International Rugby

[Risso]

What a burst from Simmonds.

[Risso]

England running riot second half.  Very impressive.

[taylorsworkrate]

Played some awesome stuff at times today. The Ford/Farrell axis in particular worked beautifully. The strength in depth in English rugby is exceptional. To be that strong off the bench with all the injuries we currently have must be frightening to the other nations.

Only criticism would be over the tries conceded. Slightly worrying to be caught out by a ball over the top twice.

[nigel]

Excellent England.
Thought Sam Simmonds was excellent.

Was nice to see Italy play rugby, rather than the anti-rugby of last year. Well done O'Shay.

[aev]

Lots of incisive passing today by England - must be a nightmare to defend against with so many runners on different lines.

[Risso]

Excellent England.
Thought Sam Simmonds was excellent.

Was nice to see Italy play rugby, rather than the anti-rugby of last year. Well done O'Shay.

He's devastating over the first few yards.

[nigel]

Ok, guesses for who's going to replace Ben Youngs?

[paul_e]

Ok, guesses for who's going to replace Ben Youngs?

Fingers crossed for Robson.  Hopefully not wigglesworth.

[Jon Crofts]

No news on Youngs’ injury, you could hear him scream when it happened, not nice.

[UK Redsox]

Excellent England.
Thought Sam Simmonds was excellent.

Should have been MoTM rather than Watson

[paul_e]

Excellent England.
Thought Sam Simmonds was excellent.

Should have been MoTM rather than Watson

I think you could've picked 5-6 players for man of the match and justified the lot.  The entire pack were excellent, Farrell was superb, Watson was nearly faultless and Simmonds had an exceptional 2nd half.  Aside from a couple of defensive errors I don't think England could've done much more.  Either way I'm glad Simmonds has come in and shown what he can bring, a back row with that pace and power is a fantastic weapon to have. Looking forward, a back 5 (and bench) of Itoje, Launchbury, Lawes, Robshaw, Simmonds, Billy V and Hughes will tear apart any team in the world if we can get them all fit and firing and that's leaving out players like Mercer, Isiekwe, Kruis and Underhill (and with 2-3 other youngsters looking the business as well, Jack Willis being the next off the queue).

I said to a few friends after the first try that there were 50 points out there if we stuck at it and worked to our strengths and I wasn't far off. To me we looked like a team who knew they'd had a wobble in 2017 where the attack hadn't looked quite so dynamic and they made sure to put down a marker for everyone.  If we can tighten up the defence against high kicks I can't see anyone getting close to us in this 6N.

Also, that's now 23 from 24 for Jones, what an inspired choice he's proving to be and it's good to feel vindicated in my arguments that Lancaster was the main reason for us fucking up so spectacularly in the world cup, you don't go from that humiliation to this unless there were serious problems in the setup before.

[cheltenhamlion]

Enjoyed that yesterday. Can I also give a nod to Johnny May who finally showed there is more to him than just searing pace.

[paul_e]

Ok, guesses for who's going to replace Ben Youngs?

Fingers crossed for Robson.  Hopefully not wigglesworth.

As I was worried about they've added Wigglesworth, I don't get why Jones is unwilling to call up Robson.

[cheltenhamlion]

Ok, guesses for who's going to replace Ben Youngs?

Fingers crossed for Robson.  Hopefully not wigglesworth.

As I was worried about they've added Wigglesworth, I don't get why Jones is unwilling to call up Robson.

Him, rather than Robson, is fucking ridiculous.

[nigel]

Ok, guesses for who's going to replace Ben Youngs?

Fingers crossed for Robson.  Hopefully not wigglesworth.

As I was worried about they've added Wigglesworth, I don't get why Jones is unwilling to call up Robson.

Him, rather than Robson, is fucking ridiculous.

Experience?