International Rugby

[paul_e]

Lack of ideas from Wales, as they kept kicking the ball to Steward.

Steward was brilliant today, he’s so good under the high ball, so I couldn’t understand Wales doing it.
Thought England were very good, apart from Farrells kicking. Bit of a one off? Could have been a worry in a closer game.

I wouldn’t worry about Farrell’s kicking he’s good an excellent history from the tee. What would worry me more is that he didn’t sense that the need for England to go for the kill between 50-70. They should have upped the tempo and attacking intent there. It worked out this time, but they were overly conservative in that phase - it gets a pass because it’s only Borthwick’s third game but that won’t be acceptable for long.

I agree, the brave choice would've been Mitchell, Smith and Arundell on after about 55mins for JVP, Farrell and Malins to add pace and play a more expansive game to push for the 4 try bonus point win, instead we went the other way and killed the game. It worked against a poor Welsh team who could easily finish bottom but I hope we realise we need to be more aggressive against the best sides.

[PaulWinch again]

Huge call from Borthwick, he’s now completely opened up selection moving forward.

[paul_e]

Huge call from Borthwick, he’s now completely opened up selection moving forward.

I just hope Smith and Lawrence click now. We need to move on and I'd hate for us mess it up at the first hurdle.

[Jon Crofts]

I had a feeling England might beat France at the weekend, I'm now sure of it. England by 8.

[paul_e]

Very tough call on Italy, guy drops the ball just over the line having been tackled by a guy coming from behind him. If the ruck was formed it's a penalty try and probably a yellow card but the ref decided it wasn't a ruck. Right on the edge for me (but I think there was an Italian over the tackle when the ball left the ground) and the Italians can feel very hard done by.

[paul_e]

Wales leading 22-3 at halftime but they've had 3 big calls go in their favour.
Aside from the above, giving a yellow card and a penalty try for collapsing a maul is very harsh.
Then just before half time Wales gave 3 different penalties at mauls a little further from the line and instead of stopping the play to give a yellow card he let it go and then reversed the try for a tackle in the air after the Italians gambled with a cross-field kick.

The other problem here is a welsh commentator and 2 welsh pundits in the studio means that none of this will be discussed. For England they generally go out of their way to bring someone in for 'balance' but that never happens for Wales.

[paul_e]

Piss poor start from England, some really terrible decision making so far, JVP looks totally out of his depth. Ref has been very harsh though, 2-3 penalties given for things that you see let go in most games.

[taylorsworkrate]

With the resources and funding the RFU has, to be this far away in terms of quality, discipline and organisation from France is shameful

[Jon Crofts]

This could easily be a 50 point game if this keeps up. Piss poor.

[Steve67]

Absolute shambles.  Too many basic errors, too many penalties.

[taylorsworkrate]

The bookies had this as a 50/50 type game before it kicked off. 5/6 on France looks the value bet of the century now

[paul_e]

With the resources and funding the RFU has, to be this far away in terms of quality, discipline and organisation from France is shameful

A big part of it is the hangover from keeping Jones for 18months too long but on top of that some of the changes Borthwick has pushed haven't worked. JVP and Dombrandt have been really poor today.

All that said, we've been pathetic at the breakdown which has made it easy for them to turnover the ball and easy for the ref to favour them with penalties, etc.

I hope this isn't used as an excuse to bin Smith and bring Farrell back in because none of our problems have come from our 10 and it's very hard to run a game from there when your 8 and 9 are the 2 worst players on the pitch.

[paul_e]

Mitchell on and England are a completely different team, this is much better.

[Villan For Life]

Outclassed. The French are a very good team

[Jon Crofts]

A rabble. Ireland will top this score next week.