The Official English Rugby Thread

[SaintK]

Joe Heyes called up[ as cover for Sinckler who has a "chest injury"!!!

[Oxbow]

I reckon the lads have started deliberately injuring each other to get out of this shitshow, it'll be like that scene from Escape To Victory in the dressing room.

[Raggs]

Joe Heyes called up[ as cover for Sinckler who has a "chest injury"!!!

Holy hell, we're collapsing like flies. I was vaguely hoping we might be able to scratch through to the semis, given our good fortune in pools, but right now I don't think we'll even make that.

[Margin__Walker]

Good job we've got that crack S&C team in from Leicester ensuring that we're relentless on the pitch and not breaking down with injury in training.

No, wait.

[inactionman]

He can't break even more than Eddie did, can he?

[Margin__Walker]

He can't break even more than Eddie did, can he?

They're giving it a bloody good go

[JM2K6]

I for one am hugely surprised that an entire team of people who are in varying ways utterly inexperienced for their roles at this level are making an absolute pigs ear of an already shit situation.

[Stranger]

The worry is that Aled Waters is the only one with the appropriate experience

[petej]

Actually Roberts didn't have terrible hands, but he was certainly used as a bosh merchant, and it showed at times he couldn't pair making a good decision and executing it under pressure, both how little was expected/encouraged of him and the lack of actual practice.

He had terrible hands.

He certainly had plenty of terrible outcomes. But I've seen him up close in training, and he was actually pretty decent, genuinely he looked quite good (and I've seen bad), but at club and country nobody looked to build on that, it just wasn't part of the thinking. And players can tend to be what you tell them to be, partly we can tend to fall in line, partly they want to work on what's getting them selected and they don't chance things the coach isn't looking for if that puts selection at risk

In England we want to line players up, in attack and defence, we want the high confrontational square on contacts, we're not that interested in space and evasion, nor speed. And Wales has some similar lack of thinking to us in this. And we typically give scant regards to players like Eastmond, like Smith, and even if we pick them we don't consider what might allow them to work better. Christ, England weren't even interested in Wade, and he scared the daylights out of anyone who marked him, but, he was no Banahan

The lack of interest in a genuine special talent like wade was always frustrating. The massive + in attack was less important than a minor - negative in defence.

[JM2K6]

It wasn't minor. He was an absolute bomb scare in defence and never seemed to improve. You can't carry a player like that. No matter how good they might be with ball in hand.

All it would've taken was some commitment to doing the basics and following a system properly but by the end I only have to assume he didn't give a shit

[Kawazaki]

Joe Heyes called up[ as cover for Sinckler who has a "chest injury"!!!

Holy hell, we're collapsing like flies. I was vaguely hoping we might be able to scratch through to the semis, given our good fortune in pools, but right now I don't think we'll even make that.

Sinckler chest injury - pea heart.

He's no great loss at all - he's even lazier than Marler.

[Ovals]

Good job we've got that crack S&C team in from Leicester ensuring that we're relentless on the pitch and not breaking down with injury in training.

No, wait.

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://ww ... ury-squad/

[Margin__Walker]

Good job we've got that crack S&C team in from Leicester ensuring that we're relentless on the pitch and not breaking down with injury in training.

No, wait.

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://ww ... ury-squad/

Yep, tapering is the word on the street. Let's see.

Thankfully their group is very forgiving

[SaintK]

Good job we've got that crack S&C team in from Leicester ensuring that we're relentless on the pitch and not breaking down with injury in training.

No, wait.

https://12ft.io/proxy?ref=&q=https://ww ... ury-squad/

Yep, tapering is the word on the street. Let's see.

Thankfully their group is very forgiving

We'll be able to tell by how many Fiji put on us later

[Hal Jordan]

Joe Heyes called up[ as cover for Sinckler who has a "chest injury"!!!

Holy hell, we're collapsing like flies. I was vaguely hoping we might be able to scratch through to the semis, given our good fortune in pools, but right now I don't think we'll even make that.

Sinckler chest injury - pea heart.

He's no great loss at all - he's even lazier than Marler.

As they say of NFL players who win a massive contract and then phone it in, he got paid.

[Oxbow]

We already look far better with Mitchell and Ford we do with Youngs and Farrell, who'd have thunk it.

[sefton]

25 mins in with 15 on the pitch, that’s a moral win in my book.

[Hal Jordan]

Forward, but we got sliced open there, badly.

Edit: Jesus, Cole was barely moving in that "defence".

[Kawazaki]

We already look far better with Mitchell and Ford we do with Youngs and Farrell, who'd have thunk it.

And then England looked shite again.

Oh sorry, I'm sure you were just about to post this.

[Oxbow]

We already look far better with Mitchell and Ford we do with Youngs and Farrell, who'd have thunk it.

And then England looked shite again.

Oh sorry, I'm sure you were just about to post this.

It then started pissing it down which may have had something to do with it, but after the first 15 minutes it wasn't great. Still better than having Youngs out there though. I know there's absolutely no point arguing with you about Farrell, so, I won't.

[Kawazaki]

We already look far better with Mitchell and Ford we do with Youngs and Farrell, who'd have thunk it.

And then England looked shite again.

Oh sorry, I'm sure you were just about to post this.

It then started pissing it down which may have had something to do with it, but after the first 15 minutes it wasn't great. Still better than having Youngs out there though. I know there's absolutely no point arguing with you about Farrell, so, I won't.

England are shite with Smith at 10 - it's Farrel's fault
England are shite with Ford at 10 - it's Farrel's fault
England are shite when Farrell isn't playing - it's Farrel's fault

[Raggs]

Christ that was a depressing run of phases 5m out and end up 10m back and losing it.

[sefton]

And then England looked shite again.

Oh sorry, I'm sure you were just about to post this.

It then started pissing it down which may have had something to do with it, but after the first 15 minutes it wasn't great. Still better than having Youngs out there though. I know there's absolutely no point arguing with you about Farrell, so, I won't.

England are shite with Smith at 10 - it's Farrel's fault
England are shite with Ford at 10 - it's Farrel's fault
England are shite when Farrell isn't playing - it's Farrel's fault

[sefton]

Marler, Cole, Care and May. We might as well get Borthwick on.

[JM2K6]

Remarkable stuff. Well done Borthwick, no one could have predicted just how much impact you'd have on this team. History making stuff. Unforgettable.

[sockwithaticket]

Are we worse than the '05 -'11 sides yet?

[tc27]

Gotta be the worst England RWC squad of the pro era.

[Oxbow]

I don't think the players are the worst, but the coaching...

[el capitan]

You could give it chapter and verse about many many many many things, and some of the problems we face go beyond the national side, but all I am going to say is that when literally every single player and every facet and thing you do is utterly shit, you can only look at the coaching team.

[sefton]

Are we worse than the '05 -'11 sides yet?

By a country mile.

[tc27]

I don't think the players are the worst, but the coaching...

Agree..worst in terms of the overall factors.

There are some right donkeys in this team but frustratingly also some quality players

[sefton]

I feel for Lawes.

[Ovals]

I don't think the players are the worst, but the coaching...

The coaches didn't make Care drop the ball in his own 22 which lead to their last try.

[Hal Jordan]

Are we worse than the '05 -'11 sides yet?

They at least fronted up in the forwards and we reached the final in 2007.

This lot are 1970s bad.

[Hal Jordan]

I don't think the players are the worst, but the coaching...

The coaches didn't make Care drop the ball in his own 22 which lead to their last try.

Why the fuck he was catching it in the first place is symptomatic of the rot throughout the team.

[Oxbow]

I don't think the players are the worst, but the coaching...

The coaches didn't make Care drop the ball in his own 22 which lead to their last try.

With this lot I wouldn't be surprised if they did.

[sefton]

Hartley is fucking delusional.

[Joost]

Are we worse than the '05 -'11 sides yet?

By a country mile.

They could defend and try and grind out a win at least and you never saw those teams lose (comfortably as well) to one of the PI nations.

Make no mistake, this is the most humiliating defeat in England rugby history and we can add it to the record 6N and home defeat against France from earlier this year - a group stage RWC exit seems entirely possible at this point!

[inactionman]

Are we worse than the '05 -'11 sides yet?

By a country mile.

They could defend and try and grind out a win at least and you never saw those teams lose (comfortably as well) to one of the PI nations.

Make no mistake, this is the most humiliating defeat in England rugby history and we can add it to the record 6N and home defeat against France from earlier this year - a group stage RWC exit seems entirely possible at this point!

At this point, going out in the group stages would almost be blessed relief.

It's just constant lack of basic skills, and god alone knows where our defensive intensity went. I think I've seen more missed tackles this year than in the preceding decade.

[Hal Jordan]

22 tries against us in 5 games. Sinfield is a League legend but a Union nobody, yet gets a top coaching job.