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ClassifiedsNot the best spectacle but a wins a win, get them chariots rolling.
AWJ - Not the brightest of things to do, bet he has to sit at the back of the bus on the way down the M4 and he can pay for the Severn Bridge toll as well i reckon, what a costly trip that was. (cheers Druid)
Good win for england. Hardly the scintillating back play we were promised but Wales gave them every opportunity and they took it.
Neither side looked much cop. I must single out Borthwick for some praise. Good lineout work and a bit in loose. Care done well as well - his sniping runs were one of the few bits of going forward England managed.
Tait? What happened to him? He does not appear to be the messiah
Get in!!!!!!
Sure England would have contrived to lose that in the past. Mebbe they are starting to learn a thing or two about winning ugly from Johnson.
Scrum looked more solid when Cole came on.
Borthwick showed up well too.
Wilkinson kicked much better but still stood v deep.
Easter also a plus.
AWJ the obvious scapegoat but the wales management have to take a bit of criticism. All the contentious selections seemed to be the wrong ones.
Cooper looked rusty
Williams had a shocker at hooker - poor chap
Charteris anonymous
WTF with Hook kicking at goal?
England thoroughly desreved the win
My take aways
Borthwick had a great game. Best I can remember from him
Welsh backs were awful - truly awful.
Tait. The great white hope remains a hope . Starting to doubt he will ever move beyond that
AWJ - muppet. Silliest 10 mins ever
Neither team looked great but with Italy next I can see an English momentum building.
Come on the scots tomorrow.....
FWIW i didn't think Tait was that bad. No obvious errors.
Just cos he's in the team you can't expect him to make searing breaks and dazzle everytime he has the ball.
He was very composed for the second Haskell try.
Hook probably pick of the backs ('cept his kicks at goal), very talented footballer.
Thought Tait played OK, couple of nice little runs. I'm not sure what people really expect from him.
Hooks poor tackling cost them the game then I see!
Anyway Copper, G Williams should never see a Wales shirt again. Bloody anniying to loose to England at Twickers without making england play well. Mind you how clueless was englands kicking in the period of the welsh comeback. just boot it into touch and watch wales loose the lineout.
That sounds like clued in kicking to me...
Mmmm, roast lamb 
point was fadda england kept kicking infeild and so giving wales chances to run back
Rusty Ireland never looked like result was in doubt but Italy were truly shocking and seemed to drag Ireland down to their level.
England should be thanking Alun Wyn Jones as without that 10 minute spell either side of half time they struggled to show a threat. Wales were so disjointed and the backs never functioned, partly I'm sure to the poor performance of Cooper at scrumhalf. Passing was awful at times and decision making worse. Gatland should have had him off earlier.
Don't think Hook and Roberts gelled well either.
Aw well here is hoping for snow at Murrayfield tomorrow so the big Scottish pack can dominate.
We were poor, really poor 
England nothing to get excited about at all.
Bitter? I guess I am.
England are desperate for two quality centres who can control the midfield better than Toby Flood and Matthew Tait. no drive, guile or craft from either of these players, just 2 random blokes in making up the numbers...IMO
How wales lost the game
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMUak7hB-As
I thinks its harsh to say Hook and Roberts didnt gell given the lack of decent ball. I thought they were much more dangerous than Roberts, Shanklin or Roberts, Davis. Hook looked good at 13 (although he was playing 12 a lot). Tait and Flood on the other hand are a lost cause, although Tait showed his talent on the intercept try, Armitage played well and is class. England need to really kick on to improve on that win and start performing. Wales were easily defending against them for the first 35 mins apart from a couple of silly pens they didnt need to give away despite not winning a lineout. AWJ going off was the key the dumb ****. England really should have easily strangled the game off in the second half by kicking to touch. They must also be worried about scrums, wales were well on top there. I reckon despite how bad wales were if Mike Phillips had played they could still have won which would just have papered over some huge cracks and been harsh on England. All in all two teams who could both play much better.
Was it me, or did England take nearly every dropping ball they got themselves under? Wales looked woeful every time a ball came down out of the air. I agree on Hook - I thought he was playing really well, far better than his corresponding centres...and his try was O'Driscollesque. The hand off before he went over the line was a thing of beauty.
England definitely looked on top up front - that's a highly mobile aggressive pack and they showed a discipline that hasn't been there for a long time...no sin bins against a quality team. It's been a while since we've seen that.
And I agree where Flood and Tait are concerned - Tait is only good when he's got a bit of space to get some speed up. Otherwise, he's easily snaffled. As for Flood, well, he just doesn't look like international standard to me. A good squad player or maybe a bench player, but I don't think Flutey's place is under any danger.
Byrne had a poor day and was shit under the high ball, Wales' imploded at the lineout, I dont think the England pack is that strong, looked weak at scrum, if you took away the lineout I dont think the england pack were on top in the loose, they just had more ball. Highley mobile seems odd there front row is weak and slow, locks strong but slow, haskell played well though and seems to have sorted his brain farts out. Hopefully Wales will pick anyone else other than G Williams and cooper next week. Swap Charteris for Bradley Davis (more grunt), Powell for Thomas (more work, better lineout) and 1/2p for James (can catch). Talk of dropping AWJ is stupid he's one of wales few quality players.
Thought the England front row was really poor. Wilson was rubbish and Hartley is an accident waiting to happen. Care had an ok game was much better than Cooper. Haskel had a good game as did Moody. Cueto always looks dangerous but never got the ball. Not sure about Armitage I think he is a gob shite but havent seen enough of him as a rugby player. Tait and Flood need a good distributor at 10 and Jonny isnt that.
Not sure about Armitage I think he is a gob shite
As a wales fan I thought he looked like a jumped up smirking tosser, but that is usually a good sign in an england player
I'm as positive as you can be given we've just lost THE important game!...feel normal service will be resumed soon in the front row which will obviously help the scrums and lineout...Hookys try was a stunner...I reckon we'll see a few more of that quality from Wales throughout the next few games...AWJ was a donkey for the trip..but we also saw footage of an English player doing the same and getting away with it...I reckon an English binning would have put a different complexion on it
PS Just wonder how many of those calling Andy Powell Mongo would do it to his face?..(he's sorta related :wink:)
Hopefully Wales will pick anyone else other than G Williams and cooper next week. Swap Charteris for Bradley Davis (more grunt), Powell for Thomas (more work, better lineout) and 1/2p for James (can catch). Talk of dropping AWJ is stupid he's one of wales few quality players.
Exactly, except I'd have Gough in there.
Obviously AWJ's stupidity killed us yesterday, but Cooper has to take a huge amount of responsibility for that loss. Immediately after Rees came on, Wales started looking like a threat. Rees is far from being the best 9 in Wales, which shows how poor Cooper is.
If England have any brains at all they will use that win to build up momentum, but they looked very poor and I don't think they'll be a major threat to anyone else apart from Italy.
They created absolutely nothing. 14 points when Wales were down a man, and an interception when Wales were putting them under huge pressure but still chasing the game. With 5 minutes to go Wales looked likely to win the game.........and then that miracle pass.
Wales' problems stem from AWJ and poor selection - fairly easy to rectify. England's problems......where do you start, even though they won.
Still, a win's a win and that's what the records will show.
I hope that doesn't sound like sour grapes, it's not meant to. I genuinely think that England's management should be massively concerned about that game, even though they won.
I actually fell asleep in the 1st game. It was dreadful. Still, Ireland did enough.
IdleJon, I agree Wales' problems look easier to fix, but England will hopefully gain some momentum. I say that as Northern Hemisphere rugby needs to improve to challenge at next worldcup. Ireland and France are OK but not great but England, Scotland and Wales are currently poor.
whytrash, Wales were pretty good in the scrum yesterday, pushed england back and won one againts the head that the daft ref re set and gave to england. Gethin wouldnt improve scrums over James, Rees would improve scrums but not by that much.
whytrash, Wales were pretty good in the scrum yesterday, pushed england back and won one againts the head that the daft ref re set and gave to england.
And don't forget he gave a penalty against the Welsh scrum inside the English 22 which even Brian Moore described as mystifying.
On a brighter note well done England although I guess it was an edgy performance by both sides with some appalling gaps in the English defence, but this always happens at the start of the Six Nations, slightly 'odd' performances as teams settle down to it.
Should be a cracker!
Ireland! IRELAND! IRELAND!
Gough has not played for Ospreys much seems off form. Wales have screwed winning anything this season so may as well go with Bradley Davis at lock rather than gough. I expect JT to start next week though, either in place of Charteris or Powell/Ryan Jones.
When will a referee learn to ref the front rows properly?
AWJ was very much out of character. Stupid, but out of character. He's no cheat, he was just stupid.
Hook's try was a thing of pure beauty, and Adam scoring was great as well. Overall though, the least worst teams won both games yesterday.
As it stands, it's France's tournament to lose, as no one else has impressed so far.
I enjoyed that considerably more than this "beard" fellow!
Interesting to see the scots' pack so comprehensively overhauled.
The scoreline didn't really reflect the game though; 75% played in scotlands half!
England were shit and the win was a bit of a gift, two smallish centres just won't work.
French look good, if they can get that blitz defence a little tighter they'll be difficult to beat.
France v Ireland at Stade de France next week is going to be a cracker
Oh dear, the Scottish scrum got completely destroyed today and as such we were on the back foot all game. French looked confident and we did defend well to avoid a bigger loss.
However Murray will be back which will help and I was quite happy that we did actually manage some line-breaks for the 1st time in ages.
Next weeks France-Ireland and Wales-Scotland games look fascinating.
I wouldnt say Scotland played terrible today, just weren't allowed out their half. Our pack really struggled without E Murray. Godman was just woeful!
France were good and i dont think any of the other nations would have had them either.
I don't think any team will beat france this year.
I also don't think scotland look capable of beating any team except italy. One bloke ain't going to make that much of a difference to that pack. Beattie looks a good player though.
Bankhander, I always think people underestimate the role of a solid front row (as an ex prop I may be biased 
). It is a platform on which everything is built and Murray is one of the world's best scrummagers. He would not have won the game fro Scotland but his effect would have been pronounced
France were very good today and Scotland did ok. The reality is Scotland may beat Engalnd / Wales / Italy. They could also lose all 3. My guess is they will win 2 of the 3 but cannot see them beating Ireland
The good thing about this 6 nations is not a lot of certainties.
Taz - MemberThe good thing about this 6 nations is not a lot of certainties.
Or to put it another way, there hasn't been a single good performance in any of the three matches.
Other than Italy, the other 5 teams all look like they can beat any of the others depending on home/away and refereeing inconsistencies.
I don't think any team will beat france this year.
You could say "France for the Grand Slam" then... 
The decider is in Paris next weekend - Ireland win that, and another GS is on for sure. Now, where did I put that skyhook... 
Well then, that was an odd weekend! In summary, as I saw it;
Italy - Woeful. What were they doing? They're better than that. Not a lot, but they are.
Ireland - Bland. OK, so they won, but really not very impressed.
England. As above.
Wales. AWJ will rue that for an age. Very much out of character from him. That was pretty much all that was in the game. Wales weren't good enough at all. (Apart from Hook's try which was lovely!)
Scotland - A lot better than I had expected. OK, so the front row was destroyed (Kudos to Murray for sticking to the convictions of his faith, however. Must be hard to do).
France - Did all they needed to do and little more. However, they did look the most composed of any of the teams. It's their championship to lose. Can't see anyone else getting near them.
A weekend of dreary rugby. I watech all three games in between riding my bike. Tedious.
Adam "Try scorer" Jones interview here
Is he the most laid back man in sport? 
to be honest sounds like typical comments from the start of the 6N.
As an England fan I remember similar comments in the years between '95 and '03. Some people are never happy 
So lets focus on the important thing; quiet welshmen for another year
Scotland / France was the best game I thought - both teams playing with pace and trying to attack.
Scotland beat more defenders and made more line breaks than they have for years. More line breaks / players beaten and yards carried than england managed in their win. Scrum.com stats are interesting reading
I think France look a mile ahead of everyone else and non of the other teams look scary ( apart from maybe ireland)to me as a Scotland fan. I fancy beating England, Wales and Italy - but will Wales be that poor again this 6N?
That interview is great. Asked about his try;
"got the ball in our 22, stepped monye, stepped cueto..."
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