Thoughts on England v Argentina...

[leic]

Ben Youngs was awsome today, but doesnt it prove what a good rest can do for a player? Maybe the injury was a god send to him to rest and refresh. Still think back to all the critics he had after the Ireland game and there after? Cant wait to hear what Barnes says as he was his worst critic! Just hope they dont rush him back as Wrigglesworth played really well today, and made a try saving tackle. Well done Ben!

[danny]

1) YBY nearly ran out the back of the touch area for his try. Why? Couldnt be that he didnt trust Wilko to kick the conversion from any wide, could it?

2) The Argentinian Fans were superb!

1) Ben Youngs - well played fella. Qualification for the QF would have been difficult without that try.

2) Agree the Argentine fans made it a good atmosphere, but I thought they were very disrespectful with the constant whistling/jeering when JW was attempting his penalty kicks.

[Red Cap]

2) Agree the Argentine fans made it a good atmosphere, but I thought they were very disrespectful with the constant whistling/jeering when JW was attempting his penalty kicks.

Whilst we are generally quiet for the kickers in England and particulalry at Welford Road other parts of the world are not. There was even a lot of noise whilst Dan Carter was kicking yesterday and I cant imagine the home fans were being direspectful to him

[Bill W (2)]

I thought Mr. Lawrence managed the game remarkably well, with due consideratiuon of materiality, appropropriate prioritisation in ignoring offences and contextuality so as to enginner a close finish.

His application and interpretation of the laws of the game were both attrocious however.

[Darc Tiger]

The Clermont fans clap all through kickers routine don't they? Seem to remember from the last time they were at WR. Bit of a culture clash for our fans who seemed confused.

[TigerAlex]

I thought Mr. Lawrence managed the game remarkably well, with due consideratiuon of materiality, appropropriate prioritisation in ignoring offences and contextuality so as to enginner a close finish.

His application and interpretation of the laws of the game were both attrocious however.

[Smurphswillgetya]

As with the Tigers a wins a win. As long as England win every game I dont care how ugly they win or how badly individuals perform as long as the team wins. Wilkinson scored 8 of the 13 points so without his contribution we would have lost!

[tb1]

I thought Dan and Louis were both pretty good and got through almost as much work as the rest of the pack put together.

Tom was doing his usual one man pod thing. Some people like and some people don't, and that probably isn't going to change.

[Duncan B]

I wasnt watching a different game. He was good as ever in the line out, but since his injury his form around the park has been pretty average at best. You obviously disagree.

[Mr_Ben]

I wasnt watching a different game. He was good as ever in the line out, but since his injury his form around the park has been pretty average at best. You obviously disagree.

Not just him.

Croft did his job at the lineout and was there in support of Armitage long before anyone else after Foden's break.

I agree that Croft could offer more but only if Johnno changes the gameplan.

It also seems to me that you're operating a double standard in your comments, since you're defending Wilkinson's at best patchy performance yet singling out Croft for criticism for doing the nuts and bolts properly.

[Duncan B]

Not just him.

Croft did his job at the lineout and was there in support of Armitage long before anyone else after Foden's break.

I agree that Croft could offer more but only if Johnno changes the gameplan.

It also seems to me that you're operating a double standard in your comments, since you're defending Wilkinson's at best patchy performance yet singling out Croft for criticism for doing the nuts and bolts properly.

Why is it a double standard for me to have been disapointed by one players performances over the last few weeks and not anothers? For me Wilkinson was rightly motm vs Wales, and played very well vs Ireland, I thought his all round game was good vs Argentina as well, but I feel its always the fly half who gets the blame when we dont perform well. If our pack had played better we would have had better, quicker ball and it wouldnt have been close. Croft is one of my favourites too, but blaming the coaches for his poor form, is just ridiculous.

[Cardiff Tig]

im suprised by the comments about jonny - he was the form fly half going into the game, played much better than flood in the warm up games and has been in good form for toulon - jonny played for a poor newcastle side when he was excellent so the fact that toulon didnt finish in the top six is neither here or there. he's never been a major running threat, thats not his game and never will be, as johnno knows! i think he's a similar player to steyn for SA, nothing flashy but manages a game well. i thought he played well, his kicking apart, which no one would have guessed would have been that bad on the day! and flood has shown very little form recently for england (and tigers in my eyes!!) since the england v ireland game in the six nations.

definately think that flood could have been brought on midway through the second half, although youngs made a big difference so maybe flood wasnt needed then?

the forwards were the problem in my eyes, we wernt getting the rucks quite right so the quick ball, pick n go etc etc wasnt causing the argies any problems, and so they could defend our backline much easier which makes it a lot harder to do anything especially when the points are being missed by kicks.

[tigerburnie]

Two over riding memories of the game , how poor Lawrence is as a referee and how weak our leadership is on the park.
Tindall is too old and too slow and brings little in the way of leadership during the game.He probably has the young players in awe with his talk about 2003 in the bar,but seems to offer nothing visible in the heat of the game.
I noticed Deacon talking amongst the forwards,take it he's pack leader,sure he'd be a more effective captain with Moody out.

[Tigers27]

IMO some of the performances during the RWC2003 was at times inconsistent (South Africa, Wales games to name 2), but ultimately a win on the board at this stage is key. 36-0 against the Bocs in 2007 and we still made the final. Personally we have the team to make a difference in this tournament.

All the big teams during the first round of games have at stages struggled, and we seem to forget Argentina have been deemed well enough to join the Tri-Nations next season.

We wil get better!!!

[Tiglon]

im suprised by the comments about jonny - he was the form fly half going into the game, played much better than flood in the warm up games and has been in good form for toulon - jonny played for a poor newcastle side when he was excellent so the fact that toulon didnt finish in the top six is neither here or there. he's never been a major running threat, thats not his game and never will be, as johnno knows! i think he's a similar player to steyn for SA, nothing flashy but manages a game well. i thought he played well, his kicking apart, which no one would have guessed would have been that bad on the day! and flood has shown very little form recently for england (and tigers in my eyes!!) since the england v ireland game in the six nations.

I hear often that Jonny "manages the game well". I'm curious though, in what way exactly does he do this?

It never seems to be elaborated on, rather taken as a given, similarly to the ascertion that he "keeps the scoreboard ticking over".