Springboks v England - Test #1
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@nta said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@rapido Itoje has that rare combination of being a fantastic player trapped in the body of someone who believes it a bit too much.
He's a bit of a fluffybunny.
But every time you think you want to smack him one Mike Brown comes into view and your target changes.
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Fun game! Great to see S.A. fight back but Eng just went to sleep. Some great tries scored. Shields had a couple of decent touches but didn't make much of an impact. S.A. will be feeling good about the contribution from their overseas based players.
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@taniwharugby WTF is she on about? Is she the Minister of white farmers' land reallocation?
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@paekakboyz Faf and Duane were very good, especially Faf. I think they may have struggled to come back from that deficit without him. England exposed the Bok's wingers' defence early on.
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@crucial said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@nta said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@rapido Itoje has that rare combination of being a fantastic player trapped in the body of someone who believes it a bit too much.
He's a bit of a fluffybunny.
But every time you think you want to smack him one Mike Brown comes into view and your target changes.
Yes, England has quite a list of this type. Itoje, Brown, Sinckler, Marler and Farrell are fairly difficult to like.
I actually reckon Itoje is overrated and will not be happy to be proved wrong. -
@crucial said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@nta said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@rapido Itoje has that rare combination of being a fantastic player trapped in the body of someone who believes it a bit too much.
He's a bit of a fluffybunny.
But every time you think you want to smack him one Mike Brown comes into view and your target changes.
Oh shit yes. What a fucking gobshite that bloke is!
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@rapido said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
Was Shields sub for Isiekwe before half time an injury sub?
To answer my own question, tactical sub.
Eddie picks a young 20 year old lock to tour, at the expense of him going to the U-20 JWC. Starts him after Launchbury is withdrawn. Subs him after 35 minutes.
Humiliating.
Either - What a terrible selector (if he isn't good enough to play a test and had to be yanked) or what a terrible man manger he is (if he just wanted a tactical switch at the expense of humiliating a 20 year old almost debutant ).
Was his starting debut I believe, 3rd test match.
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From The Times.
ick Isiekwe can comfort himself this morning with the knowledge he is not the first and almost certainly won’t be the last England player Eddie Jones hooks from the field before half-time in a Test match.
The 20-year-old Saracens forward, in only his third Test appearance, suffered the ignominy of being replaced by uncapped New Zealander Brad Shields just 36 minutes into an extraordinary first Test as England’s head coach sought to restore some order. Unlike on previous occasions, the ploy failed to work.
Isiekwe looked shocked when the call came to replace him as he paid the price for a collective engine failure from England’s pack, suffering badly in the thin Johannesburg air following a breathless start.
I recall him doing the same to Teimana Harrison. Don't know who else he has yanked before half time, Need an account to read the rest of the fire-walled article. This was the first item on google search of Isiekwe when I wanted to check how old he was.
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so what are the odds of 6 in row for Steddie?
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pretty good I'd say, but then again SAF looked frail and are very inexperienced.
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@taniwharugby said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
so what are the odds of 6 in row for Steddie?
Increasing. Springboks will only be better for the run. England will be disintegrating mentally.
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@antipodean said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@taniwharugby said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
so what are the odds of 6 in row for Steddie?
Increasing. Springboks will only be better for the run. England will be disintegrating mentally.
We can only dream 😁
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@rapido said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
@rapido said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
Was Shields sub for Isiekwe before half time an injury sub?
To answer my own question, tactical sub.
Eddie picks a young 20 year old lock to tour, at the expense of him going to the U-20 JWC. Starts him after Launchbury is withdrawn. Subs him after 35 minutes.
Humiliating.
Either - What a terrible selector (if he isn't good enough to play a test and had to be yanked) or what a terrible man manger he is (if he just wanted a tactical switch at the expense of humiliating a 20 year old almost debutant ).
Was his starting debut I believe, 3rd test match.
Wait what? He hooked him before half time. That is seriously fucked up. He couldn't have been playing that badly to deserve that surely? Yes professional game etc etc but that will absolutely destroy his confidence, not to mention any future relationship with Steady Eddie.
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You do have to wonder if Eddie was just so desperate to get Sheilds on the field come what may. I felt beforehand that his squad selection was unbalanced and this came home to bite us. We lost a game we should have had tied up at half time.
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@catogrande said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
You do have to wonder if Eddie was just so desperate to get Sheilds on the field come what may. I felt beforehand that his squad selection was unbalanced and this came home to bite us. We lost a game we should have had tied up at half time.
Was he actually playing that bad?
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@machpants said in Springboks v England - Test #1:
Hooked at around 35 minutes, a English born and bred lock replaced by a kiwi born and bred 6/8 - utterly bizarre
Utterly bizarre but also utterly Eddie.
I'm not writing England off yet, they have enough big, fit skilled players that every now and again the stars will align and they will smash out a good performance. Let's hope it isn't against us.
Eddies biggest problem is that at the moment he should have a well oiled core to his machine and be tinkering at the edges to get the extras but he is in a position of having a team fast losing confidence in his ability to iron out their issues. He is putting the blame on them even if wording it as 'it's my job to solve their problems'.
As many said when he took the job, he is a brilliant coach at coming in and lifting a team with immediate changes or surprising opposition with a clever gameplan but long term he doesn't bring the slow incremental improvements and standards of a top team.
Compare England and Ireland and its a bit hare and tortoise. England raced out of the blocks in this 4 year cycle while Ireland took a more measured approach that has established much more structure and resilience.
It will certainly be interesting to watch what Eddie does now. I feel like he isn't far from trying something drastic given that he looks to have painted himself (and the tem) into a corner.
