Worst 6N match ever.

It should have finished 6-3, but Dan Parks was there to save the day for England.

I wouldn't know which set of fans should be more worried? England offered ZERO in attack, but defended well against possibly the worst display of squandering chances ever seen on a rugby pitch. Scotland did well to create many chances because England were weak, but their mistakes were copious. Even when they did string a few passes in the backs the timing of those passes and positioning was awful.

Englands excuse is inexperience so they did good to get a win in Murrayfield, Scotlands showed us that they should have picked more Edinburgh players. Max Evans was the only threat but a bit selfish.

Wales and France will put at least 30 points on both Scotland and England. Wales v France in cardiff will decide this championship.

I'll see if I can find Wales Vs Ireland in 1993, or Scotland V Ireland in 1994, then you will think of todays game as an all time classic.

I have just posterd on another thread it was not one of the best free flowing games. But it was not a bore fest either .

Why you think that Wales and France will put 30 points on England i dont know.

England have played 1 and won 1 with a team that as very little iternational experience at all.

So i am happy that England got a win today. after all a win is what was more important than the style of play.

If Scotland had a finisher or ran some angles or not made last second errors they would have scored 10 tries.

gnollbeast wrote: I wouldn't know which set of fans should be more worried? .

Well if I was Scottish I would be very concerned. They were absolutely clueless in attack and made so many errors it was comical. Whoever is their backs coach has serious work to do. I agree with Jiffy on the Red button forum. "They have no idea what they doing and are dreadful in the opposing 22." If a better team had played them today goodness knows what the score would be. Simply not good enough.

It really wouldn’t surprise me if Scotland get the wooden spoon this year. As Brian Moore said " Back to the drawing board.."

gnollbeast wrote:If Scotland had a finisher or ran some angles or not made last second errors they would have scored 10 tries.

Ifs and buts, my friend. Means nowt.

Thought it was a fun game to watch personally, plenty of intensity and some good defending from both sides. Delighted with the win

Without doubt that was the worst match I've ever witnessed. Both sides were appalling.

You clearly missed Scotland v Georgia.

EnglishReign wrote:You clearly missed Scotland v Georgia.

or Scotland England 2009

roddersm wrote:Without doubt that was the worst match I've ever witnessed. Both sides were appalling.

you are old enough to remember Wales V Ireland 1993, have you blocked it out or something?

let's not exaggerate, they have been many far worse games of rugby than that...

Romania v Georgia is probably the worst rugby match you can watch.

KickAndChase wrote:

EnglishReign wrote:You clearly missed Scotland v Georgia.

or Scotland England 2009

Wasn't as bad as Scotland England 2010. Jesus. Noticing a theme here?

Appalling. At least England have the excuse of having a lot of new faces a new coach and inexperience. What is Scotland's excuse? That was the most inept rugby I've ever seen a 6 Nations team play.

As i said elsewhere, the Calcutta Cup is the most consistently turgid dull-fest of a game in the international calendar. I always dread it. Still, glad we sneaked a win. Phew.

Awful match. but its the same every year between these teams.

I have only just stopped laughing at Andy Robinsons face through out the game. Oh well the result was never in doubt, well done England 3rd team.

I have to say that i quite enjoyed the match, which i honestly felt we would lose and lets be honest i've seen worse games than this, but maybe its the result that makes it 'The worst 6 N match ever' for some people, which even adds to my enjoyment of the result!!

This was not a bad game.

It is the first international match of the season for both teams.

Scotland did what they did in the world cup, they made most of the play, especially in the second half, but suffered due to handling.

England defended very well, sure scotland scuffed up their own chances, but when you have solid defence against you, you make mistakes.

Barrit was top in defence. Lamont was great with ball in hand, and that young chap Denton.

Overall an enjoyable game and the Scottish crowd made for good atmosphere.

The worrying factor for england will be that they made no clean breaks or beaten any defenders.

Scotland did, but they still need to work om the completion of a move all the way to the try line.

Scotland should have won the match in about the 70th minute when they had the oportunity, but you can't blame the ball carrier, he didn't see the supporting runner come from behind him.

One thing about scotland is their suport runners should find themselves a little more space to run into, then perhaps the offloads will be more accurate.

I think clancy had a good match.

Wasn't fantastic but I've seen a lot of worse matches. Plus the quality of rugby does not dictate the quality of viewing. It was tense at least, and there was some good forwards work and defensive work from both sides. If the half-backs had been better on either side the game would have been more open I agree

Youngs, Cuisiter and Parks were NOT good. Hodgson and Farrell were variable at best. Laidlaw looked exciting but lacked any sort of composure (and his try was rightly disallowed, I am not convinced it was downward pressure, but it should definitely have been a penalty to Scotland) so the half-backs kind of dragged the game down.

However it was certainly not the worst 6N game ever. From a back-rower's perspective I thought there was some very good play on and off the ball by Rennie, Denton and Robshaw

Fair points biltong. It wasn't a bore fest. There was always something happening. But the Scottish backs were so poor in execution. It must be very frustrating, because the pack can mix it with anyone in the tournament.

I never noticed who it was - which of the scotland centers - but there was this thing that every time he got the ball with a bunch of guys outside him he got absolutely nailed

Lee Jones the right winger got smashed around a lot. I thought Max Evans was immense especially for such a small guy.

gnollbeast wrote:It should have finished 6-3

You seem to have conveniently forgotten that quite aside form the try England also scored two penalties (missing a further two, unlike Scotland who kicked all of theirs), or were you just suggesting that it should have finished at the moment that would have ensured your preferred result of an England loss?

Why do most or the 'worst matches' involve Scotland?

I love a good forwards match as much as the great backline matches

england could have simply gone into this game with a game plan.

limit penalties and scotland cant beat you- no matter how much possesion they have

Scotland weren't clueless in attack. They made loads of attacks and broke Englands line numerous times. As I have said before it's a support issue. When Richie Gray made his burst there were no viable options really and Mike Blair came up too late. Denton made plenty of breaks but there was nobody or not enough support to clear out hence turnovers and penalties.

Scotland aren't far away from being a very dangerous side and as much as I'd like to blame Parks who did have a terrible game even by his standards (that was because England targetted him and cut his space down so well) it wasn't all his fault. Scotland have to learn that a break is only as its support.

For a Calcutta game that one wasn't bad at all.

I've seen far worse ones.

A win is a win (as a Welsh poster once typed).

safeasmilk- 'A wins a win (as a Welsh poster once typed)

Ehhh? well how would he know, unless he had a really good memory!!

english warrior wrote:Ehhh? well how would he know, unless he had a really good memory!!

Apparently they've got VHS now

certain weslh want to devalue the game

it was an odd game in a way - and both teams can take some positives.

scotland had possion and had attacks- if they keep that play up they wil eventually start getting more tries.

england would normally give away double the amount of penalties they did concedering the amount of time we had off the ball.

worst 6n's match ever- blimey people have short memories on here

Just left murrayfield. What a shocker, so many chances were blown. AR asked for experienced players to step up and in the end it was the young players who stepped up. Denton was so good and I think jones was fantastic too. Parks had a shocker. The worst thing is that England played so badly and yet we still couldn't scrape a win.

Another point was the Scottish crowd. I posted a thread in the original 606 about scottish supporters lack of singing and general enthusiasm. Today was terrible. England supporters had a good sing along though, swing low sweet chariot was sung a few times. All we could manage was loud boo's when england were kicking penalties. Bad sportsmanship. I was embarresed, several England supporters sitting by me mentioned that if this were an Ireland game the stadium would be silent when anyone was kicking. I have to ask, as a Scottish person who has grown up in Australia, why do we never sing at murrayfield? National anthem at start of match doesn't count.

Well done england, you totally deserved the win. Scotland... Sort it out!

I was also shocked at the booing when the English supporters started to sing Swing Low. Pretty pathetic really. Why don't they try singing over it instead.

the England fans were great though, really got stuck in behind the team. So right about the Scottish fans not singing, even the French managed a couple of decent Marseillaise renditions today...

SafeAsMilk wrote:

english warrior wrote:Ehhh? well how would he know, unless he had a really good memory!!

Apparently they've got VHS now

I thought it was betamax

SafeAsMilk wrote:

english warrior wrote:Ehhh? well how would he know, unless he had a really good memory!!

Apparently they've got VHS now

I'm surprised so many of them have the internet!

Don't know how we won but we did - well done for the spirit shown but please don't let the oppo have 60% possession, my heart cant take it or my nails.

Master Yoda, the force, strong it is with the young ones.

biltongbek wrote:Master Yoda, the force, strong it is with the young ones.

Scottish handling errors it explains! Most surprising it was!

surprising it was not, world cup before I have seen it.

gnollbeast wrote:If Scotland had a finisher or ran some angles or not made last second errors they would have scored 10 tries.

What a stupid statement! If I had bet £000's pounds on an England win today I would be a millionaire. But I didn't so I'm not and Scotland didn't do all those things either.

England did defend quite well today. But on attack, I was having a growing sensation I was watching a Saracens match. More so at the match went on.

The technical term for this is: Bad Juju.

Clancy was poor at the breakdown, England often went off their feet and he did not penalise them at all as they illegally disrupted Scotlands ball. But I guess you play the referee and once he didn't penalise them at the start they got away with it all afternoon

DOD wrote:Clancy was poor at the breakdown, England often went off their feet and he did not penalise them at all as they illegally disrupted Scotlands ball. But I guess you play the referee and once he didn't penalise them at the start they got away with it all afternoon

Funny, I was thinking exactly the same about Scotland.

DOD wrote:Clancy was poor at the breakdown, England often went off their feet and he did not penalise them at all as they illegally disrupted Scotlands ball. But I guess you play the referee and once he didn't penalise them at the start they got away with it all afternoon

England basically played the breakdown exactly how Scotland has for the last two years. i.e. pile in fast, staying on feet is optional. In fact, it's also exactly how Ireland play. He was perfectly balanced in his treatment so i'm not fussed.

DOD wrote:Clancy was poor at the breakdown, England often went off their feet and he did not penalise them at all as they illegally disrupted Scotlands ball. But I guess you play the referee and once he didn't penalise them at the start they got away with it all afternoon

I agree with that DOD, Glancy was clueless at the breakdown. England were offside and off their feet all day. However Scotland's contact skills were appalling too. They were far too slow to the breakdown and didn't commit enough men into the rucks to secure their own ball. Cusiters service was far to slow and there seemed to be a total lack of direction and leadership between the pack and half packs. Parks was a disaster at 10, standing too deep and kicking poorly out of hand. It was an absolute shambles.

England weren't much better. Their scrum and lineout were poor and they created nothing in 80 min. Like Scotland they lacked basic passing skills. Thankfully desperate Dan and Scotland handed the game to them.

The game itself was a decent contest but I've never seen such a lack of basic skills and intelligence from two teams in years. There was a lack of physicality and intensity from both sides too.

On that evidence England will struggle to finish above Italy and Scotland don't even deserve a wooden spoon they are so poor.

roddersm wrote:

DOD wrote:Clancy was poor at the breakdown, England often went off their feet and he did not penalise them at all as they illegally disrupted Scotlands ball. But I guess you play the referee and once he didn't penalise them at the start they got away with it all afternoon

I agree with that DOD, Glancy was clueless at the breakdown. England were offside and off their feet all day. However Scotland's contact skills were appalling too. They were far too slow to the breakdown and didn't commit enough men into the rucks to secure their own ball. Cusiters service was far to slow and there seemed to be a total lack of direction and leadership between the pack and half packs. Parks was a disaster at 10, standing too deep and kicking poorly out of hand. It was an absolute shambles.

England weren't much better. Their scrum and lineout were poor and they created nothing in 80 min. Like Scotland they lacked basic passing skills. Thankfully desperate Dan and Scotland handed the game to them.

The game itself was a decent contest but I've never seen such a lack of basic skills and intelligence from two teams in years. There was a lack of physicality and intensity from both sides too.

On that evidence England will struggle to finish above Italy and Scotland don't even deserve a wooden spoon they are so poor.

We were bad, really bad. But i think i hear this after every Calcutta Cup game. We play turd and everyone says we're the worst team to ever grace the game and Kenya would thrash us etc. I'm not sure this fixture ever offers much evidence of where England are. I could see us having a poor tourney and maybe coming 4th, but i think we need a bit of perspective here - we're normally fairly competitive at least.

As for Clancy and the breakdown. I think we were lucky as we came in from the side a lot, but as far as going off our feet was concerned, i thought we were no worse than the Scots. But as i say, I've watched Irish teams do this in the HC for years, and the national team, so i wasn't surprised Clancy let us get away with it. The last point isn't a snide dig by the way, just genuinely how i see it. You play the ref and good luck to you. Smart rugby.

Hood83 wrote: You play the ref and good luck to you. Smart rugby.

Yes you do play the ref but I didn't see any smart rugby yesterday. Neither side seemed to know the rules at the breakdown but the difference was that England committed men to the rucks and Scotland didn't.

Scotland were totally clueless and questions need to be asked about Robinson and perhaps more so Townsend. There is no excuse for a professional side to be poorly drilled and have such a lack of skills, intelligence and cohesion.

England have an excuse at least and will likely improve going forward. However they were devoid of passion, basic ball skills and the set piece was sub standard.

Jeebus I hope todays game is better.

roddersm wrote:

Hood83 wrote: You play the ref and good luck to you. Smart rugby.

Yes you do play the ref but I didn't see any smart rugby yesterday. Neither side seemed to know the rules at the breakdown but the difference was that England committed men to the rucks and Scotland didn't.

Scotland were totally clueless and questions need to be asked about Robinson and perhaps more so Townsend. There is no excuse for a professional side to be poorly drilled and have such a lack of skills, intelligence and cohesion.

England have an excuse at least and will likely improve going forward. However they were devoid of passion, basic ball skills and the set piece was sub standard.

Jeebus I hope todays game is better.

It certainly wasn't good rugby, but it was less dimwitted than previous English performances in terms of giving away stupid penalties. Well our breakdown skills have been consistently the worst of a top tier team for at least 7 or 8 years, so again, an improvement of sorts.

The lineout was poor, the scrum was fine and i'm confident will be just fine against the Irish. As for a lack of passion, hmm, not sure about that, the players did look like they were interested and committed.

Today's game will be much better. But i expect Ireland to win it through the forwards not the dash and verve of the backs. Will be interesting and useful for you guys to see how life after BOD might look.

EnglishReign wrote:

gnollbeast wrote:If Scotland had a finisher or ran some angles or not made last second errors they would have scored 10 tries.

Ifs and buts, my friend. Means nowt.

Yep and if the game opened up like that Eng would be likely scoring tries too.

I think this idea that, based on one game, this young developing group will just lay down to be steamrollered by Wales is crazy. They may lose but they look like they have fight in them (and other players return by then too).