The Official English Rugby Thread
Eddie literally selected him to start at fullback for the Ireland game, before he broke
- Hal Jordan
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I am inclined to give Malins the benefit of every doubt for the reason that we bear something significant in common (no, he's not a twat).
Pah, half of those are already yesterday's men, Mitchell, Sleightholme and Freeman is where it's at.ASMO wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:10 pm An England backline of Harry Randall, Marcus Smith, Piers O'Conor, Jack Nowell, Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Max Malins would be something to enjoy.
Is Nowell playing at centre there?
Surely that team needs odogwu at 13.Oxbow wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:46 pmPah, half of those are already yesterday's men, Mitchell, Sleightholme and Freeman is where it's at.ASMO wrote: Sat Apr 17, 2021 6:10 pm An England backline of Harry Randall, Marcus Smith, Piers O'Conor, Jack Nowell, Jonny May, Anthony Watson and Max Malins would be something to enjoy.
Is Nowell playing at centre there?
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Bath v Tigers is surprisingly open so far, a few, shall we say, over-enthusiastic offloads from Bath making life difficult for them.
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Cracking finish from Muir after some decent phases strung together by those inside him.
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40 seconds to play and Spencer puts Bath a point ahead after a tough conversion.
Spencer put himself under pressure when he pinged the pass out wide for the try when he could have waited for the forwards to pick and go over close to the posts especially with a penalty advantage.sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Apr 18, 2021 3:46 pm 40 seconds to play and Spencer puts Bath a point ahead after a tough conversion.
Carryu on! No surprise here then?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/56819737Eddie Jones has been backed to continue as England head coach following a review into the team's disappointing fifth-place finish in the Six Nations.
Jones' position had been under scrutiny since defeats by Ireland, Wales and Scotland in the same tournament for the first time in 45 years.
"The debrief was a valuable process, we all learned a lot," Jones said.
"Most importantly, we have identified actions to enable the team to move forward positively towards 2023."
The panel reviewing England's performance consisted of "RFU board members, executives and independent experts", while past and present players - as well as the coaches - also gave their feedback.
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Even if they think he's done wrong, paying him out and finding a replacement at this point in the RWC cycle is a pita unless his position is truly deemed untenable. At the moment the first two years of his reign fluffing the overall win percentage and delivering 3 6N Nations titles (only one of which had a different number of tournament wins to Lancaster) are enough for defenders to fall back on and say he should carry on.
Other news: Sale have re-signed Tuilagi for a year + option for another apparently. Little bit surprised to be honest, suggests he might still have England aspirations whereas he'd probably be better served heading to Japan for an easier toll on the body and a bigger payday. If I were Sale I'd have him on pay as you play like Tigers did with Tom Croft towards the end of his career.
Other news: Sale have re-signed Tuilagi for a year + option for another apparently. Little bit surprised to be honest, suggests he might still have England aspirations whereas he'd probably be better served heading to Japan for an easier toll on the body and a bigger payday. If I were Sale I'd have him on pay as you play like Tigers did with Tom Croft towards the end of his career.
I don't think it's far to say the first two years fluffled the win percentage. Even if you take them out, he's at about 70% - better than everyone since Woodward. 66% in 2018-19, 80% in 2019-20, 55% so far in 2020-21.
There's little doubt in my mind that the RFU looked at the world cup run much harder than they looked at a covid-disrupted 6N. Irritating to fans, but there you go. I was never expecting the report to publicly criticise selection decisions and tactics, even though they went badly and obviously wrong.
There's little doubt in my mind that the RFU looked at the world cup run much harder than they looked at a covid-disrupted 6N. Irritating to fans, but there you go. I was never expecting the report to publicly criticise selection decisions and tactics, even though they went badly and obviously wrong.
- Hal Jordan
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Almost as searching as the inquiry into Cameron. Lessons will be learned, I'm sure.ASMO wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 3:06 pm Complete wankwash, management speak for we are not going to change anything except a few tweaks around the edge, it was more a list of excuses...covid this covid that blah blah blah..
There's also the fact that we won the Amazon Made Up Cup just a few months earlier.JM2K6 wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 5:37 pm I don't think it's far to say the first two years fluffled the win percentage. Even if you take them out, he's at about 70% - better than everyone since Woodward. 66% in 2018-19, 80% in 2019-20, 55% so far in 2020-21.
There's little doubt in my mind that the RFU looked at the world cup run much harder than they looked at a covid-disrupted 6N. Irritating to fans, but there you go. I was never expecting the report to publicly criticise selection decisions and tactics, even though they went badly and obviously wrong.
Give a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life.
- Margin__Walker
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Foster's the chosen one. You can't fight destiny.Ymx wrote: Tue Apr 20, 2021 8:19 pm Sounds like they couldn’t find anyone agreeable and better to replace him with.
Foster might be available later this year.
Anyone? Anyone??
- Margin__Walker
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Looks like Faz got a bit lucky at the weekend. Again
- Paddington Bear
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Watching Champ games has been eye opening for how little the ref on the spot actually looks for this sort of thing
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
Can’t understand why there was no citing. The match was live streamed so there must be a tape to review?Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:49 pm Watching Champ games has been eye opening for how little the ref on the spot actually looks for this sort of thing
From the angle it looked a definite red!
- Margin__Walker
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It's a shame there aren't crowds in. Probably the only good thing about watching LI in the Championship was going to some different places to watch a game. Donny for example was a great place to catch a game in the sunshine. Really nice setup.Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:49 pm Watching Champ games has been eye opening for how little the ref on the spot actually looks for this sort of thing
The lack of cameras took some getting used to. Most of our games other than a couple Sky televised had no TMO, which felt weird given that pretty much every pro game you watch has one usually. More for try decisions than anything.
There was definitely more leeway for foul play on the field, but they at least did have post match citings after tapes were reviewed, which is why I was slightly surprised he got away with that. Guess they thought it would have been a yellow max if it was looked at.
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But Farrell and his various coaches assured us that he (more than a decade into a pro career) was working on his tackle technique, surely that wasn't just bollocks for the press?
- Paddington Bear
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Was at the Jersey game where they beat LI in the last minute having previously scored from their own dead ball line, got into the bar just in time to see Faz shoulder charge England to the victory over SA.Margin__Walker wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 6:07 pmIt's a shame there aren't crowds in. Probably the only good thing about watching LI in the Championship was going to some different places to watch a game. Donny for example was a great place to catch a game in the sunshine. Really nice setup.Paddington Bear wrote: Thu Apr 22, 2021 4:49 pm Watching Champ games has been eye opening for how little the ref on the spot actually looks for this sort of thing
The lack of cameras took some getting used to. Most of our games other than a couple Sky televised had no TMO, which felt weird given that pretty much every pro game you watch has one usually. More for try decisions than anything.
There was definitely more leeway for foul play on the field, but they at least did have post match citings after tapes were reviewed, which is why I was slightly surprised he got away with that. Guess they thought it would have been a yellow max if it was looked at.
The Championship is great entertainment and I went to more live games in it than Prem even as a Sarries fan [insert ‘you’ll watch a lot more’ joke here]. Shame it isn’t a little more popular as it’s viability as a genuine feeder is limited.
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
- Margin__Walker
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Never got to Jersey, but I definitely remember that try. Unreal effort.
Going round the grounds, it's clear just how much it lacks viability as a self sufficient pro league. The crowds are tiny and the interest just isn't there. It's light years away from something like the French second tier.
Going round the grounds, it's clear just how much it lacks viability as a self sufficient pro league. The crowds are tiny and the interest just isn't there. It's light years away from something like the French second tier.
Jersey is worth the effort even if you're just going to support no side. Dirt cheap seafood and beer, great experience at the ground, and the post-match is down at the Boat House usually has players from both teams, the ref group, and the fans just mingling. Highly recommended
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Sheedy out certainly does them no favours. Pack seems pretty close to first choice as far as I can tell (only Heenan wouldn't be there).
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FInished well by your favourite player. Poor from Exeter not to cover him. O'Flaherty might not have stopped him, but he was paused long enough for more than enough cover to be in position.
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Shame Hill got isolated, that was really nice.
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Feels like Bristol have a bit of a mountain to climb now. Momentum is massively against them and they've been clinging on defensively.
Yup, missing far too many players who make the team tick. Their replacements are quite a step down in most cases - Uren isn't Randall, that lump of a 12 is no Radradra, Heenan isn't a patch on Hughes or Earl, Adeolokun is nowhere near Naulago's threat. Malins is a much reduced player at 10 too - he's brilliant with some space and when he's able to inject himself out wide. Having Sheedy there will be a big boost.Madness wrote: Fri Apr 23, 2021 8:50 pm Very effective by Exeter but with Bristol missing some significant players they had to put a marker down. Add Thacker, Hughes, Earl, Randall, Sheedy, Semi and Naulago and it should be a good rematch in the likely Prem final.
Amused by the commentators talking about Sinckler's passing from the base being because of playing with John Afoa. Like he wasn't doing that for Quins. Or that he wasn't a fullback in his schoolboy days

Exeter still don't have a decent 9 and it cracked me up when they went out of their way to talk up Townsend for an excellent kick. Just quietly ignore all the times he fucked up eh?