England - the build-up and winning the World Cup at a canter

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Smith in the back field worked nicely against Ireland. We could interchange him and Steward on defensive duty but keep both in the backfield to receive kicks. Ford dropping in it one or the other has chased a kick up field.

I'd like to see if given a go as the attack does need an injection of something and the AB tactic isn't a bad one. Ruck speed and security needs a big upgrade though as that is the main element killing our attack.

Quite pleased that fell to Leitch!

Awful so far. England miles away from best teams at this rate

Compare this to Fiji.

Drop goal time.

No its keep hold of ball and stop kicking it time.

Wow. Going for the corner. Tight angle from the pen.

Jesus.

Japan are playing at the huge tempo we know they play at...but Ebgland are getting sucked in and trying to docthe same...silly offloads etc. Don't try to match their game....stock to ours

Fiji for the semis

Give me strength.

That line-out just sums up England's half. Fortunate that Japan have lacked composure in key moments, otherwise England could be behind.

Before match I was pretty confident England would win and win quite well. They still might but on first half performance they could easily lose.

It is SO depressing being an England fan right now. No attack strategy, lots of basic mistakes.

I almost WANT us to beaten.

Ford having a stinker. Can't help but feel Smith may do well with some of the front foot ball ford has had.

England will win comfortably. Still a long way to go to make an impact on the competition.

Yoda wrote:Ford having a stinker. Can't help but feel Smith may do well with some of the front foot ball ford has had.

Doubt it. The forwards aren't providing much front foot ball, the ball is slow and it's every phase against a set defence. There's no building pressure through phases either as we knock it on with an alarming regularity.

Can see Smith coming on at 15 to attack from the backfield as the game goes on. Perhaps Steward going to the wing in place of Daly who's been put into space two or three times and kicked it towards the corner every time.

Could easily lose, certainly. But they've got a four point lead despite being dismal, and hopefully they can't be as abject in the second half.

However if Japan get the first try of the second half, and take a lead, I wonder how England will respond to that? Concerning times.

England have just looked a little off the pace, set-piece has been poor, and way too many handling errors resulting from timing issues. Japan haven't been exemplary though. They've made crucial errors trying to attack from deep, and need to be smarter with how they approach the game.

Mr Bounce wrote:It is SO depressing being an England fan right now. No attack strategy, lots of basic mistakes.

I almost WANT us to beaten.

I feel the same as a Welshman about Wales ‍�

Lawes and Marler off on 45 mins for Billy and Genge. Roll the dice and see if we can get some go forward ball in hand.

Thinking back to these sort of situations under Jones you'd be thinking he would be making some changes at half time; Vunipola on? Youngs on to kick a bit more?

Duty281 wrote:Could easily lose, certainly. But they've got a four point lead despite being dismal, and hopefully they can't be as abject in the second half

I was at Eng vs Fiji. I can assure you they can...

Exactly, England fortunate Japan been as bad as they are. Against a half decent team England could be 14 points behind by now.

I suppose at least those of us that are older remember times when England and Wales were good ...

We lose our shape so quickly in attack. We have made yards in short yet are fannying around so much on the gain line.

Lots of empty seats at the start of either half.

Japan are the archetypal difficult team to play against. They are committed, unrelenting and will examine teams low on confidence. England just need to get through this.

No edge in the scrums, losing the contact battle, still kicking aimlessly all the time especially in the opposite 22, just woeful woeful woeful stuff. All the positives from the previous game being rapidly thrown away.

Ha. Ironically when a kick is on.

Hands on the floor there like.

Get 1 back with Marchant straight off his feet.

hugehandoff wrote:No edge in the scrums, losing the contact battle, still kicking aimlessly all the time especially in the opposite 22, just woeful woeful woeful stuff. All the positives from the previous game being rapidly thrown away.

It's not aimless. There's clearly a point. It's generally been ineffective but it's not aimless.

formerly known as Sam wrote:

hugehandoff wrote:No edge in the scrums, losing the contact battle, still kicking aimlessly all the time especially in the opposite 22, just woeful woeful woeful stuff. All the positives from the previous game being rapidly thrown away.

It's not aimless. There's clearly a point. It's generally been ineffective but it's not aimless.

More or less worrying that's it all to plan?

FFS. Endless clueless kicking

This is amateur hour

Is that ball made of soap?

Even the commentary team are now fed up with the tactics. I can only imagine the language if Brian Moore was there.

Crowd booing kicks and fully justified. Awful just awful.

Fine if defending in 22 but not in Japan 22!!!

Dreadful from Mitchell.

It's like last week didn't happen, they aren't doing anything! Stop kicking it away!

"There's an argument England aren't as good as they were in 2019."

No s**t, Ben.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

hugehandoff wrote:No edge in the scrums, losing the contact battle, still kicking aimlessly all the time especially in the opposite 22, just woeful woeful woeful stuff. All the positives from the previous game being rapidly thrown away.

It's not aimless. There's clearly a point. It's generally been ineffective but it's not aimless.

More or less worrying that's it all to plan?

FFS....worst ever England side...clueless and they should all be sacked.

Starting to think Japan might win, as they edge back to within a point.

Would create a similar situation to Pool C, with Japan/Argentina/England all in a tight battle for qualification.

No 7&1/2 wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

hugehandoff wrote:No edge in the scrums, losing the contact battle, still kicking aimlessly all the time especially in the opposite 22, just woeful woeful woeful stuff. All the positives from the previous game being rapidly thrown away.

It's not aimless. There's clearly a point. It's generally been ineffective but it's not aimless.

More or less worrying that's it all to plan?

Certainly frustrating. Certainly worrying that some of the execution is poor and that when the plan is to attack we can't string phases together and even when we do we are painfully slow.

Get Ford off and Smith at 10.

I still have no faith in Borthwick and his team of dullards.

Well that was the bit of luck England needed!

Probably Englands best try in years

Unbelievable

Lol. 2 sumptuous tries now takes us beyond Namibias tally I believe.

Wow, that is harsh on Japan. The initial break was good though.

Some actual nice attack before the very fortuitous header.

Ford finally getting some quick ball to work with.

Best pass by an England player all year