England

porridge_time says...

What rubbish - If Ireland, Wales or France had played South Africa they prob had won the series. South Africa were poor, in fact the worst game of rugby i have ever seen them play in (third test)

Ireland showed nothing - other than a passion filled 2nd test loss -

in New Zealand and Wales came up short in three tests.

The gab between SA, Eng and Wales has narrowed in my opinion, but Ireland are too inconsistent to be bracketed with them. Danny Care probably is right that England have good reason to be up beat more so than recent years, but he personally should have left that line of chat to someone else.

Posted 00:20 28th June 2012

TVaddict says...

@the general idiots

It's strange, when someone states that the tour was good progress, but we didn't expect to win, we're slated for not being ambitious enough. When we say we competed we're slated for being arrogant. When we say we have a young team, sudden everyone has a young team. etc.. etc... So utterly boring. It would be much better if you just say something productive or say nothing.

At the end of the day we're not as good as South Africa or New Zealand, but we're going to efforts to change that and get better. We currently have a winning record against Australia, having won in Australia and then at home, which is why their not included in that list. At the end of the day our ranking is fourth so we can't be that bad. We have a core of a team which should be together for the next two world cups. The future IS bright.

Oh, and thanks Planet Rugby for changing the title of the article from "Care upbeat over England's future" to "Care thinks England are amongst the best". That's a nice controversial headline worthy of the Daily Mail, well designed to get all the one eyed English haters commenting.

Posted 16:00 27th June 2012

jestnation says...

I'm not sure what people are expecting from the England camp. Are you expecting Stuart Lancaster to publicly self flagellate, slag off his team and beg for forgiveness?

It's obvious that we're going to highlight the positives and the main positive is that the bulk of this squad are going to improve the more the play test rugby and the longer the squad stays together.

The other positive was that we weren't beaten out of sight. Okay so we might have been if Morne Steyn had his kicking boots on but we weren't. Both sides were works in progress and both sides were missing players and although we failed to string an 80 minute performance together we showed that in most areas we can be competitive.

The scrum looks solid with Cole, Corbs and Marler improving by the game. In both the second and back rows we've got lots of options but have yet to find the right combo but with Cole, Atwood, Lauchbury, Clarke, Kvesic, Croft & Woods top add into the mix the future looks bright.

Outside the pack, were overly blessed at fullback, but in Foden, Brown, Wade, Tuialgi, May, Joseph and Ashton (if he ever gets back in form) there are a number of options to attack from quick ball.

The main issue in the backs is that we're fortunate enough to have 3 intelligent playmakers but unfortunately they're all scrum halves! Until we get the 10/12 axis properly sorted our strike runners are going to be waiting for 3rd and 4th phase possesion to play from.

Nobody is claiming we're world beaters. What we are is a work in progress that are heading in the right direction. As Mr Care puts it himself "That isn't good enough but we have taken big steps forward"

Posted 12:44 27th June 2012

APV1 says...

It's interesting that there are so many negative comments about England's future, especially taking into consideration other threads.

I've not tallied up the "Cap Count", but I'm fairly sure the Boks will trump us there.

And as for the rediculous suggestion that the Boks were a scratch side, just look at the front row and let's see if we've seen that line-up elsewhere before... They play week-in, week-out together and changing the jersey doesn't change that fact. And yet we managed to hold our own against them, most of the time. And that's pitting Marler, winning his first cap against JDP; Cole against TM, who some consider the best in the world; and Hartley against BDP, who almost everyone knows is the best in the world (BDP, not Hartley!).

The Boks deserved to win the series and I am proud of the England team for their efforts and for holding the Boks to such close games.

I would have preferred to see tougher mid-week sides, but that's something to consider in the future.

What everyone is saying and also stated before anyone got on a plane, was that since SL took over, we have a new broom in place. We performed better in the 6N than expected and again in SA. It's just a shame that people don't ever want to see England succeed, or admit that they are making great developmental strides.

We need a more cohesive backline, with a better balance of attacking flair, defence and "crashability", but we're trying combinations and will find one soon.

Like all teams, we had our share of injuries to key players. But those who were asked to step up did. And admirably too.

So let's hope England continue to develop, grow and learn, so that we can compete with the other top teams regularly and, potentially, aim for something special in 2015...

Posted 10:28 27th June 2012

markmassive says...

Zambokke I wouldn't say it was a scratch SA side yes you were missing Willem Alberts and Frans Steyne, but vice versa we were missing some decent starting player too in Courtney Lawes and Tom Croft. Those two in particular have been very good in recent England games.

The world cup in 2015 will be very interesting indeed.

Posted 09:38 27th June 2012

KiwiLad says...

So when the series was lost, The mighty English managed a draw, when the motivation amongst the Bokke was lower, and now they are a force to be reconed with?

Pop on over to Eden Park on your way home boys, stopping off in Brisbane ony your way!!!

Posted 08:19 27th June 2012

CymruAmByth says...

keep dreaming Danny boy - typical english arrogance: no basis whatsoever for what he says. He'll be claiming to be a role model next...

Posted 08:10 27th June 2012

jonesy2 says...

haha oh my goodness.

Posted 06:34 27th June 2012

porridge_time says...

Some players never learn. England failed twice and managed a draw... this proves nothing and certainly does not mean they capable of beating the best in the world.

Posted 22:41 26th June 2012

Kawasakifreak says...

Care's new found commitment to pro rugby is heartening but England aren't even close to beating NZ or SA on neutral ground at the moment.

SA should have scored atleast two more tries in the 3rd test - England never looked like they were more than just hanging on in any of the 3 test matches in SA.

As for beating NZ ? Not even close.

Posted 21:03 26th June 2012