UKC

Here's hoping...

The French don't win!!!

Eddie will soon be along to tell everyone that England will be peaking in 2023 and he is building for it already.

Well, thats what they should be doing, no?

England did peak this year - its just lots of other teams (SA notably of course, but also Japan) did so as well. Ireland seemed to be ready a year early and on the downward slope, Wales would have been bang on but desperately unlucky with injuries, not a vintage AB crop and Australia in a mess.

Lets not even talk about Scotland, too cruel.

I know you are right, I just have a little niggle about Eddie, he's always having a dig at opponents and for me the last straw was him saying to Gatland after their narrow defeat by the boks "Hope you enjoy playing for 3rd place", with his usual big smirk!

Well matey, they did, how did your game go?

Eddie responded to a dig by Gatland. Gatland lost the losers play off. I'd rather my team be competing for gold than bronze - as would Gatland and EJ.

Gatland was right though in that England played their best game against the All Blacks and couldn't replicate that in the final.
As for Jones, he is a bit too smirky to be likeable. 

dunno - he can be a bit much, but usually pretty humble after the match - good interview today "lets get pissed!"

He had a 50/50 chance of being right about yhe final. Back in March he was predicting Wales could win the RWC.

He's transformed England - unbelievable against the ABs, and his work with Japan (vs Springboks), demonstrate his ability to motivate a team. If others get riled by his facial expression i guess he'll get over it.

I think what Gatland (and his team) has done with Wales far eclipses what Eddie has done with England, given what they have to work with.

Burn!

That's true - particularly, as you say, given what he had to work with in Wales.

Nevertheless, EJ got England to a RWC final via the ABs. That was a big ask. He did it.

There's always the six nations in Feb

Gatland was ultimately right though.
England played probably their best game in the last decade or so to get to the RWC Final and if they'd carried that forward to the final would undoubtedly have won.
They didn't though and for want of a better term, they choked and ended up as distant losers to South Africa. 
It's almost like they took their foot of the gas and assumed that beating South Africa was a given and all they had to do was turn up and the win was guaranteed.
Not sure if that was down to the players, or the game plan executed by Jones.  Doesn't really matter as they lost...
As for Jones transforming England. Yes, he's improved them. However, what has he actually achieved? What trophies has he won?
England should be the dominant force in International Rugby. They've got everything in their favour - Money, infrastructure, number of available players, etc. Yet, they always seem to fall short when it really matters.
For what it's worth, I'm Welsh and honestly believe that England should be the best team in the world. However and unfortunately for them, they just seem to lose form when it matters most.

England should win comfortably as Wales and Ireland will have new coaching set ups to contend with.

England
Wales
Ireland
France
Scotland
Italy

I'm yet to be convinced that 'likeability ' is the most important attribute of the national coach.  If it was, Michael Palin would probably be doing the job.

Really? How many players from the England squad would make team of the tournament? Sam Underhill certainly but I’m not sure I’d take any others. 

Not about Wales winning RWC he wasn't. 

'Choked' is rather strong. They lost Sinkler after 3 minutes, a psychological and physical blow. From there they were crushed in the scrum...

Rubbish. There was no assumption. Rugby is one of those games where an on- form team can cause an upset. You see it regularly in the 6N.

As Ben Ryan proved with Fiji, you don't need much money, infrastructure, number of available players, etc... to become dominant. These things can certainly help - which is why Yorkshire alone ranked just outside the top 10 on the 2012 Olympic medal table.

Well, as an AB supporter I was mulling over this before the final, thinking 'how many of the ABs, apart from BB would make a starting world XV'. Most of my selection would have come from the English side after last weeks blitz. But after the final, you get a skewed perspective from that one performance. I still think Curry, Itoje, Sinkler would make it.

edit - Underhill vs Steph du Toit would be a tough one to call. 

France also have a new coaching set up. England have to get over that loss in the final and Ireland and Wales always provide a serious challenge in the 6N, should be an interesting tournament and I'm already looking forward to it.

Really like the rugby threads on ukc especially after straying on to the BBC have your say forums, jeeezus it's rough on there, a total troll fest of bigotry and childish insults. 

You want to try the comments on planetrugby.com 😱😱😱😱