6 Nations: England v Ireland - Our Favourite Bestest Neighbours - 17 March 2018

First topic message reminder :

I’ve always thought that England are a very good team and their fans are lovely and the most popular.

Feel free to add your own thoughts as we approach next weekend’s match as we travel over to visit them and celebrate with them.  And I’m sure that they’ll be as welcoming and fun-filled as they always are whenever we play them.  

As we all know, it’s only a game and sure it doesn’t matter who wins.....


Lovely England Team

Watson, May, Joseph, Te'o, Daly, Farrell, Wigglesworth, Simmonds, Haskell, Robshaw, Kruis, Itoje, Sinckler, Hartley, Mako

George, MArler, Cole, Launchbury, Armand, Care, Ford, Brown

Super Controlling Unbelievable Mauling Monster Yeti Irish Team

Kearney, Earls, Ringrose, Aki, Stockdale, Sexton Murray, Stander, Leavy, O'Mahony, Ryan, Henderson, Furlong, Best, Healy.

Reps: Cronin, McGrath, Porter, Toner, Murphy, Marmion, Carbery, Larmour.

knock on by Ford, to show he is not completely bias

We need a good butcher in my village

Really pleased how england have continued to battle. Don't be surprised to see us flip this again and go on another long run after this game.

Waiting for Tighthead to say Brown was not in touch there

Nice lazy running across Care's passing direction there missed too

eirebilly wrote:For me, Ryan should be man of the match. He was incredible in defence for Ireland.

Yes, a toss up between him and Angus Gardner.

Nice to see you English fans don’t blame the officials...

Well done Ireland... great performance.

Grand Slam we’ll won.

Wales v France next to put England 5th and maybe send that loud mouth scummy Eddie Jones back to the sh!t hole he came from.

Irish defence has been magnificent today

Yes England have made way too many mistakes and been on the wrong end of a lot of "marginal" ref calls ...but the Irish have thoroughly deserved their win ...and their Grand Slam.

Enjoy the glory ...and the

The Loaded Dog wrote:

eirebilly wrote:For me, Ryan should be man of the match. He was incredible in defence for Ireland.

Yes, a toss up between him and Angus Gardner.

Ha haa, cheeky bollix

Absolutely no doubt Ireland deserved to win this game and win the GS.

Well done Ireland!

well at least three tries each

Good pushing at the end. Ireland well worthy of the win today. Expect englabd to bounce back for the rest of the year and into next though!

Congratulations to Ireland and all their supporters. The better side won fair and square today.
Happy Paddy's day to you

Well congrats Ireland - shame the officiating spoiled what could have been a much more interesting match ...

Well done Ireland- as I said it’s one of the best Irish teams I’ve seen.

Grand Slam on Paddy's day, it doesn't get any better than that. Hard lines England, thought you played much better in the second half and have proved (to me) that you are not going backwards. Just beaten by a better team on the day.

Well deserved Ireland - have a good one.

(We’ll be back)

Well done Ireland! That's foive fer yer.

Well played Ireland, thoroughly deserve win today and a well deserved Grand Slam.

England have alot of work to do before the summer tour/s. England can have no complaints today. Ireland by far the better team. But well done England for not totaly giving up and p-laying to the final whistle.

Again Well done Ireland.

stub wrote:Well deserved Ireland - have a good one.

(We’ll be back)

Good man yerself and I am sure yiz will be, will raised a tonight in your direction

I doubt it 7 1/2 - they have major flaws they have not solved.

If the pack is dominent then they look good in the backs. If they only have parity they do not. Farrell lies far too deep but most importantly brains - where are they? coached out of them or none to start with

England need some pace in the back row, a decent 10 who can put players into space ( where were the runnarounds? the dummies? The inside balls? the tricks that keep defences guessing?), they need to not run into contact but into space

eirebilly wrote:

No 7&1/2 wrote:You want Daly dropped then I assume.  At international level I'm a strong believer you need 2 playmaker s.  We have some very good ones so I'm not too concerned whether it's ford Farrell or some bimbo with a slade or even mallinder at 15 should jones and Gustard think he's ready.

For me, Daly at FB or wing is a no brainer at international level. The guy is proper quality.

As an opposition fan I'm pretty glad that England haven't made Daly a cornerstone of their team at FB, he's an incredible player. Not helped that he'd have to compete against a class player like Le Roux to play there for his club mind you

Delighted, thanks to all the England fans above wishing us congratulations. Good honest rugby folk. I think England are a sorting out of their breakdown away from being back at the top. Haskell and Simmonds just didn't do it, Eddie Jones tried to fix the breakdown but it came up short. Get the likes of Underhill back when he returns.

Guys - stop the whining about the ref / TMO. You were second best all game

Well congrats Ireland - shame the officiating spoiled what could have been a much more interesting match ...

oops sorry repeat post for some reason

GRAND SLAM. CHAMPIONS.

No 7&1/2 wrote:Really pleased how england have continued to battle. Don't be surprised to see us flip this again and go on another long run after this game.

Constant over training is one of Jones's major failing's.....its rugby not cross country you know

Collapse2005 wrote:GRAND SLAM. CHAMPIONS.

Indeed - enjoy it

I don't think there's necessarily an anti-English bias among refs but there's a major issue of them getting on the wrong side of ref decisions in several games this season. Plus, if the long winning runs were typified by the rub of the green then this season certaionly has been payback. Bar the no try decision in the Wales game, they've had the wrong end of almost every 50-50 since.

However ... huge congrats to our Irish friends. A GS with wins in Paris and HQ is something to be proud of. You were too canny for everyone else. Could be noisy in my home town tonight. Remember lads, the best readily available pint's London Pride, but if you can lay your hands on Twickenham Ales' Grandstand or Naked Ladies you won't regret it either. Well done Ireland,

Well played Ireland, fully deserved GS



But the officials were Frak crap and Nige is a biased Kumquat

TJ wrote:I doubt it 7 1/2 - they have major flaws they have not solved.

If the pack is dominent then they look good in the backs.  If they only have parity they do not.  Farrell lies far too deep but most importantly brains - where are they?  coached out of them or none to start with

England need some pace in the back row, a decent 10 who can put players into space ( where were the runnarounds?  the dummies?  The inside balls?  the tricks that keep defences guessing?), they need to not run into contact but into space

This.

TightHEAD wrote:Well played Ireland, fully deserved GS



But the officials were Frak crap and Nige is a biased Kumquat

What is a Kumquat Tight?

Swear word protection on this site, experiment

You haven't seen much of England tj if you think these have been a problem long term. There's caveats to my thinking that when we get back.important players such as vunipola and guys who looked world class such as Itoje bounce back. I also admit I've vastly underestimated how important youngs has been to this team and the impact from the bench less so. Think we saw from today having the right players there is a huge plus.

Think you've seen a similar thing pointed at schmidt for that king. Possibly a sh thing. You know the player quote. The more I practice the luckier I get.

kingelderfield wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Well played Ireland, fully deserved GS



But the officials were Frak crap and Nige is a biased Kumquat

What is a Kumquat Tight?

A kumquat is, literally, an exotic fruit. I so hope this wasn't an attempt at a very very poor taste pun. I think, however, it's meant to suggest - and I'm not sharing this opinion, merely tralslating it - that the poster thinks Nigel is a See You Next Tuesday.

Either way, naughty naughty

Duty281 wrote:I don't know how many of you are of a gambling persuasion, but Ireland have been best priced at 101/100 (marginally better than evens) to beat England next week.

I appreciate England have a formidable record at Twickenham, not losing a Six Nations game there since the 12-19 defeat to Wales six years ago, but this seems a staggeringly generous price when you consider the current mess that the home side are in, coupled with the Irish chasing a Grand Slam.

Very, very generous. One of the bets of the year. 11/4, also, available on Ireland with the '-9' handicap if you think the away side will really dish it out.

As predicted. Easy money.

Deserved grand slam, congrats.

Wigglesworth was absolutely dire, he should never be allowed in an England shirt again. Worst 9 performance I've seen for us.

At least our forwards got parity at the breakdown, and created an environment Ford enjoys, but he wasnt on the field. Plenty of lessons to be learned. Watson is not an internationa standard 15.

Don't think Watson was bad at all before his injury. What makes you say he's not up to it?

Fluffing the high ball to concede the first try. Brown is much stronger in the air and much better at carrying back in traffic, and clearing up messy ball.

Watson is a fine winger, but isn't a patch on Brown when it comes to the core skills at 15.

No 7&1/2 wrote:You haven't seen much of England tj if you think these have been a problem long term. There's caveats to my thinking that when we get back.important players such as vunipola and guys who looked world class such as Itoje bounce back. I also admit I've vastly underestimated how important youngs has been to this team and the impact from the bench less so. Think we saw from today having the right players there is a huge plus.

Think you've seen a similar thing pointed at schmidt for that king. Possibly a sh thing. You know the player quote. The more I practice the luckier I get.

Sorry I was being flippant. Agreed we will be better if players can return to form and fitness, but tell me do you think will Jones rest them or take them to RSA this summer? I think he'll take them.

You're right about Youngs but honestly I flagged up both Wigglesworth and Farrell being creative vacuums, but few are willing to see it. Robson would have offered a lot more (and I appreciate you have called him for some time) in attack and sucked in more of the Irish cover defense.

You say fluffing. Many would say knock on!

I think there will be a core that gets sent to sa and rightly so imo. You learn little if it's a scratch side. Farrell is a world.class player. Against top sides hough you do need more than one guy who can call the play and play off it. Robson could well be that more french style player. We've seen ford play poorly without that second spark against top sides as well and for me he's been the most s attacking 10 we've had for a while. He's not a running threat but damn good. As you've said slade but for injury could have pushed for that this 6ns. Or even all 3.

mid_gen wrote:Fluffing the high ball to concede the first try. Brown is much stronger in the air and much better at carrying back in traffic, and clearing up messy ball.

Watson is a fine winger, but isn't a patch on Brown when it comes to the core skills at 15.

Can't disagree with this. Brown does my head in. The guy is brilliant at the core and more, but he has failed to pass on too many occasions regardless of Poorfours instructive theory. Plus he is getting older which is not his fault and frustrating as hell as it colours the debate.

Daly will hopefully fare better. I'm actually sure he will, but yes the proof is there for all to see, Watson must now compete for a wing and occasional FB cover.

So we ignore the knock on and write off Watson?

No 7&1/2 wrote:I think there will be a core that gets sent to sa and rightly so imo. You learn little if it's a scratch side. Farrell is a world.class player. Against top sides hough you do need more than one guy who can call the play and play off it. Robson could well be that more french style player. We've seen ford play poorly without that second spark against top sides as well and for me he's been the most s attacking 10 we've had for a while. He's not a running threat but damn good. As you've said slade but for injury could have pushed for that this 6ns. Or even all 3.

All 3 would lack penetration. So much of this comes down to rugby intelligence and as someone pointedly explained to me in the local last weekend, Farrell is a totally schooled player, with no little ability, but NOT in a creative sense. So the options could be; Farrell Te'o Slade, Ford Te'o Slade or ofcourse Ford Farrell Joseph/Te'o/Tuilagi

For the summer I think he really must rest Lions players; (Mako, George, Cole - that always makes me laugh - Itoje, Kruis(?) Marler(?) Farrell, Te'o(?) Joseph, Watson and Daly. And unless Billy comes back powerfully with confidence I would leave him as well. Equally Hughes is done and i am unsure regards Tuilagi. Lets see if his form continues the upward curve. Youngs should be rested, but I would take Haskell as Captain. He's had a rest and the boy will be so proud and more importantly will do a great job. I would rest Hartley and see how he comes back next year, though like Brown I think by competition alone we should be leaving these guys behind, selection and tour wise that is, and it is a worry that we're not.
(?) denotes where players have been injured and therefore there maybe some debate as to their availability.

SimonofSurrey wrote:

kingelderfield wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Well played Ireland, fully deserved GS



But the officials were Frak crap and Nige is a biased Kumquat

What is a Kumquat Tight?

A kumquat is, literally, an exotic fruit. I so hope this wasn't an attempt at a very very poor taste pun. I think, however, it's meant to suggest - and I'm not sharing this opinion, merely tralslating it - that the poster thinks Nigel is a See You Next Tuesday.

Either way, naughty naughty

Indeed it is, I was just checking where TH was going.......without prejudice I would hope?

Ironically I wouldn't take haskell or Robshaw (assuming vunipola or Hughes is back). Think there is a real opportunity for a couple fo back row players to really push there.

Eddie Jones apparently said that some players have played their last game for England - any idea who that would mean?

Wigglesworth mainly because he's old, maybe Haskel but I thought he did ok today! Brown? Bit harsh.

RDW_Scotland wrote:Eddie Jones apparently said that some players have played their last game for England - any idea who that would mean?

Wigglesworth mainly because he's old, maybe Haskel but I thought he did ok today! Brown? Bit harsh.

Eddie may regret that, as that could have been the last time he coaches England