England Saxons vs Irish Wolfhounds

First topic message reminder :

The England Saxons face Ireland Wolfhounds at Irish Independent Park on Friday, January 30 in Cork. Given that the six nations are too bloomin far away and this is a big RWC year with many players battling over a place in international squads i'm looking forward to this one. Who do we think should be in both teams. This is my england team

Corbisiero
George
Brookes
Kitchener
Kruis
Croft
Kvesic
Waldrom

Wigglesworth
Cipriani
Yarde
Slade
Joseph
Rokodunguni
Foden

Thomas
Cowan-Dickie
Vunipola
Parling
Clark
Dickson
Burgess
Myler

now if only the saxons could actually win a lineout...

SoB offside, then tackle w no arms....oh dear

Henderson made two very good turnovers in a row there. He is becoming a real nuisance at the breakdown! I would like to see him involved in the rucks more though, especially on attacking ball we are missing the likes of POC and POM there to aggressively clear the ruck area.

TMO didn't think so - went back to the earlier pen they were playing advantage for despite what the commentators said.

Its been a poor performance from Ireland and a poor game in general.

barnes is such a special. that alone is an improvement on BT having AP and half the Euro matches.

Surely that tackle by McCarthy was absolutely fine??? It wasn't like it was a shoulder hit. Chest to chest like. Shocking call even with the benefit of TMO. Some collisions are just too hard and fast for arms to go around before the bodies fall. Fact.

Notch wrote:Its been a poor performance from Ireland and a poor game in general.

Yeah nobody really putting their hands up for Ireland. Though I have to say, Gilroy has looked fantastic defensively so far, putting in some big tackles at the restarts. Rather Trimble-esque.

the TMO called it fine on the tackle - no pen. they went back to the advantage a few yards away.

Looks like an interesting game! I think Saxons will edge it, and LCD to score a screamer of a try when he comes on.

Madigan again proving he's the media most over hyped over rated player. Moc is spot on and sees this week in week out.

clivemcl wrote:Surely that tackle by McCarthy was absolutely fine??? It wasn't like it was a shoulder hit. Chest to chest like. Shocking call even with the benefit of TMO. Some collisions are just too hard and fast for arms to go around before the bodies fall. Fact.

It certainly wasn't a legal tackle. You can't really let that sort of thing go, those collisions do not look good and could cause a pretty serious injury. McCarthy didn't look too good.

clivemcl wrote:Surely that tackle by McCarthy was absolutely fine??? It wasn't like it was a shoulder hit. Chest to chest like. Shocking call even with the benefit of TMO. Some collisions are just too hard and fast for arms to go around before the bodies fall. Fact.

Not only was it not really fine in my view, the TMO agreed with you.

clivemcl wrote:Surely that tackle by McCarthy was absolutely fine??? It wasn't like it was a shoulder hit. Chest to chest like. Shocking call even with the benefit of TMO. Some collisions are just too hard and fast for arms to go around before the bodies fall. Fact.

pen was for SoB offside. they decided the tackle was fine.

Rory_Gallagher wrote:

clivemcl wrote:Surely that tackle by McCarthy was absolutely fine??? It wasn't like it was a shoulder hit. Chest to chest like. Shocking call even with the benefit of TMO. Some collisions are just too hard and fast for arms to go around before the bodies fall. Fact.

It certainly wasn't a legal tackle. You can't really let that sort of thing go, those collisions do not look good and could cause a pretty serious injury. McCarthy didn't look too good.

the ref and TMO thought it was fine and didn't penalise it despite what the idiot commentators said. Went back to the previous infringement

when i say fine, i meant not a yellow card.

It wasn't a yellow but I did think it was a penalty, a bit of a crazy tackle.

The Saxons doing well in the first half dispite giving more penaties at the break down.


With Ireland having more experience in their squad, would of thought that they would be leading at half time.

Looking forward to the second half. Lets hope England can improve on the first half and get more try's.

So far so crap.  Saxons very comfortable holding back the Irish 'assaults'.  And I can't see one actual Leader operating on the Irish side.

But you never know how it might still pan out. 40 minutes is time enough if Ireland actually start trying to play harder phases when in possession rather than trying to find fancy holes where no holes are. Get more methodic in rhythm

Saxons forwards looking much more dangerous ball in hand than wolfhounds. making a few yards on most carries, which is making defense much hard when retreating and realigning. i think their match sharpness, and key club linkups are working in Saxons favour vs wolfhounds players coming back from injury

ref keeping ball alive at breakdown will make this harder on wolfhounds conditioning in 2nd half imo.

loving the reffing of the scrums.

Wreckless or clumsy from McCarthy. Either way it should have been an England penalty from that spot.

Ireland are getting isolated all the time. They need to protect the ball a bit more in the second half.

Robbie Diack on, must be for McCarthy.

overall not bad for an england 3rd XV

so far anyway...

barnes stfu about burgess.

Henderson just made Itoje look like a doll!

Henderson just bullied Itoje there! LCD and Wade to score a try apiece.

O'Brien was really, really good in the first 20 minutes and then he was blowing. Promising return but not close enough to match fitness to be involved next week.

England defensive alignment is very good. A fair few good runs and passes from ireland - not a single gap created

thats pretty marginal. england got the drive on straight away so it looked like a feed. have never seen one like that given before.

Barnes banging on about the scrum, doesn't understand what that penalty was for. The man is so annoying.

You can't feed the ball just to the loose head, it has to reach the middle of the scrum. And they've done it a few times.

agree. barnes is a moron as far as breakdown and scrum commentary is concerned.

what? england were going forwards

fair enough given what happened on the other side. Ar must have had a word

Its the worst half of rugby I've seen in a while. Disappointing from both sides

profitius wrote:Its the worst half of rugby I've seen in a while. Disappointing from both sides

Yeah, i mean some of the ref's pedantic stuff is helpful as it removes some messiness, but bloody hell, the game is not let flow at all.

If this game was a horse you'd shoot it and call it kindness.

Is the game still on?  I'm typing and listening.  It even sounds awful.  I might turn the sound down too and just sense the plod in the background silence.

profitius wrote:Its the worst half of rugby I've seen in a while. Disappointing from both sides

This x 100.

Woeful stuff.  Particularly from a nearly full-strength test side from Ireland against a Club Xv from England.

You know what makes this game just about watchable? Rum.

LOL. the woeful play has generally been from ireland. have no idea how to break the saxons defensive line, so lets put everything up in the air and hope something happens.

carl fearns on. yes. forwards going to maul one in from lineout now

Given the dire performance by the back-line, Gilroy did very well I thought. 8 tackles made, great defensive effort. Beating a number of defenders as always as well.

Lots of injuries for Ireland. Gilroy gone now.

If carlsberg did rugby matches they would not be within a mile of this one. Ref if far too whistle-happy. He's playing it by the law but without an eye on allowing the game to flow.

The Saxons have been the better side but the Wolfies have not even gotten into second gear

Pot Hale wrote:Lots of injuries for Ireland.  Gilroy gone now.

He should be okay, just looks like a bad knock to the face.

quinsforever wrote:LOL. the woeful play has generally been from ireland. have no idea how to break the saxons defensive line, so lets put everything up in the air and hope something happens.

If England had any sort of set piece they would be far ahead and we'd have something to watch! They've been poor in that regard

quinsforever wrote:LOL. the woeful play has generally been from ireland. have no idea how to break the saxons defensive line, so lets put everything up in the air and hope something happens.

I wouldn't go that far. England have generally been abysmal too - the scoreline is a fair indicator of a match that has not been affected by adverse weather or windy conditions.

Pot Hale wrote:

quinsforever wrote:LOL. the woeful play has generally been from ireland. have no idea how to break the saxons defensive line, so lets put everything up in the air and hope something happens.

I wouldn't go that far.   England have generally been abysmal too - the scoreline is a fair indicator of a match that has not been affected by adverse weather or windy conditions.  

wrong. england's lineout in the first team is best in 6 nations. saxons have lost 6 of their own lineouts. if they hadnt there would be 15points difference in the scores.

Where did they get this ref from. I have never seen him before and if I never have to watch him ruin another game that will be great.

But they have though.