England vs Tonga match thread

[maestegmafia]

First topic message reminder :

England

V

Tonga

[maestegmafia]

Williams got the Kalamafoni/Watson decision 100% correct.

Yep but missed a blatant shoulder barge near the start of the game ...

Heaf, the tackle on Billy Vunipola the Tongan was fine

really?  leading shoulder to chest with not a hint of an arm wrap?  must do better with your wumming ...

Heaf, you need to do better with opening your eyes, the tackle was a good hit, put the Tongan on his backside

Good hit yes - but not a legal tackle ...

Trying to move this along lads but I would say that I would be surprised if the incident is cited after the match.

[Heaf]

OK maybe ... you've got to admit he does have previous though ...

Just try to be a bit more resilient Heaf

OK will do

[Heaf]

Williams got the Kalamafoni/Watson decision 100% correct.

Yep but missed a blatant shoulder barge near the start of the game ...

Heaf, the tackle on Billy Vunipola the Tongan was fine

really?  leading shoulder to chest with not a hint of an arm wrap?  must do better with your wumming ...

Heaf, you need to do better with opening your eyes, the tackle was a good hit, put the Tongan on his backside

Good hit yes - but not a legal tackle ...

Trying to move this along lads but I would say that I would be surprised if the incident is cited after the match.

Wasn't a red so won't be cited ... OK let's leave it there ...

[Guest]

Good stuff Heaf, your team is good, there are no issues and they’re taking care of business without breaking sweat

[maestegmafia]

Final quarter, most of us thought England would win this by about forty points. I think all of us thought Tonga would create more opportunities. They have kicked away a lot of possession

[WELL-PAST-IT]

England losing cohesion since the changes

[Heaf]

They need to learn to cope with the changes so at least they're getting some practice ...

[maestegmafia]

Is the back line now?

9 Willi
10 Owen
11 Slade
12 Manu
13 JJ
14 Wats
15 Daly

That’s a scrumhalf and five lads who play centre. Lots of utility ability in this england backline. Could bode useful as the tournament moves on

[WELL-PAST-IT]

and JJ still hasn't learned how to pass

[Heaf]

Tonga looked like they were blowing in the first half but have kept going well ...

[Guest]

Is Ford and Farrell at 10 and 12 the A-team?

[maestegmafia]

Tonga looked like they were blowing in the first half but have kept going well ...

Ben Tameifuna Was blowing after walking on and singing the anthem

[Guest]

Slade passes to no one

[BigGee]

Another own goal!

[Heaf]

How did they blow that FFS ...

[Guest]

Good run by Watson though

[Heaf]

Yep - shame about the shocking finish

[BigGee]

At last!

[Guest]

England just mucking about Heaf, wouldn’t worry

[Heaf]

About time

[Heaf]

England just mucking about Heaf, wouldn’t worry

I'm a serial worrier ...

[BigGee]

Tonga are out on their feet now, they have left nothing out there though and deserve credit

[maestegmafia]

Great try and they get the BP.

Not been an inspiring performance by either team, particularly Tonga who really lacked any buzz in attack at all and kicked away loads of possession despite gaining little advantage in doing so. Tonga have been surprisingly dull this match

[WELL-PAST-IT]

better.

JJ has even unglued his hands

[Heaf]

Got the job done but far too many handling errors and missed opportunities

[WELL-PAST-IT]

what was that about with Cole, they knocked on

[Heaf]

Itoje kicked it from in front of Cole who was the last player to touch it - pen was correct although came after a clearly not-straight line out ... also wrong as he was playing advantage for the knock-on as you said ...

[Heaf]

brain fart ...

[BigGee]

Decent first hit out for England but plenty still to work on

[mikey_dragon]

Tonga looked like they were blowing in the first half but have kept going well ...

Ben Tameifuna Was blowing after walking on and singing the anthem

He must play like 20 minutes per fortnight for Racing?

[Guest]

Tonga are giving England a far better game than Scotland gave Ireland.

Ouch, not a bad call as Scotland promised more and delivered less

[kingelderfield]

God forbid Ben Youngs gets injured as that old kiwi looks ropey as.

[LondonTiger]

Well, that was underwhelming.

[lostinwales]

England seldom out of first gear. Tonga had almost nothing in attack so England got something right but the standard issues were handling and penalties. Almost a training run. Lots of high balls from the Tongans and the back 3 dealt with it all.

May and Tuilagi really good. Watson fabulous run late on. JJ looked slippery

Slade nice touches in a very short cameo. I do hope his knee is OK but is a realistic option at 15.

Tonga always had guys ambling around ahead of the guy with the ball. How big was that no.3. Funny seeing Ford tackle him.

[WELL-PAST-IT]

A good workout, hopefully no one injured.

As SCW just said, it showed who actually deserves the first XV tag and EJ got it about right.

Concerned about Genge and his scrummaging, he seem to be getting bet double all the time, The Tongan TH seemed to be pushing far to early and getting away with it, perhaps Genge should just have allowed himself to be pushed back before the ball came in

[maestegmafia]

Itoje kicked it from in front of Cole who was the last player to touch it - pen was correct although came after a clearly not-straight line out ... also wrong as he was playing advantage for the knock-on as you said ...

No. 10 Line outs being straight


Not the first and surely not the last but that throw by Tonga was so one sided it was ridiculous

[Heaf]

The fact that he knocked it back with his outside arm should have been a clue even if the officials were cross-eyed ...

[maestegmafia]

Tonga looked like they were blowing in the first half but have kept going well ...

Ben Tameifuna Was blowing after walking on and singing the anthem

He must play like 20 minutes per fortnight for Racing?

He was perspiring when he saw he was starting on the team sheet.

[TightHEAD]

and JJ still hasn't learned how to pass

Good job he knows where the space is then, plus he can make a 2 v 1 work

[Heaf]

also very odd call to ping Itoje when he was playing an advantage for a knock-on ...

[maestegmafia]

The fact that he knocked it back with his outside arm should have been a clue even if the officials were cross-eyed ...

if you re watch it the Tongan Hooker was eye balling the fullback I think that’s who he was aiming for.

As we said earlier it is a big shock how poor the refereeing has been so far on the basics

[TightHEAD]

Poor performance all round but it's 5 points and we take one more step towards RWC Glory!

[mikey_dragon]

England did well enough alright, but Tonga should be doing better with some of the forward they have. As far as fitness goes they're on the same level as Russia.

[Guest]

God forbid Ben Youngs gets injured as that old kiwi looks ropey as.

Yeah he is crap isn’t he. What the heck was EJ thinking? Hope the guy stays in England as we don’t want him returning home and stinking up the joint.

[maestegmafia]

England did well enough alright, but Tonga should be doing better with some of the forward they have. As far as fitness goes they're on the same level as Russia.

First match rustiness.. we have seen it in most of the teams this weekend.

I was very disappointed with Tonga, they offered nothing, aimlessly kicked away so much possession. They only looked like trying to play in the last five minutes.

[Cyril]

Did anyone really expect much from Tonga? They’ve been pretty rubbish for years. England did enough without raising a sweat. Decent start with plenty to work on. Lots more to come from this England side.

[WELL-PAST-IT]

I was a bit disappointing with our front row in the open play, where were the deft touches from Sinkler, the charging runs from George. I think Itoje and Lawes showed that they are the best pairing, they compliment each other very well. Back row was fine but the backs seemed a bit disjointed, May. probably our most dangerous strike runner, only got pass and he set Manu up to score with it.

Daly was not put under pressure, but caught everything that was kicked to him, but not confidently. Watson looked excellent, that last run was something to behold. Manu showed what we have been missing but did nothing at IC, we just didn't look smooth once Ford was off the park.

[WELL-PAST-IT]

ebop, nothing to say about the Stokes family, you seem the type to read the sun if you could get it.

[SecretFly]

Looks like England want to keep Tonga interested in playing on in the pool past this game.

Cute tactic. You never know where a little Tongan self-belief/confidence might lead to. Don't completely deflate them.

[Old Man]

Really expected more from England. They should be better next match.

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