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Nice

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We've been very poor so far, need a massive improvement to come away with a win. Lucky to be 3 down.

Yeah poor from us.

Got to improve but still may not need to be at our very best to beat this Australian team, already seen signs of their weakness.

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Aussies in front

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Brilliant second half performance, best this autumn after our worst half this autumn. JJ and Youngs were exceptional.

Good win for England

Yes, an excellent win. England are, by some distance, the best side in the NH.

Missed the 2nd half. Howd we go?

Oh jusf saw demus post. Nice

Great win for us today, superb second half, and the run goes on.

This team has the potential to be very very good. 14 on the bounce with a lot of injuries throughout the year.

We have genuine world class players like Itoje and Tuilagi to come in as well, as well as seriously good ones in Watson, Nowell, Haskell, Morgan... Our strength in depth is ridiculous as well as shown by our bench today. Nathan Hughes looks like another Billy V as well.

Really looking forward to the 6 Nations.

I'd take Joseph over Tuilagi any day, may be the best OC in world rugby right now. We miss Nowell, Itoje and Binny but other than that I don't think we can add too much more to the starting XV from today. Haskell for Wood and Watson for Yarde would help a bit. I think Launchbury should be classed as first choice with super Maro too, but we have 4 very good locks (Lawes was back to his best today).

And Show.... I will agree with that if we manage another GS with winning in Dublin! I think Ireland are also a very good team from their AI showings.

Hi there folks, hope you're all well!

Well, quite an exciting series of internationals I'd say, All Blacks beaten after 18 games, first win over them for Ireland, England clean sweep in 2016, Scotland showing some form, Wales variable, France coming back and bloody hell Gloucester at 6th (hope you've all noted that one chaps!!)

I do have something of a concern that the South hemisphere countries are at the start of a rebuilding phase leading up to the next world cup and are perhaps at their weakest now, so are we NH fans deluding ourselves somewhat?

SARS

Yes,I had noticed the Glawster revival. A desperate season for Saints, you have to wonder about the medium term.

As for the AIs

Wales have finally realised that a Plan B is required. Gatland has been found out, and whether that carries forward to the Lions it's a concern.

Italy will be cock-a-hoop to have beaten the Boks, but that could be their undoing because South Africa were awful. They need to focus more on the defeat to Tonga if they are to move forward.

France should be pleased even though defeated. They were moving in a positive direction. After recent years, that is good for them.

Scotland were the veritable curate's egg again. Great performance against Australia with the plucky losers tag intact. Win ugly against Argentina was pleasing because it was a win. I thought we were on a hiding to nothing against Georgia because of their 6N ambitions, but saw them off well enough in the finish.

Ireland will be over the moon with the Chicago win over NZ. The defeat and the narrow win over Australia suggests that they are really one of the herd in the 6N.

England are good and getting better. Victories over a woeful South Africa and Fiji didn't add much to the sum of human knowledge, but a very good win over Oz shows very good strides in the right direction. Whether 03 can be repeated remains to be seen, but maybe, just maybe. What is most frightening about this side is the ridiculous strength in depth in every position. Guys like Lawes and Launchbury grabbed their opportunity with both hands. Even Wood looked a player again, despite him being on the wrong side of the scrum.

Of the coaches, Mr. Ed will be the happiest, followed by Schmidt. Gatland will be looking over his shoulder. He may be able to blame Howley again, but the world knows its his side playing his rugby.

Hi there Show,

What's going wrong at Northampton and what's your take on this George North situation? All seems a little weird and slightly unpleasant (the latter). I presume with Hartley, Wood, Lawes and North returning normal service will be resumed at Saints - regrettably international duty is usually more of an advantage for us!

On Wales its difficult to understand whether current situation boosts or reduces Gatland, could he be that he turns an ordinary squad into an extraordinary one, or is their current plight his basic fault. Certainly the coaching selection is a bit odd - I doubt many (any?) would rate Howley and Andy Farrell certainly seems rather like damaged goods - nonetheless Gatland delivered the Lions only success since 1997 and only the second since 1989

What's your feel for Scotland in the Six Nations - I guess common opinion would be that the final game at Lansdowne Road will be a Grand Slam showdown, but would you see it like that?

Yes, an excellent win. England are, by some distance, the best side in the NH.
----
best yes, by far I dnt know about that, think Ireland are pretty close, will be a colossal final match in 6 nations between the 2

What a weekend for the pro 12. Munster and Leinster getting great wins (Hartley might get a lengthy ban for that red which may prove good for England as George and Taylor are better players imo). Biggest result has to be Glasgow winning in Paris though, incredible.
Sarries and Wasps flying the flag for the prem now.

Demus/SARS

The Glasgow win is great, but not incredible. Remember, they put 40 on Leicester in the first pool game. Don't ever underestimate them because Townsend is a great coach. Let's hope he carries that into next season at international level. The Munster defeat shouldn't really be counted because anyone who turned up in Limerick that day was going to get that performance from them.

Don't ask me about Saints, I really haven't got a clue what's going on. Dylan is becoming/already is an embarrassment really. I can't figure out what went on with George last week. If the medics followed the protocols then fine, but with the history he has with head injuries, perhaps they should have just taken him off, just in case. That then begs the question, is George going to be as effective in the future as he has been in the past. My biggest thought from that incident was why was it a yellow, not a red?

There is a serious malaise at the moment. Picamoles is playing well enough, eventually. Took him a few games to even show up though. Maybe Mallinder has taken them as far as he can, and we could see a change there. I'd be happy with Robinson to be honest.

Back to Scotland and the 6N. Entirely depends on the squad available at the time. Our resources are threadbare compared to yours. Good to see some more youngsters coming through. You know that I really rate Jones, he brings some creativity as opposed to just the modern wham-bam centre. I also like the look of Watson at 7

Hi there,

Where to start on the weekends action eh? Sadly it has to be Dylan, I'm a big Hartley fan and have been for a long time, I think the power and drive and "bit of dog" he brings to the game has been vital for England, in much the same way as Mike Brown, though I can understand why people don't like them.

As for the Leinster game, what can you say, I just don't get it, there seemed no bitterness in the game, and he'd only been on for 6 minutes, it was just crazy and you'd have to expect the full 10 week ban for that, but the greater concern in why do it at all. Maybe there is something going on at Northampton behind the scenes but they just seem to be all over the place at the moment, they should be at least a top six side, probably top 4 and have been reasonably consistently. Whilst I don't rate Stephen Myler and know that the loss of North and Harry Mallinder has hurt them there seems to be something else going on behind the scenes which badly needs sorting.

In a similar vein, what is happening at Leicester, whilst they're not the side of old, that was just woeful and a disgrace to the jersey if truth be told. Whilst it seems quick for both clubs I wonder if Cockerill and Mallinder Snr have perhaps lost touch with the way the game has developed.

I note Mark McCall said that some of it was due to England - Australia being a week later than all the other games and whilst I have some sympathy with this view - if we're aiming at a global calendar as seems sensible then lets stick to it - I don't think this can entirely be the case.

Elsewhere fine performances for Ulster and Glasgow - I'd go for the latter as performance of the weekend, to beat Racing at home is very very impressive, this weeks return fixtures could have major bearing on this group and could leave Glasgow out in front if things fall right for them.

Also - another fine win for Gloucester

Sadly, for the last word it has to be London Welsh, lets hope some good can come from it and they can be reborn as the club they once were

I

Sadly, none of the London X clubs will ever be what they were - the home of ex-pats living in London. Those Corinthian days are gone. Irish will be the highest level club, with some Irish connection, but an Irish club in name only. Scottish never really got going on the professional dream and appear to be alright, thank you, as they are. Perhaps that's the kind of model Welsh should be following.

A wee bit of trivia about London Scottish. The 1990 Grand Slam side had 12 players from 12 clubs (10 Scottish, 2 English) and 3 players (Gavin H, Burnell and White) from London Scottish.

Regarding Hartley..... I was always a supporter of him when it was him or Youngs for the shirt but these days George is just a far better player in every aspect. Hartley has good darts but so does George, he is a great scrummaging hooker too. I read he made more tackles and metres this autumn than Hartley despite only playing a fraction of his game time.
I'm a big fan of Taylor also, Wasps really stole two of Sale's gems this summer (with Cips).

For the HC you can't put it down to the England players being involved for another week. The fact is aside from Sarries and Wasps the English clubs just haven't performed. I'm impressed with the level the pro 12 have performed this year, but I still think it will be Saracens who get the trophyat the end.

Not mentioning Bath

Shut it you. We've all noticed Bath up there, but were hoping you'd stay quiet. Were having the season this year that you had last year, only worse.