Rugby - New Year, New Coaches, New Laws

[Havak]

One never knows with Brian. He might even recall Regan for Ireland yet.

I do think the time was right for Paice and Chuter as hookers - whichever started. Mears is too small and light weight for my liking.

Sackey is living a charmed life thanks to those tries from oppo mistakes - because Varndell pounces more effectively on those and is as strong (or weak?) in defence.

[finbar]

Good grief. What's going on in the England camp? Signor Cipriani might be an arrogant young cove but the supposed offence sounds remarkably lame if he - and his mates - are to be believed. Still, it gives the Scots a chance to revert to their planned tactic of hoisting high balls in Balshaw's direction all day.

[LDiCesare]

Axed from a RUGBY team for going to a night club?
I must have been hit on the head harder than I thought in yester'evening match.
This is surely another planet.
I knew a flanker who appeared on sunday morning before the match relating his saturday night feats, and the guy played well in the afternoon!
Silly Ashton.

(Edit)Maybe the rule about night clubs is limited to backs, though. It might make some sense?

[Havak]

Most Pro teams have a 48 hour exclusion rule before games - Englands is for before assembling I believe. I suspect the French are smoking and drinking into the wee hours the night before the game. Unfortunately sometimes they also perform like they have been?

I think it is ******* hilarious that even when Brian tries to look tough and in control he ends up looking like a complete t***er anyway.

Forgive the self censored language but just how badly handled was this?

The boy was naive - the team were travelling just hours later - but it is a huge over reaction.

More distressing are the changes - B***sup Balshaw back in and (a right) Charlie on the bench.

The win against France has not changed my mind at all - BA is not the man to move England forward.

[LDiCesare]

The win against France owes a lot to France making experiments, such as lacking a reliable kicker and experience. A win against Ireland would be much more convincing imo.

[Havak]

Probably right. It's also distinctly possible.

It wouldn't solve the underlying imbalance of the team nor address the fact he hasn't bloodied enough young players in the campaign.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
nor address the fact he hasn't bloodied enough young players in the campaign.

A classic Freudian slip!

[Joe Kick Ass]

Cipriani...

in the words of Carling: "what a muppet"

and Moore: "a complete tw*t".

Couldn't agree more.

[finbar]

Gav's finally got some competition.

[finbar]

Havak, you know your team is in trouble when Hugo Southwell - of all people - looks like a kicking genius compared to your kickers. Has England ever kicked collectively as badly and pointlessly as that? Anyway, I look forward to Mr Ashton's guess as to what went wrong. He could start with slack forward play - getting turned over at the breakdown by Scotland? - ordinary discipline, terrible handling, and a complete absence of anything resembling an idea when going forward with ball in hand. Scotland improved from mediocre to competent, England sank to levels last seen under the former coach.

Good determined effort from Wales. Wee Mr Williams is certainly in fine form. Ireland, after a handy start, were poor indeed.

[finbar]

Good grief. I've just seen the Leicester match score.

[Havak]

The answer to your question is "not that I can remember" and I cover Lofreda's now tenuous position at the tail end of the following (that I prepared earlier).

Well I didn’t think England could surprise me any more but they have. I didn’t think they could play any worse than against Wales. Then they did.

How inept was that performance? Could no one on the field truly see that kicking all possession to the Scottish back three wasn’t working. Are any of them Professional players? Why do you pick dynamic flankers then pursue a kicking game plan that freezes them out the game?

I have no answers – but even without them I wouldn’t persist with many of these players any longer. Sadly all my concerns about the qualities of the West Country Wasps BA loaded the squad with have come to pass. It’s not that they don’t have two good games in a row in them (the France game wasn’t a classic) – it’s that they don’t have two committed performances in a row in them.

The only Bath player I would consider retaining is Lipman. I wouldn’t keep any Wasps. And only Narraway from Gloucester has any chance (he seems to have potential). Easter goes – progressively getting a more lumbering number 8 every game. And – sacrilege – Wilko goes. Too often all he brings to the game now is his boot.

But change of personnel is just part of it. Lets face it there is no longer any excuse not to bring in youth. Experience counts for nothing in what will be a dead rubber next week. Let’s have the Paices and Cranes come in. What can be lost?

Of course what I will get is more excuses from Andrew and Ashton. The time for excuses is gone for me. I hope Brian resigns whilst he still has some dignity – I’d rather remember the coach who tormented Tigers in the early nineties than the broken shambolic fool interviewed after today’s game. Walk away Brian – nothing more to be seen here.

The more serious problem though is Rob Andrew and his ego. In 2006 he told the RFU if they gave him executive power he would sort everything that had gone wrong. Two years on things have actually gone backwards. A man of integrity would resign – I don’t expect him to. England fans should now march on twickers and forcibly remove him.

Dean Richards and Martin Johnson for England I say.

Loffreda is heading for trouble Finbar. He keeps rotating the side and he keeps losing too many games that should not be lost – today to Worcester. He smacks of several previous AB coaches - changing what does not need to be changed. Unless he wins silverware I think he will be gone in the summer. We don’t tolerate losers for long. Except in the national side where we make them coach and skippers and Elite Performance Directors. .

[MOBIUS]

[finbar]

Jeez, Havak, the trifecta from hell for you this weekend: Scotland, Worcester, New Zealand. You do realise that as an EU citizen you can freely live and work in Italy? The Italian rugby team would have beaten England yesterday, any of the Italian club teams full of third-rate Kiwis and North Aucklanders would beat Leicester at the moment, and the Italian cricket team - I think there are about 23 registered cricket players in Italy, not enough for two complete teams - would account for England's flanneled nancies. Dust off your passport.

Oh, and can you update your post signature?

"I get to see Scotland squash England at 4.15pm CET" - finbar.



EDIT. Just for clarity, maybe it should read in the past tense:

"I got to see Scotland squash England at 4.15pm CET" - finbar

[finbar]

The Italian commentators - bless their patriotic hearts - nearly wept when Castrogiovanni went over. They - and I - wept over Rougerie's try on the basis that the ball shouldn't have been in that half of the field anyway after the blatant forward pass - arguably two - in the lead up to Rougerie being held up over the line. To be fair, they - and I - called for a yellow for the oca who tried to tear off la grenouille #4's head.

Italy played about as well as they can, if not as well as they played against England. They actually looked, relatively speaking, occasionally threatening today. A #13 who can catch a ball wouldn't go astray. The pass wasn't the best but he has sinned similarly before.

The Jauzion try was a little piece of French magic. Lièvremont is bravely sorting out a pool of players from which to draw. He might have found a full back. A couple of forwards wouldn't go astray. I think Les Grenouilles can beat the Taffys who might not be as threatening in the forwards and whose defence isn't overpowering.

How's your ulcer, LdiC?