Rugby Union RWC and Season 2011-12

England are in bi trouble here.

My heart sank when I saw Stevens picked and their scrum is being smashed all over the place. They are losing the lineout, the scrum, giving away penalties and missing tackles. France are defending well and it is 11-0 to them.

Could be a difficult night for England.

Another try for France. It looks all over already. England currently don't look as though they could score one try, let alone three.

Ah well, get a lie-in next weekend...

And the possibility of the Tigers being back to full strength, Johnson needs to rip some new arseholes open in the changing room   

Utterly dismal. What the devil's going on? It's made even worse by the contrast to the wonderful game which preceded it.

Eyes down look in

England needed to score there. They've blown it again!

Playing like kittens at the break down

Stevens down again!!

Hurrah! At last - Stevens off!!

At last!!! Foden scores!

Amidst all of their other problems, poor execution has let down England time and again.

All done now!

Oh well, at least it wasn't the embarrassing scoreline it looked as though it was going to be in the first half!

Well done France - well deserved.

I have become an honary Welshman

bummer dudes  but at least the best teams on the day won..

No argument there from me

Nor me. All behind Wales now who have looked the best Northern Hemisphere side all along.

Arrrggghhhnnnmmmnnhhgghhmmmnmmm...No, sorry just can't do it

Merd*.

Can't help thinking that the writing has been on the wall for England for some time. There is a lot of talk about the inconsistency of the French, but England have been no different.

Going back to last year's Autumn internationals, England showed promise against NZ, smashed the Aussies and were exposed completely by South Africa. 

In the Six Nations England played well enough in parts, were rampant against Italy but were again smashed out of sight by the Irish forwards.

This world cup campaign has been littered with similar inconsistencies, with England showing that they can turn on the style, but where they have been consistent is in their weaknesses.

The scrum has by and large been a disaster. The selection of Matt Stevens at loosehead has been incomprehensible and has cost us hugely I think. This was never going to be a platform to beat the better teams.

The lineout has not been guaranteed ball for England - a basic requirement.

The breakdown has not been fierce or disciplined enough. Ball lost too often or penalties given away. Recycling has all too often been too slow. We need a new 'Silent Assassin' - Richard Hill has never been replaced.

Too often when England have put good moves together they have not finished them off. Wild final passes, balls lost in contact, no support on the shoulder. Whenever Ashton, Foden or Croft have played on the shoulder we have usually scored tries. It just hasn't happened often enough. Tuilagi busts the line. They should be following him.

The one area England have mostly been ok is in defence. Today they missed tackles.

Much has been said that England's players are better than their team play has shown. I'm not sure about that. If you compare man to man with Ireland or Wales, England are not better. Where England have the advantage is in the number of players they have available. Perhaps this can also be a disadvantage because they are less of a well knit unit than the others.

In 2003, England had the advantage over others of superior power and physical conditioning. Everyone else has caught up. Now England will need to win by playing better rugby. 

Oh well, my mum was half french so I've still got a bit of an interest but I suspect the Welsh will win that game too.

A general expletive expressing your shock and frustration....or a critique of England's performance?