Shelts89
Tom Lawton (22)
Itoje could be your captain next RWC.
Certainly could be, very impressive young player who seems to be a natural leader. Though probably best let him get a few caps and see how he copes with internationals first.
Itoje could be your captain next RWC.
Was it not a fair cleanout? The ruck was formed and the player(cleanee) was standing over the tackled player.
Certainly could be, very impressive young player who seems to be a natural leader. Though probably best let him get a few caps and see how he copes with internationals first.
WHile i am extremely happy with the Wobbly performance and the despatching of the orcs back to wherever whence they came, I am cautious against getting carried away.
Eng were truly awful, the signs were on the wall, the way Wales wore them down, the struggle against Fiji, but they never really looked like scoring tries - an observation I made after the Welsh game in respect of why the kicking accuracy was less important than in the past - we were always going to score more tries than them.
While there were many encouraging signs, there continue to be opportunities for improvement. Eng got back to within 7 points in that 2nd half and many teams would have been able to close that gap or even turn it around with a more potent attack. NZ, FRA, SA.. all come to mind.
We were only able to open it up again because a) they were so poor in finishing, and b.) they were reduced to 14 men.
If we are to go further in this RWC we will need to do everything as well as last night and some things better.
I see the game against Wales as an important step in the process, its unlikely they will play as badly as Eng, we need to lift the accuracy a step further and play very well to beat them.
One of Cheika's attributes seems to be an ability to keep a very down to earth and realistic attitude in the team, while he will join us all in celebrating a memorable win, I believe he will be keeping a lid on any sense of getting carried away or inflated expectations.
One game at a time, boys.
Here -- have a look for yourself.
(Better video here.)
The overhead angle from the touchline shows him dropping his arm back, and throwing his shoulder into Mike Brown's head/neck. So call that what you will. Jannie Du Plessis was carded the game before for pretty much the same thing, and an Argentinian player was penalized against Tonga for leading with his shoulder in a tackle and connecting with a Tongan head.
I guess just wait and see.
Hopefully he gets let off with a warning a la the Wood incident.Here -- have a look for yourself.
(Better video here.)
The overhead angle from the touchline shows him dropping his arm back, and throwing his shoulder into Mike Brown's head/neck. So call that what you will. Jannie Du Plessis was carded the game before for pretty much the same thing, and an Argentinian player was penalized against Tonga for leading with his shoulder in a tackle and connecting with a Tongan head.
I guess just wait and see.
in fairness to the English crashing out of the pool stage was always going to see two quality top 10 sides not progress out of the pool stage which was Fiji and England.
Both are still quality sides who will improve (Fiji has made massive improvements in their forward play and will only get better).
England have some very good players and yes they lost to Wales and Australia which are not exactly minnows. Like much of recent debate on Australian side they have some weak areas. Notably lack of specialist 7, and effective 10 outside of kicking, and effective 12 (Barrett was rubbish).
I personally think it would be wrong move to dump Lancaster as yes whilst always good to get one over England - they are still a very good side who came back within 7 points prior to that yellow card. Goes back to was tough pool and why called pool of death as always going to have big name side crash out. Just glad was not us.
Actually looks far worse in this clip. So stupid he actually leaves his feet to launch himself at the head.Here -- have a look for yourself.
(Better video here.)
The overhead angle from the touchline shows him dropping his arm back, and throwing his shoulder into Mike Brown's head/neck. So call that what you will. Jannie Du Plessis was carded the game before for pretty much the same thing, and an Argentinian player was penalized against Tonga for leading with his shoulder in a tackle and connecting with a Tongan head.
I guess just wait and see.
Fair enough. I'm happy if he is told to stop being a dickI thought he came in retaliating for some use of the elbow by one of the Orcs, myself. It was yellow at most, probably warrants a warning like Wood on Bandy legs and another incident that will not be mentioned.
I agree with it as well. England's failing wasn't against us, it was against Wales ( and I mean them no disrespect in saying this). I just think that the attitude in the Pom camp was 'we've got the welsh covered, so to top the pool we need to focus on beating Australia'. So when Wales surprised them it was a 'oh fuck' moment and put them under all sorts of pressure, being in a sudden death situation.Thats a very fair assessment. I'm not sure that the rest of the forum is ready to take off their green and gold coloured glasses just yet.
The other thing I suddenly thought overnight was: of fuck! With England out There's gonna be another group of death next time.
True and two of them caused by us failing to get out of the groups cos we were crap. Now you've got the most asset rich of all as a wildcard into the next rwcTheres almost always a group of death:
1987 - NZ, Argentina, Fiji, Italy in one pool - NZ and Fiji went through
1991 - Aus, Wales, Samoa and Argentina - Aus and Samoa went through
1995 - Two pools of death take your pick of:
Pool B England, Samoa, Italy, Argentina - England and Samoa
Pool C NZ, Ireland, Wales, Japan - NZ and Ireland
1999 - NZ, England, Italy or the Wales, Argentina, Samoa pool anyone?
2003 - Very balanced these are all hard
Pool A Aus, Ire, Arg, Nab, Rom
Pool C SA, Eng, Sam, Geo, Uru
2007 - Once again very balanced:
Pool A Eng, Sam, SA, Ton, USA
Pool D Arg, Fra, Geo, Ire, Nab
2011 - Pool D SA, Sam, Wal, Fiji, Nab.