trelawney says...

@heart_of_oak You say that Billy Twelvetrees should move to IC, that is n 12 - correct? Well, if you look at the team that played today you will notice he played no 12 and Brad Barrit played at 13 (OC).

@Daffydd29 - crawl back into your little pondokie (house) and go back to sleep, you obviously do not watch the game of Rugby Union.

Posted 21:21 02nd February 2013

porridge_time says...

new_j...

If melkdave suffers from dyslexia then your correct he should be given a certain amount of latitude for spelling or grammatical errors, but I do find he is state the obvious poster type.

Posted 21:08 02nd February 2013

paddy91317 says...

The best thing about england is the fact they stuck with SL. Fair play to them

Posted 21:05 02nd February 2013

Dafydd29 says...

Didn't watch the game - does anybody watch England play? - its not rugby anyway.

Posted 20:44 02nd February 2013

heart_of_oak says...

Goode has had some good games for England and not so long ago, many posters were lauding his performances and some even suggesting he should be a fly half. I've always thought that Brown is a better full back than Goode and I'm quite sure that Varndell is a million miles better than Strettle.

So I'd personally suggest the following changes for the Irish game :

Care to start

12Trees to move to IC

Manu to come back at OC

Varndell in for Strettle

Brown moves to FB, Goode to the bench

I don't think the scrum needs much tinkering about. I've always thought Parling was the weak link but maybe I was wrong. He's invaluable for his line out skills.

As for the Scots, don't knock Richie Gray. He saved Scotland on at least 2 occasions I can think of. Imagine him playing in a really powerful team. I feel sorry for the bloke. At international level, he's not going to experience winning very often and at club level he's experiencing defeat most of the time. Before long, this has got to start praying on his mind. I think he has the potential to be a really great lock but for his mental sake, if nothing else, he needs to be playing in a team that wins.

Apart from that, I think Scotland's greatest problem is their lack of depth. England can lose 2 or 3 good players and replace them with other good players. Scotland don't have this luxury.

I also watched the Wales Ireland game. Hats off to Brian O'Driscoll. What a magnificent player. If he maintains this form, he is a definite starter for the Lions and might well be the captain. When he retires, which I suspect will be soon, there will be a sad void not just in Irish rugby but in rugby in general. It was a joy to watch him today.

Posted 20:21 02nd February 2013

new_j4a says...

@porridge_time & cayzam, melkdave said more about rugby than either of you two prats. Have you heard about dyslexia? It's a bit like your stupidity, he can't help it.

Anyway, great game of rugby (excuse the fragment pedants). If England continues like this, they'll be in the top 3 in 2014.

Posted 20:04 02nd February 2013

papachinzo says...

Romain Poite, TAKE NOTE: How To Officiate Correctly !!!

Posted 19:34 02nd February 2013

LondonWasp says...

its very nice when some one like Telfer insulsts england, and then England beat said team.... it is worth the insults.....

Posted 19:09 02nd February 2013

WorldWary says...

Scots were their own worst enemies losing possession at critical times or gifting penalties, but then England did have a decent amount of front foot ball and caused some pressure.

In all I'm not sure what (if anything) we learnt from this, Scotland are poor with a rookie coaching structure, England are settled but far from convincing. The real test comes next week (and in reality over at least the next year), until then the NZ result is a blip. There are a lot of questions England haven't answered and a lot of players who are far from convincing (let alone world class) in their position....captain included.

Posted 19:03 02nd February 2013

LondonWasp says...

good display from scotland. made me sweat many times. a force to be reckoned with in the future. watch this space.....

england need to improve if they want to beat ireland in ireland.......

Posted 19:01 02nd February 2013