International Rugby

[aev]

Thanks chaps for saving me the time of watching it tonight.

Watch the U20s instead, Final against France at 6pm.  All the games so far have been live streamed on the England Rugby Facebook page (and probably their youtube as well). There are a few kids in there who are a bit special (Walker at 2, Curry at 7, Smith at 10, Dingwall at 13 and Ibitoye and Olowofela on the wings, Both props have great reputations as well but it's hard to be sure with props until they have 40-50 games under their belt).

French player Joseph looks pretty useful.

[paul_e]

Thanks chaps for saving me the time of watching it tonight.

Watch the U20s instead, Final against France at 6pm.  All the games so far have been live streamed on the England Rugby Facebook page (and probably their youtube as well). There are a few kids in there who are a bit special (Walker at 2, Curry at 7, Smith at 10, Dingwall at 13 and Ibitoye and Olowofela on the wings, Both props have great reputations as well but it's hard to be sure with props until they have 40-50 games under their belt).

French player Joseph looks pretty useful.

Yeah, they've got 3-4 good 'uns in this group as well.

[paul_e]

So Eddie, you've just lost for the 6th game in a row, what are you going to do to get out of the rut, "I think I'll replace the injured players, Throw my fly-half to the dogs and do pretty much exactly what I did for the other games, except I'll change to a 6-2 bench". It's almost like he's trying to get sacked now.

[Jon Crofts]

Our pack has been immense today, that moment of pure genius from Cipriani was worth the wait.

[PaulWinch again]

Cipriani is a genius.

[Ads]

Brilliant vision and execution too.

Conditions definitely helped, but the significant increase in discipline played a huge factor too.

[PaulWinch again]

I hope Cipriani is involved moving forward. Few players have that type of  ability and every squad needs it.

[UK Redsox]

Sam Warburton retires

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/jul/18/sam-warburton-retires-rugby-union-29

[Jon Crofts]

What an absolute legend Warburton is, a thoroughly decent Welsher and a top athlete and rugby player, good luck Sam.

[paul_e]

What an absolute legend Warburton is, a thoroughly decent Welsher and a top athlete and rugby player, good luck Sam.

A bit like Wilkinson, he's destroyed himself by being fully committed but having a serious technical flaw in his tackling technique.  Wilko recovered (pretty much through force of will) and had a phenomenal end to his career but for a back row who's made his name as a workhorse I'm not surprised Warburton has had to call it a day early.  It's a shame because he was a very good player but I reckon it's been on the cards for a while, he's struggled to maintain any sort of fitness for 3-4 years now.

[nigel]

Interesting training squad.
Ashton back, didn't realise he had signed for Sale.
No Danny Care!

Backs: Chris Ashton (Sale Sharks), Mike Brown (Harlequins), Danny Cipriani (Gloucester Rugby), Joe Cokanasiga (Bath Rugby), Elliot Daly (Wasps), Nathan Earle (Harlequins), Owen Farrell (Saracens), George Ford (Leicester Tigers), Piers Francis (Northampton Saints), Gabriel Ibitoye (Harlequins), Alex Lozowski (Saracens), Joe Marchant (Harlequins), Jonny May (Leicester Tigers), Jordan Olowofela (Leicester Tigers), Dan Robson (Wasps), Henry Slade (Exeter Chiefs), Ben Spencer (Saracens), Ben Te'o (Worcester Warriors), Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)

Forwards: Luke Cowan-Dickie (Exeter Chiefs), Tom Curry (Sale Sharks), Jamie George (Saracens), Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints), James Haskell (Northampton Saints), Alec Hepburn (Exeter Chiefs), Paul Hill (Northampton Saints), Nathan Hughes (Wasps), Nick Isiekwe (Saracens), Maro Itoje (Saracens), Joel Kpoku (Saracens), Joe Launchbury (Wasps), Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints), Joe Marler (Harlequins), Michael Rhodes (Saracens), Chris Robshaw (Harlequins), Sam Simmonds (Exeter Chiefs), Kyle Sinckler (Harlequins), Jack Singleton (Worcester Warriors), Will Spencer (Leicester Tigers), Elliott Stooke (Bath Rugby), Sam Underhill (Bath Rugby), Mako Vunipola (Saracens), Harry Williams (Exeter Chiefs), Mark Wilson (Newcastle Falcons)

Not considered for selection due to injury/fitness/other: Jack Clifford (Harlequins), Dan Cole (Leicester Tigers), Danny Care (Harlequins) Charlie Ewels (Bath Rugby), Ellis Genge (Leicester Tigers), Jonathan Joseph (Bath Rugby), George Kruis (Saracens), Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs), Brad Shields (Wasps), Denny Solomona (Sale Sharks), Manu Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers), Billy Vunipola (Saracens), Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby), Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)

[paul_e]

Happy to see Care out, Delighted to see Wigglesworth out, not impressed by Spencer.

The Good:
Cokanasiga
Ibitoye
Marchant
Olowofela
Singleton
Hill
Underhill

Happy with the backs options he's added, that's a fuckload of pace and power, now we need to get them the ball in space. Singleton is a good choice because he's a much more 'modern' hooker (had to add the last 2 to be funny as much as anything).

The Bad
Isiekwe
Rhodes
Spencer (B)

Isiekwe is just shit, Rhodes is 30 and nothing special, Spencer isn't good enough to get in the sarries team ahead of fucking wigglesworth.

As a general complaint, the insistence on picking as many sarries players as possible is starting to really piss me off.  We are starting to look a lot like Sarries in our play and, at international level, it's not good enough to box kick and wait for them to make mistakes.

[PaulWinch again]

Looks like Cipriani has potentially shot himself in the foot again.

[paul_e]

Looks like Cipriani has potentially shot himself in the foot again.

Brilliant player on the pitch but a complete moron who can't handle his beer off the pitch.

[PaulWinch again]

Cipriani left out of training squad, weird decision that.