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Honestly I wondered if Pocock was told to lay off attacking the ball early on. The refs have pinged him on some legit-looking efforts lately and an early team warning or even yellow card could've been disastrous. And I imagine that given Nigel's reputation as #1 ref a vote of note-confidence...

I haven't watched the replay, but I couldn't help feeling that if it'd been Pocock attempting some of those Bok turnovers he would've been blown off the park. Not releasing, not supporting his own weight etc. But it's great to see a top ref allow jackalling. I was starting to think there'd...

I'd trade our entire fucking backline for Itoje or Kruis. After that series I'd almost take Launchbury.

England are looking a much better balanced side all-round than us at the moment. Great tour from them. Hopefully Cheika has answered all the questions he had leading in and can produce a more settled team for TRC, though I doubt it.

I'd like to echo European leaders: please leave quickly, England.

Speaking of ref management, I had to laugh at this piece from George Smith in a Wasps match as captain:

I sometimes wonder if Moore uses up his store of goodwill with the refs trying to ensure every scrum setup is aligned to his satisfaction. He almost always has something to say about it and if the scrum then goes backwards he can't help but looking a fool.

33% winning percentage under Nigel prior to the world cup final, in case nobody has mentioned it. I'd be interested to know how many games we've actually won with him holding the whistle.

Just spitballing, but is it possible we're disadvantaged by the fact that our attack coach is also a current, active head coach? It would've given Eddie a pretty up-to-date idea of how Larkham likes to attack leading into this series. A lot of extra data points no other international side offers.

There's bound to be a setting buried as deeply as possible beneath layers of inscrutable menus.

I'm not sure how some people are declaring TPN a better scrummager than Moore based on those tests. TPN has been coming on against either a tiring front row or 2nd-stringers. Maybe he is the better scrummager, but those two tests are hardly a fair basis for comparison. As far as I can tell...

I know they were talking about changing it but haven't heard anything lately. The last RWC was drawn almost 3 years prior. If that's the case again we don't have much time to climb the rankings.

Yeah we secured our breakdown consistently, but we were usually committing more players than them and still getting slow ball.

When do the seedings get decided for Japan?

I don't think Fardy was exceptionally poor. I don't have the stats but it seemed to me that he was the player making most of the last-second clean outs to save a holding-on penalty. The poms had a big focus on breakdown training leading into this series and it's shown. They've been very...

I have to say, I really underestimated how much we would miss Beale. In the first test, when a utility back would've helped no end, and in the second test when his creativity and playmaking were sorely missed. His acceleration into gaps is top-drawer. I don't think Cheika would've started...

And our 2nd performance was worse than our first.

I dunno about hysteria, but losing 2/2 games at home against the poms... Fans are bound to be upset. Losses like the first one we're more willing to accept as at least familiar: penalties from overwhelming English set-piece dominance deciding the match. But getting beaten 2 tries to 1, and...

But yeah, silly thing to do. I'm guessing he saw a pile of sand and couldn't help playing with it.

The one on the front page. The throw is obviously along the ground and not aimed at Haskell. The sideview is from a very good position to show that it's innocent, which is probably why the sideview shot has been removed.