Ben, Charlie and Charles reflect on round three of the Six Nations where England saw off Scotland by a single point to win the Calcutta Cup!
Despite the win, there was a chorus of boo’s from the home crowd, who were voicing their discontent at England’s style of play and overall performance. We discuss if the criticism of England’s win is fair, or if fans should be a little more realistic with their expectations given England’s recent form against Scotland.
Elsewhere there’s praise for Wales who pushed favourites Ireland all the way in Cardiff in Matt Sherratt’s first game in charge, and France bounced back from their England defeat by putting eleven tries past a hapless Italy
Plus we tackle your questions as always, including England’s options at scrum half, Scotland’s grievance’s with the referee, and an impressive outing for England A against Ireland A.
#englandrugby #sixnations #irelandrugby #walesrugby #scotlandrugby
0:00 – 10:40 – Show intro
10:40 – 30:40 – England 16-15 Scotland
32:00 – 40:00 – Wales 18-27 Ireland
40:00 – 46:50 – Italy 24-73 France
46:50 – 57:40 Fan Questions
20 Comments
Congrats 🎉🎉🎉🎉 english sports culture🏴❣️
Shame on people who boo during sports events.
Who was criticising playing with ambition? The moneyball kicking game has proven to be a dud with this or iterations of this team. As was clear against France, we can play at pace (where Alex Mitchell’s talent is utilised), with ball in hand… Dear lord, we should kick when opportune, not every time we have the ball…
Scotland lost that match and should have won it. England were outscored 3 tries to 1 and that one try was ugly and questionable. Finn Russell uncharacteristcally a 80-90% kicker missed his conversions. The win against France was an equally fortuitous a game the French lost rather than England won on merit. I saw very little progress from England.
Initial penalties weren’t actually against Porter but our new first cap young Clarkson.
It’s strange because when England were getting beaten by NZ and beaten Ireland the fans were delirious at how well they played the so called by Bortwick New Brand of attacking rugby. It was clear they were lucky against France and Scotland , now English fans are supposed to be happy with lucky wins, I wonder just how long the will be happy with lucky wins. The result against Scotland and the opportunity to go for a bonus point to try win the championship have almost gone now, and its now 3 years of building to become the team Eddie jones left after being sacked. Nobody believes lucky wins will make a great team, this panel said it, England just don’t have it to be an attacking side because they have a crap coach..
England did great to get over the line against an excellent Scotland team who have forgotten how to lose against England.
Borthwick and his players solved the puzzle in the game which is another new thing for England.
On to Italy and then Wales, hopefully France will do us a favour. Our young team is learning on the job and now they're winning too. Possibly the early signs of a World Cup winning side.
It’s strange because when England were getting beaten by NZ and beaten Ireland the fans were delirious at how well they played the so called by Bortwick New Brand of attacking rugby. It was clear they were lucky against France and Scotland , now English fans are supposed to be happy with lucky wins, I wonder just how long the will be happy with lucky wins. The result against Scotland and the opportunity to go for a bonus point to try win the championship have almost gone now, and its now 3 years of building to become the team Eddie jones left after being sacked. Nobody believes lucky wins will make a great team, this panel said it, England just don’t have it to be an attacking side because they have a crap coach..
So if Ireland beat France England will have nothing to say about anything. If France beat Ireland they have more points than England and a points difference of 75 points better , the say they have is minute and more chance of winning the lottery and thats a lot more than England deserves.
Good result but dreadful game and Scotland were unlucky. I have had enough of English platitudes, "they are getting there" "signs of improvement" "had moments" !!! I want us to play well like other teams do. I want to be entertained, especially if I'm paying £125+ for a ticket. I want us to be winning things and the RFU should get somebody to do that. Do it soon or the game I love will loose support and will die !! Constantly coming 3rd or lower in the 6N is not good enough !!!
I thought France made a massive physical statement. Italy were exhausted at 50 mins. Similar to Leicester/Ulster Toulouse games. Ireland's enormous problem is France's physicality. Joe McCarthy should start. Beirne at 6. Doris back and Conan off bench. Unsure about Furlong. If we match them, we can beat them. We must not underestimate the magnitude of that French performance
The England performance was a lot to be desired however I dunno how England fans can’t be happy with a win in a fixture against our bogey team Scotland in which we have lost our last 4 meetings with. It was ugly, we need to be better but Scotland threw the kitchen sink at us and some how we won, granted a singular kick from Russell would have tipped it in the other direction. Call it luck but I think that’s disrespect to the English forwards who actually won us the game.
What a delusional English rugby team they got battered in the 1H and the English try was clearly held up 😂 3 trys by the Scots guess FR lost his kicking boots😂
They will come short against the teams above them. No progress.
The kicking is frustrating. Bring in Quirks for Randall. A back line of Fin Smith, Cokanasiga,Lawrence,Freeman, Feyi Daniel and Burbank ? Pace and power
Sorry…Quirke,Feyi Waboso,Furbank
Borthwick has had time. Barring the scrum, England is going backwards. The attack is non existent. Time to get a new coaching team.
Lads talking on scrums is ridiculous – Porter is a far better scrummager than a 3rd string sale Welsh prop. It was bad calls all day n no shock it's from a Barnes disciple. Porter goes to SA, Fra and Scot n wins/holds his own – Porter was penalized for winning the hit and the Welsh lad collapsing in. Shocking calls
Porter got pinged twice and Clarkson twice.
Think England's somewhat turgid performance was largely down to Borthwick and the coaches regressing to tactics again. It's the overarching problem with Borthwick's approach. Ireland, France, Scotland will say they focus on their own game and not be overly concerned with specific ideas for the opposition, whereas Borthwick has a myopic focus on this at the expense of an identity that England can settle and grow into. There was obviously a bit of a monkey on the back wrt to the Calcutta Cup, and he opted for conservatism despite the actual strengths of his selection. Mitchell has a hugely more varied game than relentless boxkicking and, aside from denying him his own opportunities, the orders also nearly entirely diffused the attacking threats offered by Fin Smith and the rest of the backs. Sleightholme isn't a chaser, he's a try-scorer when given ball in the wide channels. Lawrence isn't a defensive centre, he's a line breaker. Slade is a good organiser, but an iffy defender himself, and his second play-maker talents are largely wasted. There is so much ability chucked down the drain when the tactic is kick for territory and/or absorb oppo attacks while hunting turnovers. This side needs possession and phases, and won't kick on until Borthwick changes.