France v England

[Which Tyler]

That's never a penalty. He's trying to catch that.

Puja

Trying, yes. But never realistically going to.

Brilliant, brilliant match. Best of the tourney (yes, better than Italy Scotland).

As for England - far from the finished article, but showing the plan more.

[Banquo]

great game but some odd sh5t chucked in.

[TheDasher]

But why box kick to just within your own half like Care did to give possession back like that there. I don't think Mitchell would've done that.

[Galfon]

Alot better than last time.
Discipline still a sore that won't go away it seems.

[16th man]

Margin of victory ends up being that awful, awful offside call in the first half.

That being said, belting game, and I'd have taken that after the Scotland match.

Ultimately that was two flawed sides, desperately trying to lead with their best shots, whilst hiding their glass jaws. I reckon if we'd have had CCS and any back other than Manu on the bench, we may have been able to shift the needle more in the last 10 minutes.

Did Manu even touch the ball or make a tackle?

[Banquo]

That's never a penalty. He's trying to catch that.

Puja

some odd officiating all game imo

[Danno]

Happy enough with that. 2 point loss away to France is nothing to be ashamed of. I'll complain about selections on the bench later though.

[Timbo]

Probably too much to ask to actually see the TMO decision that decided the game. The one that nobody else saw and nobody knew the number of the player that committed the offence. Not like it was important or anything.

[Banquo]

Margin of victory ends up being that awful, awful offside call in the first half.

That being said, belting game, and I'd have taken that after the Scotland match.

Ultimately that was two flawed sides, desperately trying to lead with their best shots, whilst hiding their glass jaws. I reckon if we'd have had CCS and any back other than Manu on the bench, we may have been able to shift the needle more in the last 10 minutes.

Did Manu even touch the ball or make a tackle?

yes to both in fact broke tackle line in build up to freemans try.

[Mr Mwenda]

No replay of the no arms offence?

With the French TV director, that almost certainly means it was a shit call.

ETA. Just gone back and rewatched and it's definitely a no-arms tackle. Nothing malicious in it, but very tired by Earl and it's a definite penalty.

Puja

Ta

Bit of a weird one. England did enough to take it but one feels France dominated longer stretches so fair enough.

Bye bye, Manu, thanks for the memories.

[Danno]

That's never a penalty. He's trying to catch that.

Puja

some odd officiating all game imo

Yeah, Gardner isn't an international imo

[Timbo]

I’m sure it’s been said in previous pages on this thread, but George Ford. What a player.

[16th man]

Alot better than last time.
Discipline still a sore that won't go away it seems.

To be fair, there's a difference between some of those penalties under massive pressure, vs just the rank stupidity we've seen before.
Plus, two or three of them were rank decisions.

[francoisfou]

Ok, one or two strange ref decisions, but what a magnificent match to end the tournament !

[Banquo]

Balls. Feels like that was eminently winnable and we just kept putting France back into it with errors.

Still, progress is being made and we'd've taken that performance at the start of the Championship.

Puja

yes, from Mitchells iffy start, not holding nto the ball, lots of no arm tackles and the comedy line out try we made a lot of unforced .errors.

on the upside, Ford and Earl were terrific, lawrence went well along with slade, and the pack fronted up.

[TheDasher]

I think Freeman to 13 going forward.

God we miss feyi waboso already even though he's only just begun... that feeling of having someone who can do something from nothing when the game opens up, someone rapid.

Penaud is just a constant worry, Feyi waboso might have felt like that for them.

[16th man]

I reckon that if we can get Earl, Mitchell, Ford, Lawrence, Slade in as an 8, 9, 10, 12, 13 selection then we could actually have a set, settled unit to build around, for the first time for a very long time.

WTAF is Kayser wearing on his hands?

[Banquo]

I’m sure it’s been said in previous pages on this thread, but George Ford. What a player.

fantastic...all he has ever needed is threatening runners to use.

[TheDasher]

Balls. Feels like that was eminently winnable and we just kept putting France back into it with errors.

Still, progress is being made and we'd've taken that performance at the start of the Championship.

Puja

yes, from Mitchells iffy start, not holding nto the ball, lots of no arm tackles and the comedy line out try we made a lot of unforced .errors.

on the upside, Ford and Earl were terrific, lawrence went well along with slade, and the pack fronted up.

Ford just wonderful, Earl is world class at this point, Lawrence awesome, suddenly some real positives there. Not sure I'd have taken Mitchell off.

[Timbo]

No replay of the no arms offence?

With the French TV director, that almost certainly means it was a shit call.

ETA. Just gone back and rewatched and it's definitely a no-arms tackle. Nothing malicious in it, but very tired by Earl and it's a definite penalty.

Puja

Just seen it - on social media, cos god forbid they’d show a replay. Think it was incredibly marginal, especially for a TMO interjection and for a potential match deciding decision.

[Banquo]

Alot better than last time.
Discipline still a sore that won't go away it seems.

To be fair, there's a difference between some of those penalties under massive pressure, vs just the rank stupidity we've seen before.
Plus, two or three of them were rank decisions.

.....there were too many no arms tackles tho.

[16th man]

I think Freeman to 13 going forward.

Why, when Freeman is looking good on the wing, and we've got a midfield that is starting to look like it works?

[Mellsblue]

I’m a huge fan of Kayser but those gloves are a disaster.

[16th man]

Balls. Feels like that was eminently winnable and we just kept putting France back into it with errors.

Still, progress is being made and we'd've taken that performance at the start of the Championship.

Puja

yes, from Mitchells iffy start, not holding nto the ball, lots of no arm tackles and the comedy line out try we made a lot of unforced .errors.

on the upside, Ford and Earl were terrific, lawrence went well along with slade, and the pack fronted up.

Ford just wonderful, Earl is world class at this point, Lawrence awesome, suddenly some real positives there. Not sure I'd have taken Mitchell off.

As with the Ireland game, Mitchell should only come off once one of his legs has completely fallen off.

[16th man]

I’m a huge fan of Kayser but those gloves are a disaster.

Looks like they've interrupted him doing the washing up.