Does this happen in the media in other countries?

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Just seen this story on the BBC Sport website this morning. I’m sure it’s not the first article like this I’ve seen recently but struggling to think who else has come out with this sort of thing. As far as I am concerned there is only really one stand out team going into this year’s world cup and so these stories could appear about pretty much every country.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/14334130.stm

England will not win Rugby World Cup - Eddie Jones

Former Australia coach Eddie Jones has said that England have a weakness at half-back which means they will not win the Rugby World Cup.
"I don't think Ben Youngs is a Test half-back," Jones told BBC Radio 5 live. "He is good on go-forward ball but when the ball gets slow he struggles to make decisions and I think Toby Flood is the same, which is a big weakness. "That combination means I don't think they can win the World Cup."

There seems to be quite a diverse crowd here on 606v2 so my question is this. Does this type of story appear in other countries media too? Is Austin Healey doing an interview in Fiji telling them they haven’t got a hope in hell? Is Francois Pienaar doing the same thing in Scotland?

I would say we have a back row equal to the aussies with Rocky not hitting the heights he did in Europe.

But England can compete with all of these back rows and not look out of their depth and if they play at their best make it very even contests.

But is it even 5th though ? - you need to compare against Scotland, Wales and Italy as well.

As for Rocky there seems to be serious discussion going on that he may have to fight for his place - that is how strong they are

There are serious discussions about Rocky's position because he is playing so badly! Oz aren't overly stacked in the back row at the moment with their best players either out of form or injured. England would have the beating of the aussie's in the back row for me/ Our problem is the breakdown which is more down to the numbers we commit then anything else

Standulstermen wrote:Absolutely not Bathite but its part of the reason i dont think England can beat the 3N. Ireland too but areas of weakness for ireland are different

I think that beating Ireland is such a mental thing at the moment. Its a mindset and it seems from the start that none of the players believe they can beat Ireland in Ireland.



Whats Ireland biggest weakness then mate? Scrum half I would imagine at the top of the list, then what? Bowe's wing partner and waiting/hoping Kearney gets back to fitness?

I think Oz's back row depth is as good as it's ever been. Higginbotham's putting pressure on Rocky for the blind side, Robinson's another Pocock-esque fetcher, and Palu, Samo, or McCalman in the 8 jersey.

Except that Robinson isn't anywhere near int class yet, Palu chronically injured following surgery and Samo is 35/36! Higginbotham is argubaly the form forward in World Rugby right now though and McCalman is a burgeoning talent.

Standulstermen wrote:Absolutely not Bathite but its part of the reason i dont think England can beat the 3N. Ireland too but areas of weakness for ireland are different

We have beaten Australia twice in the last three meetings home and away, the last one very comfortably...

Perhaps Youngs does struggle when his team are on the back foot, but there aren’t many scrumhalves out there who don’t. Show me a 21 year old scrum half who doesn’t struggle with back foot ball, let alone during their first full season of international rugby.

I don’t want to sound facetious here either, but I doubt he is too used to being on the back foot. Leicester are renowned for their forward power and will often give their half backs a bit of an arm chair rides. He will learn from the bad experiences and be a better play for it. I honestly believe in 3-4 years time he will be one of the best half backs in the world.

Robinson was a little over-enthusiastic when he came on against Samoa but he was probably trying to spark some life into the Aussie pack... probably also a bit nervous for his first cap.

Not sure if Palu will be back in time for the RWC, they think about 4 weeks.

As for Samo, no-one knows how old he is.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

Toadfish wrote:Who's upset? I happen to agree with him about our chances although not his reasoning. All I wanted to know was if these types of headlines hit the media in other countries? Anyone got any examples if they have?

I'm too hungover today to go looking for quotes, but "Look what that idiot Stephen Jones (the "journalist" not the player) is saying about NZ rugby now" stories are quite common in the NZ media.

Hungover... Isn't it gay and lesbian night on a thursday?

Not at the park surely!!!

Let's face it, in any sporting arena there is always going to be a queue of Aussies more than happy to sl@g-off the poms - that's true rivalry, and I wouldn't change it for the world! But it's ultimately the BBC who have decided to print the cr@p, and in that there is reason to be annoyed.

Particularly when it is such cr@p.

For a start, England have two or three bigger areas of weakness than half back!! Even if you accept Jones' criticism of Youngs and Flood - which, personally, I think is harsh in both cases - with Care and Wilkinson on the bench we have arguably one of the stongest backup pairings in the competition, which could prove a critical strength in tournament rugby......I just think he's way off the mark here.

And secondly, trotting out tired old cliche's about the strength of England's pack just doesn't wash anymore....it's simply not true. Our young, naive pack was decimated against the Irish and the Boks whilst, conversely, our backline have really ticked at times (not least against the Aussies) and have a try scoring record to prove it. If England do well then it certainly won't be through grinding forward performances!

Cumbrian wrote:
I don’t want to sound facetious here either, but I doubt he is too used to being on the back foot. Leicester are renowned for their forward power and will often give their half backs a bit of an arm chair rides. He will learn from the bad experiences and be a better play for it. I honestly believe in 3-4 years time he will be one of the best half backs in the world.

I concur totally with the first sentence and although the last one is pretty speculative at this stage I think you are fairly spot on here.

Kiwireddevil wrote:

OzT wrote:So you went drinking last night and didn't invite the 606'ers huh??

Fine.

It was work drinks . And budgets were tight - we bought booze from the supermarket and spent 3 hours sitting in St James Park drinking them/ throwing a Frisbee around. Extra entertainment was provided by a Saffa couple who spent an hour or so 50 yards away from us.

Should you not change your profile to include "dogging" as one of your favoiurite sports. And drinking on a school night too, tsk tsk.