Autumn Int. other countries

[JB1973]

Scotland looked really impressive in attack I thought. The players seem to have a good understanding of the technicalities of the basics. The difference a really top coach can make is huge.

Wales were Wales. It must be getting pretty frustrating for the players to be asked to do the same thing over and over again by the coaches when the evidence suggests it doesn't work. Execution of attacking passing seems to take a back seat to all this "beasting" of the players we hear about to get them ready physically. IMO they need a creative player in the centres to get the best out of all their dangerous runners

Scotland will improve now they have got rid of the clueless and divisive Scott Johnson.

Wales were Wales, close but no cigar!

In fairness I thought we played a lot more rugby and a lot less smash it up the middle this time. We scored 4 trys and in hibbard,ball,alun wyn ,Warburton and Roberts had most of the games stand out players.

2 missed tackles and an intercept cost us 21 points and basically the match, think that's down to individual errors more than a faulty game plan in all honesty

[Peg Leg]

Scotland looked really impressive in attack I thought. The players seem to have a good understanding of the technicalities of the basics. The difference a really top coach can make is huge.

Wales were Wales. It must be getting pretty frustrating for the players to be asked to do the same thing over and over again by the coaches when the evidence suggests it doesn't work. Execution of attacking passing seems to take a back seat to all this "beasting" of the players we hear about to get them ready physically. IMO they need a creative player in the centres to get the best out of all their dangerous runners

Scotland will improve now they have got rid of the clueless and divisive Scott Johnson.

Wales were Wales, close but no cigar!

In fairness I thought we played a lot more rugby and a lot less smash it up the middle this time. We scored 4 trys and in hibbard,ball,alun wyn ,Warburton and Roberts had most of the games stand out players.

2 missed tackles and an intercept cost us 21 points and basically the match, think that's down to individual errors more than a faulty game plan in all honesty

I don't understand Wales defensive system, it's like a lazy rush defence! The slow pace of the "rush" tends to lead to a lot of hits taken almost upright with little or no momentum, felt that it played into the hands of the Aussies offloading game (I think they have a good balance of the athletic, powerful offloaders (Kuridrani, Folau, Leali'ifano, Fole, to the manic power players like Hooper & Tomane).
Biggar didn't have one of his better games and sent a few hospital passes to those outside him.
Thought Jake Ball did well too, I think both North and AAC are better in their usual positions.

[JB1973]

As a rule we blitz but when John Davies isn't at 13, things tend to get confused , throw into the mix Liam Williams who isn't a winger and it led to some strange decisions (including Cutherbt and alun wyn jones tackling each other and not the aussie with the ball!)

The Aussies are there to be taken, their set piece wasn't great and we there were big gaps in their defence. I think England and Ireland will beat them this month

[berniemac67]

Scotland looked really impressive in attack I thought. The players seem to have a good understanding of the technicalities of the basics. The difference a really top coach can make is huge.

Wales were Wales. It must be getting pretty frustrating for the players to be asked to do the same thing over and over again by the coaches when the evidence suggests it doesn't work. Execution of attacking passing seems to take a back seat to all this "beasting" of the players we hear about to get them ready physically. IMO they need a creative player in the centres to get the best out of all their dangerous runners

Scotland will improve now they have got rid of the clueless and divisive Scott Johnson.

Wales were Wales, close but no cigar!

In fairness I thought we played a lot more rugby and a lot less smash it up the middle this time. We scored 4 trys and in hibbard,ball,alun wyn ,Warburton and Roberts had most of the games stand out players.

2 missed tackles and an intercept cost us 21 points and basically the match, think that's down to individual errors more than a faulty game plan in all honesty

i agree up to a point. wales were their own worst enemies at times. but there has to be something more than individual errors when a side gets so consistently close and gets so consistently beaten.

i know it's easy to say this in hindsight, but playing an open game against the aussies is dangerous. they have the skill and pace to hurt anybody, and wales played into their hands tactically. frantic pace, miss passes, broken field running - i wouldn't expect any NH team other than france to come out on top against the aussies on a regular basis in such contests.

wales' preparation focused on fitness instead of skills supposedly. this appears to have been a mistake. no matter how poor the conditioning is in the regions, the short time the welsh squad are together is not likely enough to transform them sufficiently. if i'm wrong on this then i am genuinely surprised that the welsh regions win any matches in the pro12.

in any case, fitness didn't appear the key on saturday - set piece dominance in the closing stages was pretty impressive for a tiring team. all the talk of players being beasted and running out of steam is baloney in my view. how long was bradley davies on the park? how many penalties did he concede? what was the result of those penalties? in a tight match the result was arguably down to selection issues - he was one of the freshest players on the field making some of the worst decisions of the 80 minutes. this wouldn't surprise most people who have watched him play. yet gatland can't find a safer alternative.

although i would prefer a welsh win, i know who i'll be putting my money on come the pool match in RWC 2015.

[Dave Cahill]

The biggest problem Cotter will have is deepening his squad. With Glasgow players going so well the Scottish first XV is a confident and competent team - but those players will need a rest sometime.

[JB1973]

Gatland's hands were a bit tied with Davies, in order to obtain Charteris release for the last AI game he had to let him play for Racing this weekend.

I agree about us making silly mistakes when the game is there to be won, 28-27 up at home and with your pack on top you should close the game out.

But was anyone surprised when we lost it from there?

Not sure what the answer is, I don't blame Gatland he can only do so much.

I blame the players for making silly errors at key times maybe this is a by product of not having winning sides at regional level. When the pressure is on we same to take wrong options / lose discipline time after time

Other than possibly Anscombe I can't see the personnel changing much between now and the world cup so will anything change results wise>?

[JB1973]

The biggest problem Cotter will have is deepening his squad. With Glasgow players going so well the Scottish first XV is a confident and competent team - but those players will need a rest sometime.

Scotland have 3 home games in this years 6 nations they should be targeting 3 wins if they can do that then they will be going into the world cup on a high.

Good to see them score some trys on the weekend and Laidlaw looked like a modern day Gareth Edwards on Saturday, but I still think the blacks will put 40 points plus on them this weekend

[simonokeeffe]

The biggest problem Cotter will have is deepening his squad. With Glasgow players going so well the Scottish first XV is a confident and competent team - but those players will need a rest sometime.

Scotland have 3 home games in this years 6 nations they should be targeting 3 wins if they can do that then they will be going into the world cup on a high.

Good to see them score some trys on the weekend and Laidlaw looked like a modern day Gareth Edwards on Saturday, but I still think the blacks will put 40 points plus on them this weekend

not to be pessimistic but think all we're going to get from Scotland this season is them losing in much higher scoring games, and beating Italy

Wales missed Johnathan Davies really badly (and Scott Williams too by extension), he seems to have moved up a gear from what Ive seen of Clermont this season
Biggar out is a huge blow
Silver lining is Lee is looking like a serious international

[paddyor]

England look to pair up Owen Farrell and George Ford against South Africa

England are weighing up whether to play George Ford and Owen Farrell alongside each other against South Africa on Saturday as they look to recover from their defeat to New Zealand. An enforced midfield change may be needed either way with Kyle Eastmond having picked up a stomach bug.

Stuart Lancaster, who oversaw a frank debrief of the squad on Monday, is awaiting an update on Eastmond’s health before he makes a final call. “I’m sure he’ll get over the sickness and diarrhoea but it’s about how much it takes out of him and the knock-on effect of not doing the work,” the England coach said. “The obvious options are to put George in at 10 and Owen at 12, or bring someone like Billy Twelvetrees in at 12.

“We have to be careful not to make too many changes going into this weekend. We have to give the players a second chance but, having said that, one of the reasons we brought George Ford and Ben Youngs on [against the All Blacks] was to improve our ability to exit our own half. Some of our kicking from nine, particularly, and also 10 wasn’t quite good enough. The combination [of Ford and Farrell] is something we have looked at, did look at, and will look at in the future, without a doubt.”

England are also monitoring the conditions of Courtney Lawes and Dylan Hartley, who suffered head knocks against the All Blacks. The Northampton pair are following strict concussion protocols but, assuming they do not suffer any further symptoms, are expected to be passed fit on Thursday. The Bath duo of Semesa Rokoduguni and Dave Attwood also sat out training with a bruised hip and sore knee respectively but Lancaster said neither player is a serious concern. The England management, though, have had to draft in another hooker, London Irish’s David Paice, and an extra lock to ensure the pack have enough available bodies to train fully.

Lancaster confirmed the entire squad had held an honest postmortem on the New Zealand match. “It was pretty straight,” he said. “We didn’t gloss over anything and we know we have got to improve. I think there will be a reaction from South Africa to their loss against Ireland.”

England’s players are also desperate to atone for their disappointing second-half effort against the All Blacks. “From speaking to the players and sensing the mood, there is a lot of frustration with ourselves,” Lancaster said. “I don’t think self-belief has been dented in that we’re on the wrong direction but it has made it more important to put in that 100% performance.”

Lancaster brushed aside French newspaper speculation that Hartley is contemplating a move to Montpellier after next year’s World Cup. “That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Lancaster said. “It’s definitely never been mentioned in camp.”

Okay so some of them have been injury enforced, but is Lancaster starting to panic now? How many centre partnerships is that for England(Burrell, Barritt, 36, Farrell, Tuilagi, Eastmond, Tompkins, Joseph, AN other).
Tompkins has left the sport
Barritt is D'arcy-lite
Farrell is Sexton zero(he can place kick and tackle)
Twelvetrees is a flake
Eastmond did well(not kicking) on Saturday but questions remain over his defense.

I think the best partnership is probably Burrell Tuilagi, but that's a lot of bosh with little football. They seem married to Farrell at 10 or in the side at the moment which is not enough IMO. If they can get Ford in there they might have something, but Farrell doesn't have enough in his game to make that midfield work. He should never have been started after such a long lay-off.

Beginning to think Lancaster is really just a good manager as opposed to a good coach. Someone well organized off the pitch who the clubs are happy to deal with

The England management, though, have had to draft in another hooker, London Irish’s David Paice, and an extra lock to ensure the pack have enough available bodies to train fully.

He doesn't have anyone from outside the AP circus to develop the players skills.

[Peg Leg]

10 Cipriani, 12 Burrell, 13 Tuilagi

[JB1973]

burrell and Tulagi would give any defence problems but neither have much of a kicking or passing game so in terms of attack it means a very limited game plan.

Ford Eastmond and Tulagi would probably be the biggest threat with ball in hand but that 10/12 channel would be a big worry in defence.

Maybe they will play ford 10 and Farrell 12 at some stage?

Which ever trio he decides on he needs to stick with them and give them a run of games

[JB1973]

Liam Williams (Scarlets), Alex Cuthbert (Cardiff Blues), Scott Williams (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Racing Metro), George North (Northampton Saints), Rhys Priestland (Scarlets), Mike Phillips (Racing Metro), Gethin Jenkins (Cardiff Blues, CAPT), Scott Baldwin (Ospreys), Samson Lee (Scarlets), Bradley Davies (Wasps), Luke Charteris (Racing Metro), Dan Lydiate (Unattached), Justin Tipuric (Ospreys), Taulupe Faletau (Newport Gwent Dragons).

Replacements:

Emyr Phillips (Scarlets), Nicky Smith (Ospreys), Rhodri Jones (Scarlets), Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), James King (Ospreys), Rhodri Williams (Scarlets), James Hook (Gloucester), Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues


still no John Davies, great to see you Nicky Smith on the bench

[Vamos los azules]

Okay so some of them have been injury enforced, but is Lancaster starting to panic now? How many centre partnerships is that for England(Burrell, Barritt, 36, Farrell, Tuilagi, Eastmond, Tompkins, Joseph, AN other).
Tompkins has left the sport
Barritt is D'arcy-lite
Farrell is Sexton zero(he can place kick and tackle)
Twelvetrees is a flake
Eastmond did well(not kicking) on Saturday but questions remain over his defense.

I think the best partnership is probably Burrell Tuilagi, but that's a lot of bosh with little football. They seem married to Farrell at 10 or in the side at the moment which is not enough IMO. If they can get Ford in there they might have something, but Farrell doesn't have enough in his game to make that midfield work. He should never have been started after such a long lay-off.

It's because they are all mediocre. They are starting to make the Hape-Tindall combination look like a success story. Would you really swap any of them apart from perhaps Tuilagi into the Ireland team?

The problem with all the time invested in Farrell is that not only are there significant weaknesses in his own game, he doesn't have the quality of a Kearney, Bowe or Zebo around him to conjure something up and compensate for his weaknesses. I am getting the impression that Lancaster has realised that the plan of giving Farrell all the game time to develop him hasn't worked to the extent they were hoping - his comments in the media yesterday about game management were very telling.

[paddyor]

It's because they are all mediocre. They are starting to make the Hape-Tindall combination look like a success story. Would you really swap any of them apart from perhaps Tuilagi into the Ireland team?

The problem with all the time invested in Farrell is that not only are there significant weaknesses in his own game, he doesn't have the quality of a Kearney, Bowe or Zebo around him to conjure something up and compensate for his weaknesses. I am getting the impression that Lancaster has realised that the plan of giving Farrell all the game time to develop him hasn't worked to the extent they were hoping - his comments in the media yesterday about game management were very telling.

I wouldn't agree about there not being quality backs around him. Brown is out of form at the moment but he was excellent last season. May got an excellent try last weekend from nothing. In fact many of there tries have been conjured from individual players rather than the midfield and halves clicking. (the missed tackle that led to their try against us). I don't think Lancaster helped his cause with some of his selections. Ashton was a fish out of water(not allowed come in off his wing), Goode was solid defensively but not much else, Marland Yarde is big and athletic(I've not seen much of him). I can see the sense of picking good defenders and hard working wingers over say someone like Wade but the system needs someone who can get it to them.

Farrell looked to be improving during the last 6N tbf but not by enough IMO. Maybe early days to be judging him as he might continue those improvements but I don't see it.

[simonokeeffe]

plan of allowing Flood to f off is backfiring too

Ford Tuilagi and Joseph as midfield?
theyre going to railroad Burgess in there in 6 nations too probably

PSA has his halfback combos, Lancaster has his midfield combos

Come 6n England are going to be very hard to beat without a southern hemisphere ref

[jimbobjoe]

plan of allowing Flood to f off is backfiring too

Ford Tuilagi and Joseph as midfield?
theyre going to railroad Burgess in there in 6 nations too probably

PSA has his halfback combos, Lancaster has his midfield combos

Come 6n England are going to be very hard to beat without a southern hemisphere ref

Ford has said that Burgess will be playing back row for Bath so that's probably unlikely.

[Vamos los azules]

It's because they are all mediocre. They are starting to make the Hape-Tindall combination look like a success story. Would you really swap any of them apart from perhaps Tuilagi into the Ireland team?

The problem with all the time invested in Farrell is that not only are there significant weaknesses in his own game, he doesn't have the quality of a Kearney, Bowe or Zebo around him to conjure something up and compensate for his weaknesses. I am getting the impression that Lancaster has realised that the plan of giving Farrell all the game time to develop him hasn't worked to the extent they were hoping - his comments in the media yesterday about game management were very telling.

I wouldn't agree about there not being quality backs around him. Brown is out of form at the moment but he was excellent last season. May got an excellent try last weekend from nothing. In fact many of there tries have been conjured from individual players rather than the midfield and halves clicking. (the missed tackle that led to their try against us). I don't think Lancaster helped his cause with some of his selections. Ashton was a fish out of water(not allowed come in off his wing), Goode was solid defensively but not much else, Marland Yarde is big and athletic(I've not seen much of him). I can see the sense of picking good defenders and hard working wingers over say someone like Wade but the system needs someone who can get it to them.

Farrell looked to be improving during the last 6N tbf but not by enough IMO. Maybe early days to be judging him as he might continue those improvements but I don't see it.

I'm starting to wonder whether Brown's 6 Nations is like Priestland's RWC 2011 - a peak in their career rather than their general form. Either that or he is playing through an injury because he is a shadow of what he was back in the 6N.

The main problem is the lack of skills. Virtually all the England backs are poor under the high ball, and kicking, throwing and catching just aren't at the level I would expect. None of them would come into the Ireland team and improve it, in my opinion. May definitely deserves to keep his place after having learned to run forwards rather than sideways though and I'd like to see Watson given a go this week as Rokoduguni is out.

[simonokeeffe]

plan of allowing Flood to f off is backfiring too

Ford Tuilagi and Joseph as midfield?
theyre going to railroad Burgess in there in 6 nations too probably

PSA has his halfback combos, Lancaster has his midfield combos

Come 6n England are going to be very hard to beat without a southern hemisphere ref

Ford has said that Burgess will be playing back row for Bath so that's probably unlikely.

permanently?
know they said they were thinking of playing him there initially but Lancaster wanted him playing centre

[jezzer]

Apparently Biggar will be back for the last 2 Wales games.

Delighted for him. Could never understand why he wasn't getting his game ahead of Priestland. You's have worried that - if the groin injury was serious - he might not have gotten another chance for a long time.

[JB1973]

Apparently Biggar will be back for the last 2 Wales games.

Delighted for him. Could never understand why he wasn't getting his game ahead of Priestland. You's have worried that - if the groin injury was serious - he might not have gotten another chance for a long time.

Biggar should have been our 10 for the last two seasons, I do think that Anscombe will be wearing that jersey come 6 nations time