England v Wales

OldRio · 09-03-2014 2:32pm #1

England: 15 Brown, 14 Nowell, 13 Burrell, 12 Twelvetrees, 11 May, 10 Farrell, 9 Care; 1 Marler, 2 Hartley, 3 Wilson, 4 Launchbury, 5 Lawes, 6 Wood, 7 Robshaw, 8 Morgan.
Replacements: 16 T Youngs, 17 M Vunipola, 18 Thomas, 19 Attwood, 20 Johnson, 21 Dickson, 22 Ford, 23 Goode.
Wales: 15 Halfpenny, 14 Cuthbert, 13 Davies, 12 Roberts, 11 North, 10 Priestland, 9 Webb; 1 Jenkins, 2 Hibbard, 3 A Jones, 4 Charteris, 5 Wyn Jones, 6 Lydiate, 7 Warburton, 8 Faletau.
Replacements: 16 Owens, 17 James, 18 R Jones, 19 Ball, 20 Tipuric, 21 Phillips, 22 Biggar, 23 Williams.

I think England by 10+

durkadurka · 09-03-2014 2:37pm

I think I favour a 10 pt win for England. Enough to put France out of reckoning but not enough to challenge Ireland maybe ....

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience · 09-03-2014 2:37pm

Going to stick my head on the block here, think Wales will win

walshb · 09-03-2014 2:38pm

No, ROG, England have 2/3 wins.

sydthebeat · 09-03-2014 2:39pm

Charteris is a big loss for Wales. Morgan is an able replacement for billy v.

For that reason I think England by Five

Tox56 · 09-03-2014 2:39pm

Surprisingly pumped for this, more so than yesterday even

dregin · 09-03-2014 2:40pm

Anyone having issues with Ultimate Rugby app for Android? Worked fine yesterday, but crashes on launch today. Cleared its cache to no avail.

Swiwi. · 09-03-2014 2:44pm

Ugo Monye spacecraft experience wrote: »

Going to stick my head on the block here, think Wales will win

I disagree. I think England (and I am guilty of this) have not been given enough credit. Obviously in about 100 minutes one of us will be right, but England are becoming very adept at the breakdown, both on attack & defence, and this is probably the most crucial facet in modern rugby, assuming you have a functioning set-piece - which they do. They also defend very well. Their Achilles heel is their back play, but even that is improving, especially with Mike Brown in super form. I think Wales are on the downward trend in the forwards, and provided Roberts/North are contained, and Halfpenny is not given a plethora of shots at goal, I'd see a comfortable English victory.

Speak again at 5pm...

Happyman42 · 09-03-2014 2:45pm

Potentially the game of the championship, looking forward to this!

Swiwi. · 09-03-2014 2:46pm

Tox56 wrote: »

Surprisingly pumped for this, more so than yesterday even

NZ v Eng in June should be a cracker - I expect Eng will actually send their "A" side for a change, so it should be close.

sydthebeat · 09-03-2014 2:46pm

Happyman42 wrote: »

Potentially the game of the championship, looking forward to this!

The game of the championship was two weeks ago. ... in my opinion of course

CIARAN_BOYLE · 09-03-2014 2:48pm

Swiwi. wrote: »

NZ v Eng in June should be a cracker - I expect Eng will actually send their "A" side for a change, so it should be close.

Well a A (ie Saxons) like team will play thee first match since it more or less clashes with the premiership final

Artful_Badger · 09-03-2014 2:50pm

I think England will win this one, their defence is excellent and I just cant see Wales breaking them down.

Swiwi. · 09-03-2014 2:51pm

CIARAN_BOYLE wrote: »

Well a A (ie Saxons) like team will play thee first match since it more or less clashes with the premiership final

Reality bites

The 1998 tour when England sent down their "C" team was one of the worst June series ever.

It's disappointing, but I guess it gives us a warm-up game before effectively a 2 match series.

Podge_irl · 09-03-2014 2:53pm

Swiwi. wrote: »

Reality bites

The 1998 tour when England sent down their "C" team was one of the worst June series ever.

It's disappointing, but I guess it gives us a warm-up game before effectively a 2 match series.

I did enjoy France getting **** for sending down a callow team in 09 (I think) and promptly beating NZ in their own back yard.

Anyway, as regards this game I think England are simply a much better team. Can only see one result.

Swiwi. · 09-03-2014 2:53pm

"Conor's 3 sons..."

Love ROG as a commentator!

errlloyd · 09-03-2014 2:54pm

Lack of hook on the panel makes this almost unwatchable. Which one of them I mean to disagree with.

Swiwi. · 09-03-2014 2:54pm

Podge_irl wrote: »

I did enjoy France getting **** for sending down a callow team in 09 (I think) and promptly beating NZ in their own back yard.

Anyway, as regards this game I think England are simply a much better team. Can only see one result.

Or getting absolutely spanked in 99 and 07 pre-RWC

:mad:

Artful_Badger · 09-03-2014 2:55pm

Is the audio ok on the TV ? Its all crackly and weird on the rte player.

[Jackass] · 09-03-2014 2:55pm

Gonna go with the underdog here too. I think Wales will see what Ireland did wrong and do them better and are a team who can compete physically with England but probably have more creative players.

My only problem with Wales for me is their quality at 10, I prefer Biggar, but if Priestland has a good game they'll win imo.

errlloyd · 09-03-2014 2:56pm

Artful_Badger wrote: »

Is the audio ok on the TV ? Its all crackly and weird on the rte player.

It was, it just improved

OldRio · 09-03-2014 2:57pm

Artful_Badger wrote: »

Is the audio ok on the TV ? Its all crackly and weird on the rte player.

Sounds sorted now.
Rugby and RTE audio dept are not a good match.

OldRio · 09-03-2014 2:57pm

Wow. Visuals improved.

sydthebeat · 09-03-2014 2:58pm

Switched to bbc, nugent was rotting me already

ScrubsfanChris · 09-03-2014 2:59pm

The one signing the anthems if FINE

Podge_irl · 09-03-2014 2:59pm

I may come to regret this but I don't get the Wales love it. England, 20 minutes in the France game aside, have been very, very good. Wales have looked poor against everyone except a disinterested and collapsing French team.