Always a Wasp

It is now becoming an absolute certainty that if pundits and journalists start saying this or that player HAS to play for England they have as much chance of Jones picking them as finding rocking horse poo on the moon. Really feel for Jack in particular, you've only got to look at his stats, his ability is unbelievable.

To win the championship we have to not only beat Italy but score 4 tries and get our points difference as high as possible. So he picks Youngs at 9??? Seriously? Must be because he likes combinations and Youngs plays well with George Ford- who of course isn't playing... Obviously wouldn't play Dan and Jacob together, just no understanding between them...Farrell isn't even the best 10 at Saracens never mind England, he's a very good 12 but lets play Slade there who is a natural 13. Thankfully we'll see some superb Full Back play. From Italy if they pick Matteo... Furbank? What? WHAT? How on earth can be leave Malins out? He is head and shoulders above any other English Fullback and is on excellent form, Furbank has been dreadful for Saints recently. Heaven help us if Farrell gets injured (or more likely red carded) and Furbank goes to Fly Half, train wreck.   

Does Eddie do this just to wind everyone up?

If so it works....

How about this; "A ruck is deemed to be over either 5 seconds from when the referee calls Use It, or when the player in the scrum half position plays the ball. Playing the ball is defined as moving the ball from its original position with his hands or feet"

No point in players binding on to form a caterpillar as the No.9 can't move the ball to the back without being tackled. It does allow the 9 to place his hands on the ball while he makes his decision on what to do with it, the ref can call "ruck over" if he sees it moved.

Would that work?

Mills definitely seems to be finding his feet which is great as he's a natural successor to Gopps in the 12 shirt. As brilliant as Gopps has been and still is on recent form, clearly at his age he's not going to be around much longer (although I would love him to stay on as a player/coach, I'm sure he's really been a guiding light for young Jacob)

Whilst the EAs have picked a full strength team to get up to speed for their HC QF and will undoubtedly want to revenge the drubbing we handed out, once they're clear I suspect their tackling won't have the usual ferocity as they will be desperate themselves not to pick up any injuries so 4 tries for us is not out of the question if that's not being overly optimistic

Am I correct that the Welsh National qualification rule for non resident players is that they can't sign a new contract outside of Wales if they want to represent their country unless they are on 60+ caps? If so, is it at all relevant that all these contract extension announcements are described as just that and not new contracts? I'm thinking of course of Thomas Young, a contact extension leaves the door open to play for Wales which might make re-signing for us a more attractive proposition for him.

Or am I just being over optimistic???

I'm not entirely convinced that a genuine No8 would have made all that much difference TBH. England seemed utterly clueless in attack which the stats demonstrate perfectly. The amount of possession and territory with no points to show for it points to a side with no idea how to breakdown a stubborn defence. Without two moments of individual brilliance from May we would have had 3 points to show for 80 minutes of test rugby. 

It is hard to believe that this was close to the same side that stuffed the All Blacks and made the Wold Cup Final. I totally agree with everyone who thinks that the EA scandal was affecting their players, Farrell for one seemed to be playing in the Championship already. Itoje and George just wen't their usual selves, Kruis who ironically most of us have felt in the past should have been behind Joe in the pecking order- was one of the few who looked up for it and played with the physicality that Jones was on about. Daly has now become a liability, every side is very aware of his lack of ability under a high ball and wherever you play him in the back three -Jones is never picking him at 13- he will be peppered with high balls with predictable gains for the opposition.

I still cannot understand picking Youngs, he was completely embarrassed by Faf De Klerk in the WC Final and again yesterday by Dupont. He can't pass, is too slow, has little vision and his decision making is abysmal. There were several occasions where a scrum or maul was making ground with a strong possibility of a penalty to come and rather than wait to see if it grinds to a halt, Youngs flings the ball out so England can go through numerous phases making a net gain of around -25 metres before being turned over. Don't know who should be there but I'd rather loose a few matches blooding a few younger players to build for the next World Cup. Didn't seem to hurt France!

Fair play to France, they have been a sleeping giant for a long time, they've always had talented players but for a decade or so have played like 15 individuals. Unbelievable turn around in their defence, Shaun was worked miracles in a very short period of time. If they can maintain that standard for the tournament they'll be very hard to beat.

I think those poor Sarries have been very harshly treated. After all they've done for the England team... As their supporters rightly point out, Harlequins also cheated quite blatantly in a European match against Leinster which led to the "Bloodgate" scandal and by comparison Saracens punishment was completely out of proportion. I believe that this should be rectified ASAP so Sarries supporters can get over their persecution complex. So, whilst there was the suggestion that Harlequins had used fake blood at up to four other matches, they were only charged over the Leinster HC Quarter Final- one match- and were fined £259,000 with Dean Richards receiving a 3 year ban. Saracens have admitted cheating for three seasons. Assuming HC matches fall outside of the salary cap and ignoring the Premiership Cup, that's 66 Premiership matches so pro rata they should be fined £15.774 million and the charming, utterly blameless Mr Wray- a man closing on on Fararge's achievement of making Nigel the least popular name in the English language- should be banned from having any part in rugby until the year 2217. There, couldn't be fairer could we?