Oh, England. Whither Matt Stevens.

Well, we all saw the England pack pushed around more than I have seen in years. Cole was not good, but Stevens always seems to be the one caught for losing his bind, collapsing, or simply going backwards faster than a French Tank at war. Two questions come to mind:
First, what do we all think Martin Johnson will do?
What do we think should be done?

We can talk about the terrible lineout later............

Both English props struggled today. Their opponents Murray and Jacobsen are both fine scrummagers, and caused the England boys all sorts of problems. I was concerned more about Cole than Stevens to be honest, as he seemed to have no answer to anything that Jacobsen was doing. The overhead camera at the scrums is great, as you can get a better view of who is doing what, and there was an interesting set of scrums were the ref was on the Scottish tighthead side, so couldn't see Jacobsen, who drove inwards and mullered Cole before the scrum went down. Joubert had no idea why and rest and came round, at which point Jacobsen scrummed straight as required, and Murray drove inwards and it went down again with Stevens pinged for losing his bind on the say so of the touch judge.

It was highly illegal scrummaging from Scotland, but utterly brilliant, as you get away with what you can in the scrum and play the ref. What concerned me was the England props inability to do anything about this at times.

Cole offered very little, and I would have liked to have seen him be the one to go off, with Stevens going to tighthead and Corbisiero on the looshead side.

Against France, I would definitely start Corbisiero in the 1 shirt, and the 3 jersey is ooen to question for me.

I don't think it was quite that black and white. For one thing, Murray was consistently binding on the arm and getting away with it in the first half. In the second the binding was better and Stevens was part of a pack that won two against the head.

But front row tactics aren't new. As Ozzy says, you play the ref. This kind of 'gamesmanship' has never bothered and England front row like this in a long, long time. Very concerning.

I agree corbs must start. But who else? Put Wigglesworth there. Could not do worse............

I don't think Wigglesworth starting is the answer. Youngs was poor, and surely cannot be as bad again next week. What I do think he needs is Easter and Flood around him. His understanding with Flood is excellent and he is more confident in it, and Easter takes away some fo the responsibilty for decision making away from him in a way that Haskell doesn't.

For me, Moody and Wilko should drop to the bench, with an 8-9-10 axis of Easter, Youngs and Flood. That may hinge in some regard on how injured Tindall is, as if he doesn't make it, then there is no way Johnno wil start without Moody's leadership.

Ozzy, When I said Wigglesworth I was making a bad joke about the other prop posiition. Couuldn't have done much worse, eh? I am not a Wigglesworth fan, and not just because his name is a pain to type.

Did you think the England pack was more stable with Easter? I did. do you know if he is in shape for a full 80?

That went straight over my head about Wiggy playing prop, must be the lack of sleep!!!

We looked much more solid with Easter on. Not sure on his injury, but if he was ok for the bench he should be ok to start.

I feel more confident when England ahave a shove on at the scrum and in mauls when easters at 8, with Haskel im constantly convinced that the balkl will squirt out the side at any moment.

Im assuming Corbs will start the quarter final, quite a rise for the young lad. If they really want a big useless lump though theres always Waldrom...

Haskell's decision making at scrum time concerned me to be honest. At some point he had to realise that his mates were under pressure (be it legal or illegal!) yet he never moved quickly to get the ball out of the back, he could have rescued a couple of scrums by getting the ball away quicker.

Cumbrian wrote:Haskell's decision making at scrum time concerned me to be honest. At some point he had to realise that his mates were under pressure (be it legal or illegal!) yet he never moved quickly to get the ball out of the back, he could have rescued a couple of scrums by getting the ball away quicker.

Me too Cumbrian, at one point he actually contrived to boot the thing back in to the front row, Scotland got the wheel on and with Haskell driving though his own pack to try and get his hands on the ball, Joubert promptly handed Scotland a deserved penalty.

Shambles.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:I feel more confident when England ahave a shove on at the scrum and in mauls when easters at 8, with Haskel im constantly convinced that the balkl will squirt out the side at any moment.

Im assuming Corbs will start the quarter final, quite a rise for the young lad. If they really want a big useless lump though theres always Waldrom...

Is it me or is Waldrom morphing from Thomas the Tank Engine into the Fat Controller?

Cumbrian wrote:Haskell's decision making at scrum time concerned me to be honest. At some point he had to realise that his mates were under pressure (be it legal or illegal!) yet he never moved quickly to get the ball out of the back, he could have rescued a couple of scrums by getting the ball away quicker.

Let's make this three votes out of three. Absolutely spot on. Haskell has been playing well, but was not a force at the scrum. When under pressure, he needed to get the ball out and did not. That was a growing concern for me as the match wore on.

PJ: If Waldrom becomes the Fat Controller, does that mean he will wear a top hat on the pitch?

I have to agree that Easter does give a lot more control at the base of the scrum than Haskell. A real selection headache though as Haskell has been playing much better around the park. Could do as ozzy says and drop moody to the bench but where does the leadership come from in the pack. Sadly no one seems to put their hand up there.

I think corbs should start with Cole in the front row. Coles first bad game and I think he can probably bounce back next week. Stevens has never been an out and out loose head so no surprise that he struggled against murray today.

Flood must start ahead of wilkinson. He just sharpens the attack, those around him all look better than when jinny is there.

Armchairexpert wrote:I have to agree that Easter does give a lot more control at the base of the scrum than Haskell. A real selection headache though as Haskell has been playing much better around the park. Could do as ozzy says and drop moody to the bench but where does the leadership come from in the pack. Sadly no one seems to put their hand up there.

I think corbs should start with Cole in the front row. Coles first bad game and I think he can probably bounce back next week. Stevens has never been an out and out loose head so no surprise that he struggled against murray today.

Flood must start ahead of wilkinson. He just sharpens the attack, those around him all look better than when jinny is there.

Aproved

Corbs has to start. Hopefully that provides extra stability and therefore reduces the pressure on Haskell to use his brain at scrum time. We CANNOT have Easter back in this team. He does far far too little around the park.

I'd have Palmer for Lawes, Wood for Moody and Flood for Wilko. And i'd tell Youngs to sop frickin dithering.

Not a huge amount of experience there but Moody has never been a genuine leader to me, did Leicester ever really consider him as captain material. Yes he leads by example but it's not quite the same and when he fails to turn up as he did today, we're better off for with Wood, who's just as committed.

I think if you look at the France scrum they have some big lads in the front row so i would start with Corbesero and put stevens on the bench.

Also i would give Palmer a start along Lawes and put Deacon on the bench.

Moody needs to be dropped. He's there for his leadership....and it was nonexistant today. I mentioned on another thread...why did he not step in and stop Johnny just ploughing through endless risky kicks...

Haskell to 7 and Easter at 8.
Youngs needs a big kick up the backside....no crazy passes above peoples heads...stop taking two / three steps etc just get the ball out.