The most pointed comment for me after the game was by SCW who said two or three times that Lawes looked so much better - as did our scrum - with the simple fact he was playing in the right position. It’s not rocket science. What is EJ trying to achieve playing top quality players out of position?
I thought England looked galvanised and full of energy after the red card - they made a game of it for 70 mins. I would have been thoroughly p****d off if I’d spent £100 plus to go to a game that was over after 82 seconds.
I don’t know why Ewels is in the England set up anyway, especially with Launchbury available.
This may be controversial, but I thought England did everything they could to unsettle Ireland and did an amazing job of keeping a lid on it for much of the game. Why did the ref allow the Irish scrum half to take a quick tap and go for their second try when Sinckler was flat out with a head injury that saw him taken off and fail an HIA?
Nowell was outstanding, as was Lawes and Marchant. But Marchant is one of the first players dropped, whilst players like Malins, who does everything he can to hide and skive out of contact is an automatic selection now? Malins does nothing going forward, does nothing to challenge a high ball, falls off tackles like he’s got greased hands and hides away from contact - the wayward pass he threw at the start of the second half was a good example.
The bizarre decision to bring on Daly (who must have taught Malins everything he knows about flapping instead of tackling) very quickly resulted in a fake ‘slight over running’ of the correct defensive position, resulting in an arm flap as the attacking Irish player simply stepped inside and set up a match changing try. They may have been out of puff, but it was glaring how suddenly the floodgates opened once Daly replaced Marchant at 13.
If EJ was any good, he’d know who the pre-Madonnas were by now and not play them even if they do play for Saracens.