When the whistle blows in a minute we’ll have dropped below Kazakhstan in the world ranking. Images of Gatland show a man who looks like he’s just been told his financial advisor defraud him and now he’s bankrupt
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Poor selections and tactics for me. The players are better than this.
Williams is a poor tactical and organisational scrum half.
I dont know what Wil Rowlands is.
Ben Thomas is not a 10
Shocking substitutions today too.
Patterns of play are slow and predictable or simlly doing the wrong thing at the wrong time.
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What’s worse for me is even to my partially educated rugby eyes I can see what he’s trying to do tactically but
a) he doesnt select players that can play that way
b) i dont think we have the players to do it either.
Anyway potential wooden spoon decider against England in Cardiff.
I said before, as an Irishman, that it’s such a shame. The 6N needs a strong Wales. Gatland has proven for decades that he’s a very capable coach. Seems like he’s just given up and trying to milk his last pay check before retirement
I dont think it’s that, more he’s out of date. He’s still trying play a game plan that demands having at least some players that are big ball carriers. In the last two games we have had only one on the field.
His centre choices are defensive, 6 is workmanlike, again defensive. I cant figure out what he’s trying at 10. I can only guess he’s trying to protect Dan Edwards a bit.
But the ball carrier thing is a worry. Every other side plays pods outside 10 has teams guessing where the ball is going. We dont. He’s given them a very limited game plan that isnt suited to his selections or the squad we have.
Come on England!
That fucking cunt Auradou is coming on!
Yes!
Did not expect that.
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Rode your luck in 1st half then prob deserved the 2nd. Good result for 
!
How is Wales losing to Italy a good result for Ireland? 
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Sad to see that match fixing has now reached the Six Nations.
There is no way on Earth that England won that match.
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Why do you say that? I’m the last to defend England but if anything there were 2 forward passes in that French try
Oh yes they did.
Made me happy. 
Not that I’m for England however I am most definitely against France. 
How come? Are you surrounded by boorish bleus?
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That did not age well. I’m now stuck for banter at work tomorrow.
Of all days for France to grow hands like feet. Ffs
I even pissed the Smith experiment came off.
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Clearly in a minority here but happy for the England result and glad all the saints lads did well. Get Fin Smith more game time, already shown at club level what prospect he is
Bizarre selection that clearly paid off.
But if he is in line for a regular spot at 10 why not play him against Japan last year?
Weird decisions by Borthwick but got away with it yesterday.
I do like Earl and Curry in the loose forwards. Proper English versions of those positions.
Don’t get me started on Borthwicks choices. Has plenty of quality at his disposal and manages to use it incorrectly so often.
Tbh if he had fewer choices I think he’d have a better idea of what to do with the squad but instead he’s left trying to juggle a lot of talent; and yesterdays line up was missing Furbank, Feyi-Waboso, Hendy (yet to get a call up but will become a mainstay for England injury permitting), and Steward.
Also we have a solid pack with some potentially great players developing (Baxter, Pollock who I hope gets a run out in this six nation) which I think has led Borthwick to try a similar approach to the Saffas, hit hard for the whole ninety using the bench to avoid the drop in energy levels.
Problem is he hasn’t figured out the exact starting/sub rotation to use with the forwards (see our record closing out games before the France result) nor has he figured out the line up to get the most out of the backs. This, I think, stems from the focus on Marcus Smith. A great player but one that seems to prevent the other backs from performing to their usual standard. Furbank, Steward, Mitchell (best England game in while against France playing next to Fin instead of Marcus) all experience drops when playing with him, and wingers are far less involved despite the obvious quality we have there. This means either the rest of the backs have to adapt to him or he needs to adapt to them.
Neither choice would be wrong: sprinkle of Marcus Smith magic while some other players are more shackled could work wonders, likewise a slightly more standard line up with Fin at fly half and Furbank full back would be a bit more functional but have two quality play makers using the wingers well and would have the quality of Marcus to come off the bench. Either could work, but this takes time and patience, yet Borthwicks line ups constantly change as do the positions he tries to utilise players in.
In other words Borthwicks seen a real solution that could see England play excellently and make the most of the upcoming talent but he doesn’t seem capable of actually actioning it reliably. If he had less to choose from in terms of backs I actually think he’d doing better because he’d have less to mess about with.
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Gatland gone.
Right decision I feel but other things need addressing too. We cant just lay all the issues at the coaches feet.
Top to bottom reset. Still no WRU review published. 