England v. Ireland

[Oakboy]

Welp. I don't think anyone had that in the sweepstake.

Puja

I can see a case for Dombrandt starting but an impact sub he ain't!

What! Coming on with CCS, Care and Smith

Interesting that you did not include Daly!!!

[Banquo]

Ben White rested and Louis Lynagh to start for Italy

At 9?

wrong teams, but nearly clever

[p/d]

I can see a case for Dombrandt starting but an impact sub he ain't!

What! Coming on with CCS, Care and Smith

Interesting that you did not include Daly!!!

Well, if he played for Quins

[Shiny]

Wouldn't it just be peak England to lose to Scotland but beat Ireland.

[ckeyn]

Chessum at 6 as we are obviously going to hit the Ireland line out hard.

[Oakboy]

England XV: G Furbank; I Feyi-Waboso, H Slade, O Lawrence, T Freeman; G Ford, A Mitchell; E Genge, J George, D Cole, M Itoje, G Martin, O Chessum, S Underhill, B Earl

Replacements: T Dan, J Marler, W Stuart, C Cunningham-South, A Dombrandt, D Care, M Smith, E Daly

-----

Ireland XV: H Keenan; C Nash, R Henshaw, B Aki, J Lowe; J Crowley, J Gibson-Park; A Porter, D Sheehan, T Furlong; J McCarthy, T Beirne, P O’Mahony (capt), J van der Flier, C Doris.

Replacements: R Kelleher, C Healy, F Bealham, I Henderson, R Baird, J Conan, C Murray, C Frawley.

[Stom]

Well, at least it's interesting...

A lock at 6 is always a retrograde step, for me. But (and who could have seen this coming!) I like the bench...

We should have a lot of impact to come on IF we're chasing the game. If we're trying to close it out, though...well that's a different thing.

Interesting how Roots drops out completely and Dommers comes in. Could he have impressed in training? Could he have done what SB wanted?

I still think Ireland will be too far gone for the bench to have an impact, especially considering the backrow now, but hey, Martin is probably an upgrade on Roots, tbf.

[Banquo]

Long day at the office. Big test for new improved ruck speed and defence. Given Chessum's performance in defence to date, big ask at 6.

Is Ryan injured for Ireland?

[Oakboy]

Long day at the office. Big test for new improved ruck speed and defence.

Is Ryan injured for Ireland?

Just omitted, I think - some statement of strength!!

[FKAS]

Chessum at 6 as we are obviously going to hit the Ireland line out hard.

Lineout and looking to hit their big ball runners hard. Somewhat reminiscencant of his second half tactics against Leinster in the European Cup. After a punishing first half at Welford Road Borthwick added Martin in for Reffell and doubled down on physicality. Tigers had Leinster under the cosh for most of the second half but couldn't finish them off. I suspect it'll a similar lean on physicality, stop the likes of Doris, Furlong etc getting over the gain line and then use the blitz defence to try and stop them using a wider game plan to get momentum.

Not sure it'll work but got to be be worth a try.

[fivepointer]

IFW starting is a good thing. So too Mitchell back at SH. M Smith in the 23 is a positive. Actually quite like the CCS/Dombrandt back row option off the bench.
Not sure about Chessum at 6 and Slade is very lucky to still get picked.

[Banquo]

Long day at the office. Big test for new improved ruck speed and defence.

Is Ryan injured for Ireland?

Just omitted, I think - some statement of strength!!

beeb
There is no place on the bench for James Ryan, who has been ruled out of the remainder of the tournament with a bicep injury sustained in training.

[Spiffy]

https://www.planetrugby.com/news/david- ... come-reset

Quite a perceptive analysis of both teams by Campese in Planet Rugby.

[p/d]

Love it:

‘Can you tell me what England’s or Borthwick’s style is? What their plan is? I’ve got 100 caps, and I’m buggered if I know!’

[Mikey Brown]

Interesting how Roots drops out completely and Dommers comes in. Could he have impressed in training?

Lol.

[Oakboy]

The two bits from Campese that made sense to me:

1. " . . . the preponderance of rugby league coaches means that sides are playing a game plan where seeking contact is more important that seeking space."

2. Muddled thinking:

“I’ll give you a direct example of this. For the Tests against Italy and Wales we saw Alex Mitchell and Fraser Dingwall at nine and 12, with Tommy Freeman at 14, all integral parts of that Saints plan. But then, shoehorned in between, is George Ford at 10, a fine player but a man who plays a conservative game at Sale Sharks,” the Wallabies great continued.

“I simply don’t get that. All of those Saints boys play around Fin Smith, a remarkable talent at fly-half and someone I believe can be a Test superstar. He’s the enabler they have and to pick part of the Saints’ backline but then to leave out the guy that controls it and makes things happen is absolutely nuts.

“It smacks of paying lip service to the selection of the others around Ford without ever trusting them fully."

[Insouciant]

Love it:

‘Can you tell me what England’s or Borthwick’s style is? What their plan is? I’ve got 100 caps, and I’m buggered if I know!’

I don't have any caps, but I'll take a stab. I'm probably just re-cycling clichés I heard from more informed people about what Sandra Baphomet is doing.

Most winning sides build off of a good defence. I think that's where our focus is atm - we're trying to bed in a new system that took SA 18 games or so to bed in. Part of this will be some chopping and changing in personnel - some people aren't going to be right for the system. It's clearly nowhere near ready yet and our defence in transition is pretty abysmal. This, I think, will play a role in us running/passing more ball in in the future. If at present we can't defend the transition well, then losing the ball is potentially a big issue and taking risks wouldn't be sensible in most of the field (see Ford throwing the ball of of Furbank's head, in Scotland's half I think, only for VdM to score). We are trying to bed in solid foundations, that's my thought.

So what will we do this weekend? You guessed it. Play the %s, not be too risky/squeeze opposition/try to force errors = Kicking for territory, kick to compete with a chaser knocking the ball down for others to gather, playing in the right area of the pitch, rush defence with big hits and dogged breakdown work etc. We may mix up the kicks to catch Ireland off guard.

What will we do if we get the ball in their 22? Not got a scooby-doo.

[ckeyn]

Chessum at 6 as we are obviously going to hit the Ireland line out hard.

Lineout and looking to hit their big ball runners hard. Somewhat reminiscencant of his second half tactics against Leinster in the European Cup. After a punishing first half at Welford Road Borthwick added Martin in for Reffell and doubled down on physicality. Tigers had Leinster under the cosh for most of the second half but couldn't finish them off. I suspect it'll a similar lean on physicality, stop the likes of Doris, Furlong etc getting over the gain line and then use the blitz defence to try and stop them using a wider game plan to get momentum.

Not sure it'll work but got to be be worth a try.

Agreed, think it's the most sensible selection. Gives us a chance...

[Banquo]

Love it:

‘Can you tell me what England’s or Borthwick’s style is? What their plan is? I’ve got 100 caps, and I’m buggered if I know!’

I don't have any caps, but I'll take a stab. I'm probably just re-cycling clichés I heard from more informed people about what Sandra Baphomet is doing.

Most winning sides build off of a good defence. I think that's where our focus is atm - we're trying to bed in a new system that took SA 18 games or so to bed in. Part of this will be some chopping and changing in personnel - some people aren't going to be right for the system. It's clearly nowhere near ready yet and our defence in transition is pretty abysmal. This, I think, will play a role in us running/passing more ball in in the future. If at present we can't defend the transition well, then losing the ball is potentially a big issue and taking risks wouldn't be sensible in most of the field (see Ford throwing the ball of of Furbank's head, in Scotland's half I think, only for VdM to score). We are trying to bed in solid foundations, that's my thought.

So what will we do this weekend? You guessed it. Play the %s, not be too risky/squeeze opposition/try to force errors = Kicking for territory, kick to compete with a chaser knocking the ball down for others to gather, playing in the right area of the pitch, rush defence with big hits and dogged breakdown work etc. We may mix up the kicks to catch Ireland off guard.

What will we do if we get the ball in their 22? Not got a scooby-doo.

I don't think Striped Bandicoot can see the wood for the trees tbh- he sees rugby as a series of analyses and stats and thus a set of problems to solve. I'm guessing though.

[FKAS]

The two bits from Campese that made sense to me:

1. " . . . the preponderance of rugby league coaches means that sides are playing a game plan where seeking contact is more important that seeking space."

He does know that Ireland, probably the most fluent attacking team in the world, are coached by a rugby league legend right. England's rugby league legend did defence and now kicking. Not really sure we can point the finger at rugby league coaches for causing teams to run into contact. League is normally the other way round as well as running into a mass of bodies tends to be a waste of a tackle and those are a limiting factor in the attack.

[Which Tyler]

Much like arguing with one's wife; there are 3 principal theories for beating Ireland.
None of them work.

[Insouciant]

Love it:

‘Can you tell me what England’s or Borthwick’s style is? What their plan is? I’ve got 100 caps, and I’m buggered if I know!’

I don't have any caps, but I'll take a stab. I'm probably just re-cycling clichés I heard from more informed people about what Sandra Baphomet is doing.

Most winning sides build off of a good defence. I think that's where our focus is atm - we're trying to bed in a new system that took SA 18 games or so to bed in. Part of this will be some chopping and changing in personnel - some people aren't going to be right for the system. It's clearly nowhere near ready yet and our defence in transition is pretty abysmal. This, I think, will play a role in us running/passing more ball in in the future. If at present we can't defend the transition well, then losing the ball is potentially a big issue and taking risks wouldn't be sensible in most of the field (see Ford throwing the ball of of Furbank's head, in Scotland's half I think, only for VdM to score). We are trying to bed in solid foundations, that's my thought.

So what will we do this weekend? You guessed it. Play the %s, not be too risky/squeeze opposition/try to force errors = Kicking for territory, kick to compete with a chaser knocking the ball down for others to gather, playing in the right area of the pitch, rush defence with big hits and dogged breakdown work etc. We may mix up the kicks to catch Ireland off guard.

What will we do if we get the ball in their 22? Not got a scooby-doo.

I don't think Striped Bandicoot can see the wood for the trees tbh- he sees rugby as a series of analyses and stats and thus a set of problems to solve. I'm guessing though.

Yep, I suspect that Silky Bassoon sees rugby matches much like Neo when he sees the matrix.

[FKAS]

I don't have any caps, but I'll take a stab. I'm probably just re-cycling clichés I heard from more informed people about what Sandra Baphomet is doing.

Most winning sides build off of a good defence. I think that's where our focus is atm - we're trying to bed in a new system that took SA 18 games or so to bed in. Part of this will be some chopping and changing in personnel - some people aren't going to be right for the system. It's clearly nowhere near ready yet and our defence in transition is pretty abysmal. This, I think, will play a role in us running/passing more ball in in the future. If at present we can't defend the transition well, then losing the ball is potentially a big issue and taking risks wouldn't be sensible in most of the field (see Ford throwing the ball of of Furbank's head, in Scotland's half I think, only for VdM to score). We are trying to bed in solid foundations, that's my thought.

So what will we do this weekend? You guessed it. Play the %s, not be too risky/squeeze opposition/try to force errors = Kicking for territory, kick to compete with a chaser knocking the ball down for others to gather, playing in the right area of the pitch, rush defence with big hits and dogged breakdown work etc. We may mix up the kicks to catch Ireland off guard.

What will we do if we get the ball in their 22? Not got a scooby-doo.

I don't think Striped Bandicoot can see the wood for the trees tbh- he sees rugby as a series of analyses and stats and thus a set of problems to solve. I'm guessing though.

Yep, I suspect that Silky Bassoon sees rugby matches much like Neo when he sees the matrix.

I miss the like button.

[francoisfou]

Off topic I know, but it makes me smile when I see the myriad of names that you all come up with with the initials SB

[Spiffy]

The two bits from Campese that made sense to me:

1. " . . . the preponderance of rugby league coaches means that sides are playing a game plan where seeking contact is more important that seeking space."

He does know that Ireland, probably the most fluent attacking team in the world, are coached by a rugby league legend right. England's rugby league legend did defence and now kicking. Not really sure we can point the finger at rugby league coaches for causing teams to run into contact. League is normally the other way round as well as running into a mass of bodies tends to be a waste of a tackle and those are a limiting factor in the attack.

Agree with you. For me the current Ireland team is looking for gaps/soft shoulders much more than before, and spreading the ball wider. Even the short range, heavyweight carriers up front are attempting to put in a bit of footwork before contact for maximum yardage.