England’s 33-30 victory over Wales at Twickenham will leave many England supporters feeling disappointed rather than elated as they will know that the margin of victory flaattered the Welsh and should have been much greater.

England committed the cardinal sin as the clock ran down at the end of the first half and leading by 20 points to six of trying to run the ball from the half way line instead of kicking the ball dead and going in to half time with a 14 point lead. They then turned the ball over, gave away a penalty and gifted Wales a soft 3 points. England then compounded this error by ‘over pursuing’ the kick off in the second half and were cruelly exposed by a brilliant try by Justin Tipuric reducing the lead to 4 points in the blink of an eye.

England then re-established control with their excellent pack and saw their lead increase to 33-16 with the ever reliable kicking of Owen Farrell securing two penalties and a conversion to the excellent try finished by Manu Tuilagi.

While there was much to celebrate yesterday, namely an excellent forward display with George Kruis excellent in what many are saying could be his last Twickenham performance for England ahead of a rumoured move to Japan and the return of Mark Wilson was notable as was the earlier than planned appearance of Henry Slade who slotted in at full back following Jonny May’s withdrawal after failing a HIA with Elliot Daly moving to the wing. Slade was sublime and England must get him back at centre and lose the ineffective George Ford who kicked woefully out of hand and remains a liability in defence.

The ‘finishers’ managed to ship 14 points to 2 Welsh tries aided and abetted by a woeful performance from the officials with referee Ben O’Keefe having a shocker aided by his clueless TMO Marius Jonker. Firstly O’Keefe yellow carded Ellis Genge who had only just appeared as a sub for offside at the ruck while missing a blatant charge by Alun Wyn-Jones beyond the ruck and then rubbing salt in England’s wounds by the ridiculous red card given to Manu Tuilagi attempting to make a try saving last ditch tackle on George North who was falling and made contact (shoulder then head) with the leg of the diving Tuilagi. There was no way the ref could claim intent and the attacking player was falling from an initial tackle. This was a penalty at worst but in my opinion should have been an England Line-out.

What do England learn from this? They must be much more clinical and manage the scoreboard better. There was an element of the collapse against Scotland when England were down to 13 yesterday and England need to revert to Farrell at 10 with Tuilagi and Slade at centre to shore up the midfield defence as Ford is a passenger.

Having had a points difference of 17 points in the final quarter and ending up with a difference of only 3 England will hope that if France lose one of their remaining games against either Scotland (today) or Ireland and teams end up on the same points then their profligacy does not cost them the title.Winning the Triple Crown yesterday will be pleasing but every England supporter knows that anything other than a Grand Slam or Championship win is an under achievement for this group.

The inclusion of Elliot Daly at full back for Sunday’s Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham is another strange Eddie Jones selection. Daly had previously been moved away from this position and back on to the wing following several unconvincing performances under the high ball and the one thing you can be absolutely assured of against an Ireland side playing at Twickenham is that England’s full back is going to spend a lot of time under the high ball. George Furbank has picked up an injury and with Anthony Watson also injured Jones has taken the gamble of moving Daly back into the firing line rather than call up a specialist 15 . It could be a long afternoon for him.

Jones has decided to pick two lock forwards on the bench even though he is starting with Courtenay Lawes on the blind side and Lawes has often moved to lock as the game progresses which leaves a distinct lack of back row cover on the bench. Ellis Genge must consider himself unlucky to not make the starting line-up following his impressive performance against Scotland and Mako Vunipola’s absence due to family reasons with the starting slot given to the unimpressive Joe Marler.

Selection peculiarities continue with the shifting of Jonathan Joseph to the wing from outside centre following the much needed return of Manu Tuilagi to give England some grunt in midfield and the encouraging return of Henry Slade albeit to the bench. Slade very quickly became an instrumental part of this side and England look so much better with Slade and Tuilagi in the centre with Farrell at 10.

England can expect a very tough afternoon against Ireland and they will know that they will need to turn in a much improved performance from the one produced against Scotland if they are to prevail.

I am strongly of the opinion that Eddie Jones’ stubbornness in selection is now hurting England and I would be very surprised if he in is charge come the end of the Autumn Internationals as anything other than a Grand Slam this year is going to be seen as a failure given the resources available to him and the World Cup showing.

My line up would be :

Genge, George, Sinckler, Lawes, Itoje, Underwood, Simmonds, Curry
Care, Farrell, Tuilagi, Slade, May, Thorley, Goode.

Bench : Harry Williams, Ben Moon, Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Dan Robson, Ben Earl, Devoto, Daly.

The inclusion of Elliot Daly at full back for Sunday’s Six Nations game against Ireland at Twickenham is another strange Eddie Jones selection. Daly had previously been moved away from this position and back on to the wing following several unconvincing performances under the high ball and the one thing you can be absolutely assured of against an Ireland side playing at Twickenham is that England’s full back is going to spend a lot of time under the high ball. George Furbank has picked up an injury and with Anthony Watson also injured Jones has taken the gamble of moving Daly back into the firing line rather than call up a specialist 15 . It could be a long afternoon for him.

Jones has decided to pick two lock forwards on the bench even though he is starting with Courtenay Lawes on the blind side and Lawes has often moved to lock as the game progresses which leaves a distinct lack of back row cover on the bench. Ellis Genge must consider himself unlucky to not make the starting line-up following his impressive performance against Scotland and Mako Vunipola’s absence due to family reasons with the starting slot given to the unimpressive Joe Marler.

Selection peculiarities continue with the shifting of Jonathan Joseph to the wing from outside centre following the much needed return of Manu Tuilagi to give England some grunt in midfield and the encouraging return of Henry Slade albeit to the bench. Slade very quickly became an instrumental part of this side and England look so much better with Slade and Tuilagi in the centre with Farrell at 10.

England can expect a very tough afternoon against Ireland and they will know that they will need to turn in a much improved performance from the one produced against Scotland if they are to prevail.

I am strongly of the opinion that Eddie Jones’ stubbornness in selection is now hurting England and I would be very surprised if he in is charge come the end of the Autumn Internationals as anything other than a Grand Slam this year is going to be seen as a failure given the resources available to him and the World Cup showing.

My line up would be :

Genge, George, Sinckler, Lawes, Itoje, Underwood, Simmonds, Curry
Care, Farrell, Tuilagi, Slade, May, Thorley, Goode.

Bench : Harry Williams, Ben Moon, Cowan-Dickie, Jonny Hill, Dan Robson, Ben Earl, Devoto, Daly.

England Under Pressure 

England go in to Saturday’s game against Scotland at Murrayfield under intense pressure, most of which has been created by their Head Coach.

Eddie Jones’ constant jibes against England’s imminent opponents are only serving to raise the game of those opponents and one has to wonder what Jones thinks he is achieving other than making the life of his squad more difficult.

Jones’ insistence on playing players out of position also remains a huge concern with Owen Farrell and Tom Curry the most obvious casualties of this misguided policy. I feel desperately sorry for both of these players as Owen Farrell’s impact on the game is being severely limited by playing him at inside centre not to mention the increased physical workload of a player who is having to cover his own position but also the 10 channel due to the defensive frailties of George Ford. Tom Curry looked a world class openside at the World Cup but he now looks a very ordinary 8 and this is completely unfair on the player in my opinion. We are blessed with very good options at 8 in the form of Dombrandt and Sam Simmons so why on earth are they not in the squad?

Jones’ confused selection just gets worse with the dropping of arguably England’s best player from last week, Courtenay Lawes who should be operating at lock next to Maro Itoje.

The back line looks shambolic with Elliot Daly targeted bt France last week under the high ball and he should be moved back to his best position at inside centre or be dropped. Ben Youngs has been dropped but he along with Joe Marler should not even be close to getting in to this squad.

Eddie Jones currently has an embarrassment of riches available to him in English rugby and I can never remember a time when we have been blessed with so many talented players competing for places but Jones must look to the younger players now if he is to save his job and more importantly to develop this England side.

Scotland will be licking their lips in anticipation of this encounter and they will know that they should have beaten Ireland last week. I do not expect them to make the same number of mistakes in front of their own fans tomorrow and take Scotland to win by one score.

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