Rugby World Cup 2019
Comments
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Yeah, I mean it isn't going to be a gimme. SA are not chumps, and I still have painful memories of the 2007 final where they completely shut us out and waited for ill discipline to gift them the penalties.
It was ugly as hell but it worked, and they could well do the same.
I just hope the current England side have enough class to create the chances, certainly this England team seems miles better than that one, where we had ridden our luck all the way to the finals.0 -
Yep, pressure is really only thing that will beat England going on the two semis.
England "should" win but definitely not a given. Will be brutal Test match but Eng should have enough.
Apart from the pack, Pollard, De Klerk, Le Roux outstanding players.
Going to be tough.0 -
Should be a Welshman in the final at least.My blog: http://www.roubaixcycling.cc (kit reviews and other musings)
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Facebook? No. Just say no.0 -
NorvernRob wrote:Pross wrote:Only saw a few minutes at the start as I had a marathon to run but couldn't understand what happened to New Zealand. They've looked a level above all the other teams in the tournament until now. I'm quite glad as if Wales can win tomorrow I'd fancy their chances over England, no matter how well they are playing at the moment, than NZ who I think are the one side Wales may feel they can't beat.
What happened to NZ is that they met a team who, on the day, were simply better than them in every department. They didn’t suddenly play badly, they were stopped from playing well.
Shame for Wales, that’s a hard loss to take. But I’d rather have played SA than Wales in the final.
Id have to agree 100% with this. The two best teams in the world met and produced the best game of the tournament. and yes as a spectator and supporter I feel more comfortable with SA than Wales. That might change in a week though
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I'd have been far more confident playing Wales than SA.
I bow to most of your superior knowledge of rugby but of the matches I've seen SA look the more resilient side and they seem to have variation in how they play - weren't they more progressive against the all blacks but they showed a different approach against Wales so England can't be certain how they will come out.
Wales were extremely lucky to beat France and even get to the semi - though for a small nation to reach their third semi final and the semi of the football euros is an achievement .[Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]0 -
The reason England didn't want to play Wales can be fairly neatly summarised in the fact that they are the only team to have beaten us this year, and they've done it twice (although we have beaten them once this year also).
Certainly that's why I would have been nervous of them.
I'm just as nervous (if not more so) in facing SA though.
I mostly wanted Wales to beat SA in order to shut up southern hemisphere bores going on about how much better they are than northern hemisphere teams for the next four years.0 -
The SA defence looks incredibly strong and their tighter style of play may be less suited to how England have been playing although they have looked the most adaptable team in the tournament. The reason Wales v SA was probably a bit dull for the neutrals was that both sides had very well organised defences that forced a kicking game but the kicking game by both sides was poor.0
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Pross wrote:The SA defence looks incredibly strong and their tighter style of play may be less suited to how England have been playing although they have looked the most adaptable team in the tournament. The reason Wales v SA was probably a bit dull for the neutrals was that both sides had very well organised defences that forced a kicking game but the kicking game by both sides was poor.
The defence does look strong, but it was telling that when Wales had a penalty, they took a scrum in front of the posts to remove the forwards from the equation, and they ran over a try. Was brave because SA had been stronger in the forwards, but I think England will match SA more closely in the forwards power, so will be able to mix it up more.
Two cracking games, I thought, both very different.0 -
DeVlaeminck wrote:Wales were extremely lucky to beat France and even get to the semi - though for a small nation to reach their third semi final and the semi of the football euros is an achievement .
Whilst you can't argue with Mr Gatland's success in Wales over the last...what is it? Feels like 20 years! He has a habit of dealing with pressure by coaching teams to play tighter and tighter. Wales came unstuck and blooming nearly came unstuck against the 2 historically best 'tight teams' in rugby.
I think it might do them some good to have some new blood in there next year.We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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News from Japan:
Eddie announces unchanged starting team to face the Boks. Colby pronounced fit again for SA.
News from Home:
My game postponed for Saturday so early beer for me.
Can't wait! - should be a cracking gameWilier Izoard XP0 -
Hmmm. NZ looking rather sharp today.0
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Enjoying this match, as an uninvolved 3rd party. Some open attacking play, good to see.
4 1st half tries for NZ as well.0 -
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As a Wales supporter I'm not sharing your joy!! Even if we were winning though it's still a pointless game.coopster_the_1st said:0 -
Wales yet again showing their fallibility against teams that play with pace against them. Their defence under Shaun Edwards gets praised but never looks as good when the opposition moves the ball quickly.0
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So after the group stages Wales scaped a one point win against France and lost both their other matches.
Not really what they went for.0 -
I've enjoyed watching some good running rugby by one of the best teams in world rugby.tashman said:
As a Wales supporter I'm not sharing your joy!! Even if we were winning though it's still a pointless game.coopster_the_1st said:0 -
Other than maybe the Australia game I thought Wales had a poor tournament altogether. Like Ireland their ranking going into the tournament was flattering. I didn't see England's re-emergence coming though, they looked poor in the 6 Nations.
It's going to be interesting to see how Pivac takes things with the national team. He got Scarlets playing lovely rugby but they've gone downhill since his appointment to Wales was announced. It seems like he's going to look further afield for Welsh qualified players, his first move should be to reverse Garland's restrictions on selecting Welsh players who are playing outside the regional teams as there simply isn't the strength in depth for that sort of restriction and regional rugby is so poor.0 -
Well at least Wales made it difficult for the Boks. Very naive from England who failed to learn from Wales and allowed themselves to get sucked into playing on SA's terms.0
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A bit quiet on this thread?
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Ugh well that was horrible to watch.
Horrible luck for England losing Kyle in two minutes, losing strength just in the area we needed it.
Shady refereeing seeming to put every call to South Africa.
Having watched France robbed in the final 8 years ago, I barely watched Rugby between then and now, if this is the way a side has to play to win the world cup I don't care to watch it.
To be clear, SA obviously the better side this time, but their Rugby is fucking ugly, and they look like a bunch of juiced up bodybuilders.0 -
England just need to up their roid game. SA clearly had a better product.0
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Trying to be magnanimous in defeat. England's flair players depend on the forward's power game wearing down the opposition to create the space to work. Today they simply met a more powerful team. Oh, and the passing went out the window first half.The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
I am not sure. You have no chance.Veronese68 wrote:PB is the most sensible person on here.0 -
Well done SA. Eng dreadful in first half and not much better in second. Loss of Sinkler huge but SA played to their strengths and won.0
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Jeez, that's the worst case of sour grapes I've ever seen! So just to confirm it was down to bad luck with a prop getting injured early, shady refereeing and juiced up opposition players playing the wrong type of rugby? Have you ever thought of a job in the Network Rail excuses team?timothyw said:Ugh well that was horrible to watch.
Horrible luck for England losing Kyle in two minutes, losing strength just in the area we needed it.
Shady refereeing seeming to put every call to South Africa.
Having watched France robbed in the final 8 years ago, I barely watched Rugby between then and now, if this is the way a side has to play to win the world cup I don't care to watch it.
To be clear, SA obviously the better side this time, but their Rugby is fucking ugly, and they look like a bunch of juiced up bodybuilders.
England were outplayed pure and simple and possibly made the mistake of believing the media hype that all they had to do was turn up after their performance last week.
One of the best things about rugby is that it offers different ways to approach the game and 'ugly' 10 man rugby has as much of a place a free flowing champagne rugby.0 -
I have to agree with this. I wanted an England win but SA did what they needed to do. It wasn't pretty but it was effective and we're gonna have to suck it up. Re the roids thing, you'd have to be pretty naiive to think that some of the England squad aren't full of GH and gear as well.pross said:
Jeez, that's the worst case of sour grapes I've ever seen! So just to confirm it was down to bad luck with a prop getting injured early, shady refereeing and juiced up opposition players playing the wrong type of rugby? Have you ever thought of a job in the Network Rail excuses team?timothyw said:Ugh well that was horrible to watch.
Horrible luck for England losing Kyle in two minutes, losing strength just in the area we needed it.
Shady refereeing seeming to put every call to South Africa.
Having watched France robbed in the final 8 years ago, I barely watched Rugby between then and now, if this is the way a side has to play to win the world cup I don't care to watch it.
To be clear, SA obviously the better side this time, but their Rugby is fucking ugly, and they look like a bunch of juiced up bodybuilders.
England were outplayed pure and simple and possibly made the mistake of believing the media hype that all they had to do was turn up after their performance last week.
One of the best things about rugby is that it offers different ways to approach the game and 'ugly' 10 man rugby has as much of a place a free flowing champagne rugby.0 -
That was a 5 out of 10 performance from England, we hardly turned up. Congrats to South Africa who did turn up and played their best game of the tournament but their approach should hardly have come as a surprise!
Lots of mistakes from England, some caused by pressure from SA, but many their own making e.g. poor passes, poor kicking and weak under the high ball. England rarely got over the game line with most SA tackles sending England backwards, and that stifles quick ball which was our strength last week.
The scrum was poor, particularly in the first half. England as the best scrummaging northern hemisphere team should have been strong enough to go toe-to-toe with SA, and that applies equally whatever forwards are on the pitch.0
