England v. Ireland

[Insouciant]

Furbank testing my belief that players should be given a run of 5-10 consecutive games before being judged. At least the performance has improved but going in 4 behind is a pretty woeful result.

It feels like we're going to put loads of effort in and bang our head against a brick wall all game, only for Ireland to execute more accurately when their opportunity comes. It's good to see England playing with more purpose and energy, but to be behind after that half is pretty disappointing (but not unexpected).

[FKAS]

Murrayfield revisited a bit - accuracy dropping after initial fizz.
Fluffbank 2 in quick succession.

Yep, really poor. He's great when Ireland kick long and he can counter. Otherwise he's not looking great.

Ireland have no right to lead but are. Mistakes costing. Ford missing the 3. Handling errors. Playing in our own half instead of using our kicking game to push them back.

Just need to keep at it and not be discouraged, we've outplayed Ireland so far.

[Adam_P]

Furbank testing my belief that players should be given a run of 5-10 consecutive games before being judged. At least the performance has improved but going in 4 behind is a pretty woeful result.

Frustrating - instrumental in the build up to our try, but uncharacteristic (based on club form) sloppy handling elsewhere

[Which Tyler]

Whatever happens in the 2nd, and however poor some of the execution has been, this has been a huge step forwards for England.

Just hope we have the balls to see it through and trust that rewards will come with familiarity

[FKAS]

Furbank testing my belief that players should be given a run of 5-10 consecutive games before being judged. At least the performance has improved but going in 4 behind is a pretty woeful result.

Frustrating - instrumental in the build up to our try, but uncharacteristic (based on club form) sloppy handling elsewhere

The pass was a bit of a hospital pass really. Freeman manages to drop his hip into the tackle and Nash gets his head on the wrong side which sees the chance open up.

[Adam_P]

Furbank testing my belief that players should be given a run of 5-10 consecutive games before being judged. At least the performance has improved but going in 4 behind is a pretty woeful result.

Frustrating - instrumental in the build up to our try, but uncharacteristic (based on club form) sloppy handling elsewhere

The pass was a bit of a hospital pass really. Freeman manages to drop his hip into the tackle and Nash gets his head on the wrong side which sees the chance open up.

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

[Mr Mwenda]

So predictable, so ruthless.

[bruce]

Nice try. How to deal with rush defense.

[FKAS]

Furbank should be shot for cowardice there. Just jumps out the line.

[TheDasher]

Frustrating - instrumental in the build up to our try, but uncharacteristic (based on club form) sloppy handling elsewhere

The pass was a bit of a hospital pass really. Freeman manages to drop his hip into the tackle and Nash gets his head on the wrong side which sees the chance open up.

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

[bruce]

Nice try England

[Galfon]

Gorgeous !

[bruce]

Ford has left his kicking boots at home

[FKAS]

Nice try there. Beautiful hands from the forwards and Fluffbank makes up for some of his errors to come steaming on to it. We definitely needed a response after the Irish try.

[Adam_P]

The pass was a bit of a hospital pass really. Freeman manages to drop his hip into the tackle and Nash gets his head on the wrong side which sees the chance open up.

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

So we'd have gathered a few more kicks but have no tries if Steward replaced Furbank

[Mr Mwenda]

Ford has left his kicking boots at home

Maybe there was a reason why Farrell was favoured...

[FKAS]

The pass was a bit of a hospital pass really. Freeman manages to drop his hip into the tackle and Nash gets his head on the wrong side which sees the chance open up.

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

Steward would have switched in to contest the kick. His passing isn't what Furbank is but AdamP is incorrect to suggest he doesn't move the ball around the backline.

[Galfon]

7 kickables missed by Ford thus far..not helping.

[morepork]

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

So we'd have gathered a few more kicks but have no tries if Steward replaced Furbank

Absolutely.

[Insouciant]

Hmm... Ford's missed 7 points worth of kicks - commentator keeps talking about Farrell (the iceman's reputation endures)

[FKAS]

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

So we'd have gathered a few more kicks but have no tries if Steward replaced Furbank

Considering the pass for the first try was a hospital pass Freeman did well with and Nash managed to get his head on the wrong side. I wouldn't be touting Furbank's passing prowess.

Furbank just ran onto a pass to canter over for the second. Steward at pace would have also run that in.

Would Steward have made the catch in the build up to the Irish try? Probably. I'm surprised Ireland haven't done mor kick to contest to be honest, we've looked ropey under it.

[Mr Mwenda]

Harsh call there.

[Adam_P]

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

So we'd have gathered a few more kicks but have no tries if Steward replaced Furbank

Considering the pass for the first try was a hospital pass Freeman did well with and Nash managed to get his head on the wrong side. I wouldn't be touting Furbank's passing prowess.

Furbank just ran onto a pass to canter over for the second. Steward at pace would have also run that in.

Would Steward have made the catch in the build up to the Irish try? Probably. I'm surprised Ireland haven't done mor kick to contest to be honest, we've looked ropey under it.

Because of the close club relationship Furbank knew the pass to Freeman was the right call, as he knew Tommy would end Nash

[TheDasher]

Running it back, picking the right option and then in the next phase fast hands to Slade to feed Lawrence. You'd not catch Steward doing that... Passing that is

Steward would take some of the high balls in traffic though. We miss that hugely

So we'd have gathered a few more kicks but have no tries if Steward replaced Furbank

Tough to say - He might have taken the kick in traffic that led to Irelands last try. Anyway, I wasn't dissing furbank, he's playing well! Feyi Waboso- wonderful. Great having a proper dangerman ball in hand again.

[FKAS]

Failure to call mark from that kick now causing all this pressure. Ireland have caught on to the fact we're weak under kick to contest.