ENGLAND v WALES - Match Thread / Build up - 7/3/2020

by TightHEAD Mon 24 Feb 2020, 4:29 pm

First topic message reminder :

England rose

v Wales

- 07/03/2020 - 16:45pm - the HOME of Rugby.

England XV

Daly; Watson, Tuilagi, Farrell, May; Ford, Youngs; Marler, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Kruis, Lawes, Wilson, Curry

Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Genge, Stuart, Launchbury, Ewels, Earl, Heinz, Slade

Wales XV

Halfpenny; North, Tompkins, Parkes, Williams; Biggar, T Williams; R Evans, Owens, D Lewis, Ball, AW Jones (capt), Moriarty, Navidi, Tipuric.

Replacements: Elias, Carre, L Brown, Shingler, Faletau, Webb, J Evans, McNicholl.

Overall - Played 134 - Eng 63 - Wales 59 - Drawn 12

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:27 pm

Farrell kicking well today

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:27 pm

All started from the scrum penalty there. England will be hopeful of building that pressure as the game goes on. Cowan-Dickie and Genge are destructive scrummagers to bring on.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:28 pm

If England score again before HT, it will be a long way back for Wales and now they get a penalty and a kick to the corner

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:28 pm

Hayward out. Only miaow rates him and North.

by Duty281 Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:29 pm

Far too many Welsh errors creeping into their game now.

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:31 pm

BigGee wrote:If England score again before HT, it will be a long way back for Wales and now they get a penalty and a kick to the corner

I'm usually a 'kick to the corner' addict but would have gone posts there. Not a great angle for kicking to the corner but Farrell is kicking well and gives you a potential 14 point lead.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:31 pm

No dilemma for Farrell, take the points!

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:32 pm

king_carlos wrote:
BigGee wrote:If England score again before HT, it will be a long way back for Wales and now they get a penalty and a kick to the corner

I'm usually a 'kick to the corner' addict but would have gone posts there. Not a great angle for kicking to the corner but Farrell is kicking well and gives you a potential 14 point lead.

Was a long old kick!

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:32 pm

20-6 England, a healthy lead

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:33 pm

BigGee wrote:
king_carlos wrote:
BigGee wrote:If England score again before HT, it will be a long way back for Wales and now they get a penalty and a kick to the corner

I'm usually a 'kick to the corner' addict but would have gone posts there. Not a great angle for kicking to the corner but Farrell is kicking well and gives you a potential 14 point lead.

Was a long old kick!

Farrell has a big old boot!

In his half Farrell has the length. Then Daly can go from beyond there.

The kick to the corner has been rewarded with an easier pen though.

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:34 pm

It’s just going as expected so far. Wales aren’t good enough this year.

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:35 pm

Wales have come back from worse than this before though Mikey

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:37 pm

Another high shot, surely ref got to bin someone eventually if they all keep going high

by majesticimperialman Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:38 pm

England's line speed as been very good at putting pressure on Wales.
England 11 points up at half time.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:39 pm

Good kick from Biggar

20-9 at HT

Just about keeps Wales in the hunt and probably a fair reflection of the half

by formerly known as Sam Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:39 pm

Sloppy end to the half by England. Wales looked tired. England got greedy and chanced their arm more than they should and then conceded a soft penalty to give away an easy 3.

Too many Wales players in their backline look short of fitness. Biggar is struggling, Williams has barely featured and North isn't on 100%.

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:39 pm

Well that was a daft end to the half ...

by Scottrf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:40 pm

Why does Maro refuse to get his tackle height down? It’s worth a penalty a game.

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:40 pm

So silly to surrender 3 points at the end of the half.

Still a good half for England though.

by formerly known as Sam Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:41 pm

BigGee wrote:Another high shot, surely ref got to bin someone eventually if they all keep going high

They didn't review the Parkes one which looked head on head so I'm not sure. Letter of the law that was foul play. England need to improve their discipline, I'm sure AWJ will point out at length the penalties England have conceded in their own half.

by Duty281 Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:41 pm

Pretty polished first half from England, but a few clumsy errors keeping the Welsh in the contest. Tuilagi and Watson in the back line have been immense, scrum and maul looks dominant too.

Well placed to get the bonus point win.

by **RiscaGame** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:41 pm

Not the worst thing to be 11 behind at HT. Felt like we had lost our heads around the 20-6 scoring and were likely to go in further behind. Not too bad a first quarter from Wales. Had a very poor ten minute spell though, which has probably taken the game away from us.

by Dirtydave Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:45 pm

Wales games have seen the exact same result 3 games in a row...

We do not defend lineout within 15 metres, moves as simple as a peel and inside ball beat us!

Our defence has given our wide men absolute horror decisions, North today, Tompkins last game, halfpenny and Adams recently... if you defend this narrow, and are this passive the best players in the world can't make up for it!

Lastly, our decision making on turnover, it's very rigidly kiwi... we don't consolidate our turnover ball like we did under Gatland, we are throwing it away...

England will cruise to victory, as I expected, my only hope is that the people in the pub, who are calling for us to lose by 50 to get rid of Pivac already are proved wrong!

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:48 pm

formerly known as Sam wrote:
BigGee wrote:Another high shot, surely ref got to bin someone eventually if they all keep going high

They didn't review the Parkes one which looked head on head so I'm not sure. Letter of the law that was foul play. England need to improve their discipline, I'm sure AWJ will point out at length the penalties England have conceded in their own half.

The first tackle n Biggar was ignored... shoulder charge from two players. If you’re nit-picking then you should at least pick up on that one.

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:52 pm

mikey_dragon wrote:
formerly known as Sam wrote:
BigGee wrote:Another high shot, surely ref got to bin someone eventually if they all keep going high

They didn't review the Parkes one which looked head on head so I'm not sure. Letter of the law that was foul play. England need to improve their discipline, I'm sure AWJ will point out at length the penalties England have conceded in their own half.

The first tackle n Biggar was ignored... shoulder charge from two players. If you’re nit-picking then you should at least pick up on that one.

My instinct at full speed was no arms from Manu but watching the replay I thought both players had arm involved but Biggar bounced from the force of the hit.

by Dirtydave Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:53 pm

Mikey

Let's be honest, England aren't winning because of mere decisions by the ref, they're winning because of a total lack of international knowledge by their opposing coaching team...

I just had a chat from a guy who wishes Finn Russell was Welsh to kick up a fuss in the camp!

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:54 pm

Wow try...

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:54 pm

Gareth Thomas just cracked a great joke about the ball grabbing incident!

by tigertattie Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:54 pm

Now that’s a try

by majesticimperialman Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:54 pm

Great try by Wales. sloppy defence by England.

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:55 pm

Big Leon Brown is on too.

by Scottrf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:55 pm

What a try.

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:55 pm

Fantastic comment by GT in the break about the Marler incident Smile

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:55 pm

Game on!

by Duty281 Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:55 pm

Diabolical defence beautifully exploited.

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:56 pm

Ouch. England have basically surrendered 10 points in 2 phases now.

Great try by Wales.

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:57 pm

Wow - wake up for England ... 10 points either side of the break to Wales

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:58 pm

Farrell steadies the ship

23-16 England

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 5:59 pm

Hopefully that 3 points can just settle England down.

A good tackle and turnover from Kruis and Lawes respectively.

I'm a big fan of Kruis but he hasn't been too prominent so far today.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:03 pm

Welsh scrum gets mashed again

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:05 pm

Ford now sticks one over and makes it a 2 score game

26-16 England

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:05 pm

The scrum wearing the Welsh forwards down will be important to the impact that England's 5 bench forwards can make.

Joe Marler has been really good today.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:07 pm

Jake Ball has done a shoulder there

by Heaf Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:07 pm

Been a few rough box kicks today ...

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:12 pm

Kruis waving the crowd goodbye!

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:13 pm

BigGee wrote:Kruis waving the crowd goodbye!

It did look a bit that way sadly. He's a brilliant lock.

by mikey_dragon Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:14 pm

Leon Brown is done due to poor tackle technique.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:14 pm

Welsh TH looks like he has done a shoulder as well

by king_carlos Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:15 pm

Slade has been very good at 15 to be fair to him.

The back three looks a different class with Watson compared to England's first three games.

by **BigGee** Sat 07 Mar 2020, 6:15 pm

That was a power play if ever there was one. Best England play of the match and championship so far

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