International Rugby

[paul_e]

The good old board vote of confidence, I doubt many of them were awake to watch the dross served up for the second year running by Jones.

We got bullied at the world cup and we haven'r played well for more thana  few short spells ever since, with 18months until the next one tha'ts a hell of a long time for us to be a team in transition. To make it worse he's wasted a lot of that time by picking players that weren't going to be part of the next WC squad in front of very talented youngsters.

I think it's now at the point where it'd be embarrassing to sack him before the world cup unless things fall apart completely, It might have been better for us to have conceded a few more points in the last 2 games to make the gap look huge and paanic them into action. I reckon if Scotland had got the points to finish above us that statement would look a lot more desperate.

[PaulWinch again]

England look like a poorly coached team. There’s just a lack of cohesion - Jones did a great job when he first came in, and then had a renaissance up to and including the semi-final at the last World Cup. But since then it’s been really ropey and simply not good enough.

[Gareth]

England have zero chance of winning the World Cup with that clown in charge playing his favourites every game rather than picking on form….bin Jones, bin Youngs permanently & actually try and play some decent rugby that isn’t just kick it away at every opportunity. 

[PaulWinch again]

That statement from the RFU is beyond parody. If you want back Jones then fine, but don’t just lie.

[PaulWinch again]

England have zero chance of winning the World Cup with that clown in charge playing his favourites every game rather than picking on form….bin Jones, bin Youngs permanently & actually try and play some decent rugby that isn’t just kick it away at every opportunity. 

Kicking isn’t a problem - France kick the ball away a lot. The difference is the French are doing it to gain field position and then are razor sharp once they’re in that position. England aren’t, we’re aimless and lack a vision on how we want to play.

[paul_e]

England have zero chance of winning the World Cup with that clown in charge playing his favourites every game rather than picking on form….bin Jones, bin Youngs permanently & actually try and play some decent rugby that isn’t just kick it away at every opportunity. 

Kicking isn’t a problem - France kick the ball away a lot. The difference is the French are doing it to gain field position and then are razor sharp once they’re in that position. England aren’t, we’re aimless and lack a vision on how we want to play.

Kicking the ball away (for territory) is fine if you have 3 things:

1. A structured kick chase strategy that everyone in the team has a part in, far too often England kick aimlessly and chase it 'off the cuff', Steward on the wing was a good first step to address this but we still didn't compete or press well for most kicks. Look at Ireland and France and they have very clear ideas of what they want to get from their kicks.

2. A dominant defence that is regularly 'winning' the contact, knocking carriers back, winning regular turnoners and slowing down the ball. By getting all of this right you force the opposition to load the breakdown, reducing their options and forcing them to kick on your terms. All of this makes them less likely to run it back at you when you kick. England are really odd with this, sometimes we get every part of it right, and other times we're so passive in defence that it can only be a tactical decision.

3. A couple of magicians who thrive in the extra space you're creating by opening the field up with kicks. This is where England have got things so badly wrong right now, Jones has filled the team with distributors and crash runners over the last few years and let the flair players fall away. We need a couple of people in there that the oppoisition are scared of in open space, a Robinson and a Greenwood in this England team would make a huge difference.

[UK Redsox]

Still don't understand why the Welsh scrum half kicked with 90 seconds left on the clock.

One or two more charges by the forwards and they could have just kicked the ball out to end the game

[paul_e]

Tough one really, playing through phases in your own 22 is massively risky, only needs a bit of poor handling, a good counter-ruck or the ref calling for sealing off and you're gifting them an opportunity. You'd normally expect to make a tackle around halfway and challenge them to go through the phases, was a brilliant break by the Italian fullback but I reckon 99 times out of a hundred that works out well for Wales.

Josh Adams gets the criticism for me, his positioning and attempt at the tackle is really lazy, was all a bit 'going through the motions' rather than actually playing the situation. He's 2 yards too wide and at least a yard in front of Falatau, if he's where he's meant to be there's no option for the italian to straighten and make the break.

[Gareth]

England have zero chance of winning the World Cup with that clown in charge playing his favourites every game rather than picking on form….bin Jones, bin Youngs permanently & actually try and play some decent rugby that isn’t just kick it away at every opportunity. 

Kicking isn’t a problem - France kick the ball away a lot. The difference is the French are doing it to gain field position and then are razor sharp once they’re in that position. England aren’t, we’re aimless and lack a vision on how we want to play.

Kicking the ball away (for territory) is fine if you have 3 things:

1. A structured kick chase strategy that everyone in the team has a part in, far too often England kick aimlessly and chase it 'off the cuff', Steward on the wing was a good first step to address this but we still didn't compete or press well for most kicks. Look at Ireland and France and they have very clear ideas of what they want to get from their kicks.

2. A dominant defence that is regularly 'winning' the contact, knocking carriers back, winning regular turnoners and slowing down the ball. By getting all of this right you force the opposition to load the breakdown, reducing their options and forcing them to kick on your terms. All of this makes them less likely to run it back at you when you kick. England are really odd with this, sometimes we get every part of it right, and other times we're so passive in defence that it can only be a tactical decision.

3. A couple of magicians who thrive in the extra space you're creating by opening the field up with kicks. This is where England have got things so badly wrong right now, Jones has filled the team with distributors and crash runners over the last few years and let the flair players fall away. We need a couple of people in there that the oppoisition are scared of in open space, a Robinson and a Greenwood in this England team would make a huge difference.

Couldn’t agree more with point 1 - kicking to a plan is good, just hammering it likes it’s a grenade that you have no chance of catching like Youngs does is utterly pointless

[nigel]

Interesting read

Certainly answers a few questions

https://www.planetrugby.com/opinion-five-busted-myths-about-england-after-six-nations-and-what-eddie-jones-needs-to-do-before-rugby-world-cup/

[Brazilian Villain]

This may be of interest after last week's 6N victory for Italy.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/matt-williams-italy-s-youth-programme-being-dismantled-just-as-it-bears-fruit-1.4836166

[nigel]

This may be of interest after last week's 6N victory for Italy.
https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/matt-williams-italy-s-youth-programme-being-dismantled-just-as-it-bears-fruit-1.4836166

Absolutely crazy

I thought Italy had turned the corner in this years 6 nations, they played some great stuff in all matches.

[nigel]

There’s a story on bbc sport looking at eventual replacement for Eddie Jones.

Borthwick, Baxter and Cockerill were three that were mentioned.

It stated that they would be looking at an English appointment, international experience not necessarily required.
Probably a long shot, but Andy Farrell seems to be doing a good job at Ireland.
Would be interesting to see if they go for Sean Edwards as defensive coach. Has been excellent at both Wales and France.

[paul_e]

Farrell is a no for me, he's a good coach but not right fit or style for England.

Cockerill would be a no because he's a twat, I'd take Baxter or Borthwick though,

I'd be all for having Edwards as a defensive coach, he's shown repeatedly that he's the best in the business.

Overall it's pretty difficult to know where England should go next but whoever they pick needs to be someone who lets them off the leash a little more, Englands problem in the rugby mirrors the footbal lteam perfectly, we're setup in a wau that we can beat most teams by sticking to the 'formula' but as soon as sides disrupt that, because we're so over-coached to play set moves, we look like we have no plan 'b'. Even when we win games it's rarely comfortable and you can see signs of why things will break down at some point, it just always so conservative.

[nigel]

Red Roses win the Grand Slam. Awesome forwards

Got to be worth a bet for the World Cup