Comments on: Six Nations 2017: England Player Ratings Versus Italy

By: bolter

bolter — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 18:24:09 +0000

agree that care starting would be disastrous given his horrible box kicking. remember against france last year? we have to keep the ball as far away from hogg as possible..if he has care’s box kicks to feed off we’re in for a long day.
thought hughes was dreadful. why not play ben morgan who knows how to catch a ball and doesn’t spend the whole game giving away mindless penalties? if not morgan and no fit billy then play clifford. he may be anonymous at times but he won’t make ludicrous mistakes.
would quite fancy seeing daly at 13, if not him then te’o. joseph was anonymous in attack the last 2 games and kicks away overlaps.
nowell to start every time.

By: jake

jake — Tue, 28 Feb 2017 10:31:03 +0000

very strong team, and keeping the majority of the players who have actually performed well. Launchberry has been incredible, and has surely done enough to guarantee a Lions spot.

Itoje showing that he can be an international 6 if he has someone like Haskell to do the hard hitting.

Not harsh on Hughes really, hes been ok but his performance Sunday was awful; too many penalities and knock ons. No one is at Billys level so its completely fair to assume Billy comes straight back in.

Brown has shown over the past year that whilst he has grit and defensive capabilities, that he doesn’t offer as much in attack as the likes of Daly or Watson. The one thing keeping him in the team for Scotland is the need for experience and leadership, although he didn’t show much of either on Sunday.

By: Staggy

Staggy — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 23:02:37 +0000

Care can’t box Kick well enough. The Scots and Irish back three will love his too long kicks. Youngs has to start for that reason for me. Care on with tiring legs in front of him.

By: Col

Col — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 21:16:15 +0000

Agree it looks a very good team except for Cole, he was poor and gave away far too many penalties, yes some of them were suspect but you have to play to the ref. I was surprised he was not pulled off after 30 minutes. Put him on the bench as a wake up call. Scotland will be tough to beat.

By: Scrappy

Scrappy — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:45:08 +0000

I think this game showed a. how much England need Ford and Farrell to fire, b. how much they miss Billy V and Robshaw and c. that Hartley and Brown cannot claim that their leadership qualities cover inadequacies in their own performance. Would like to see in 2 weeks:

1. Mako
2. Jamie G
3. Cole (although Sinkler needs to come on earlier
4. Launchbury
5. Lawes
6. Itoje
7. Haskell
8. Billy V (or else Morgan as Hughes needs to go back to Wasps
9. Care (just gets it over Youngs)
10. Ford
11. Nowell
12. Farrell (c)
13. JJ (Te’o on bench)
14. Watson
15. Daly

Bench: Marler, Taylor, Sinkler, Clifford, Wood Youngs, T’eo, Slade

Harsh on Hartley, Hughes and Brown? Maybe, but we need a big improvement against Scotland and the same again against Ireland.

By: sevegolf

sevegolf — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:15:56 +0000

Some abject performances from the usual suspects. Hartley and Cole need replacing Hughes has done his best but not up to it Brown is not the 3rd best full back in England. Need to improve to beat the Scots well done to them by the way. If we don’t God help us in Dublin on the 18th of March. Cant wait two great games coming up.

By: Pablito

Pablito — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 19:09:09 +0000

There was at least one bonus from the Italian tactics. After Youngs’ awful first five minutes, the realisation that he had no time at all after the tackle and before the Italians got in the way of his pass, actually meant that he started to pass the ball immediately rather than with his usual hesitancy and 2 or 3 steps.

Hopefully he can learn from that.

By: Stu

Stu — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 18:47:59 +0000

Awful performance from England ,outside of last 30 mins. Thought Hughes was once again poor, I would really like to see someone else given a chance at 8. Farrell was terrible and I think it shows how important he is to England as it seemed to affect everyone else. For me George and Nowell have earned a start and actually quite fancy a midfield of Farrell, Slade and Daley with Watson coming in on the wing.

By: Dazza (Dazzle)

Dazza (Dazzle) — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 16:01:28 +0000

All fair scores on reflection. Not sure what happened to Farrell, but I guess he just got caught up in the emotion of his 50th cap? Brown played better this week, but I still think a back three of Watson, Nowell and Daly are a better option.

For me Daly has proved that he is absolutely ready to take on the full back role. Great in defence, comes in looking for work and has a serious hoof. Also has bags of pace and a step which keeps opposition guessing. Shame they didn’t test him there for the last 15 minutes of this match once we were back on top.

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:59:24 +0000

Oh and Nathan Hughes has still yet to produce a performance to justify the hype. He’s a barnstormer for Wasps but carries too high for England, meaning that even when his power makes some yards, it takes too long for him to get to ground and the ball out. Looking forward to having BV back.

By: Claire

Claire — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 15:13:30 +0000

Agree with most of the ratings but was a bit puzzled by the decision to bring Care off just when he was beginning to organize the forwards to drive through the Italian non-rucks. Despite no doubt being fully briefed on what to do when he came on, Youngs looked like a deer in the headlights in his first five minutes, including one memorable passage where he tried to pass over the top of an Italian player (and I believe we conceded a turnover from the resultant mess) – this lost the team the momentum they had just started building after half time. He eventually recovered and played decently but I didn’t think it was a convincing performance. I also wonder if he actually knew the law about not being allowed to charge down box kicks when there isn’t a ruck or he just got lucky?

For me, Hartley has to be dropped. I hold my breath whenever he throws in at the lineout, and he was completely anonymous again in the loose this week. Add to that what seemed like a near-disastrous lack of on-pitch leadership when dealing with Italy’s unorthodox tactics and I think it’s time Jones started looking to develop his long term captaincy options. Although he had an absolute ‘mare yesterday, my vote would be for Farrell – usually rock solid and still has time to grow yet further.

I feel a bit for Brown as he clearly is being coached to run straight – that said given his age it’s time to look for a deputy regardless of how well (or not) he is playing now. Daly and Watson are both options but I’d go with Daly given his immense boot. He was one of England’s stand out performers for me yesterday – always seemed composed even under intense pressure, great trait in a full back!

By: Andy

Andy — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 14:48:48 +0000

Agree with most of these ratings.

Do not understand EJ’s commitment to Mike Brown, surely the back three for the World Cup will be Watson, Nowell and Daly?

Not sure how the centres will line up against Scotland, I like Teo but think JJ will slot back in.