The Rugby Thread

[RichC]

I rate Farrell but Ford has been the man in shirt, we should have stuck with him even with that bad performance vs Fiji.

[Buzzo]

I rate Farrell but Ford has been the man in shirt, we should have stuck with him even with that bad performance vs Fiji.

Totally agree, and I think Farrell is a real talent also.

[Vermilion]

England confirm training ground incident between Mike Catt and Danny Cipriani.

England have confirmed there was a training ground incident involving Mike Catt and Danny Cipriani but insist it was resolved swiftly.

The flashpoint occurred the day before England announced their World Cup squad in August and only hours after a disappointed Cipriani had been told he was to be omitted from the 31.

England insist that a report suggesting a “mutiny” had almost been caused is untrue and deny that the head coach Stuart Lancaster instructed his players not to leak details of the row.

A Rugby Football Union spokesman said: “Danny and Mike were involved in a robust conversation on the training pitch following a misunderstanding around a training drill instruction. Both shook hands afterwards and the incident played no bearing on selection.”

England were knocked out of the World Cup by a 33-13 loss to Australia and conclude their Pool A campaign against Uruguay at Manchester City Stadium on Saturday.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/07/england-danny-cipriani-mike-catt-bust-up

[Buzzo]

I find it hard to believe this is the reason England had such a poor tournament.



Danny Cipriani gets blamed for everything.

[Vermilion]

England’s players spouted drivel and gave Australia the ultimate team talk
Graham Henry.

I couldn’t believe Danny Cipriani saying not one of the Wallabies would make the England team and wondered if he had been misquoted. He may not have been in the squad but Stuart Lancaster would have been furious. One of the golden rules in sport at this level is you never give the opposition a team talk. It’s also one of the reasons teams love to beat England – they talk a good game!

Full article here....

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2015/oct/05/england-second-rate-australia-rugby-world-cup-graham-henry

[Buzzo]

Just saw the above.

That is weak. I think its bull**** all this 'he gave my team talk for me' stuff, Clive Woodward said he used to make stuff up to get his teams riled. But surely there is more to top level coaching than that?

I suspect the real reasons England lost were more based around the Australian dominance in the scrum and at the breakdown, as opposed to Danny Ciprianis article. And the reason they exited the tournament was down to a crazy 10 mins against the Welsh and the decision to not take the three points on offer at the end of that match.

[Buzzo]

Surely a pen try for Tonga???!!!

[RichC]

The Kiwis haven't looked great so far this WC.

Harsh if they don't get a try here.

[Buzzo]

If that was the Kiwis going for the line they get a pen try every day of the week.

I thought they should have got it for the mail getting brought down - they were definitely going over. Let alone the scrum pens.

Yep - agree Kiwis haven't looked great, and they haven't really been tested yet.

[RichC]

Yup, I agree that should have been a PT.

They'll get better once they're really pushed but they don't appear to be the dominant side of a few years back.

[Buzzo]

Nervous....

[ChesterDave]

[Boogs]

Great watch this game

[RichC]

Mental first 15 minutes

[Boogs]

What is going on?!?! Mental!