England v Wales Saturday 7/2/2026, ITV, 4.40pm

[Danno]

Having a game on Thursday night is wank, I've been waiting for the next round all afternoon

[Puja]

Having a game on Thursday night is wank, I've been waiting for the next round all afternoon

Hard same.

I would also like to note that, while I am in favour of ITV having done a good job in keeping rugby on terrestrial, ITVX is the worst possible streaming service known to humankind

I was dealing with kids over the start of the game last night and only became free at 8.30pm. With BBC or TNT's streaming, I could've started from the beginning, fastforwarded over all the punditry bollocks, watched the game from kick-off, fastforwarded past any long breaks and half-time, and probably caught up with the live play by the start of the second half. With ITVX, my options were 1) "Watch from beginning" which put me to the start of the broadcast with no options to skip forward even a little (forcing me to watch nearly an hour of Mark Pougatch and Jill Douglas is cruel and unusual punishment), 2) "Watch live" and accept having missed the first 20 minutes, or 3) Go fuck myself.

I chose option 3, on the basis that I would be able to watch the full game on catchup after it'd finished and skip over the punditry, only to discover that the game wasn't available immediately on catchup. In fact, it still wasn't available by the time I gave up and just watched the 5 minutes highlights on YouTube.

Just made it incredibly difficult to watch a game of rugby. I'm playing rugby myself on Saturday and have already plugged in my old Sky box for its first usage in months - I don't need it for anything else, because every other streaming service or TV app is at least minorly competent, but I just can't face having to deal with ITV's software for the England game.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

Having a game on Thursday night is wank, I've been waiting for the next round all afternoon

I actually nearly missed work today, as I was convinced it was Saturday.
On Friday, Al works the morning shift I do the afternoon, on Saturdays she does the morning shift, and we don't work the afternoon.

Thankfully I did notice in time


And yes, ITVX is, and always has been, Terrible

[Danno]

+1 on ITVX. This is their third effort/overhaul of their streaming service and if anything it's worse than the original.

[Which Tyler]

I wish Farrell were playing.
Then at least I'd have something to REALLY bitch about!
As it is, I'm worried about complacency - too many fans from both sides seeing this as a foregone conclusion, and I just can't believe Wales are THAT bad

[Beasties]

Having a game on Thursday night is wank, I've been waiting for the next round all afternoon

Hard same.

I would also like to note that, while I am in favour of ITV having done a good job in keeping rugby on terrestrial, ITVX is the worst possible streaming service known to humankind

I was dealing with kids over the start of the game last night and only became free at 8.30pm. With BBC or TNT's streaming, I could've started from the beginning, fastforwarded over all the punditry bollocks, watched the game from kick-off, fastforwarded past any long breaks and half-time, and probably caught up with the live play by the start of the second half. With ITVX, my options were 1) "Watch from beginning" which put me to the start of the broadcast with no options to skip forward even a little (forcing me to watch nearly an hour of Mark Pougatch and Jill Douglas is cruel and unusual punishment), 2) "Watch live" and accept having missed the first 20 minutes, or 3) Go fuck myself.

I chose option 3, on the basis that I would be able to watch the full game on catchup after it'd finished and skip over the punditry, only to discover that the game wasn't available immediately on catchup. In fact, it still wasn't available by the time I gave up and just watched the 5 minutes highlights on YouTube.

Just made it incredibly difficult to watch a game of rugby. I'm playing rugby myself on Saturday and have already plugged in my old Sky box for its first usage in months - I don't need it for anything else, because every other streaming service or TV app is at least minorly competent, but I just can't face having to deal with ITV's software for the England game.

Puja

I’d read an article yesterday about enshitification of things in modern life. They were talking about google, faceache etc but it’s absolutely rife. ITVx is just another example.

[twitchy]

Scottish 5 needs some new shorts.

[Which Tyler]

All of Scotland need new shorts. Shirts too.
It's almost as bad as Gloucester's lilac kit

[Charlatan]

Having switched over from watching Glaws vs Sale in the PWR I was genuinely confused for a minute by the lilac shirts!
Also totally agree about the awfulness of ITVX player, it’s woeful, and the coverage itself isn’t a lot better. Still at least it keeps rugby on terrestrial tv.

[Stom]

I wish Farrell were playing.
Then at least I'd have something to REALLY bitch about!
As it is, I'm worried about complacency - too many fans from both sides seeing this as a foregone conclusion, and I just can't believe Wales are THAT bad

Well…

[Mr Mwenda]

Weird, I was expecting some energy from the Welsh initially. Maybe the yellows will galvanise them.

[Which Tyler]

I both feel sorry for Wales, and have no pity as they've brought it upon themselves.

Freeman not helping his centre cause with that pass (though Lawrence would have lost the ball at least once had he done Freeman's carries)

[Galfon]

15 - 0 after 19 mins & Wal down to 13 men after too many silly penalties.( 9 already).
Arundell could easilly bag another 5, after his time away.
Kickfest early on.

[Stom]

You kind of want us to stop. I feel sorry for them, we’re just ruthlessly exposing their inadequacies.

[Stom]

Steward…

[Which Tyler]

Now this time, I do wish we could have heard what sir was saying to George

[FKAS]

Steward…

Great take and to turn out of what looked like a certain hit as he hits the floor. Knocking it on after the good work in contact afterwards less great.

His pass for Earl's try was nice. Maybe he could teach Freeman how to do that.

[Galfon]

22 after 24 (Earl in corner).
Could end up a bit of a training run-out so not much for Satisfied Bossman to gleam.

[Stom]

No, I’ve changed my mind, after that from Williams I want us to put a record defeat on them

[FKAS]

No, I’ve changed my mind, after that from Williams I want us to put a record defeat on them

Arundell almost had to work for that third try.

[Galfon]

29 - 0, 36 min. Arundell.
Eng. need to stay ruthless now to make it meaningful.

[Stom]

Steward…

Great take and to turn out of what looked like a certain hit as he hits the floor. Knocking it on after the good work in contact afterwards less great.

His pass for Earl's try was nice. Maybe he could teach Freeman how to do that.

The thing about steward is that he can do good things. But he just makes so many basic errors. He drops the ball or gets into the wrong position or plants his feet in defense.

[Stom]

Omfg, I’ve never seen that before! In an international, too!

[FKAS]

Steward…

Great take and to turn out of what looked like a certain hit as he hits the floor. Knocking it on after the good work in contact afterwards less great.

His pass for Earl's try was nice. Maybe he could teach Freeman how to do that.

The thing about steward is that he can do good things. But he just makes so many basic errors. He drops the ball or gets into the wrong position or plants his feet in defense.

I mean the plants his feet in defence thing is at least a season old by this point.

He doesn't normally drop the ball in attack. His aerial work is overhyped but he also takes on nearly every contestable kick rather than leaving them to others.

At this point he's a solid international but nothing more. He does need to tidy his soft skills up a bit more and find another gear if he wants to keep that 15 shirt longer term.

[Epaminondas Pules]

That’s the start you want to a six nations. We’ve been pretty good and Wales have helped us greatly. Arundell has been excellent. Not the tries but his workrate. Chasing well and getting the ball back, but his support work into rucks has been top drawer.

That pass from Freeman though!

Need to put the foot down right from the off in the second half!