Starting Halfbacks for England vs France

What do you think?

Wigglesworth starts, Youngs comes on in second half as he brings a spark against tiring defences like in the Argentina match.

Flood should start, we need a fly half to kick his goals in knock out rugby. Unfortunately Wilko is not kicking to his usual standards and England are suffering big time as a result. We could have put Scotland away much sooner than we did.

How about Wiggles at 10 just to even things up with les frogs?

tomhughesnice wrote:Wigglesworth starts, Youngs comes on in second half as he brings a spark against tiring defences like in the Argentina match.

Flood should start, we need a fly half to kick his goals in knock out rugby. Unfortunately Wilko is not kicking to his usual standards and England are suffering big time as a result. We could have put Scotland away much sooner than we did.

Why not start with a spark and try and win the game in the first half rather than mucking about for the first 3/4 of the game as they have done for the most part so far?

Youngs and Flood. They were fine against France last time around.

tomshughenice absolutely spot on. I completely agree.

Petersea biscuit wheeler you mean the spark Youngs showed against Scotland.....err...ummm

Youngs best game by far was against Argentina. I wonder why...

beshocked wrote:tomshughenice absolutely spot on. I completely agree.

Petersea biscuit wheeler you mean the spark Youngs showed against Scotland.....err...ummm

Youngs best game by far was against Argentina. I wonder why...

Flood

Fair enough I just hope Wilkinson doesnt start.

There was no doubt Youngs was poor for England making far too many errors and Wigglesworth's first touch at a line out was a knock on. It all points to a few guys who find the pressure of knock out rugby a bit too much for them.

Jonny gets better as a match progresses even if he starts poorly. A sign of his class. Also his defensive capabilities have saved England's blushes on numerous occasions. But if he keeps missing his kicks or taking attempts that are out of range then Flood should start.

It should be either Youngs and Flood, or Wiggy and Wilko. Mixing them up just gives you a mess.

9 Youngs
10 Flood

But Johnno gives Youngs a serious talking to......hands on ball...then out if hes passing....no messing about.

Not sure that Youngs' problem against us Scots was his partnership with Wilko (or lack thereof)? He simply seemed to be crabbing 2-3 steps before passing which was creating slow ball

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Not sure that Youngs' problem against us Scots was his partnership with Wilko (or lack thereof)? He simply seemed to be crabbing 2-3 steps before passing which was creating slow ball

A mixture of the quality of ball presented (much of the crabbing was backwards trying to get the ball clear) and indecision.

He needs to revert to the basic rules :

Quick ball - play what you see.
Slow ball - make your mind up before touching ball - then do it.

aslongasbut100 I fullheartedly agree but I don't think the England pack have been helping out their scrum halves. Both Youngs and Wigglesworth haven't had cleanest quick ball to work with. The problem for Youngs was his erratic passing. Some at head height. Didn't one get intercepted?

Either way I think most of agree Flood has to start.

Waldrom a 9 et Hartley au 10.

Youngs, though poor against Scotland, is the safest option at 9 I think, Flood has looked better than JW at 10 and therefore, the Tigers' half back partnership should start, it at least has half a chance of clicking.

There are a number of factors involved in this one I think.

Perversely I think Ben Youngs performance is affected by how well the No.8 is coping... Despite Haskells overall good performance he was having all manner of problems controlling the ball at the back of the breakdowns... this meant BY was crabbing a couple of steps to get clear of the mess.

When Easter came on there was a marked improvement in this area (but the turnover count went up too as he kept getting isolated) and Ben started to zip the passes again.

He instinctively knows how to play with Flood who plays flatter than JW and accelerates on to pass... unlike JW who stand deep & static ready to kick, punt, drop goal etc. You could see it in the Scotland game he kept looking up and then searching for the Flyhalf. Not what you need with the backrow tearing down upon you.

Start with TF & BY against France. Wiggles & JW come on last 20.

Any news on wilkos injury?

TheGreyGhost wrote:Waldrom a 9 et Hartley au 10.

mmm I sense some NZ-centricity

Unspecified forearm injury, some concern upon his availability for the forthcoming match. According to the Telegraph.

Thought Wilko too part in light training yesterday?

Youngs & Flood

Toulon president reported that alleged Wilkinson serious injury was just BS.

heard on a french rugby talkshow that Wilkinson migth start at centre instead of Tindall! the idea would be to have 2 kickers on the field and play for territory.

Bitter Beer wrote:Unspecified forearm injury, some concern upon his availability for the forthcoming match. According to the Telegraph.

So long as its not his kicking arm

whocares, what is the general feeling in France about the upcoming QF?

EnglishReign wrote:whocares, what is the general feeling in France about the upcoming QF?

well, there is not a lot of people around that feel optimistic about the QF with a lot of angry journalism following last game. People do hope that there will be a kind of reaction from the players against england. There is signs from some players that they are regrouping . I expect french players will fight on saturday although I doubt it will be enough. I reckon we will witness proper trench warfare which might not be beautiful running rugby but still possibly end up in an exciting game.

I will go for Youngs and Flood...Would of liked to have seen more of Simpson to be honest....Now we go in to the knock out stages, i guess we wont see too mutch of him now.

whocares wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:whocares, what is the general feeling in France about the upcoming QF?

well, there is not a lot of people around that feel optimistic about the QF with a lot of angry journalism following last game. People do hope that there will be a kind of reaction from the players against england. There is signs from some players that they are regrouping . I expect french players will fight on saturday although I doubt it will be enough. I reckon we will witness proper trench warfare which might not be beautiful running rugby but still possibly end up in an exciting game.

Interesting, well with some problems with the England camp it is set up for a great battle! I remember France losing to Italy in the 6N and Lievremont losing the plot. Then they went and played a great final match. This could be a similar game for them, and that's my only concern.

hopefully we will see some of that for a change !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIS6t1VW2lo

whocares wrote:hopefully we will see some of that for a change !

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIS6t1VW2lo

ouch

Wilko's had it. Miss kicks against France early and you is going down.

You forgot to add 'innit' to your last post.

Not sure that Youngs' problem against us Scots was his partnership with Wilko (or lack thereof)? He simply seemed to be crabbing 2-3 steps before passing which was creating slow ball.

I felt that was because he was having to pass quite a distance and needed a wind up before trying to find Wilko. Wilko was standing deep and wide meaning it was a big pass to find him and in the mess of those breakdowns Youngs was really struggling. Flood standing flatter and closer because he likes to try and play flat allows a much shorter pass meaning there's no need for a wind up and it's simple just to whip it to him. As seen with Wigglesworth and how easy he found Flood for the English try. Easy take at the back of the lineout, Flood is about 10m away nice and flat, scrum half doesn't have to break stride to throw the pass.

BBC reckon England's only change to the side that faced Scotland will be Cueto in for Armitage. We are doomed.

EnglishReign wrote:BBC reckon England's only change to the side that faced Scotland will be Cueto in for Armitage. We are doomed.

Being discussed in a dedicated article chap.

wow a consideable vote for youngs and flood- not suprised mind

mystiroakey wrote:wow a consideable vote for youngs and flood- not suprised mind

Fans go against what the coach sees shocker...?

well i am hopeing he will start them on saturday