Italy v England - March 15th

First topic message reminder :

Thought i'd get one of these up and running and I haven't spotted another.

Firstly, congratulations to the boys for a superb performance against Wales, backing up a strong showing versus Ireland. Will the usual complacency be an issue this year? The lat two occasions we've faced Italy it's actually been both a poor performance and a lot closer.

Any changes anyone would like to see made? The full EPS squad available is listed below:

Forwards

David Attwood (Bath Rugby)  
Dylan Hartley (Northampton Saints)  
Tom Johnson (Exeter Chiefs)
Joe Launchbury (London Wasps)  
Courtney Lawes (Northampton Saints)  
Joe Marler (Harlequins)  
Ben Morgan (Gloucester Rugby)    
Chris Robshaw (Harlequins)  
Henry Thomas (Sale Sharks)  
Mako Vunipola (Saracens)
David Wilson (Bath Rugby)
Tom Wood (Northampton Saints)  
Tom Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Matt Kvesic (Gloucester Rugby)
Matt Mulan (London Wasps)
Ed Slater (Leicester Tigers)

Backs

Mike Brown (Harlequins)  
Luther Burrell (Northampton Saints)  
Danny Care (Harlequins)  
Lee Dickson (Northampton Saints)  
Owen Farrell (Saracens)  
George Ford (Bath Rugby)
Alex Goode (Saracens)  
Jonny May (Gloucester Rugby)  
Jack Nowell (Exeter Chiefs)  
Billy Twelvetrees (Gloucester Rugby)
Manusamoa Tuilagi (Leicester Tigers)
Kyle Eastmond (Bath Rugby)
Chris Ashton (Saracens)
Ben Youngs (Leicester Tigers)
Richard Wigglesworth (Saracens)
Anthony Watson (Bath Rugby)
Brad Barritt (Saracens)

Watching a match like this does make you wonder what the coaches so during the week, surely they should be working on making England as composed and focussed as possible but instead it looks like all the training has been about passing to the wings as soon as possible and hoping Italy miss a tackle.

Hartley has been cack other than his throwing.

why is hartley always on the wing!

That was a hell of a long advantage then...

Fuuuuuucks sake England!

ahhh that should of gone to Mako

Get there in the end.

I swear our forwards have better handling skills than the backs

so we need 25 to 30 before half time

If Danny Care gets injured before the WC then England are screwed.

Oh and there must be a yellow soon!

If we can get up by another 7 points by half time it might be doable

Just need to go thru the hands more. Some nice breaks tho.

yappysnap wrote:If Danny Care gets injured before the WC then England are screwed.

Oh and there must be a yellow soon!

Not at all, B. Youngs hasn't always been in bad form. Form isn't permanent you know.

Oh and Robinson is about as good at commentating as he is a head coach

Thought that was a knock on by England there...

England will get better and Italy will get worse so its still on...

Definitely Nathan, I more meant that at the moment Farrell and 36 just can't provide what he brings.

Youngs on form though would be perfect for us.

HammerofThunor wrote:Oh and Robinson is about as good at commentating as he is a head coach

lol, was just thinking about that. mono tone voice is pretty boring too.

Still too frantic. A little more control and calm direction is needed.

This is a really pitiful effort from the Italians... they look like a team with nothing left in the tank. This could get humiliating for them.

WORKING CLASS MIKE BROWN!!!!

Mike Brown, what lovely lines again. He has been the player of the tournament by far.

im starting to believe we can do this.

Wheres Notch with a points difference update :p

Fair play brown is having a storming 6N...

Too easy for Brown... nice little pop pass there.

England have a lot to thank Harlequins for   

yappysnap wrote:England have a lot to thank Harlequins for   

Very true!

Nice coming together by the two 9's there...

If Farrell keeps his kicking boots on we would need another 5 tries for Ireland to require a reasonable win (and Italy getting no more points). Doable? Yes. Likely? No.

yappysnap wrote:England have a lot to thank Harlequins for   

Could be a good run in for quins in the aviva if your players stay in this form.

A minimum of 32 points for needed nathan (assuming none against).

Italian rugby is in free fall.

Danny should have swung it left... wide open spaces out there, lol.   

England will rack up more tries in the 2nd half. Need to be careful not to let the Italians get a sniff. Keep hammering them in defence and it should be sweet.

Notch wrote:A minimum of 32 points for needed nathan (assuming none against).

Cool thanks!

Although i think we'll need 100 as France are going to be poo

Notch wrote:This is a really pitiful effort from the Italians... they look like a team with nothing left in the tank. This could get humiliating for them.

Chill out Notch, a lot of that is down to Englands mindset. Italy like a dogfight and to keep the game as an arm wrestle. England have gone into the game with the opposite idea and while starting poorly due to the Italian pressure have grown into the game as the attack has come together.

Italy look out of it because we won't let them play their game. Not because they're tired, or lazy or just not up for it.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Italian rugby is in free fall.

lol, it wasn't when Ireland were playing them!

This is scrappy from England but when they turn it on, they look very good. Still every chance of getting the 50. When Manu comes on, I feel he will tear the Italians apart.

It's insulting to the Italians to imply they are too tired or are simply not playing. These guys are professionals, they are out to play. England are putting on pressure which is quite good.

Yes it was Nathan and its been in free fall for a while now.

Treviso are getting surpassed by a diabloical Zebre team and the Italian u20 team this year are nothing short of an embarrasement.

Farrell's had a nice half too (one poor pass aside), nailed his kicks, nice line for his try and a nice offload for Brown's second.

yappysnap wrote:

Notch wrote:This is a really pitiful effort from the Italians... they look like a team with nothing left in the tank. This could get humiliating for them.

Chill out Notch, a lot of that is down to Englands mindset. Italy like a dogfight and to keep the game as an arm wrestle. England have gone into the game with the opposite idea and while starting poorly due to the Italian pressure have grown into the game as the attack has come together.

Italy look out of it because we won't let them play their game. Not because they're tired, or lazy or just not up for it.

Oh they definitely ARE tired though. Thats the entire point of Englands tactics and Irelands last week. Keep the ball in play for as long as possible because they can't hack the game when its played at this pace. Both teams successfully identified their lack of fitness and exploited it.

But they constantly have had efforts to clear their lines or counter-attack and they've made unforced errors. Even when they have got the kick away, the kick has been very poor and then they can't win their own lineout.

I thought Italian rugby was on the up since they joined the pro12? Maybe that wasn't a great move for them.

doctor_grey wrote:It's insulting to the Italians to imply they are too tired or are simply not playing.  These guys are professionals, they are out to play.  England are putting on pressure which is quite good.

It's not insulting if its true to be fair. It was exactly the same last week.

HammerofThunor wrote:I thought Italian rugby was on the up since they joined the pro12? Maybe that wasn't a great move for them.

  cheeky beggar

Maybe not thunor but I don't see what else they could have done as the French wouldn't take em.

I think Italy have improved lots in attack, i think they just need to get their basics right

Nachos Jones wrote:

HammerofThunor wrote:I thought Italian rugby was on the up since they joined the pro12? Maybe that wasn't a great move for them.

  cheeky beggar

  

...and Lewis Moody was doing so well at convincing me he wasn't a complete whale's vagina...

i don't know why there bigging Manu up, he's going to be a bit rusty.

Nice break there by Italy. Allen on at 10 for Italy, this cant end well for them...

this is better, we're building the pressure