England V Wales Coverage

First topic message reminder :

...is 23 seconds old and we've revisited Jonny Wilkinson's 2003 final drop goal.

Twice.

Not sure PJ, he completed a tackle and was just on the floor on the England side of the ruck. They didn't show any replays but Care asked the ref to stop the game coz he could see Stoddart was injured.



Ah Roberts!! Get out of Shane's way!!!!

Corporalhumblebucket wrote:

PJHolybloke wrote:What happened to Stoddart? Had to get Mrs Holyblokes washing in from rain.

Glad to see priorities in the right place

You don't know my missus - trust me, if she came back from shopping to a pile of wet laundry.... it's best left unsaid.

Well done Shane! 20-12

67 minutes gone and 3-6 in the Ire-Sco game.

Shane Williams, you horrible little sh1t!!!

Nice finish by Shane.

Game back on!

Alyn, dreamer, thanks. Doesn't look good for him whatever happened. Terrible shame.

Missed 2 points could be important!

That missed conversion may prove to be very important.

Countnefarious wrote:That missed conversion may prove to be very important.

I doubt Wales can dominate for long enough periods to win this game to be honest, Wales need to try and keep the game close.

Go on Sharples!

Wigglesworth is probably the best name for a player ever, apart from Sid Going that is.
Going... Going... Gone!

23-12 to England another Johnny drop goal.

If England want to play an expansive running game, they can not afford to start with Wilkinson. Great kicking from him, but pretty poor distribution to the backs, think England have really missed Flood in this part of their play today.

Sounds a bit all too predictable really. Wales good in attack but living off not much ball. England making lots of mistakes but on top up front, taking some chances and taking kicks and likely to be winners but Wales with good excuses given the injuries

Moody's injured (I had this ready at the start of the game and just pasted it.)

lostinwales wrote:Sounds a bit all too predictable really. Wales good in attack but living off not much ball. England making lots of mistakes but on top up front, taking some chances and taking kicks and likely to be winners but Wales with good excuses given the injuries

I'm not really sure you cause say to much about Stephen Jones injury to be fair. Priestland has played really well overall. He's tried to get Wales moving on the back foot and did pretty well.

ah tavis is on! Glad to see that.

Banahan to centre Sharples on the wing.

Expect some gainline offloads....

Ah so close there by Roberts, a try there for us would have been v interesting. Been v happy with Priestland in this match so far, he's not looked out of place at all.

Scotland score thru Ansbro... 8-6 conversion to come, 77min

10-6 to Scotland

Jesus Charteris... lol
holding the ball in the air for England to take off him...
At least we have another crack at it now.

England appear to have gone to sleep, content to let Wales repeatedly bash into the defensive line.

To be honest, I know how they feel.

After this morning's game, this effort seems to be played on planet with about half the gravity.

Scotland win 10-6. Scotland were the better team so fully deserved.

Knoyle is looking fantastic, organising his pack, screaming at them, and picking the pace up, he is so assertive, and clever in his thinking.

ah, inexperience showing here for Wales. Unfortunate. Should have come away with points there.

Well, as stressful as this period on our line was, the defending was impressive.

Fantastic try from north again, well done guys
England have looked very tired for the last 10 minutes.

Wales could win this, an exciting last 5!

Georgie!!!!


So thought Warbs was going to score there first though!


Why, oh why, can't Gats realise taht as soon as he takes Phillips off our play speeds up dramatically, so why start with him?!

Wales, oh dear off. Let Sharples have a go.

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDGE!!!!!!!

23-19 to England with England looking very tired.

Banahan!!!! ya muppet.

What's all this with the scrum halves (both sides) dummying to pass from the ruck to trap the opposition into running off side? I thought that was illegal?

Only illegal at the scrum I think Grey Ghost? Not sure though.

Bit sloppy, but good game. Well done England.

And to nottins - WE GOT THE MORAL VICTORY!!

For a big lad, Banners is completely ineffective.

Not a bad game that. Bit disappointed in the end we didn't win but da iawn (well done) England

positives:

1. Priestland. Hugely impressed by him, he didn't look out of place at all at international level at 10, and considering this was his first start there for Wales, and at such short notice, very impressed.

2. Craig Mitchell. Superb fitness and defence by him, made all the more remarkable by the fact that this is his first match back since he dislocated his shoulder.

3. Knoyle. Speeded the game up completely when he came on, great communication too.

4. Great spirit and endevour by our youngsters, showed a lot of heart and we had much better fitness than England in the end.

negatives:

1. Stoddart's injury. Really upset by that, just really gutted for him.

2. Same old problems. Predictability and lack of pace to our game. Please, please, for all of Phillips' great defence, he is too slow and doesn't suit our game I don't think.

3. Scrum. Very wobbly in the first half, although perhaps understandable as we're missing Adam and Geth.

I'm a little disappointed to be honest. While I was certainly not one of the idiots who expected us to thrash Wales, considering our position of authority at half time I really felt that we should have done much better.

Not taking anything from Wales who, from a difficult position, clawed their way back into the game and could have won it.

Next week will be interesting, and very hard to predict, because I suspect we'll see two very differennt sides.

Wales Positives

Played attacking rugby, tried to pass it through the backs and scored 3 tries from wingers.

Priestland did very well after coming into Fly Half 5 minutes before kick off, and showed Wales there is life after Stephen Jones.

Huw Bennett was outstanding, hit the rucks, tackled everything, made a nuisance of himself and stole turnover ball, he even did well in the lineouts.

Tavis Knoyle when he came on added pace to the Welsh attack, he organised his forwards and got the pack working.

Wales looked far fitter at the end of the game, despite defending for most of it.

Wales defended very well, and never let their heads drop when things were looking bad at 20-7.


Wales Negatives

Stoddard's injury looks serious.

Scrum was very disappointing, James and Mitchell should of done better (in the scrums), both these players have been ever present for Wales for 2 seasons now when Jones and Jenkins have been injured but during the first half they really struggled.

Yep, well done England. No complaints. You were much more powerful than us first half. Your substitutions disrupted you, and our injuries (jones before kickoff and those in game) disrupted us. Good finish by us, but the game was won in the first 60.

Looking forward to home advantage next week and hopefully a home win!

EnglishReign wrote:For a big lad, Banners is completely ineffective.

No he's not.

Shane Williams is vastly more eloquent and comfortable on camera than your average rugby player. I don't think I've ever heard him interviewed before.

Countnefarious wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:For a big lad, Banners is completely ineffective.

No he's not.

I agree he did well, he went through Faletau which shows how strong he is. Though I knew England over estimated their wingers in comparison to Wales and am pleased our wingers scored 3 tries to prove the point.

Ah yeah, he does loads of tv work for Scrum V and Y Clwb Rygbi on S4C Count, so he's well used to it.

Alyn same here, so happy that it was our wingers that were scoring the tries, it's been so long since we've actually managed to get good ball to them. Just so frustrating that we can do so much more in attack, we just aren't giving the backs good ball often enough.

By the way, I don't think there were any needless insults of any nature between the Welsh and English here. Just honest and respectful opinions.

Yep yep, I'd agree with that Count, exactly as it should be

Both teams very rusty today.

England just about deserved their win today.

Moody being taken offf today with what looked liked a knee injurie, could be an end to his world cup.

Morgan Stoddart went off with what looked like a bad injurie, hope he is alright.

So on to next week and do you think that the result will be the same, only in favour of Wales?

I thought Wales looked dangerous with ball in hand, 3 tries to 2 supports that view.

Some good pressure in the second half didn't convert to enough points to make the difference though.

I thought Lydiate and Warburton played very well too, but didn't contest the breakdown enough in the first half.

England looked good going into halftime but other than MT's try the midfield were non-existent 2nd half, it's definitely England's weakpoint as there appear to be a number of options elsewhere.

Next week should be interesting.

a great match. well done england.

care stopping the game for stodard showed the great sportsmandship that england are famous for.

injuries were a feature, even before kick off. am i suprised that moody got crocked? its a pity for the guy, i hope he bounces back quickly because thye guy is class

as for wales...

dr bobs tackle on shane screams of the team being at 6s and 7s, but that was early doors.

knole is a cheeky little monkey and that is exactly what you want from your 9.

ryan's appearance shows that we need some experience in the back row.

north, maybe we can start to say the guy is totaly international standard and a great player.

shane still has what it takes to make wales a dangerous side.


a great game. well done to both teams. we gave each other a real test, exactly what we need ahead of the sports showcase event.

over to you. and i might pitch in a bit more when i can. great game

great game.

again, well done to a great england side. if that is your second team you will do well in NZ.