England.....

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » March 12th, 2006, 5:51 pm

The Scotland match was our best performance i think this season. While D'arcy and BOD didnt click (worryingly) again, the forwards were immense, and the scoreline flattered Scotland. If not for a cr@p pass from Geordan Murphy, and a little bit of bad luck for Jerry Flannery, it could have been a wider margin.

England today were shocking

, couldnt believe how very bad they were-average midfield, joke at 10, Lewsey had a howler and there forwards werent up to much.

Obviously, steady Eddie will stick with the same XV, and we should beat England easily enough.....

...Stringer got a good review in the papers today, but again his passing was dodgy at times, and i still feel he is aproblem. ROG was OK at playing a Munster style 10 man game, kickin corners etc., but not great distributor/reader of a game...and hence the reason D'arcy and BOD failed to click..

we wont win the 6N now obviously, but hopefully give England a good hammering!!!!

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » March 12th, 2006, 6:40 pm

we wont win the 6N now obviously

Wouldn't be so sure of that. You can never know what will happen in Cardiff next week. I wouldn't rule the Welsh out from causing an upset.

As for Stringer, i agree, i thought he was poor yesterday and Reddan should have been given a run.

cj · Post by cj » March 12th, 2006, 6:52 pm

I can also see the Welsh causing an upset. Remember South Africa in November? It was also interesting to see the french doing a lap of honour with 'we are the champions' playing in the background.

England were awful today but beware of the wounded animal. We should beat them next week alright though. It would be sickening to come so close again and to miss out - we need to finally win one. It's great that we're talking like this so - a month ago we were talking about consolidation and we could be celebrating a championship this time next week.

thecoolfreak · Post by **thecoolfreak** » March 12th, 2006, 7:06 pm

next Saturday should be some day of rugby. i can't wait.

harryp · Post by **harryp** » March 12th, 2006, 7:11 pm

I was happy enough with yesterday, think Stringer was back to his limited best. ROG was poor, and I think thats what leads to most of the problems Darce & Drico are having in midfield.

Backrow were topclass in the 2nd half. I think EOS stuck a fire cracker under Leamy & Wallace at HT. They are starting to develop into International Standards, they just need to impose themselves on matches earlier.

Saturday should be fun......

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » March 12th, 2006, 7:41 pm

Might be wishful thinking about Cardiff next week lads. France havent been good, and werent even that good today, but their forwards will roll over the Welsh, and with it the match will be one.

Stringer is average, and dont agree with the tool that gave him an 8 or 9 in one of the papers because of his courage etc. what a load of shite...courage can only get you so far. Isaac Boss for SH next season...

Leamy was good as was Wallace, but again if you had Gleeson at 7 with Wallace at 8, and Leamy at 6 would it be better...our lineout would suffer as a result of losing Easterbunny...

Leinsterman · Post by **Leinsterman** » March 12th, 2006, 7:59 pm

Stephen Jones gave Stringer a 4 in today's Sunday Times and Taylor an 8.

He's a Grade A c**t and I'm delighted I called him that to his face in Newport train station late on the Grand Slam night pissed off my head last March.

the_git · Post by **the_git** » March 12th, 2006, 9:09 pm

He's a Grade A c**t and I'm delighted I called him that to his face in Newport train station late on the Grand Slam night pissed off my head last March.

Quality Leinsterman

Actually thought Stringer played a decent enough game yesterday.

harryp · Post by **harryp** » March 12th, 2006, 9:11 pm

the_git wrote:
He's a Grade A c**t and I'm delighted I called him that to his face in Newport train station late on the Grand Slam night pissed off my head last March.
Quality Leinsterman
Actually thought Stringer played a decent enough game yesterday.

He did what he can do. Personally I thought with the way the Scots defence was set up, he should have gone down the Blindside all afternoon.

Duff Paddy · Post by **Duff Paddy** » March 13th, 2006, 12:13 am

harryp wrote:I was happy enough with yesterday, think Stringer was back to his limited best.

I think this is the best summation I've read so far. Scrum half is a critical position and it was vital for Ireland that Stringer found some form. Good on him, plays his heart out. He did make a good few errors yesterday but more often that not, he managed to clean up his own mess. I'd give him a decent rating.

CM · Post by CM » March 13th, 2006, 9:29 am

We only have to beat England by 29 points more than France beat Wales. No problem!

As for Stringer, thought he was excellent. What he did without the ball was nearly world class while a lot of what he did with it, especially considering the conditions (which can excuse the odd poor pass), was very good. Would Boss be a better option? Possibly but his pass is still weak. Is he fit at the moment? If so it'll be interesting to see who's picked for SH for the A game.

We should beat England but we'll need to solve the bit about getting over the line to do that. I think our swarm defence will account quite well with England's limited attack (probably more limited than Scotland). Possession will obviously be key but it's interesting to note that France shaded possession despite being something like 7Kg per player lighter than England. They also showed that England's lineout isn't that good (although we know that from past experience). As always if we win the lineout against England we'll win the game, I reckon.

Imperial Mongoonybus · March 13th, 2006, 10:06 am

Boss's lesft ahnd pass is a complete joke. He winds up and takes ages. His right hand effort is better but still not up to standard.

Reddan is a better propsect, as is TOL at Munster (but not yet).

glic · Post by **glic** » March 13th, 2006, 10:15 am

I thought that a 4 for Stringer as mentioned earlier was very harsh.
Calling Stephen Jones a c*nt was less harsh

Stringer had a very good game by his standards especially considering the conditions.
If we can play like that against england and get a dry day we should be able to beat them.

TrueBlue · Post by **TrueBlue** » March 13th, 2006, 11:38 am

TOL at Munster (but not yet).

How can you say Boss isnt up to it with a dodgy left hand pass and TOL is???his pass is even worse, and from both hands!!!!

Boss is stronger too, and both have good breaks. Boss, from what i have seen would also have a better box kick.

TOL needs some passing coaching which he's been asking for, but aint getting-bit of a joke i know!! Reddan is ahead of TOL in my opinion, with Boss primed for the Autumn internationas/tour to NZ.

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » March 13th, 2006, 12:52 pm

CM wrote:We only have to beat England by 29 points more than France beat Wales. No problem!

As for Stringer, thought he was excellent. What he did without the ball was nearly world class while a lot of what he did with it, especially considering the conditions (which can excuse the odd poor pass), was very good. Would Boss be a better option? Possibly but his pass is still weak. Is he fit at the moment? If so it'll be interesting to see who's picked for SH for the A game.

We should beat England but we'll need to solve the bit about getting over the line to do that. I think our swarm defence will account quite well with England's limited attack (probably more limited than Scotland). Possession will obviously be key but it's interesting to note that France shaded possession despite being something like 7Kg per player lighter than England. They also showed that England's lineout isn't that good (although we know that from past experience). As always if we win the lineout against England we'll win the game, I reckon.

Agree. One of the issues is that the England fatboys seem to stay loose so often. Someone should tell their front row to get down and dirty and try and win turnovers and ruck ball.....but only after next weekend......

Duff Paddy · Post by **Duff Paddy** » March 13th, 2006, 2:02 pm

TrueBlue wrote:
TOL at Munster (but not yet).
How can you say Boss isnt up to it with a dodgy left hand pass and TOL is???his pass is even worse, and from both hands!!!!

Boss is stronger too, and both have good breaks. Boss, from what i have seen would also have a better box kick.

TOL needs some passing coaching which he's been asking for, but aint getting-bit of a joke i know!! Reddan is ahead of TOL in my opinion, with Boss primed for the Autumn internationas/tour to NZ.

Well said Trueblue, I think Mongoose was talking through his arse there.

jezzer · Post by **jezzer** » March 13th, 2006, 2:25 pm

England are in serious serious trouble. They were tactically inept, their identikit backline of beefy hasbeens and journeymen were completely static, their defence was leaky, their halfback partnership is a shambles. Of course they knew that going in, so we hear the pundits call for lashings of English pride and a dominant forward display. Instead we watched 15 guys bury their heads in the sand after only 10 mins.

I have never seen England play with so little enthusiasm for the game since the 80s. There is NO WAY they will be a force next week. if anything, playing at home could put more pressure on them. I'm not saying we'll stroll it, but if we lose it'll be the poorest perfomance of the campaign. We are equal to or better than them in every position on the park.

People talk about England's huge player pool, but there are only 12 teams they can pick from (the bulk of players from 5 or 6 clubs) and probably no more than 12-14 players out of a matchday 22 that are England-qualified...

Flash Gordon · Post by **Flash Gordon** » March 13th, 2006, 2:31 pm

England's problem is that they are effectively playing rugby league. Its bish bosh through the middle.....seems like every time the ball goes to the center, Tindall smashes into people and play breaks down. Alternatively, the ball gets passed back inside!! Bloody dreadful to watch!

sewa · Post by **sewa** » March 13th, 2006, 2:38 pm

jezzer wrote:
People talk about England's huge player pool, but there are only 12 teams they can pick from (the bulk of players from 5 or 6 clubs) and probably no more than 12-14 players out of a matchday 22 that are England-qualified...

The english clubs are incentivised to hire non international players. Get retired internationals from the SH instead and you can be confident they will be available for matches, squad sessions etc. Why bother paying someone like Jonny Wilkinson or Phil Vickerys wages when you rarely get to use them?