What a choice

[Simster]

Perusing the BBC interweb sporting pages, I was struck at the choice of reading.

Should I start by reading about Albion's dismal routine 3-1 defeat in Carlisle
or England losing by playing like complete BENNIES against Australia in the rugger
or about Ireland falling apart against NZ
or Scotland bravely losing at home to SA
or British tennis hero, Andy Murray losing in the masters tournament
or maybe the defeat for England v NZ in the comedy rugby code.

Decisions decisions.

Maybe I'll start with the reading about Crystal Palace LOSING in Cardiff - except sadly I really don't give a shit about them.

 

[Simster]

Tomorrow I'll probably read about England losing yet another cricket match in India.

That'll be refreshing. Cricket, I mean.

 

[Taybha]

Lol at the use of the word Benny i think you were made a scapegoat

 

[Icy Gull]

or England losing by playing like complete BENNIES against Australia in the rugger
.

As I already knew the result I was only vaguely watching when they showed the highlights on Sunday so I cannot really comment on the penalties and the overall play but I found it refreshing to see England 3/4s throwing the ball about and running with it. I fecking hated that grinding "keep it in the forwards play" of the last few years, even if it did win us a World Cup.

Early days but promising imo. We are of course going to get mullered by NZ and quite possibly by the Saffers but they are not THAT impressive themselves at the moment

 

[Gazwag]

Maybe I'll start with the reading about Crystal Palace LOSING in Cardiff - except sadly I really don't give a shit about them.

followed by the Leeds report

 

[strings]

As I already knew the result I was only vaguely watching when they showed the highlights on Sunday so I cannot really comment on the penalties and the overall play but I found it refreshing to see England 3/4s throwing the ball about and running with it. I fecking hated that grinding "keep it in the forwards play" of the last few years, even if it did win us a World Cup.

Early days but promising imo. We are of course going to get mullered by NZ and quite possibly by the Saffers but they are not THAT impressive themselves at the moment

I agree... I think that the early signs are good. It is good to see a bit more mobility and speed amongst the backs too, hopefully in 3 years time we might have developed into a good team.

 

[Brovion]

As I already knew the result I was only vaguely watching when they showed the highlights on Sunday so I cannot really comment on the penalties and the overall play but I found it refreshing to see England 3/4s throwing the ball about and running with it. I fecking hated that grinding "keep it in the forwards play" of the last few years, even if it did win us a World Cup.

Early days but promising imo. We are of course going to get mullered by NZ and quite possibly by the Saffers but they are not THAT impressive themselves at the moment

I agree. I watched it live on Saturday and although obviously it's never good losing to Australia I actually didn't feel THAT bad. The result was in doubt really right up until the Aussie try at the end; ok, it was probably wishful thinking but even in the last quarter you always got the feeling that England could score, and as you say when it was just a forward grind you knew that if the other team stopped that then the backs sure as hell weren't going to score.

Australia certainly weren't twice as good but they got the basics right. They probably deserved to win but we didn't help ourselves by giving away some STUPID penalities, (what was it with that binding in the scrum?) making a couple of wrong decisions and Cipriani missing some relatively simple kicks. But you got the feeling that this could be the start of something for England.

 

[gullshark]

Well, we beat Australia when it matters, so that's all good with me

 

[Simster]

Hold on, England gave away eight penalties and SEVEN of them were within kicking distance. That's probably the ill-discipline equivalent of the football team giving away a couple of penalties and having a player sent off - and they'd be absolutely SLAUGHTERED if they did that in big matches.

It's all very well saying it looks promising but you DO have to do the BASICS right too.

Anyway I think the cricketers looked HANDY against India. Erm, not. FFS!

 

[Jahooli]

Decisions decisions.

Just be grateful that that tw@ has been shoved off this board.
Imagine what it'd be like with that spunk bubble still floating and gloating all over NSC.

Confidently looking forward to a handsome win on Saturday
Fingers crossed for the weather though.

 

[ROSM]

Tomorrow I'll probably read about England losing yet another cricket match in India.

That'll be refreshing. Cricket, I mean.

I'm working in India at the moment and it is refreshing to see offices with the tv on and people taking breaks to watch the game. They are also very knowledgeable about the game and have resisted the urge to mock me for my affiliation to our national side (at the moment)

doesn't make such thumping defeats any easier though

 

[Icy Gull]

Hold on, England gave away eight penalties and SEVEN of them were within kicking distance. That's probably the ill-discipline equivalent of the football team giving away a couple of penalties and having a player sent off - and they'd be absolutely SLAUGHTERED if they did that in big matches.

It's all very well saying it looks promising but you DO have to do the BASICS right too.

FFS!

Team in it's infancy and under pressure, great learning curve and I imagine they'll gradually improve so that when it does matter, we won't be giving away needless penalties. You obviously can't see it yet but we are totally rebuilding a knackered old team and replacing it with one that will thrill us. I reckon it will start to come good in the 6 Nations, although we won't win that either.

If we can compete with one of the 3 best teams in the world and give them a game this early in the restructuring and only lose on penalties I reckon that's a big plus after the absolute shower of shite we've been served up for the last 4 and a half years ( and still lost)

But you carry on looking for the negatives, I just wish I could see as many positives from the Albion as I saw from England yesterday.