I thought it was a ballsy call, lineout had good stats, the catch and drive is usually a banker. Can't want them to play with ambition the blame them when it goes astray. I'd prefer to kill the game with a good % return move, than take a hard kick from the touch line and either miss and give us the ball, or score, but restart from your own half.
Got to disagree with that. At that stage, after that come back by Wales, a draw would have been a hell of a lot better than a loss.
Cracking days rugby yesterday and few bevvies!! See what today brings with Scotland before we get overly excited?!
You won't win a world cup by being conservative......put it this way - I couldn't see us going for goal in the last 3 mins if the positions were reversed.
Had it been a later stage in the competition I'd agree. You just have to get through the group stages; by whatever means. That lost point could make all the difference.
Mate - I thought we were dead and buried when we lost the winger and fullback in the same England attack. I guess you make your own luck - personally I think England should be lauded for going for the win, rather than settling for the draw. Still think the one big mistake was playing Barrit in the 13 channel, he turns like a battleship - the two fantastic cover tackles Farrell made should have been the Barrett's, he was out of position If you watch the Wales try, watch how slowly he turns after the ball goes over him. Fantastic 12, no doubt, not a 13 - Joseph is the real deal and unsure what Burrell did wrong as I thought he was on form last year. For us - it's like a scene from MASH, Fiji will want to put the hurt on (which is fine, we have them at home) and I guess what you guys do to Australia defines how they play the their last game.
Slightly smug after a week of grief by English colleagues - back in Feb I posted this: "Now, with a fit Farrell, Baritt and Tuilagi will they start (and you bring on flair) or do you go with Joseph and Ford etc. Wales didn't struggle midfield anyway last night and wouldn't have with the power players...so it's a concern for England as to who to pick I think (a nice conundrum)." http://thelatebay.com/index.php?threads/i-can-see-where-wales-went-wrong.48118/page-3 Pretty prophetic even by my big headed standards.....sadly you went power over flair. Had Joseph been fit, I'd like to think they'd have gone maybe Ford, Farrell (12) and Joseph - which you need to do against Australia as a single kicking option against them will hurt you bigtime.
Sorry, but it has to b said... Rugby ‘victory’ was planned to make Wales feel good about itself. ENGLAND deliberately lost to Wales as part of a plan to boost the smaller country’s morale, it has emerged. Wales’s victory caused an upsurge in national pride for a country embattled by unemployment, inhospitable weather and the literary trend for terrible books about talking dragons. However excessive gloating by Wales fans caused England sources to reveal that they were not actually trying. Coach Stuart Lancaster said: “I had spoken with David Cameron who said it was time we did something nice for the Welsh, apart from filming Doctor Who there. “He said he wanted the people of Wales to feel like they lived in a proper country and not just a Tolkeinesque tourist attraction. “He showed me some pictures of Welsh children, their tears had made clean streaks on their coal-smeared little faces. I knew then we had to do something.”
If Farrell had missed the kick England would've retained possession from the 22 drop out and attacked again, no brainer, also they took the best player off. Burgess was having a good game apart from one small defensive mistake, the Welsh looked and were scared of him
