Wales Vs England match thread for yappy now the match is going ahead

[king_carlos]

First topic message reminder :

What it says on the tin.

I can't believe Youngs has been dropped...

[BamBam]

Is Wayne Pivac ok? Gabby is about to throw something at him

[Poorfour]

Ludlam impressive yet again.

England just stuttering along despite much opportunity though.

I don’t think that’s fair - missed kicks aside, England have made a couple of mistakes (Sinckler crossing; Steward’s knock on from a constestable kick), but most of the failed attacks are down to strong Welsh defence.

Last week England had a good attack from 22 to 22 but were making the wrong choices in the red zone; this week they are still making good ground in midfield and making better choices, but the execution is slightly off.

The danger is that Gatland’s sides tend to be good for 80 minutes but England have been fading in the second half. Borthwick will need to make smart use of his bench and England will need to keep their minds on the game if they want to win this.

[formerly known as Sam]

England are dominating the physical battle but the defence slightly further out from the breakdown isn't as good as it should be. Like the big hits but I'd like Slade to be organising the midfield better. Ludlam's turnover just before halftime was very good but always looked like it was on.

The attack for England is error strewn. Handling errors and poor decisions all to regular.

[BamBam]

Wales are kicking well, Steward is defusing most of them but only takes one lapse, that's my concern

[Duty281]

Pretty low-quality game. Welsh kicking has been atrocious. England should show more ambition with ball in hand. Farrell continues to frustrate.

[Heaf]

Argh - due to an admin error and booking a night out I have to leave before the end of the match ... this is looking like another one where England start looking stronger but end up getting sucker punched near the end ...

[king_carlos]

Watson and Lawrence have been very good as well.

Sinckler, Itoje and Chessum getting through loads of work which is what you want from the tight five.

The lineout could be so much more potent as a platform though.

[mikey_dragon]

Steward is a brilliant player, I’ve always thought that. Wales suffering at the breakdown, should have started with Reffell or Morgan, at least we’d have a few turns overs of our own then.

[No 7&1/2]

Subs are going to be important.

[No 7&1/2]

Awful by Malins.

[No 7&1/2]

Never on and he throws a god awful pass.

[Heaf]

How could he not see the intercept was coming - it was so obvious

[king_carlos]

Christ that's bad. Well read by LZR and no-ones catching him but how Malins didn't respond blows the mind. That's abysmal.

[Heaf]

That should be him dropped now

[No 7&1/2]

Abysmal. That should end his England career.

[Poorfour]

Arundell sooner rather than later, please.

[Duty281]

Might just be the worst pass ever seen at test level.

[Heaf]

Back to the pointless kicking again - but got away with it

[No 7&1/2]

Phew.

[Poorfour]

And Farrell makes another bad kick, reprieved by a worse Welsh mistake. Glad they’re being pinged for rolling, which they were doing a lot in the first half too.

Good response from England. Now to get the ball back into Wales’s half

[Heaf]

Let's hope if England go on to win that blunder by Malins isn't forgotten

[mikey_dragon]

How did he see the grounding? I hate when we get French refs, the penalty it started from was dubious too.

[king_carlos]

Honestly thought they were just walking into getting held up and turned over there but good finish from Sinckler to spin out there.

Much better use of the lineout as well.

[Duty281]

Good response after a Welsh error. Guess Reynal saw it.

[king_carlos]

Halfpenny has taken a fair few big hits so far today!

[BamBam]

How did he see the grounding? I hate when we get French refs, the penalty it started from was dubious too.

It was clear from here

[mikey_dragon]

It was as clear as Jac Morgan’s try against Leicester…

[No 7&1/2]

How did he see the grounding? I hate when we get French refs, the penalty it started from was dubious too.

Because he was a foot away. And no you can't roll to prevent a jackal.

[Poorfour]

England getting the edge in the scrum, but not sure they’ll be rewarded for it.

[Poorfour]

Great counter-rucking there - Wales a little slow to the ball and the backs got their act together

[king_carlos]

Watson looks a different class to anyone else that's been on the wing for England in a while. Hopefully we see Arundell joining him out there soon.

[doctor_grey]

Malins!

[mikey_dragon]

How did he see the grounding? I hate when we get French refs, the penalty it started from was dubious too.

Because he was a foot away. And no you can't roll to prevent a jackal.

He has to, as England players were off their feet. Just no empathy in that call, not that any team did dangerously wrong. The ref’s let go some forward passes so why no empathy here.

[No 7&1/2]

Really nice covering tackle from Slade. Need to see him more in attack now.

[Poorfour]

Great counter-rucking there - Wales a little slow to the ball and the backs got their act together

[BamBam]

I don't know what a Jac Morgan is

[Poorfour]

I hope Sgt Pooly has noticed the game that Dombrandt has had so far.

[No 7&1/2]

Couple of times Watson seems to have lost the flight on those high kicks.

[eirebilly_01]

I don't know what a Jac Morgan is

Its a nice drop of whiskey

[mikey_dragon]

Wonder where Tompkins is going to play?

[No 7&1/2]

We've brought Vunipola on for a scrum....

[eirebilly_01]

I hope Sgt Pooly has noticed the game that Dombrandt has had so far.

He should do, should be watching the game as its on the BBC and not focusing on a woman commentator on ITV

[Duty281]

England's subs hint of the pre-meditation under Lancaster.

[Poorfour]

Rees-Zammit got his positioning wrong there - he needed to take another step.

[Poorfour]

England's subs hint of the pre-meditation under Lancaster.

Raynal had clearly decided he didn’t like Genge’s scrummaging, so swapping Mako (who’s far less aggressive) on is a smart move.

[doctor_grey]

England's subs hint of the pre-meditation under Lancaster.

I think Borthwick only trusts a few of the subs, but basically wants to win with his starters. I don't think we will see Mitchell, Smith until 70 mins.

[doctor_grey]

England's subs hint of the pre-meditation under Lancaster.

Raynal had clearly decided he didn’t like Genge’s scrummaging, so swapping Mako (who’s far less aggressive) on is a smart move.

Jason Leonard for Phil Vickery in the 2003 RWC Final

[No 7&1/2]

I'd like some bravery here and see Mitchell and Smith on.

[No 7&1/2]

Poor from slade.

[Poorfour]

England have clearly got an attacking plan based on kicking to compete in the 22, but the players they have on the pitch don’t do it regularly enough at club level for it to work at this level.

[Sponsored content]