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and don't forget that the Ford Farrell axis just doesn't work....
But might that be because they knew that type of play might work best?
Was is sheer luck that they found Ireland had trouble with the kicks behind or was it a plan?
I thought most of the niggle came from Ireland and there attitude to entering rucks.
https://twitter.com/Smallclone_/status/1231596338946678784
looks fine can’t see anything wrong with those three entries......
I saw them during the game and was surprised TMO didn’t pick up on it.
I’ve seen talk in a couple of places now of future games being affected by covid-19. Thoughts?
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Didn't / doesn't work ball in hand tho. OUtside backs hardly saw a pass and when they did it was way behind the gainline.
I think the kicking was a plan and executed very well indeed
First one in the side. All had arms involved. whats the issue?
Last one is direct to the head!
To be fair TJ I'd like to see Farrell dropped and maybe slade and Tuilagi in the centre's with Ford at 10. Farrell needs taking down a peg or two. EJ will never drop him though.
whats the issue?
In the side, straight off feet
But might that be because they knew that type of play might work best?
Was is sheer luck that they found Ireland had trouble with the kicks behind or was it a plan?
It worked last 6N too. The way Ireland defend means that you can prosper from the kick through if down well.
As soon as the ref allows it at the start, it’s going to happen all game. The tackle laws have become ridiculously overzealous, whilst the ruck is allowed to be a war zone.
Anyone doubting whether May was intentionally taken out in that earlier clip, take a close look at Farrell in England’s first 2 tries.
1st try - Taken out by Larmour as he chases through. Miles away from the ball and a clear yellow.
2nd try - taken out off the ball by the Irish centres.
Englands attack was very good for a change, how can you say it wasn't? Loads of variety, Back three and Tuigali inside and outside Ford taking it up, the threat and use of Fords kick over the top, the kick chase produced results and the talisman Sexton was put under pressure. Essentially England picked out the less experienced Irish players and forced them into mistakes, whilst holding the line.
Sure there are many more spectacular tries scored in the world but that was not a bad attacking game by any means, and let's remember Ireland are not a bad side at all. The very fact all the off the ball mentioned in the last few posts has happened is a sig of a team desperate to slow the attack.
However, the problem with England is despite all the talk of leadership they play to a formula. When its right as it was on Sunday and against the AB's we look really good, but when its wrong or nullified there's no changing it and we get the SA game or second half of Sunday. Essentially on Sunday England kept on doing the same as usual, and lost out to Ireland because they changed their game plan slight to stop bashing Englands defence through the backs and to get the ball into Englands half and use the forwards. Ireland adapted, England didn't.
If we play the first half game against Wales with a strong defensive, we'll win. If we play the second half game, Wales will win.
The other thing I thought I spotted was that the English defensive line was much more lacsidasical in the last 20 mins giving Ireland more space to play in.
Kryton57 +1
When things go Englands way, then they look good but when the opposition find a way of nullifying the England game plan, England simply don't appear to have a plan B. Nobody on the paddock appears to offer true leadership.
When things go Englands way, then they look good but when the opposition find a way of nullifying the England game plan, England simply don’t appear to have a plan B. Nobody on the paddock appears to offer true leadership.
Same could be said of Ireland. They have a certain way to play and if you nullify that they’re all at sea.
Ireland make a choice to fly up in the line, leaving space in the backfield. England’s kicking is the response to that. It seems Ireland’s way to defend kicks through, is to take out the chaser.
I do still wonder if EJs apparent stubbornness is part of a plan to develop flexibility within his main squad. There will never be an out and out 8 or wing on the bench, especially with a 6/2 split. He needs other players to be able to switch roles, so is giving experience/flexibility.
Or he is just a stubborn sausage!!
Liam Williams is to leave Sarries with immediate effect and return to Scarlets.
I’m guessing the first of a few.
I’m guessing the expensive imports will all run.
Same could be said of Ireland
I'll try to find the link to something I read but this is where its felt the AB's win the game - they are out an out much better in the skills / loose game than any other team, so when it gets loose they play instinctively with and around each other, while the NH sides specifically are playing patterns. It makes them all the more unpredictable for the oppo, whilst actually an area of predictability for their team mates.
Sarries are in big trouble now with the mooted £2.5 million salery cap in the championship after the RFU decided to cut funding massively
Tell you what. I'd rather have the other six nations troubles right now than Scotlands. A coach who is a diddy who is wasting the best players we have had. Several of our best players not getting a game for the national side for no good reason. An experienced and good coach lost to the scottish game.
Its just an effing shambles
I agree with the posts on Englands "way" I think it stems from having a dominant scrum and second phase at the breakdown. When other teams can cancel that out (SA) then I am not sure what your plan B is. As things stand you lot would be terrifying with a 9 who could box kick for May.
@ tjagain,
Your 'best player' is apparently disruptive and believes team rules don't apply to him. He needs to grow up and become a team player or put himself forward as player/coach. IMO.
Thats only one side of the story piha. There is a lot more to it than that and its a managment falure to allow it to get to that.
No one who knows Russell has anything other than to say that playing for scotland is very important to him. He always trains hard and helps lead the team
He is not the only casualty of Townsend / dodson anyway/ George Horne is on fire and has been for a year. Cannot get a start. Ritchie Gray looks like he will no longer play for Scotland. Jones dropped. Ritchie Gray the coach lost to Scotland. Sean Lineen shuffled out. Craig Chalmers is a pariah for critising the SRU. Darcy Graham not getting to start in the WC despite being on fire.
totally confused tactics and selection from Townsend
Dodson getting paid far more than any other 6N CEO and getting paid more than the three top earning players in Scotland put together
Its totally dysfunctional
Toby Booth taking over the Ospreys this summer.
Not sure that’s a great idea because he’s not set the world on fire at Irish or Bath.
Toby Booth taking over the Ospreys this summer.
Not sure that’s a great idea because he’s not set the world on fire at Irish or Bath.
Given the lack of funding they were never likely to get a top class coach.
Adams out for surgery and North looking likely to be out, Liam might get a game for Scarlets this weekend. Not sure getting smashed at Twickers would be a good intro for God Dammit!!!
When does Booth start, they could be a burnt out husk by the time he arrives!
Why would a rugby club get "funding" for a coach?
Its not a club
Welsh pro 14 teams are (partly?) funded by the WRU
However its that old canard " the welsh teams don't have the funding" the scots teams on similar funding seem to have managed to get a couple of decent coaches
However its that old canard ” the welsh teams don’t have the funding” the scots teams on similar funding seem to have managed to get a couple of decent coaches
Magic, must be all the free haggis.
AA - summer 2020, so I’m guessing as soon as the Quinns finish the prem that he’ll move across.
Looks like the last few games involving Italy are under threat.
AA – summer 2020, so I’m guessing as soon as the Quinns finish the prem that he’ll move across
He's got a big job to sort out that shower of shite, he's experienced though so hopefully they'll improve.
He never managed to sort Bath out despite them having a good squad on paper!
North looking likely to be out
I feel sorry for GN. Pretty good player but his head is made of glass [comparatively]. Surely there must come a time when someone draws a line under his career before something bad happens to him - because I doubt he'll do it himself.
edit: From the little I've seen he certainly doesn't seem to be the force he was a couple of years ago.
Whenever I see GN get knocked out it makes me think of this 😣🙁🙁
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11264856
However its that old canard ” the welsh teams don’t have the funding” the scots teams on similar funding seem to have managed to get a couple of decent coaches
We've had exactly the same discussion every year on these threads. You have no more of an idea of the funding situation than any of the rest of us, TJ, but if you can point us all in the direction of some real figures we'd all be grateful.
(Only a few years ago, the Dragons couldn't afford new kit for the new season. Obviously they must have spent all of their cash on sausage rolls and pasties..)
Money well spent then! 👍
Ireland’s game against Italy has been cancelled. Guessing England’s game will be too given that it was away.
How will this impact upon the championship given that both Ireland and England would have been confident of getting four points at the minimum.
Idlejohn. Its scraps of info gleaned over the years. I agree its hard to get to and not very transparaent)
Some numbers here which again show the scots and the welsh are comparable
https://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/exactly-how-much-each-welsh-16514855
Playing budgets: Dragons £4.8m, Cardiff Blues £5.9m, Ospreys £6.4m, Scarlets £7.7m.
Glasgow operate on a playing budget of around £6.5m and Edinburgh £6m.
Those scots figures are in line with what I have seen elsewhere
Edit - if you want poverty tales its not long ago that Glasgow had to play a semi pro prop and Edinburgh had the lowest budget in the pro 12
Ireland’s game against Italy has been cancelled.
Ultimately, it was Ireland’s call.
Postponed not cancelled.
If Ire beat France they will surely want to play Italy some other time.
Actually it could be really interesting if England's game against Italy also gets called off and Ire beat France and Eng beat Wales.
Currently Eng and Ire are on the same points with same bonus points, Eng +12 point diff and Ire +5.
Assuming neither got a bonus point against France/Wales, it could all come down to who could smash Italy the most!!
The same happened with a game (maybe more?) during the Foot and Mouth scare in 2001. I vaguely remember Ireland v Wales played in September? Makes a farce of the competition.
As one of my colleagues has pointed out, not many of those Italian travelling fans will get a refund because the match is cancelled, so they'll still travel and have a weekend away in Dublin.
Playing budgets: Dragons £4.8m, Cardiff Blues £5.9m, Ospreys £6.4m, Scarlets £7.7m.
Glasgow operate on a playing budget of around £6.5m and Edinburgh £6m.
The welsh figures are not "playing budget" thats total money received and you appear to have made up the Scottish ones.
Actually those figures are copied directly from the wales on line link I provided.
The scottish teams TOTAL budget is around 7.5 million each. Thats a pretty solid figure.
Read the article I linked to which explains how it gets the numbers. I am surprised Scarlets are that high but its clear the amounts of money are broadly comparable
Taking those criteria into account, the PRB distribution to each region for next season will be roughly as follows:
Dragons £3.4m, Cardiff Blues £4.9m, Ospreys £5.3m, Scarlets £6m.
The Dragons figure was due to be £3.1m, but the PRB have agreed to allocate them an additional £300,000.
This was after chairman David Buttress argued they could find themselves dangerously thin on numbers up front if forwards Ross Moriarty, Cory Hill, Elliot Dee, Aaron Wainwright and Leon Brown were all selected for the World Cup in Japan.
You can read the full details on how this came about here.
Ross Moriarty is one of five Dragons forwards who could be heading to the World Cup in Japan (Image: Ben Evans/Huw Evans Agency)
Is that all the money the regions receive?No it’s not.
In addition to the £20m of direct WRU funding, there’s a further £11.7m of TV and competition money which the regions generate themselves.
That is passed on to them by the Union and split four ways equally.
Then, of course, there are other streams of income.
The regions generate further cash themselves through sponsorship, such as shirt deals, other commercial activity, merchandise, corporate hospitality boxes and ticket sales.
And then there’s the amount put in by benefactors, which varies from region to region.
That delivers a total revenue figure per annum for the business.
TV revenue is a key source of income for the professional game in Wales (Image: Huw Evans Picture Agency)
A portion of that goes on operational costs, coaching and administrative staff and the academies.Whatever is left then is available to be spent on the playing squad.
It’s important to remember that dual contracts - where the Union paid 60 per cent of a player’s wage and the region 40 per cent - have been phased out.
So, all salary costs are now down to the regions.
And, as it stands, the playing budgets for next season are around the following levels:
Dragons £4.8m, Cardiff Blues £5.9m, Ospreys £6.4m, Scarlets £7.7m.
Those numbers ( bar perhaps the scarlets) are also broadly in line with what I have seen elsewhere
Its clear that the idea the welsh teams do not have the budget to be competitive is nonsense. They have a similar spend to the scots and more than the Italians and only Leinster are significantly above
Its clear that the idea the welsh teams do not have the budget to be competitive is nonsense
Must be spending it all on pies then!
Now you've included the Irish provinces how do you compare that given the tax breaks to the players?
Anyway broadly speaking the welsh regions are pretty competitive with Scottish teams and the Italians. But in the context of new coaches and players they are competing with English and French clubs.
As we discussed a few weeks ago the priorities for the welsh regions are different from the Scots as the welsh are trying to look after Wales team players so that the national team can be competitive wheras the Scottish teams are stoked with Mercs and no internationals so that they can be more competitive. Meanwhile the Scottish national team has won nothing of note for decades.
Scottish teams are stoked with Mercs and no internationals so that they can be more competitive.
Not true at all. for Italy only Hogg, Maitland and Harris I think play outside scotland. Hutchison and McGuigan on the subs bench so 5 out of 23
We only have two teams - it has to be this way and the pro 14 teams are used as feeder teams for the national side with the SRU calling the shots on who plays where and when. the pro `14 teams are used to develop young players and they are allowed to move on later in their career
Outsiders are only brought in when there is no scots player available - hence Hastings starting at 21 yrs old and Fagersons x2 at 20 etc. but we do not have another 10 available who is of pro 14 standard so Edinburgh use to bought in players. If there was an up and coming scots player he would be playing
Edinburgh and Glasgow seem to have been able to attract decent international coaches competing with the english french and antipodians ( although question marks over Glasgows new coach!)
Sounds amazing, what have Edinburgh and Glasgow won recently?
Remeber Edinburgh had a bunch of players away n international duty - this is the team for last weekend. Scots =S PP - project player about to qualify - Mercenary - M
Damien Hoyland S
Eroni Sau, M
Mark Bennett S
Matt Scott,S
Duhan van der Merwe,PP
Simon Hickey, M
Nic Groom (capt) CANT REMEMBER
; Pierre Schoeman, PP
Mike Willemse, M
Simon Berghan, S
Stan South,S
Lewis Carmichael,S
Nick Haining,S
Luke Crosbie,S
Viliame Mata. M
Replacements: Cameron Fenton, S
Murray McCallum, S
Dan Winning, S
Jamie Hodgson, dUNNO
John Barclay, S
Charlie Shiel,S
Jaco van der Walt, PP
George Taylor. S
So 14 scots, 3 project players ie will be qualified soon and 4 merc and a couple I do not know
The scots teams have done rather better in the pro 14 than the welsh! Both scots above all the welsh right now
The scots teams have done rather better in the pro 14 than the welsh! Both scots above all the welsh right now
In the last 5 years Scarlets have one it once and been runner up once, same as Glasgow.
Not sure how both scots can be above all welsh as I am sure they are in different conferences.
Still doing rather better than some terms who are not doing well isnt a lot to shout about really!
Funnily enough looking at Wiki Edinburgh's results are on a par with Neath!!
The same happened with a game (maybe more?) during the Foot and Mouth scare in 2001.
2001 Ireland v England as well (as well as Scotland vs Ireland) - notable to English fans as it was third year in a row when Woodward's team had a chance to win a Grand Slam in the final game but they botched it in Martin Johnson's absence.
The big problem with rescheduling the matches is the congested rugby calendar. It’ll also impact on the coaches access to players; there is a clause in the RFU / prem clubs that will grant Eddie access to his players. Italy for example don’t have the same clause. I guess the biggest impact will be those playing abroad.
There do seem to be murmurings of the 6N not actually being completed which I doubt will be popular given that the WC draw is later this year so rankings are important.
Leinster absolutely humped Glasgow last night. Who can stop them? they just seem to have everything right.
Cardiff managed to lose to Edinburgh too, despite Edinburgh playing shite!
Biggar has left the pitch for Northampton injured. Got to be a worry for Wales.
Both 10’s in the Quinn’s Exeter game are having cracking games. Kicking well and both scoring tries. Good news for England.
Biggar : (
That’s Anscombe, Biggar and Patchell injured iirc.
The game was so poor I didn't think it worth mentioning AA 😉
Mind you Cookers said he didn't care about winning pretty just winning
Quins / Exeter was a cracker of a game
If Biggar is broke we are screwed, Jarrod Evans and then who to bench, Priestland may well get called up!
Priestland may well get called up!
I don’t think it would be unreasonable to break the 60 cap rule in such extreme circumstances if Priestland was deemed the best player available. But, most people seem to think that would set a precedent. Sam Davies?
Sam Davies is shite! Although you are right he is the next in line.
I know I shouldnt be laughing as he will be getting a long ban, but this is bloody funny and exactly whatva ten should get when he tries to get involved in hand bags with the forwards!!
At least he made a red card and ban worthwhile by throwing plenty of punches at plenty of players. 😂
Even as he’s being punched, one of the Munster players starts ‘appealing’ to the referee. I’ll bet they start shouting ‘Aww ref’ when they find that they’ve run out of cereal at breakfast time.
Well deserved red but there is something odd in that he was disengaging and it was all settling down then he came back in with the punches. Warra plonker!
Highlights of the Edinburgh game on the BBC
A whole 31 seconds!
Well, this would really poo on my strawberries
The only sports I watch (F1 and rugby) would be behind a paywall 😒
Agreed Two dogs. Rugby authorities seem to be on a mission to make rugby expensive to watch.
Another in agreement. Rugby is the only sport I watch. If it goes pay to view, then I’ll not watch it.
If it goes pay to view, then I’ll not watch it.
Me neither. It's so short-sighted....they only have to look at the impact on the popularity of cricket and golf when they became pay-to-view to see how it will impact rugby. Rugby is struggling anyway, this could kill it.
I thought rugby 6N was on the protected list so must remain free? Mind you Sky being one of the tories paymasters?
Edit - bollox - schedule B which means it can go so long as highlights are shown on free tv
Desperate for even the smallest hint of good news re Scottish rugby this'll have to do.
https://twitter.com/AlasdairReid3/status/1234126301075779584?s=19
Desperate for even the smallest hint of good news re Scottish rugby this’ll have to do.
Scotland may well beat Wales in the 6Nations, especially as Wales have so many injured players. That would put Scotland mid table.