england

[wycombewasp]

just watching England vs USA so bored I'm playing on the computer, I thought at one time I was watching Exeter. Don't they know there playing a second tier nation.

[SilverShire]

I don't know if its part of his game plan but I think that Daly isn't that interested and doesn't look like his head is in it.

[Neils]

I don't know if its part of his game plan but I think that Daly isn't that interested and doesn't look like his head is in it.

Has he ever?

[Nopace]

No sour grapes I just don’t think he’s playing well at all. Average.

[Nopace]

England look horrible. Don’t fancy Argentina much. Underwhelming.

[Raggs]

Why would we do anything but the basics? Keep the moves under wraps until you need them.

[BG]

10 pts after 2 games but its not been very inspiring.

I think England have 2 wink links.. Daly and Youngs.

Daly doesn''t offer much in attack and  he's not been tested in defence yet.. but he's still falling off tackles. If I was France or Argentina I'd be targetting him.

Youngs takes an age to get the ball away from the ruck and some of his passes were U11's standard.

[RBB]

Totally agree with the former comments, Daly was again average in what should have been a game where he could excel. I do find myself being very critical of ED since the EA situation, but he does not look assured at 15. Launch also looked a little rusty with some of his handling and positional play but that looked like a lack of game time.

On the other hand, our new 15 (no nickname yet, M² perhaps), did very well today against Canada, the occasional mishap and suspect kick but largely a good performance, good under the high ball and robust in defence.

[King Prawn Phuna]

I know I'm biased but Heinz does a good job.  Quicker with the ball, better box kick with chasers lined up and ready and a better pass the Youngs, my only issue is that he doesn't have that cheeky chappy dart from the fringe.  He does what EJ and England want ...and that's deliver a game plan and execute it well.

Whilst I'm on the subject of 9's, bad luck about Ben V, there was a lot of folks following him back in Gloucester and looking forward to the games against him.  Genuine best wishes from  #glawsfamily and hope he comes back stronger.

[matelot22]

For how long were the US playing with 14 men? If it was a significant amount of time, then I think that's not a great performance at all. I take Raggs' point about keeping our powder dry, but even so.........

Agree re Ben Youngs, I've never understood how he has been retained by England for so long.

[Heathen]

Four comments :

1. Excellent performance from Nick Berry

2. Why did England not put the ball out once the clock had gone red in the 2 nd half?

3. Sadly Joe looks as though he is a bit part player in Eddie's thinking.

4. Changing games, MM looks a very good player.

[Raggs]

For how long were the US playing with 14 men? If it was a significant amount of time, then I think that's not a great performance at all. I take Raggs' point about keeping our powder dry, but even so.........

Agree re Ben Youngs, I've never understood how he has been retained by England for so long.

It happened in the 70th minute.

People look at the ABs vs Tonga as though that's some meaningful game. Shall we look at the Ireland warmup, and assume if we meet them during tournament we'll put another 50 points on them? Of course not. This is a world cup, every team that we're expected to beat will play their hearts out, whereas we need to keep our calm ready for the bigger games.

We've already seen Russian run Japan and Samoa close, we've seen Uruguay topple Fiji, Fiji have Aus on the run for a fair while etc etc. There are very few 70+ point blow outs these days. Getting to 50 is often a struggle, especially whilst keeping a damn near clean sheet (why didn't Daly just kick it out).

[matelot22]

For how long were the US playing with 14 men? If it was a significant amount of time, then I think that's not a great performance at all. I take Raggs' point about keeping our powder dry, but even so.........

Agree re Ben Youngs, I've never understood how he has been retained by England for so long.

It happened in the 70th minute.

People look at the ABs vs Tonga as though that's some meaningful game. Shall we look at the Ireland warm up, and assume if we meet them during tournament we'll put another 50 points on them? Of course not. This is a world cup, every team that we're expected to beat will play their hearts out, whereas we need to keep our calm ready for the bigger games.

We've already seen Russian run Japan and Samoa close, we've seen Uruguay topple Fiji, Fiji have Aus on the run for a fair while etc etc. There are very few 70+ point blow outs these days. Getting to 50 is often a struggle, especially whilst keeping a damn near clean sheet (why didn't Daly just kick it out).

If 70th minute then I agree it's not going to make a huge difference. Also agree that the warm up games are worth little in terms of gauging team's performance. It does appear that Eddie has planned to prioritise defence and do enough for a BP, at least for the "lesser" teams

[mike909]

Its hard to know where England are, except, right where they want to be, in terms of points and mainly in the place they want on injuries - but info is less clear on that of course.

Jones is of course making statements that need to be taken with a pinch of salt. One recent interview - he went on about a strength based game based on traditional strengths, so scrum, lineout etc. Yet of course, the games played in the last 18 months have looked to play a fast multi phased game like the first part of the SA Test 1 in SA, and the first 31 points vs Scotland as examples.

So how England will look to play vs Argentina is not clear to us - and I'd expect only that England's key aim will be to avoid phases of confused and naive play, as demonstrated too often, when opponents have made come backs. Squidge Rugby did an excellent video on this matter, which is a concern, as these comebacks have often been against key teams.

If England have made progress on their ability to react to the changes in a game - then they are serious contenders.

[Raggs]

I'd suggest our constant success in defence, even when clearly having won the games, and comfortably so, in the last 2, suggest we have at least solved some of our concentration issues and comebacks.