[rustybike]

Indeed.

Would loved to have been a fly on the wall during half time and at the end. But then again, so would foots.

[john-leybourne]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7917118.stm

the reaction says it all

[Yudster]

Oh what a shower. Its a good job Ireland were poor or it would have been even more embarrassing - if that's possible.

Ok, here's what I would love to see Martin Johnson do. First, Borthwick is not working as captain - he isn't in control of the players, he doesn't talk to them and they don't listen to him. Possible candidates to replace him as captain - Mike Tindall, if he is going to be a regular starter (and on yesterday's performance he maybe should), or Joe Worsley, who has been one of the few consistent bright spots in the England set up, and is a player who will make his voice heard on the pitch.

Second - get rid of Phil Vickery. His behaviour is terrible, and it is influencing the rest of the team - not necessarily directly, but such brainless indiscipline from a senior team member is always going to have an influence on the team as a whole. He needs to go completely, Johnno has to make a stand.

This current England team is never going to be great, that's for the future (I hope). But it can play rugby a hell of a lot better than this, and if it performed to its potential it could be a lot more competitive against the likes of Wales and Ireland, even when those teams are playing at their best.

*sigh*

[Yudster]

Why are England getting so many yellow cards? Especially when the ref has just warned the player not to do something a few seconds before?

Well, the weaker side is always going to be caught offside and commit defensive infringements more often simply because they are going to be under more pressure, and there's an element of that to it. As to the stupid and brainless type of penalties and yellow cards you mention, well, thats just down to the idiocy of people who should know better. Phil Vickery is at the heart of it, and whilst senior players like him continue to behave as though they are exempt from the referee's authority then the whole team is going to develop a bad attitude - if they are allowed to. I can't see Johnno doing nothing though.

What happened to Ireland yesterday? I never thought England would win it but I was expecting Ireland to be a bit more...dominant I guess.

Lucky for England they had an off day. They have a history of bottling big occasions, but I didn't expect them to be so poor this time. England might have won that game, which would have been a farce. Brilliant, but a farce nonetheless.

Also Delon Armitage is looking like he's going to be a great player for us.

Agreed - by the time England are a force to be reckoned with again he should be one of the senior internationals at the heart of it. Either that or he'll have retired by then..........

[Munki Bhoy]

Disappointed Wales lost - the last game winner takes all between them and Ireland would have been good. Oh well.

Glad we won, even if I didn't see it. Now if France can just beat England it's going to add extra spice to the Calcutta Cup match (as I fully expect Ireland to beat us)

Glad I missed the Ireland v England game, but also glad England didn't win at Croker. That just wouldn't be right.

[Yudster]

Munki, I'm sure you can clear this up - Simon Danielli. What's up with his hair? Is he deliberately going for the Chuckle Brothers look, or is it still the mid-Seventies in Scotland?

[Bonanzoid]

I didn't even bat an eyelid at that, those styles (and worse) are everywhere in Spain, but now that you mention it it was a bit strange. I'll forgive him though for a fantastic performance.

[Munki Bhoy]

Munki, I'm sure you can clear this up - Simon Danielli. What's up with his hair? Is he deliberately going for the Chuckle Brothers look, or is it still the mid-Seventies in Scotland?

To quote Frankie Boyle... "Ladies and Gentleman, we will shortly be landing in Glasgow. Passengers are reminded to set their watches back 25 years."

[Yudster]

I saw some Frankie Boyle outtakes from Mock the Week yesterday - he is SO BAAAAAAAAAD!

[Munki Bhoy]

What scares me is that 25 years seems like a long time, yet it's still not enough years to get you back to the 70s.

[Yudster]

And that reflection scares YOU?

[MK Chris]

I could have told you that. I am 25 and I was born in 1983.

[foot-loose]

Im 27 and I was born in 1982.

[Yudster]

That was a bit better. Lets not get carried away, but that looked like Rugby - easy to say France didn't play well, but in the first half that was because we didn't let them play at all. When they picked their game up in the second half we lost shape a bit, and I really thought it might all fall apart (especially when we were getting warned after a couple of infringements, when France had been continually offending and hadn't been spoken to once - you could see tempers getting stoked), but the best thing about the match was that it didn't fall apart, they managed to keep their discipline and regain some of their composure - enough to make sure France couldn't really do too much about it.

Looking forward to Scotland now. I know its at Twickenham, but I reckon Scotland travel far better than France so that might not be so significant.

[Bonanzoid]

I can't wait for the game tomorrow. In all honesty I think we're going to lose, but not like the French did. We're not playing overly well but our defence seems to have been beefed up a bit against Italy and Ireland. If we can snub out Ireland like we did a lot last week, hope remains against England!

Come on Scotland!

[S4B]

I want England to carry on with the performance we managed last week.

I assume you mean the performance in the first half, the second half was apparently dire according to Mr S4 - I was at work.

If Ireland don't win, I'll be absolutely gutted. I've really liked the Ireland team for the last few years now and it's driven me mad how they've not won it and it would be nice to see them get a grand slam.

Be prepared to be disappointed then hun. They won't beat Wales at home! We will get the triple crown and, possibly, the championship. Can't wait for the matches this afternoon.

[Yudster]

The second half wasn't dire at all - France played much better and England looked wobbly for a period, but rather than collapse they held it together and got their shape back very well.

Ireland have looked head and shoulders above everyone this season, and Wales have had some very ropey performances - but the Cardiff Factor might well be conclusive, like S4B says. However - am I right in thinking that if Wales lose, and England win, with England's greatly superior points difference would mean England finish above Wales in the table? That might be nice. But - there are no points for second place (even if we do manage to beat Scotland, which is never a given), and I would prefer Wales to win the match than for Ireland to get the Grand Slam. And I'm looking forward to the singing from Cardiff.

[S4B]

It is true that England could come second but it won't happen, we won't lose. Frighteningly France could come second on points difference if both Wales and England lose.

I too am looking forward to the singing Yuds, in fact I will be joining in. I'm in my Wales shirt and scarf already and have opened a bottle of wine.

I feel sorry for the Italians, they are so out of their depth in this championship.

[S4B]

Wales can finish fourth. That's all I can remember at the moment.

But we won't.

[Bonanzoid]

Today's Scotland performance seemed riddled with silly errors. Frustrating to watch. Especially when we almost (once again) scored a try when it was 3-0. That happens too often for us, almost there but not quite.

It seems like we just cannot play attacking rugby and our inability to score a feckin' try is annoying. Chris Paterson may be a God with his right foot, but he can't hold us up forever.

[S4B]

I am officially in mourning! I can't believe we came fourth after we played so well throughout the tournament! We do not deserve that placement. Nor do England deserve to be above us!

Ireland played well though.

[Bonanzoid]

Weird thing is England scored the most points and also conceded the least. What's wrong with Engerland?

[S4B]

I can't answer that! However I still can't believe Phil Vickery is on the team! That said, with my heart breaking, for the second time this year, well done engerland!












God that hurt!

[Yudster]

Ireland were appalling. They should have had two sin bins in the first half and one of those off again in the second half - the (English) referee was totally intimidated by them. I feel terribly sorry for Wales, Steve Jones in particular. I though they deserved the match.

As for England not deserving second place - why the hell not? If you wanted to finish higher, you should have scored as many points as we did. But no one remembers the places, especially not when the Irish win.

[le_moribond]

Ireland were appalling. They should have had two sin bins in the first half and one of those off again in the second half - the (English) referee was totally intimidated by them. I feel terribly sorry for Wales, Steve Jones in particular. I though they deserved the match.

As for England not deserving second place - why the hell not? If you wanted to finish higher, you should have scored as many points as we did. But no one remembers the places, especially not when the Irish win.

Potential sinbins? Where? I didn't see any.

And Wales deserved it? Nah. Ireland after the half-time break were the far better team. Jones only has himself to blame for making that mistake of kicking out on the full after it was brought back into the 22. He knew it too. Well done to Ireland for their Grand Slam.

3 easy tries against Italy and then lots of tries against a jekyll/hyde France. Meh!