Saw England vs Ire game and NZ'er game.
England should have buried an overmatched Irish outfit who fought hard but didnt have much cohesion or help from their starting 9,10 pairing. England have a solid set-piece and their massive Tongan loose-head poach looks like he is on the other side of 35, and their backs looks like they can shift the ball into space and creat problems but a shocking amount of unforced English errors was the best Irish source for both field possition and posession. They have 2 good No. 10, and a very fine 15 who hits the line well. Still, I dont see them winning the tournament unless they improve dramatically.
The Irish hooker couldnt hit a barn door but was the captain and so was kept on. I know Ruddock, the Irish coach, has a rep from coaching Wales to a 6N Grand Slam, but this Irish outfit didn't look particulalry well coached at all They were very slow and poor in re-alligning in both attack and defense, and their re-starts were that hot. They have a speedy back three however.
The NZers were devastating with ball in hand and were 36 pts at the half. Funnily enough, Sopoaga played 12 and was their weakest link in both defense and attack. Anscombe, the Auckland 10, was very impressive, but the opposition werent that great and NZ blew away Italy even though they werent always accurate with ball in hand, or lacked concentration at times. The Barrett kid from the Highlanders was really impressive when he came on late in the 2nd half. Not so sure about their No. 9 options; they might be weak there, but they'll be very, very tough to beat.
