Is it true they have four x's in their alphabet?

cmon you welsh sheep shaggers

fredie fails again in attempt to dispel Australian stereotyping.

i am just keeping up the Australian stereotyping tradition

If only you were Australian.

Found something new out today that the ra ra boys dont speak loudly about in the press.

Namely that England RU legend Martin Johnson actually played for the Junior All Blacks. Though born in England his RU education was in NZ were he went to school.

Cant England RU develop any talent themselves?

How about doing one of the stick dances at them? a couple of broken bones before the start & england may have a chance of only losing by 10 - 20 points

Lol

Did peacock not play in Aus when he was younger?

Every great player should have a spell in the southern hem as it would improve their game no end

Result! A moral victory.

It's not hard to tell that Wales are being coached by RL men.

why?

They looked to throw it around at every opportunity, a real rarity in northern hemisphere RU.

point taken, actually england-NZ are on after villa-fulham on spanish tv
so im off out as soon as the football's finished

True, but Wales have always played a running/passing game, the RL coaching just means that they are better at the way they want to play.

I cannot abide the sport but watched some of the first half when I woke up on the settee around midnight. England are gash, they can just about manage the set piece scrum & line outs which they can practice ad nauseum, but ask them to do anything creative or off the cuff & they haven't got a clue. Log may it continue.

france played running rugby about 10 years ago if i remember rightly.
when they had ntamack on the wing (is was ntamack wasnt it?)

When I went away I thought about France and realised I was unfair in saying Northern Hemisphere RU isn't about running. The French RU at least tried to entertain. Serge Blanco was pretty good to watch sometimes.

So where do England go from here?

No creativity in the midfield, no mobility in the back row and a setpiece that is starting to creak having been the foundation for England teams of the past.

May as well throw the baby out with the bathwater and start blooding more young players in the 6 Nations aiming to the 2011 World Cup.

Am I mistaken? I had read on every page in every newspaper for the past year that Danny Cipriani is the saviour & future of England Rugby (sic). Perhaps talent in yawnion is not necessarily comparable with exposure. Shock.

More like Danny Cipriani in early return from serious injury and fails to be as good as he was immediately before he was broken shock.

When 100% he is as good as the hype made out, but with the lack of cover he was rushed back before he recovered full fitness and form.
That said the other 14 on the park didn't help matters and they haven't had their ankle rebuilt in the past 3 months.

[url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7757331.stm2011 World Cup[/url

Draw being made this afternoon. England are in the 2nd band, along with Wales and Ireland.

Johnson didnt have a spell down under, he spent his childhood there and therefore learned his RU playing at junior and senior school before being selected for the Junior All blacks at around 18/19 years of age
Johnson came to uk to earn a living as an adult playing RU and then got selected to play for England.

2011 Rugby World Cup draw:

Pool A - New Zealand, France, Tonga, Americas 1, Asia 1

Pool B - Argentina, England, Scotland, Europe 1, play-off winner

Pool C - Australia, Ireland, Italy, Europe 2, Americas 2

Pool D - South Africa, Wales, Fiji, Oceania 1, Africa 1

How lucky are England to draw the Argies and not one of the big three.

Depends on the limit of their ambitions.
If they expect to win it (and I accept that's a HUGE leap of faith) it shouldn't matter as they would expect to be able to beat anyone else anyway, if however (as I suspect) they may be looking at a damage limitation exercise.......

Very Lucky indeed!