Egg chasers of the SMB



Cockney Mackem said:
Except with England, what level? The pretty good level overall Iike against NZ or the stuttering, not all there level we've seen at other times this year?
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I think their new defensive coach has helped a lot with line speed and issues at the breakdown which was their biggest issue in respect to the skill they were missing.

The thing with England is that with their wealth and depth of talent they're always only going to be a few steps away from competing with anyone. The issue as ever with England is the top two inches, so many England teams are just thick and lack the wherewithal to play the conditions-ref, weather, how the other team are playing, position on the pitch, scoreline. If you look at the Aussie whitewash down under which is the best consecutive series of England performances since 2003, those were all the things that made the difference. They aren't lacking in anything except nous. Thing is there's precious little to suggest they're improving there. And I'm not sure that Jones sees it. Last week England were a few phases from winning, if they had kept going through the phases they would have forced a penalty. It was brainless to send the ball to the touchline at 80 mins. Jones should have been incensed but instead he seemed to have contracted the English mentality of being happy to come a close second.

England will blow plenty teams away through talent but if they can't do that they dont know what to do, they get frustrated and they foul repeatedly. I don't think there's much difference in talent between them and the AB's and Ireland but the latter two know how to play the game in multiple instances and how to work the small things to their advantage to the point that it becomes a big advantage , thats the difference. They're an absolute Jeckyll and Hyde. I could see them winning the Grand Slam in March at their best but I could just as conceivably see them losing to all the Home Nations and deserving to as well.
 
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Vaguely connected, that Bristol Bisons player who's claiming asylum from Kenya because he's gay was in the news tonight. They festured his team training in the report - now I know they're an LGBT inclusive team, but at least their line out throws have to be straight...
 
sonson said:
I think their new defensive coach has helped a lot with line speed and issues at the breakdown which was their biggest issue in respect to the skill they were missing.

The thing with England is that with their wealth and depth of talent they're always only going to be a few steps away from competing with anyone. The issue as ever with England is the top two inches, so many England teams are just thick and lack the wherewithal to play the conditions-ref, weather, how the other team are playing, position on the pitch, scoreline. If you look at the Aussie whitewash down under which is the best consecutive series of England performances since 2003, those were all the things that made the difference. They aren't lacking in anything except nous. Thing is there's precious little to suggest they're improving there. And I'm not sure that Jones sees it. Last week England were a few phases from winning, if they had kept going through the phases they would have forced a penalty. It was brainless to send the ball to the touchline at 80 mins. Jones should have been incensed but instead he seemed to have contracted the English mentality of being happy to come a close second.

England will blow plenty teams away through talent but if they can't do that they dont know what to do, they get frustrated and they foul repeatedly. I don't think there's much difference in talent between them and the AB's and Ireland but the latter two know how to play the game in multiple instances and how to work the small things to their advantage to the point that it becomes a big advantage , thats the difference. They're an absolute Jeckyll and Hyde. I could see them winning the Grand Slam in March at their best but I could just as conceivably see them losing to all the Home Nations and deserving to as well.
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I partially agree but the big difference is the central contracts the other nations have to maintain their players fitness & freshness
 
Always nice to beat the Aussies but they're under strength and probably like the 6th best team in the world right now. And the performance has still been strewn with errors and poor decision making. The result is good but if you look at the performance there's nothing there to suggest we're a shoo in against Wales or Scotland even, let alone Ireland or the All Blacks.

safcrhys said:
Cokansiga is a beast.
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Imagine NH rugby without South Pacific Islanders. It would be shit.
 

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