'Vunipola, if we didn't know the pubs were closed you'd swear he had been in one. He was out of shape'
Former Scotland coach Matt Williams has accused the Saracens players on the beaten England team of not being at the races for the opening round of the Guinness Six Nations, the Australian even going as far as to claim that Billy Vunipola looked at if he had been in the pub and was out of shape.
Scotland blew the 2021 champions title race wide open with their shock 11-6 round one win over defending champions England at Twickenham, the first time the Scots have won at the HQ of English rugby since 1983.
While ex-coach Williams, who led Scotland to just one win in his ten Six Nations games in charge, stressed he didn’t want to take anything away from the merit of the shock win by his old team, he rounded on the Saracens contingent who made up one-third of the starting England team.
Bar a Trailfinders Cup hit-out for Vunipola three weeks ago at Ealing, the Saracens players didn’t have game time of any kind since England defeated France in the Autumn Nations Cup final 62 days ago.
Williams, who was appearing as a pundit for the match on Irish TV channel Virgin Media One, believed it was a significant factor in deciding the outcome against England, in particular the effort of the sub-par Vunipola. “The Saracens players weren’t at the races,” he said. “Vunipola, if we didn’t know the pubs were closed you’d swear he had been in one. He was out of shape.
Tournament blown wide open! #SixNations2021 pic.twitter.com/jOXnmTmI7e
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 6, 2021
“There was no way he was ready for international rugby. Owen Farrell, one of the best players in the world, was way off the mark. Even the great (Maro) Itoje gave away a lot of penalties. But I don’t want to take anything away from Scotland, they deserve all the credit and it has smashed the tournament wide open.
“Sensational win for Scotland. They were brave. That’s the cliche, but they were smart and they did it for 80 minutes. They overcame a sin-bin. An absolute brain-snap at the end, what were they thinking of taking the drop goal? Who’d be a coach? Poor Gregor (Townsend) must need resuscitation after that.
“If they hadn’t had won, if England had scrapped that, it would have been a travesty. Scotland were just brilliant in every aspect. They outmuscled England, they outthought England, they attacked Jonny May in the air, their full-back Stuart Hogg was absolutely exceptional.
“And I said their tight five were questionable. Let me take that back, their tight five stood up and were more than a match, dominated England. The statistics out of this game are just mind-boggling.
“In the 69th-minute mark Scotland had made 104 carries, England had only made 38. England made 142 tackles, Scotland 60. There’s a 15-6 penalty count. England gave away 15 penalties. And that was the first time, the 67th minute, England got to the third phase when they had possession. If you had told me that before the game it’s 100/1 you’d believe it. It was just brilliant, a brilliant performance.
“We thought Scotland would come out for 40, 60, but they wouldn’t be able to go toe to toe with the power of England and they have proved us all wrong. Great credit to Gregor, great credit to the team.
“That young hooker (David) Cherry coming off the bench, a few years ago he was playing second division in France. The opening action he did in his international career was he smashed Maro Itoje. That shouldn’t happen but you have got to give great credit.
“The phantom, ghost stadiums, two away wins in the opening weekend so far and we hope the away team [Ireland] wins tomorrow. I wonder how long has it been since there were three away wins in the opening round of the Six Nations? We’re seeing something different.”
PLAYER RATINGS
How we rated the England players, who were flattered by the scoreline at Twickenham #ENGvSCOhttps://t.co/HtUedgVBwy
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) February 6, 2021
Comments on RugbyPass
Beautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to comments