England vs Wales 9th March

First topic message reminder :

Let's look towards the next game after getting ourselves back on track against France, just like last year, after the Irish put the spanner in the works.

Taffineastbourne wrote:

englandglory4ever wrote:The Welsh game was dire in terms of clean scrummaging. They seemed intent on bringing every scrum to the floor on engagement. The England v Ireland game was a breath of fresh air in comparison. Both sides clearly trying to keep the scrums up. There will be no doubt about who is responsible for bringing them down if it happens.

How do you work that out?seems a bit oversimplified to me!

No doubt applying the laws he learnt whilst playing in wonderland. Funny that all of a sudden everybody is an expert on, for examples, the forward pass and the scrum when they think that Wales might have benefitted from it. When it goes against us, it's "The ref was correct and all Welsh are just bitter whingers!"  

The Saint wrote:Yeah of course. Wales won, so time to hop on board with the anti-welsh consensus and call them cheats. I seem to remember Wales driving this much vaunted French scrum back on a number of occasions, I expect the same to happen against England's reserve front-row. Look forward to the ref blaming afterwards .

Saint

I thought England would struggle against Ireland to be honest. But England did well against Ireland and held their own.

So i expect England too do the same against Wales. Can you explain why Gethin Jenkins got MOM. Is he and jiffy best of friends?

I am not a great fan of Sam Warburton, but i do believe he played far better than Gethin Jenkins did.

Agreed launchbury has played a bit at 6 but not at international level and we all saw how flawed struggled to adapt last year.wood to start at 6 for me.

Come on taff. Most of the England v Ireland scrums started off as a pushing contest. Most of the Welsh v France scrums had to be reset after going straight to ground on engagement.

majesticimperialman wrote:

The Saint wrote:Yeah of course. Wales won, so time to hop on board with the anti-welsh consensus and call them cheats. I seem to remember Wales driving this much vaunted French scrum back on a number of occasions, I expect the same to happen against England's reserve front-row. Look forward to the ref blaming afterwards .

Saint

I thought England would struggle against Ireland to be honest. But England did well against Ireland and held their own.

So i expect England too do the same against Wales. Can you explain why Gethin Jenkins got MOM. Is he and jiffy best of friends?

I am not a great fan of Sam Warburton, but i do believe he played far better than Gethin Jenkins did.

Ireland aren't Wales. You haven't won or scored a try versus Wales on the last three occasions. Gethin got MOTM because he was fundamental in taking the French scrum apart and was everywhere on the pitch putting in thumping tackles. Fitness an issue my a*se.

I would agree that Warburton was probably more deserving of MOTM though.

Oh joy, is Saint already on here with his mind-numbingly dull Wales are always the victims chatter?

Y-A-W-N

Do World Cup warm up games count now? I thought they were discounted.

For me it was between Gethin Jenkins, Dan Lydiate and Jamie Roberts.
I would have edged with Dan but Gethin deserved the accolade as well.

Just replying to a post using factual information. What's the problem?

In retrospect, I'm more concerned about this match than the Irish one.

The pitch should enable the scrums to stay up and this patched-up England side will probably have a bad time up front.

I hope the ref is stronger than Joubert was. Any caving in at the scrum should be met with a kaleidoscope of cards. Refs have a simple task these days and still they waiver. Set the scrum; get it steady and put the ball in straight and down the middle.

Wales by ten I'm afraid.
Unless James plays. He can't/won't set straight and will be carded off two-six if the ref does his job.

I'd recommend learning the difference between "fact" and opinion", first, Saint.

Portnoy, thank god I'm not the only one to notice that about Paul James. Can't believe the calls for him to start over Gethin, he's inferior to Geth in all facets of play including scrummaging.

The Saint wrote:Portnoy, thank god I'm not the only one to notice that about Paul James. Can't believe the calls for him to start over Gethin, he's inferior to Geth in all facets of play including scrummaging.

Neither can Jenkins though. He can be effective in the loose but he tried to drop all but one scrum against France, another ref and Wales would have been badly penalised.

So who do people think are favourites for this game:

England -

Perhaps should of beaten France and will have learnt a huge amount from it.

I thought they done enough against Scotland but should have won by more.

Against Ireland I thought they were very good in what was a great game, they showed a huge amount of maturity to come back and take then hold onto the lead.

Wales

Poor against Italy and most put it down to our usual slow start.

Against Ireland we were shockingly poor and 2nd best in every facet of the game.

On friday we proved what we could do and were comfortable winners which will at least givbe the guys the confidence.

England are at home which does mean a huge amount in this competition but Wales have the more experienced players and most of the probable starting line up will have won there in the past.

Again its to close to call for me, my heart will always say Wales but my head is telling me a different story at the moment, I think England start as slight faves on the back of this weekends games and being at HQ.

We had a nice pre England v Ireland thread- good fun and banter.

This one is going to be horrid isnt it..

I think I will just wait for the game and then just come back to congratulate England after the dominant win.

MissBlennerhassett wrote:

The Saint wrote:Portnoy, thank god I'm not the only one to notice that about Paul James. Can't believe the calls for him to start over Gethin, he's inferior to Geth in all facets of play including scrummaging.

Neither can Jenkins though. He can be effective in the loose but he tried to drop all but one scrum against France, another ref and Wales would have been badly penalised.

Neither can Jenkins what? You're not being very clear. Looks as if he did pretty well to me. I bit like he did against Italy, Scotland and England in last years tournament as each of those scrums went backwards and that is what helped us win each game. Nice to see him get back to where he was.

#notbittermuch

The Saint wrote:

MissBlennerhassett wrote:

The Saint wrote:Portnoy, thank god I'm not the only one to notice that about Paul James. Can't believe the calls for him to start over Gethin, he's inferior to Geth in all facets of play including scrummaging.

Neither can Jenkins though. He can be effective in the loose but he tried to drop all but one scrum against France, another ref and Wales would have been badly penalised.

Neither can Jenkins what? You're not being very clear. Looks as if he did pretty well to me. I bit like he did against Italy, Scotland and England in last years tournament as each of those scrums went backwards and that is what helped us win each game. Nice to see him get back to where he was.

#notbittermuch

I have Wales as slight favourites (very close call) going in to the next match, on the basis that you've bested us at the breakdown of late. In the scrum, without the help of the ref, I do think you have been weak, particularly Jenkins, but recent refs have negated the weakness for you. That's professional rugby, playing the ref as much as your opponent and the Welsh front row are very good at it.

mystiroakey wrote:We had a nice pre England v Ireland thread- good fun and banter.

This one is going to be horrid isnt it..

I think I will just wait for the game and then just come back to congratulate England after the dominant win.

That's the difference right there. None of that nonsense on the England-Ireland thread. Shame you have to try to spoil things.

I would say that the England Wales match will end up like yesterdays match. Two very evenly matched teams and as I suspected for Ireland, home ground advantage should see an England win. I say England by 5.

MissBlennerhassett wrote:

The Saint wrote:

MissBlennerhassett wrote:

The Saint wrote:Portnoy, thank god I'm not the only one to notice that about Paul James. Can't believe the calls for him to start over Gethin, he's inferior to Geth in all facets of play including scrummaging.

Neither can Jenkins though. He can be effective in the loose but he tried to drop all but one scrum against France, another ref and Wales would have been badly penalised.

Neither can Jenkins what? You're not being very clear. Looks as if he did pretty well to me. I bit like he did against Italy, Scotland and England in last years tournament as each of those scrums went backwards and that is what helped us win each game. Nice to see him get back to where he was.

#notbittermuch

I have Wales as slight favourites (very close call) going in to the next match, on the basis that you've bested us at the breakdown of late. In the scrum, without the help of the ref, I do think you have been weak, particularly Jenkins, but recent refs have negated the weakness for you. That's professional rugby, playing the ref as much as your opponent and the Welsh front row are very good at it.

Yes granted the Wales front row is experienced, but probably a little bit less experienced than the supposed amazing French front row. But we always hear the usual though when we win, about how the ref was our 16th man, etc. England fans are anti-Kaplan, anti-Walsh, anti-Joubert and now I suppose after this upcoming game they'll be anti-Poite. Keep it coming.

England are my tip to win this one. Home advantage will be a factor, but I thought England did very well to negate a very strong Ireland, while we failed spectacularly to do it. So England for me, but no more than a 7 point margin at a guess.

mystiroakey wrote:We had a nice pre England v Ireland thread- good fun and banter.

This one is going to be horrid isnt it..

Seems like one or two Welsh "fans" on this board, I use the term loosely of course, are just trying to stir the pot.

A shame.

[quote="englandglory4ever"]Come on taff. Most of the England v Ireland scrums started off as a pushing contest. Most of the Welsh v France scrums had to be reset after going straight to ground on engagement.[/quote
So?England got pinged a fair bit last year against Wales at scrum time.  Wales have a dominant pack.Why would they take it down?  

Agree with Nachos - Eng v Ire v2 with England shading it again. Wouldn't be surprised to see just 3 points in it again.

England's record in 6N with SH refs is very poor, particularly away from home. This game is at home and with a Frenchman in the middle - the odds are much better on the 50/50 calls.

The packs will cancel each other out in both set piece and breakdown. The difference will be tactical kicking from the half backs for territory.

Griff wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:We had a nice pre England v Ireland thread- good fun and banter.

This one is going to be horrid isnt it..

I think I will just wait for the game and then just come back to congratulate England after the dominant win.

That's the difference right there. None of that nonsense on the England-Ireland thread. Shame you have to try to spoil things.

 
what a sensitive loon- that is just banter.

I agree with miss whasname. I think the Welsh front row is very skilled at the art of scrummaging on the edge of the law. They are worth 9 points in conning pens out of refs. Why not if you can get away with it?

Wales go into this game as favourites surely?

Champions two years on the trot, 4th best team in the 2011 RWC moral victories left right and centre against the SH best.

What chance have England got, at home in front of a passionate crowd wearing Barbour jackets singing swing low sweet chariot.

Morale victories

Wales definitely favourites for this one. They've won something like 2 of the last 3 games at Twickenham. They've just shown what they're made of battering France. They clearly have the beating of us as shown last year (I don't think we've particularly improved).

englandglory4ever wrote:I agree with miss whasname. I think the Welsh front row is very skilled at the art of scrummaging on the edge of the law. They are worth 9 points in conning pens out of refs. Why not if you can get away with it?

To paraphrase the old adage: Adam Jones won them the last match, Walsh determined by how many.

Tag team wummery. Whatever next.  

(Scrumpy and Mysti)

HammerofThunor wrote:Wales definitely favourites for this one. They've won something like 2 of the last 3 games at Twickenham. They've just shown what they're made of battering France. They clearly have the beating of us as shown last year (I don't think we've particularly improved).

2 a peace from last 4 at Twickers so no edge there, surely its Englands to lose being at home and all that etc etc  

mystiroakey wrote:Morale victories

Moral victories.sp

Sorry i added laughing emoticons. But this stupid windows phone didn't add them..

bedfordwelsh wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:Wales definitely favourites for this one. They've won something like 2 of the last 3 games at Twickenham. They've just shown what they're made of battering France. They clearly have the beating of us as shown last year (I don't think we've particularly improved).

2 a peace from last 4 at Twickers so no edge there, surely its Englands to lose being at home and all that etc etc  

Are you counting the WC warm up? I tend not to. Wales definitely favourites for this one

Deffo England as favourites. England are the form team. Wales have been stuttering. Fingers crossed we can pull it off.  

Griff wrote:Deffo England as favourites. England are the form team. Wales have been stuttering. Fingers crossed we can pull it off.  

Form? Scraped a win against Ireland when apparently their coach made all the wrong decisions. Wales will be a much sterner test, meaning they'll almost certainly win.

You did smash the muthers out of France..

England deffo underdogs

PaddyPower...what does he say ?

I'm picking England to be too direct for Wales at twickenham, which is fast becoming a fortress again.

Looks the championship will be decided on points between England, and either France or Ireland. The grand finale will reveal all. Could be a real nail biter for three sets of fans.

I just don't see the necessary improvement in Wales from last year's effort. The patterns are too similar.

Wales dont have the requisite ingenuity to overcome the increasingly impressive looking walls at HQ.

Seems to me that the sides are closely matched.Probably down to the kickers.Sorted!!!

Let's hope SL points out before the game ( to the Ref and media) that Adam and Gethin struggle to scrummage legally these days.  

Scrumpy wrote:Let's hope SL points out before the game ( to the Ref and media) that Adam and Gethin struggle to scrummage legally these days.  

Gatland won't need to mention the experience as International and Lions props against English pups  

experience is over rated.

its words for has beens mate..

You think England will go downhill when they have some then ?

They are both legends of the game and not just in Wales but they are on borrowed time and to be honest I can't see both of them making next years RWC.

This is England's last chance to beat Wales at HQ before their WC meeting.No pressure.