Rugby Union 2013-14

[PaulWinch again]

This is terrible now, horrible horrible half so far.

[taylorsworkrate]

Decent first half, woeful 2nd half so far

[PaulWinch again]

Terribly disjointed and complacent in second half and as paul says Tomkins looks well short.

[PaulWinch again]

Finally Morgan goes over for something positive from second half.

[taylorsworkrate]

Well, another win, but the poorness of the second half makes it feel rather hollow. England for some reason abandoned the first half gameplan and tempo, and tried to go too wide too early. That would be fine if you had good wingers and a decent 13. England didn't today.

[PaulWinch again]

Wade definitely needs to come in for Ashton next week, Ashton is trying far too hard at the moment.

[paul_e]

Wade definitely needs to come in for Ashton next week, Ashton is trying far too hard at the moment.

Wade, Yarde and Eastmond/Trinder/Burrell at 11, 13 and 14 for me.  Foden (who looked ok but clearly isn't a winger) on the bench with Goode, Ashton and Tomkins dropping out of the 23.

I'd swap Flood for Burns as well to give us a bit more creativity if things get bogged down like today.  Forwards are fine but Marler should be 3rd choice behind Corbs and Mako and Cole has to start agianst NZ.  Hartley is a level above Youngs and proved it today.

[UK Redsox]

A great away win at Bracknell today for the Mighty Lyd.

Bracknell are second at the moment so we're starting to pull clear now.

[paul_e]

Lancaster seems to be taking a few pelters in the press after the 2nd half, which is good to see.  With the options we have in the backs it's really not good enough to see a team so short of ideas.

[taylorsworkrate]

France V New Zealand was an enjoyable game last night.

It showed that the Kiwi's, whilst obviously the best team in the world, are not unbeatable. I think the autumn so far has been just about acceptable from England. All will depend on next Saturday, and the bare minimum acceptable should be a close game where we start to show some signs of flair.

As for Wales? I'm sure they'll win an autumn international one day.

[PaulWinch again]

Wade, Yarde, Corbisiero all out against the All Blacks. I fear for us.

[paul_e]

Tomkins will get another 80minutes to show he's nothing like good enough to play test rugby, yay.

I give up trying to understand his thought processes in selecting a backline, by chance injuries and Lions call ups forced him to play a progressive backline in the summer and we were great to watch and had skill and flair all across the park, with a full compliment to choose from he's gone back to safety first and picked another incredibly forward-centric side.  We have an excellent pack, everyone can see that but the backs are probably the weakest in the 6N at the moment, which is poor given the options we have.

[PaulWinch again]

Oh dear.

[PaulWinch again]

We've responded fairly well to their try, but we've got to look at our wide defence.

[PaulWinch again]

Worryingly poor first scrum.