RWC R2 - England vs. Japan - Sunday 17th - 20:00 BST

[tc27]

That was nicely done

[salanya]

England winning this pool by being dogshit.
Symptomatic of many of the things that are wrong in this world.

[el capitan]

Nice cross kick, and nice conversion (taking us beyond two scores) tbf.

[Torquemada 1420]

England winning this pool by being dogshit.
Symptomatic of many of the things that are wrong in this world.

Scotland will be feeling more aggrieved by the minute.

I am off to bed. Sorry Scarface.

[tc27]

Gonna lose to Wales or Fiji in the quarter.

[Torquemada 1420]

Gonna lose to Wales or Fiji in the quarter.

You'll probably make the semi and then lose by the widest margin ever for that stage.

[TheNatalShark]

Absolute dog shit by Japan. Fuck anyone that says this is a tier 1 team

[tc27]

Gonna lose to Wales or Fiji in the quarter.

You'll probably make the semi and then lose by the widest margin ever for that stage.

The kicker being a Semi will secure Borthwicks position

[Brazil]

Yeah, Ben, if he screams use it at you 30000 times, you might want to thing about moving at least marginally in the direction of the ball

[sockwithaticket]

If nothing else, this match has given us Smith bumping off a forward.

[tc27]

That has to be a score.

[Brazil]

That has to be a score.

Oh TC...

[petej]

That has to be a score.

Dumb forwards. Has to be more variation.

[tc27]

That has to be a score.

Oh TC...

I mean you gotta from that position

[sockwithaticket]

So little of our passing is actually too the man. They're all having to reach.

These are fully professional players whose handling is being put to shame by what we see from Portugal and Uruguay.

[LenCohen]

The casual viewers must have been converted by now

[TheNatalShark]

Have Japan won their own line out ball this half?

[tc27]

Getting out of the group is easy...whats everyone complaining about?

[BnM]

That's a scoreline that flatters.

[sefton]

World beaters.

[sefton]

Thank fuck that is over, I’m going to bed.

[tc27]

I said Ford had a bad game but hes working with absolute mince for most of that game. Still did well to create what he did.

[el capitan]

Awesome. Exhilarating. England.

[petej]

I said Ford had a bad game but hes working with absolute mince for most of that game. Still did well to create what he did.

Ford looks better with Smith and lawrence to play with is hardly surprising.

Are arundell and malins injured?

[tc27]

I said Ford had a bad game but hes working with absolute mince for most of that game. Still did well to create what he did.

Ford looks better with Smith and lawrence to play with is hardly surprising.

Are arundell and malins injured?

As Ben Kay was saying he just needed someone to run a line and be an option...this is probaly supposed to be Manu but not sure hes fit enough to do it every time now days.

[BnM]

Post match interview from Ford in the style of Borthwick

[Brazil]

Post match interview from Ford in the style of Borthwick

Very depressing. "Building pressure wins you games" is straight out of that narrow minded perspective that has defined his tenure.

And he appears to have gone full Jonestown on the basis of this interview.

[notfatcat]

I said Ford had a bad game but hes working with absolute mince for most of that game. Still did well to create what he did.

Ford looks better with Smith and lawrence to play with is hardly surprising.

Are arundell and malins injured?

I think they're pretending to be.

[_Os_]

Can somebody explain to me wtf Daly is in the team for?

Tbh Seft a load of these English players are shot.

Old past it:Youngs, Care, Tuilagi, May, Daly,

Gone shit: genge, sinckler, billy vunipola, itoje (bit harsh but not the world beater he seemed at one point destined to be).

I had a conversation with an England fan once who was convinced that Youngs was the best scrumhalf, I thought he meant the best in England currently and replied "surely there's someone else?", to which he replied no he was in fact the GOAT. I suggested maybe Gareth Davies was better, which he argued not realising I was taking the piss.

Years later I still don't know who England have at 9, but they should get rid of Youngs the goat (not an acronym) and probably not let Farrell get the 10 jersey back.

England are interesting because if they win Pool D it's the best route to a semi final. Their strengths match the weaknesses of Fiji (I'm guessing Fiji comes second with Wales winning Pool C). If it's Fiji then Wales have already shown the way, dogged defence and making 250+ tackles then wait for Fiji's errors, a repeat of England's match against the Pumas. Knocking Fiji out should please the neutrals. Hilariously England have a much stronger shot of a semi final than any of France/ABs/Boks/Ireland/Scotland do individually. Fuck me it'll be hard to take Youngs the goat, in a semi final and another game after that (3rd place or final) if the Boks go out.

[ASMO]

Despite the score, England are utter junk

[dpedin]

As expected England over power a poor Japan side. The header for the try was the turning point in the game! They struggled to dominate the Japanese but gradually wore them down with forwards and kicking, Japan were poor returning kicks all game. Apart from that not much else of note other than confirming everything we already know about the England team. Looks like an easy route now to 1/4 and 1/2?

[Raggs]

As expected England over power a poor Japan side. The header for the try was the turning point in the game! They struggled to dominate the Japanese but gradually wore them down with forwards and kicking, Japan were poor returning kicks all game. Apart from that not much else of note other than confirming everything we already know about the England team. Looks like an easy route now to 1/4 and 1/2?

Not sure about the semis, since it could be any of Aus/Wal/Fij, I think Wales would beat us more than half the time. Fiji is an interesting one, I reckon with our improved fitness, we'd bore them to death and dominate their lineouts so we wouldn't let them do much.

[JM2K6]

Any team that can hold onto the fucking ball is going to cause us huge problems. It's as simple as that: both opponents have coughed up a huge number of unforced errors.

[petej]

Tbh Seft a load of these English players are shot.

Old past it:Youngs, Care, Tuilagi, May, Daly,

Gone shit: genge, sinckler, billy vunipola, itoje (bit harsh but not the world beater he seemed at one point destined to be).

I had a conversation with an England fan once who was convinced that Youngs was the best scrumhalf, I thought he meant the best in England currently and replied "surely there's someone else?", to which he replied no he was in fact the GOAT. I suggested maybe Gareth Davies was better, which he argued not realising I was taking the piss.

Years later I still don't know who England have at 9, but they should get rid of Youngs the goat (not an acronym) and probably not let Farrell get the 10 jersey back.

England are interesting because if they win Pool D it's the best route to a semi final. Their strengths match the weaknesses of Fiji (I'm guessing Fiji comes second with Wales winning Pool C). If it's Fiji then Wales have already shown the way, dogged defence and making 250+ tackles then wait for Fiji's errors, a repeat of England's match against the Pumas. Knocking Fiji out should please the neutrals. Hilariously England have a much stronger shot of a semi final than any of France/ABs/Boks/Ireland/Scotland do individually. Fuck me it'll be hard to take Youngs the goat, in a semi final and another game after that (3rd place or final) if the Boks go out.

9s Mitchell, van poortfliet, quirke, randall and probably some others but i dont watch as much rugby as i used to. There were a couple of moments yesterday where it semi opened up for Youngs and 10 years ago he would be away. I like Youngs and actually found it quite sad that we are getting to the point where we cant remember him being dangerous with the ball in hand which kept opposition defences busy.

[JM2K6]

Old past it:Youngs, Care, Tuilagi, May, Daly,

Gone shit: genge, sinckler, billy vunipola, itoje (bit harsh but not the world beater he seemed at one point destined to be).

I had a conversation with an England fan once who was convinced that Youngs was the best scrumhalf, I thought he meant the best in England currently and replied "surely there's someone else?", to which he replied no he was in fact the GOAT. I suggested maybe Gareth Davies was better, which he argued not realising I was taking the piss.

Years later I still don't know who England have at 9, but they should get rid of Youngs the goat (not an acronym) and probably not let Farrell get the 10 jersey back.

England are interesting because if they win Pool D it's the best route to a semi final. Their strengths match the weaknesses of Fiji (I'm guessing Fiji comes second with Wales winning Pool C). If it's Fiji then Wales have already shown the way, dogged defence and making 250+ tackles then wait for Fiji's errors, a repeat of England's match against the Pumas. Knocking Fiji out should please the neutrals. Hilariously England have a much stronger shot of a semi final than any of France/ABs/Boks/Ireland/Scotland do individually. Fuck me it'll be hard to take Youngs the goat, in a semi final and another game after that (3rd place or final) if the Boks go out.

9s Mitchell, van poortfliet, quirke, randall and probably some others but i dont watch as much rugby as i used to. There were a couple of moments yesterday where it semi opened up for Youngs and 10 years ago he would be away. I like Youngs and actually found it quite sad that we are getting to the point where we cant remember him being dangerous with the ball in hand which kept opposition defences busy.

For all Care's failings he's a genuine attacking threat still. Youngs is a carthorse with bad basics.

[Slick]

Am I going mad, or did Fiji not just beat England at Twickenham reasonably convincingly?

[JM2K6]

Am I going mad, or did Fiji not just beat England at Twickenham reasonably convincingly?

Yes. Don't interrupt Os when he's doing his thing, but no England fan would be confident of beating Fiji. If Fiji can hold onto the ball they'll run us ragged and they're a more powerful team overall. If we kept feeding them with our kicking game we'd just see a repeat.

[Raggs]

Am I going mad, or did Fiji not just beat England at Twickenham reasonably convincingly?

Warmups are not rwc games. We're still looking pretty dire, but our fitness seems to be greatly improved, and in turn our ability to keep defending quite well. I'd reckon us slight favourites in a re-match at the moment.

[Slick]

Am I going mad, or did Fiji not just beat England at Twickenham reasonably convincingly?

Yes. Don't interrupt Os when he's doing his thing, but no England fan would be confident of beating Fiji. If Fiji can hold onto the ball they'll run us ragged and they're a more powerful team overall. If we kept feeding them with our kicking game we'd just see a repeat.

Yes, not sure if the Oracle had picked up on that. I do think that was a particular low mind you, I'd be a bit more confident this time.

[Slick]

Am I going mad, or did Fiji not just beat England at Twickenham reasonably convincingly?

Warmups are not rwc games. We're still looking pretty dire, but our fitness seems to be greatly improved, and in turn our ability to keep defending quite well. I'd reckon us slight favourites in a re-match at the moment.

I'd agree actually, just picking up that some of the comments didn't seem to notice that game.