. You'll need to change that against Ire (especially) and France though i.e. compete and retain discipline.Blackmac wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:46 amScotland didn't compete at many breakdowns which was clearly a tactic designed to tighten up the discipline. It's hard to watch when it's what you expect your team to do but it certainly paid off yesterday.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:40 am Very little commentary on what was a key factor in Scotland's win for me: for once their discipline was pretty good and it was Eng who gave away the dim penalties. Question is whether the Scots can avoid reverting to type for 2 matches on the bounce.
I was having similar thoughts.weegie01 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 9:12 am In some ways the game yesterday was the culmination of what has been emerging at Glasgow and Edinburgh. Glasgow are attacking from all over the pitch, and if you give them a sniff they will hurt you. Edinburgh have not been as creative, but can go toe to toe with anyone as their games against Saracens showed. Obviously Glasgow's pack sets the platfrom for the backs as well, I just think Glasgow are more dangerous running from anywhere with Edinburgh a bit more 'take it up the guts;.
Either way, despite different players, it all came together yesterday. I still worry that Scotland will do the traditional follow a good performace with a bad, but this performance looked like it was built on a solid foundation of everyone knowing their job and executing it as a team to set the platform for some great individual performances, rather than a few players having a great game and carrying the rest with them.
Maybe I’m being too kind to both but I see White’s try as just one of those things. Loose ball creates space, rest is history. Far more annoyed about the other three tries
Not the first time Farrell's fucked up our defensive alignment by looking to smash someone. Thought it was a problem left behind in the Gustard days, though. Evidently not.
I actually thought our kicking was pretty bad and England won most of those battlesdpedin wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 10:13 amI think we had studied the ref before the game and decided we needed to play that way to avoid penalties. Often playing playing the ref is just as important as playing the opposition - we did it well. Also I think we were waiting for England to kick the ball away, we flooded the back pitch and knew we could field and return their kicks well plus the quality of kicking from England was very poor. For me it was clear we knew England were going to kick long all day - our last try was started off from a high kick from England that went too far and by then the English team were blowing out of their arses so Russell caught and we ran it back right and then left against a disorganised England defence. Ditto VdM try earlier - caught by Hogg and then returned with interest by VdM against an English defence that hadn't got itself organised and was all over the place. Kicking is a reasonable tactic but it does require the team to have a well organised defensive system to make it work - I suspect Borthwick will be all over that in training.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:59 amGood point. You'll need to change that against Ire (especially) and France though i.e. compete and retain discipline.
Ireland won't kick as much and if they do it will be of a far higher quality plus they will quickly get defence organised and stop us making so many yards running it back. We will need different tactics I agree.
I didn’t think it was terrible, but I’d agree England’s was generally more accurate.Slick wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:16 amI actually thought our kicking was pretty bad and England won most of those battlesdpedin wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 10:13 amI think we had studied the ref before the game and decided we needed to play that way to avoid penalties. Often playing playing the ref is just as important as playing the opposition - we did it well. Also I think we were waiting for England to kick the ball away, we flooded the back pitch and knew we could field and return their kicks well plus the quality of kicking from England was very poor. For me it was clear we knew England were going to kick long all day - our last try was started off from a high kick from England that went too far and by then the English team were blowing out of their arses so Russell caught and we ran it back right and then left against a disorganised England defence. Ditto VdM try earlier - caught by Hogg and then returned with interest by VdM against an English defence that hadn't got itself organised and was all over the place. Kicking is a reasonable tactic but it does require the team to have a well organised defensive system to make it work - I suspect Borthwick will be all over that in training.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:59 am
Good point. You'll need to change that against Ire (especially) and France though i.e. compete and retain discipline.
Ireland won't kick as much and if they do it will be of a far higher quality plus they will quickly get defence organised and stop us making so many yards running it back. We will need different tactics I agree.
Agreed.
Another big difference was dominating the lineout which meant it didn’t really cost us much. In the end England were scared to throw it anywhere but 2 which made defending easierYr Alban wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:42 pmI didn’t think it was terrible, but I’d agree England’s was generally more accurate.Slick wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 11:16 amI actually thought our kicking was pretty bad and England won most of those battlesdpedin wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 10:13 am
I think we had studied the ref before the game and decided we needed to play that way to avoid penalties. Often playing playing the ref is just as important as playing the opposition - we did it well. Also I think we were waiting for England to kick the ball away, we flooded the back pitch and knew we could field and return their kicks well plus the quality of kicking from England was very poor. For me it was clear we knew England were going to kick long all day - our last try was started off from a high kick from England that went too far and by then the English team were blowing out of their arses so Russell caught and we ran it back right and then left against a disorganised England defence. Ditto VdM try earlier - caught by Hogg and then returned with interest by VdM against an English defence that hadn't got itself organised and was all over the place. Kicking is a reasonable tactic but it does require the team to have a well organised defensive system to make it work - I suspect Borthwick will be all over that in training.
Ireland won't kick as much and if they do it will be of a far higher quality plus they will quickly get defence organised and stop us making so many yards running it back. We will need different tactics I agree.
The difference yesterday was that for once it was Scotland who were the clinical finishers. It’s been the other way round so many times that I can’t actually believe I’m even typing the words. Other than that it was a pretty even game, with England having the edge in many areas.
That really surprised me. At that stoppage where they had bodies strewn over the park and were then clearly time wasting to get a breather! One thing you never expect of England is to be questioning their fitness.dpedin wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 10:13 am
I think we had studied the ref before the game and decided we needed to play that way to avoid penalties. Often playing playing the ref is just as important as playing the opposition - we did it well. Also I think we were waiting for England to kick the ball away, we flooded the back pitch and knew we could field and return their kicks well plus the quality of kicking from England was very poor. For me it was clear we knew England were going to kick long all day - our last try was started off from a high kick from England that went too far and by then the English team were blowing out of their arses so Russell caught and we ran it back right and then left against a disorganised England defence. Ditto VdM try earlier - caught by Hogg and then returned with interest by VdM against an English defence that hadn't got itself organised and was all over the place. Kicking is a reasonable tactic but it does require the team to have a well organised defensive system to make it work - I suspect Borthwick will be all over that in training.
Ireland won't kick as much and if they do it will be of a far higher quality plus they will quickly get defence organised and stop us making so many yards running it back. We will need different tactics I agree.
Game over by half time, probably before. Wales were very bad. My only concern if I was Irish would be that the best teams wouldn’t have slackened off in the 2nd half, but it’s a hard thing to do when you are so dominantJim Lahey wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:45 pm What was the general consensus about the Ireland game?
Seemed that Ireland never really had to get out of 1st gear given how shite the Welsh were. I was in and out of the room a bit checking on the BBQ but it seemed to be a catalogue of Welsh penalties and other errors. Will need to rewatch later in more detail.
How did Murray and Big Stu get on?
FM. Bath will have to change their all round attitude and their ability in the fwds for there to be any chance of that happening. It's the key reason they've been sh*te for so long despite their glitterazi squad lists. My bet is Russell will see far too little quality ball. The fact that Bath fans think a superstar FH is the panacea to all their ills is probably reflective of the general cluelessness that has surrounded the club for so long.weegie01 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:58 amOut of curiosity I looked on the Bath forum. They were raving about Russell's performance. That he made mistakes was not missed, but the point generally made was the way his passing to players in space was opening up the defence, and how Bath have the backs who can really profit from that.
I did hear on one pod they've one of if not the slowest ruck speeds in the premiership. Doing flip all till they sort that.Torquemada 1420 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:50 pmFM. Bath will have to change their all round attitude and their ability in the fwds for there to be any chance of that happening. It's the key reason they've been sh*te for so long despite their glitterazi squad lists. My bet is Russell will see far too little quality ball. The fact that Bath fans think a superstar FH is the panacea to all their ills is probably reflective of the general cluelessness that has surrounded the club for so long.weegie01 wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 8:58 amOut of curiosity I looked on the Bath forum. They were raving about Russell's performance. That he made mistakes was not missed, but the point generally made was the way his passing to players in space was opening up the defence, and how Bath have the backs who can really profit from that.
George was throwing in like he was still concussed.Slick wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 1:03 pmAnother big difference was dominating the lineout which meant it didn’t really cost us much. In the end England were scared to throw it anywhere but 2 which made defending easierYr Alban wrote: ↑Sun Feb 05, 2023 12:42 pmI didn’t think it was terrible, but I’d agree England’s was generally more accurate.
The difference yesterday was that for once it was Scotland who were the clinical finishers. It’s been the other way round so many times that I can’t actually believe I’m even typing the words. Other than that it was a pretty even game, with England having the edge in many areas.