Rate the opening match of the 2015 Rugby World Cup between England and Fiji at Twickenham, and share your thoughts on the game in the comments section below.
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Rate the match: England vs Fiji, RWC 2015
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So proud of England, yes there were plenty of errors but 1st game out of the way and 5 points is such a massive result on the opening night, good enough performance to beat Wales but need a step up to beat the Aussies and move on. Very stressful watching on TV but will be there for the next 2 games and so so excited. Brown man of the match for me, May great but for a few errors. Robshaw super too. Scrum will improve with the lack of policing of the put in – too straight from Youngs !!
Col., I hope England also think that as I’d give my right arm for England to put in a performance like that against Wales. Methinks you’re becoming a bit obsessed as every comment you post includes a little dig at Wales… Worried much? ;-)
Thought England were poor to be honest. ford didn’t attack the line until about 70 mins in, Barritt made no impact and Morgan was invisible as a carrier. Improved when both Vunipolas and Burgess came on and Wood started to carry – maybe that was gameplan but disappointed overall. Fair play Fiji though they really competed and think could be a real threat throughout group.
That was Farrell, not Ford. Farrell came on when Burgess did.
Totally agree col on put ins, thought that was poor from ref to be honest – it was quite obvious.
Stu, Col actually meant it the other way. He thought Eng were being too straight on put ins and is looking forward to Youngs taking adavantage of a less diligent ref. Odd thing to pin any hopes on.
Well it’s the scoreboard that counts.35 points and a 5 point bonus win is pretty damned good.But as a performance after 3 months in camp leaves a lot to be desired.I can’t see us beating Australia and the Welsh game can go either way.I remain nervous.Subs did well but set piece patchy and 11 turnovers lost very poor.
I was seriously sweating and pulling my hair out throughout the match. So many mistakes but the pressure and nerves would have been massive. I think it will serve the team well going forward into the Welsh and Aus games.
The fourth try will likely be crucial, what sporting drama. Thanks TMO!
Not good enough to win the pool.
First match, what did you expect? A lot of very nervous players did us proud, I wish I had the same bottle to deliver under so mush expectation. Well done England but also well done Fiji you did a great job for the credibility of rugby as an inclusive world-wide sport.
Was there live, so maybe not that Impartial but I thought that was a decent first effort. Considering some thought we would lose this …
I was there live too and thought that was a dismal performance. One that will have Wales and Australia rubbing their hands with glee
Only in the last ten minutes did we look like a tier one team. The forwards were appalling. We lost scrums against the head to Fiji for crying out loud.
Youngs can’t scrum and should be replacement only. Parling and Lawes are too lightweight in the second row. Was Morgan even playing?
How many times did we get incredibly slow ball – or even turned over – because the forwards were hanging around in midfield rather than hitting rucks? Is this a plan? If so, it’s a god awful one
As for the backs, my heart sank the moment at the first scrum when they tried some pretty pattern by lining up behind it. For Christ’s sake just get the basics right before trying the play book. I’m not even sure the England backs are able to run straight, draw a man and pass the ball
It seems to me that the team is massively over coached
Thank God for the replacements and Mike Brown who seemed to throw the shackles off in the last half hour and play his natural game
I fully agree re over coached.3 months preparation ridiculous.Nerves etc no excuse.They are paid to perform under pressure.Basically we are very lucky to have got 5 points on the board but Wales and Oz will be confident of victory.
Agree the set piece is a concern, but will have to hold on until I have seen the match again.
Let’s see how Aus and Wal fare against Fiji before we get too over critical of Eng
Breakdown felt like we were holding something back and I would expect great improvement here next week like in the warm up game against Ireland compared to France the week before.
The scrum is far more concerning and Marler seems to be really struggling since his return from shoulder surgery, Mako was much better but is seen as an impact sub rather than a starter. Tom Youngs needs to learn to hook instead of just trying to drive over the ball.
Brad Barritt had a bad game and wasn’t getting us over the gain line meaning we were struggling to get front foot ball to earn the right to go wide.
We knew Fiji would tire and that it would open up for us in the last 10 but the scoreline flattered the performance
The breakdown was only an issue all the while we had no players getting over the gainline, which is fairly inevitable. Getting quick ball at a ruck whilst running backwards is incredibly difficult. We need to add a couple carriers to the starting XV and then the breakdown issue will resolve itself.
Agreed. The scrums were the most shocking part for me, followed by ruck turnovers.
Also just read Billy V didn’t even know there are bonus points in the WC. Wtf? Admittedly I only realised last week, but I’m not playing! Imagine if they’d just kicked it out after 80 mins.
A five point win to kick off a tournament under immense pressure. I can only say that from what I saw england looked stiff, like the pressure had affected them. Very impressed with the Fiji set piece which was assumed to be a weakness. The monster sized 11 was just a frightening sight. Mike Brown is currently back to being England’s difference maker, the angry man try celebrations are still funny though (this is meant to be a humourous dig before someone says I’m having a go at him). Not sure what, if anything, Wales can take out of it. England’s forwards have now had three games where their traditional superiority has been absent. France beasted them and Fiji matched them so I think Wales can get parity up front (I think, I don’t know, thinking of a certain C claiming I’m brainwashed) which should mean it’ll be a game. Still can’t call it. Wish I was as confident about next Sinday as most of the English fans I meet.
Based on that performance I think Wales will get far more than parity at the Scrum, and will completely dominate the breakdowns. I’m fearing the worst next week.
Yes.
Whilst England got 5points from the opening game which is always a plus especially under pressure I still think their are things Wales can appreciate, they lost the ball a lot, that was a poor aspect of their game even with nerves in consideration, their lineout that was supposed to improve was still poor, as was the scrum. Wales may struggle on the scrum front but the lineout we should be able to take advantage off, and with the right players on the pitch turnovers could be frequent too.
Again I’m not saying this is gonna be a walk for Wales by any stretch, but I’m confident we can & will see of any threats, if we do pull it off, and do so by a decent margin we can neutralize that bonus point they just earned mean getting one against Fiji the following week isn’t as critical.
Another thing worth noticing is England got a lot of there points during the yellow card, and then in the last 20min when Fiji were out of fuel, Fiji also blew a lot of points by missing so many penalties. Wales are unlikely to miss so many with Biggar taking the kicks, and they wont run out of steam in the final quarter either – I wouldn’t want to jinx myself on the card issue tho lol
Have faith bud :)
Thought the ref was good in the 1st half missed alot of hands in the ruck the 2nd half and hence the turn over rate. There was no ball won at the BD legally and unless the ref cracks down on that you get slow ball and time to structure your defence.
Pressure of being the first game does not disguise that England were poor, no obvious game plan other that kick, forward pass, to the wings. On this performance can’t see the Welsh or Aussies being worry. Very, very lucky to secure the bonus point.
A win is a win, but really didn’t like the red kit!
No, reminds you of what’s looming next week…… ;)
God England were shit! – Thought I’d better get that in before Ireland “perform”
I’m not one for “Ifs” but if Fiji had a kicker England would have lost this one with the scutters!!
Here’s a grenade! – first Eng try shouldn’t have been – three players off side – truck and trailer me arse! “pew pew” Shots fired again!
Saw a lot of whinging as well as wonky put-ins – “thought this kind of thing” was going to be cracked down on!?!
Kindest regards
DDD
“Pacific not Aran!”
DDD. I have to agree on the truck and trailer – I said it as we were rumbling forward. Glad the ref missed it.
Just because Fiji had no players left in the maul doesn’t mean it is maul over. Ref clearly calls same maul so no truck and trailer.
They were poor, weren’t they. Quite a bit worse than I expected with the tiring scrum and ineptitude at the breakdown. It’s a worry for England fans, obviously, but I think they will be quite a bit better next week. They will have to be otherwise Cymru will win comfortably. I foresee a tight margin but Cymru too strong and more experienced in what will be a nerve-wracking game for the hosts. And the defeat is going to come largely from an unexpected quarter. Can’t wait!
Yep I don’t think that any of the SH Big 3 , France or Ireland will be worried by what was on offer last night.
11 turnovers,
3 lost scrums
Cole under real pressure from those fearsome scrummagers …Fiji…
Some shocking handling (Joseph dropping the ball when there no-one near him, Burgess’ 1st pass the to the floor)
As Brighty said above the traditional English strength-their forwards were gladly lacking in their games v France, Ireland and Fiji.
DDD comment sums them up after that display too.
If they play like that against better sides they will depart this RWC much earlier than the biased ITV/BBC and ever so pro-English media claims is going to happen.
Did anyone notice that at half time the 4 English pundits discussed ‘the tries from the 1st half’ that did not include Fiji.
Dear dear me…the Ministry for Propaganda and Enlightenment is alive and well living at RWC 2015!
The pundits did discuss the Fiji try. Wilko commented how the kick was pin point so all the winger had to do was catch it and he’d score. He said something about Watson being out of place for it too……
Leave it snewe,your’e wasting your time……………
Got to get the scrum right. If England get on the wrong side of the ref against Wales it could be the millennium nightmare all over again, thank god Walsh has gone. There won’t be as many turn overs that’s a cert, it was a stilted over rehearsed performance, that did improve, and how many times have Wales started a tournament the same if not worse? Glad we got them next and not later on. You have to back England at Twicks, every time….
Welsh fluctuations in confidence seem to be based on the form of the England team, whilst no doubt it was a poor performance from England, if we are going on the bases of form from our previous games, Wales struggled to put away a poor Italy team at home,a far easier proposition I feel than defeating Fiji in the first of game of a rugby World Cup at home. Whilst England will struggle to put any decent team playing the way did last night, so will Wales if they play as badly as they did against Italy. Still, youl pummel Uruguay, and there will be cries of carrying on where you left off in 2011 RWC!
I know Fiji were tiring but I thought the Vunipolas, Launchbury, Burgess and Farrell were all better than those they replaced.
I agree totally which once again raises queries about Stu’s ability to select the best players and combination.I might add Wriggers and Brookes to your list
Also in agreement, launchbury in particular made us look better.
Wasn’t a vintage performance by any stretch of the imagination, but I think that I will reserve judgement until we have seen Wales demolish Fiji as all of our Celtic cousins deem to be predicting above. But would also say that if we play like that against Aus and Wales, we will lose. First game against the World ranked 9th team – only 4? places below us in the rankings. Could have been worse. Would have happily taken 5 points before the game. In fact I think that I would have taken the win. We have much to work on, but as stated we don’t really know how good or bad this performance was yet.
Bloody hell Staggy, I’m not predicting that. 07 is fresh in the memory.
The view in the pub last night was good news / bad news for Wales. Good news is that England have now shown their forwards are capable of having a poor game more than once. They might be awesome again next weekend mind.
Bad news – Fiji last game and the chance of a bonus pt win just shrank, th chance of a win even is shortening. Fiji look like a new breed of south sea islander team – fast, big but also an organised set piece. It’s what the NH teams have feared for years.
Quite a bit of crowing though Brighty by a number of your compatriots over what wasn’t a great performance by England. Wait to see how Fiji play everyone else in the group first. Maybe we were poor (and I’m not ruling that out!) but also maybe Fiji are much improved.
However certainly our front row is struggling – not something I ever expected. Maybe Rowntree can sort it out, maybe he can’t. Same with the breakdown.
Obviously I am aware of Wales great record against South Sea Islanders, so some of the comments above may be premature…………… I do accept that your memory may be better than some of them though.
Am hoping that we have adopted the Welsh tradition of massive fitness work before the tournament, and then growing into the rugby skills as the games go on. Start slow, finish quick.
The Welsh criticism is something I really don’t understand. The last time they played Fiji they crept by with four points to spare and that was against 14 men for most of the second half.
I’m not writing them off by any means and being half Welsh myself, I sincerely hope they progress at Australia’s expense but the talk of England being poor is malarkey.
Tom, I think it’s possible to acknowledge Fiji were better than expected while still thinking England were poor by the standards they have set themselves. I don’t understand this constant need to reply to “England were poor” with “well Wales have been crap in the recent past as well”. They’re not really related, one doesn’t negate the other. If we follow this through then only New Zealand fans can comment on rugby?
England were poor in an area of traditional strength, a go to strength when other things are not going well for them on the pitch. Fiji capitalised on this and were obviously much better in the organisation and set piece than they have been before. If you’re Welsh you’ll obviously be happy that it wasn’t a free flowing performance from England because we need them to be misfiring. We can’t assume they will be next weekend.
We now know how much better Fiji are than before so we also know we’ve got three very hard games to win now, not perhaps the two and a mistaken belief of a final round gimme to rack up some points.
“We can’t assume they will be next weekend” This is what I am referring to. You’re the only Welsh fan here that seems to remain level headed and wait for other results to indicate how relatively good or bad England or Fiji were. Yes there were areas that will need addressing. But as you touched upon when mentioning New Zealand, every team will have these kind of problems week in week out and I think England’s are being blown out of proportion before a proper assessment can be made. Unfortunately I don’t think a proper assessment can be made until the England Wales match has been played because a five day turnaround for Fiji is surely going to hamper the chances that they’ll be able to create a similar size roadblock to frustrate Australia as they did England.
P.S. Half Welsh, half Irish, born in England with plenty of family in Scotland. I support all the home nations in every match they have that isn’t against England. Unless England have something to gain of course. Mum still hasn’t forgiven me for supporting France in the finale to 2014 6N.
I can see some people getting excited, it was the “all our Celtic cousins” claim that made my eyes pop. There are plenty of English on here, the first comment even, arrogantly dismissing Wales’ chances ( the “even playing like that is good enough to beat Wales”) type comments. I wouldn’t turn that into a “The English think we are X”. There are more than 10 of us in Wales and we don’t all speak for each other.
Now you know how it feels to be branded an “arrogant Englishman”! Whereas there are undoubtedly arrogant Englishmen, not all of us are. Anyway pedantics aside, I think we are agreed on the rugby facts that England need to work on things and Fiji may be better than we expected, so we’ll stick to those for the time being.
Totally agree Staggy. All I was saying previously was that the first game for the home nation is so difficult & the 5 points is the key, yes we were not very good but you take the win and move on. Just ask South Africa what they would prefer – a fabulous game of rugby against Japan but a loss and 2 points or a scrappy win and a bonus point. Wales game will be totally different & to be looked forward to by all fans, I’m sure it will be a much better game.
It seems churlish to quibble at an opening game ,bonus point victory in the W Cup but………,
All the things that were poor are traits that have occurred repeatedly under Bombers tenure,apart from the scrum going AWOL which is just baffling. Too much lateral ,aimless flinging the ball around, no discernible game plan, iffy tackling (at times) inconsistent lineout throwing from the elder Youngs bro,etc ,etc.
Oh, and Robshaw has still not mastered the art of developing a relationship with the ref after four bloody years as captain.(no Enoch,that is not the same thing as having him in your pocket)
Two more recent reasons for concern are Dan Coles sudden loss of form and the question of Ben Morgans mental fitness. Physically he has healed but I think the injury has affected his self confidence and that’s why we aren’t seeing the blockbusting runs that are his trademark.
Bring JL and George in for the Wales game,and maybe Slade at ten. Pray that Brown stays fit,tell the wingers to go hunting for the ball instead of this silly “side to side and going nowhere really” rubbish, and put a tenner on Japan getting out of their group!
I don’t understand all the pessimism. It’s a bonus point win on the opening night in a banana skin fixture. Fiji now boast a host of class former S15 forward coaches and are a massively improved side since recent years, they’re not #9 in the world by dumb luck. I suspect a lot of people are letting their previous opinions of Fiji cloud the fact that they simply made us work very hard for the win and deserve credit for that. We also fielded an XV with 11 WC debutantes in it so nerves were undoubtedly a factor. Let’s see Wales or Aus put in a 40 point demolition performance before we write off how good Fiji were. Had we achieved the same scoreline against Scotland or Argentina, would there be anywhere near as much doom and gloom or criticism? Certainly not.
Don’t forget that with 8 days of preparation and tactical tinkering, one weeks performance is not always indicative of the next. Up against Warburton and Tipuric our forwards aren’t going to be nonchalantly hanging around in midfield. Get behind the team, have faith that we’ll improve in the weeks to come and be glad that Wood and Brown are playing so damn well.
I’d be far more worried if we lost to Japan or scraped a four point win against the worst Italy side in years…
P.S. It’s funny reading the differences in Welsh sentiment between that awful affair two weeks ago and now when you consider Wales haven’t even played since then to show that they’ll be any better.
Well said Tom far too much knocking of the England side, no point putting a perfect performance in the first game, it’s all about qualifying from the group & building momentum.
After today you might want to rethink that Japan comment! We are behind the team,which is why there s so much concern at some of the things they do and don’t do. You are right to point out the inexperience of the team regarding W Cups though. I certainly hadn’t looked at it that way to be honest.
How about an England Japan final? That would really be something!
Can see Cole and Morgan losing their places, with Barritt and Youngs B being on the cusp.
Yeah the Welsh team is really rubbish and England are going to walk all over them…just keep thinking that way ……..
Well done Japan!
Yes the English team is rubbish and Wales are going to walk all over them… just keep thinking that way…….
Well done Japan!
Ok so now re watched. I think people are really underestimating how well Fiji played. I hope they haven’t emptied the tank as it would be unfair for them to get thumped by Aus, due to the scheduling. What I’ve noticed with Pepper is that if you get him onside early on, he’ll give the 50/50s throughout the match. Something Eng used to do playing Aus a few years back, and sonething they need to be wise to going fwd. Thought Fiji really did their homework.
As a first match, nerves, a fired up opposition and a slippery ball in the rain, I think they did ok overall, lots to improve for Wales for sure. I do wonder (given their impact) how close Billy, Launchbury, Brookes, Farrell and maybe Burgess, are to starting. I know he has his critics, but thought Farrell did well when he came on.
I’ve already rewatched part of the game and they did do extremely well. Fortunately they play Aus then Wales so we do catch a lucky break on that and can hope they are burnt out for an easier pass through.
I also reread my earlier comments and whilst I appreciated Fiji played well but England’s down points weren’t necessarily fixed. As was mentioned in another thread there is nothing to say Wales have fixed there holes since the Italy game either but we can all but hope.
At the end of the day there are a lot of fans on here, both English & Welsh who would back their lads in any game, I mean seriously that is what makes is the die hard fans we are, we are playing Uruguay today and despite my dislike of Cuthbert I gotta support the lad and hope he performs, support a team through good times & bad. Cant wait til the England v Wales came is gonna be a belter and best of luck to both (more so to wales :D) I’m hoping we both beat Aus and qualify just hoping wales can manage to take 1st for the easier route to final.
It will be interesting to see how Fiji and Japan approach the short turnaround. Do they rest players and target the later games? Although Fiji do have an 8 day turnaround after Aus, so they should be able to recover. But after yesterday it’s looking like pool a isn’t the only pool of death anymore!
Given the Japan result, the whole easier route to the final thing is waaaaay up in the air. There’s no way the Brave Blossoms won’t back themselves to top this group now. Before Saturday I’d have said Samoa/Scotland was the key fixture in deciding who goes through from the pool. That’s far from the case now.
My biggest fear from an English point of view is that when faced with an unexpected Figi,we did not change strategy. It seems a common thread that when the horizons change we don’t adapt. The only change happened when the bench came on( which is the whole idea of a bench ). Woodward summed it up by saying that when the bench came on” they just got on with it “. It’s not pessimism, just being upbeat isn’t going to get us out the group. I hope the 5 points instills some ( Mike Brown ) attitude, we need to impose our selves on every team from hear on out.
With reference to English arrogance that’s exactly what we need. Do you think that the 2003 squad went on the pitch with any thing less than ” we are the number one side in the World, we are going to win this World Cup “in their minds.
If we start that flat against Wales,we will loose( care of Welsh back row ). I think we need to smash them from the outset. Play the Vinapolas, Burgess and Farrel from the outset
Wales were a mixed bag against Uruguay today and picked up some more injuries. Having said that Gatland is a wily old dog and the starting lineup will be different next Saturday, as will the tempo that Wales play at.
As`i said in my previous post,accentuating all the negatives seems churlish in the light of what happened to the ‘Boks and England getting the bonus point win but there are so many concerns about this set of players and the way they are being told to play.
Sharpy,I take your point re the ’03 team but they had every reason to be full of self belief/arrogance as they had clearly been the best team in the world for over a year with the scalps to prove it.
The current crop have no real frame of reference as to how good or bad they are at W Cup level. Add in this seemingly unshakeable and infuriating inconsistency that has dogged them all through Bomber’s tenure and even the coaching staff and players would be hard pressed to assess where they really stand. The rankings mean nothing at this juncture. All that matters is the next game.And the next and so on.
My xv for saturday: Brown, Watson, Nowell,JJ, Barritt, Cole (last chance) George,Marler,Robshaw, BV, Wood, Launchbury,Kruis,Slade,B Youngs..
A back row of Kruis, Slade and Ben Youngs. It will have the element of suprise, as would the front row and half back selections ;)
Why drop May but keep Barritt? I’d have Marler, George, Cole, Launchbury, Lawes, Wood, Robshaw, Vunipola; Youngs, Ford, May, Burgess, Joseph, Watson, Brown.
Youngs, Vunipola, Brookes, Parling, Morgan; Wigglesworth, Slade, Nowell on the bench.
Tom, almost agree but swap Youngs for Wigglesworth for quicker ball
Positives:
– 5 points in the bag, 4 try win over Fiji is not a guaranteed result for our rivals
– No injuries
– The build up is over/first game nerves out of the way and hopefully can settle down now
– Mike Brown!!!
Negatives:
– Tight 5 is collectively too lightweight at scrum time
– In Japan you see the difference top quality coaching can make to a team. We have good players but I don’t see a team greater than the sum of it’s parts (can anyone define our game plan based?)
– Brad Barritt, he seems to have become a much better player (in many people’s eyes) whilst out of the team. We observed again he contributed very little to the 59% of the match where we have the ball.
– Halfbacks, over coached? nerves? too inexperienced to handle the pressure due to delayed introduction to team (Ford)? It seems a real shame drop a combination that has performed so well earlier in the year. Big call.
Changes for next game:
– Launchers for Parling
– Webber for Youngs – I like George but I’d stick with more familiar combinations
– Vunipola for Morgan (I prefer Vunipola to do the softening up and Morgan’s extra pace from the bench)
Maybe Farrell and Burgess are better suited to what is coming at us next week as well
I think less changes are made than are being called for. Before the game we all pointed out that whilst Fiji are good, it’s likely to be tight for 60mins then England should pull away. That is exactly what happened; but it doesn’t mean all the subs were far better than their counterparts.
I’ve always been a Farrell fan, but I like him closing games out. Same goes for Wrigglesworth. Billy Vunipola and Launchbury are probably the two I’d bring in. Lawes and Morgan to come out. Only other one I’d consider is maybe Burgess for Barritt.
Yes the scrum was bad, but that is fixable, we’ve all seen the same players scrummage well before.
I thought our main issue against Fiji was our lack of ability to get over the gainline regularly. No one in our back line naturally straightens are gets us over the gainline. Barritt tried but just is not a carrier – maybe Burgess should actually start? As soon as we had carriers coming over the gainline, quick ball surfaced and we could play (shock horror who knew that was how rugby worked!!).
I think Burgess against Wales will be ok. Not because Wales are poor, they aren’t, but their centres are quite direct. Burgess can definitely handle that. Against a trickier centre I’d worry they’d catch him out positionally, but I can’t see any of the Welsh centres doing that. Against Aus, I’d go back to Barritt. Horses for courses though.
I’d consider S Williams as a tricky centre Jacob, but Barritt was so poor I’d still consider Sam. But that would be a big call.
I really think Youngs has to be replaced as hooker.
For me I think Farrell has earned his starting place, and maybe Ford would be better against a tiring defence. Ford has not taken his chance IMO.
Big fan of Scott Williams but is isn’t the type of centre that has the vision or hands to pull Burgess around the park in the way a Giteau/Toomua/Conrad Smith would. Opposite Giteau I think Burgess would get stood up, but I’d have far more confidence with him opposite the Welsh players.
Youngs I would consider dropping too, but I don’t think Webber will do any better and throwing George in for his first proper gap in this game is a huge call. Maybe one worth doing though. Shame, Hartley should really be coming in for this game if SL had though that decision through more.
Farrell I still wouldn’t start. I’m a huge huge fan of his, but he has the advantage of front foot ball on Friday which Ford did not. I would not want to see Ford come on to close out a game. i wouldn’t back him to make big kicks late on, which is why I’d have it that way round. If Farrell was to come in; I’d pull Ford from the 23 and put Slade in.
I expect Williams will be at outside centre with Roberts at inside. That being the case Burgess is the perfect man to stop Robert sgetting Wales over the gainline. Agaisnt Morgan/Allen and Williams less so
The more I think about it the more I like the idea of Burgess coming in. I envisage the confrontation with Roberts could be just like the confrontation with SBW in league, seek out his man and put a big marker down early. Big lift for the team and big lift from the crowd.
With no real power runners off the wings a guy who can get through a tackle, stay on his feet and get the ball away is key to our ambition of playing fast and off the floor.
There is no now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t wizard to expose him positionally, so I would put him in my starting XV
I agree with Jacob, I don’t think too many changes are needed, except maybe a lock and possibly no. 8. I would like Launchbury to start but I’m not sure who with. I wish somebody would light a fire up Lawes’ ass, but maybe he will be revved up for the Wales game. I would definitely like T Youngs to be changed, but I’m not sure about starting Webber or George in such a massive game.
And I really don’t think they can risk starting with Burgess in the biggest game for a long long time. He must be a better bet coming off the bench depending on how the game is going.
My main concern from the match was a seeming lack of (collective?) leadership when things weren’t going well. i.e. why did it take until the subs came on the start running hard and straight? Surely the ‘leadership group’ should have worked this out before that point? Or maybe just Fiji were tiring (which they obviously were).
I also have a massive concern about the scrum and all the talk of it ‘being fixed’ for next week. I am absolutely no expert but it has been very shaky for the last 4 games and hasn’t been fixed yet. The Welsh pack looks big and strong and if the scrum doesn’t hold out I don’t think we stand a chance.
A lot of people saying we played poorly. I’m not going to disagree, but will point out we played poorly and beat Fiji by 21 points! That’s three converted tries! Will be interesting to see how Aus get on against Fiji?
I fear the schedule will do for Fiji against Aus, but might help them against Wales. I’ll be interested to see if there scum is strong or whether we were really abject.
Any news on Wales injuries? I see Allan out but what about James and Lee – this could have a real consequence on Saturday. I also think Fiji will be tired after such a short turnaround which will benefit Australia.
I wouldn’t want to see too much disruption to team although, having said that, I still think we lack bulk up front and wonder if Launch and Kruis coming in with Vunipola and Barritt may help? Don’t know what’s happened to Marler, Cole, Lawes etc seem to be lethargic – intensive fitness backfiring?
Awaiting more info, various scans etc due tomorrow, so tomorrow evening we’ll either have all clears or call ups.