Rugby - RIP Jonah Lomu.

[ljkeane]

The England team for Saturday has been announced. Honestly I'm pretty disappointed with it, especially since I'm going to the game. There were some positives from last week given all the injuries but there's no getting away from the fact that despite edging it in the set piece England were largely incapable of getting into New Zealand territory in the second half. That's largely down to a pretty dire display of tactical kicking from their halfbacks. Since Farrell is by a fairly clear margin the least creative of the options at flyhalf if he's going to kick like that I genuinely can't see any argument for him being in the side, especially since he's got pretty much no rugby under his belt. I'm not feeling too positive about our chances with this selection.

The Springboks have unsurprisingly made a few changes to their side after losing to Ireland. Reinach might be the key improvement at 9. Still I do think there's a certain amount of vulnerability there but unfortunately the key difference between England and Ireland is Ireland have a very capable halfback partnership which puts them in the right places to win games.

[ljkeane]

England are making so many errors so far. Really poor performance.

[Consigliere]

That was much better. Our half-backs (Lambie and Reinach) played well and Schalk was superb.

[Which Tyler]

superb is a bit generous - for any player om either side. Bit of a cripple fight IMO.

Farrell utterly awful today, worst FH performance for England since the nadir of Catt's time there; not helped by injuring his boot laces after slicing (yet another) kick and refusing to come off when subbed. Nice to see the media finally realising that he's not the messiah though; not that I expect anything to change before the RWC - especially when Burt blames a lack of experience, presumably opening the door to sack the likes of Ford and Eastmond for the poor kicking of the half-backs.

Not exactly helped by Care - we have so many decent SHs, why can none of them play well at international level? why do they all insist on taking 2 steps before passing the ball, taking all the pace off it?

[ljkeane]

I agree with WT, really poor performance from England. They gifted the Springboks 10-17 points. Being at the game it was particularly noticeable how little Farrell commits the midfield defence, Ford wasn't spectacular when he came on but at least he plays flat. Pretty disappointed with the all round effort to be honest.

[williamjm]

Entertaining game at Murrayfield, it's definitely the best I've ever seen Scotland play against the All Blacks. In a way I'm glad the All Blacks scored that final try because it would have been more painful to have Scotland lose by only two points after Laidlaw's missed kick to take the lead. The Scottish team is inexperienced and at times it shows but I think they have a lot of potential, there's been a problem at fly half for a long time but Finn Russell looks like the best prospect in years. It's a pity they're only playing one of the three big Southern Hemisphere teams this year because I'd have been interested to see how well they could do against Australia or South Africa.

[Davrum]

Yeah, I'd love to see the Scots play Aussies right now, there's quite a bit to be hopeful about in that team.

[The Anti-Targ]

It was a B team for the ABs, so I'm not reading too much into the closeness of the game for all those 78 minutes. And I don't think Scotland fans should read too much into it either. Given the AB's determination not to lose a game, I thought picking a B side as the run on team was a bit complacent and it was pretty telling that the ABs only managed to secure the game once they'd put A-team players on the field.

Sure Carter is the A-lister first-5 but he's not played a full test game in ages and is not in top form. In terms of goal kicking though Cruden and Barrett let themselves down badly vs England so I think I'd rather have a slightly off form Carter be the starting 10 from here on. Much as I'd like to be able to claim Barrett should be first pick I just think his goal kicking is not quite consistent enough.

[ljkeane]

Having caught up with some of the other games from yesterday France-Australia was a really good game and that's probably the most intensity I've seen France put into a game for some time, hopefully they can keep it up. The one real positive from the last few years for France is they do now have what looks to be a few real options at flyhalf with guys like Lopez, Tales and Plisson who really play on the gainline while still having the ability to manage a game so hopefully they can start to build a consistent structure around them.

For Australia that certainly wasn't a terrible performance by any means. Their set piece was pretty solid and they scored some good tries, a little better execution and they could easily have won the game. I really like Foley at 10 for them, he's a bit more of a reliable presence than Cooper but he still offers a lot with ball in hand as he showed for the Ashley-Cooper try.

In the Scotland-New Zealand game I thought Scotland played really well. Yes it was a largely second string All Blacks side but it was still a pretty good team they were up against. I like the look of the Scottish pack and it seems to be coming together in the backs. Hopefully the injury to Bennett isn't too serious as 13 has been a bit of a problem position for them for a while and he's got a lot of talent, it didn't look too good though.

[Which Tyler]

England squad for Samoa:

Loose-head props
Joe Marler (Harlequins)
Matt Mullan (Wasps)
Tight-head props
Kieran Brookes (Newcastle Falcons)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Hookers
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)
Rob Webber (Bath Rugby)
Locks
Dave Attwood (Bath Rugby)
George Kruis (Saracens)
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)
Back rows
Calum Clark (Northampton Saints)
James Haskell (Wasps)
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins, captain)
Billy Vunipola (Saracens)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)
Scrum halves
Danny Care (Harlequins)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Outside backs
Brad Barritt (Saracens)
Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby) (reported concussed)
Owen Farrell (Saracens)
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby) (reported twisted ankle)
Back threes
Mike Brown (Harlequins)
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Marland Yarde (Harlequins)

So the only outside centre has been officially sent home; and 2 of the ICs look like missing the match injured (Farrell to play 12) - luckily, we've plenty of ICs in the squad - though they'll only get to play OC this week; unless Ford misses a kick and gets taken off after 45 minutes.

Of course, he could opt to play one of his flankers at OC I guess; or am I just feeling a sense of impending doom?

[ljkeane]

The England team for the Samoa game has been announced, and Farell is still in the starting lineup. This is really starting to shake my confidence in the coaching set up. He's never been better than ok so why the hell is he apparently nailed on to make the team even coming off injury and in pretty dire form? :frown5:

On the plus side at least Ford gets a start, although he's not helped by a midfield of Farrell and Barrett outside him. Morgan and Haskell in the backrow is probably the form combination at the moment as well so it's good to see them given a chance even if the pack is less of a concern.

[ithanos]

Looking forward to Ireland/Australia this weekend. IRB 3v4, should be a cracker. Be interesting if Beale makes the bench for Aus.

And then England/Samoa later on. Not sure if the Samoan players can focus given their concerns with their admin.

[ljkeane]

I'm quite enjoying being able to watch England live with this late kick off but it'd be nice if they were playing a little better. That May try was definitely a forward pass by the way.

[Davrum]

Another Northern Hemisphere team comes out strong against the ABs only to fade in the last quarter. Considering the massive amount of coin in UK rugby you'd expect the players to have more staying power. <_<

[Consigliere]

That was a lacklustre display by the Boks. Italy showed alot of grit and determination and forced the Boks into numerous errors. We also showed none of the accuracy that hepled us beat England. Habana's try right at the end added some gloss to the scoreline.

In stark contrast, the Ireland/Australia game was a cracker. I've been really impressed with what I've seen of Ireland during the autumn internationals. If the Irish can continue in this vain, I see them a real contenders for the WC.

[Which Tyler]

Ford now has what? 60 minutes of international rugby under his belt. He's just drawn level with Farrell for line breaks, and overtakennhim for intelligent passes given on the ain line.

Wingers are doing ok, but could do with another 12 players backing them up.... Oh for an fullback who can hold a pass.

[ljkeane]

Ford's had a decent game, he's got levelled a few times but that's a by product if him actually playing flat which is a nice change of pace. There's no way that Leota tackle was a yellow card though.

Morgan's had a pretty good game as well for me. He's probably earned another start next week.

[ljkeane]

In stark contrast, the Ireland/Australia game was a cracker. I've been really impressed with what I've seen of Ireland during the autumn internationals. If the Irish can continue in this vain, I see them a real contenders for the WC.

Yeah, definitely agreed on both counts. Great game, best of the Autumn Internationals so far for me. Australia will be pretty disappointed to lose but it wasn't a bad performance from them by any means.

Ireland on the other hand will be really pleased with their November, especially given they've been missing arguably their two best forwards. The impressive thing about Ireland under Schmidt is that they seem to make steady improvements and consistently play smart rugby. I think they'll be a real threat next year.

[The Anti-Targ]

Feels to me like while other teams might be as fit as the ABs or nearly as fit, they put way more effort into the first half to try to build dominance. And unless they build a huge amount of dominance the ABs just have more gas in the tank at the end.

Of course in the case of the this game if Barrett hadn't missed 2 virtual sitters Wales would not have gone in to the final 15 with a lead. really disappointed with Barrett's goal kicking these last 2 games. It also seems like trying to kick goals somewhat to the left of the goal posts is a bit of a blind spot for him. I swear he missed kicks from a similar position vs Scotland.

Great, tense game for 70 minutes. I'm glad Wayne Barnes is more educated about the rules than the crowd.

[Sir Thursday]

I got a laugh out of this 6 Nations advert: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NbvbQPq4LXk

ST