England - Contenders? or Wales - No hopers?

mrincredible

Hey folks, first post so be gentle...

Just watched the highlights of the England Wales game on BBC.
My, my, didn't England give them a hammering. Too be fair Wales were p*ss poor, the put out (in my opinion) a very weak 15 and England seemed to get the right bounce of the ball every time. I know this is only a warm up match, and it's the first run out both teams have had.. but with the WC only a few weeks away should we be looking at England as a threat?

EdgarAllenPoo

mrincredible wrote:

.. but with the WC only a few weeks away should we be looking at England as a threat?

No, they didn't play badly but the Welsh side made them look way better than they actually were. With the exception of Perry and possibly Easter it was nothing special from England and that won't cut it in the RWC.

I've said this elsewhere but I think Wales were that bad they were suffering from the Dyson effect - managing to suck and blow at the same time.

quagmire69

England will gain close to nothin from that match except for perry being up to the job.

wales coach jenkins must feel like a right tool at the mo. What have they been doin all summer??!

Stev_o

I dunno iv seen alot of people on different forums express their views on the match in my view it was just the match England needed first to let the forwards gel since they need to be playing of them rather then the backs it seems. Borthwick was very VERY good at line outs and Easter was all round great. Worsley learned the hard way what it takes to be a no 7 and im sure Ashton would have had a few words with him and maybe this will get him to learn to pass more etc but he was very good at following men on their shoulders.


Everyone will write off England even their own fans this is a quote from the Leicester forums

"Trouble is, England will now think that they are good!!!" And that was posted by a English man!

Two things: 1. England were right to send a full squad out it as it had to boost their confidence especially in the forwards after a shaky year and get the players used to working with each other its good to start with a win before you embark on the biggest campaign any rugby player will play

2.All results aside the World Cup is a very surprising time alot of unexpected results can happen, looking at the warm up and matches and taking in their results wont always show how the team will play at the RWC since once they start they are bound to play differently. Like it or not they are the World Champions and they wont want to go down without a fight, they have the players to get the job done the question is will they use them

My 2 cent

carlowboy

quagmire69 wrote:

England will gain close to nothin from that match except for perry being up to the job.

wales coach jenkins must feel like a right tool at the mo. What have they been doin all summer??!

I think it was a bad thing that Perry got man of the match from a clueless Barnes. He just can't pass. He's not an internationl scrummie.
As for Easter, Dallaglio was a different class when he came on.

Nukem

Pfffft - proved only that Wales are a massive yoyo team. one minute fantatsic to watch and another they look like they don't desevre to be in a 6nations.

They were awesome against Aus and only lost in the dying seconds and in the next match were well beaten! England hang their WC hopes on that match, it will be their undoing.

Pride Fighter

England contenders, that is one of the funniest things I have heard in a while. We could give them a 20 point head start and beat them easily.

Stev_o

Pride Fighter wrote:

England contenders, that is one of the funniest things I have heard in a while. We could give them a 20 point head start and beat them easily.

Well they do have a much better RWC history then we ever have had.....

damnyanks

wouldnt be surprised if wales threw it or played poorly so england rate the team that went out and get hammered in the WC?

chicoben

England pretty much scored the same try over and over again and wales just werent up to stopping them from that close. Wales were woeful and looked like they were all very nervous as their WC places were all at stake. instead of playing out of their skin to get on the WC team they all just bricked it. It was weird seeign johnny miss those first two kicks though right?

carlowboy

Stev_o wrote:

Well they do have a much better RWC history then we ever have had.....

And your point is....? That this England team is on a par with 2003?

quagmire69

Agree with Carlowboy, easter will be found out i would think against the french next week if he plays. Thats when we're gonna find out if the english are actually any use.

Same with the french, will be interesting to see what combinations laporte goes with. He's got so many options in the backrow, half backs and wingers.

Inquitus

Its official, Guscott says the world must sit up and take notice, English press goes overboard, defence of the trophy assured....................

What a bunch of fecking muppets the english sports press really are.

Hope France send a decent side to take them apart next week.

Stev_o

carlowboy wrote:

And your point is....? That this England team is on a par with 2003?

Im not saying the team is on par with the 2003 team but just saying that RWC seems to have a very similar trend each four years we'v never manage to progress further then the knockout stages. And even if you right that off as just history and how it wont effect anything they have one thing that everyone should agree on and thats a HUGE amount of reserves i mean thats one thing as a Irish fan i envy of them, they have a huge pool of talented players they can tap in and realistically we only have around 23 or so.

Steffano2002

Inquitus wrote:

Its official, Guscott says the world must sit up and take notice, English press goes overboard, defence of the trophy assured....................

What a bunch of fecking muppets the english sports press really are.

Hope France send a decent side to take them apart next week.

I hope we destroy them on Saturday! But we probably won't... I bet you we'll be terrible...

The players have been with Laporte for the past 2 months so he's had loads of time to format the players... And we'll get to see Chabal in the second row... Pffff... Don't even want to see that game!

Hope I'm wrong in thinking Laporte is a fool!

nacho libre

All will be revealed within in the next two weeks:D

daveirl

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Steffano2002

daveirl wrote:

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I agree. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them in the semi-finals...

Snickers Man

Steffano2002 wrote:

I agree. I really wouldn't be surprised to see them in the semi-finals...

Don't they have to beat Australia or S Africa to get to the semis? A big ask.

Sangre

If England beat SA they've it easy enough to the semis, otherwise they'll have to play Aus in the quarters. Tbh, I can see both teams beating Eng.

I'd expect SA to beat England quite well, more than enough muscle in the pack to deal with England and a better backline as well. Aus will be closer but if they aussie pack can control england's then their backs should be all over them.

Stev_o

Sangre wrote:

I'd expect SA to beat England quite well, more than enough muscle in the pack to deal with England and a better backline as well. Aus will be closer but if they aussie pack can control england's then their backs should be all over them.

It will be interesting to see the SA and England match though you got remember that South African ALWAYS play one dimensionally they stick it in the forwards and play that game with them and then now and again shift it to the backs.

Now if England faced the Wallabies that would be interesting to watch since the Aussies have a huge question mark over their front 3 going into this RWC.