England have "closed " gap on SH teams

twinytwo

Im sorry but i just had to laugh at this....

We have closed the gap on the southern hemisphere teams. There was a big gap to close this time last year and we have closed it. We have now got to work out how we go past them

dont know what they are smoking over in england tbh

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12321_5722554,00.html

Sangre

England rugby director in 'talks his own team up' shocker.

Spore

Yeah England are pretty delusional in their thinking. I still don't see a way out of their current slump. One try in three games says it all. Fair enough, injuries and all that, but their constant reliance on their old guard and not encouraging the talent to come through, like Cipriani does't bode well for the future. They seriously have to start looking past bulk and actually play the game ahead of the gain-line. Get smaller more mobile guys hitting the rucks, win turnover ball. You win games with mobile counter-attacking players these days.

gavkm27

I remember watching 1 of the England games last week and on came 36 year Duncan Bell and the commentators are making out how great he is because he can bench press X amount,i was just thinking typcial,they are obsessed with size and bulk and how much so and so can lift

Podge_irl

Seriously, what the **** is Rob Andrew's job?

Nigel Farage

Podge_irl wrote: »

Seriously, what the **** is Rob Andrew's job?

He is Director of Elite Rugby at the RFU.

sneem-man

twinytwo wrote: »

Im sorry but i just had to laugh at this....



dont know what they are smoking over in england tbh

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12321_5722554,00.html

L M A O

[Jackass]

Nigel Farage wrote: »

He is Director of Elite Rugby at the RFU.

I'm the emporor of the under 7's magnificent tag rugby team at my local club.

It's a fancy title, but it pretty much just involves me getting up early and hungover every second Saturday morning and blowing a whistle every now and then at random whilst I try to remember the girl from last nights first name and also try not to get sick on Timmy..........again...........and then at around 10.25am declaring next try wins and then I go home to bed.........again...........and chance my arm at Mary.......again.

duckysauce

not as good as ELITE though

Steffano2002

Nigel Farage wrote: »

He is Director of Elite Rugby at the RFU.

Horrific sig Nigel!

Steffano2002

twinytwo wrote: »

Im sorry but i just had to laugh at this....



dont know what they are smoking over in england tbh

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,12321_5722554,00.html

That was hilarious in fairness! Thanks for the laughs!

corny

He can't possibly believe that.:)

I do think the SH trio have gone backwards this year and maybe Andrew has a case for saying the gap has closed but England didn't close it thats for sure.

lobber

corny wrote: »

He can't possibly believe that.:)

I do think the SH trio have gone backwards this year and maybe Andrew has a case for saying the gap has closed but England didn't close it thats for sure.

The gap has closed that's for sure. It maybe a symptom that they are all playing in the NH this time around and every team has the slight advantage playing at home.

TBH i think South Africa could be excused for not performing to the standard they set earlier this year so far on tour (hopefully they won't come good on Saturday!). Having achieved so much this year this tour may be hard to get motivated for!

Australia are in a rebuilding process after an especially dismal tri nations and have unearthed two future stars in Pollock and Genia. And like us without Drico, missing Mortlock softens their bite a little behind the scrum.

It's the All blacks which are most dissappointing for me. They seem content to kick the ball more than I have ever seen before from them. Am hoping the game against france will be a cracker!

bamboozle

what was it 1 try in 3 Autumn internationals they scored?

Mr.Applepie

[Jackass] wrote: »

I'm the emporor of the under 7's magnificent tag rugby team at my local club.

It's a fancy title, but it pretty much just involves me getting up early and hungover every second Saturday morning and blowing a whistle every now and then at random whilst I try to remember the girl from last nights first name and also try not to get sick on Timmy..........again...........and then at around 10.25am declaring next try wins and then I go home to bed.........again...........and chance my arm at Mary.......again.

I think the above is more suited to personal issues

Auvers

Steffano2002 wrote: »

Horrific sig Nigel!

right click block image, Adblock FTW

PhatPiggins

When I saw the title I thought this was going to be a thread about netball or cricket.

stephen_n

Great so that makes us better than the SH teams :pac::pac::pac::D

Nigel Farage

Steffano2002 wrote: »

Horrific sig Nigel!

Don't hold it against me mate.
I think the story is stretching the truth a little tbh. Saying that, the English aren't as far behind as a lot of posters on this forum are trying to make out.

PhatPiggins

Nigel Farage wrote: »

Don't hold it against me mate.
I think the story is stretching the truth a little tbh. Saying that, the English aren't as far behind as a lot of posters on this forum are trying to make out.

Your right they're not that bad. Realistically they're only a qualified caoch and two world class centres away form being a good team.

Have they closed the gap? I'd say no and their improved result against Kiwi is because of a disimprovemnt in the AB's as opposed to an improvement in the English team.

stephen_n

Nigel Farage wrote: »

Don't hold it against me mate.
I think the story is stretching the truth a little tbh. Saying that, the English aren't as far behind as a lot of posters on this forum are trying to make out.

Without doubt England are a hard team to beat but with Johnson in charge I doubt every much they are going to improve in anyway as a rugby playing team. You have the tallent there without doubt but a narrow minded view of the game by your coaching staff is restricting any real progress. The SH teams all seem to have stagnated in the last year though!

j4supporter

bamboozle wrote: »

what was it 1 try in 3 Autumn internationals they scored?

Correct. They scored one try against a argentina team that was missing 4/5 first team players.

Nigel Farage

stephen_n wrote: »

Without doubt England are a hard team to beat but with Johnson in charge I doubt every much they are going to improve in anyway as a rugby playing team. You have the tallent there without doubt but a narrow minded view of the game by your coaching staff is restricting any real progress. The SH teams all seem to have stagnated in the last year though!

Stephen, I actually think Johnson is the right man for the job. There is a certain element of finding his feet still but I would be inclined to look more closely at the other coaches than Johnson. Other posters have referred to the emphasis on bulk and physicality and there is certainly a huge chunk of truth in that. The playing pool is there and the right sort of players need to be brought threw not just the physical beasts.

wixfjord

PhatPiggins wrote: »

Your right they're not that bad. Realistically they're only a qualified caoch and two world class centres away form being a good team.

Have they closed the gap? I'd say no and their improved result against Kiwi is because of a disimprovemnt in the AB's as opposed to an improvement in the English team.

Flutey was pure class in the 6N last season and was unlucky with injuries during the Lions. Gerathy is also supremely talented as is Armitage who can play 13.

If Johnson would pick young players, and stick with them, play with a gameplan which suits these strengths, and drop donkeys like Borthwick, Goode and Thompson they could be successfull.
The backline for the next world cup could be something like
Care, Wilko, Flutey/Gerathy Hipkiss/Armitage Monye Strettle/Cato Foden

thats without mentioning P hodgson, Cipriani, Simpson, Youngs, Lamb, Flood, Simpson Daniel, Cueto, etc etc and in sure theres many I have missed so the talent is there

England have been very unlucky with injuries over the Autumn and with a full team playing the correct brand of rugby will be a match for anyone. Lets not forget Croker last season and France at Twickers last season.

However to say they have closed the gap is ludicrous! A marginal win against a very below strength Argentina, a loss to a relatively bad NZ side, and a loss to Australia is not closing the gap!

marco_polo

He was one of the main driving men behind the appointment of MJ as coach, so in the interest of his own career, he is desperately trying to make the turd that is the current state of English rugby team look polished.

PhatPiggins

wixfjord wrote: »

Flutey was pure class in the 6N last season and was unlucky with injuries during the Lions. Gerathy is also supremely talented as is Armitage who can play 13.

If Johnson would pick young players, and stick with them, play with a gameplan which suits these strengths, and drop donkeys like Borthwick, Goode and Thompson they could be successfull.
The backline for the next world cup could be something like
Care, Wilko, Flutey/Gerathy Hipkiss/Armitage Monye Strettle/Cato Foden

thats without mentioning P hodgson, Cipriani, Simpson, Youngs, Lamb, Flood, Simpson Daniel, Cueto, etc etc and in sure theres many I have missed so the talent is there

England have been very unlucky with injuries over the Autumn and with a full team playing the correct brand of rugby will be a match for anyone. Lets not forget Croker last season and France at Twickers last season.

However to say they have closed the gap is ludicrous! A marginal win against a very below strength Argentina, a loss to a relatively bad NZ side, and a loss to Australia is not closing the gap!

For sure there are a few options in centre but for me Armitage has to play 15 and Geragthy should start 10. That only leaves the very talented Flutey who is two months shy of 30 and fairly injury prone!

Jonny's a legend but he's done as a top class international.

stephen_n

Nigel Farage wrote: »

Stephen, I actually think Johnson is the right man for the job. There is a certain element of finding his feet still but I would be inclined to look more closely at the other coaches than Johnson. Other posters have referred to the emphasis on bulk and physicality and there is certainly a huge chunk of truth in that. The playing pool is there and the right sort of players need to be brought threw not just the physical beasts.

I would agree with you to a certain extent, Johnson is there as a motivator and he is probably quite good at instilling a sense of belief in his sides. He has no real experience and is allowing the coaches around him to dictate tactics and I assume selection, that is ignoring youth and flair, how much of that johnson is responsible for we don't know. England have the players but refuse to move on from the past and rebuild from sratch!

Chucky the tree

wixfjord wrote: »

Flutey was pure class in the 6N last season and was unlucky with injuries during the Lions. Gerathy is also supremely talented as is Armitage who can play 13.

If Johnson would pick young players, and stick with them, play with a gameplan which suits these strengths, and drop donkeys like Borthwick, Goode and Thompson they could be successfull.
The backline for the next world cup could be something like
Care, Wilko, Flutey/Gerathy Hipkiss/Armitage Monye Strettle/Cato Foden

thats without mentioning P hodgson, Cipriani, Simpson, Youngs, Lamb, Flood, Simpson Daniel, Cueto, etc etc and in sure theres many I have missed so the talent is there

England have been very unlucky with injuries over the Autumn and with a full team playing the correct brand of rugby will be a match for anyone. Lets not forget Croker last season and France at Twickers last season.

However to say they have closed the gap is ludicrous! A marginal win against a very below strength Argentina, a loss to a relatively bad NZ side, and a loss to Australia is not closing the gap!

How is it ludicris? There results from last years AI have imrpoved, narrowed the losing gap against NZ who they lost to by 30 points. Yes, NZ might have gone backwards but England had so many injuries it even itself out. Also, who would you have picked in the AI in place of Botherwick and Thompson? Fairly sure goode was never picked.

PhatPiggins wrote: »

For sure there are a few options in centre but for me Armitage has to play 15 and Geragthy should start 10. That only leaves the very talented Flutey who is two months shy of 30 and fairly injury prone!

Jonny's a legend but he's done as a top class international.

Done as a top class international? :pac:

PhatPiggins

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Done as a top class international? :pac:

How can I respond to such a well thought out arguement

Chucky the tree

PhatPiggins wrote: »

How can I respond to such a well thought out arguement

Don't, my sides are hurting enough as it is. Anyway, I was far to blown over by your fantastically well thought out reason as to why he's done at international level to come up with one myself. :rolleyes:

twinytwo

PhatPiggins wrote: »

For sure there are a few options in centre but for me Armitage has to play 15 and Geragthy should start 10. That only leaves the very talented Flutey who is two months shy of 30 and fairly injury prone!

Jonny's a legend but he's done as a top class international.

seriously?... i think he did well for his first time back in an england shirt with utter tripe in front of him and beside him... he is like drico you can never underestimate what he brings to any team he plays in.. he is a world class defender and kicker which is what he was always best at so i cant see how you figure he is done?

Steffano2002

Nigel Farage wrote: »

Don't hold it against me mate.
I think the story is stretching the truth a little tbh. Saying that, the English aren't as far behind as a lot of posters on this forum are trying to make out.

The english will never be "far behind" (read: "cr@p") at rugby. Even when they're playing poorly it's hard to put 30 points on them!

But, to say that "they've closed the gap" on SH Teams is a joke... They've been poor since the '07 RWC IMO...