England : Ahead of The Curve

First topic message reminder :

NOW - THEN
15 B Foden - Foden
14 C Ashton - Ashton
13 J Joseph - Tuilagi
12 M Tuilagi - Flood
11 D Strettle - Cueto
10 T Flood - Wilkinson
9 B Youngs - Youngs
1 J Marler - Stevens
2 D Hartley - Thompson
3 D Cole - Cole
4 M Botha - Deacon
5 G Parling - Palmer
6 T Johnson - Croft
7 C Robshaw- Moody
8 B Morgan - Easter

From World Cup exit to promising improvement in South Africa it struck me as I re-watched Englands world cup exit again today and bits of the draw with SA in SA< just how far ENG have moved on in such a short time.

New coaches and an almost entirely new team.

And from what I saw on reflection of the 2011 exit, in all truth they were not so bad!

What really let ENG down in the most standing out way, was a poor line out.

2 minutes in the game, ENG have a great start lineout ball on the French 5 meters line, but Thompson fluffs the throw and France escape.
Next, a lineout infringement gifts 3 point start to France.
Then, a lineout turn over leds to a the first French try 10 minutes later.
Then, defensive error from a lineout leads to the second French try.

Pretty much game over as France slowed down and continually kicked ENG back to their lineout for the next 40 minutes.

ENG could not get quality ball and so could not build anything. This is the truth about that game.

When I reflect on the direction they go to from here I can see clearly this is identified and there is a plan to solve it. Far from this morning when I though ENG a bit lost and without any direction I can see already that if they go in this direction with more athletic and abrasive locking partners, some old dead wood cut out and a genuine world class flank on the job I think this team might just be a handful at home by 2015! I simply don't see another team who have made as much progress in this short time and all in the right direction!

Wales? No, they are a good team but is still the fallible team who lost in the semi-final. They prove it with the 3-0 series loss in Australia naming almost the same team but losing icons like Shane Williams.

Ireland? This is a mess. The team is old now and needs to be replaced! And this 60-0 hiding by NZ put paid to some careers for 5 years of pyschological damages!

Scotland? Cough.

Australia? Unless they cut out Deans now and rebuild around Ewan McKenzie they may not even be a top 5 team in three years time! They have no depth and rely on old horses like Sharpe.

SA? They are in disarray, I am sorry, under Meyer they are going backwards downhill on a cart with greasy wheels. They need a revolution now, not incremental improvement.

NZ? Ok there is daylight between NZ and no.2 right now. But NZ's pack is green and lacks a mogrel. They are not world cup pedigree at the moment. Too many rookies and the aging McCaw won't make 2015. Trouble in the midfield looms and without Carter as they surely will be, they fall back to the pack.

France? Who knows anything about French rugby? Not me. Maybe they will be finalists v ENG in the first all NH RWC final?

Yes. The only team travelling with a positive delta at the moment are ENG. It is not my job of course to pick RWC winners three years ahead of time. But all I can say is that they have more momentum and more promise to become the top dogs again than any other team right now. The others must do something immediately to address this, or it will become clear before the tournament kicks off again who are the favourites!

I think he is NZ, but not sure why I think that.
I also, not entirely rationally, believe him to be the Grey Ghost.
Whoever, he must love all the attention though.

SecretFly wrote:Pain is a refugee from Someplaceorother and we should speak kindly of his new and adoring appreciation of rugby union. He has no club, no nation, no bias. He loves rugby - it's pointed that he knows a lot about it! - yet he remains aloof from the tribalism that would bury him into the culture of any one rugby nation. In one way, I envy him his freedom, in other ways I think he needs a grounding in good old fashioned hot-blooded bias.

I only wish for the day when Someplaceorother is invited into our 'happy' family of pan-European club competition and that he can begin to undestand the passion of having your own side to cheer for.

Russia, Portugal, Georgia, Someplaceorother, Spain.... 4th tier.

Fly no offence but you remind me of Walter Mitty the way your posts drift off into unusually bizzare tangents.

I thought he was from Madeupistan?

gregortree wrote:I think he is NZ, but not sure why I think that.
I also, not entirely rationally, believe him to be the Grey Ghost.
Whoever, he must love all the attention though.

He would appear to be Grey Ghost because they both seem to share a common and often irrational aversion to Wayne Barnes and English rugby. They are both pests but sometimes quite witty. There are many similarities.

One thing is obvious though AWOP is a native English speaker and definitely not from Eastern Europe.

GunsGerms wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Pain is a refugee from Someplaceorother and we should speak kindly of his new and adoring appreciation of rugby union. He has no club, no nation, no bias. He loves rugby - it's pointed that he knows a lot about it! - yet he remains aloof from the tribalism that would bury him into the culture of any one rugby nation. In one way, I envy him his freedom, in other ways I think he needs a grounding in good old fashioned hot-blooded bias.

I only wish for the day when Someplaceorother is invited into our 'happy' family of pan-European club competition and that he can begin to undestand the passion of having your own side to cheer for.

Russia, Portugal, Georgia, Someplaceorother, Spain.... 4th tier.

Fly no offence but you remind me of Walter Mitty the way your posts drift off into unusually bizzare tangents.

I like to keep them that way, Guns. When I'm just cruising around, dipping my feet into ongoing topics I don't take myself or my comments too seriously. Evenso, I think I'm pretty on target with that one you quoted - the issue was about Pain and his pigeon-English ways?? Yes? So I just tied Pain into another ongoing topic on other threads just for the fun of it (for me)

Anyway, I think when I'm more personally involved in a topic my seriousness speaks for itself. I just pick and choose when to be serious, Guns.