England still winning the RWC at a canter - The RWC phase

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Assuming and currently it is quite a big assumption England get through group I can't see them winning QF against whoever they face. Bloody hopeless

formerly known as Sam wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:What's wrong with Mitchell he's having an absolute stinker.

Hes kept us in it so far!

Him losing the ball on the ground from a routine kick sets up position for the first try. His shanked kick and then fumbled catch sets up the disallowed try and then a thoroughly incompetent pick and go from the back of the scrum where he runs away from support and falls over in front of the would be tackler for a penalty and another Samoan 5m lineout. Almost blew the England try with a pass behind Farrell. He's been dreadful.

Oh he's made mistakes. Anything good he's been there. 2 great defensive moments.i mean we could be playing Youngs granted. But I'm afraid it's more Borthwick that any players. And sinfields defence.

Curry not effective. Ludlum far better but not even on bench.

lostinwales wrote:Bet that England still get a bonus point victory,  but it's going to be less than ideal performance

I hope so, but they need to give themselves a bloody shake. We've been slow and ponderous, and really lacked a cutting edge. Defence out wide has been horrible again, as soon as a team attack us there I really get worried. Farrell has been dreadful, I don't know what he is doing in the team, he is part of the problem defensively.

Ludlam is no where near Curry's class.

Studio pundits scathing and rightly so. England been poor, really poor. Basic errors, no cohesion.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Ludlam is no where near Curry's class.

Correct. He's much better.

Curry getting more involved late on in that half but before then mostly anonymous.

Marchant playing in the centres

Fiji are an upgraded version of Samoa. England better sort themselves out or they’ll be on the next flight home after Scotland

So far so good. I support two teams; France, and anyone playing England .

Duplicate

No 7&1/2 wrote:Ludlam is no where near Curry's class.

Correct. He's much better. Certainly at present.

Not sure how you could disallow that try. No clear evidence his hand hit it. Seems they were looking for ways to not allow them the score

mountain man wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:Ludlam is no where near Curry's class.

Correct. He's much better.

Come off it. He's no where near. A sold player and probably should be higher than Earl as the option for 8 but Curry is up there with the best flankers around.

You added at present after I'd started to answer that bit I think Argentina bottling our game and a couple of easy games are adding a gloss there.

mikey_dragon wrote:So far so good. I support two teams; France, and anyone playing England .

Well of course this is Samoas world Cup final so they're up for it.

I was genuinely thinking Curry returning well had been a rare bright point in a tough half. Good tackle count, leading the line speed alongside Earl, countering rucks in a smart and effective manner. He's just that bit more physical in contact than England's other strong back row options and I felt it was evident.

For all that tuilagi can do on the gain line he is not very mobile. It’s like playing a back row at centre. Think they should be looking elsewhere as there is no pace in the back line barring an aging May.

You could see his hand touch it - I also thought their first try came off a forward pass at the time and even more so having seen the replay at half time ...

Pleased it's the same team. Let them play their way out of this. They're good enough.

Nice curry.

So come on when was curry last up there with the best? Two years ago? Three?

He's good player but on last year or so Ludlum better.

mountain man wrote:So come on when was curry last up there with the best? Two years ago? Three?

He's good player but on last year or so Ludlum better.

Ludlam is a good solid player. But no he's not anything special. Curry is.

mountain man wrote:I'm just trying to imagine what would happen if they were playing a France or NZ etc. Actually, probably best not to

Yep, I just hope Fiji put England out in a respectable manner, rather than getting annihilated by one of the heavyweights.

Is the ref going to allow them to join every maul in front of the rear-most player?

3 pens in a minute or advantages.

Well. This is dross again.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Well. This is dross again.

But Curry been great

I thought Curry was very good in the '22 Six Nations and '23 AIs despite many poor team performances. As he missed the '23 Six Nations and got injured during the opening test in Australia last summer those are his most recent outings to look at prior to the RWC. He hasn't had as many jackal penalties as when he broke through but England haven't been targeting the jackal much for a while. That's a system choice rather than individual performance though. His carrying has got better and better through his career though, his tackling is as good as ever, his work rate fantastic. He's just brutally physical. England's best player for me.

What on earth was that defence?

Samoa seem to have been given more leeway at the breakdown than England

king_carlos wrote:I thought Curry was very good in the '22 Six Nations and '23 AIs despite many poor team performances. As he missed the '23 Six Nations and got injured during the opening test in Australia last summer those are his most recent outings to look at prior to the RWC. He hasn't had as many jackal penalties as when he broke through but England haven't been targeting the jackal much for a while. That's a system choice rather than individual performance though. His carrying has got better and better through his career though, his tackling is as good as ever, his work rate fantastic. He's just brutally physical. England's best player for me.

Him or Itoje for me are pretty much the standouts consistently. Both probably suffer from the fact they're so good that when they offer a 7 out 10 it's the end of the world.

Sorry but if anyone thinks Curry best player so far then watching different game to me. Lawes been good in backrow but only one.

Nice strong finish that.


Or not for the refs.

I'm biased, but that was a try...

That looks like a poor call to me. Chessum’s body doesn’t move forward at all, it’s all the arm movement

That's total BS

I meant I think Curry is generally England's highest best player for a while now. That doesn't mean he's the best player in every match. I still think he's had a decent return outing though.

I knew Brace was crap but that was ridiculous

Bad call by MItchell.

That was a try by Chessum. Anyway
Breakdown a real issue for England.

Poorfour wrote:Samoa seem to have been given more leeway at the breakdown than England

Yep they've been given turnovers where there was no clear release ...

Poorfour wrote:Bad call by MItchell.

I'm struggling to think of a good one from him so far.

Chessum robbed with that call.

Forward correct - but no more forward than their first try

Will fitness start to come to play

Sopoaga making a lot of simple errors for a 10 of his talent has helped England a lot today.

That looked forward live from Maro. And is on replay.

Smith has at least brought a bit of life to England’s attack.

Well if Martin needs to display his physicality it's now

Great chance for Martin to put a marker down here.

And at 6 presumably which I think should be his main position coming into this team.

A bit of luck there - spider cam giving Engl;and the scrum. I wonder if that’s s coachabler skill?

Bar Argentina I'm not sure our scrum has looked that strong.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Bar Argentina I'm not sure our scrum has looked that strong.

It isn't.