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)

well, until we ended in an handling error

I'd rather we didn't put Ford on just yet, we need more points!

Silly ref decision, Italy lost his bind

Nowell just isnt a test player, can we finally agree on this?

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:Nowell just isnt a test player, can we finally agree on this?

We havent given him enough time, simple really.

So "Blue release, blue release" "It's ok they didn't release as maul was called" when?

Champamgaro the only bright light for the future of Italia rugby

How Italy haven't seen a yellow card yet I will never know...

Notch wrote:

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.

Disagree.
Not in the first half - these blokes are fine when playing for their clubs for 80 minutes, they can certainly hack an international match for 40 minutes. They all use generally the same training methods. This is a stereotype from years ago. Perhaps Ireland and England are simply better?

Will be interesting to see how our lineout goes with T. Youngs.

Jesus Italy! This is a horror show from the Italians- an absolute mess! Now their scrum is disintegrating there is no part of their game which isn't a disaster.

Aahhh, there is the yellow...

11 minutes and no points - not good!

Seriously did one of the Italians just do a sliding tackle? ala football

Finally a proper worked try without stupid handling errors or poor support positioning

Edit: all it took was to be against 14 men

Why does Farrell do that celebration? Its not football...

doctor_grey wrote:

Notch wrote:

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.

Disagree.  
Not in the first half - these blokes are fine when playing for their clubs for 80 minutes, they can certainly hack an international match for 40 minutes.   They all use generally the same training methods.  This is a stereotype from years ago.  Perhaps Ireland and England are simply better?

Sorry I'm afraid you're wrong, its definitely a fitness issue especially with the tight five. There's a reason why Cittadini is off despite the fact they have no tight head cover on the bench! Because he's knackered

Are England and Ireland better? Yes, and most of that is they are much fitter. If you watch Treviso or Zebre in the Pro12, most of the games are very scrappy with little continuity and forwards are picked entirely for their set piece ability. Once you take them through the phases for half an hour constantly they just can't cope. The intensity here is a different league to those games. These big Italian forwards just aren't used to it, they aren't well enough prepared for it and thats been figured out now.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Why does Farrell do that celebration? Its not football...

It's for charity....

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Why does Farrell do that celebration? Its not football...

It's for a charity he supports. Joining Jack

http://news.o2.co.uk/2014/03/12/owen-farrell-joining-jacks-campaign/

Agree, it was harsh to pull Burrell off.

England still have a lot of work to do to get the points difference.

Nathan, You say Italy have improved their attack? Lol

We're not going to get the points.

Tom Youngs throws

Was that Youngs over throwing a lineout? Who would have thought it? I'm sure it was the jumpers fault

Interesting, fair play to Farrell so!

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Nathan, You say Italy have improved their attack? Lol

Nice of you to laugh at my opinion, if your going to start winding people up urine off to another thread.

Sideways May does it again.

Notch a famous Irish player once said fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are. Always in motion is the future.

God that was messy but pays off

4 tries in 20 minutes? Can't see it unless we tighten up a bit

Nathan I'm just worried about Italian rugby. Im not trying to wind you up?

Italy's defence looks a bit pathetic.

The tries Italy are conceding are so soft its unreal, lazy defending

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Nathan I'm just worried about Italian rugby. Im not trying to wind you up?

Well then add to the debate, say "What do you think has improved in their attack?". Dont just say lol, as thats clearly trying to wind people up and bring nothing to this forum.

Hammer, Italy aren't going to get less knackered and they are playing like strangers. This is the worst Italy performance I've ever seen. If England don't get the points difference it would be a big surprise!

Does johnny May ever run forward? If there was one Englishman that should be replaced it should be him.

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:Notch a famous Irish player once said fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Grave danger you are in. Impatient you are. Always in motion is the future.

Actually, my apologies. It was Greg Somerville who said that. But still wise words.

Italy can't catch the ball. They literally can't catch the ball right now.

I don't think that was a knock on by the Italians there.

Care off - we're doomed.

That's why I said we need to tighten it up Notch

3 tries in 14 minutes? No way.

I like the aggression but Mike Brown does have to calm down a little or he will start to get a bad reputation and be watched by ref's...

tigertattie wrote:Does johnny May ever run forward? If there was one Englishman that should be replaced it should be him.

Just needs to cut out these horizontal runs. Makes some good yards going forward...

Nachos Jones wrote:I like the aggression but Mike Brown does have to calm down a little or he will start to get a bad reputation and be watched by ref's...

He didn't do anything wrong though, not that i spotted?

Is there a need of a new coach at Italy just to freshin things up? Brunell started well but these last two weeks have been very embarrasing for Italy.

get in there Manu!

They desperately need a new S&C regime, because this is embarrassing. They were out on their feet at the end of the first half.

Edit 4 more tries would be nice

Well that will screw up the points difference!