Re: congrats Wales

On Sat, 02 Feb 2008 13:59:18 -0800, simon s-b wrote:

But the lack of anyone posting anything constructive about the game, and
the load of blow through gloating twats should help to explain why i
don't like you much. I know the feeling is mutual.

Talk about a game of two halves. England looked as though they were
going to run away with it. Set pieces, turnovers, the lot. Wales were
poor, and we should have finished the half with more points on the
board. Christ knows what happened at half time, but as the commentary
said they imploded. I've never seen such a shambles of a second half. I
should think there's a few recently retired old pros who might be
suggesting 'I told you so' about the RWC. Fair play to Wales for putting
away the chances, but christ we were truly awful.

Hook looked every bit a Lions 10 today. Even in the first half when
England were going well, apart from a couple of bad kicks from hand, he
went well. In the second half when it got a bit loose, he was fantastic.
Henson is still overrated.

Honourable mention to Borthwick and Shaw, who were fabulous going
forward in the first half, and brave going back in the second. They
certainly didn't disgrace themselves. If Vickery cannot play 80, and
frankly he can't, then he shouldn't be captain.

One thing the Blues showed, and Wales did it again today - you cannot
play against someone of Martyn Williams calibre without a specialist 7.
As soon as Moody and Rees went crocked, England went to bits. The ball
slowed down, the turnovers ended, and the link between forwards and
backs fell to bits. The forwards got in the way of the backs moves,
nobody in the backs took control (and we had 3 feckin 10's there),
Volcano didn't come off his wing (at least Cohen came looking for it),
etc etc.

We can blame injury on the loss of shape, finishing up with all sorts
out of position. The fact of the matter is, Ashton picked that bench -
he should have had a plan on how to use it in a situation like the one
which occurred. Even in the first half when we were all over them, the
Welsh never looked at sea. They made stupid turnover errors and screwed
some set piece, but kept their shape much better than England did in the
second half. That's coaching, and Ashton and co have not made a good
start AFAIC.

Hi Simon....Just watched the lunch-time replay on the Rugby channel. With
the possible exception of your Borthwick and Shaw comments I'd say we
were pretty much watching the same game. From a neutrals point of view no-
one was really outstanding in a *cliche-alert* "take the game by the
scruff of the neck" way.

If anyone deserves a mention I thought it would have been Wales 7,8,9 and
10. A nice steady group, not flash but *cliche-alert* they consistently
did the basics right.

From a fashion point of view I liked the look of Henson i.e a very 70's
Welsh back line look as opposed to James Hook and his hair gel look.
Think a Barry John mop-top and a Steve Fenwick attitude. Not too bad at
all. Did some half-decent tackles as well.

Don't like the "first game of the season" excuses from some of the
posters to explain the error levels. The GP and ML are well under way.
Nerves I guess when things started going wrong. Welsh nerves in the first
half, english in the second. *Cliche-alert* A time for cool-heads but
none turned up. Not even JW, which surprise me.

From a neutrals point of view Ref Joubert was no worse or better than any
other displays of reffing over the years. Barely registered on the Barnes
scale.

The best part of the game was in the first half hearing Brian Moore
crowing about a club side versus an international side etc etc and then
hearing him squealing at the end. Superb.

Regards
Lodi
.

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