Six nations starts today!!

The rest of the assessment is spot on, although generous to give England a QF spot! They are very poor. Why do you think Ireland will bottle it? Just because they usually do? This lot seem incredibly complete
It’s generous to give England a QF place but it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility given the imbalance of the draw to see England get to the SF.

As for yesterday despite Englands brave and committed performance it won’t mask the fact that English rugby is in a bad place. The Jones era has left the set up with a weaker future. He tried over 200 players in trials and most have come and gone. The RFU is a bumbling hopeless amateur organisation and the loss of Wasps and Worcester was a disaster. The RFU needs a complete overhaul with a mixed professional set up as we have in other countries.
 
It’s generous to give England a QF place but it’s not beyond the bounds of possibility given the imbalance of the draw to see England get to the SF.

As for yesterday despite Englands brave and committed performance it won’t mask the fact that English rugby is in a bad place. The Jones era has left the set up with a weaker future. He tried over 200 players in trials and most have come and gone. The RFU is a bumbling hopeless amateur organisation and the loss of Wasps and Worcester was a disaster. The RFU needs a complete overhaul with a mixed professional set up as we have in other countries.
Yeah we have deepr problems in the game. No clubs are making money, my Quins season ticket price has just skyrocketed, just so they can survive.

This world cup is far too early for England to do anyhting. We should yesterday, we didn't play bad for our ability and we were a distant second. I honestly see a lack of talent too. I don't know why but we were discussing future prospects last night and couldn't come up with a very exciting future
 
I certainly am! Can't wait to see the stadium. Much more apprehensive about seeing us play Sarries! You looking forward to it? Will all your England players be back I wonder?
They will be. They will be looking forward to the game at what is a great stadium. Didn’t you go to the Cup replay a couple of years ago?

We got 40000 there last season for the game against Bristol the upper tiers will be mostly empty but hopefully Quinn’s bring more and there is 50,000 this time.
 
At least England have something to build on after yesterday. They at least showed heart, emotion and made Ireland work for their win. There is no complaints about the result. I think even without the red card Ireland would have won and they deserve it as they're a fantastic team.

England can head to the World Cup without much pressure now. All the focus will be on France and Ireland along with the usual three from the South. If England can get a few players back they can be competitive. Flankers of the quality of Tom Curry and Sam Underhill to go with Ludlam and Willis will stand up and compete against anyone. The England front row of George/Cowan-Dickie, Sinkcler, Genge with Vunipola on the bench can also match any team. The second row does look a concern. It wasn't long ago that England had four outstanding locks, but with Lawes struggling with injury, it really leaves Maro Itoje (who hasn't been great for while).

The Coaches just need to get a game plan that the players all understand and committ too. It's time for practical thinking. Get the defensive structure sorted as they've conceded way too many and try and stick with a consistent 23. There's been way too many changes.
 
They will be. They will be looking forward to the game at what is a great stadium. Didn’t you go to the Cup replay a couple of years ago?

We got 40000 there last season for the game against Bristol the upper tiers will be mostly empty but hopefully Quinn’s bring more and there is 50,000 this time.
I didnt go last time, which i was gutted at! We should bring more, but with us having the big game a couple of weeks ago and the big summer kick off soon we'll probably be "big" matched out. I actually look forward to a match at the Stoop for once.

It should be a fun atmosphere but I'm trying to avoid any banter about the result because, well, we are likely to be battered
 
I really did not think that was a red card - yellow at most. Are we just ignoring the fact that Hansen knocked on?? If you're approaching a knocked on pass, it immediately reduces your reaction time. Keenan was also ducking down after picking up a bouncing ball.

Apart from O'Driscoll, I haven't seen one pundit/ex-player justify the card yet. The protocols are there I completely agree but so is mitigation. I also thought the Willis yellow was harsh, he let go 1/2 way through the tackle, what is he supposed to do, caress him to the floor? You could even hear Jack say in the Ref's mic "I tried Sir".

As for the performance, I thought it was everything we could have expected. Really gritty and determined. I think we need Jack Willis in that back row at all costs (and that includes the RFU's stance on overseas players). Thought Dave Ribbans was a stand out player - carried and tackled really well. Ireland fully deserved winners, an exceptional team with resilience, skill and strength. I would love to see them lift the World Cup.
 
4 days too late and what was a fascinating game last Saturday ruined by a referee who took a wrong judgement on the situation.
 
How did you find it @Cardiffdaffs ? I thought it was a cracking day out, really good game of rugby too. I will have to re assess my Sarries prejudice. I know you've been playing more entertaining rugby this year than the normal grind but you really turned it on today. Property entertaining game and it showed that Quins just aren't good enough but they can still play.


Still trying to decide who I enjoyed getting sat on their @rse more: Farrell when Esterhuizen give him the hand off or the ref when he made the mistake of bumping into Herbst!


Home play off guaranteed for Sarries now. Go well. I can't see you being stopped.
 
How did you find it @Cardiffdaffs ? I thought it was a cracking day out, really good game of rugby too. I will have to re assess my Sarries prejudice. I know you've been playing more entertaining rugby this year than the normal grind but you really turned it on today. Property entertaining game and it showed that Quins just aren't good enough but they can still play.


Still trying to decide who I enjoyed getting sat on their @rse more: Farrell when Esterhuizen give him the hand off or the ref when he made the mistake of bumping into Herbst!


Home play off guaranteed for Sarries now. Go well. I can't see you being stopped.
Terrific day out. What a stadium and we stayed way past 6 pm in the market place bar downstairs. Superb to see fans mixing although Quinns fans quieter than they were when you rocked up in the play off semi finals last June. Really physical game. What a shame Nick David couldn’t convert that incredible break but by that time we had the game won. Smith was at his dazzling best I thought but Billy V showed what England are missing.

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Yeah Billy was a beast yesterday. Even nailed a spiral kick! Having to double and triple up on stopping his big carries gave you loads of space to place outside. I hate to say this but if you had to say which number 8 was the current engkand number 8 you'd never have guessed it was ours. I love Dombrandt but he needs a rest or something. Awful for England and far from back to his usual domestic standard today. Really good squad depth too. The scrums were fairly even when we bith had our big front rows on, as soon as we both changed, yours were all of a sudden dominant.

I thought we had some good moments. Smith is always a spark and Murley played really well. He's probably been our player of the season. Given the opposition I thought our all SA second row did will too.

All in all it was just a good, open game. Good advert for rugby I thought. Despite the Quins yellows, first of which was harsh that's normally a penalty but second of which could easily have been a red.

I was also surprised at the lack of noise from our fans, we normally pride ourselves on that at Sarries. When we played you in the play offs years ago we actually had people behind us say they were moving because we were too noisy! From the looks of your pictures you won't have heard me singing, we were almost diagonally opposite you!
 
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