trez bon and green for go.
Didn’t expect the win in France at all! France unbeaten in ??? previous matches at home, England never winning three away games in one Six Nations previously and all with a new coach and a very inexperienced side. Scrum caps off to an England side who are showing real potential in some areas of the team.
Croft is like a rangey grizzly bear and was superb throughout, as was Tuilagi. Farrell was cool and could run pass or kick keeping the opposition guessing (unlucky Toby) although he did tune out for a period of about 10/12 mins before he found the signal again. Thought the front row were fantastic too, Cole is fast becoming a real fulcrum in the side, but Hartley always looks like he’s about to give away a penalty at any moment. Parling was very good too and in Morgan I think England have found a ‘proper’ number eight at last. I must have watched the hand off and off-load for Foden’s try at least a dozen times before I was sated. Love a good hand off so I do.
The ball was out nice and early and Dickson is still snappy in the pass (for now). The team looked structured, ordered and drilled, a nice change from some of the performances in the World Cup 2011.
Now, that’s all nice and positive isn’t it? Good lets get that out of the way and consider the following. All the gung-ho hyperbole and the “its turned out nice again” crew need a bit of check, I think. Four games in. That’s all. One a desperate loss to Wales; squeak-home victories against Scotland and Italy and game against France that we could have lost in the second half once France remembered to play. Don’t get me wrong…it’s not unimpressive its just that, well….its been “ok” really…nothing more. The Southern Hemisphere is still the yardstick against which we should be measured….and they’ll beat us with it every time.
However its the green of Ireland over at Twickenham on Saturday and I’ve no clue what the result will be. Head says it’s a likely Irish win, heart says anything’s possible. Hopefully England can play with some of the pace and drive that they showed against France last week and go for Ireland on the front foot. Ferris is already stirring up the pot with a few old fashioned stereotypical punts in the media so hopefully there’ll be a bit of passion in the game. A win is likely to place England second in the table and a loss would place us fourth I think, so that and Ferris’s blarney should focus the players’ attention.
Looking for more from the England wingers and a better game from the referee.
The win could make the choice of the RFU a difficult one….how about Bomber Lancaster and Mallet in together? The extra cost of salary could be found by getting rid of Rob Andrew….
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Now at anytime would be good to shove Teflon Rob Andrew.
Would be good to see the RFU make some decent, timely decisions for a change…won’t hold my breath though! The very public wedgey Andrew delivered to Martin Johnson post WC2011 was a shocking piece of management and an excellent offload of responsibility all at the same time. He should have gone too.
Bomber Lancaster appears to have the players with him and has helped to deliver some good results, but it all smacks of living in the moment and reacting to a situation rather than building to a pre-determined plan for a brighter, ‘whiter’ future (sponsored by Daz, obviously). This is clearly a symptom of the ‘caretaking’ role he has and he’s doing it very well…but does he have the longer view too?