The round-ball game this evening: Scotland 1 - England 3 A 'friendly' apparently. No such thing as a 'friendly' between these two countries. England played well, especially in the first-half, eased-off a bit in the second. I could strangle this clown Southgate for continuing to pick this Maguire fellow, just cannot understand his thinking at all. Maguire was never good enough to play for England, and his only contribution to this game was an 'OG'. Must say England have, currently, an impressive array of top-class players, I think there are loads of trainers around at the moment who would be successful with this talented squad. Edit: Now have had a chance to reflect on what I have written, and I must admit that at one time (seems long ago) Maguire was indeed good enough to play for England, but for the past two or three years, definitely not. Southgate disagrees with most people on this and continues to select him for the internationals. However, I was wrong to say 'Maguire was never good enough' That was an unfair statement. (Am glad that England won in such a hostile atmosphere. A fine performance)
So, VAR, TMO or whatever you want to call it nowadays is becoming, or has become, a real pain in the backside for the viewing public after yet another failed call to have a player sent off for what the rules would say is a high dangerous head tackle. I am referring to the yellow card that the French lock forward Taofifenua received for a no-wrap tackle on the Uruguay no.9 in last nights match. The fact that he attempted to make this tackle without trying to wrap his arms around the player immediately makes it a shoulder tackle to start with, which is illegal. Plus he made full contact to his head, which again is deemed illegal...!!! It is becoming a bit weary for me now that all games are being refereed and scrutinised by people far removed from the game and seem to be jobs worths justifying their jobs by reminding the refs that they have missed something or havnt interpreted the rules correctly...!! I know some things have to be flagged up, but really, use a bit of common sense when putting these rules/laws in to action please...!!!
Most sports are beset nowadays by technicalities, players’ interference and, frustratingly, delays! Look how long rugby’s scrums take to form and complete; referees feeling they need to explain their decisions to players in many sports; and coaches/managers coming onto the pitch during play. In essence, ball sports are becoming almost gladiatorial- where referees are submerged under an ever increasing glut of rules and technicalities. The end result is that their right to have the final decision vis-a-vis the laws of the game has become a disempowering mockery.
Well lets take the positives, we beat Japan...!! We wont be winning the World Cup, we all know that, but lets see a team that has a plan, looks like it could be moulded in to a team that will in a couple of seasons maybe challenge for a tilt at the 6 Nations... On that evidence, our next 6 Nations win is a decade away...!! But in other news, Eddie Jones led his superb band of merry men to a spectacular 15-22 defeat to the Fijians...!! Oh, how i miss your Aussie growl and pathetic excuses...
"England's performance was branded 'repulsive rugby' by former France flanker Olivier Magne " Go to hell, you ugly French twat! Go bury your head in a large bowl of that disgusting French dish called Oursin (Sea Urchin). Am reliably informed that it tastes like a smelly sponge. That'll fix you, M. Magne!
Yeah the most unpalatable thing about his comments were that they were sadly accurate . I dont suppose the current crop of french players will thank him though if we stumble our way into a semi final against them. Our beige coach won’t need to spend long on a motivational speech.
Fine work by the ECB schedulers organising a 3 match series against the Irish on home soil. If they even get any cricket in the autumnal conditions will be about as far removed as they can possibly be from the World Cup next month in India.
Not sure why they have scrums anymore. You used to have to put the ball in straight but now the ball is rolled to the 2nd row.
So, we have a big change in the starting line up for England v Fiji over the weekend, Marcus Smith is replacing Freddie Steward who in my mind is one of the first names on the team sheet at the moment. I cant help but think that they are trying to get players in to the team/system based solely on how good they at a certain set of skills, but in doing so are a detriment to the whole team. I have Steward down as one of the best Defensive Full Backs we have seen for many a while and he has very few flaws. Smith is a wannbe Fly Half who, in time, may well have the no.10 shirt all to himself soon, but that trio of Ford, Farrell and Smith seems to cause us more headaches than solutions...!! I still think whoever they play they will beat the Fijians but i think Borthwick should be looking a bit long term than meddling with this team trying to win a cup that they can't win...!! We'll see...
Ford axed for Farrell. Ford the only England player in recent years to show some game intelligence against Argentina when we went down to 14 men early on. I fear the worst against Fiji. However I’m not sure I want this mob to get to a semi final against France or South Africa. That could be brutal. But I dare say whatever happens lessons will be learnt
Would England beat Australia? Hmm I am not sure, but they would beat the Portugal team. So which Fiji turns up?
Sometimes I think Borthwick is determined to lose games. Dropping Steward is ludicrous. Fiji must really fancy their chances?
Great game of Rugby, which England just shaded. Fiji were excellent and England played their best game of the tournament. I thought Earl was outstanding and Laws had a fine game. Itoje had his best game for a long time while I'd like to single out Genge for some sterling work. It's sometimes hard being a hooker and making any impact in open play. I thought England were at their best when they took the game to Fiji. It became a bit uncomfortable when they just tried to contain Fiji. Fiji must feel to be unlucky. They'd have beaten Wales or Argentina in my opinion. I think the selection of Smith fitted the tactics. Steward may be the full-back for another day.
What a weekend of rugby we had then, some epic match ups and heart breaking endings...!! I thought the Welsh shot themselves in the foot by backing of trying to pressure the Argies n to submission and just couldn't seem the tide once it swung back. Well played though goes to the Argies as they have, like the Welsh, a very strong and passionate support and the players don't half feed of that when they start completing with the opposition... As for the Irish, what a damn shame that they couldn't get past the resurgent All Blacks in a display that would have beaten any other side in the competition. The opening 27 phase defensive set that the Irish put up at the start was immense, only to be surpassed later on by the All Blacks with their own 38 phase 'You Shall Not Pass' towards the Irish. Stunning, amazing and still mind blowing at how good those two sides played on Saturday night. We have to have a winner, and if the Irish had gone through you could only have praised the AB's for their effort also... England actually turned up, which was my first initial surprise, and deserved the praise that came their way at the final whistle. The forwards played like a unit, hard to pick anyone out for special praise, but i thought Itoje and Genge were superb. It nearly went a bit Pete-Tong near the end but where would we be without the drop kicks this cup hey...?? We will need to be as good if not better when we face the might of the South African pack next weekend, that's going to be brutal i think...!! As for the wonderful hosts, their World Cup dream was shattered, like the Irish, by their opponent simply digging in for all their worth. Hard to pin point how they did it but the pack they have just seem to know exactly what they should be doing, when, where and how to stop the opposition and create the platform for the backs. Another great game to watch, i wished the French had gotten through, but again, it's knockout rugby and anything can happen... All Blacks v South Africa seem favs to be the final, or will there be another twist to this tournament yet...???
