England vs Wales Match day thread

[maestegmafia]

First topic message reminder :

SIX NATIONS: ENGLAND V WALES
Venue: Twickenham Date: Sunday, 9 March Kick-off: 15:00 GMT
Coverage: Watch live on BBC One, BBC One HD, listen on BBC Radio 5 Live

England

15-Mike Brown, 14-Jack Nowell, 13-Luther Burrell, 12-Billy Twelvetrees, 11-Jonny May, 10-Owen Farrell, 9-Danny Care

1-Joe Marler, 2-Dylan Hartley, 3-David Wilson, 4-Joe Launchbury, 5-Courtney Lawes, 6-Tom Wood, 7-Chris Robshaw (captain), 8-Ben Morgan

Replacements: 16-Tom Youngs, 17-Mako Vunipola, 18-Henry Thomas, 19-Dave Attwood, 20-Tom Johnson, 21-Lee Dickson, 22-George Ford, 23-Alex Goode


Wales

15-Leigh Halfpenny, 14-Alex Cuthbert, 13-Jonathan Davies, 12-Jamie Roberts, 11-George North, 10-Rhys Priestland, 9-Rhys Webb

1-Gethin Jenkins, 2-Richard Hibbard, 3-Adam Jones, 4-Jake Ball, 5-Alun Wyn Jones, 6-Dan Lydiate, 7-Sam Warburton (capt), 8-Taulupe Faletau

Replacements: Ken Owens, Paul James, Rhodri Jones, Andrew Coombs, Justin Tipuric, Mike Phillips, Dan Biggar, Liam Williams
MATCH OFFICIALS

Referee : Romain Poite (Fra)

Touch judges : Steve Walsh (Aus) & Lourens van der Merwe (RSA)
TV Official : Simon McDowell (Ire)


Next up for Wales is a trip to London and after all the banter coming out of the England camp it is time to finish the hype this match has been building and play some rugby. Have England improved on last year? Will home advantage be enough? Has Wales over come a trough and reached another high?

With plenty of injuries to key players, in fact some of England's very best players are out of this game, a convincing win for England over Wales will give the nation huge confidence going forward, maybe even a shot at the championship next weekend.

The build up seems to have been all about England, Wales are a known entity, twice champions in recent years with pretty much the same team they field tomorrow, little change to their game plan or style gives very little to discuss.

On the many various threads the situation is similar, all about England, with very little admiration of this perceivably over-rated Welsh team that have failed to beat a Southern Hemisphere top three team since 2008, the mark of all great sides.

In all honesty a tough and challenging end to the Six Nations will do this Welsh set up some good, possibly more good than the confidence a third consecutive championship would give them. Wales have little to lose and less to prove, a defeat in the manner of last years game would be vastly more detrimental to their hosts.

I hope all the fans enjoy the game, I am sure it will be the usual roller coaster of emotion for both Nations.

[nathan]

BBC even managed to get Frodo on tv.

[stub]

Just wanted to say...


C'MON ENGLAND!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Nachos Jones]

George North does come across as a really nice young man.

[TheMildlyFranticLlama]

George North does come across as a really nice young man.

Thoroughly agree, very articulate and grounded

[HammerofThunor]

That will be his English side coming through

Shame his Welsh side comes through with the rugby

[HammerofThunor]

Jenkins has more caps than our front row combined

[nathan]

i can see our scrum having issues today. Hopefully we can work around it.

[HammerofThunor]

Don't knock on is key

[Nachos Jones]

This is going to be a great game, I can feel it in my bones. I am not sure that Inverdale should worry about Roberts targeting Farrell's defence as Farrell is a pretty good defender.

[HammerofThunor]

Given Twelvetrees falling off a few tackles in the previous games, I'm more concerned there. Although Farrell does try and put in the odd big hit. If he does against Roberts I can see him getting shock off.

[Nachos Jones]

It was a nice little piece on Mike Brown as well there in the build up. He and Care have been the best players this 6N in my mind.

[Biltong]

So who is nervous.?

[nathan]

me!

[HammerofThunor]

Not me. I'm like a cucumber. I'm just waiting patiently to see who the ref picks to win this year

[mckay1402]

terrible anthems so far.

[Biltong]

 

[HammerofThunor]

So much for avoiding scrums

[glamorganalun]

Preistlnd crap kick as usual.

[Nachos Jones]

So, lets see how the scrums go then...

[Biltong]

Not the way England wanted the furst scrum to go.

[mckay1402]

Yep that Wales scrum us really a weakness

[Nematode]

Come on Cymru!

[Hood83]

I think you could make a strong case that our scrum is now the worst in the 6Ns.

[HammerofThunor]

Whoop whoop

[Nachos Jones]

Its not as if Danny Care didn't warn you about the quick taps Wales. Poor attention but excellent from Care.

[mckay1402]

unbelievable penalty defense

[Biltong]

You know Care is going to go quick, and yet there is nobody watching him.

[Sgt_Pooly]

C'mon boys!

[Rugby Fan]

Thank goodness for that. I thought we were going to have to look at more butchered try videos.

[Hood83]

Terrible decision.

[Biltong]

Lawes allowed his enthusiasm to run away with him there, soft penalty to give

[Nachos Jones]

Not very clever by Lawes and 1/2p gets the kick. Just what Wales needed.

[Hood83]

Lawes allowed his enthusiasm to run away with him there, soft penalty to give

Yeah on second inspection I think that may be right. Very soft. Wish we could just marry some smarts to some of our play.

[Sgt_Pooly]

There's Scratches boring point of no tries for England against Wales gone in 5 mins

[HammerofThunor]

Twelvetrees on fire again

[Hood83]

Our scrum, so that's 3 points to Wales then...

[Nachos Jones]

The pitch looks amazing.

[HammerofThunor]

Tackled in the air

[nathan]

should of been a penalty, clear tackle in the air.

[Hood83]

My God, hanging on!!

[Nachos Jones]

That's a slightly harsh call for holding on there, Farrell never released from the tackle.

[nathan]

That's a slightly harsh call for holding on there, Farrell never released from the tackle.

36 made the tackle, not farrell.

[Nachos Jones]

That's a slightly harsh call for holding on there, Farrell never released from the tackle.

36 made the tackle, not farrell.

Ok, I thought that Farrell was involved in the tackle as well. My bad.

[mystiroakey]

The Welsh player pushed the ref into him. Riduculas. Threw on goal

[Hood83]

If we lose this scrum!

[GLove39]

Care must be the scrum half of the tournament. Cracking player

[Nachos Jones]

How can Jenkins be allowed to scrimmage with that much blood on his face, Poite saw it as well...

[Biltong]

Quite a clear penalty that.

[HammerofThunor]

Wow. Actually penalising props for cheating. It'll never take off

Edit: And I'm now a wilted lettuce rather than a cool cucumber

[nathan]

Wow. Actually penalising props for cheating. It'll never take off

notice it wasn't on steve walshs side! lol

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