theboyangel Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 the crowd must be bored looking at the sky all the time… hooooooofff! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 (edited) another no arms tackle to the head by England - FFS i don’t blame Vunipola - he shouldn’t be on the pitch in the first place. So glad Borthwick has selected several number 8s for the World Cup squad… oh wait!!!! Edited August 19, 2023 by theboyangel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 What a moron Vunipola is. Nasty, nasty hit. Clearly doesn’t fancy the World Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 Not surprisingly - upgraded to red! The RFU will have to fill another brown envelope with cash to get it rescinded next week. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 The nerve of him to shake his head as if he’d been hard done by! Clearest red you’ll ever see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colhint Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 I think England's women would beat them, and I mean the football team 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 As soon as the name Borthwick was mentioned you just knew what we were in for. At least cricket had the balls (pun unintended) to make an unpredictable appointment, look out that's turned out. Shaun Edwards would have at least attempted to somehow put a shine on this dull, plodding boring crap that has far passed it's sell by date. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pete101 Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 2 hours ago, JB said: What a moron Vunipola is. Nasty, nasty hit. Clearly doesn’t fancy the World Cup. It seems to be an issue across English and New Zealand rugby, not learning to adjust to the new tackle height rules. I know here in Ireland we do a lot of training with top referees in camp. Players like Aki over here have had to work really hard to take this out of their game Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mottaloo Posted August 19, 2023 Share Posted August 19, 2023 Well done Ireland 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 On 19/08/2023 at 21:08, pete101 said: It seems to be an issue across English and New Zealand rugby, not learning to adjust to the new tackle height rules. I know here in Ireland we do a lot of training with top referees in camp. Players like Aki over here have had to work really hard to take this out of their game With the Billy tackle, height wasn’t really the issue, he is crouched down, as was the Ireland player. It’s more the fact that there was no use of the arm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeyp102 Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 So Farrell now getting a ban. It’s fully deserved, but what a shambles the WRC have made of it. There was a hearing, they chose who judged it, then went against that as it wasn’t the result they wanted. Just makes a mockery of everything Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 22, 2023 Share Posted August 22, 2023 4 match ban so will miss the two most difficult matches in the World Cup against Argentina and Japan. Haven’t heard the outcome of Vunipola’s hearing but expecting at least a 3 match ban so will miss just Argentina. At least Borthwick had the nous to pick more than one proper number 8… oh wait! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 Now confirmed - Vunipola to also miss the Argentina game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villa89 Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 Borthwick was never the right man for the job. They also had a chance to sack Eddie jones long before they did but hung on to him when he was never going to turn it around. That said, given the ridiculous draw England and Australia should both make the semi finals. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 27 minutes ago, villa89 said: Borthwick was never the right man for the job. They also had a chance to sack Eddie jones long before they did but hung on to him when he was never going to turn it around. That said, given the ridiculous draw England and Australia should both make the semi finals. Agree with everything bar the last sentence. I see no attacking positives under Borthwick and will lose to Argentina, possibly Japan and the current hoofball tactics will undoubtedly play into the hands of the Samoans. I fear this is a wasted opportunity to install a dynamic forward thinking manager and not the yes man the outdated RFU craved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted August 23, 2023 Share Posted August 23, 2023 There’s an excellent article on the Guardian website today that sums up pretty much exactly how I feel. Essentially, Borthwick’s been thrown a hospital pass by the RFU in having to sort out the absolute chaos left by Jones with a World Cup on the horizon. He’s resorted to ‘English rugby 1.0’ and playing to our perceived strengths to try and keep things as respectable as possible. This is obviously failing miserably as most other nations do our perceived strengths better than us, and he might have been better building things around Smith, but I can kind of understand the reasoning. He’s inherited a squad with a fair number of guys whose priorities seem to be to try and prove how big and tough they are, and celebrate turnovers by whooping and jumping around like utter gimps rather than play heads-up, smart rugby. When the opposition not only have more nous and skill but are also at least as big and strong, then they’re ****. There are pretty unique, systemic issues with English rugby that mean that, barring another golden generation, we won’t be seriously competitive on the world stage. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 Anthony Watson now ruled out. Too many of our squad are beyond their prime and already injury ridden. Feel bad for him to miss the tournament though. I’d select Slade (especially with Farrell missing the first two games) to give us better options instead of just the crash ball in centre with Marchant able to deputise on the wing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted August 24, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 24, 2023 Bit out of the loop as I haven't seen much/any rugby for a while but I can't believe how many seats are still available for Saturday vs Fiji. Are England really that bad that nobody wants to watch them? I'll be there cheering on the Fijians. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theboyangel Posted August 24, 2023 Share Posted August 24, 2023 20 minutes ago, choffer said: Bit out of the loop as I haven't seen much/any rugby for a while but I can't believe how many seats are still available for Saturday vs Fiji. Are England really that bad that nobody wants to watch them? I'll be there cheering on the Fijians. Unless you like watching the ball up in the air - going to an England game at the moment is not for you. To be honest, the recent prices at Twickenham have been astronomical and when you’re paying that to watch turgid rugby no wonder people are staying away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choffer Posted August 24, 2023 VT Supporter Share Posted August 24, 2023 2 minutes ago, theboyangel said: To be honest, the recent prices at Twickenham have been astronomical and when you’re paying that to watch turgid rugby no wonder people are staying away. Last time I was there, I was on the back row of the top shelf. Half the pitch obscured by the scoreboard (which they'd blu-tacked two tiny telly's to the back of so we had an indication of what was going on in the bits we couldn't see. £125 a ticket. Absolute insanity, quite apart from the fact that it's generally impossible to find any tickets. Then again, it's England and that's not generally something I'm all that interested in (). 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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