Rugby - Hands Off Green!

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Originally posted by Caligastia
Actually, mediazone are showing everything except any games with France or England.

Leaving France out of the equation, mediazone are showing great taste.

[Havak]

It's a very good attempt indeed Ravagon.

Much as it pains me I agree that England can be painful to watch right now. Have I mentioned that I blame the coach?

At least I can live (if not necessarily work) anywhere in the EU without a visa. I should move to Italy - perhaps I could open a small pub/pork pie shop in a small town in Tuscany?

It's remarkable how calm I feel about the upcoming tests - I think have reached an inner peace with not expecting anything at all from England under Robinson.

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Not to mention your new supremo:

England's rugby supremo Rob Andrew will accept four defeats this month if it helps their bid to retain the World Cup.

*cough*

[MOBIUS]

Just getting their excuses in early!

[Solly]

[LDiCesare]

Did I hear correctly? Wales and Australia a draw? Havak's fears about Welsh supporters boasting will be worsened.

[Caligastia]

England disallowed a try by a French TV ref! Oh the agony!

[Caligastia]

Half time: NZ 28 - England 5.

Oh dear.

[kittenOFchaos]

4 tries (well 4 if the French TMO is ignore) matching 4 NZ tries ain't bad given what we've seen of England recently. Only player I felt wasn't worth having on the pitch was Balshaw and that decision was rather rash - his positioning and far too often in the line for no benefit (and thus hole at back) cost many points.

Better to have Van Gisbergen in FB and have him also kick the place kicks as Charlie can't.

Wouldn't have taken alot different for England to have won today, NZ got alot of luck and some daft English errors to saunter out of sight.

Such a shame Dan Carter had to play, he really is awesome.

[Solly]

Originally posted by Caligastia
Half time: NZ 28 - England 5.

Oh dear.

Got stuffed didn't they

[ravagon]

Originally posted by LDiCesare
Did I hear correctly? Wales and Australia a draw? Havak's fears about Welsh supporters boasting will be worsened.

More importantly however, ravagon's pleasure over Australian supporters misery will be heightened.

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Misery? It's the first overseas Test they haven't lost for a couple of hundred years.

[Havak]

They ran into a team that is currently significantly better than them. It happens in sport. Even happens in your favoured tag rugby code occasionally I think.

Wales v Australia was a cracking game – and the Aussies should be kicking themselves for not winning it I think. And LDiCesare is right – the Welsh will now expect to beat the ABs, the problem here is that the ABs are a big step up from Australia right now.

The Giteau, Larkham and Tuqiri experiments worked, the Rogers one did not really Finbar. And the Welsh seem to have found a very talented young fly half (Hook)

As for the England game you have to give NZ credit – their offloading of the ball is simply world class and no side currently punishes mistakes the way they do either. KofC is right in that Carter is now a priceless asset for them – if you look carefully at the game yesterday he made the difference. McDonald is a good understudy – but Carter is exceptional. Best wrap him in cotton wool until the RWC.

I may also have to revise my assessment of Graham Henry – nothing but courteous after the match and he has taken what was a relative weakness for the ABs (the front row) and made it competitive.

The game was effectively lost in the ten minutes before half time with the two breakaway tries and that 50 metre penalty.

Mind you would it be too ungracious of me to point out that NZ are now very, very streetwise too? I suspect the Kiwi lads didn’t see any of the blatant blocking off the line outs – McCaw and Masoe having made an art form of being in just the right place to stop Moody chasing the ball. Kudos to them for smart play. England never play smartly anymore (mores the pity)

Line out was one of the few phases where the ABs were not entirely dominant – at least until Meers came on and ruined ours – though it was better than what I saw in the tri-nations so Robinson keeps the place alongside Jack I suspect. It gives hope to the French because the ABs aren’t totally unbeatable – a misfiring England side did better against them than I expected, perhaps the French can go one better?

So a better showing than I expected – but some aspects annoyed me hugely. Bringing Meers on for starters. The French TMO disallowing a perfectly good try - it was a four tries each game with Carter kicking superbly and Hodgson kicking like Hodgson (badly). Only Corry and Kay carried any significant ball, Allen got caught out a few times for the green player he is (but I think he will make a very good player given time). A bad day for the youngster in fact gifting two tries to the ABs – I bet he is gutted. Oh and losing the scoreboard during an opponents sin bin period is totally unforgiveable.

Of course that makes six defeats in a row – the worst run since 1972 – and it was a record defeat at home. Despite that the Head Coach is talking as if we nearly won and everything is on track for the RWC. I still therefore want him sacked – and despite what the RFU is saying is we lose to Argentina I think he will be.

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Yes, the Giteau performance seems to be the real bonus out of the match. And I still think Matt Rogers is better on either the wing or at fullback where he can use his speed and footwork. He can fill in elsewhere, but he's never going to be a starting half. He's also not going to oust C. Latham from the fullback slot. Not for a long, long time. C. Latham has matured into one of the finest players.

EDIT. Bugger! D. Vickerman going home for another shoulder reconstruction!

[Havak]

Latham looks like the best attacking fullback in the world to me right now - the guy is in exceptional form.

I will confess I smiled to see the over rated Henson totally miss a tackle on the under rated Latham when the latter scored his solo effort in the second half.

So do you have any locks left? The young Bok was a shoe in for the tests surely?