RugbyRebels

Looking pretty decent so far. Making good ground and some real intent in the carries. Just a few minor errors scuppering things so far.

Enjoyable match. England will be disappointed that they haven't quite clicked in the backs. They'll be hoping to cut loose if the ferocious french defence tires a bit.

Ah nuts, I forgot this was on

Decent crowd there. France's linespeed is fierce

Soon the England backs celebration dance will be longer than the amount of time they spend with the ball.

Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Sat Aug 09, 2025 9:26 pm Soon the England backs celebration dance will be longer than the amount of time they spend with the ball.

I know I'm a crusty old grumpy bastard now, because I hate it

I really hope the women's game gets more eyeballs and funding, I love the speed they play at compared to the blokes

Yeah, this is excellent stuff.

Hunt has a touch of Youngs at the base, keeps taking a step before passing and it's letting France D get more ground

Just not able to get the ball outside the French defence. Frustrating, I feel there needs to be a change in tactic there.

Danno wrote: ↑Sat Aug 09, 2025 9:42 pm Hunt has a touch of Youngs at the base, keeps taking a step before passing and it's letting France D get more ground

messy at the breakdown. Let's see if packer has more luck.

The Black Ferns will be watching this defence with interest

What a silly kick at the end

Impressive and pragmatic from England. 40 in France ain't nothing to sniff at. They'll need to find a way to launch the back three when under pressure though.

Particularly pleasing that the defence around the ruck was so much stronger compared to the game in the six nations. France got no change there at all.

Danno wrote: ↑Sat Aug 09, 2025 10:07 pm What a silly kick at the end

They were out of ideas rackon, sadly. Credit to the England defence.

Mr Mwenda wrote: ↑Sat Aug 09, 2025 10:09 pm

Danno wrote: ↑Sat Aug 09, 2025 10:07 pm What a silly kick at the end

They were out of ideas rackon, sadly. Credit to the England defence.

True, it's not easy to batter away against our pack

Statement win. Would like to see more from our backs but its hard to argue with a scoreline like that. The team are in really good shape.

Sorry, didn't spot this thread last night - I was talking to myself on the other match-thread

fivepointer wrote: ↑Sun Aug 10, 2025 7:38 am Statement win. Would like to see more from our backs but its hard to argue with a scoreline like that. The team are in really good shape.

Until we come up against a team with a good counter-maul. Or just good discipline, denying us the chance to set a 5m maul.

It's promising, and we should have more strings to our bow - but against another good side, we're becoming a bit of a one-trick pony.

A bit like Ellie at the back. Love her, she's great at what she does, and even if you know it's coming, dealing with it is a different question... but... you just know she's not going to pass the ball, and against a good side who can nullify her running, she really needs to add to her game.

On Kildunne, that's been an issue for a while. When you have the likes of Dow and Breach on the wing they need to get the ball. Perhaps Sing will develop into a distributive full back.

It's a funny one isn't to be awarding a thrashing of France away a 6/10 or 7/10 performance. Several factors could be considered mitigation I guess: a desire to keep powder dry; focusing on the building blocks; and adapting to France on the day. The frogettes were intent on stopping the backs and put all their defensive energy to shutting down the outside channels and thus they were vulnerable elsewhere. The question will be is there a team that shut down both England's pack and the backs. Or if they shut down the pack and the backs still can't get going...

Ward, Aldcroft and Botterman (folk music trio) will be hard stop in the mood they were in yesterday, mind.