England/France

ELMER FUDD

Well-Known Member
Well what a load of crap. England have to get rid of Mike Brown because he obviously didn't know where his position was on the pitch.

Everytime France had a run it was a clear pitch as he was nowhere in sight until too late and Ford needs to learn to pass the ball and stop kicking possession away

Rant over
 
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Well what a load of crap. England have to get rid of Mike Brown because he obviously didn't know where his position was on the pitch.

Everytime France had a run it was a clear pitch as he was nowhere in sight until too late and Ford needs to lear to pass the ball and stop kicking possession away

Rant over

Sorry, were you watching the same game?? It's been a marvellous day for rugby. Every game has surpassed the previous one, which was unbelievable. Ireland, Wales and England played some of the most attractive rugby we've seen for years. Just because England didn't win doesn't detract from the game itself.

England were left with a tough target to chase but didn't disgrace themselves. I thought Ford ran some beautiful lines - he was instrumental to Young's and Nowell's tries.
 
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If you have a target number of points to get and Englands was 26 then why kick the ball away and let you opponents run at you again. Tactical kicking but nobody following up and putting pressure on. Yes I know they did some good but you still need someone back at home in case there is a break from the opponents. When England keep hold of the ball and put pressure on they do far better in the game.
 
If you have a target number of points to get and Englands was 26 then why kick the ball away and let you opponents run at you again. Tactical kicking but nobody following up and putting pressure on. Yes I know they did some good but you still need someone back at home in case there is a break from the opponents. When England keep hold of the ball and put pressure on they do far better in the game.

Because sometimes kicking is still the better option....and sometimes a decision has to be made on the spur of the moment when the opposition is bearing down on you.

Both England and France were chasing the game. Unlike Wales and Ireland, this meant England had an unpredictable opponent who - on their day - can more than hold their own. Remember the 2011 World Cup final?

That England failed to reach that target is disappointing, but the result shouldn't detract from the game itself. Ireland are worthy champions, Wales set the benchmark for the final day, but England have probably come out strongest from the day.
 
Irrespective of the outcome, Young Pine Marten said "alebele" ("Allez les Bleus") for the first time today so I enjoyed the match despite the result.
 
Well I have just about got over it until Monday when I get back to work. Positives, a great day of rugby with probably the best finale to a tournament I have seen in a while. The eng France game was bonkers. England were forced into chasing a scoreline which led to the craziness...I was slightly miffed at some decisions regarding kicking out of hand.

My biggest bug bear was the blooming TMO I am going to look up their remit and try and understand why he was bloody interrupting the rugby game going on
 
Great day of rugby. Does anyone know if the 211points scored is some sort of record for a final day of 6N?

Thoroughly enjoyed it, though agree with some of the comments about kicking too freely...
 
If you have a target number of points to get and Englands was 26 then why kick the ball away and let you opponents run at you again. Tactical kicking but nobody following up and putting pressure on. Yes I know they did some good but you still need someone back at home in case there is a break from the opponents. When England keep hold of the ball and put pressure on they do far better in the game.

Precisely, every team had to change their game plan yesterday, Ireland and England forced by the result of the previous game, and try for a large points gap and what it showed is that if you chase points you concede points, only Ireland managed to contain (with a bit of luck) their opposition and get a lot of points. What we effectively had was 40-0, 30-0, and 20-0 but two games had 80 points scored, great for the crowds but dangerous in professional rugby.

It also showed that there's virtually nothing between the top three 6N teams. All will consider themselves to be in a good place for the RWC right now. Ireland are champions, England ran them close and only lost to the champions, Wales won four on the bounce, won three away games including beating the champions.

Having said all this the RWC Final looks to be NZ v SA in which case I hope Nigel Owens gets the game as he was superb yesterday and must be the best ref right now, I don't know a team that wouldn't be happy with that choice.
 
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For me, the best game for the 6 nations was the match between Wales and Ireland and the best ref was definitely Wayne Barnes as he gave neither side time to lay over the ball and kill it. It was interesting to see players actually making an attempt to roll away even when they were no where near the ball.
 
For me, the best game for the 6 nations was the match between Wales and Ireland and the best ref was definitely Wayne Barnes as he gave neither side time to lay over the ball and kill it. It was interesting to see players actually making an attempt to roll away even when they were no where near the ball.

I can certainly agree with that :thumb:

It would be hard to put a cigarette paper between Barnes and Owens as to which ref was better, but it is becoming more and more obvious how the refereeing can make the difference between a flowing game of rugby and one that never seems to get in gear. The endless referring to the TMO is becoming tiresome, and Brian Moore has a point when he says that the refereeing of the scrum is now something of a lottery.
 
I can certainly agree with that :thumb:

It would be hard to put a cigarette paper between Barnes and Owens as to which ref was better, but it is becoming more and more obvious how the refereeing can make the difference between a flowing game of rugby and one that never seems to get in gear. The endless referring to the TMO is becoming tiresome, and Brian Moore has a point when he says that the refereeing of the scrum is now something of a lottery.

Barnes is very nearly Welsh, he's from Lydney but educated at Monmouth School. :D
 
I was very lucky to be at Twickenham for the England/France game. The atmosphere was astounding, the best I've ever seen there. Not a little hoarse myself. It was without doubt a fantastic advert for the game and this competition.

In attack, England were pretty potent, not something you could have always said about them. Defence was a little different and I think the French worked out that our drift defence wasn't drifting fast enough and we have pretty inexperienced outside three quarters and that's where most of the damage was done to England. France obviously worked that out.

As for kicking, Ford's place kicking kept us in the hunt and thankfully France's was off. Kicking from hand needs to improve in two areas. It needs to be more accurate, both when going for touch or when it's infield, when possession has to be contestable. Part of this is the chase of course, which England don't do well at times. But Ford is new to this role and we can't expect perfection just yet. But I feel we should persevere with him.
 
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