That was utterly compelling sporting drama. Forty-odd phases of play, any one of which could have ended with a knock-on or forward pass giving the game to France, whilst the French showed incredible discipline not to give away a penalty. Magnificent.
Agreed that it wasn't tackling a man in the air imo. The referee knew it wasn't a head injury I think, but he had to follow protocol once the French said their Doctor said it was head injury. His hands were tied. French shenanigans again!
Very frustrating night in many respects. The French are the most unpredictable team in world rugby. Ireland did not do enough IMO but have just about avoided the proverbial banana skin. England have a big challenge tomorrow. Wales against all the odds were amazing. And the Rs won. Time for pints
Have to disagree Only one player jumped. The other didn’t jump and didn’t even raise his hands. therefore he made contact with a player in the air. You can’t do that. It can only be unfortunate or accidental if two players jump. It was straight forward
Would expect Italy to be fairly competitive for 60 minutes. All things being equal, England by 20-25 pts
3 tries by half time is good, but Italy scored on both their serious attacks. The usual last 20 impact of Danny Care will be absent as he had to come on for Youngs who looked properly knackered. ITV have an all England 2003 vintage pundit panel. Dull. Bonus point in, but still Italy still making a game of it, have their second try and should have had another but for a forward pass. England looking dodgy in defence out wide. England running away with it in the last 10 minutes, but I think there is plenty for the other nations to be encouraged by, be interesting to see the English defence under sustained pressure.
46-15 to England, effective scoring but looking a little suspect under pressure. Italy a lot better than the scoreline suggests. Welsh might just fancy their chances next week...
The way Clive Woodward is talking England are the best team in the world by a mile. Eddie Jones seemed happy enough. Must be happy with Sam Simmonds, great game.
Loving all the criticism of England. If any of the other teams had won by that margin they'd have been praised to the heavens! Presumably makes us underdogs for the rest of the games eh?
Our strength in depth makes us automatic favourites, it will be fascinating to see how we progress this year in the run-up to the next World Cup. Still a way to go before we can be in the same league as the All Blacks but we are closing the gap...
I thought England were excellent considering the injuries. It was good to see them get stronger as the match progressed, especially as the Italians had a good first half as you'd expect as Conor O'Shea has improved them. 22 wins out of 23 and going for their 3rd unprecedented title in a row. I'll take that considering where we were under Lancaster. I can't comment on the other games as I was at Loftus Road. Table after first round of matches ... please log in to view this image
Should be Col, if firing on all cylinders. But I was just a bit irritated by the ITV panel of Wilkinson, Dallaglio and especially Woodward, bigging this performance up. We moved the ball well in attack and scored some lovely tries, but unless Italy, a team in development, are a lot better than I think they are (and they were better than I expected) really difficult to draw a conclusion. Be great if the score line was the same at Twickenham next week though. After yesterday I have no idea how good Ireland and France really are, but suspect Ireland are a lot better than the scoreline, Wales had an excellent game plan and executed it, Scotland clearly at their best as underdogs and just going for it - as they will against us at Murrayfield.
It was a thoroughly professional performance today sb. Undoubtedly bigger challenges ahead. If a northern hemisphere team is going to win the World Cup then we need a strong competitive Six Nations. England have a lot of injuries but very few are first team. That will help create an even bigger squad. I’m interested in how the English scrum will stand up against better teams as last year it creaked on more than one occasion. England’s Indiscipline in tight games has been their Achilles heel for the last few years. If Jones sorts that then England will head to the next World Cup with genuine ambition.
At least Jones will be familiar with the conditions in Japan. If he was still Japan’s coach I’d fancy them for at least quarter finals. It was very professional today. Just Woodward wetting himself wound me up a bit.
