6 Nations 2013

[andyaston]

I too would like to see Freddie Burns in the 23, but if he isn't fit then he can't be picked.

Can't deny I am disappointed that Joseph has been released back to his club by Lancaster, was really looking forward to seeing how he shaped up on Saturday.  However, I am now very intrigued to see what Twelvetrees brings to the party and feel his wide passing game will be able to bring in Goode, Brown and Ashton into play beautifully.

It appears that the team will be : Marler, Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan, Youngs, Farrell, Twelvetrees, Barritt, Brown, Ashton, Goode.

I don't think we can argue too much because the guys who played against New Zealand deserve the chance to back up what was probably the best 80 mins I have ever seen from an England side.

If Twelvetrees goes as well as we hope and then Manu is fit for Ireland we have got a conundrum, which is as it should be.  Twelvetrees with Manu sounds quite appetising in attack and to be fair Barritt has gone to another level in the last 3 months and is playing superbly.  All good options.

On a personal note, the good old ERSC came through with some late tickets yesterday and I find myself off to Twickenham again this weekend, can't wait.

England by 12, Wales by 3, France by 15 this weekend.

Overall I believe England and France will be top with 4 wins and 1 defeat and may even find Wales with that record too.

Enjoy everyone !!!

Did you get offered tickets for the Scotland game by the England Supporters Club. I got an email on Monday saying some were left over but i'm working, damn it.

[PaulWinch again]

Looking pretty dominant, impressive stuff.

[paul_e]

Really good performance from england, there were a couple of poor decisions at times which led to scotland tries and cost us a couple but we were so dominant it didn't matter.

Farrell got Motm and was a good shout but I can't agree, Wood put in a nearly faultless performance at 6 and then 8.  He was truly exceptional.

Just to add a little, late on there was a bit where lawes came through and won the ball exceptionally to setup a chance, the best bit was, before that he made a massive hit to put the scots on the back foot, then got up and drove straight through them before beating the first receiver to the ball.  It was a perfect snapshot of just how good he is, give it another year and him and launchbury are going to be the best lock pairing around for a long long time.

[PaulWinch again]

Sounds like Farrell had a great game and is really progressing now.

[paul_e]

His passing was much better today than his previous starts, if he plays at that level regularly then he deserves to be first choice.

I thought the whole side were good but we got a bit sloppy when twelvetrees (who had an excellent debut) and goode went off, there was some really poor decision making after that, Brown in particular made a couple of shocking decisions.

Strettle was pointless though, very average player who came on and was average...

Of the other subs Lawes, Haskell and Vunipola all had a positive effect and Hartley for Youngs was seemless.

[PaulWinch again]

Well on England and Ireland on for Grand Slam then.

[nigel]

Well on England and Ireland on for Grand Slam then.

and Italy 

[cheltenhamlion]

That's a great result for the Italians today.

[Dave Summers]

I too would like to see Freddie Burns in the 23, but if he isn't fit then he can't be picked.

Can't deny I am disappointed that Joseph has been released back to his club by Lancaster, was really looking forward to seeing how he shaped up on Saturday.  However, I am now very intrigued to see what Twelvetrees brings to the party and feel his wide passing game will be able to bring in Goode, Brown and Ashton into play beautifully.

It appears that the team will be : Marler, Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan, Youngs, Farrell, Twelvetrees, Barritt, Brown, Ashton, Goode.

I don't think we can argue too much because the guys who played against New Zealand deserve the chance to back up what was probably the best 80 mins I have ever seen from an England side.

If Twelvetrees goes as well as we hope and then Manu is fit for Ireland we have got a conundrum, which is as it should be.  Twelvetrees with Manu sounds quite appetising in attack and to be fair Barritt has gone to another level in the last 3 months and is playing superbly.  All good options.

On a personal note, the good old ERSC came through with some late tickets yesterday and I find myself off to Twickenham again this weekend, can't wait.

England by 12, Wales by 3, France by 15 this weekend.

Overall I believe England and France will be top with 4 wins and 1 defeat and may even find Wales with that record too.

Enjoy everyone !!!

Did you get offered tickets for the Scotland game by the England Supporters Club. I got an email on Monday saying some were left over but i'm working, damn it.

Yes, I got the same email last Monday and picked it up just in time on Tuesday to get the tickets.  As usual great day

How good was Twelvetrees?.  He now offers a completely different dimension to England's back play and if Farrell keeps playing like that, then we have got something special going.

I thought it was a superb performance all over from England and hard to pick many faults save for the fact they left a few too many tries out there and were sloppy after the substitutions.  What a superb bench though to be able to bring on Lawes, Haskell, Vunipola and Hartley.  The power there is frightening.

Can't wait for the Ireland game on Sunday and very confident if we play with that intensity again.  Real shame Ben Morgan looks like being unfit as I thought he was having a stormer before he went off, but Wood to 8 and Haskell doesn't really weaken us does it?.

Well done Italy as well yesterday, fantastico !!!

[Jon Crofts]

Twelvetrees was immense, personally I had him as MOTM ahead of Farrell, just.
A couple of better decisions when inside the oppositions 22 and we could have won by 30+ points, it will come if they keep on believeing.
Ireland at the weekend now looks like the decider, maybe, lot of rugby to come after that though.

[usav]

Twelvetrees was immense, personally I had him as MOTM ahead of Farrell, just.
A couple of better decisions when inside the oppositions 22 and we could have won by 30+ points, it will come if they keep on believeing.
Ireland at the weekend now looks like the decider, maybe, lot of rugby to come after that though.

Ireland will be the decider, no question.   They have France at home, so that will be fine.    Italy will huff and puff, and the Welsh are just plain shit - although they will raise their game against us, no doubt.

[paul_e]

Twelvetrees was immense, personally I had him as MOTM ahead of Farrell, just.
A couple of better decisions when inside the oppositions 22 and we could have won by 30+ points, it will come if they keep on believeing.
Ireland at the weekend now looks like the decider, maybe, lot of rugby to come after that though.

This is what was so impressive about the performance, no one in the pack deserves any criticism and it's pretty much the same in the backs other than some dodgy decisions late on.  You could easily pick any of 9-10 players as man of the match.

For example I thought Ashton had a great game as well, never really got the ball in space but was always, involved and making the extra man, and his try was exceptional strength to get through 2 strong guys.

I won't strongly disagree with anyone who started as man of the match, I just think Wood makes the whole team better, we just look much more organised when he's on the pitch.

For the next game there are only a couple of small tweaks I think we need.

Manu will be back in so we need to fit him in either on the pitch or on the bench, but Twelvetrees and Barritt should stay in the squad as well, which means no room for a wing/FB replacement which worries me a little so I'd take Waldrom off the bench and replace him with Joseph, on the basis that Haskell and Wood can move around the back row to cover and Lawes or Launchbury could both fill in well at 6 if needed.  Finally Burns in to cover 10 is better as he's had a fair bit of exposure at full back, and is quick enough to work there.

Not a simple decision but I'm fairly sure he'll take the easier and dump twelvetrees, which will be a big error.

[cheltenhamlion]

I would ditch Brad for Manu in the centres to be frank. It might be a little bold mind.

Twelvetrees looks a lot like Micheal Caine in Get Carter as well I think. Shouldn't be important to selection but there you go!

[andyaston]

I too would like to see Freddie Burns in the 23, but if he isn't fit then he can't be picked.

Can't deny I am disappointed that Joseph has been released back to his club by Lancaster, was really looking forward to seeing how he shaped up on Saturday.  However, I am now very intrigued to see what Twelvetrees brings to the party and feel his wide passing game will be able to bring in Goode, Brown and Ashton into play beautifully.

It appears that the team will be : Marler, Youngs, Cole, Launchbury, Parling, Wood, Robshaw, Morgan, Youngs, Farrell, Twelvetrees, Barritt, Brown, Ashton, Goode.

I don't think we can argue too much because the guys who played against New Zealand deserve the chance to back up what was probably the best 80 mins I have ever seen from an England side.

If Twelvetrees goes as well as we hope and then Manu is fit for Ireland we have got a conundrum, which is as it should be.  Twelvetrees with Manu sounds quite appetising in attack and to be fair Barritt has gone to another level in the last 3 months and is playing superbly.  All good options.

On a personal note, the good old ERSC came through with some late tickets yesterday and I find myself off to Twickenham again this weekend, can't wait.

England by 12, Wales by 3, France by 15 this weekend.

Overall I believe England and France will be top with 4 wins and 1 defeat and may even find Wales with that record too.

Enjoy everyone !!!

Did you get offered tickets for the Scotland game by the England Supporters Club. I got an email on Monday saying some were left over but i'm working, damn it.

Yes, I got the same email last Monday and picked it up just in time on Tuesday to get the tickets.  As usual great day

How good was Twelvetrees?.  He now offers a completely different dimension to England's back play and if Farrell keeps playing like that, then we have got something special going.

I thought it was a superb performance all over from England and hard to pick many faults save for the fact they left a few too many tries out there and were sloppy after the substitutions.  What a superb bench though to be able to bring on Lawes, Haskell, Vunipola and Hartley.  The power there is frightening.

Can't wait for the Ireland game on Sunday and very confident if we play with that intensity again.  Real shame Ben Morgan looks like being unfit as I thought he was having a stormer before he went off, but Wood to 8 and Haskell doesn't really weaken us does it?.

Well done Italy as well yesterday, fantastico !!!

Nice one, I hope I get a similar email on the Monday before the game against France.

Twelvetrees offered England more variety in attack. Surely he can't be dropped for Manu although there are calls for Barrit to make way instead. Nice option to have.

Italy were terrific yesterday. Michalak had one of his off days again.

[Rotterdam]

The frogs did me in my spread bet. Gits.