The Poms were able to use their effective game-plan precisely because neither of our halves nor our full-back are able to kick tactically or for territory.
They knew what we were going to do, every time we had possession. That makes it pretty easy to do what they did.
This and no Tomane and/or Speight I would suggest.
We had 71% possession and spent 74% of the match in England's half.
I can't find the figures but we must have spent more than 5 minutes inside England's 22 with the ball.
Our kicking game wasn't good but kicking for territory was not really something we needed more of. We spent huge amounts of time with the ball in attack inside England's 22.
Shh. Doesn't fit the narrative.
Have you heard of box kicks, chip kicks, grubber kicks?
Bugger me, did you see the second Pommy try?
Or does that not "fit the narrative"?
I thought that in the absence of a ball playing 12, in slippery conditions. Cross field bombs for Izzy & grubber kicks into the Cnr were both good options.We had 71% possession and spent 74% of the match in England's half.
I can't find the figures but we must have spent more than 5 minutes inside England's 22 with the ball.
Our kicking game wasn't good but kicking for territory was not really something we needed more of. We spent huge amounts of time with the ball in attack inside England's 22.
I thought that in the absence of a ball playing 12, in slippery conditions. Cross field bombs for Izzy & grubber kicks into the Cnr were both good options.
Especially as Foley's strength is as a runner, not as a distributor.
We just got sucked into playing the game they wanted us to play.
Have you heard of box kicks, chip kicks, grubber kicks?
Bugger me, did you see the second Pommy try?
Or does that not "fit the narrative"?
I've read a thousand posts from you about the same thing, so yeah, I've heard of them. I don't think they were the issues on the weekend, but a small part of it.
When you're inside the 22 and the defence is set, any of those options would be considered low percentage options.
At some point we probably should have resorted to a cross field bomb.
It seemed to me we didn't vary things enough. We would continually go one pass off the ruck but didn't try and suck in defenders with pick and goes and generally didn't have the depth or numerical advantage to take advantage out wide when we went with that option.
We did see the second England try. We turned over the ball, missed a tackle and had no one home at fullback.
Forwards
1. Slipper
2. TPN
3 Holmes (Keps was OK but underdone last week)
4 Simmons (will be back)
5 Coleman (will be blooded)
6 Mummy (Fardy was THAT poor last week I'd bench him)
7 Hooper
8 Palu - (yep Palu)
Why Simmons over Carter? They both equally lack impact in the collision but Carter dominated the stats for ruck involvements. The line-out was solid all game and he didn't give away silly penalties. If your going to pick one, then I'd go Carter.
But I wouldn't pick either.
4. Arnold - he's good for 20mins. Signs are good, needs more time.
5. Coleman
Time for new blood, the third game is meaningless - yes we all know its a still a test match but even if we win it won't count for much now with the series lost.
I'd keep Carter for workrate and lineout. What are his scrums like?
Then need an enforcer / line bender. Is Coleman the next best after Douglas?