The Rugby Thread

[Kenneth]

Farrell kicking everything.

England's only plan, and it's been swallowed up easily by Wales.

[Kenneth]

Because they kept kicking it away. Let Wales in.

[ChesterDave]

Oh ffs

[Buzzo]

Dan Biggar has been brilliant since he came on.

[Irishnev]

Injuries take their toll as you move through the 6 Nations, England showing when not at full strength they are vulnerable. I tipped Wales to win pre tournament with us and Eng at home. They are 12 wins in a row now!

[Buzzo]

Wales only gave away three pens all game.

Very impressive.

[Kenneth]

And the first that lead to England's first points was highly dubious.

[Slinky Skills]

Going to be insufferable if the Welsh win it

Ha ha ha unlucky mate!

[Irishnev]

Wales only gave away three pens all game.

Very impressive.

Ya - Liam Williams superb in the air, I think we'll beat Italy and France and then see who has players left fit but I don't fancy us in Cardiff.

The I injuries really affected ye today - a shadow of your normal selves and France left a lot of points behind them.

[Buzzo]

Ya - Liam Williams superb in the air, I think we'll beat Italy and France and then see who has players left fit but I don't fancy us in Cardiff.

The I injuries really affected ye today - a shadow of your normal selves and France left a lot of points behind them.

Was like watching a Scotland team of 5 years or so ago.

Remove Hogg and Russell and you remove our creativity.

I also think time may be up for Laidlaw. He manages the game well. He kicks well. But.

He slows the ball down too much. Without quick ball we really struggle. Ali Prices camel showed what you can do with quick ball. But Price doesn’t have Laidlaws experience and game management...

[Irishnev]

Was like watching a Scotland team of 5 years or so ago.

Remove Hogg and Russell and you remove our creativity.

I also think time may be up for Laidlaw. He manages the game well. He kicks well. But.

He slows the ball down too much. Without quick ball we really struggle. Ali Prices camel showed what you can do with quick ball. But Price doesn’t have Laidlaws experience and game management...

When you go that deep into a squad then you lose both physicality and continuity. It showed today but maybe a few players will get the chance to come through because of the injuries.

[ChesterDave]

Ha ha ha unlucky mate!

I sit opposite a Welsh girl who in the pub during the France game was squeezing so hard the voice was cracking. A girl who between the screams found time to yell at the TV "I hope you die"

If Liverpool lose tomorrow I'm hitting the sick for Monday!

[ChesterDave]

And the first that lead to England's first points was highly dubious.

Although, to counter that, I'm fairly sure Williams spilled the ball forward in a tackle before picking up again in the build up to the first Wales try. England's fault though. List far too much territory being bullied under the high ball.

[Cormack74]

Well beaten there.

In retrospect given how well he played when he came on we should have started with Hastings at 10. Also noticeable how much quicker the ball was with Ali Price at scrum half.

Nick Grigg just continually proves that he is a solid club centre but not good enough at International level.

Good win for the French, but I wonder what we might have done with the likes of Russell, Hogg and Jones and a back row with Barclay and Watson at the breakdown against that tiring French pack in the second half.

Bit of a strange game that I thought. France spent bits of it as France 2019 (bang average) but also part of it as France 1989 (absolutely electric). If Scotland had turned some pressure into points around the time that Huget was binned I think the end result would have been pretty close.

The were a few too many Scottish errors again but actually that was probably forgivable this week with so many players missing. And I agree about Ali Price, his game seems much better suited to the way Scotland want to play IMO.

[Cormack74]

Injuries take their toll as you move through the 6 Nations, England showing when not at full strength they are vulnerable. I tipped Wales to win pre tournament with us and Eng at home. They are 12 wins in a row now!

Itoje and Vunipola are significant absentees but I really don't think their absence was the reason England lost today mate. (With all due credit to Wales), I'd put the defeat down to complete and utter tactical ineptness.

England's kicking game was distinctly average and repeatedly gave hard won ball back to the Welsh yet they kept doing it ad nauseam. Conversely they enjoyed significant gain line success with the ball in hand. Tuilagi got the ball about once and made 25 metres, Nowell similar.

Josh Adams aside there isn't a huge amount of pace in the Welsh back line - witness Hadley (Hadleigh Parks) treading water on the Johnny May kick chase. England didn't make nearly enough of that - May and Daly are probably in the quickest 4 or 5 backs playing the tournament but England almost never got the ball to the outside.

Eddie Jones is big on talking about leaders but if the leadership had been stronger today then maybe the decision making would have been a lot less flawed.