@catogrande said in England V Tonga - Autumn International No1:

So, after culling the squad Eddie has decided to ditch (well bench really) the guys we really want to see and gone with much of the same old. Add to that the "we must squeeze manu in if he's half fit" and we are left with a slightly underwhelming selection.

England: Steward; Radwan, Slade, Tuilagi, May; Farrell (capt), Youngs; Genge, George, Sinckler, Itoje, Hill, Lawes, Underhill, Curry.

Replacements: Blamire, Marler, Stuart, Ewels, Dombrandt, Mitchell, Smith, Furbank.

England aren't going to learn too much from this game, with Tonga B. Really just an opposed training run, with decent hits. Edited seems very scatter gun with his squads recently!

@catogrande Good to see Eddie not taking the danger of Tonga B lightly.

1 Sigfried Fisi'ihoi, 2 Paula Ngauamo, 3 Ben Tameifuna, 4 Halaleva Fifita, 5 Tanginoa Halaifonua, 6 Lopeti Timani*, 7 Mateaki Kafatolu, 8 Sione Vailanu, 9 Sonatane Takulua (c), 10 Kurt Morath, 11 Solomone Kata*, 12 Afusipa Taumoepeau*, 13 Mailetoa Hingano, 14 Walter Fifita, 15 Telusa Veainu

Reserves: 16 Siua Maile, 17 Loni Uhila, 18 Ma'afu Fia, 19 Setofano Funaki, 20 Onehunga Havili, 21 Leon Fukofuka, 22 James Faiva, 23 Viliami Fine

@catogrande

@catogrande

Yup, it seems a very safe and experienced England lineup.

If he really wanted to bed in Smith, Farrell, Tuilagi before the big games, this was the ideal game for it.

Looking forward to seeing Radwan feature.

Much stronger Tongan team this week.

@arhs said in England v Tonga:

Much stronger Tongan team this week.

Have some of them actually met each other ?

Farrell tested positive for CV-19 and is isolating. The England camp say he may still play :astonished_face:

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

Farrell tested positive for CV-19 and is isolating. The England camp say he may still play :astonished_face:

WTF

Seriously?

@mikethesnow

According to the BBC

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow

According to the BBC

What the actual fuck is this horseshit?

"Forwards coach Richard Cockerill refused to confirm who would fill in should Farrell's next test come back positive too, but confirmed that Smith had trained fully on Friday morning.

"We're just waiting to see what happens next," Cockerill said. "If Owen is available, he will play. It's as simple as that."

Mere mortals test positive and it's automatic isolation.

Farrell test positive, let's have another one a day later. If that's negative, good to go.

Is this a thing now?

If he plays the Government can kiss goodbye to track & trace.

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

Farrell tested positive for CV-19 and is isolating. The England camp say he may still play :astonished_face:

No problem, he doesn't use his arms anyway...

@mikethesnow said in England v Tonga:

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow

According to the BBC

What the actual fuck is this horseshit?

"Forwards coach Richard Cockerill refused to confirm who would fill in should Farrell's next test come back positive too, but confirmed that Smith had trained fully on Friday morning.

"We're just waiting to see what happens next," Cockerill said. "If Owen is available, he will play. It's as simple as that."

Mere mortals test positive and it's automatic isolation.

Farrell test positive, let's have another one a day later. If that's negative, good to go.

Is this a thing now?

If he plays the Government can kiss goodbye to track & trace.

Isn't this standard? He's tested positive lateral flow, and now need the PCR to confirm it? I.e - thats what the 24 hours are?

@majorrage said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow said in England v Tonga:

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow

According to the BBC

What the actual fuck is this horseshit?

"Forwards coach Richard Cockerill refused to confirm who would fill in should Farrell's next test come back positive too, but confirmed that Smith had trained fully on Friday morning.

"We're just waiting to see what happens next," Cockerill said. "If Owen is available, he will play. It's as simple as that."

Mere mortals test positive and it's automatic isolation.

Farrell test positive, let's have another one a day later. If that's negative, good to go.

Is this a thing now?

If he plays the Government can kiss goodbye to track & trace.

Isn't this standard? He's tested positive lateral flow, and now need the PCR to confirm it? I.e - thats what the 24 hours are?

Is it?

First I've heard you need two tests to show you're positive

@mikethesnow I'm guessing that there is a risk of false positives via the LTF and the PCR is more accurate?

@mikethesnow said in England v Tonga:

@majorrage said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow said in England v Tonga:

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

@mikethesnow

According to the BBC

What the actual fuck is this horseshit?

"Forwards coach Richard Cockerill refused to confirm who would fill in should Farrell's next test come back positive too, but confirmed that Smith had trained fully on Friday morning.

"We're just waiting to see what happens next," Cockerill said. "If Owen is available, he will play. It's as simple as that."

Mere mortals test positive and it's automatic isolation.

Farrell test positive, let's have another one a day later. If that's negative, good to go.

Is this a thing now?

If he plays the Government can kiss goodbye to track & trace.

Isn't this standard? He's tested positive lateral flow, and now need the PCR to confirm it? I.e - thats what the 24 hours are?

Is it?

First I've heard you need two tests to show you're positive

Not sure about what its like over the border there, but if you test positive here via lat flow, you have to immediately self isolate and book a PCR to confirm your positivity.

If you test positive by PCR then that's confirmed and your life is toast for a few days without a second test.

@catogrande said in England v Tonga:

Farrell tested positive for CV-19 and is isolating. The England camp say he may still play :astonished_face:

Okay I think that perhaps I can explain this.

It might be that Farrell has had a positive lateral flow test but has no obvious symptoms of Covid. Under NHS England guidelines he should order an immediate PCR test and isolate at least until the result of his PCR is known. The PCR test should be back in 24 hours. If the PCR test is negative (and he is double vaccinated) then Owen Farrell would not have to isolate, but if his PCR is positive and he remains with no obviously symptoms they he will need to isolate for ten days from when he reported his first Test.

I hope that makes sense. It may seem strange but it eliminates the possibility of false positives on lateral flow tests.

England-Tonga test in doubt. Whole England squad have had PCR tests.

Furbank for fucks sake.

England won 69-3

Dumb fuck red card at the end from Tonga 23

@nta said in England v Tonga:

Dumb fuck red card at the end from Tonga 23

He could easily have got three cards in that one passage of play. High tackle, shoulder clear out at the ruck and then elbow to the face. There’s dumb and then there’s triple dumb.

Fine's tour over following three match ban

Winger Viliami Fine will miss Tonga's remaining tour matches against the French Barbarians and Romania after he was suspended for three weeks following his sending off against England.

The 23-year-old appeared before an independent judicial committee via video link, having received a red card for striking the head of England's replacement flyhalf Marcus Smith.

Fine was dismissed 13 minutes after coming onto the field as a replacement for Walter Fifita and admitted the incident was worthy of a red card.

The Disciplinary Committee ruled the Otago winger struck his opponent with the upper part of his arm, that the strike was not powerful and there was no injury to the player.

The suspension was halved from six weeks to three, after the committee accounted for Fine's clean record, early guilty plea, apology to Smith and the way in which he approached the disciplinary process.

Viliame Fine will also be banned for a third match which is still to be determined. He has the right to appeal the suspension within 48 hours.