England’s Twickers in a twist!

[Sandydragon]

Good point about Anscombe who looked pretty sound when he came on and I'd also call out Seb Davies who looked competent in the last 10 minutes.

Your point about supporting a break is crucial. That Cuthbert break in the first half was crying out for a pop pass to finish it off. But no one was anywhere near him - you sense that if Tipuric had been on the field that might have been different.

[Son of Mathonwy]

But regardless of Welsh failings, it shouldn't escape anyone's notice that we've lost two away games after being penalized all day long, whereas in our one home game in-between, we were - for some strange, elusive reason - better disciplined than our opponents, and won the match as a direct result.

The biggest problem with the game is that the ref can intervene at every ruck (the decision being made at high speed) for reasons that are fleeting and often subjective, in ways which have a dramatic effect on the course of the match (eg killing an attack or giving 3 points to one team). IMO this means subtle influences like the reputation of a team, or the vocal support of a home crowd, can push these decisions one way or the other. So we get dramatic changes in 'discipline' from match to match . . .

Unfortunately we're stuck with it till we can get AI refereeing.

Exactly what I meant by "strange, elusive reason".

We (and other sides) magically switch from being "disciplined" to "indisciplined" from week to week, without any acknowledgement of how the capricious calls of one man, under massive pressure from 75000 baying fans, dictate the flow of the game.

There are simply too many penalties. Penalties decide matches, and they are - in part - unavoidably arbitrary. The more penalties, the more the ref influences the game, the more the contest becomes a judged talent show rather than a sport. "It all evens out" is not an anwser. I don't know what is, but there surely has to be some future in reducing the number of technical infringements, or at least, reducing the sanctions for them? Right now, two coin-toss technical calls can take you from hammering at the opponents' line, to standing under your own posts.

Agreed. Rugby League has a solution but it takes the magic out of the game. IMO. But without AI to dispassionately read body positions in real time etc I don't know the answer. Better refs?

[Son of Mathonwy]

Faletau was pure class, best carrier, best defender (17 tackles, no misses). And lasted the full 80.

If we are to continue with Cuthbert, we need to make better use of his breaks. If they end in a penalty or turnover, there's not much value in them.

Watkin was very quiet but Tompkins was impressive.

Impressive defence in general.

[Sandydragon]

Faletaus performance yesterday made a mockery out of Graham Prices comments that it was too soon for him to start. A superb game all round

[normanski]

Faletaus performance yesterday made a mockery out of Graham Prices comments that it was too soon for him to start. A superb game all round

He’ll help stem some of the French aggression now he’s back and in outstanding form.

[Mikey Brown]

Faletaus performance yesterday made a mockery out of Graham Prices comments that it was too soon for him to start. A superb game all round

I think it's a fair shout for most players, but he is clearly not that.

[normanski]

Faletaus performance yesterday made a mockery out of Graham Prices comments that it was too soon for him to start. A superb game all round

I think it's a fair shout for most players, but he is clearly not that.

Until this last year, Faletau remained pretty much injury free. Players who keep having layoff injuries seem to fare far worse when they return. I was so pleased for him when he completed the match and returned those remarkable performance statistics.

[Numbers]

I think it was Jiffy who said that England always get a kickable penalty in the first 5 minutes when they play at home and sure enough that's what happened, now I was under the impression that once the ball has been contested once at the breakdown a "second man" can't go in to further conest the ball, so after Cowean Dickie (iirc) was cleared out by Moriarty then Lawes shouldn't have been able to contest the ball being the second player at the ruck, or has this changed?