Apart from the Nowell try, that summed it up.
It's not really the most inviting fixture for England to open with, so I'm not surprised they kicked it so much.
The game plan seemed to be territory, pressure then points. Not sure where creativity came into it.

EJ himself said he just wanted to get a win first and foremost. People are thinking he's going to come in and bring in a whole new brand of rugby, if you think that's the case you're being unrealistic and haven't seen what he's done in the past. When he was with Australia they often lamented him for his brand of rugby being dull, but he got them to a RWC final so it did the job.

Additionally the best players are the best players, there isn't that much a swing in 4 months since the RWC. England still sorely missing a 7, and Ford was well below his best. I'd start Farrell against Italy and bring in another 12 purely on Ford's poor form (he's also been poor for Bath).

Farrell committed a daft penalty at the end but just proves he is desperate to win, hopefully without his dad in the set up now he'll take his rollockings more personally; it's no real different to how Brown used to act 4 years ago and he's matured.

What an opening 10 from Ireland/Wales! Blistering stuff.

Strong first half from Ireland but I'm incredulous that a tip tackle from Earls wasn't even considered as a yellow card.

Slightly confused; on one hand, if it was a penalty, you'd think it should be card. On the other - he kind of twisted out of his hands rather than being turned. Not sure.

13-10 at half time to Ireland. 20 good minutes for each team in that first 40.

It looked like Williams was twisting to get a pass away. I disagree with Shane Williams saying he jumped into the tackle. Which puts impetus on Earls to put him safely on the ground.


Has anybody else noticed that over this first weekend, officials haven't been as strict as they were at the World Cup on neck rolls and high tackles in all matches.

That's a worry for player safety.

Gawd I hate watching Wales...get so tense! Decent first half and the score is a fair reflection. We're looking good in the scrum and obviously had the momentum going into the break. Can't call it, tbh. Which makes it interesting and yet vaguely excruciating!

Even the commentators on RTE are disagreeing on this. ROG said it was no penalty and Williams landed on his elbow.

Must be the six nations if there's disagreement on the first weekend LOL.

Priestland puts Wales in front for the first time.

13-16 , 73mins.

Draws again. Nail-biting stuff!

All squared up by Ireland and it's the first draw between the teams in 40 years.
16-16

The right result on the day .

Only England or France can win the Grandslams after that.

The sloppy play after going ahead 16-13 rankles, but I don't know, probably a fair result overall. Wasn't dull! Hope Wales raise their game at home.....and good luck Ireland for the rest of the tournament cos I like the people. Let's make sure they who shall not be named don't get a Grand Slam, cos we aren't. (not being overly serious there.)

Slightly puzzled as to why the Irish took the ball wide the whole time, even when the Welsh had spread themselves wide. Didn't seem ever to try and drive the ball at the side of the ruck to bring in defenders, then go wide.

I expected an attritional game. I just thought that in the last 15 mins when England had advantage, they didn't seem to want to take advantage of their back 3 and resorted to the kicking game.
I guess it would have been ok if they had been accurate, but kicks were too long and no one really chased and competed. You don't have to be 'mad Moody' to compete, after all Biggar does a good job, as does Kearney - a lot of room for improvement.

Can you imagine after just beating Italy France goes on to win the Grand Slam

A draw was probably a fair result in the end. Pretty brainless of replacement scrum-half Lloyd Wiliams to launch a box kick in the middle of his own half which led to Ireland levelling at 16-16. Wales also took Biggar off 10 minutes later than they should - it meant he missed a penalty which normally he'd put away in his sleep.

Far too early to assess EJ's impact so far as the result was more important than the performance. Still unconvinced about playing Farrell and Ford together.

Only if I go back in my time machine.

Well England got the all important win anyway in what was a real potential banana skin. Not a whole lot has changed in terms of playing style but we were never going to see that until the Summer Tour anyway.

A draw is a good result for Ireland in the circumstances with all the absentees. That said I do expect Wales to grow into the competition and their encounter with England at Twickenham will probably become the title decider

With both Ireland and Wales to come at home and France looking clueless as ever, it should be England's Championship for the taking

Pity Paul O'Connell has had to retire. A real shame for himself he couldn't give the Toulon move a go

Nonsense. Matt Kvesic is head and shoulders above the rest of the English 7s, he shows that week in, week out in the Premiership.

According to Sky Sports, most steals in Premiership games this season is Kvesic with 15. Haskell and Robshaw get 4 each and Clifford gets 3.

Against Scotland Haskell and Robshaw managed a big fat zero between them.

Do you even watch any match other than Gloucesters. There is no doubt that Kvesic is the best "fetcher" in England right now but his all round play isn't good enough. He gives the ball away more than any other player at Gloucester, gets himself turned over a lot as well. Whilst McCaw, Warburton, Tipuric, Pockock and Hooper are all known as great fetchers their all round play is superb as well... right now Kvesic just doesn't stand up.

Also, it's not like Jones hasn't seen him in training, he's had him in the squad, as did Lancaster, so I'll go with their judgement for now.

Daly is the bigger matter for me, our back line still looked stilted and Daly could cover centres and FB quite comfortably... he could be this decades James Simpson-Daniel.

I was heavily criticised on DS for my views on the England back row, and the squad in general, prior to the RWC and yet everything I said was bang on. Turnover ball is a prime attacking weapon for all of the top teams and yet without an out-and-out openside it is an area where England simply don't compete. For the likes of Warburton, Tipuric, Pocock, and Hooper, it's fill your boots time when they play England.

Do you seriously consider not a single turnover in 80 minutes against Scotland, and even the part-timers of Uruguay won more turnovers than us in the final RWC game, as acceptable? I don't and England will never be competitive against the SH teams until that changes.

All I saw on Saturday was the same old rubbish. Yes it was EJs first game in charge and the win was important, but the clock is already ticking to the next RWC.

As for Matt Kvesic, I'd rather see him in a Gloucester shirt to be honest as England haven't been worth watching since 2003

Eddie Jones says England must improve at the breakdown


If he is going to persist with Haskell and Robshaw what does he expect? England will never be competitive with their current back row.