England

Cass402 says...

BDAUSSIE,

to be fair mate i actually mis-read the beginning of your post where you mentioned the anybody who doesnt think that England have a shout at RWC is barking up the wrong tree. I thought you were one of many who were having a pop at England. It has caught me out as well with England throwing the ball around and i agree that if the Wallabies had finished the opportunity under our sticks it would have been a different game. I actually thought that we were going to get pinged for a breakdown infringement but it was great to see competition at the breakdowns at last. Cheers.

Posted 10:05 07th December 2010

Cass402 says...

BDAUSSIE,

i believe it was 2002/3 when England won in NZ so no need to trawl the record books for that. I dont think that many England fans go by what is written in the press mate...we do actually watch some games and make up our own minds. For example during the last november tests England were soundly beaten by all 3 SH big guns but this november series there have been huge strides made. The argument that the Wallabies had an off day doesnt hold water...they were just not allowed to play on the front foot, same as what SA did to England 2 weeks later. I must be different to a lot of rugby watchers in that if i see a great game, win lose or draw for my side, i still enjoy it. I've enjoyed watching England, NZ and Australia in recent months and the game breakers within these sides such as Kaino,SBW,DC,Pocock,Genia,O'conner,Ashton,Youngs and Lawes.

I never go down the route of predicting a RWC outcome because there are always so many games which throw the logical choices on their heads...eg England in 2007, if it was suprising for SH viewers then it was down right baffling for England fans..as was the NZ exit.

Posted 11:45 02nd December 2010

stag says...

Had to read this twice to believe somebody actually wrote this garbage. Can the English media simply not contain themselves when any one of their teams shows even a glimmer of form? Christ, I hope 'lukewarm' Ireland send you home from dublin with your tails between your legs in the 6N.

Posted 21:16 01st December 2010

whatisthis says...

england you are your own worst enemy. Your starting to build up this team like you have done others(not just in this sport mind) and the pressure will tell in the end. this team will win 3 in the 6N at bets. there are 5 reasons why you wont do well and they were in the starting line-up against SA

lets start at 2: Dylan Hartley. Over rated massively... tries hard and shows aggression but with little to back it up. He is a weak ball carrier and not the best thrower either.

5: tom palmer- not exactly world class to dissect opposition line out. Enough said on that one.

10: Toby Flood: Good Player but far from great and can be got at. will not boss a game and cant be as metronomic as wilkinson

12: Shontayne Hape: havnt seen him do anything yet. dan hipkiss still a better option for me if you can get the right runners off him

13: mike tindall- too old, too slow, too tired and thats it

However all that being said. come the next world cup...massive scrum loads of penalties, kick for position, play for territory and your in the world cup final and i do think you will get there. And to be fair, if your in group B with Argentina, Scotland, Georgia and Romania, you had better be able to scrummage.

Posted 21:09 30th November 2010

papachinzo says...

England played good against a poor, tired, under performing AUS, NZ and depleted SA squads, you were destroyed by SA. lost to a very bad NZ, and just about beat an Awful Australia who also lost to a 3rd string Munster.....

My advice for Johnson would be to stick with the current squad and develop from there, don't make the same mistake as Lièvremont... chopping and changing gets a team nowhere!!

Posted 15:31 30th November 2010

Karma3000 says...

Australia were clearly off the Mark when they lost to England.

Posted 11:59 30th November 2010

stumpy says...

Of course this article get's carried away, and like Olepete says, to state that we would have beaten the Springboks had Flood been on is ludicrous, infact Hodgson probably played better than him, THAT DAY. Now everyones slating Johnson at interview time, but against South Africa his points weren't all that bad mostly. When asked were the errors due to the physical dominance from South Africa, or unforced from England, he said 'A mix to be honest' which is true. Yes, South Africa dominated out pack THAT DAY (which is something nobody seems to consider) and that caused alot of errors, but many were just unforced and were silly.

But overall for Autumn? Things to work on, yes. Johnson needs to try and build more of a squad in perhaps in Italy and Wales games at 6N? Bring in Thompson, Banahan some gametime at 13, David Wilson deserves another shot at 3, and I'd even give Ojo a game on the wing. But whatever Johnson decides, he needs to make more depth in the squad. But what nobody seems to notice, is that no1 is getting carried away with England, start waking up and realising the fans know they are not a GREAT team yet. But it's improved, that's true. We can at least compete, and even beat on our day southern hemisphere teams, could you say that last year? To beat Ireland seemed out of the question last year...

Posted 10:27 30th November 2010

olepete says...

Yes, there's the makings of a team here, but to imply that they could have beaten SA had Flood not been injured is pure fantasy. Get real lads.

Posted 09:10 30th November 2010

KiwiLad says...

A dynamic pack?

Surely the English pack was smashed by a Bok pack afraid to trust its backs?

Did this dynamic pack compete with the Abs loose trio?

Hollow reporting at best

The English backs were a revelation at times but the pack dynamic?

Posted 08:31 30th November 2010