England

[Shugs]

Just bad selection. M Vunipola weakens the scrum. Coles at 6 - just why?? Farrell/Tuilagi centre pairing stale/slow/predictable. Full back to wing. Standard Jones. Looks like we’ve worked out the best approach v SA is to power up. That’s how we’ve never beaten them recently!

[Neils]

Who cares??

[JonnyD]

Who cares??

I’m a bit like that now.

Coles at 6 is ridiculous. A decent player of course and in because Eddie says we need another lineout jumper against SA but is he by definition the best 6 in England?!

Good to see Nowell out as he has been anonymous, pleased he’s sticking with jvp despite his bad half, very un-Eddie like really.
Slade changed the game I think last week and is hard done by to not get picked.

Genge brings great impact later but surely then you go with a big scrummager to start and that isn’t Mako.
I’ll probably watch it but not that bothered about the result.

[Vespula Vulgaris]

Who cares??

Exactly.

I'm finding it harder and harder to care about anything to do with rugby now.

I can get my head round what happened to the club, however gutted I am about it. But the fact that the powers that be are deliberately doing everything in their power to ensure we stay dead makes me furiously angry.

I genuinely hope England lose.

[mike909]

"Who Cares?"

I'm in the boat of wanting to support England - but have got to the point with the bizarre decisions and pissing on players' chips that I'm more than happy when England lose. If only to put the dampers on the BS and arrogant attitude that seems to be spread by a team and staff that haven't delivered.

Like many? fans, I was willing to give any coach a chance - but after a long winning streak - off the back of much of the work that Lancaster did.....we've managed a series of reverses. Longest losing streak, three of the worst 6Ns in 5 years (2018, 2021, 2022) the sort of results that get you sacked in normal times...

Getting to a RWC final isn't rare for England. England have always been able (if not willing) to beat NZ and anyone else. But what we seem to have now is "Eddie's private experiment" which seems to mean playing out of position, being a favourite or not and the management skills of an idiot - whilst seemingly having little idea what they are trying to do.....

So - I'd not be bothered by a 20+ point win for SA....but nothing will change - so I'll probably start taking an interest in another international team...now I speak some French....and want to move to Scotland! Hmmm.....

[Bloke in North Dorset]

I watched the NZ game because the ABs can be a thing of beauty when they are flowing and they promised that in the first 15 minutes, but then it went downhill. It was the first time I've sat down to watch a game since we went under and it didn't rekindle my love of the game.

Both sides are missing stars but in the case of England that's not just because the games outside the international window, so fans will be deprived of the best game possible, nevertheless I'll probably put the triumph of hope over experience and watch the game.

[backdoc]

I went to the NZ game. I realised I didn't care anymore - Eddie J and the Wasps disaster have removed something that has enthralled me since I first saw England v Ireland in the 1970's, with Fran Cotton marmalising his opposite prop 12 feet from my seat.

I have a property that is within 2 hrs of Brive, Toulouse, Castres, Agen, Auch, Montauban, Bordeaux and Pau, and a bit further to Perpignan, La Rochelle, Biarritz/Bayonne. I think I can see the way forward. I can invite both Willis brothers over for lunch 

[baldpaul101]

I have a property that is within 2 hrs of Brive, Toulouse, Castres, Agen, Auch, Montauban, Bordeaux and Pau, and a bit further to Perpignan, La Rochelle, Biarritz/Bayonne.

Sounds perfect, when will you be inviting us all round?

[DGP Wasp]

One of the bigest problems is that OF continues to be selcted.

Exactly.  Never a player to try and build a team round, as successive England coaches have been intent on doing.  From the outside he appears to be at the heart of everything that is wrong with the current England team.  Massively overrated and seemingly all too willing to believe his own hype.

[Shugs]

I went to the NZ game. I realised I didn't care anymore - Eddie J and the Wasps disaster have removed something that has enthralled me since I first saw England v Ireland in the 1970's, with Fran Cotton marmalising his opposite prop 12 feet from my seat.

I have a property that is within 2 hrs of Brive, Toulouse, Castres, Agen, Auch, Montauban, Bordeaux and Pau, and a bit further to Perpignan, La Rochelle, Biarritz/Bayonne. I think I can see the way forward. I can invite both Willis brothers over for lunch 

Can it house 5-7,000?

[MarleyWasp]

Can't help but think that the fact that Jack was able to go to Toulouse and sign a contract with them yesterday because Eddie would rather play a Second Row in the Back Row sums up all that is wrong with him.

[baldpaul101]

Massively overrated and seemingly all too willing to believe his own hype.

I personally don't agree with that. I think he is a very good player, who EVERYONE rates. Not Just Eddie, but other coaches, players, pundits the lot. You will not find many people who know or have worked with him who have a bad word to say about him.

The problem England have is that he should either play 10, or not play at all. When he plays 12, he's running the game the way a 10 would, but from inside centre. That then causes the 10 to not play their natural game. We saw it with Ford, Cips & now Smith. I fail to understand why Eddie persists with it when it just has never really worked.

[Rossm]

Massively overrated and seemingly all too willing to believe his own hype.

I personally don't agree with that. I think he is a very good player, who EVERYONE rates. Not Just Eddie, but other coaches, players, pundits the lot. You will not find many people who know or have worked with him who have a bad word to say about him.

The problem England have is that he should either play 10, or not play at all. When he plays 12, he's running the game the way a 10 would, but from inside centre. That then causes the 10 to not play their natural game. We saw it with Ford, Cips & now Smith. I fail to understand why Eddie persists with it when it just has never really worked.

You know the answer to that question, BP. Eddie is never wrong

[backdoc]

I went to the NZ game. I realised I didn't care anymore - Eddie J and the Wasps disaster have removed something that has enthralled me since I first saw England v Ireland in the 1970's, with Fran Cotton marmalising his opposite prop 12 feet from my seat.

I have a property that is within 2 hrs of Brive, Toulouse, Castres, Agen, Auch, Montauban, Bordeaux and Pau, and a bit further to Perpignan, La Rochelle, Biarritz/Bayonne. I think I can see the way forward. I can invite both Willis brothers over for lunch 

Can it house 5-7,000?

Only if they all bring a tent.

[JF]

Clearly EJ believes that the only thing that matters is the World Cup. Everything else is barely secondary.

That's not the sort of thing that people who have shelled out not inconsiderable sums for a ticket at Twickenham want to hear.