England Player Ratings

15. Alex Goode- Looked fairly anonymous for most of the game, did offer himself in attack a few times but also dropped a high ball and kept giving passes to his wings too early without drawing the man first, his defence was poor as well when he bottled a key tackle on Hogg. Foden could well get back in to the 15/11 shirt soon. 5/10

14. Chris Ashton- Played smart yesterday, cut out the silly congested running in to contact that he started over the AI's and got back to tracking the man and ball. Still needs to be careful with his temper and silly off the ball stuff but did very well taking his try and looked lively throughout. 8/10

13. Brad Barritt- Before this game we all worried that seeing him actually run with the ball against NZ may have been like an eclipse, something people have to wait a century to see and then it's over before it's properly begun. Thankfully there were still hints of the running threat throughout the game and as always his defence could not be faulted, a very solid display. 7/10

12. Billy Twelvetrees- After so long calling for him to be capped it was pleasing to see Billy take to the International game like a fish out of water. He constantly made half breaks and once past that first defender slipped the ball to a supporting runner, only once messing up and throwing to a Scot. Brought pace and dynamism to Englands midfield that we've lacked and took a lot of pressure off our 10. His try was the icing on the cake of a super debut, and to think a season ago at Tigers he was being benched behind Anthony Allen. 9/10

11. Mike Brown- Stuart Lancaster has to make a tough call with Brown, his attacking game with the ball is the best in the team and as the stats show he made more metres then any other player yesterday, he literally will not let just one opposition player bring him down demanding that two or more attempt it. But he is not a winger and too often is exposed out on the left wing. Brown was key in Scotlands first try with his long kick being poorly chased and then missing his tackle on Hogg, he did do well after that and tackled just about any one that moved, but still he's a 15 out of position. 7/10

10. Owen Farrell- Another player with question marks over him regarding an attacking game. Farrell's performance yesterday helped answer a lot of them. Long and short passes were used, he took the ball flat and moved it quickly, only kicked rarely when needed and even tried to break the line himself. He lacks for pace and that is the only thing he may never be able to change but he brings far too much to the team to let this one factor be an issue. Probably his best game for England to date and with the character he's shown so far you have to expect he'll carry on performing like this as well, a deserved MoM. 8/10

9. Ben Youngs- Started to show he's on the way to recovering his very best form from two seasons ago, looked lively with the ball in hand, was quick to get the ball away when it needed to be spread wide and kicked well. One of the best things about Youngs yesterday was that for all of the long periods of time when England attacked well and moved forward you hardly noticed him as he got on and did his job perfectly. 8/10

8. Mathew Morgan- England have a lot to thank Gloucester for and the fitness levels of Morgan are one of those things. Right from the very first minute he looked like a man out to say Easter who? Smashed Scotish defenders with the ball in hand and pleasingly kept offering himself up throughout to carry until his ankle injury forced him off. 8/10

7. Chris Robshaw- My Mom Robshaw was everywhere yesterday and led by example throughout, if something needed tackling he tackled it, slow ball was helped to become fast ball and he was more then happy to give and receive passes and keep the game going the Quins way. Worked smartly on the deck to slow down Scottish ball and was part of a pack effort to keep turning over the opposition. 9/10

6. Tom Wood- The perfect foil to his Captain at 7 Wood was strong throughout, other then one very impressive carry in the first half he was constantly head down and doing the tough stuff but he does it so well. Moved to 8 later and looked very comfy there, an interesting point if Morgan is out injured. 8/10

5 Geoff Parling- Has grown into his role for England commendably, he now looks far more dynamic like a modern second row needs to be and is happy in defence and attack. The lineout was a bit shaky at times and Parling has to take some of the blame there but all in all a game to be pleased with, took his try well in the second half. 7/10

4. Joe Launchberry- Another solid performance from Launchberry, he worked well in the tight for England and as always gave 100% until he came off. Carried on taking high balls well and you have to feel sorry for him losing out on his first International try due to his team mates misbehaviour. Although he doesn't look it he adds a lot in the scrum and hits rucks well, properly clearing players off the ball and giving his 9 easy ball to use. 7/10

3. Dan Cole- Probably one of Cole's quietest games in an England shirt which say's more about his other games then this one. He did enough at the scrum to give us good ball and win a couple of pens, was busy in defence but did contribute to the first Scot try and had a few handling errors, but then he is a prop. 6/10

2. Tom Youngs- Started off quietly but as the game went on carried more and more and more. Takes the ball at pace and really looks to hit the opposition tacklers, good in defende and busy around the park as well. Not sure what he did to get the try revoked but luckily it wasn't too important in the grand scheme of things. 6/10

1. Joe Marle- For the first time in his fledgling International career Joe managed to bring his Quins form to England. Constantly looked to carry the ball in to space, gave good passes to support players that flummoxed the Scottish defence and kept tackling till the end and won at least one key turn over. Held up well in the scrum as well, a proper coming of age game for the young prop. 8/10

Agree with most of that Yappy.

Apart from playing a 5'8" welsh fly half at number 8!

Yappy, you are right about both Brown and Goode. I want to see Brown at 15 next week. A proper winger or Foden at a pinch. With 36 at 12 I don't think we need Goode's playmaking at 15 as much as we need a traditional fullback. Which of course means keeping 36 at 12. So what of Barrit and Tuilagi? I think I would take he Lancaster approach and keep the man in possession ie Barrit on with Tuilagi on the bench for a potentially early impact subbing.

TRP ratings:
Goode 6; Ashton 7; Barritt 6; Twelvetrees 8; Brown 6; Farrell 8; Youngs 7
Morgan 7; Robshaw 7; Wood 8; Parling 7; Launchbury 7; Cole 7, Youngs 6; Marler 7


Sunday Times:
Goode 7; Ashton 8; Barritt 6; Twelvetrees 8; Brown 6; Farrell 8; Youngs 8
Morgan 6; Robshaw 7; Wood 7; Parling 6; Launchbury 7; Cole 6, Youngs 6; Marler 7


Guardian:
Goode 7; Ashton 6; Barritt 6; Twelvetrees 7; Brown 6; Farrell 8; Youngs 6
Morgan 7; Robshaw 8; Wood 7; Parling 6; Launchbury 7; Cole 5, Youngs 5; Marler 6


Telegraph:
Goode 7; Ashton 8; Barritt 7; Twelvetrees 9; Brown 7; Farrell 9; Youngs 7
Morgan 7; Robshaw 8; Wood 7; Parling 8; Launchbury 8; Cole 8, Youngs 5; Marler 7


Scottish Herald:
Goode 5; Ashton 6; Barritt 5; Twelvetrees 8; Brown 6; Farrell 9; Youngs 7
Morgan 8; Robshaw 6; Wood 7; Parling 8; Launchbury 7; Cole 6, Youngs 5; Marler 7



Quite divergent at times

my ratings for the england side this weekend would be

Goode-4
Ashton-6
Barritt-6
Twelvetrees-9
Brown-6
Farrell-9
Youngs-7
Morgan-9
Robshaw-9
Wood-7
Parling-8
Launchbury-8
Cole-5
Youngs-5
Marler-7

Here's mine

Goode-6
Ashton-7
Barritt-6
Twelvetrees-8
Brown-6
Farrell-8
Youngs-8
Morgan-7
Robshaw-8
Wood-7
Parling-7
Launchbury-7
Cole-6
Youngs-6
Marler-7

Maybe I'm a bit stingy (and I do think they performed well) but there's plenty to improve upon and if 10 is perfect, 9 is truly excellent I think the best of the England players were an 8 which is very good.

10 - perfection personified
9 - Excellent
8 - Very good
7 - Good
6 - OK
5 - Average
4 - Below Par
3 - Poor
2 - Awful
1 - We would have been better if they were sent off.

So my ratings:

Marler 6
Youngs 5
Cole 6
Launcbury 7
Parling 7
Wood 8
Robshaw 7
Youngs 7
Farrell 8
Brown 5
Barritt 6
Twelvetrees 8
Ashton 7
Goode 4

I think people are being a bit harsh on Goode. He didn't have a great game by any means and ran into trouble a few times but let's not get carried away and cast him aside.

Having said that I'm not wholly convinced by playing both him and Brown in the backline. We do lack a little pace there.

I thought he looked OK ball in hand - though some iffy decisions. My real proble was defence - he was often slow getting to some off the kicks, and looked lightweight when Hogg set him on his arse.

Goode's pace is a concern, much more so than Brown who is extremely fast these days and, just as importantly, hard to bring to ground. It gives the other players time to get to the ruck. Goode is technically extremely sound but gets into trouble when the kick chase is good.

Goode looked unfit and Brown carried well but made several errors including a couple if knock ons and getting caught out when hesitating from Strettle's pass in the 22. Strettle was also awful. Only Ashton in the back three can feel secure in his position and with Foden's form I doubt he is a serious contender.

I'll go back for another watch before I post a full set of ratings as I watched the game in the pub after playing my own game so need a another look as I thought England were actually quite sloppy, particularly when taking the ball into contact.

LondonTiger wrote:10 - perfection personified
9 - Excellent
8 - Very good
7 - Good
6 - OK
5 - Average
4 - Below Par
3 - Poor
2 - Awful
1 - We would have been better if they were sent off.

So my ratings:

Marler 6
Youngs 5
Cole 6
Launcbury 7
Parling 7
Wood 8
Robshaw 7
Youngs 7
Farrell 8
Brown 5
Barritt 6
Twelvetrees 8
Ashton 7
Goode 4

What has Morgan done to deserve no rating?

Sam yes England were a bit sloppy at times, but from that it was good to see them keep trying and not go in to their shells like Eng of old. Also its worth noting that a lot of the time the players from clubs who naturally run the ball a lot more took control and kept upping the tempo,which is a great change from conservative players of old taking over and shutting up shop.

I think Brown needs to play 15 next game. Start the same centres and have Manu at 23, potentially put Foden at 11 as at least he's quicker then the other two and has a lot more experience.

Intersting that before the AI's we were all agreeing that wing was a place of huge depth and now in the cold light of day there's no one I'd really trust there, unless its an out of position centre or fullback (Foden, JJ, Manu, Lowe).

ChequeredJersey wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:10 - perfection personified
9 - Excellent
8 - Very good
7 - Good
6 - OK
5 - Average
4 - Below Par
3 - Poor
2 - Awful
1 - We would have been better if they were sent off.

So my ratings:

Marler 6
Youngs 5
Cole 6
Launcbury 7
Parling 7
Wood 8
Robshaw 7
Youngs 7
Farrell 8
Brown 5
Barritt 6
Twelvetrees 8
Ashton 7
Goode 4

What has Morgan done to deserve no rating?

Become a 5'8 Welsh flyhalf...

1. Marler - 6 - did his job
2. T Youngs - 6 - mixed bag, some very good a couple of silly pens, high tackle decision bizarre.
3. Cole - 7 - solid in the propping and complemented it with a couple of crucial steals including one metres from his line.
4. Launchbury - 7- busy and involved with a lot of mobility.
5. Parling - 7 - he was everywhere.
6. Wood - 8- carried well and a thorn in the side of Scotland.
7. Robshaw - 6 - worked hard but things didn't fall his way and tried to hard at times.
8. Morgan - 6 - carried well but needs to up his work in defence.
9. B Youngs - 8 - quality through out and controlled England very well.
10. Farrell - 7 - long passes were slow and he lacked go forward in attack but tactically astute playing the percentages well and kept the points building.
11. Brown - 6 - dire first half where he chased nothing and made little effort in defence. Second half revitalised and looked much more positive.
12. Twelvetrees - 7 - moronic attempted offload 5m out aside a very good debut where he showed a lot of class.
13. Barritt - 7 - huge work load, nice hands but crucially lacked a bit of a cutting edge ball in hand.
14. Ashton - 6 - a lot of work done which hassled his opposite number, didn't get as much ball in hand as he'd have wanted but you can't always help that as a winger even when looking for work.
15. Goode - 6 - dancing feet created gaps and made him look dangerous but his lack of match fitness left him short of his best particularly in contact.

Think you are too harsh on some there, Sam. I'm not sure what didn't fall Robshaw's way, for example

He tried hard to get the offloads going, keep the ball moving and link the play. A couple of the offloads hit the deck, he couldn't get all the passes away in time and try as he might he could get through a gap.

Maybe I'm harsh but I doubt the Irish will be forgiving and England did surrender try scoring chances in both attack and defence by some sloppy play. Positive rugby is encouraging but at this level we need to be more meticulous.

Fair enough. The offloading aspect of the game is new to the England team and a lot of the players. It will become more clinical as they get used to it. See, I find it encouraging that we beat Scotland by 20 points even though we gave up attacking opportunities and at least 1 try!