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Reply 5640
Vunipola's ability to get over the gainline is such a valuable asset. The pack as a whole has been great, really dominating by the end of the half.

Feels like a real opportunity here.
Reply 5641
Few observations:

Ben Morgan is an incredible impact sub. Tomkins needs to learn to ****ing pass. Don't think I saw him pass once. Kieran Read is without a doubt the IRB Player of the Year. That offload at the start was unreal. Mike Brown has turned into a fantastic player. Both the Youngs brothers need to shape up. Tom's line outs have been consistently woeful recently. Hartley off was really noticeable.

Most importantly, Robshaw has the mother of all black eyes.

We can be proud of this result though.
(edited 10 years ago)
Wales played very well today; dominated the contact area like how SA dominated against us. Good performances from everybody (special mention to Cory Allen on debut). I wish we could be this strong and clinical more often against southern hemisphere sides, but I'll take this for today.
Reply 5643
Morgan aside, the impact from the bench was very disappointing. Tom Youngs obviously the worst offender, the lineout collapsed so we couldn't get any territory, I swear the last 20 mins was pretty much exclusively in our half.

Lots to be proud of though. Every single one of our starting forwards were fantastic, I think we've found the formula we can take towards the world cup. Wood and Robshaw just keep going and going and that goes a long way to negating the lack of a genuine 7, as does the dynamism in the 2nd row. Having a ball carrying 8 is absolutely essential, whether it's Morgan or Vunipola, and the front row is pretty sound although Corbisiero makes a massive difference. Regardless, running NZ fairly close with a backline that couldn't defend and offered nothing in attack is very impressive.

Have to give credit to New Zealand, Read and Nonu both pulled off bits of magic that were ultimately the difference between the sides. I hope they go and get the 100% record, got so much respect for them.
Reply 5644
that should be it for farrell and tomkins. time for them to both **** off to the premiership and learn how to play.
Original post by lol_wut
that should be it for farrell and tomkins. time for them to both **** off to the premiership and learn how to play.


Flood was absolute balls when he came on though in fairness. At least Farrell attacks the line and defends effectively.
Dickson was impressive again today, save a couple of brain farts.

Tomkins has issues in contact though, he doesn't seem to be able to look after the ball?
Reply 5646
Original post by pinkpenguin
Flood was absolute balls when he came on though in fairness. At least Farrell attacks the line and defends effectively.
Dickson was impressive again today, save a couple of brain farts.

Tomkins has issues in contact though, he doesn't seem to be able to look after the ball?


have you ever watched farrell play? flood is a much better attacking 10. he likes to take the ball flat and threatens the line, and he has a long history of creating breaks and tries. this is a total contrast to farrell with his telegraphed inside balls, deep positioning and weak running ability. there also isn't much between them defensively or in kicking percentages...
(edited 10 years ago)
Original post by lol_wut
have you ever watched farrell play? flood is a much better attacking 10. he likes to take the ball flat and threatens the line, and he has a long history of creating breaks and tries. this is a total contrast to farrell with his telegraphed inside balls, deep positioning and weak running ability. there also isn't much between them defensively or in kicking percentages...


Well yes, I obviously have or I wouldn't be commenting on it.

And I have exactly the opposite opinion to you. Farrell in the last 12 months has started to attack the line more, helped significantly by Dickson and Youngs not slowing the ball down quite as much as Danny Care likes to.

I disagree on the defensive aspect, I think Farrell is much more of a threat in terms of big hits, but that's not to say Flood can't defend, because he can.

Flood gets the ball at meanering pace, tracks sideways and then either gets caught or gives a ball too far behind the gain line. Flood only takes it flat when he decides he's going to have a run, which is therefore telegraphed. Flood also seems incapable of controlling a game on the back foot.

It's the same argument to those who say Danny Care/Mike Phillips is a better scrum half than Youngs/Dickson. I don't care how many tries he scores - is he any good at his primary role as a scrum half, that is distribution?

Don't get me wrong, I don't think Farrell is a world class 10. He's not. I'm not even an England fan. But to me trying to pick Flood over Farrell is a complete backwards step. Farrell is a better overall controlling 10, with better distribution skills and a better brain. The fact that Flood is more of an individual attacking threat doesn't mean he should start.
Fair play haha!
It's hard being a Scotland supporter.
Original post by QwentyJ
It's hard being a Scotland supporter.

South Africa have really impressed me this autumn. Phenomenal in the contact area and they're very clinical. The difference between your result and ours was that we always (well, until the last try) managed to keep within one or two scores so that we had the option of keeping the scoreboard ticking over with penalties, which we did. Scotland turned down a few kickable penalties that would've made the scoreline a bit more respectable because they had to chase the game from very early on.
Original post by wrexhamfc
South Africa have really impressed me this autumn. Phenomenal in the contact area and they're very clinical. The difference between your result and ours was that we always (well, until the last try) managed to keep within one or two scores so that we had the option of keeping the scoreboard ticking over with penalties, which we did. Scotland turned down a few kickable penalties that would've made the scoreline a bit more respectable because they had to chase the game from very early on.


Scotland just don't play smart rugby full stop. We also appear to be quite a brittle team. Confidence fades drastically when it goers against us.
Joining this!

Missed training today but hoping to be back for Wednesday's session.
Reply 5653
****ing hell
Heartbreaking for Ireland.
What a game though. So typical NZ had to win that, and in such a fashion too. Been through it enough as a Welshman to understand the Irish pain :lol: So unlucky though, what a performance from the Irish. But that winning try was sensational.
Reply 5656
Original post by Gob Bluth
What a game though. So typical NZ had to win that, and in such a fashion too. Been through it enough as a Welshman to understand the Irish pain :lol: So unlucky though, what a performance from the Irish. But that winning try was sensational.


The English went through it yesterday in the world cup league semi final against New Zealand. The final play of the game and we lose. Today was hard to watch.
Original post by Roobsa
The English went through it yesterday in the world cup league semi final against New Zealand. The final play of the game and we lose. Today was hard to watch.

Especially as you have never beaten NZ before was it? Brilliant game, you lot got a lot of positives to take from that into the 6N and the World Cup.
So gutted about Ireland losing. I didn't get to see the first half as I was playing a rugby match myself, but the score was just so... devastating.

Oh well, we tried :frown:
Felt like I'd been punched in the heart watching that . :emo:

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