Scotland vs England | The Calcutta Cup

Scotland seem to be showing too much passion and not enough brains. England smart so far.

Millar-Mills on for Fagerson is not what Scotland want. That's probably the worst injury they could get other than Finn. They have many good players they could lose. Fagerson going down is the double whammy of lacking depth and England having two strong LHs though.

Oh dear boys. Under the cosh at 5 minutes.

If this is toonies most important game will he resign if we lose?

He didn't look like he thought he'd had a knock so will probably be back on following the HIA

Has somebody greased the ball?

Shovelling s**t. Once Ford gets the dodgy pass he should just put boot to ball there and keep the pressure in Scotland's 22.

Don't think ref has much idea what's going on in the scrum

Which is good for us heaf!

remains to be seen

That was nearly a great kick

Poor restarts and exits just after an easy three points is so frustrating.

Then compounded by a second successive poor kick.

Fagerson coming back is great news for Scotland.

I honestly thought that came off Chessum's hand and forward when contesting the lineout before the Scotland knock on then penalty.

Yeah.

The original knock on by England was on half way and then Scotland had plenty of chance to use it so can't see how there was no advantage there plus the scrum is 10m in the wrong place

And then Scotland score off the scrum - typical

That was really poor midfield defending initially and then Furbank jumps on the back of an already tackled player leaving an easy walk in. Very poor from the backs.

It's been all England up to that point but we've not taken enough points and now Scotland look menacing.

I think there was another knock on at the base in the ensuing mess after Care's initial fumble. That drop came from shovelling s**t again though. George isn't expecting Furbank's offload, then Care isn't expecting George to shovel it further. Everyone looked like they were preparing to set a ruck, then f***ed it.

That's a really poor defensive read in midfield though. The blitz had been cutting down Finn's time and options very well until that giant lapse. Frustrating. Well finished by Shug then Duhey though.

Underhill making up for the pen he conceded quickly!

formerly known as Sam wrote:That was really poor midfield defending initially and then Furbank jumps on the back of an already tackled player leaving an easy walk in. Very poor from the backs.

It's been all England up to that point but we've not taken enough points and now Scotland look menacing.

Yep - I refer you to my earlier post

Fs.

FFS how many knock ons!!!!

This is comically bad stuff.

England's poor handling is giving the game to Scotland

Idiotic finish that like. Why d he go so wide at the end.

Stop giving appalling passes

Pretty crap pass from Ford leading to that try.  They need to settle down.  
Far too frantic.  On the verge of playing out of control.

Very late tackle that.

That's similar to the Lawrence knock on from Ford's dire pass earlier. They're going nowhere and Scotland are set. The kick chase has been working well though. Hanging it fairly short and having one rabbit in the chase who tries to bat it back has been getting consistent net gains. Just put Scotland back under pressure instead of risking putting yourself under pressure by playing with nothing on. Poor stuff.

miltonkeynesengland wrote:Stop giving appalling passes

That was catchable. Should be catchable at this level. Second Furbank drop in quick succession. He's been poor so far.

Comical ref sorry ex ref stuff from Owens. Basically England bad Scotland good

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:Stop giving appalling passes

That was catchable. Should be catchable at this level. Second Furbank drop in quick succession. He's been poor so far.

Shouldnt be passed so high at this level..hes given bad passes to Lawrence and others

England's backs are laughably poor....Care, Ford & Lawrence all terrible hands

Daly definitely taken out - completely ignored

hugehandoff wrote:England's backs are laughably poor....Care, Ford & Lawrence all terrible hands

Care really appears slow as well. Passes are being zipped in to people in traffic. Relax. Simply relax.

Smarter from Ford. Better stuff. England have had 15 awful minutes. 3 points from basically nothing is a good play.

Care has had a really poor half so far. I'd be tempted to get Spencer on at half time.

Good call for the DG

Heaf wrote:Daly definitely taken out - completely ignored

He definitely collides with Darge, I think it was Darge anyway. That in itself isn't an offence though. Darge can hold his line/ground. It would be a pen if Darge changed his line to impede Daly. Which is hard to tell with no replay.

Darge stepped across him

miltonkeynesengland wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:Stop giving appalling passes

That was catchable. Should be catchable at this level. Second Furbank drop in quick succession. He's been poor so far.

Shouldnt be passed so high at this level..hes given bad passes to Lawrence and others

He's under pressure at the line, it's a bit sloppy but there's no excuse for not catching it. It's head height and he's an international back. He dropped one in the last attack as well which was in the bread basket.

England are playing aggressively at the gain line. Cohesion isn't quite there. When it clicked then we scored.

Yeah tbf you have to expect the defence to be iffy. Problem.with blitz and getting it wrong is that it'll often result in points when you do get it wrong.

17 handling errors in that half!

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:Stop giving appalling passes

That was catchable. Should be catchable at this level. Second Furbank drop in quick succession. He's been poor so far.

Shouldnt be passed so high at this level..hes given bad passes to Lawrence and others

He's under pressure at the line, it's a bit sloppy but there's no excuse for not catching it. It's head height and he's an international back. He dropped one in the last attack as well which was in the bread basket.

England are playing aggressively at the gain line. Cohesion isn't quite there. When it clicked then we scored.

Disagree.  The pass was both late and head high, and in traffic. And resulted in an easy try.

It makes subs interesting. This game under Jones and I'd be half expecting a sub like Smith on at half time.

doctor_grey wrote:

hugehandoff wrote:England's backs are laughably poor....Care, Ford & Lawrence all terrible hands

Care really appears slow as well.  Passes are being zipped in to people in traffic.  Relax.  Simply relax.    

I think I would hook Care and get Spencer on. Despite Danny's enormous skill set it is time to acknowledge that he is not a test match animal.

All to play for. Frantic pace to the game

England I think are looking to play, issue is handling errors are killing them. However, cannot fault ambition. Tighten up and it'll come.

Stats say more handling errors by Scotland - find that hard to believe

Heaf wrote:Darge stepped across him

I wound it back to look, I don't think he does much. Daly just runs into him. I also think Daly might've been marginally offside when Ford kicked it anyway!

The refs been fine IMO.

Hopefully England's passing and catching will improve in the 2nd half

doctor_grey wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:

formerly known as Sam wrote:

miltonkeynesengland wrote:Stop giving appalling passes

That was catchable. Should be catchable at this level. Second Furbank drop in quick succession. He's been poor so far.

Shouldnt be passed so high at this level..hes given bad passes to Lawrence and others

He's under pressure at the line, it's a bit sloppy but there's no excuse for not catching it. It's head height and he's an international back. He dropped one in the last attack as well which was in the bread basket.

England are playing aggressively at the gain line. Cohesion isn't quite there. When it clicked then we scored.

Disagree.  The pass was both late and head high, and in traffic.  And resulted in an easy try.  

Absolutely Doc...its yet anothet poor pass. Its like blaming the jumper when the hooker has under or over thrown the ball. A 6ft tall guy should not be jimping to catch a pass

That Ford pass at Furbanks head. Dear me.

king_carlos wrote:

Heaf wrote:Darge stepped across him

I wound it back to look, I don't think he does much. Daly just runs into him. I also think Daly might've been marginally offside when Ford kicked it anyway!

The refs been fine IMO.

Still think he obstructed (and knew what he was doing) but agree ref has been OK overall so far.