Move over Wilko
- 6 Feb 07, 12:54 PM
We鈥檝e all seen the headlines - 鈥淛onny B God鈥, 鈥淩eturn of the Hero鈥 and 鈥淜ing of Sporting Comebacks鈥.
Yes, it was an incredible performance by against Scotland on Saturday and rightly he claimed all the plaudits after the victory.
But as the focus now drifts to Italy this weekend, and perhaps more importantly the crunch Croke Park clash with Ireland on 24 February, I would like to look at four other areas that give England reasons to be cheerful.
The gutsy display of Leicester number eight Martin Corry showed that losing the captaincy could see him return to the kind form he displayed on the 2001 Lions tour to Australia.
Corry was retained in the team to take on Scotland so was unable to slip quietly back to the Midlands to hide and sulk, instead he had to front up at a packed Twickenham and did so with relish.
Mike Tindall looked a different player after his switch to outside centre (and possibly by the change in head coach) and punched holes in Scotland鈥檚 defence in a way that was so lacking last year.
With all due respect, Scotland鈥檚 midfield is not the greatest in world rugby but Tindall鈥檚 display is a start and any sign of life in the back line following last year鈥檚 dirge is something to revel in.
In Magnus Lund, England have a genuine open-side and the 23-year-old can make the number seven shirt his own ahead of the World Cup.
Lund, the son of Norwegian basketball player Morten, brings balance to the back row and showed against Scotland the kind of work-rate that helped Sale to the Premiership title last year. (He led England鈥檚 tackle count against Scotland with 11)
There have been many words written about scrum-half but his eye-catching display deserved it so there is no harm in mentioning him again.
Ellis was a constant threat with his sniping and seemed a man determined to prove his worth after falling out of favour following last year鈥檚 Six Nations.
The 24-year-old is the first choice for the number nine jersey and if he maintains his current form, Shaun Perry and Peter Richards face an uphill struggle to get back into the side.
Let me know what you think and feel free to mention some of the other names that could have also been included (Vickery, Worsley and Farrell come to mind).
Wales 27-18 England
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I'd be getting a bit miffed if I was one of the England forwards and Jonny keeps getting the plaudits. The English win was built on the forward platform. They tired the Scottish out in the first half with rolling maul after rolling maul.
Harry Ellis and Wilkinson might not look so comfortable if the English pack is disrupted. I'm not sure if any of the others packs have the organisation to disrupt them though.
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What about Robinson? He hardly ever seems to get a mention but it was great seeing him back in the team scoring again.
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I was pleased with the whole team really, and so was disappointed to see Morgan drop out of the 22 completely for the game against Italy. Balshaw might offer more in attack than Morgan, but his defence is often terrible, and how many of the world's top teams have fullbacks who RUN AWAY from tackles? Morgan did nothing wrong on his debut and surely it would be better for England in the long term to retain him, at least on the bench? I suppose that would mean sacrificing Tait or Flood, so Morgan is just very unlucky.
I was pleasantly surprised Easter included in the line-up for Saturday. If Robinson was in charge we would probably be seeing Corry moving to 6 and Sanderson being brought back at 8 or something similar! It's nice to see Ashton giving opportunities to new players, and with such a short period of time to go before the World Cup it's essential we uncover them now not later.
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The one thing that I think most pundits are not commenting on is the massive decrease in handling errors. Steve Thompson was one of the worst for dropping the ball at silly occasions, when not under pressure. It's the small things like handling errors that have been fixed by Ashton. The next thing to decrease is the stupid penalties that the pack keep giving away. The forwards need to play to the rules. If England continue reducing the number of handling errors and silly penalties - the other aspects of their game are strong enough to overcome any other team in the six nations.
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What about Robinson? He hardly ever seems to get a mention but it was great seeing him back in the team scoring again.
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What about Robinson? He hardly ever seems to get a mention but it was great seeing him back in the team scoring again.
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I think the whole England side deserves praise. The Team really pulled together to show that they can still still be real contenders in international rugby. After a truely aweful run of form it was great to see us gettign the basics right.
I still dont think we are good enough to defend the world cup or win the six nations but any improvement is good and the whole team showed promise
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Just a few cents worth to add to this post.
Whilsy JW rightly received plaudits for his performance, I feel that some of it is due to the lack of a decent No 10 for the last years. Specifically in the kicking department. All too often, we were not converting tries and penalties, to the tune of 8-10 points a game and when the scoreboard doesn't tick, nor do the team.
Ellis had a great game and will have a lot more to say during this championship.
Tindall as well, a man have long admired, consistently made 5 or 10 yards, through the Scots defence and crucially across the gain line, forcing a regroup. This was very valuable work.
Thought Andy F had a safe game - nothing showy, but solid enough in defence.
Sad to lose Joe Worsley, but delighted for Easter getting a call at last - has been a class act for us this season.
Would have been nice to see the full back joining the line more, but hopefully we will get more of that with Balshaw back.
As for the opposition, I do not think that Italy were as bad as the score suggests and will test others. Wales and Ireland both looked full of errors and both looked defensively weaker than England.
France - well, which team will turn up. You just never know....
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I think the whole team deserves praise. they all pulled together and showed that we can still play good international rugby. gambles were taken with the selection and in the match and they payed off it was good to finally see us functioning well as a team after such a bad run of results.
Having said that i still dont think that we are good enough to defend the world cup or win the six nations but any improvement is good so lets hope it continues
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Wilko was fantastic as was Ellis and the forwards but the big test comes when we play a good side like Ireland or France, no disrespect to Scotland but England should run over them everytime we play them.
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I have to disagree with your reasons to be cheerful. Corry would be regarded as one of weaker No.8's in the 6 nations and ditto for Tindall at 2nd centre. Ellis is very erratic and there is every chance he will be poor in his next game. As for Lund & Farell the jury is very much still out and they will be tested against France, Ireland & Wales. To be convinced about Worsley I'd like to see that kind of perfromance against a tough test team. Also will either Morgan or Balshaw perform under pressure. There are reasons to be cheerful though. A win and a decent performance and of course Jonny. But there are still many reasons to be fearful. With Jonny England are Grand Slam contenders. Without him they are the team that has finished fourth in consecutive years. It would make you think is it worth playing him agsinst Italy at all.
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I agree, though Robinson's performance was understated, there's no doubting the confidence he brings to the team. As for Wilkinson, I think you have to give the man his credit. Quite aside from his masterful display of kicking he has that rare ability to bind what may otherwise be a slightly disjointed team together into a cohesive - and, importantly, winning - whole. Well done boys.
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Splendid performance by all but I think lewsey should play back at Full back as he is a much more influential player and we hardly saw much of him on the wing.
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I think Farrell deserves a mention. He had a solid game, played the basics right and looked very comfortable. Like Wilkinson, Farrell had not had much game time under his belt through injury, and add to that his inexperience from moving over from playing R.L. I think his performance was excellent. In regard to your blog, I completely agree on Wilkinson, superb comeback and great to see him back but I would have given the man of the match to Harry Ellis. He played a superb game and if he'd had the back up when he made his breaks England would have had several more tries on the scoreboard. I also think the forwards deserve more credit, they won the game for England.
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Mark, idividual performances are important and yes the likes of Wilkinson, Corry (at long last), Ellis et al played well, but for me the whole performance was so much better. The rucking and mauling worked because for the first time in a long time we had more numbers involved. Lund and Worsley were excellent at the breakdown, if not managing a turnover the ball was slowed down ensuring a well organised defence for the next attack. The backs made far fewer mistakes, Lewsey seems to have become the natural re-start catcher, and Farrell and Tindall seem to have a good understanding. Against the "bigger" (don't want to taken out of context here - ala Benitez) teams we will benefit from a sterner test, but England's general intentsity was far higher than any team under Robinson. Perhaps this was due to the increased number of leaders / experienced players on the field - not sure if anyone noticed but one incident involving JW was exactly what we had been missing. He predictably slotted a conversion and rather than jogging back lapping up plaudits, he sprinted back encouraging everyone - something Mr Hodgson and Mr Goode would never have done.
A huge number of positives can be taken from the game but it is of vital importance that this is now built on. Can't wait for remaining games.
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Another reason to be cheerful is that the side that beat Scotland was possibly without four first choice players if all had been fit, Ward-Smith, Sherridan, Thompson and Balshaw.
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Yes it was a good win by a good margin albeit with a little help from the tmo! But i cannot help but feel that England have a long way to go in terms of winning a world cup or even a six nations for that matter. This was a much improved performance and a big win against italy will further the confidence of the team but in looking at the french and irish performances over the weekend engalnd will struggle from the italy game onwards.
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It's all very well praising Ellis for running with the ball in hand, but his inability to get really quick ball to the backs (like say Stringer does for Ireland) will cause real problems for the midfield against tougher defences than Scotland. The super-fast hands of Wilko and Farrell rely on that extra bit of time given allowed to them by fast service.
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Why is it that Andy Hazell hasn't got a call up? Not even for the "A" team!
What does the premiership's top tackler have to do?
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I thought that Jonny was well protected by Farrel against a weak scotland back line. I thought the pack looked promising although Deacon made some errors which could have been more costly in a closer game. Having said that I thought he performed well considering this is an early stage in his england career.
Whilst it is easy to dismiss our performance as poor opposition - you can only beat whats in front of you.
If England can dispatch Italy and put up a fight against Ireland I think that many english fans will acknowledge that the team will have made significant strides towards avoiding furthur embarassment this summer.
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It was great to Jonny back, but without a dominant pack all of the backs would have struggled. However with another confidence builder against Italy on Saturday, England should give the Irish a run for thier money at Croke Park. With France at home and Wales away it is set well for England to win the Championship.
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Mark's got a point about the English forward platform helping the half-backs look good against scotland. But I'm not sure about his claim that none of the other packs will be able to disrupt them.
Both the French and Irish forwards are very strong at the breakdown. Yes, the Irish scrum is weak, but at the breakdown they're more than organised enough to turn England over and slow down their ball.
Will Ellis and Wilko look so good when they're getting ball so slow that the Irish/French midfield are all over them before they've even blinked?
Here's hoping...
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Rugby is a team game and i am sure the forwards would gladly let Jonny take all the credit a win is a win
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England limped to an unconvincing victory against one of the poorest Scottish sides for years. If there is one backline in rugby more devoid of pace and talent then England's it must surely be the Scottish.
It was clearly a very improved performance than those given in the Autumn, but it would be hard not to improve on that. The way in which the media has got carried away with this is frankly ridiculous, and it will be amusing to see what they come out with when reality bites over the coming weeks as it most surely will.
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Andy farrell's biggest problem yesterday must have been combatting the boredom!
The 大象传媒 stats show that the ball was in play for about 25 minutes each half, and for most of that time it would have been in a ruck\maul\scrum etc... rather than in hands!
Farrel is used to playing for at least 35 minutes in each half, he must have found it difficult to keep warm!
Looking at some the other players, - they're obviously keeping a good layer of fat to help them. Faz must have been agog to look at some of his 'international' team mates and see pot-belly's!!!
Farrel can either be a power-house of stamina & aggression in the forwards or a creator at stand-off (fly-half, first receiver - whatever you want to call it). Yesterday, he wasnt played as a forward and he had very little room to work with at first receiver. He did his best by creating space for Wilkinson with some basic composed, awareness and some bullet cut-out passes, but he was truly wasted overall.
He either needs to be switched to the forwards or the attacking line from the ruck\maul\lineout\scrum needs to stand much deeper.
Either that, or get rid of a couple of players from each team to make a bit more room and tidy-up the mechanism for recyclcing the ball so that comes out quicker!
Mmmmmm!!!
PS. Farrell is the best goal kicker that there has been in either code for the last 10 years. He would have scored more points than Wilkinson, had they swapped roles, without any doubt.
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I agree with all the comments made. It was like old times, with forward domination leading to chances for the backs. Corey seemed a new man and Farrell added strength to the backs. But Wilko was still the man.
We have to remember England have not beaten Ireland or France in the Six Nations since the World Cup. Performances against the others have been inconsistent to say the least, so we should not get carried away with this latest victory.
Things do seem more together and I feel positive about the personnel in charge now.
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Mark jones is quite right. The half backs had a feather-bed ride on Saturday and cannot expect such luxury in many of their future games. Harry Ellis had an exceptional game, but when the going gets tough, I would rather see Shaun Perry at scrum-half. He has a faster and more accurate pass than Ellis or Richards and the strength and physical presence to withstand opposition forwards when our pack is not so dominant. His one start so far was against the All Blacks and although his display wasn't faultless he far from disgraced himself when you remember that he was playing behind a back row who were all playing out of position and who gave him little protection.
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getting a bit carried away are we boys - you've won one match in 10 or so against a desperately poor scottish team. it is a improvement from autumn but you're hardly world beaters.
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They were all good performances but against Sctoland's B team. Sctoland had no strike runners or beefy ball carriers so the defence is yet to be tested.
Ellis had so many breaks because the flankers kept flying at johnny and leaving huge gaps around the fringes.
If they had any big men to send at Jonny then he'd have been more tired and less effective.
Ireland is the real test.
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The thing that stuck out most to me was when Scotland scored their illeagal try! No one lost momentum at all, it was clear that among the all of the names mentioned since sunday that once again England have more leaders than just the skipper (who was excellent) in their team again. Engalnd under Corry and Robinson could have and probably would have folded like an envelope at 10-6 down - No disrespect to Corry he was as awesome as anyone on Saturday - but the team bond that was so strong when Engalnd dominated world rugby for a brief period looks to be returning. Allbeit was "only" Scotland that England came up against on Saturday and Italy follow this week, it gives the team another 80+ minutes to build upon, gain momentum get rid of the concentration lapses and iron out any kinks in their play and get ready for THE match of the tournament. If England play as a team and to the potential that they are starting to show again, then i dont see any reason why the game in Dublin isnt the Six Nations decider... especially with France "experimenting"...
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To be perfectly honest, I don't believe that johnny wilkinson was the man of the match, although he played with the magical presence, skills and touches we have all come to know and love him for, I can speak for the whole english nation when i say great to see you in good health, doing what you love. Harry Ellis earnt the right of man of the match for me, he truly showed the rugby world what he is capable of and delivered a performance that reminded me of matt dawson in his hayday. Furthermore, even though it was against a weak scotland side, it is a big step up from the way we have been playing recently, and I am glad we put in a good performance, the whole team pulled their weight and they deserve all the plaudits as a team, congrats lads! ROLL ON ITALY!
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The big plus for me is selection.
This week Ashton has promoted Easter to the starting XV, because of injury to Worsley.
Aston has:
- made it clear that Worsley will be back against Ireland (keeping him motivated).
- picked a form forward from the Premiership.
- chosen someone who has a hard physical edge (we won't see Easter drifting out to the wing).
- avoided the trap that Robinson would have fallen into (Jones, Dallaglio, Hill, Sanderson etc..)
We have so many quality players in the Premiership, being consistent and structured in selection is key.
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Yes it was terrific to see Jonny back again, plus those mentioned above and others deserve huge credit too but THE most important thing of all is that at last England look like a TEAM again! Not before time
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Hmm, I love overenthused English optimism as much as the next man - and am often guilty of it myself - but we are all getting slightly carried away. We played well, but the score could very easily have been very different if the ball hadn't bounced for Robinson and the video ref wasn't drunk. So, are we any good? Well, there were signs of life, and the pack looked dominant - but they did for most of last season as well - the biggest difference was making our kicks and not making too many errors. At times the backline, for all its vaunted fluency and new-found ingenuity, still looked flat-footed and a number of passes were received by static players. Wales gave a real lesson in how to pass and move and England will do very well to follow. Italy should be turned over, Ireland will be a whole different prospect.
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agree with exchefquin - Jonny really showed up how poor Hodgson/Barkley/Goode have been in the kicking department. It's what he did so well in 2000 - 2003 and he repeated it on Saturday. Keeps the team in touch, makes the oppo pay for fouling. It seems only Jonny can do it under pressure for us. The rest can do it for their clubs but fall short at international level. And they just don't have the combination of kicking and playmaking that he does. It would be good to say that Jonny was a better combination than the others but he is not only a better combination - he excels at kicking and his playmaking is better than most. So it's not like he is not a master of one trade but jack of all - he is a master and a jack!
Talk of the forwards is absolutely right but it is your kicker who is going to score many of your points and he does this unopposed in general (though it's often the forwards play that generates the penalty). We just need to find a good alternative to him, at least on the kicking front. Why can't some of our other backs become good kickers - if nothing else, it might cement their place in a team when all they have at the moment is the single discipline. Whatever happened to Van Gisbergen? I thought he was going to be our other kicking option?
And it must be disheartening for the rest of the team when they work so hard, put enough pressure on to force the opposition to transgress and then see the chance go wasted by muppets like Hodgson.
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Lund was indeed impressive and while the back-row was much improved there has to be more found. The unit that took the field had a much better balance to it, but I feel it ultimately needs more pace and that will come with the return of HRHRH (Richard Hill). I consider he and Lund as the basis of the world-cup back-row with the third player (Worsley, Skirving, Rees, Corry, Easter etc) a choice based upon form and opposition.
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And Johnny has a fabulous body for rugby.He seems to have really filled out
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I thought the verbal bust up between the 大象传媒 commentators (the informative Brian Moore and the slightly irritating other one who I cannot name) very entertaining.
Not quite as entertaining as the terrific game that unfolded Saturday afternoon; not only a team of talented English individuals but a team that appeared to "connect" with each other mentally and work hard for each other. Can we get them to train together more often ?
Hats off to Brain for the brave selection decision, very well done to all players, special mention for Olly Morgan who coped well on such a big occasion.
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I entirely agree about Lund - listen to Hadden - the reason for Ellis getting all the space was the number of forwards committed to ruck and maul, and Lund was a big part of this. You missed out a mention for PV - his captaincy made a huge difference from the rudderless performances of 2006.
MT was good but I think keeping the jersey warm for Tait to come in when AF has a bit more experience.
I have to give it to Corry - he had a good game but still not convinced about him. Once DW-S is fit he will drop down. maybe Skivington or even Forrester are worth a run out at 8.
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I think Andy Farrell had an underestimated game. He slotted into first reciever at broken play on a number of occasions and took the pressure off Wilkinson which gave JW even more space eg for Robinson's first try where he ran straight, drew the defence, then to Wilkinson, Tindall, and Robinson in the corner.
Pace is obviously his weakness, Farrell is always going to get hauled down eventually if he breaks the line, but playing this way he provides an extra pivot that gives the team another option.
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Lets face it, England are getting back to winning ways and the other countries hate it. We played better in all areas of the pitch than we did in the autumn, not just forwards and not just JW either although he deserves extra mention since he's been out for so long so give him his day too.
However the game was won, time to move forward and prepare for Ireland and France as they are the only real threats this year. Always great to start on a win
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Absolutely agree about Robinson. No denying the hallelujah moments that Johnny brings but there's been so little mention of Billy Whizz, it's almost insulting. Totally different scoreline without him.
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i think everyone's getting a bit carried away. Playing as they did both of Sunday's teams would have beaten either of Saturday's teams by 20+ points.
I'm a Scotland supporter but they gave away really soft tries. However A Scotland pack which is hardly the best in the 6 nations and missing its best players held up remarkbly well, not a good sign for England against France or Ireland....
I think both England and Scotland have a lot of work to do before they play their next games.
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I agree with most of the observations, I think Farrell had a 'quite' first game but that's what I would have expected. As Farrell gets more into it I expect he will make a huge difference to Tindall's game. They could be a fantastic centre partnership, combine that with Johnny and Harry Ellis an suddenly our back division is not looking so shabby!
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Its fair to say Jonny did not show nor did he court the media or press about his perfomance. Its the presses fault because they are stupid and want headlines and 3 min sound bites for their purpose. Instead of making an intellegent well formed article which presented the whole show which was by all standards was great. We can we hope & look forward to more, perhaps if the press puts money where their mouth was we could train youngsters to get into the game by providing money programmes which include and improve provide help to train youngster abroad New Zealand Australia,France to name a few instead of the sickening ditribe one usually get unthinking short term drivel
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People under-estimate how important it is to have a top class penalty machine like Wilkinson. As a prop, there's nothing as soul destroying as when you've helped make the opposition concede a penalty, and see you good work wasted by a shoddy kick. I had the good fortune to chat with Nick Mallett at the 2003 WC, and he pointed out that Wilkinson is good for something like an 18 point advantage in every game, because of his goal kicking - he reckoned the pressure that puts on the opposition is massive. We have missed his boot terribly. Couple that with the fact the forwards can rely on him marking his channel, and you can see why he is so important
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Just a few points here to put saturday's win in perspective. Scotland were minus 4 important players (as well as under-performed), England played at home, 14 points were gifted to england courtesy of lamont and a blind video ref, many don't think england would have won without JW and lastly what happens when JW gets injured again ? because the gameplan goes completely out the window when he does. England were boring on sat with mauls and kicks, compare it to the sun game and me thinks you will be thumped by both wales and ireland, let alone france. Totally over-rated performance in crap game !
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Just a few points here to put saturday's win in perspective. Scotland were minus 4 important players (as well as under-performed), England played at home, 14 points were gifted to england courtesy of lamont and a blind video ref, many don't think england would have won without JW and lastly what happens when JW gets injured again ? because the gameplan goes completely out the window when he does. England were boring on sat with mauls and kicks, compare it to the sun game and me thinks you will be thumped by both wales and ireland, let alone france. Totally over-rated performance in crap game !
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It is interesting news that Easter is being included in the team for the Italt game - but has everyone forgotten the unused talent of Andy Hazell? He is by far one of the best two flankers in the Premiership today, and he isn't even in the Saxons squad! It smacks of typical RFU bias torwards the so-called favourable clubs (Bath, Leicester, Wasps, Harlequins) amongst others. I know this will strike a bit contraversial, but I would be interested in other people's views.
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i would like to see mike Brown in the team. Been awesome for quins and scored two tries for the a team last week. Much more solid than balshaw so if morgan is to be dropped bring in Brown.
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Whilst I agree Corry played soundly, and deserves praise, just imagine the effects Ellis` breaks would have had if Dan Ward Smith had not been cruelly injured.
With his dynamic power, pace and creative ability, combined with his superb ball carrying capabilities, he would have been on his shoulder supporting, possibly creating more tries.
I have followed his career since he played for Graham Dawe at Plymouth Albion, and he is now getting the recognition he so richly deserves. He is the future, let`s hope he recovers soon.
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Though not desperately exciting in Saturday's game I think we have only seen the tip of the Iceberg with Andy Farrell.
I think we clearly saw a player of talent, trying and succeeding to not "mess-up" his England debut with misplaced flare.
Now we've seen that, I think we'll see Farrell go from strength to strength as his confidence increases and why he was the Iron Man of RL.
As much as I applaud Jonny's performance, there was a guy with nothing to lose. Conversely Andy had to keep his nose clean - from here he can only go onwards and upwards.
Martyn, Wigan
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People are building England up far to quickly. They had a good performance against a Scotland team that was missing a vital player- Jason White. People say that one person doesn't make a team, but Scotland are a competely different team with White in the pack. His physicality helps to put teams on the back foot. I would like so see wot Ellis and Wilkinson and co. can do when on the back foot of a pack going backwards. Ellis is fine when his pack is playing well and dominating but he goes missing when he hasn't got a good platform. People seem to have forgotten about Shaun Perry. He played in the Autumn internationals behind a pack that got out-competed by arguably two of the best packs in world rugby- New Zealand and Argentina. If you put Shaun Perry behind a dominant pack I believe you will see what he is capable of. He offers a far more physical presence than Ellis, is sniping all the time, has a better pass and a very good defensive kick. He played a man-of-the match display for England 'A'. Lets see how Ellis plays against a better team.
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You English seem to forget that things started brightly in the last six nations with a 47-13 win over Wales. Where did they end up.....
Yes you beat Scotland well, but what did Scotland offer?? An outhalf who did nothing but give you the ball back all day, backs who didnt ask any questions and who were at least a stone a man lighter than the English (bar Lamont). Not to mention the gaping holes the Midfield left. Will you get the same easy ride against the Irish? I think not!
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I think farrel is like a menacing nuclear sub! I think he's just been at periscope depth at the moment. Getting a feel for the waters before letting loose his arsenal!
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i am so glad to see jonny back and i am an irsih man and jonny deserves all the credit he got, all the other players have been in and out of form over the last year but jonny on th other hand has been out for three years and he has just come back from a lacerated kidney which is a terrible injury and he came back and palyed one of the best games i have ever see him play the only thing he did wrong was miss those kicks but he still kicked eight and every else was superb (distrubuting, kicking out of hand and everyother he did), Pure Class,
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People are building England up far to quickly. They had a good performance against a Scotland team that was missing a vital player- Jason White. People say that one person doesn't make a team, but Scotland are a competely different team with White in the pack. His physicality helps to put teams on the back foot. I would like so see wot Ellis and Wilkinson and co. can do when on the back foot of a pack going backwards. Ellis is fine when his pack is playing well and dominating but he goes missing when he hasn't got a good platform. People seem to have forgotten about Shaun Perry. He played in the Autumn internationals behind a pack that got out-competed by arguably two of the best packs in world rugby- New Zealand and Argentina. If you put Shaun Perry behind a dominant pack I believe you will see what he is capable of. He offers a far more physical presence than Ellis, is sniping all the time, has a better pass and a very good defensive kick. He played a man-of-the match display for England 'A'. Lets see how Ellis plays against a better team.
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You English seem to forget that things started brightly in the last six nations with a 47-13 win over Wales. Where did they end up.....
Yes you beat Scotland well, but what did Scotland offer?? An outhalf who did nothing but give you the ball back all day, backs who didnt ask any questions and who were at least a stone a man lighter than the English (bar Lamont). Not to mention the gaping holes the Midfield left. Will you get the same easy ride against the Irish? I think not!
Oh and to mention attacking rugby, England scored 6 tries against Wales!
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Though not desperately exciting in Saturday's game I think we have only seen the tip of the Iceberg with Andy Farrell.
I think we clearly saw a player of talent, trying and succeeding to not "mess-up" his England debut with misplaced flare.
Now we've seen that, I think we'll see Farrell go from strength to strength as his confidence increases and why he was the Iron Man of RL.
As much as I applaud Jonny's performance, there was a guy with nothing to lose. Conversely Andy had to keep his nose clean - from here he can only go onwards and upwards.
Martyn, Wigan
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Good article - A very dominant forward game from 1-8 (and don't put the Scots down too much, they're not that bad, give credit to England for making them look poor). The English pack seemed lively a worked together well at the rolling mauls and lineouts & scrums looked strong. Could be a bit more disciplined but we鈥檙e getting back to our old ways 鈥t last!
The dominant pack was the foundation for Ellis & Wilkinson鈥檚 game but Jonny also helped the pack. I think a factor that gets overlooked is the pressure on a defence when they know ill discipline, like slowing the game, will cost them 3pts or 50m territory when someone as good as JW is kicking.
As soon as it was apparent his kicking game was as good as ever it was such a relief, esp after 3 years of choker Charlie missing so much, and it must have affected the opposition. That meant quicker ball for England and made good forward play look even better.
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You English seem to forget that things started brightly in the last six nations with a 47-13 win over Wales. Where did they end up.....
Yes you beat Scotland well, but what did Scotland offer?? An outhalf who did nothing but give you the ball back all day, backs who didnt ask any questions and who were at least a stone a man lighter than the English (bar Lamont). Not to mention the gaping holes the Midfield left. Will you get the same easy ride against the Irish? I think not!
Oh and to mention attacking rugby, England scored 6 tries against Wales!
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Robinson's first try was scored because England had backs playing in the backs ... all too often the multi-phased game plan leaves Forwards out wide and they finish try scoring opportunities like forwards can, dropped ball, running into unnecessary contact, passing poorly etc.
Let's hope Ashton's England rediscover the art of backs playing like backs and forwards staying out of the way having done what they need to do, which is win the ball....
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You English seem to forget that things started brightly in the last six nations with a 47-13 win over Wales. Where did they end up.....
Yes you beat Scotland well, but what did Scotland offer?? An outhalf who did nothing but give you the ball back all day, backs who didnt ask any questions and who were at least a stone a man lighter than the English (bar Lamont). Not to mention the gaping holes the Midfield left. Will you get the same easy ride against the Irish? I think not!
Oh and to mention attacking rugby, England scored 6 tries against Wales!
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I wasn't lucky enough to watch the game (have to pay for it here in Ontario), but if England can reproduce this against France, Wales and Ireland then we can start singing their praises. From what I read Scotland aren't a real challenge and too much shouldn't be read into this. As someone else said, wait until they play a better side who puts their players under pressure before judging them.
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Fantastic stuff from the boys - all of them. Ashton has highlighted AR's poor management.
Bookies were offering 11/1 on England for the Grand Slam which shrunk to 8/1 before the Scotland match. Narrower again today.
I really don't expect Ireland to be half as tough as HC matches might suggest and fancy England to win by 15 points at Croke Park. A similar margin against Wales.
France will be the toughest match but I feel my money is safe.
It's great that the Celts who took such joy in England's fall from grace are starting to feel the pinch again.
Come on England!!
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Good article - A very dominant forward game from 1-8 was the foundation for Ellis & Wilkinson鈥檚 game but Johnny also helped the pack. I think a factor that gets overlooked is the pressure on a defence when they know ill discipline, like slowing the game, will cost them 3pts or 50m territory when someone as good as JW is kicking.
As soon as it was apparent his kicking game was as good as ever it was such a relief, esp after 3 years of choker Charlie missing so much, and it must have affected the opposition. That meant quicker ball for England and made good forward play look even better.
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RodB,
If you think that the Scotland pack 'held up remarkably well' then I'd hate to see them when they don't!
They had been battered into submission by half time and thats the main reason that England took so much control in the second half. It wasn't a flawless England performance but much better than in the Autumn. England will finish second or third, Scotland will face Italy for the wooden spoon. Bring on the Italians!
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Well done to England and Ashton - but bringing back Balshaw for the exciting Olly Morgan has to be a mistake. Balshaw is definitely poor in defence in particular the high ball - whereas Olly is the future and deserves a chance to show his genuine class against Italy.
Of course Balshaw will cruise in for a couple of tries but he will suffer at Croke Park in the wind and the rain. I would give Tait a run out against Italy as a starter. The boy is genuine class as are Morgan and Tait, when he is fit.
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I can't believe there have been such few plaudits for Brian Ashton. What other Englishman would have had the guts to make those selection calls (certainly not Andy Robinson as he embarassingly admitted pre-match). The JW selection speaks for itself. But how about Andy Farrell? Was it a coincidence that both players either side of 'Faz' (JW & MT) had stormers? Ashton must have the smuggest face in world rugby at the moment and rightfully so. Yes, Ashton had some world class players at his disposal, but didn't Andy Robinson have most of them at some stage??? When AR was in charge he had good players playing badly. With Ashton at the helm, the players played well and played well as a team.
Thank god Rob Andrew had the sense to tell those old farts to get rid of Robinson and not to listen to his excuses about how the structure of English rugby meant we couldn't beat Argentina, et al.
Still everything to prove, but at least our foreign friends at training tonight will be far quieter than after recent internationals.
Hat's off Brian. My money is on us being the kiwi's biggest test at RWC07, with a little help from our fully fit Jonny of course!!
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im looking forward for other key players to come back, for example sheriden, and especially cueto. cueto will give england pace and power, so therfore lewsey could go back to full back. fantastic england well done boys.
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Mark I totally agree with your comments regarding Martin Corry, Mike Tindall, Magnus Lund and Harry Ellis but I do feel that George Chuter should be mentioned in the same breath.
As a head coach you never quite know how a player will react under the pressure of international rugby and with Steve Thompson tipped to start in the number two shirt against Scotland, but injury ruling this option out, George Chuter must have felt the pressure more than most. Many players would have let the pressure tell but Chuter ran his socks off for 80 minutes, appeared to be everywhere and still had the energy to perform the all important basics admirably.
With the added pressure of Steve Thompson breathing hard down his neck, George Chuter flourished in the international arena on Saturday and must surely have proved to Brian Ashton that under the new regime, he has far more to offer than the role of understudy.
The other thing that I think is worth mentioning is that a team's best players aren't always going to be able to be the stand out performers week in week out. To be a successful side you need other players to step up to the mark when the regular players don't. What pleased me about England's performance on Saturday was that (Jonny aside) it was other players that stood up and stole the headlines from those who have taken them in recent years. In saying this I am by no means saying that the likes of Josh Lewsey, Danny Grewcock and Phil Vickery had bad games because they all played their part and they all played well, but we know what these players are capable of and so to see the likes of Harry Ellis, Magnus Lund and George Chuter coming to the fore, I think, bodes well for the future.
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you cant judge ellis on that display. He had all the time in the world to get his pass away cleanly and his runs were more the product of no fringe defence by the scots than his quality. A scrum half and a fly half for that matter should be judged on their performance under pressure and as neither wilkinson nor ellis were put under any by the scottish team then you cant make a serious judgement.
The england team did play better than they have done recently but they were playing at home against a injury stricken scottish team who gifted them two tries and were gifted another by the video ref. 21-20 doesnt sound so convincing! Oh yes and anyone who doesnt make yards against marcus di rollo shouldnt be playing international rugby!
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I think England looked competant and have tightened up a look more cohesive. They look like they will be harder to break down this year but after watching sunday's game how can England talk of Grand Slams and beating Ireland at Croke Park (which is a match that Ireland will be so passionate to win) and Wales in Cardiff.
All in all an improvement but Scotland looked inept compared to last year and France, Ireland and Wales look like difficult matches.
I think that England and Wales are fighting for 3rd at the moment, we'll see what Wales might do to Scotland this week and Ireland and france will decide any Grand Slam this weekend.
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Johnny Wilkinson is the greatest player ever and I think he has made a huge difference to the England team.
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I thought Grewcock had a fantastic game on saturday, hes really showing us what a reliable player he has become. Strong in the lineout and strong as an ox all round the park.
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Johnny Wilkinson is the greatest player ever and I think he has made a huge difference to the England team.
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To be controversial for a moment.
Ian Balshaw is now a player who picks up new injuries at an unnacceptable rate. I cannot believe he will stay fit for the rest of the campaign, so we need a proper alternative.
Morgan had a good enough debut, at very short notice, to be given a second game. He needs more time in the set-up. Italy would have been an ideal stepping stone.
Any comments?
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I worry about Ellis. People talk about his game management being great but game management is much easier when your forwards are winning. The Irish pack will not be so easy to tame - the same goes for Italy. Of course, Italy don't have much of a backline, the only real threat being the sublime Mirco Bergamasco.
Still, Ellis had many chances to break against Scotland. He will not get those chances against Ireland if they play even half-decently. He has to show some discipline and just pass the ball - only breaking when appropriate. Allow Wilkinson, Farrell and (thankfully getting his kudos from somebody) Tindall to create something if Ellis can't. I'd be quite happy if Ellis ended up playing a Stringer-like role, just tossing the ball out. He's the sort of player who's not going to miss a break if it's on.
Still, we have to dominate Italy and beat Ireland. Ashton deserves credit though - England played an expansive game. Yes, Robinson didn't have Farrell and Wilkinson. But he had Hodgson, a more attacking 10 than Jonny and he had most of the pack Ashton has, but he didn't pick them and England couldn't get quick ball at the breadown.
Ashton deserves to be on that list too.
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Lots of good chat here, great stuff.
There have been a few comments that the praise given to England was over-the-top and to a certain degree you are right.
But I can understand why the victory has been celebrated so much.
England fans were understandably frustrated and angry at the side's slide under Andy Robinson so any upturn, however small, will be greeted with glee.
A lot of credit does have to go to Brian Ashton. There is a different atmosphere around the England set-up at the moment and the players seemed to perform with renewed belief in what they were doing.
It is only one game, and tougher challenges do lie ahead, but for England fans it is an encouraging start.
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Although JW rightly grabbed all the plaudits, for me Harry Ellis was the real man of the match.
A superb performance, and hopefully enough to seal the position for him right through to the Woprld Cup, if he keeps it up.
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I have to say i agree with all that you have said, it's good to see someone that doesn't just go on about Wilkinson, yes had a good game no-one can deny that but, people talking about him as the savior i fear may be a bit premature. England have won one game and let's face it the opposition in front of them didnt have one of their better days. It will however be interesting to see how he goes against France and Ireland when better opposition is in place. Also I see some coments about him being the best player ever, I'd tend to disagree, his kicking and tackling speak for themselves, but his service has not always been the best. Dan Carter is a better player for me. Still, lets hope He and the rest of the England team can prove me wrong and win the six nations and take the confidence to win the world cup!
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I agree that wilko's performance was impressive and as welshman i can honestly say it was a joy to see him back at ten. However the backline didn't really fizz, given the dominating perfomane by the english pack. For this reason i think harry ellis will be brought back down to earth very quickly coming up against better backrow forwards and packs in general.
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Although JW rightly grabbed all the plaudits, for me Harry Ellis was the real man of the match.
A superb performance, and hopefully enough to seal the position for him right through to the World Cup, if he keeps it up.
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Living in the land of Ice-Hockey, where we have to wait until the ground defrosts in May to play this glorious sport, has been hard as an English Rugby Fan. For 3 year all we've heard was - you only won the world cup because you had someone who could kick and now you haven't got him. Since Saturday I haven't stopped wearing my England jersey, my alarm clock that wakes me with the last 30 secs of the world cup commentary has new batteries and I feel hopeful about English Rugby again - awesome team, awesome game - here we come again!!!!!!
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Johnny Played an amazing game with a true sportsman mentality, he did not fear being tackled or tackling someone, which is fantastic for England, and I belive shows a real hungry player, who wants to succeed.
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All the above 61 comments are all very well, remember it was only one game, JW scored a try that never was (don't think the Irish will be so generous in a few weeks), the opposition didn't turn up. Interesting what the above plaudits will be saying after the 17th March. One game poss two (Italy) is not a lot to cheer about. Just remember autumn and Argentina.
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Let's not get ahead of ourselves here. I'd rather assess England players after the Ireland games and see who stands out as things get tougher. Let's not over praise the team when they win nor rip into them when they aren't. It gives false hope
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Why is No-one mentioning lewis moody? You gotta put him somewhere in the back row, just for his pure passion and hard ruck hitting, and although i dont mind Nick Easter, you ever seen him climb above Chris Jack to catch his teams own restart? i suggest moody 6, Lund is being a beast at 7, and worsley at 8. Corry purely for his lack of passing ability, delibrate penalty offences.
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Jilko and Ellis played out of there skin but we'll see whether the time off for Johnny affects him in later games against tougher oppisition when match experience is priceless. Can't take anything away from how well he played though. There's a saying 'forwards win a game and the backs decided by how much', personally I think the pack was outstanding and Tindall, Wilkinson and especially Ellis took full advantage of being on the front foot and going forward.
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Im writing in response to andrew laughrans comments. I find it farcical that after englands victory against a poor performing scotland team he can claim that england have the game to match any team in the six nations. This is unbelievable english arrogance, Ireland man to man and as a unit are in a different league to england. Only about five england players would even make it into Irelands squad! I cant wait until the Irish show england up for what they really are-an average team.
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Let's be honest. Ashton, and those before him, intends to build the whole back division around Farrell he has cost a lot. Robinson has been persuaded out of international retirement because of Faz and Wilkinson bust his gut to be ready for Scotland for the same reason. Farrell is one of those rare players who inspires and brings the best out of those around him. A players player
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A very good win for England on Saturday, albeit against a rather underperforming Scottish team.
The English victory was set up by the forwards, with the half-backs playing splendid games because of the forwards.
Scotland had a dreadful game, although to come away with 20 points at Twickenham is very good.
Let's face it, it could've been alot closer.
If England manage to come unscathed (JW) from the Italy match, which I don't think they will, then going to Croke Park will be easier for England - if it can be???!??
Ireland, France and Wales are the opposition to England in this tournament, and that was always going to happen.
All four of these teams can still win the Six Nations, so the matches between these four teams will be tense and tight. Who will come out on top?
I would suggest Ireland because of their home matches, although Wales could do very well with a nice fixture list finishing off in Cardiff v England.
What an exciting tournament to come.
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surprise surprise, the english public running away with themselves over 1 result without really looking at the performance in context, i would applaud jw for his courage after such a long time out, but come on, just how bad were the scottish? they were nowhere near putting pressure on him and it will be a totally different story come the irish, welsh and french games, then all the superlatives used in the previous posts about ellis and jw will be shown for the desperate ramblings of a nation that doesnt know how to cope with having merely a mediocore team with few (if any) players worthy of getting into any of the top nations starting 15
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As an ex-wing forward of many years experience I get very hot under the collar when people, like that useless lump Andy Robinson and posters on this blog, assume that back row forwards are interchangeable. 6, 7 and 8 are different positions and require not just different physiques but different attitudes. I had the priviledge of hearing Deano stating this once and he made it plain that he looked for specific qualities in the players for the 3 back row positions. A great failing of the previous England coach was picking people out of position and expecting them to perform to international standard, (and him a back row player himself!) I am overjoyed that Ashton, having lost a very good blindside player, has picked another blindside player to replace him instead of just putting in Moody or someone else clearly unsuited to the position. Long may he continue.
Having done my rant, I love to see England playing well again but the pace and intensity of Sundays match made the Calcutta Cup game look ponderous and I fear we will have to do very much better to compete with Ireland at Croke Park.
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I am already finding it amusing that all is allegedly good after England win one game after a dreadful, woeful previous 2 years. Talking about patting yourself on the back and being self-congratulatory !! OK, reality check - this was a good performance by England against a limited but spirited Scotland. England have got some real tests ahead that will test them to the limit, even with Jonny Injury back int he park. Wales, Ireland and France are not easy games and only after they have played them will I be joining in the premature congratulations. Too early for that lads.
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Farrell is certainly an interesting addition. Two things worry me; his obvious lack of pace and the fact that he s no spring chicken. I guess you can argue his hands make up for it, he did have a good game against Scotland.I feel against the likes of Darcy and a team taking advantage of this, he might be left standing (Balshaw to make the saving tackle?)Apart from Farrell who is there waiting in the wings? Nobody has been remotely successful in this position for a while.
ok people, tell me i m wrong and tell me why.
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Many of the entries on this blog consider that the England performance against Scotland was a great improvement from the Autumn series - I don't agree! I have just re-watched the England-All Blacks game from last November and England played some excellent rugby in that game - the scoreline didn't reflect how well England played. Interesting to note, none of the backline were the same for the game last Saturday.
England were out-played in the forwards and out-paced in the backs by NZ that day, but played some very good rugby - more skilful and intense than against Scotland last Saturday. Yes, JW and HE had good games but apart from that, it was all pretty pedestrian. For all the slagging that Andy Robinson is getting, BA has not yet shown that he can coach the team to perform any better. The killer for AR was the loss against Argentina - again, England did not play that badly - Argentina played very well and are a fast improving outfit (World Cup - beware!).
Of course it is good to have players playing in their correct positions, and that's a good (re)start for England. But they will all have to lift their skill level if they're going to compete with the top 6 in the world rankings.
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Seems quite of few of our Celtic cousins are worried that we MAY have turned the corner. I agree it's only 1 match & that Scotland are not in the same class as say France, but you can only beat what is put in front of you. A journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step; that first step has been completed and the performances of the entire team gave us hope; hope that had been missing for years under AR. JW (aka God) is simply world class and inspires confidence throughout the team. Next is Italy, then our first real test... Bring it on I say, you're more scared than we are!
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Delighted as a irishman to see England put in some sort of performance that was watchable to a degree.AS for johnny class always does shine through but world class stands out like a becon and would expect him to run riot against the italians.As for the ireland game We have waited 136 years to show off the magnificent Croke park and believe me you really have to see it to believe it. A home game,85,000 screaming Irelands call. Best back line in world Rugby and half the team
heineken euro champions really NO CHANCE of England victory.Any Comments???
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I think ashton is clever and fortunate, he is fortunate in the fact that he has got such great players such as Morgan, flood, Ward-smith etc. as well as more young players developing in the saxons team like Strettle, Abendanon, Easter and others. he is clever in the way that he actually piks them rather than waiting for them to develop in the premiership. this was very unlike the Robinson era.
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I do find it funny that some england finds think that the rest of the six nations are scared by england after one match against a poor scotland. Why would they be scared of that? England played well on saturday, however they were given too much space in crucial areas and played against a backline lacking in pace, and creativity. Against Ireland, France and Wales they will not be getting that. They will also have a bigger pack to deal with, the likes of Ryan Jones etc running at you will be a lot more devestating.
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I do find it funny that some england finds think that the rest of the six nations are scared by england after one match against a poor scotland. Why would they be scared of that? England played well on saturday, however they were given too much space in crucial areas and played against a backline lacking in pace, and creativity. Against Ireland, France and Wales they will not be getting that. They will also have a bigger pack to deal with, the likes of Ryan Jones etc running at you will be a lot more devestating.
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I for one thought there wasn't much rugby played. In fact JW scored 27 out of the 42.
One swallow doesn't make a summer.
Watch the 1st 35 mins again. Everytime England had the ball the movement was lateral. Only for a couple of no-option I have to kick did the Scotish 22 get broken. Yet when the Scots had the ball they found it quite easy to break the 1st line of defence.
A better side will not give so many penaltied away and will make better use of the defensive breaks.
Farrel who?
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If you use the metaphor that this England team is a room being decorated , then the first undercoat has been put on. As such you cannot really see what the end product will be. True , the surfaces look to be in good conditon but there is a long way to go.
It was greatly encouraging to see saturdays display and lots of good stuff was on show. We should not get carried away ,but still be optomistic. This is a team in the making and not the complete item.
As a start ,great and there is much to work on.
By the way I'm an Englishman on misionary duty and now have bragging rights for at least the next 12 months
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I don't agree about Mike Tindall. It's not the job of an outside centre to punch holes in the defence. The outside centre is there to make breaks on the outside. Tindall is an inside centre at best and a donkey at worst.
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Really now come on - its only the first weekend and it was only Scotland who England beat, I have predicted Italy beating Scotland by the same margain England did. This England team has not turned into a championchop winning team overnight, I think Ashton is the right man for the job but I really think English fans need to be looking to after the world cup before any improvment starts to happen. Johnny W. had loads of time on the ball as the scots defence sat very deep, against Ireland as was seen againgst Wales Johnny W wont get the time, the Irish will be up on him as he recieves the ball and his lack of match play will tell. He just wont be up with the pace.
I think Ireland will get past France this weekend, if anything out of pride to be playing in Croke Park. I think you will see Ireland playing a more open and free game against France this weekend which will mean BOD and D'Aarcy will let loose, it looks at this point both of them will be playing - Ireland for the championchip and England and Scotland to fight for the wooden spoon, Scotland to get it on points difference.
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I think what so may of the doubters forget is that England don't lack for world class players, and whether you like the Farrell/Tindall combination in the centre it is certainly solid. The front 5 is one of the best 4 in the world. Ellis is unproven but has all the attributes to be in the top 4 scrum halves in the world (stringer and peel are the two proven class acts in the 6 nations). Wilko is one of the top 2 fly halves in the world. Robinson, Cueto and Lewsey for me is the second best back 3 in the world.
Leaving the back row, which I thought were awesome on saturday and certainly have the attributes to compete on the world stage and the centres, well we will have to see there.
England's problem has been getting on the pitch and performing as a team to allow these players to show their class. Ashton has done that once and if he can do that 4 times out of 5 in the 6 nations and we scrape a win in the other I certainly fancy England to do well in the world cup, the only problem on the horizon is how awesome the all blacks really are!
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The best thing about this England team is it's room to improve. Think about some of the players who were missing from the scotland game Charlie Hodgeson, Matt Stevens, Andrew Sheridan, Richard Hill, Steve Borthwick, Mark Crueto, Dan Ward Smith just too name a few. As long as Wilkinson stays fit (because lets face it he is argueably the greatest player in the world) England can have a real shot at next years world cup.
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Jonnys back? True. but it hink there is another legend back and i haven't seen his face lastered all over the media- Jason Robison! OK he got skimmed once saturday but managed to tackle the winger anyway and amanged to slot away two great tries.
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RE: Poster@95
I appreciate you getting hot under the collar
but you do realise that Moody is actually
a blindside? Robbo consistently played him
out of position at openside (and he was still
the best player in the team IMHO). I think
Moody is still injured otherwise I am sure
he would have featured.
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I still believe that there were some issues in the forwards and backs even though the performance was much better. The balance of the team seems to be a lot easier to manage and understand.
I would like to see the forwards releasing the ball while going forward a bit more and not doing 20 yard mauls in the middle of the field and then giving it once it had ground to a halt .
I would also like to see a bit more pace in the back 3 . Robinson is a great finisher but not sure about Morgan ,and Lewsey is not a great attacking threat either . Hopefully the speed of Varndell , Armitage , Sacky , Strettle , Simpson Daniel , Tait and other pace merchants will flourish in this new ,more solid, platform .
Would still like to see Tait at full back !!!
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I think it's also quite important to remember last year!! First game of the six nations england easily beat wales, but they didnt do much after that!! I may be speaking as a Welshman, but obe good performancew doesnt make the team a winning one!!! You still hvae a long way to go!!
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would the guy who posted blog 26 possibly be very northern ??
Farrell did exactly what he needed to do and create the kind of solidarity and platform that england need to build on.
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its great English rugby is back on track!!!!
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Blimey, England have already won the World Cup, no need to wait until September. I think everyone needs to take a breath for a minute or two. Yes, England won and there were snippets of good play, but let's be honest here, it was very close for an hour and if England had kept playing like they were they would have scraped a win. Scotland were very poor throughout. Their forwards couldn't compete, more to do with the fact they have a weak pack rather than England being immense; almost everytime Scotland got hold of the ball they kicked it away; the Scottish defence was full of holes, an example of which was Lund having 10 metres of a gap from a few metres out. It is good to see England win but I actually think that Italy will give them a sterner test, not to mention Ireland in a few weeks. Yes, there are reasons for hope but there is a looooooooong way to go yet.
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Lund, Ellis and to a certain extent Wilkinson were only allowed to excel in this game because of the sheer failiure of the Scottish back row. Did they even turn up?
Lund still lacks teeth and Ellis still has much to prove against better opposition. Time will tell.
Don't get me started on Wales.....!
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Re 108
R u on drugs?
lewsey cueto and robinson second best back 3 in the world??
based on what exactly??
i think ur forgetting about australia, ireland, france and argubly the welsh.
Wilko plays his first international in over 3 years against an awful scots team and is the second best in the world??
ashton is so worried about him getting injured he wont play him as first reciever, wait til he gets his first man and ball tackle and give ur judgement.
as for the midfield....solid!! once again theyve played 2gether once against an awful scotish team and even then missed a tackle for the last try.
prediction; england to lose to ireland and france, with the welsh game in the balance
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Nice to see Tindall getting a mention as some people have been critical of him. He should stay in the squad for his break of the line. He may not be as unpredicable as O'Driscoll but he is better in defence and is excellant at the break down.
Anyone who questions him then they should watch last months game between Leinster and Gloucetser where he managed to stop both Darcy and O'Driscoll from paying their natural game while he himself constantly broke the game line and kicked well.
Also nice to see a balanced English backrow as well.
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Jonny deserves all the praise he gets, to put on the England Jersey after three years and produce that performance was unbelievable.
I feel people have left andy farrell out a bit, he was very much the second fly half in the game and I thought himself and Wilko ran the game perfectly.
England still have a lot to do, you can't let a team like Scotland get 20 points past you at twickenham, if it was New Zealand it could have been 40!!!
I also think the lineout needs a lot of work, the scots did score off our lineout!
Phil Vickery on his first outing as England Captain was excellent, he single handedly destroyed the Scots Pack.
No one had a bad game, Worsley and Lewsey were unusually quiet, but they will come to light. MORE FORWARDS PLEASE
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Agree with a lot of the comments made about not getting carried away and have to laugh at the excuse mongers regarding Scotlands lack of several key players however it is funny that little or no mention has been made (by many of the Scots and Irish posters)of the players England didn't have at their disposal because of injury - Andrew Sheridan, Matt Stevens, Mark Cueto, Dan Ward-Smith, Lewis Moody, etc, etc, etc, though admittedly not having Thompson, Sanderson and Hodgson wasn't such a loss.
And having seen the Ireland - Wales game on Sunday I don't think either of them were that good also considering the problems Wales experienced with player losses before the game then Ireland's display was ordinary at best.
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Incredible is pushing it a little bit, remember it was against Scotland, We will see how his shoulder holds up agaist the Irish French and Italians
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I disagree with the comments on Mike Tindall. he is nothing more than a glorifyed battering ram. bring in some pace,flair and skill into outside centre,ie, TAIT or SIMPSON-DANIEL.
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OK, Harry Ellis made good breaks and is a good runner with the ball. But to me that it of secondary importance in a scrum half. The ability to provide fast ball to the backs is of the utmost importance. He does not do this. He takes a few steps back before every pass from a ruck and in every other circumstance from behind his forwards he is slow to get the ball from the pack to the fly half. This is the most important thing for a scrum half for me and he does not do it well. He was also rattled by scotland's scrum half in the first half. Hopefully he will improve this aspect of his game but the problem is he should already have that side nailed by now. He is good elsewhere, so fingers crossed. But please can everyone stop praising his wonderful performance
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Why are the England fans getting carried away? Wilkinson had a fine comeback but the score flattered to deceive - two gifted tries and one that never was! I predict now that England will not finish higher than third in the Championship.
Much was made of Farrell, Tyndall and Ellis; the first two are at best ordinary and against a decent back row Ellis will not get anything like the same room.
I will eat my bunnet if England beat Ireland or France! This is not sour grapes but the ability to see through non-rose coloured specs.
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OK, Harry Ellis made good breaks and is a good runner with the ball. But to me that it of secondary importance in a scrum half. The ability to provide fast ball to the backs is of the utmost importance. He does not do this. He takes a few steps back before every pass from a ruck and in every other circumstance from behind his forwards he is slow to get the ball from the pack to the fly half. This is the most important thing for a scrum half for me and he does not do it well. He was also rattled by scotland's scrum half in the first half. Hopefully he will improve this aspect of his game but the problem is he should already have that side of his game nailed by now. He is good elsewhere, so fingers crossed. But please can everyone stop praising his wonderful performance
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could people PLEASE stop slamming the england side, they beat Scotland, and beat them well, all their talk was done on the pitch, the way any side should play, and stop saying 'o if it wasn't for this decision...' blah blah blah, if the ball hadn't bounced for robinson and all that, at the end of the day it did, and the tmo went ourway (didnt agree with it mind but there you go), it will go down in the archives as a convincing win. u get ur lucky moments and u get ur unlucky moments.
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to all those people saying scotland's main problem was that they were without jason white (a great player i agree), i doubt if the scoreline would have been that different with him in the squad, and if we are getting on to using injuries as excuses, i could just say that we lost last year to you because there was no jonny wilkinson and we were without a whole host of internationals (a lot more than the scottish last weekend), but i won't, the scottish were the best team on the day.
At the end of the day we won last weekend, and people from the nighbouring british isles have to accept (although i know it's hard, celtic pride and all that) that we played well, and won convincingly, and not say, you wait to this, you wait to that.
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Who would bet against Chev Walker taking the 13 shirt from Mike Tindall before the Wales game?
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Forwards doing what forwards do, backs doing what backs do, simple effective and as a Welshman, worryingly impressive.
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ok - the opposition werent great (no disrespect as neither are england!) but there were loads of positives to take out of this match
1) Wilko / J Robinson / Ellis /Faz/ Vickery all a breath of fresh air into a side that looked so disorganised and down that it was painful to watch in the autumn
2) A win !!!!!! and one that wasnt won by a couple of points/skin of teeth style of rugby
3) a team that looks like it has realised (albeit slowly) what of it needs to do to play rugby and work as an organised unit
4) oh and i have to mention that fella wilko again - i dont think there will be another player so talented who will have a run of injuries like again in the history of the universe - so good on him for getting a game under his belt
should beat italy .... the other three teams ..as long as england look as though they are trying and play some decent rugby for once that doesnt make me want to pull out my own teeth rather than watch ...then so what if we lose!!! cant be ANY worse than the autumn.
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Having read some of the comments here I agree that things were far better than last year. Slightly worried by the comment of ' back to the good old days' - as much as I was a fan we cannot rely on old victories and have to be lookng at ways of developing our play, ball retention and finishng skills. Yes, good to see JW back, but one swallow does not make a summer!!
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In addition to the points already made, about England getting better, what was pleasing / comforting to see was that England only had to play as hard as they needed to, to win.
In no way were they playing to the best of their ability and therefore they clearly have more to call upon. Given the team's record over the past couple of years they did well to put in the sort of confident performance that they did with the weight of failure riding on their backs is what has also given everyone (England supporters) hope.
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Giving johnny all the credit is a bit unfair. Admittedly he played exceptionally well for someone who hasn't played for nearly 3 years, indeed well for someone who plays day in day out!
There were plenty of other standouts.
Ellis should have got MOtM if only because it was so cliche to give it wilkinson.
I reckon Lund could grow into a brilliant openside. His work rate and turnovers were amazing.
And corry is playing so much better now he isn't captain, obviously a massive weight off his mind.
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Jonny is spelt with no H
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I was at Twickenham, and I have to say the English pack where great, they got to the break-downs quickly, they were strong in their rucking, and impressive in their mauls. However, this was all made easier by the fact the Scottish pack wasn't great.
Secondly, I have to agree about Harry Ellis, I really think he is just a couple of steps away now from cementing his place in the number 9 shirt.
Thirdly, Wilkinson did have a great game, and just because he is one of a few world class players doesn't mean he doesn't deserve the applause he gets.
But finally, I had two concerns with Ashton's team decisions. The first was retaining Martin Corry, he was dreadful last year, and still doesn't show great ability. The last problem was not selecting Josh Lewsey at fullback. He had an amazing game at fullback last time he played there, saving so many tries with his immense tacking ability, but was also able to move into great positions. I just think he is a better fullback than Ballshaw.
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it was great to see an England victory and some new faces in the team as well.It was however the old faces who inspired them to victory over an improving Scotland. I feel it was a great shame that Ward Smith was injured because I think we would have seen another jewel in the England crown.
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Ireland should beat england but only if they play a hell of alot more diciplined than on sunday or JW will kick England into ancatachable position. England were not 6-nations winners on sats performance but we punished scotland for giving away penalties something ireland failed to do.
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I have not read one piece that is giving ALL the CREDIT to Jonny Wilkinson.
The performance which Jonny gave was exceptional given his unique situation. Others in the team also gave exceptional performances. The team asa whole did not produce and exceptional team performance but enough to get a win under severe pressure to break england's pattern of failure.
Are we in danger of becoming as paranoid as the Scots.
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The whole England team performed well last Saturday and deserve every word of praise, but Jonny Wilkinson came back to the international scene as though he had never been away and gave those around him the confidence and freedom to play their own games.
This has been lacking from English rugby for the past 2-3 years, since he was injured.
Of course the performance of others should not be overlooked, and on any other 6 nations Saturday Harry Ellis would have walked away with the man of the match award. It's also great to see the old Tindall back and making space for others.
The pack also were awesome and despite Scottish claims they were too big and Heavy matched and exceeded the opposition in every department. Their driving,rucking and mauling was termendous, and after that one blip at the line-out the set pieces were solid and reliable.
this is the start of an upward curve for the England team,or so all of us red rose brigade hope and believe.
We all want to see Jonny go from strength to strength ,but we don't care who's man of the match as long as he's in an England Jersey
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In my opinion England's performance was 100 times better than ones we put in, in the autumn. Yes there was obviously some superb performances by individuals such as Johnny, Ellis, Tindall, Corry. but for me the most impressive thing for me was how well the team had gelled already after a very short time to prepare, yes i know Scotland weren't the biggest of challenges however they are no push over and i feel the result was a extremely good one, as an Englishman i wouldn't have minded if we had won by 1 point if we put that performance in. Now with the help of Ashton our basics skills are much sharper and in my eyes we can only improve.
One thing i would like to say is Farrell had an amazing match in my eyes he was tireless put in some big tackles and moved the ball with pace and accuracy, i was especially impressed with the slight delay he put on his pass leading to robinson's first try, this was such a relief to see because in the autumn we would have jus shipped the ball through the hands giving no overlap or any advantage but here with good vision and great hands we created a wonderful try.
LETS HOPE WE KEEP IT UP HEY LADS!!!
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