Incredible discipline and effort by the Scottish forwards to keep driving at the French line in the lead up to the winning try. Congrats on a great game and fantastic contribution to this year's 6 Nations.
Is was a great tournament overall as usual over the two month period for the fans and everyone else.England and the Italians were the most disappointing teams for me.
To be fair, you can’t expect to much from Italy, it’s not their game. But England on the other hand, now that’s another matter.
I think that on their day, any one of the top 5 teams can beat any of the others. England's problem, as is well documented is not a shortage of talent but poor selection. They will not have a bad season next year and I expect them to be there or thereabouts, challenging for the GS or the championship. I agree with you regarding Italy - they have a very young team but they seemed unable to make good decisions or carry out the basic drills this year. They are not progressing as Argentina have done and that's disappointing.
For me it's time for the guillotine on the Italians enough is enough in my book with over 30 plus matches lost in a row now.
Is this down to the fifteen men on the pitch not knowing how to play on the day or the management strangling their natural free flowing play, we must stick with plan and not diviate regardless from the England coaching staff.
Rugby is constantly evolving and coaches are quick to respond to opposition strategies. Unfortunately, Jones is stuck in the "absolute brutality" mindset, so Jones coaches the England team to box kick, and then give Billy Vunipola the ball so that he can "smash" his way through the defence to score. Well it worked when Jones took over the coach's job, but the other coaches have adapted to this tactic and can now defend it. To compound the problem, when Billy puts on weight, he's much less of a threat; Mako was always a suspect scrummager but at least he used to get around the pitch and usually put in a good shift - same goes for the other Sarries players. However, playing against Richmond, Cornish Pirates and Jersey is not good test match preparation. So to answer your question, I think that the first is a consequence of the second. Jones' record with England is pretty good but he is now at the point where he has to change England's style and bring in new talent. Due to a chronic injury list, Pivac had to experiment with a lot of young players during the AIs who more than held their own in the 6N; Jones didn't and I think he missed a trick. What a perfect opportunity it would have been to play the Simmonds bros, Marcus Smith, Dombrandt etc
Yes i'm a Exeter Chiefs fan and i like what Harlequins are doing this season also the Bristol Bears are doing the business at the minute with their style of play on the pitch. Bring in new blood & ideas with the world cup just around the corner.PDQ
Watched Bristol vs Harlequins this afternoon - what a great match! You can add Piers o' Connor to that list of "Why the hell isn't he playing for England".
