Entries Tagged as ‘gameplan’

November 27, 2009

Andrew must go

After his review with the delusional Rob Andew, the BBC reports what can only be a lack of either honesty or judgement from the England hierarchy.

The former England fly-half claimed that Martin Johnson’s side were far better than the one "hammered" 28-14 by Australia and 32-6 against New Zealand a year ago.

Was he watching the [...]

November 27, 2009

Andrew Delusional

Lukewarm on the heels of the famously delusional England head coach Andy Robinson (a la England cricket coach David “we flippin’ murdered ‘em” Lloyd), Rob Andrew is the latest to fall into a delusion, this time of alleged improvement and competitiveness.

"We have closed the gap considerably when you look at what happened last autumn, when [...]

November 26, 2009

Lion Man

Just reading Ian McGeechan’s autobiography Lion Man.
I recommend it.
McGeechan is so renowed for his coaching that it’s easy to overlook what a good player he was (and he stopped playing before I can remember watching much rugby).
However, there’s one passage where he describes his coaching philosphy:

"I believe that when you put new players in or [...]

November 20, 2009

Autumn Internationals Round Three – Welcome New Zealand

New Zealand. Land of One Tree Hill, lamb, Russel Crowe and of course, the incomparable New Zealand All Black rugby team. Now, if there is one team that a fragile England do not want to face, it is New Zealand. If it was France pitching up tomorrow I would be certain of a home win, [...]

November 18, 2009

Lewsey Wades into England Coaching Regime

The pressure on the England coaching regime is getting serious. England legend Josh Lewsey has waded in with a scathing attack to match his famous Matt Rogers tackle: “Mike Ford didn’t win anything, while John Wells never played international rugby. Wells’s achievements as a coach are terrible – what justifies these people keeping their jobs?”
What indeed. [...]

November 18, 2009

Despair

After the latest team announcement, all I now need is for the RFU to sell the naming rights to Twickenham and my misery will be complete.
“And a warm welcome this afternoon to the Nike Rugby @ Twickenham Stadium to watch England vs the All Blacks.”

November 17, 2009

Mindless Kicking

Mike popped up on our post yesterday with this comment:

I was very disappointed with all the rugby served up this weekend.
As a Welshman I’m absolutely devastated with the way our game has gone after so much hope in 2008,
but I just think it is the way the game is going today.
Teams are scared of [...]

November 13, 2009

Welcome Argentina!!

Argentina. Land of Corned Beef, Eva Peron, the Tango, and Los Pumas rugby team. Whilst their footballing counterparts, driven by Maradonna and primadonnas, have twice won the World Cup, the Argentine rugby team has never dominated on the world stage. They face a permanent struggle in fact. They have no annual tournament to compete in [...]

November 8, 2009

Return of King Jonny Fails to Turn Aussie Tide

For the first 10 minutes of yesterday’s match, it was as if we had been set into a time machine, back six years. Here was Jonny Wilkinson, dropping a goal, kicking a penalty, ticking the scoreboard over, giving England an early lead, a lead from which they would press on and suffocate the opposition. But [...]

November 6, 2009

Not going doesn’t feel so great…

With England’s first autumn international just one day away, the decision not to go – made on sound economical grounds – doesn’t feel so great.
We’ve got the usual buzz, got the butterflies, not got the tickets. (You can still get tickets from Ticketmaster).
My fellow blogger Matt is well up for it.
What do I expect from [...]