Comments on: Best Of The Weekend: Springbok Comeback Stuns England

By: Don P

Don P — Mon, 18 Jun 2018 17:43:49 +0000

6 on the bounce now! can’t have done yr MH much good fella. And stop making excuses! EJ’s got a yr to put it right & he’s going backwards faster than you trot out Tommy rot. He’s changed nothing @ breakdown or midfield that works. Get real & stop stating poppycock.

By: AlexD

AlexD — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 07:13:09 +0000

Didn’t know you were Steve Hansen’s deputy!
When did your NZRFU contract arrive in the post?
England’s attack was sublime first 20! Several people have said so. An opinion, i’ll admit (of more than one commentator on here)
Relax Don or i’ll have to accuse you of sounding Trump-like or Mao-like and attempting to stifle debate!

By: AlexD

AlexD — Wed, 13 Jun 2018 07:04:17 +0000

EJ didn’t win 18 in a row for Australia though did he? That’s the bit your missing!
He lost 8 out of 9 as you say for Australia. Not good we are all in agreement in so far as that goes. 18 from 24 odd is not BAD though or i’m a Dutchman!
EJ himself said early on in his tenureship that it would be a 3 – phase project.
He’s currently on stge/phase 2 of the 3 – The re-building phase! The rebuild has come later rather than sooner i would admit but he’s still on track. Satisfying the RFU and stabilising a rocky ship (players and public) was his first priority upon arrivall. Hard to knock him for that.
Some could say his player experimentation should have been longer and deeper in phase 1 but then there would have been more losses. SL’s results weren’t that bad outside of the WC and losses early doors for EJ may have seen people asking for his sacking! A fickle world indeed and we know you can’t satisfy everyone!
Sacking EJ now would be footballesque! When i last looked the money in rugby was not of the same ilk so sit down Mr Abramovich!
Calm heads are required and calls to sack him premature – 12 months before a tournament!
Cheika’s record was similar to Eddie’s 8 from 9 when he took over. People stuck with him and kept the faith and now look at him!

By: amy

amy — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 16:31:30 +0000

Eddie has a history of starting well and then crashing and burning. It is well known that the Ozzie rugby cognoscenti said he would go well for 2 years and then things would come apart. Which is exactly what has happened!! I don’t feel I owe him anything frankly ….my loyalty is to the players who deserve way better than this and are in danger of becoming utterly demoralised.
Australia sacked him after he racked up 8 out of 9 losses. We’re not there yet but if we lose all 3 this summer then imo it’s time for us to cut our losses and find someone else. We are in real danger of going out at the pool stages again.
Oh and a coach who has a built in shelf life isn’t really that good a coach despite his enormous ego.

By: Don P

Don P — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 16:14:58 +0000

No you may NOT ‘say’, or state ‘like the AB attack’. The SA defence was so woeful as to be non existent in the 1st 1/2! England simply copied them in the 2nd 1/2. If you want to ‘possess a Mr Nasty’, how about applying?

By: AlexD

AlexD — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 15:46:23 +0000

But EJ won what was it – 18 on the trot!
Something never achieved by any other England coach.
He can’t by definition have become a bad coach overnight! If he lost another 3 on the trot i’d keep the faith as apart from anything else he’s earned it! (The right to lose and be given the benefit of the doubt that is!) Anyone would be churlish to say he hasn’t the right!
He was faced from the off with satisfying multiple people/interest groups and agendas.
A. The RFU
B. The fans
C. The players

He did so in quick time (perhaps too quickly but then we’d have moaned because of more losses in the early days if he hadn’t) having inherited Lancaster’s players and essentially SL’s same problems – they persist to this day:
1. Midfield
2. No’s 6 & 7
3. Lack of in-team leadership (no Dawsons/Johsons or Dallaglio)

To get the wins quickly and silence/buy off the RFU and the fans he papered over the cracks to an extent by keeping the faith with many of SL’s players. However to be frank the real 6’s and 7’s hadn’t raised their heads above the parapet by then ! (Nor had the 12 and 13’s) . The alternative flankers were considered too young, playing ‘abroad’ in Wales (Underhill) or in foreign fields like Armitage. EJ probably didn’t want to risk upsetting the rfu at that stage with a special circumstances release clause for Stefan. Its called politics and keeping your employers happy in the 1st month of the job!
So all in all EJ has not done a bad job! He’s just going through a fallow patch and needs people to man up and back him.
When in adversity even more so…surely!
Ej makes mistakes. Sure. Plenty.
He’ll make some more too!
But he might also go on and get it right….eventually!

By: Harlequin

Harlequin — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 14:55:22 +0000

Stu fully agree.I also feel a luxury beach side resort is hardly the right environment to prepare for matches on the high Veldt which is a very different place.Anyone with 1/2 a brain knows getting familiar with your environment helps you relax.Had they spent all their time on the veldt including this week in Bloem they would be in a better frame of mind than swimming about in the sea.Anothef clanger Mr Jones!

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 06:50:26 +0000

Harsh on Brown I think Jacob, though he should not have been played out of position in the first place. He did tend to get drawn in but that was largely because the centre’s and back row were not doing their job inside him and Dr Klerk was creating an extra man by crossing the gain line so easily. I would have Brown back at full back next week.

By: Andy

Andy — Tue, 12 Jun 2018 06:42:56 +0000

By: Mark

Mark — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 21:21:27 +0000

Hardly rocket science. Play you best players in the positions they are used to. Plan you squad to have some cover in key positions with players who normally play in that position. If playing at altitude at least try to get the players used to this some days in advance. Give you need the best chance to win. Just a thought 🙂

By: Stu

Stu — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 17:59:47 +0000

My real concern is not the result, clearly there were problems as highlighted by everyone already, but the obvious failure in squad and match day selection. The lack of 2nd row cover was indefensible and then he doesn’t even have Hill on the bench following the injury to Launch. He still refuses to give real minutes to a SH even with Youngs so clearly out on his feet and played almost half his team out of position during the match. With BV and Hughes obviously not match fit, Robshaw needing a rest and the refusal to select players in their place who are in much better form, I think EJ has shown himself to be in a really bad place and the main cause of the England malaise.

By: TFD

TFD — Mon, 11 Jun 2018 16:55:42 +0000

Not only are these issues fixable, Saturday was an eminently winnable game even without fixing those issues. If Daly touches the ball down rather than misses it… We are being glass empty here, I think it is at least half full. Tries were scored, attack was present, it was delightful. People say “EJ thinks he knows it all, he’s an idiot” – well the attack didn’t work, he recognised he wasn’t doing an effective job, so he brought in a new attack coach and we scored tries. EJ has made, and continues to make, mistakes; but he does also recognise issues/weaknesses.

Whilst Brown was anonymous in defence, his finish for his try was phenomenal. Again we can criticise the tackling, but his step off his left and then power to the line – unlike anything I ever recall seeing from the guy before. I was in shock.