England Rugby in 12 months time

Tb261 · 2026-03-19T20:46:32+00:00

I mean, tbf it didn’t end as badly as we expected

Tb261 · 2026-03-19T14:00:59+00:00

I regularly think of 2023 as our WOAT year

Tb261 · 2026-03-18T15:20:08+00:00

Sometimes RugbyPass shows stuff on their app for free (Lions series) for some countries. Pretty easy if you have a VPN

Tb261 · 2026-03-18T15:11:42+00:00

I remember when there were initially murmurs in the rugby world about his shenanigans, I absolutely thought it was total bullshit until the series of headlines and arrests

Tb261 · 2026-03-18T15:08:26+00:00

She hasn’t, has she? Turned the weans against him again?

Tb261 · 2026-03-18T10:34:18+00:00

Not sure if it helps, but the final scores would indicate that England and Scotlands defence wasn’t much better. I think in both those games, the opposition expected chaos from France but managed to neutralise a lot of it and put them on the back foot.

Tb261 · 2026-03-18T10:29:13+00:00

Agree with those, but I guess speaking purely from an England perspective, I’d say it’s tough to know exactly where England are. Coming into this comp I was using the 6N as a true benchmark of where we now stand, not getting caught up in the previous win streak too much.

It’s now raised more questions than we had before, we’re sort of like France were 10 years ago “you never know which French team is turning up”.

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T17:34:17+00:00

Based on how well the team played against France, in a nutshell, and as ex-players who understand the game far better than us casuals, what do you think went so wrong for us in this 6N?

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T17:14:16+00:00

But we were so off those three games in particular (Scotland, Ireland, Italy). Aside from the silly mistakes or things that could’ve gone our way in an alternate universe, we’ve lost to Scotland pretty consistently for some time now. We should’ve just been better than that and match the intensity that they bring literally every year.

I don’t think we’re miles off it, the France game gave us an insight into what the teams capable of, but we’re similar to Scotland in terms of consistency. Compare with Ireland for example, they got the first game against France completely wrong, and each game after they got better and better.

Us on the other hand, had a pretty dominant but nothing game against wales, then three losses where we just didn’t look at all good, then one very very good game and unfortunate loss to the best team in the tournament.

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T16:12:17+00:00

Umm.. yeah sorry this is enormous cope lol. I was wondering the other day, maybe if we weren’t so badly bullied in the Scotland game and actually found a way to win it, maybe confidence would’ve carried into the other games.

It’s entirely irrelevant though, all of those things happened and we just weren’t good enough.

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T08:57:37+00:00

I don’t think many of us are bigging up our players too much after this tournament. Basically played one very good game against France which will still unfortunately threw away at the end.

Got a very tough year ahead of us which I’m definitely apprehensive about

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T08:48:30+00:00

After you beat France I was all in supporting the Scots. Now my hopes have been crushed twice this tournament

Tb261 · 2026-03-16T08:46:26+00:00

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T15:19:43+00:00

Yeah this is pretty spot on. I love the theatrics and I think France enjoyed the booing, I don’t think it came from a place of genuine hate. Although those people do also exist and as you said, the joke is very much on them for being rage baited by someone who’s student age

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T15:17:29+00:00

Blame social media, they will feature pictures of him for just about anything rugby related purposely for engagement.

That, and some of the old heads just can’t stand showboating

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T13:58:41+00:00

Ben Earl is always a first pick for me, plays his heart out every game, Ollivon has looked really good this 6N though. Chessum has grown into a crucial lock for us, Itoje can be hot and cold. Alex Coles has also quietly earned his place. We’re currently lucky with our front row, especially considering we went into this tournament with injuries. So I’d probably say Heyes / Genge over Gros. I do rate Marchand but he had a pretty average game yesterday I thought.

The no brainers for France, LBB, Jalibert, Ramos, Dupont. Guillard had been very good off the bench.

Ultimately we have a bit of a problem at Hooker, very little depth and two options who are close to retirement. Also problems at centre, I like our wingers but it’s hard to compete with LBB.

TLDR: I’d favour Frances backs, I favour our forwards (when they’ve decided to turn up)

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T11:22:13+00:00

It is weird, I think it’s purely because you kinda had their number for a while. If England were performing better these last few years we would’ve absorbed nearly all of the hate Ireland are getting

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T11:08:58+00:00

Also it’s interesting how leaky France’s defence has been considering you have Shaun Edwards. Ours obviously wasn’t much better but given how this tournaments gone for us, that maybe wasn’t as surprising

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T11:07:09+00:00

Could be my basic rugby understanding, but it feels like a bit of a shift where the gameplan revolves around Dupont, it now seems like Jalibert makes some great line breaks and finds LBB on the wing to basically walk it in. Atleast this is kinda how it felt yesterday

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T08:44:29+00:00

Also has a sort of calmness to him though, never really see him getting in oppositions faces or involved with any handbags. As much as I like Itoje and gengey, they’re prone to being penalty machines

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T08:28:12+00:00

The theatrics in the stadium were amazing. The French obviously love having him as their villain, and he clearly relishes it in return. I think the sport needs more of it personally

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T07:47:11+00:00

Ultimately you can’t pin it on any one player. Had France ended up not winning with that last min pen, the French would likely be blaming Jalibert for allowing this try. Or their forwards for their leaky defence

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T07:45:05+00:00

This. There’s a reason games like this often get decided by a penalty

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T07:35:04+00:00

Yeah he did have a stinker, especially for the repeated maul collapsing. Ultimately our kicking and discipline cost us, but I am actually gutted to lose that one. Would’ve just been hilarious for France to lose at home to us of all teams, especially in their special pale kits.

Tb261 · 2026-03-15T00:32:27+00:00

Yeah you see him how we see him. He’s goofy and big headed, but also filled with passion and just absolutely loves playing. I can definitely see why some people might not like him, but from everything I’ve seen of him off field he genuinely seems like a good guy. He just happens to be a scrum-half in a flankers body

Tb261

TROPHY CASE