It's called The Rugby Championship mate and not the "four nations". And le Roux was outstanding against us in SA. One of the best on the field and combined with that good young midfield they have well. And saying he's the worst in the last 8 years is just silly. (Especially when we've seen Dagg have some shockers)
Gonna agree with Hurricane on this. Le Roux is just woeful IMO, he makes so many mistakes and doesn't really have the x factor that people claim he does to make up for it
Twenty four point victory and a try bonus doesn't so much flatter us as buy us a diamond ring and take us away for a weekend in Paris. Scrum the big area of concern for me. Before the game I read more than once that the Fijian scrum was as bad as it's been but they really took it to us. Marler looking utter merde and Mako's not there for his scrummaging. If only Corbs wasn't made of glass.
I really enjoyed the match. England was thoroughly dominant all over the pitch, but I nevertheless sat up every time Fiji started spreading the ball. Considering opening game jitters, I reckon England were very impressive going about their work #going all the way.
59% possession, 62% territory, made 11 clean breaks, conceded 17 turnovers in total vs Fiji's 20 (despite the 4 vs 11 breakdown turnovers won), only conceding 1 try against an impressive attacking team whilst scoring 4 of their own. I would say that was dominant considering Fiji are surely no pushover team. The scrums were the only real concern imo. They can certainly be more clinical, but they were still dominant.
What is this 17 to 20 turnover stat? What do you include as a turnover? All I see is Fiji got 11 breakdown turnovers to 4 from England and England conceded 2 more penalties. If Fiji's kicking game (both at goal and tactically) wasn't so bad and they didn't make so many unforced handling errors your territory and possession stats would have been a lot lower (they are a lot bigger than they should be due to the last 15-20 minutes anyway. And then on top of all that, which would have meant you never had the ball or territory against a better team you lost 3 out of your 9 scrums. England were disappointing to say the least. Thought they might have let the fact that it was the opening match and all get to them and it took them 60 minutes to wake up (apart from a good driving maul). I would expect them to be better next game, but you can't seriously say you are happy about that performance from them.
I'm not sure what game you were watching Doos, you're really overrating Fiji. We were poor, and were lucky to get the bonus point.
Managed to media blackout the whole weekend and just finished watching this. So good to get that 4th try! The 5 points flattered us really but we need them in this group. Mike Brown had such a good game, really good to see him getting back to where he was a couple of seasons ago
On the Mike Brown discussion - I dont think the last 18 months have really showcased the best of him. Hes suffered a couple of nasty concussions since the '14 6 Nations but today he showed why we raved so much about him then. Defensively spot on 99% of the time.and has the ability to beat a man with his mazy runs on the counter. I think because he doesnt look flashy with his feet going forward his attacking threat isnt so highly rated. Before hes rated as an ATG he needs to build some consistency across multiple seasons though. The emergence of Nowell, Watson and May will really help him though. Now hes no longer guaranteed 80 mins a week and also he has pace and flair outside him so hes got the option to give or go