[patgadd]

From Scotland's point of view:
That they will not have a good World Cup

From England's point of view:
That Eliot Daley is not a fullback, and given that Goode is still out of favour and Brown has seemed to have blown his chances, Watson should occupy the spot.
That Heinz is not up to World Cup standards
That if Billy Vunipola remains fit and Jack Nowell returns to fitness, we have a chance

From Wales's point of view:
That to be world no. 1 without proving yourselves against New Zealand may be a nice feeling, but shouldn't lead you into a false sense of security.

[SimonG]

I think we learned that Elliot Daly wasn't a full-back a long time ago!

[SoS_Warrior]

Inconsistant Refereeing will be prevalent.

[TeflonTed]

EJ will learn that he should have taken Cips. And Goode.

Sinckler will do something silly, and if he doesn’t, Marler will.

As to who’ll win, guess what, I don’t know.

But it will either be Wales, England, Ireland or the AB’s.

There, that’s the punditry done.

[poyntonshark]

I've learned that I disagree entirely with JJ Williams, the ONLY chance Wales have of winning the World Cup is with Dan Biggar in the team.

[Yareet]

EJ will learn that he should have taken Cips. And Goode.

Sinckler will do something silly, and if he doesn’t, Marler will.

As to who’ll win, guess what, I don’t know.

But it will either be Wales, England, Ireland or the AB’s.

There, that’s the punditry done.

Think you're doing a disservice to Australia and (especially) SA.

I'll stick my neck and say Wales won't win it. They managed one try against an England team only 2 of whom would possibly make a full-strength side.

Defence and playing in Cardiff has served them well in the last 12 months but I don't feel it will be enough. Let's see how they do in Dublin and then Japan.

[poyntonshark]

I take your point, but I reckon 3 definite first choice starters, Itoje, Billy V & Daly, a couple more possibles.

[Yareet]

I take your point, but I reckon 3 definite first choice starters, Itoje, Billy V & Daly, a couple more possibles.

Forgot Maro

[Oldgrayseadog]

Can anyone explain this from last weekend's Wales England game?

Why didn't EJ put Ford to scrum half when Heinz went off for treatment? He says that Ford will cover 9 in an emergency.

He could have then moved Francis to 10 who apparently is the emergency cover for fly half.

Or is the "he can play here and he can play there" all just knee jerk reaction by EJ when questioned about his selections?

[Yareet]

Can anyone explain this from last weekend's Wales England game?

Why didn't EJ put Ford to scrum half when Heinz went off for treatment? He says that Ford will cover 9 in an emergency.

He could have then moved Francis to 10 who apparently is the emergency cover for fly half.

Or is the "he can play here and he can play there" all just knee jerk reaction by EJ when questioned about his selections?

Could’ve tried Marler at 3 as well since he is supposedly the cover. Maybe he will against Ireland/Italy. Maybe he wanted to have as strong a team as possible in the cauldron of the Principality but will experiment in the other games.

[TeflonTed]

I'll stick my neck and say Wales won't win it. They managed one try against an England team only 2 of whom would possibly make a full-strength side.

Every chance that Wales won’t win it...I can only wait and hope!

But I’d be really interested to know what you’d list as an England full strength side that included only 2 of this matchday squad.
Tell us which your 2 are then?
England Team
Forwards
1 Ellis Genge
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie
3 Dan Cole
4 Joe Launchbury
5 Maro Itoje
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Lewis Ludlam
8 Billy Vunipola
Backs
9 Willi Heinz
10 George Ford (Captain)
11 Joe Cokanasiga
12 Piers Francis
13 Jonathan Joseph
14 Anthony Watson
15 Elliot Daly
Replacements
16 Jamie George
17 Joe Marler
18 Kyle Sinckler
19 George Kruis
20 Jack Singleton
21 Ben Youngs
22 Owen Farrell
23 Manu Tuilagi

[Yareet]

I'll stick my neck and say Wales won't win it. They managed one try against an England team only 2 of whom would possibly make a full-strength side.

Every chance that Wales won’t win it...I can only wait and hope!

But I’d be really interested to know what you’d list as an England full strength side that included only 2 of this matchday squad.
Tell us which your 2 are then?
England Team
Forwards
1 Ellis Genge
2 Luke Cowan-Dickie
3 Dan Cole
4 Joe Launchbury
5 Maro Itoje
6 Courtney Lawes
7 Lewis Ludlam
8 Billy Vunipola
Backs
9 Willi Heinz
10 George Ford (Captain)
11 Joe Cokanasiga
12 Piers Francis
13 Jonathan Joseph
14 Anthony Watson
15 Elliot Daly
Replacements
16 Jamie George
17 Joe Marler
18 Kyle Sinckler
19 George Kruis
20 Jack Singleton
21 Ben Youngs
22 Owen Farrell
23 Manu Tuilagi

Apologies, I've been having this conversation a lot recently and have slipped into shorthand. Mea culpa. I was referring to the starting XV.

Plus (as previously mentioned) I forgot Maro.

[poyntonshark]

We are not entirely sure what Eddies preferred 1st XV is, worryingly, I don't think he is either.
My best guess at his starters would be.

1. Vunipola
2. George
3. Sinkler
4. Itoje
5. Kruis
6. Wilson
7. Curry
8. Vunipola

9. Youngs
10. Farrell
11. Nowell
12. Slade
13. Tuilagi
14. May
15. Daly

3 from last Saturday's starting XV. Dan Cole's recent good form could see him replace Sinkler. Watson was always an EJ favourite before his injury so he could replace one of the back 3.

[Oldgrayseadog]

Agree that Principality was a couldren but would that match the "pressure" of a World Cup knock out game? It would have also only been 10 minutes while Hienz was being assessed if the result was that important? Agree about him having should of tried Marler at tight head!

[patgadd]

I think it's safe to say now that England (or at least a full strength England) are better than we thought they were.

[poyntonshark]

England were very good, but Ireland in their first game of the season were defensively shocking. I'll give England some credit for that, but Ireland brought much of it upon themselves.

Pleased that England did so much with the backs especially as Ben Youngs was garbage.

[TeflonTed]

England were very good, but Ireland in their first game of the season were defensively shocking. I'll give England some credit for that, but Ireland brought much of it upon themselves.

Pleased that England did so much with the backs especially as Ben Youngs was garbage.

Yes, wasn’t he! (Ben Youngs).

As for the overall Irish performance, I reckon they’d watched Wales a couple of weeks earlier and thought, “Ah, there’s a cunning plan now here lads. We’ll lure them English boys into complacency by turning up at Twickers and playing like a bunch of feckin’ eejits...let them get all cozy and smug when it doesn’t matter then we’ll see how they go in Japan eh?...now, who’s for a jar?”

[Duncan Keene]

Can anyone explain this from last weekend's Wales England game?

Why didn't EJ put Ford to scrum half when Heinz went off for treatment? He says that Ford will cover 9 in an emergency.

He could have then moved Francis to 10 who apparently is the emergency cover for fly half.

Or is the "he can play here and he can play there" all just knee jerk reaction by EJ when questioned about his selections?

Could’ve tried Marler at 3 as well since he is supposedly the cover. Maybe he will against Ireland/Italy. Maybe he wanted to have as strong a team as possible in the cauldron of the Principality but will experiment in the other games.

It'll be interesting to see what happens in the Italy game. There would obviously be some benefits to giving Ford game time at 9 and Marler game time at 3, but there is also a downside, at the moment the opposition have no idea whatsoever what those players look like when they play out of position, if we give them even a few phases it might let the analysts work out a massive flaw in their technique. E.g if Marler has an odd bind, he might get away with it for one game but if he plays 3 vs Italy then everyone we play will be able to look at tape of what he's doing. Similarly Ford might have a massive 'tell' when he's box kicking.

At Leicester we had Jonah Holmes step in to play 9 against Wasps at home for most of the game this season, i know he had played some youth rugby there so not a total novice, but he managed ok. His style was totally different to all our other scrum halves and i'm glad we didn't need to play him there again the next week as the other teams will have been watching.

[GoldFinch]

Russia have learned not to play Jersey

One or two would be Prem teams have come a cropper there too ..

[Oldgrayseadog]

So STILL no start or even match day selection for Jack Singleton at hooker, not even against Italy!

I can see the wheels coming off in Japan if England have a few key injuries during games.

[poyntonshark]

We didn't really learn it because we already knew it, but Garces has no business being anywhere near a Rugby Test match.

[TeflonTed]

We didn't really learn it because we already knew it, but Garces has no business being anywhere near a Rugby Test match.

Interesting analysis I read somewhere,
(Can’t recall where) that the French Sirs ( Monsieurs?) were collectively responsible for something like 80% of the red cards awarded at international level over the last however many years.

Funny lot the French.

[poyntonshark]

Funny you should mention red cards. One theory offered up by Phil Kearns (now a pundit on Aus TV) was that Garces was kind to NZ to make up for the red he showed to Barrett in the recent game against Wallabies in Perth.