Having let the dust settle, and the pain (or ecstasy) die down, what do you make of the weekend. Here is a team by team round up as we build up to Super Saturday…with Alfie Reynolds. Enjoy.
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Having let the dust settle, and the pain (or ecstasy) die down, what do you make of the weekend. Here is a team by team round up as we build up to Super Saturday…with Alfie Reynolds. Enjoy.
42 Comments
I watch Alfie as well. Great collab with you both, cheers!
Really enjoyed listening to you both
Great chat Tim 🙌
Excellent conversation. Just recently subscribed to Alfie. I think that potentially England could suffer a similarly emphatic defeat against Ireland as they did against France. The English team will definitely be up for it for sure but they don't have the team cohesion. That's not a criticism. Steve Borthwick has just taken the job trying to fix a team that was already broken to some extent and it's going to take time to build. Forget about 2023 as far as trophies are concerned and concentrate on building a group of talented young players. Look at the Irısh under 20's, looking for a second grand slam in 2 years after giving the Scots a hammering that would make the English senior result a close one. The England under 20's, lose by 35 pts to France, only 7 pts less than the senior game. England, like Wales need a root and branch restructuring.
Your enthusiasm for the game of rugby Tim is very infectous
A lot of injuries for Ireland and a shorter turnaround. But I also reckon they’ll have too much for England. The French for the first time in this competition didn’t look tired coming into the England game. I think that performance is exactly what you will see in the WRC.
It was always said the Ireland didn't have a plan b when things went wayward, now it appears that at least we have a plan Z!!
I think England can beat Ireland and silence the insufferable irish pompom girls
Brilliant stuff Tim. Good to see Alfie contributing his expertise.
England, by Borthwick's own admission, are picking his team based on the opposition. Never a good sign.
Top blokes
Ireland going for their 4th Slam on Saturday – 1st one was won in Belfast in 1948, Cardiff in '09 & Twickenham in '18. . .
England will be bulling on Saturday with something to prove. The chance of a red card is perhaps higher though if aggression is not controlled.
England need to not panic and end up with Red card or chaos… back to basics structure..like Wales game
I'll be honest, I clicked on this because of topless Mack Hansen in the thumbnail
Firstly I was pleased when Steve Borthwick was appointed and I think he is the right choice (maybe at the wrong time ) but, I'm a beginning to be concerened with his messaging to the press, if my boss constantly was telling people that we are not good enough, that we are not good at anything, that we have so much to improve, I’d probably struggle to perform as well. I know that Steve's USP is that he is honest and authentic and what he is saying might be/is true I don't see it as particularly good people management. I don't think this is the main reason for the poor performances, and his messaging inside the camp is probably different, but I cant help but think its a factor.
I can't wait to see Joe Carpenter come through and challenge Steward for that 15 spot
Lads…there's too much of this – English commentators and media constantly playing premier League manager with your team. Your problems are not going to be solved by constantly lobbing random players at positions and believing it will get better. Modern rugby is about systems, training, cohesion, combinations…Eddie Jones did your whole rugby playing population a lot of damage by throwing players in and out. Stick with a 23 for 10 games and I bet England would be back performing.
Andy Farrell has prospered but I wonder whether that would be the case with England. I suspect not. Ireland are an all round quality side. They are enjoying that purple patch where they have quality players in every position with the added advantage of playing as an organised team in a similar fashion to England in their pomp when they knew how to win test matches. Time for the England camp to dig out the archives and make a few notes. It's not rocket science :).
Aha ! so your name is Tim Mr Egg , you may find this hard tae believe because a bloody dae , but a actually feel sorry fur you`s no just because what`s coming up . Dae you think there any truth tae the rumour that steady Eddie wakes up in the middle ae the night and screams " OH Calcutta " a didnae think he was intae musicals did you ? Tim
I think it's easy to knock Itoje for not coming up with flash plays but if you dig into the stats he's topping in effective rucks hit, tackles and turnovers. Perception is a tricky thing even for 'experts'
What we can all now say for sure is the problems with the england team were not Eddie Jones' fault.
This performance was worse than any during his tenure.
Ireland won their first slam in Belfast, 2nd in Cardiff, 3rd in London and hopefully 4th in Dublin.
Hard disagree on the Farrell pick.
I think it would be interesting comparing both the Ireland and England teams in this weekends game with the repeat fixture between the two teams as part of the Rugby World Cup warm up in August
Is Alfie Darren John's son ?
Great stuff guy's, love that Alfie refers back to that loss to the AB's. He's so right, the irony is it was a loss, but it was a game we could have won, and the beginning of the belief that this Irish Team (or Squad) was something special, and proved correct. Great podcast Tim, good to hear Alfie.
Patricks Day is the 17th….
Almost 10k subs in a heart beat 🤜
You guys have missed the huge contribution of Stuart Lancaster who developed the youngsters like he was doing in England up to 2015. Farrell then gets to just pick the Leinster playbook and build his selection around them. It is all about a larger squad managing match minutes and cover for injuries (Younger players get less injuries and recover more quickly when they do get injured.). However, Andy creates trusted heads-up, friendly team culture, where the macho egos are left outside the door (Note the comments from Andy about the laughter in the dressing rooms at have time, after losing 2 hookers, a lock and a back row forward. England has been good for us. We also have Mike Catt and Graham Rowntree. Even Eddie Jones calling us "Scummy Irish" helped us. We also have David Nucifora from Australia as the national performance director, who can force players to join another province to get game time and develop. In England, the RFU is at war with the owners of the premiership sides and the Professional Game Board is toothless. England needs more than the 2024 Professional Game Agreement. In short, we are thankful for England's cast-offs.
Hansen in the photo lol
Im so nervous about saturday game england will make it so hard for ireland
Really interesting. Was at the Edinburgh match where they beat Saracens a few weeks back, and watched them play Saracens away as well and really felt as if they missed a trick not winning down there. Those were both pretty fully stocked Saracens squads who are currently walking the Prem vs an Edinburgh that is consistently struggling to get wins in the URC. I do wonder if that league is just in a bit of a dip.
Where is Alfie Barbeary?. I saw him play against munster in H cup a year or two ago and he carried like billy V in his prime
The way I view England is that they should be more South Africa than France.
As a result I think Maro should be England's dutoit. A super abrasive menace at blindside. Bring back billy at 8.
Farrell back at 10, keep Lawrence at 12, get a creative ball playing 15.
Just a python like, smothering England that doesn't take a step back, who tick over the scoreboard.
This will be Sextons 4th Grand Slam if Ireland win on Saturday '23 '18 '09 and 1948.
Will you be in Dublin Tim?
Hansen in the pic 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Sure but Andy Farrell was not as experienced then.
I think this 6N has underlined just how much rugby is a team sport. So many people slating individual England players whilst pointing at Irish/French players as “the best in the world” without thought to where the teams these players are in sit in their respective development cycle. I suspect you could have put Sexton and DuPont in the England side last weekend and they would still have been rubbish.
As for quality and steel sharpening steel, yes there are problems in the premiership but Leinster seem to have maintained a decent standard whilst playing in what has been (until recently maybe) a pretty rubbish league. I reckon England have primarily a system and confidence problem. Solve the latter and they’ll be competitive. Solve both and they’ll compete against the best.
Perhaps I'm being a tad nostalgic, but I think England could have a 2007 World Cup 2.0, where we enter the tournament in poor form but somehow limp our way to a WC Final – and somehow find new and impressive ways to bottle another trophy. Haha.
More of this group analysis please, two great channels makes me feel a lot better about England dire situation. …..🙂 The RFU is in complete denial about the serious systemic problems in English rugby and need to held accountable for lack of willingness to face up and resolve these problems. Change and needs to start at the top. Allowing our best coaches to go to Ireland and France is a crime against English rugby and sums up the lack of foresight or interest to improve English rugby by the RFU. World rugby has moved on since 2019 and the RFU have allowed England to go backwards, it's not good enough to blame EJ. England has underperformed for decades because of lack of leadership and thoughtful foresight from the RFU, it's the RFU and who's in it that is in need of serious reform.