France v England

[mol2]

I was forgetting about Hughes. He has been outstanding for Bristol when I've seen him. 8 is not a position you play at international level if you don't do so for your club.

I don't think YBY had a terrible game - he had no real runners from the moment Tuillagi went off to pass to. Bar Itoje and Genge the pack were sloppy and undynamic. Effort from the back row perhaps but no 8 to do the boshing.

[Robespierre]

« Why was Ford taken off? »

Because EJ can’t see his way past Farrell. The fact that Farrell had a dreadful game as a 10/12, and worse as a captain, makes no difference to EJ, who will stick with him through thick and thin. OK, on another day he will be a good 12, but never world class, but his inability to talk to refs or to his team is costly. His name should never be first on the team sheet - give others a chance at 12, and find a partner at 9 for Ford. The rest of the backs take care of themselves, with options available.

The scrum? Try playing players in their correct positions, and devise a strategy that takes account for the apparent lack of line-break players or, at least, play options who can!

England are hamstrung by EJs rigid strategy, and players discouraged from changing what they do during the game. Although most of the problem is the coach’s , the lack of a capable captain also contributes to the headless response to pressure and a failure to score.

I’m with Goodey. Times up for EJ, and his captain, whose win ratio is barely 50%. Listening to Dylan Hartley made me realise how much his captaincy is missed.

Good points, fleabane. Will Eddie see the light of day and bring about the necessary changes that you, me and the majority of England rugby supporters are clamouring for? Of course he won't, and we'll probably be having the same discussion next week after an embarassing performance against the Sweaties!

[jgriffin]

You know when you think the boss knows best, and you must be a bit out of the loop, and then...…
It seems obvious to me that there was a need to revitalise England, and that Farrell and BY in particular seemed to have declined. I expected Ford in particular to feature, possibly even captain. The need for a good 8 appeared solved with the emergence of Dombrandt, etc etc. But then I thought to myself, you are an armchair pundit, what do you know...….
It is a bit like getting trashed for asking where Mauger's game plan was......

[DingDong]

You know when you think the boss knows best, and you must be a bit out of the loop, and then...…
It seems obvious to me that there was a need to revitalise England, and that Farrell and BY in particular seemed to have declined. I expected Ford in particular to feature, possibly even captain. The need for a good 8 appeared solved with the emergence of Dombrandt, etc etc. But then I thought to myself, you are an armchair pundit, what do you know...….
It is a bit like getting trashed for asking where Mauger's game plan was......

[Smudge]

The experimental changes forced upon EJ by injuries were not successful so I fully expect there may be changes
for the sweaties. Especially at 8. But the loyalty to Eddie is promoted by his own loyalty to his players.
The England team don't go from world cup finalists to pub players if there is no reason.

Most of the team had an off day and the conditions didn't help. I am sure in my own mind that the thoughts of the Sarries
contingent were elsewhere. Easy to claim "not so" but they are branded cheats across the rugby world and it must have an effect.
The moans about Ben kicking so much ball away are wrongly aimed at him because he was clearly doing what he was told to.
There were many that went unchallenged when the likes of Back and Moody would have been all over them. The selection of all three back row forwards was suspect and they made a huge difference.
While May was rightly identified as being the best of our backs, he was brilliantly set up by Ford who I think also had a good game and set up the tries.
The 6Ns happen every year and with the AIs, take our best players away for up to 14 weeks during the season. What other sport would put up with that nonsense? Run the 6Ns competition in the summer or every four years, half way between the WCs.

[BFG]

You know when you think the boss knows best, and you must be a bit out of the loop, and then...…
It seems obvious to me that there was a need to revitalise England, and that Farrell and BY in particular seemed to have declined. I expected Ford in particular to feature, possibly even captain. The need for a good 8 appeared solved with the emergence of Dombrandt, etc etc. But then I thought to myself, you are an armchair pundit, what do you know...….
It is a bit like getting trashed for asking where Mauger's game plan was......

Just about every one of us armchair pundits have been calling for Daly to be moved back to his best position (13) for as long as I can remember now, and would you know it Daly pops up in the outside channel from depth with speed and hands to put May in space to run.
One of the few occasions that the ball actually made it past Farrell, as he was bypassed.
Then Ford was taken off...

[sam16111986]

You know when you think the boss knows best, and you must be a bit out of the loop, and then...…
It seems obvious to me that there was a need to revitalise England, and that Farrell and BY in particular seemed to have declined. I expected Ford in particular to feature, possibly even captain. The need for a good 8 appeared solved with the emergence of Dombrandt, etc etc. But then I thought to myself, you are an armchair pundit, what do you know...….
It is a bit like getting trashed for asking where Mauger's game plan was......

Just about every one of us armchair pundits have been calling for Daly to be moved back to his best position (13) for as long as I can remember now, and would you know it Daly pops up in the outside channel from depth with speed and hands to put May in space to run.
One of the few occasions that the ball actually made it past Farrell, as he was bypassed.
Then Ford was taken off...

I presume Ford was removed because for a lot of the second half he seemed to be bypassing Farrell entirely as it helped lower the amount of dropped balls and aimless kicks to the French back three with no chance for us to compete. Can't have a fluent backline so que Ford being removed and the Farrell/Heinz combination either slowing down or crashing the ball up.

[mol2]

The only way Daly can be kept in the side is at centre in the likelhood that Manu is out for a while.

Eddie like crash ball merchants at centre which isn't Daly's game so unlikely to play there unless Farrell moves to fly half.

[LE18]

Just about every one of us armchair pundits have been calling for Daly to be moved back to his best position (13) for as long as I can remember now, and would you know it Daly pops up in the outside channel from depth with speed and hands to put May in space to run.
One of the few occasions that the ball actually made it past Farrell, as he was bypassed.
Then Ford was taken off...

I presume Ford was removed because for a lot of the second half he seemed to be bypassing Farrell entirely as it helped lower the amount of dropped balls and aimless kicks to the French back three with no chance for us to compete. Can't have a fluent backline so que Ford being removed and the Farrell/Heinz combination either slowing down or crashing the ball up.

I thought I saw Farrell get an injured arm, and we had no other backs to replace him, thus resulting in that he could not catch, he also looked shell shocked to me, was it concussion or Sarries problems troubling him? I also thought that Itoje was not right, not his usual dynamic self, has Eddie worked them all to death or is it a Sarries re flux?

[BFG]

Just about every one of us armchair pundits have been calling for Daly to be moved back to his best position (13) for as long as I can remember now, and would you know it Daly pops up in the outside channel from depth with speed and hands to put May in space to run.
One of the few occasions that the ball actually made it past Farrell, as he was bypassed.
Then Ford was taken off...

I presume Ford was removed because for a lot of the second half he seemed to be bypassing Farrell entirely as it helped lower the amount of dropped balls and aimless kicks to the French back three with no chance for us to compete. Can't have a fluent backline so que Ford being removed and the Farrell/Heinz combination either slowing down or crashing the ball up.

I thought I saw Farrell get an injured arm, and we had no other backs to replace him, thus resulting in that he could not catch, he also looked shell shocked to me, was it concussion or Sarries problems troubling him? I also thought that Itoje was not right, not his usual dynamic self, has Eddie worked them all to death or is it a Sarries re flux?

I think it's all to do with how well the opposition press.
Seen it before under pressure haven't we!
To be honest I was more bothered by Eddie taking Ford off.
The coach asks for leaders and when they show up he removes them.

[Jimmy Skitz]

I presume Ford was removed because for a lot of the second half he seemed to be bypassing Farrell entirely as it helped lower the amount of dropped balls and aimless kicks to the French back three with no chance for us to compete. Can't have a fluent backline so que Ford being removed and the Farrell/Heinz combination either slowing down or crashing the ball up.

I thought I saw Farrell get an injured arm, and we had no other backs to replace him, thus resulting in that he could not catch, he also looked shell shocked to me, was it concussion or Sarries problems troubling him? I also thought that Itoje was not right, not his usual dynamic self, has Eddie worked them all to death or is it a Sarries re flux?

I think it's all to do with how well the opposition press.
Seen it before under pressure haven't we!
To be honest I was more bothered by Eddie taking Ford off.
The coach asks for leaders and when they show up he removes them.

can't have Farrell's gigantic ego messed with, I'm surprised he even lets Ford take the kick offs seeing as he doesn't let him do anything else that is the job of the 10

[JP14]

No Dombrandt or Hughes in the latest EPS but Earl is in there.

[fentiger]

Anyone else think Cowan-Dickie was a) lucky not to be carded and/or b) could be cited for the elbow to Ollivon's head after the try was scored?

[fleabane]

LCDs foul play was missed by the officials, and not dwelt on by the TV. Should have been red.

[TomWeston]

“LE18... thus resulting in that he could not catch, he also looked shell shocked to me, was it concussion...”

I thought that too.