RugbyRebels

7-0 against Spain after 5 minutes. Sounds like a decent enough start.

19-0 after 18mins, Kay Wilson with 2tries, Meg Jones 1, Katy Mclean 2 cons

24-5 halftime. Hard to judge the performance, although the scrappiness that led to the Spanish try will irk. Spain are tackling hard but are basically defending constantly. I expect the second half could get ugly for them as the legs get tired.

56-5 full time. An improved second half.

Decent enough start. we played some good stuff and looked very fit. Back row and the centres impressive, i thought.

Canucks and black ferns both looking strong as expected. Ireland v oz is the pick of the round.

was cooking a roast so only had the game on in the background, but it sounded like another good England showing against Italy. It was briefly interesting when the Azzurri made scored their first try to make it 12-8 to England but that seemed to persuade England to cut out the mistakes.

As I write, France are beating Aussie like the latter owe them money....

England - Italy was a good fun game, but one where the result was never in doubt. We've got too many special players in that team for Italy to manage all of them and the advantages of having a professional team showed when we pulled away second half. Waterman is one of my favourite players to watch - freakish footwork, great pace, and a hand-off like a steam piston. There was one where she stepped into the Italian number 8, planted the hand-off right in the middle of her chest and accelerated away while the Italian sat down on the floor.

The only worrying thing is Scarratt's kicking. She's grown worryingly inconsistent of late and we will need her back on form come the knock-out stages.

Puja

I like Packer. Obviously it's easy to look good against an inferior team but whenever I watch her, she runs exactly the kind of support lines I want to see from our male 7s.

All the back rowers look top notch to me. Very impressed with Burfood at 12.

Very strong centres and backrow. Really well coached.

Puja wrote:England - Italy was a good fun game, but one where the result was never in doubt. We've got too many special players in that team for Italy to manage all of them and the advantages of having a professional team showed when we pulled away second half. Waterman is one of my favourite players to watch - freakish footwork, great pace, and a hand-off like a steam piston. There was one where she stepped into the Italian number 8, planted the hand-off right in the middle of her chest and accelerated away while the Italian sat down on the floor.

The only worrying thing is Scarratt's kicking. She's grown worryingly inconsistent of late and we will need her back on form come the knock-out stages.

Puja

Tim Baker reffed that game. I've never heard of him before but he was bloody good.

England beat USA 47-24. They played some really good stuff in the first 50 minutes but then the US showed some quality in the backs to get the bonus point from 47-7 down. Some really good broken field runners that England struggled to shut down. I think England overall are in good shape but the kicking from hand tended to be a bit charge downable.

Yep, we fell off a bit once we started making subs. Looked good at times with the driving maul highly effective. Marlie Packer is some player.

Didn't see today but Rochelle Clarke in the Italy game. Epic. That miracle offload was just the icing on the cake.

So France in the semis. Should be a cracker. France looked outstanding in the first half but I think the England back row aren't going to make some of the flair plays as comfortable as Ireland did. Hard luck Ireland. We England fans know it's a shame when the host goes out at the group stage

Really impressed with the standard . The commentator on the England USA game stated that ladies rugby was being introduced to all the American colleges and millions of $$$ 's were about to be invested into the sport .

Discreet Hooker wrote:Really impressed with the standard . The commentator on the England USA game stated that ladies rugby was being introduced to all the American colleges and millions of $$$ 's were about to be invested into the sport .

Sadly not 100% true - the money comes with varsity status, which is decided by each college independently, so there's no overarcing body that can declare it to be universal. It is gaining a foothold in more and more womens' colleges, but it's still a work-in-progress, rather than a finished article.

Puja

Phew! That was exciting! Really sensible and powerful second half from England. Loved watching the England pack sorting things out taking a leaf out of the classic England rugby playbook.

Plenty to work on for the final. The backs need to hope that the next game isn't played in a downpour. Of course that helps the opposition to. The clearing kicks are the main cause for concern. The French were pressuring too many poor clearances.

I missed the NZ-US game. I assume the scoreline reflected better weather in part?

Whats worrying is that the pressure on the clearance kicks wasn't just tonight. How many were charged down or touched against USA and throughout the 6Nations? Have some good kickers from hand but somehow speed needs sorting especially against NZ

Much more interesting game tonight - we were actually posed questions and (mostly) had the answers.

Puja

Absorbing game. We had to work very hard for the win against really good opponents. The forwards were first rate.

Just caught it on catch-up. Great to watch, tough match and good handling in those conditions. I know this board has long bemoaned the lack of "proper" No 7s in the senior men's game. Perhaps we could co-opt Marlie Packer?

loudnconfident wrote:Just caught it on catch-up. Great to watch, tough match and good handling in those conditions. I know this board has long bemoaned the lack of "proper" No 7s in the senior men's game. Perhaps we could co-opt Marlie Packer?

The women's team has always seemed to have a proper no 7 that I wish the men's could poach - Alphonsi, Fisher, Packer.

Puja

Waterman out- big loss.