smoke it.
Arrogant enough there Jimbo? Do like it when the Jocks get all self righteous and over confident. Yes it was them that were the over confident ones not England.
It was like the start of the Heineken Cup when I kept reading how great Edinburgh were and that they were going to take the competition by storm. It didn’t even really stop when they were stuffed 45 nil in the first game. In the end they lost all their pool games, suffered two shutouts, got into double points once and scored a whole 3 tries.
After the weekends games you can see Scotland suffering the same fate. And all this followed a great deal of talk about turning England over on their own patch for the first time in 30 years – oh they had two players with the same name as back then, how could it not happen?
The only reason Jim Telfer’s lads got to within 20 points was through some slack play by England. Both tries from dull kicks and weak tackles and the usual giving away stupid penalties straight after scoring themselves. England weren’t that great really. Played some nice stuff but a number of players were off it. And that makes it the sweeter.
Things can get better for Lancaster’s team. Such as the scrum-half. Youngs made that great snipe leading Parling’s try but in the build up after that snipe it was noticeable how quick the ball was played from the breakdown with someone else at scrum-half, a big lumbering forward no less. He’s still to slow with the pass from the breakdown, Youngs. A step, a dither.
Care needs to start the next game. He also needs to stop being a prat off the field. The ball was so much quicker when he came on. Not that I’m advocating substitutions mind. They always bugger up England’s momentum, especially if it’s a seemingly by the number sub. 65 minutes on comes player X. Again it let the Jocks have some ball and territory.
Introducing the likes of Toby Flood is never a good idea at any time. Farrell’s performance at 10 – 18 points with the boot and a lovely pass for that Parling try – has to see the end of Flood in that position, surely now we can’t go back to Flouncy Flood. And with quicker ball from his 9, Farrell will be better. His kicking was outstanding and something you can trust, unlike Flood. When the scoreboard is ticking over it makes the game easier, unlike when you can’t trust your kicker to bottle it.
Dublin a different kettle of fish. Away for a start, these last two good victories being on home soil. Not been the best of travellers over the last few years. A number of England player have never played over there, you don’t know if that works for or against them. But it’s time to put down a real marker, New Zealand can be still seen as a fluke, the Jocks were pathetic. Ireland away says they’re really on the right way.