The suspended Owen Farrell could no more have pulled off that essential performance than fly over the moon: all he'd have come up with would have been blood-and-guts, huff-and-puff, & probably another card. And England would effectively have been out before the tournament had even really got going. His red card and still-current suspension during the warm-up series was as felicitous for England as that.
And there is no obvious vacancy at 12.
This is the RWC; this is serious. So, back to where we were four weeks ago: Farrell Must be Dropped.[2]
ND
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[1] Haven't seen this mentioned, but nearly half England's starting 15 (and some of the Argentinians!) have played with Ford at Leicester at one time or another.
[2] Actually, for a little more creativity: when his suspension is lifted, Farrell could be put on the bench against the contingency some opposing eejit decides the solution to Ford's dominance is to drop him with a forearm to the head. Then the bonehead can take over against the remaining 14 men. Smith can also be on the bench as a general-purpose option: people already like the thought of him at 15, and he could probably do 9 as well as 10.
4 comments:
Yes, really quite a remarkable performance by England and Ford, belying the poor quality in the warm up games. France gave the All Blacks a good belting, and Wales were stretched by the Fijians.
Whilst my No. 3 sport after Football and Cricket, the RWC is always good value for money.
Picking an ass like Farrell in front of a good footballer like Ford is the sign of a chump.
Still, this is a side capable of using a four-against-two as an opportunity to run the ball into touch. They are a bit bone-headed, aren't they?
The comments on Tom Curry's red card showed the huge despond about the new VAR rubbish!
Blimey, the game has enough recording stuff to muck up the gameplay already, let alone allow some big-nose to get in the way and fart around with irrelevant consequences!
It'll just be 'tag-rugby' soon at this rate!
And remember; the girls are much better than the boys at that version of the once-great game...
Wales supporter here, Fiji alas the better team and must be gutted to have lost. Wales had backs to the wall and every time they got into Fiji half they gave it away. Lived so dangerously, just as their footballers are now against Latvia
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