Rugby Union 2012/13

[cheltenhamlion]

Worth a watch on tv still I reckon. The Glaws academy has some very bright, young, attacking, ball playing types coming through.

[paul_e]

Glaws have 3-4 exceptional youngsters, and they'll be coming through just as May, trinder, sharples, burns, twelvetrees and Morgan are hitting their peak.  Get the front 5 right and there's a superb team being built there.

EDIT

Just checked the glaws team for this weekend, Billy Burns on the Bench, supposed to be as good as his brother.

Dan Robson is the man though, I reckon he will be in the england squad before long, really good scrum half, can pass hard and flat off both hands and carries really well.

[PaulWinch again]

I think the team is pretty fair on the whole. Although I would have given Joseph a go in the centre and Wood a go in the back row.

[paul_e]

I think the team is pretty fair on the whole. Although I would have given Joseph a go in the centre and Wood a go in the back row.

Joseph isn't fit as far as I'm aware, I know him, Marler and Lawes were all carrying knocks with Marler the most likely to make it, which seems to to be in line with the team he picked.  I hope Joseph does get back in when he's fit, he's electric and, importantly, offers a diffferent threat to Manu, which makes them both harder to double up on.  Barritt has a fantastic defense and plays the crash ball well but you become a little too focused on bludgeoning through the middle when him and manu play together.

[PaulWinch again]

Great finish by Sharples for his first international try.

[paul_e]

Great finish by Sharples for his first international try.

indeed, poor defending but got himself into the position well and showed great awareness to finish.

Very very harsh yellow on Care, he lifted the leg but there's nothing dangerous in that.

[PaulWinch again]

Extremely harsh yellow yeah. I think we'll take control now.

[paul_e]

That yellow is far less harsh, 10 pens in less than half an hour is asking for a yellow card.

[PaulWinch again]

Terrible finish by England there.

[paul_e]

Terrible finish by England there.

Where Robshaw got help up?  I agree on that one.

Sharples unlucky not to have a 2nd.

Goode has had a fantastic first half, really good awareness and excellent running lines.

[PaulWinch again]

Cole should have scored.

[paul_e]

agreed, really poor decision to go in so 'tall' if you going to barge over you get your body low.

Fiji try sums up why I don't think Monye is good enough, got left for dead.

[PaulWinch again]

Good to see England going wide when on the line, too often in the past we've tried to drive over and failed.

[PaulWinch again]

Overall decent performance, obviously a bit rusty but some good performances. Tom Youngs had an excellent debut, and Goode was superb. Sharples will get the wing spot next to Ashton after a very good performance. Good to see Manu get a couple of tries and see Wood back in the international game.

[paul_e]

Stuart Barnes is an idiot generally but he got the call for motm spot on, Goode was superb, all our good play came through him.  Highlights the lack of creativity in the centres though.  The difficulty is Barritt and Manu both played well so dropping one of them is really harsh.

For me it was a good performance by everyone, a few errors on the line cost us another 15-20 points which wouldn't have flattered us too much.

The only issue for me is that, against a more organised side, we don't have the creativity when a side is set across the field.