Rate the match between England and France in London, and leave your thoughts on the game in the comments section below.
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Rate the match: England vs France, Six Nations 2015
Rate the match between England and France in London, and leave your thoughts on the game
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73 replies on “Rate the match: England vs France, Six Nations 2015”
What a match. England good but not good enough.
All the English players bar Tom Youngs and Haskell should hold their heads high.
How many more matches will Youngs throwing and Haskell’s stupidity cost us matches.
I seem to recall several scoring opportunities ruined by mis-throws from Hartley this 6n, so I hardly think it’s fair to single out Youngs in that respect.
Hartley’s line out misdemeanours are very much out of character though, whereas T Youngs has form, his dodgy throws cost us against France last year too.
It’s a shame because he is so good in the loose, but I just don’t trust him in tight situations. I do question why Parling was taken off as Youngs was brought on. Surely the club combo would have helped. Yet another of SL’s baffling use of subs.
Wasn’t Lawes calling the lineouts on Saturday? Have to think if he’s not calling the lineouts what Parling is doing in the team, to be honest: there are players who offer more around the park, both in the loose or at the scrum and breakdown.
Can I add Burrell to that list. His decision making at this level has been shocking. That first break, inside our 22, trying to force the offload. No, no, no!! Almost worse than butchering the try scoring opportunity last week by not passing or kicking.
What do you say after that!? What an advert today has been for Rugby, absolutely incredible!
That was the best game I have ever seen. And I would have loved nothing more than for us to get the points we needed, I can’t think of a better way to have won it. But I’ve waited 12 years for England to properly win the Six Nations (too much disappointment for 2011 to count!) I can wait another year.
Congratulations to Ireland richly deserved, as it would have been if either England or Wales had won.
Can’t wait for the World Cup, good luck trying to call that one!
Fantastic match!!!!
How brilliant that the outcome of the tournament came down to the last minute of the last match!!!
Great match. But Haskell yellow & George Ford pointless kick were the stupid things i hated. Thought England should’ve kept Ben Youngs on, Wiggleworth was notable slow to the breakdown.
V.good match; I thought the 2nd too games would have been much closer but today just showed how close the top 3 teams are in this 6nations. 10pts between the 3 of them; all able to put up huge numbers when needed. Whether or not England fell short today there’s nothing to be overly disappointed with.
Wales – What a 2nd half, and they racked up an immense challenge for the others.
Ireland – Answered the call and controlled the game.
England – Against the tougher of all the opponents and huge number of tries.
I cant find much missing from today’s games; although a wales win would of been nice i’ll settle for there performance. Can’t wait for the next six nations or the world cup. Great ending to an entertaining tournament!
Thought Youngs, Robshaw and Vunipola were incredible. Honourable mentions to Marler, Lawes and Nowell too. Ford’s goal kicking was massively improved but tried a few to many dinks and chips when it was blatently better to keep the ball in hand.
Youngs needs to be dropped for Webber and Wood should be given some opportunities to win back his place in the WC Warm ups (where one of Slade or Tuilagi NEEDS a run of games at 12).
Can take some solace in the fact we played the best rugby of the Championship but Lancaster really needs to shrug this perennial runners up tag come WC time. Especially considering the “friendlier” run to the WC final we’ll have provided we top our group.
Nice game to watch.
As a frenchman, I think we lost the game with Lawes’ tackle on Plisson. England was clearly outplayed at this moment, and we lost our mind for the rest of the halftime (old England B plan…)
The second one was pleasant to see, but we came from too far, we have no worldclass kicker, and the crowd pushing England was impressive.
Long time I had’nt seen France playing rugby, so I’m happy with that game.
Well done les Rosbifs !
I’m really impressed with England’s oerformance. Disappointed by some poor defence and decision making as team and individuals, we seem to make two steps forward one step back but overall i thought every time they had the ball they looked likely to score. World class performance from Ben youngs. Nowell looks real international class.
I think wer an inside centre short and a pacey 6/7 short still. Other positions look pretty settled i think.
Cracking finale, I thought Wales had done enough vs Italy so to finish second is a fine achievement. Massive gap between the top three son nations sides and the rest. Disappointed in Scotland
Incredible. A solid ten as were all of the other matches today. Ireland deserved champs. England deserved second. All three sides that were in the running today were magnificent. Amazing day.
Bit of a cliché but rugby was the winner today.
3 great matches and whoever lost would have thought of what may be.
From an England perspective if you look at the tournament as a whole, we just weren’t good enough. Leaked tries against Italy & France, missed chances against Scotland and just MIA vs Ireland. We left ourselves too much to do. Still have massive doubts about this management team. And if Haskell is anywhere near the wc squad then heaven help us. But at least we have fewer questions to answer than at the start. Need a better back up hooker and a 12.
Oh benjit you are a miserable sod.
I’m actually not but I just don’t see the plus side of another 2nd place. England make far too many errors to be successful.
Exactly. Yes, Saturday was a great day for the game.All the best rugby of the tournament came in the same six hour period.A true sporting spectacle.
As an English man I am in total agreement Benjitt. First up tackling almost non existent again,France virtually walked their tries over the line. Ford’s kicking to no one is just bloody baffling. Does he do this at Bath?
England blew it against the Scots.Yes, they played their part in a very good tournament that had us all on the edge of our seats but at the end of the day I just want to see a fully formed team that can do what they need to for a full 80 and put away opportunities with clinical prescion.
Finally, congratulations to Ireland.Well done.
Teecee,
For Bath Ford has an excellent kicking game. I’d say it’s been a really strong suit for him.
But Youngs and Ford is looking like the real deal.
Agreed he’s definitely not like that for Bath, I believe the pitch is smaller at Bath which might have something to do with it….?
On the plus side I thought he had a fantastic day from the tee, just proves that he can do it in pressure situations, let’s hope this becomes the norm and not just an occasional thing.
That being the case then ,I can only assume it’s down to a poorly executed or non existent kick chase plan by the England coaching staff which,funnily enough,would’nt come as a massive surprise!
Teecee, what do you think Jules Plisson will make of your comment on England’s first up tackling?
Ha! nice one Blub.I’m sure monsieur Plisson would be mystified at my comment.
I just think that all through the tournament it’s been an area of weakness. At least two of the French tries came from very weak attempts to stop the runner.Against Ireland It was almost “after you claude”etc,same against Scotland.
When England are faced by teams running hard and straight they just seem to melt away. Courtney’s bulldozer impression aside,England allowed themselves to be brushed aside far too easily.
I think if we look at the Haskell debate Benjit, then I think we have to admit that he has been by far and away the form 6 in England and so deserves his current spot in the England team and for me, in game, he has made some very telling contributions. Also, with my West Park Leeds player’s tinted spectacles on I would say that SL has got the England side to a place we haven’t really been since 03. We’ve got strength in depth and we can genuinely claim to be contenders for titles unlike the years of mediocrity I’ve grown up watching.
But I would agree with the consensus that today was a great advert for rugby, especially with the world cup around the corner and hopeful has sent a message to the southern hemisphere sides that we in the north can play classy rugby.
Haskell is a 50 cap veteran. He was lucky not to see red. Disgraceful.
‘That’ French performance everyone was talking about happened and they still got beat by 20 points. Best game of an excellent day of Rugby. All credit to Ireland but Scotland were atrocious.
Benjit, i think you may need to revise your position of where england should be. Any england fan wants them to be world beaters but they’re not. I think they are slightly callow but very good attacking side, they’ll get better, whether they’ll get to best in the world I don’t know but for now I’m satisfied with their development. They’re lacking one or two o Connells or alun win Jones to grab games by the scruff of the neck.and they’re not going to come over the hill anytime soon. Anyway enough of england well done Wales and well done Ireland, terrific performances under huge pressure. And well don’t france for actually turning up and looking interested for 80 mins
We’re 4 years into this team’s development. I don’t expect them to be the vintage of 2003, but I do expect them to be at least as good as 2000. That they are not.
I was out all day and managed to avoid hearing the scores until i got home and watched the recorded games. Watched them all in a row with the aid of fast forward to skip through scrums and breaks.. Good lord that was intense! I cannot believe what I’ve seen. As others have said, old cliche but rugby was the winner today. Amazing stuff.
In the cold light of day I’m pretty gutted England didn’t get over the line as they had the chance to. But the fact is we only scored two more tries than France and they left a lot of points out there with missed kicks. Some great attacking play but to concede 5 tries at home is pretty poor, but then it was no ordinary game.
Haskell is an idiot and always will be. Ben Youngs should never have gone off. His brother’s lineout throwing when it really really matters just diserts him. Was Burrell even on the pitch? Overall, dazed and confused by it all.
I again found the subs policy bizarre and feel had he left Youngs on instead of using the conservative Wrigglesworth we might well now be champions.cips at 15,brown at 11, and Easter 2nd row-all out of postion.That equally reduced our chances.
Difficult to predict how we will do in rwc.May do very well may be poor.
It’s going to be an interesting group for sure; Wales, England & Australia only 2 going through.
Wouldn’t it be great if the world rankings stood true to form & both Wales & England make it through, Both Ireland & Scotland should make it through there groups as should make for a nice mini-six nations with bigger trophy and some SH fun thrown in.
That reply was meant for a different comment lol
Dizzying day…Scotland were depressingly bad and Italy’s second half was woeful beyond belief. Wales were ruthless and excellent in their execution tho. English oak cracked and splintered in places but ultimately stayed afloat with patches of heady brilliance,Ben Youngs,Joseph,Brown and Lawes…..if only; the past missed chances, the basics poorly executed again, the miss firing centre of Burell…..but, what a game, what a game this game of rugby is…..loved it all…..
What a great day for rugby. All three games would make you want to take up the game. Whilst england and France played loose and fancy free no one has commented on the last two minutes. England set up the lineout and drove forward. France clearly collapsed it before england scored. Not only did the ref get it completely wrong he then penalised england from the last play. A really poor end to a compelling game
I can’t believe I can look at a 55-35 win over France and be bitterly disappointed! Who’d have thought we’d see 3 record-breaking/equalling matches on the final day?
After reflecting on the 6N I can at least take solace in the fact that Ireland had the “easiest” two teams away, and so to win on P/D was an impressive feat.
There’s very little between the top 3 6N sides, I think England’s home advantage could prove vital in the RWC.
I called 1 record breaking game didn’t see the other’s coming though lol I don’t want to negate home advantage again; but I think a few teams are getting home games, look at the pool stage wales have 2 fixtures in MS unfortunately for us the Aus game is at twick too but im still confident of wales qualifying.
Regardless of wanting Wales to win the rwc (as im sure u want england to) wouldn’t it be nice for a NH team to do it; get out the SH teams early such as Aus in pool and SA in QF – despite the odds I would love the final to be NH v NH just to show the world the progress the nh teams are making.
Well done Ireland. You are the winners but look at the previous scores. Ireland 18 France 11. Only a 7 point difference. England had the harder match on the day and came up trumps against a harder team than Scotland.
Oh don’t talk such rot Sara. All 3 top teams played the same teams over the tournament so ireland are worthy champs on pts difference. Just congratulate them on doing the best instead of mealy mouthed comparisons of opposition on the day.
Agree with Brighty here – you could as easily argue the French left 12 points out there from missed place kicks to 3 English points, which would make it a possible 9 points victory. 2 points over the Irish win – wow. You can argue over permutations all day long and use them to support any opinion under the sun – the end result should tell enough of a story as it is.
The margins from yesterday are different entirely from the rest of the 6N because all 3 winning teams cut loose instead of trying to keep it tight and edgy – of course margins were going to be different to previous rounds! Nothing to separate the 3 from eachother on the day, so the WC will be fascinating when/if they all meet again.
maths error – *11pt victory, so 4. My bad.
I’m an Englishman agreeing with Brighty. We all played the same teams. Wales played too conservatively early on and it cost them. England left points on the pitch against Scotland, but that was what happened. Ireland worthy winners as they did what they had to do.
What about England only beating Scotland by 12 but Ireland did it by 30, 18 pt difference in the winning margin there. It’s a tournament the results of all games are considered not just one. Final day’s games were tackled differently because of the points needed more gambling was done.
Congratulations to Ireland on winning the 6 nations. Both they and wales set up a fantastic last game by the results they posted against Scotland and Italy. The England game was brilliant to watch. A score of 55 impressive but conceding 35 disappointing. However, I don’t think England would have got 55 without conceding a few points themselves. France who have had a disappointing tournament can play some decent rugby, so credit to them.
England going forward, Parling for captain and an intelligent centre who can also pass, kick and defend. So not Tuiliga.
Never seen a top level international game like it! The only thing that stopped me giving it a 10 was England unfortunately not winning the title.
Anybody fancy calling a team of the tourney? A lot of close calls to weigh up.
Marler, Best, Cole
Wyn Jones, O’Connell
Robshaw, Warburton, Vunipola
Youngs, Biggar
Roberts, Joseph
Williams, Halfpenny, Watson.
Seriously tough picking between any three of the top nations scrum/fly halves. Ford has been by far the best at getting the backs moving but place kicking doubts remained until the last day against France, also tried to be a bit too cute at times. Sexton has controlled four of the five games magnificently but missed two very simple pressure kicks against Scotland and has stuttered with his lethal running and distributing that saw him finish the last competition as joint highest try scorer.
Biggar gets it because the only bad thing I can remember is the missed tackle on Joseph, the rest of his tackling has been stoic, kick chase has been remarkable, imperial under the high ball and his drop goals very sweetly struck.
No overwhelming contenders for 12 as both Fofana and Fickou showed little French flair, Burrell was completely anonymous and Henshaw is still very much growing into the shirt. Dunbar was probably the most exciting to watch, especially with Bennett outside him, his defensive and breakdown work also excellent but unfortunately missed the last two weeks through injury. If I knew for certain that Bennett could competently play 12 with the same confidence he does at 13, he’d be a shoe in. But as I don’t, it goes to the Doctor.
O’Brien would probably displace one of Robshaw or Vunipola if he had played all five games but the fact that he didn’t, the fact that Warburton was the stand out 7 and O’Brien’s superb versatility means he’d be on the bench. Probably alongside Vunipola, Cronin, Lee, Maestri, (Webb/Murray), (Sexton/Ford) and (Kearney/Hogg).
Somebody else can make those last three calls for me. No matter who I choose I’ll no doubt receive some flak for leaving the other player out of the 23, and I’m already predicting a backlash for not having Sexton in the XV. I’m inclined to say Webb, Sexton and Hogg, with very honourable mentions going to the other three. But don’t get me started on “honourable mentions”; because I’ll be here all day handing those out such has been the nature of the tournament.
I agree with leaving Sexton out, he is a great player no doubt but he had a poor game against Wales and despite winning the 6nation with Ireland he wasn’t great with his penalties against Scotland.
I would like to add North in because when he got room to work with he scored 3 in 40min but I guess it makes sense leaving him out cos overall he had a v.quiet tournament.
I left him out because he didn’t play against Scotland and should have been taken off against England because he was clearly affected by the knocks. He’s essentially only played 3 games and a hatrick against an imploding Italy doesn’t make up for two and a half games of anonymity.
Granted Watson was quiet in patches, but less so was Bowe and Huget.
That’s a pretty fair reflection of the tournament for me. A bit of a cheat at blindside. I’d probably put O’Mahoney there, as he’s such a crucial part of the Irish ruck breakdown game.
Also, individually it’s hard to argue with Youngs and Biggar, but Murray and Sexton could easily be there too!
At FB I’d have to say Hogg over Halfpenny and Liam Williams over Watson.
Shame about Dunbar at 12, he seemed in such good form.
What’s interesting here is that on form not a huge amount of the Irish players are in the team of the tournament, but Schmidt has got them so prepared and doesn’t ask players to do more than they are capable of that the team is so good.
I’ve already got Williams on the left wing. I’ve said half backs are insanely close, but for me; Biggar and Sexton were just a nose ahead of Ford on the whole. Whilst Youngs was just a nose ahead of Webb and Murray. Thus I chose Biggar for winning the battle in R4, Sexton on bench. Webb pips Murray to the bench because I think he offers more impact.
Agree on your statement about Schmidt, using Murray and Sexton, he has squeezed an incredible amount of success from the squad he inherited.
When Kidney left, they looked like a team clinging to dinosaurs that were no longer capable of inspiring wins against Scotland and Italy, let alone the likes of NZ and SA. Remarkable turnaround.
10/10 because Ireland are Champions.
John Invervdale, Clive Woodentop, Jeremy Gussett, David Cameron,George Osborne, Benedict Cumberbatch, Eddie Redmayne, Boris Johnson, Antony Eden, Robert Peel, AA Gill, AN Wilson, Tom Hiddleston, Harry Lloyd, Damien Lewis, Winston Churchill, Edward Heath, the wicked witch of Grantham (rot in Hell Maggie!!), Dominic West, Ian Fleming, William Saxe-Coburg-Gothe, Harry Saxe-Coburg-Gothe (or should it be Hewitt?), Pico Lyer (?) etc etc
Your boys are again not champions!!!!
,
Loudest cheer of the whole afternoon in the pub was for England NOT getting the title yet again!
Enoch, Cameron is a Scot,I’ve a feeling Peel was Welsh,Johnson has Turkish ancestry (yes look it up!) and Gideon Osborne isn’t even human never mind English.
Enjoy your win ,your boys just about deserved it. Just.
Well done Enoch, you’ve really captured the mood of good will on what was a great day of Rugby.
I can’t help but smile at this, Enoch. I came here this morning full of the joy of Rugby. What a day. And I see you agree. For different reasons, though. Me because the Welsh boys stepped up and delivered an electric performance, then Ireland answered, and England nearly topped the lot. Me because the Rugby in all 3 games was wonderful, breakneck, passionate stuff. You, because you hate the English with a passion. Still, it takes all sorts!
A very eclectic list there. I have to wonder what Dominic West has done to provoke your ire, or Tom Hiddlestone. Care to shine a light?
Full credit to France for going for it full blast. The Lawes titanic hit on Plisson seemed to turn the momentum in the first half when I feared the game (let alone the championship) could be slipping away.
Full of regret we didn’t do a clinical job the week before. It’s a bit like 2013 where a dismal performance on the penultimate weekend left the door open to Wales that the game was not only winnable but the points difference easily surmountable.
….. I can’t think of a more stupid substitution than hauling Youngs off in the middle of the game of his life. Can anyone guess the logic behind this?
Congrats to Ireland and Wales also looked good with their Lions resurrecting their 2012 form. Great to see England come through against a resurgent French side. We now have a nailed on outside centre in JJ, Nowell is growing on me and Youngs has delivered consistently. Save for Haskel’s adolescent trip it was a solid performance.
I just hope lessons learnt are enough to cope with the Southern Hemisphere in the WC
Can’t help thinking that with the amount of game time Cips got, Lancaster is just waiting for Farrell to come back, whereupon Danny could just slip into International obscurity. Pity, his maverick abilities could offer something extra.
Well England played with intent from the start, as they ought to do & have done in ALL their games IMO. Racked up plenty tries for a change, but then so did the French. The S Times talked the glorious occasion up, albeit being it error strewn & Barnes opined the Ford is fab.
Ironically France had most of the stats on their side, incl terr & poss. However what killed England was their ‘D’ this time. That & the fact that boy wonder kicked the lard off it in the last 1/4. What England needed were points i.e., tries. Surely Ford ought to understood this, it’s pretty basic. If you have ball they can’t score, but you could, if they do, they might. Robshaw, as captain, ought to have got hold of GF & shaken him till the latter’s head was spinning like the unfortunate 1/2penny & said;’I’ll go over it 1 more time Geo, DON’T kick the friggin’ pill! Why Lancaster didn’t do likewise beggers belief for me. But that’s SL for you.
Anyway, uplifted the faithful I guess, but, although a nice try, still no cigar.
Nice to see Danny Cip get more than 3 as well.
Close indeed, Don. It’s a funny old game, isn’t it? Johnson in 2011, Gatland in 2013, Schmidt in 2014 & 15 won 4/5 and their teams lifted the trophy. Lancaster has won 4/5 in all of his Six Nations and won nothing.
I’m not sure there’s anything ironic about France winning the stats. As a NZ supporter, you must be aware that they routinely have less than 50% territory and possession but take their chances when they come, and end up winning.
No. I’m not addicted to stats, more with the bottom line, but then I don’t need to be as I have you here for that. Am aware that the AB stats from the 1st 3rd tests v England improved as did the scorelines. Stats are an interesting indicator, as I, er, indicated before, but taken in isolation they can be manipulated to give a less than objective overall story @ times. For instance, NZ kick as much as anyone opined Shaun Edwards (& others). In itself, this is true, but they do so accurately & with the purpose of regaining possession (to score tries IMO). They also usually make more yards, & (catch) passes & score more tries than most/all others. I don’t look these up all the time as it interests me less than how, what, when, where & why tries are created, as these, in the end, literally count the most.
I don’t know if you saw, but in 2003 the Junior World Cup semi-finals were New Zealand v England and South Africa v Wales. I remember reading an article in a South African paper already talking about the all-SH final as if it was a done deal.
England and Wales won to make it the first all-NH final, and it was bloody brilliant.
That reply was meant for Michael Clarke, not sure why it didn’t work.
I didn’t know that but tis good news, i’d like to see it at he senior level though. Figure a home world cup could be a good setting for it, I know it’s explained as England world cup as host but since MS is being used I consider it more a home nations one, would of been nice if they used the aviva and murrayfield too then it could be a “NH welcomes the SH to get there butt kicked” but i guess im hoping for to much :p
As stated i know it’s an england host but I doubt Wales will ever win it to host it alone so i’ll take what i can get :p We’ll settle for taking the title 😉
Really odd. I’ve been through all of the posts twice and I can’t see the calls for Nowell to be dropped anywhere. Must have missed them! I’m not always right, but I do feel a certain vindication on this point having taken some flak last week!
Itoje and Ewers for the warm up games? Haskell is on very shaky ground. Woods needs back up.Either that or switch Robshaw to B/Side and bring in Kvesic and or Fraser. Ditto Daly and Slade. The 6n is over the world cup cometh!
Lancaster all over the press today claiming we can win rwc.After 4 failures to win 6n and mistake ridden inconsistent performances It would be nice to get some humble assessment from him and to focus solely on beating Wales and Oz before he even mentions 1/4 finals let alone anything else.All too typical that in his eyes we’ve won the cup 6months before kick off.Farrell Snr ditto.Also suspect Owen is inked in at 12.Apart from that I feel great!
As Blub says below, you’ve made a massive jump from what he actually said. Also, as with most media stories, he was probably directly asked a question to which he responded. i.e. “Do you think you (England) can win the World Cup?”. Do you expect him to say No?
Simon that is quite a leap of assumption, jumping from “we CAN win the cup” to “in his eyes we’ve WON the cup”.
I don’t believe it is an unreasonable statement. His, not yours, by the way.
And as the coach of the hosts, what is he supposed to say?
To be fair, Gats and Welsh press are also saying we “can” win the world cup. Any why wouldn’t they? Name a team in the top 8 who would be 100% confident of beating Wales on current form. There isn’t one if they’re honest so we “can”. Scotland on the other hand can’t. So I think it is worth SL being positive with “can”. Especially with home advantage, fixtures ordered in their favour, etc.
Exactly. Imagine the headlines otherwise, “Lancaster doesn’t think his team can win the World Cup”. It would be carnage.
So after a great finish to this years 6N, we have answered a few questions within our team. 1. Youngs and Ford are the best 9/10 combo we currently have. 2. We have strength in depth in most areas, but especially the second row! 3. A functioning back three who work excellently together and are able to over each others positions. 4. Joseph has earned the 13 shirt, and we need to keep him fit.
The one question we haven’t answered is who should wear the 12 shirt. Burrell has done some good, and some very bad things this 6N and his decision making needs to be questioned. If Joseph is playing 13, we need a ball playing 12 (i.e. not Burrell or Barritt). I don’t think Tuilagi is the answer either. 12T is a ball playing 12, but I don’t think he is good enough at this level.
Slade needs more time in the squad, playing 12 alongside Ford. I suspect SL will look at playing Farrell at 12 when he’s fit (he does have credit in the bank after all), and I think it would work. Keep Cips on the bench as he can cover 10 and 15, and then have Daly to cover centre, wing and fb.
Best team won on the day! Fair and square over the long haul. Sara did have a point that translates in my mind to the best attacking play in the tournament having been English bar none. They let themselves down in other areas that undermined the whole! England have to aim for consistency, a plan B when required (never seen one under SL), better selection (again a weakness of SL as guilty of conservatism in key areas NOT throughout however!)
Where are Wade, Slade, Kvesic, Care and yes my favourite Steffon?
Is the lack of patriotism thing a weakness when other teams use it to their advantage to get over the line (particularly whenever playing England) I think so and the answer is complicated! The English just can’t be seen to be patriotic otherwise get accused of anything ranging from BNP voters to arrogant or Celt haters (the latter a contradiction in terms because they are celts themselves – I am 100% a Celt and a sassenach to boot)
Agree with Dazza’s ” Farrell at 12 statement and Daly in the mix. Can’t see where Tuilagi fits in to a starting line up now. He might have a bit in the bank but it’s the bulldozer bank not the distribution bank. Also like to see Wade and Steffon ( who can cover the whole back row)in the match day squad. However can’t see the squad, (barring injuries) altering too much.
Nice bit of anti-English ‘ARROGANCE’ from Enoch. Lovely! Had missed that earlier. Challenge everyone to condemn it on this responsible/family friendly blog! Root it out wherever you Find it!
Good to see the first things that both Woodward and B.Youngs said post-match were well done Ireland.
Well done indeed! That’s The quarter Irish part of me speaking. Terry Wogan (an Irishman) also said on the 6N Highlights TV prog that when u win u win and when u lose you shake hands and have a pint (probably the black stuff in his case)
And yes if Ireland were to play NZ in the final RWC I’d defo cheer them on (none of this sour grape crap that Ireland beat England in the 6N so I’m therefore against you for ever and ever…..!
(Said by the bigot as all the toys are sent flying from his pram!)
Well done Ireland
Good Craic!
Nicely balanced comments Alex,well done. I’m a quarter Irish too (Granny from Wexford) but am an England fan through and through. However I have no problem with the thought of Ireland winning the W Cup if they deserved it.
Good point about England being the best attacking team but weak in other areas. Sadly I think this is what will spoil the party for us ultimately. Lancaster is not reactive enough or innovative enough to come up with solutions.
Nice to see Xenophobia alive and well in Enoch’s household,wonder what he does at Lions time?