RugbyRebels

Insouciant wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 7:58 pm According to ESPNScrum - not sure how accurate they are - but apparently Fin Smith passed 8 times and made 9 tackles. That may be true but it doesn't seem right. Wales also had 56% territory and possession was 50/50. If any of that is correct - it highlights how clinical we were this game. Long may that continue.

Danno wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 8:35 pm

Insouciant wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 7:58 pm According to ESPNScrum - not sure how accurate they are - but apparently Fin Smith passed 8 times and made 9 tackles. That may be true but it doesn't seem right. Wales also had 56% territory and possession was 50/50. If any of that is correct - it highlights how clinical we were this game. Long may that continue.

That does seem low, but we played off Mitchell a lot

Hard to find good stats these days

Mellsblue wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 6:11 pm

Which Tyler wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 6:07 pm Am I the only one who remembers England playing a backrower at centre in 2015?

Tbf, they moved him to 10 for the World Cup.

FKAS wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 9:27 pm

Danno wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 8:35 pm

Insouciant wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 7:58 pm According to ESPNScrum - not sure how accurate they are - but apparently Fin Smith passed 8 times and made 9 tackles. That may be true but it doesn't seem right. Wales also had 56% territory and possession was 50/50. If any of that is correct - it highlights how clinical we were this game. Long may that continue.

That does seem low, but we played off Mitchell a lot

Hard to find good stats these days

Also takes a bit for the stats to be checked and updated so sometimes they can change.

Scrumhead wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 10:04 pm France vs. Scotland result as expected. TBH, I’m pretty happy with how things panned out. Winning the title would have been a very false representation of where we are at.

Second is good progress and a more ruthless performance today is a good confidence builder.

The summer tour will be interesting.

Banquo wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 6:36 pm Ford has been terrific as was Fin

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:40 pm I didn’t quite get the fuss about that one. A harder/flatter pass would have been nice but an unbelievable finish made it work.

Ford put in some beautiful passes.

Spiffy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 1:53 am

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:40 pm I didn’t quite get the fuss about that one. A harder/flatter pass would have been nice but an unbelievable finish made it work.

Ford put in some beautiful passes.

George is still a top quality player with real rugby intelligence and vision. Amazing he's never had a Lions tour but it's still not too late. We should see three Lions 10s from the following 4 - F.Smith, M.Smith, G.Ford, F. Russell. But the coach is A. Farrell, so I hope we do not see an unrealistic Irish bias. Several of the Irish team have really unselected themselves in this 6N tournament.

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 7:57 am A few random thoughts....

That was a tremendous shift from CCS. Called into action early he really justified the faith shown in him.
On the same theme, Earl showed his value to the side by having a stint in the centre. Neither change really affected us greatly.
Genge and Stuart further underlined their quality but a word for the replacements as both Baxter and Heyes (delighted he scored a try) have shown real development.
Itoje is easily the best lock in Britain.
Our back row resources are considerable. Goodness knows how we can fit them all in but it looks like Pollock is going to be very hard to leave out.
Ford showed in his cameo that he is still a player to be reckoned with.
The Freeman at 13 is surely going to be more of a regular thing.
We're going to have 10+ Lions so the trip to Argentina will be quite a test of our depth.

Epaminondas Pules wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:08 am Was at the game and it was a fabulous experience! Most pleased with how we moved the point of contact in the forwards rather than running into brick walls.

Wales utter butchery early in the second half killed any hopes of a fight back. Their two tries were decently crafted but ultimately soft. Especially the second.

The forwards were exceptional!

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sat Mar 15, 2025 11:40 pm I didn’t quite get the fuss about that one. A harder/flatter pass would have been nice but an unbelievable finish made it work.

Ford put in some beautiful passes.

Oakboy wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:36 am

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 7:57 am A few random thoughts....

That was a tremendous shift from CCS. Called into action early he really justified the faith shown in him.
On the same theme, Earl showed his value to the side by having a stint in the centre. Neither change really affected us greatly.
Genge and Stuart further underlined their quality but a word for the replacements as both Baxter and Heyes (delighted he scored a try) have shown real development.
Itoje is easily the best lock in Britain.
Our back row resources are considerable. Goodness knows how we can fit them all in but it looks like Pollock is going to be very hard to leave out.
Ford showed in his cameo that he is still a player to be reckoned with.
The Freeman at 13 is surely going to be more of a regular thing.
We're going to have 10+ Lions so the trip to Argentina will be quite a test of our depth.

Good summation as usual. I hope that both Currys and Earl get the red shirt call because I so want to see a back row of CCS, Pollock and Willis in white.

It was interesting to note that SB pursued his 'simple' replacement policy with Pollock packing down at 8. Maybe, SB is not quite so dull as shrewd? He then kept Pollock there with Willis taking over on the flank - again one-for-one.

I thought Roebuck showed himself to be a far superior all-round player than Sleightholme. I can see him keeping a starting place when IFW returns on the other wing.

Do you think Marcus will have to be satisfied with a bench place when Furbank returns? It's looking like Mitchell, Fin, IFW, Dingwall, Freeman, Roebuck, Furbank could be our 1st choice back line. 6 months ago I would not have dreamt that Dingwall could cling on to the 12 shirt but now his solid competence could develop into what we need. I remain convinced that Freeman has more to offer at 13 than Lawrence. He was immediately a constant try-scoring threat and he made fewer mistakes. Given half a dozen starts there, Freeman will be special, IMO.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:56 am Well I think we got away with all of Borthwick’s questionable selections yesterday. CCS, Pollock, Ben Curry, Earl at 12, Freeman at 13, Smith at 15 all looked decent enough to me. Wales were obviously atrocious but that was a great performance all round.

There would be something quite poetic about Ford getting his 100th international cap in his first Lions test. Any of our backrows could be going, but the competition at flanker is insane. I’m almost disappointed Freeman will be going because I want to see him continue at 13.

Still not sure if we’re massively overrating Furbank since he managed a few games without massive errors, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Marcus when he’s available.

Shame for Murley and Sleightholme but Roebuck grabbed his chance in a far, far more emphatic way. I look forward to seeing him against bigger and better opposition.

LCD’s tackle was a fantastic moment. A good day for Sale supporters in particular.

Captainhaircut wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 9:09 am

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:56 am Well I think we got away with all of Borthwick’s questionable selections yesterday. CCS, Pollock, Ben Curry, Earl at 12, Freeman at 13, Smith at 15 all looked decent enough to me. Wales were obviously atrocious but that was a great performance all round.

There would be something quite poetic about Ford getting his 100th international cap in his first Lions test. Any of our backrows could be going, but the competition at flanker is insane. I’m almost disappointed Freeman will be going because I want to see him continue at 13.

Still not sure if we’re massively overrating Furbank since he managed a few games without massive errors, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Marcus when he’s available.

Shame for Murley and Sleightholme but Roebuck grabbed his chance in a far, far more emphatic way. I look forward to seeing him against bigger and better opposition.

LCD’s tackle was a fantastic moment. A good day for Sale supporters in particular.

The narrative would be completely different if Rassie went with CCS at lock, Earl covering centre, Ford on bench, Curry/Curry/Earl back row and Freeman at 13 and then got the results from all of those decisions that Borthwick did.

It wouldn’t be “got away with it”, it would be that he was a total genius. Granted he has two world cups but Borthwick’s dour nature and lack of self promotion definitely works against him.

Given the ludicrous back row options, strength on the right wing (and lack of depth at lock and centre), moves for CCS, Freeman and Earl make absolute sense.

For me, Borthwick is doing a great job. We were 20 minutes of O’Keefe induced chaos away from possibly doing a slam.

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:56 am Well I think we got away with all of Borthwick’s questionable selections yesterday. CCS, Pollock, Ben Curry, Earl at 12, Freeman at 13, Smith at 15 all looked decent enough to me. Wales were obviously atrocious but that was a great performance all round.

There would be something quite poetic about Ford getting his 100th international cap in his first Lions test. Any of our backrows could be going, but the competition at flanker is insane. I’m almost disappointed Freeman will be going because I want to see him continue at 13.

Still not sure if we’re massively overrating Furbank since he managed a few games without massive errors, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Marcus when he’s available.

Shame for Murley and Sleightholme but Roebuck grabbed his chance in a far, far more emphatic way. I look forward to seeing him against bigger and better opposition.

LCD’s tackle was a fantastic moment. A good day for Sale supporters in particular.

Captainhaircut wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 9:09 am

Mikey Brown wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 8:56 am Well I think we got away with all of Borthwick’s questionable selections yesterday. CCS, Pollock, Ben Curry, Earl at 12, Freeman at 13, Smith at 15 all looked decent enough to me. Wales were obviously atrocious but that was a great performance all round.

There would be something quite poetic about Ford getting his 100th international cap in his first Lions test. Any of our backrows could be going, but the competition at flanker is insane. I’m almost disappointed Freeman will be going because I want to see him continue at 13.

Still not sure if we’re massively overrating Furbank since he managed a few games without massive errors, but it will be interesting to see what happens with Marcus when he’s available.

Shame for Murley and Sleightholme but Roebuck grabbed his chance in a far, far more emphatic way. I look forward to seeing him against bigger and better opposition.

LCD’s tackle was a fantastic moment. A good day for Sale supporters in particular.

The narrative would be completely different if Rassie went with CCS at lock, Earl covering centre, Ford on bench, Curry/Curry/Earl back row and Freeman at 13 and then got the results from all of those decisions that Borthwick did.

It wouldn’t be “got away with it”, it would be that he was a total genius. Granted he has two world cups but Borthwick’s dour nature and lack of self promotion definitely works against him.

Given the ludicrous back row options, strength on the right wing (and lack of depth at lock and centre), moves for CCS, Freeman and Earl make absolute sense.

For me, Borthwick is doing a great job. We were 20 minutes of O’Keefe induced chaos away from possibly doing a slam.

Scrumhead wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 9:19 am
I think you’re probably in the minority there.

Ultimately, you can only play what’s in front of you, but we have to be realistic. Wales were abject and I’m not totally convinced the selection bingo would have paid off against any of the other sides.

A big win shouldn’t mask the fact that we’ve looked confused and unconvincing for 4 out of the 5 games.

I do kind of agree with your ‘if Rassie did it’ piece but I think the jury is still definitely out on Borthwick.

2nd is good progress but winning the tournament would have been a totally false reflection of where we are.

Captainhaircut wrote: ↑Sun Mar 16, 2025 9:09 am The narrative would be completely different if Rassie went with CCS at lock, Earl covering centre, Ford on bench, Curry/Curry/Earl back row and Freeman at 13 and then got the results from all of those decisions that Borthwick did.