Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

[kittenOFchaos]

Well, I couldn't resist gambling.

I've spread £15 over a range of things...not all of them can come true.

£2 J O'Connor to be the last tryscorer for Australia at 9/1

£1 Australia win between 26-30 at 10/1

£1 M Steyn - Try/Penalty & Drop Goal at 25/1

£2 NZ Win 16-20 6/1

£1 NZ exact win by 18 points at 35/1

£2 England win by 6-19 at 14/1

B.Youngs to score in 80 minutes £5 at 10/1


It'll be interesting to see how much of that £15 comes back to me.

Somehow I forgot I had money on Hartley to score last week...I had £1 on that at 13/1...so I have money on my account to bet for today

Got £7 on Scotland to lose first half and win second at 22-1

Got £5 on England to win by 6-10 at 7-1

And £2 on Foden to score and England to win at 13/2...better get watching!!!

Wonder how much I'll see back from my £14.

ATM £15 invested in these Autumn Internationals and I'm down £1.

[kittenOFchaos]

This is really excellent by England...

[kittenOFchaos]

25 minutes in...England 10 - Australia 0

Ashton scores after excellent off-loading

[kittenOFchaos]

England 26 - Australia 6

England turned Genia on the 5 meter line, Youngs got it to Lawes who drew the man, off to Ashton who turns the full-back and then outpaces him completely.

Awesome, too awesome

Johnson has got it right.

[kittenOFchaos]

I really wonder how Youngs got hurt...

[kittenOFchaos]

Final Score

England 35 - Australia 18

Australia didn't do me a favour by getting a consolation try

I don't care, that was one hell of a game as both sides came out and played fast paced rugby. England had lost the rust from last week and only in one attack were completely wasteful.

England could have won by alot more...Australia did well to keep it so close. Not one English player played badly...fantastic.

[kittenOFchaos]

ROFL just watching analysis by Greenwood and Fitzpatrick...they've given Greenwood a fancy touchscreen and he is bouncing...

[kittenOFchaos]

Well, Scotland showing alot of rust...crazy not to have a warm-up game...

The Scots are looking very sluggish...Jim Hamilton can't even muster a jog...AR should just whip them throughout the half-time to get them going.

So...they've lost the first half as I need them to...only 4 converted tries required.

HT Jim Hamilton is off - thank god, Hines is on. Fat bastards.

[LDiCesare]

France vs. Fiji was played under heavy rain, which didn't help the Fijians, and caused a lot of knocking on and fumbling. It's a bit hard to guess the level of the teams in such a weather, except the French scrum is way better than the Fijian (no surprise here).

[kittenOFchaos]

Well, Scotland got thrashed...even Donald being on for 30 minutes didn't cause NZ to lose

The Scottish were woeful a sad shadow of the side that beat Ireland. Our front row is a joke...with the exception of Murray. Our second rows are huge men that lack athletism, our back row were outclassed/invisible, Blair was okay, Parks didn't do anything of value and the backs were pretty hopeless, particularly Sean Lamont who looked ponderous and avoided his defensive responsibilities.

It was as bad as I've ever seen Scotland...remarkable.

AR appeared to have a realistic view of the situation and I'm sure he will engender an improvement. If there isn't an improvement, it will be time to drop players...it is acceptable to lose to NZ, loads of sides get thrashed by them, but it isn't okay to go down without a fight.

[kittenOFchaos]

Okay, we'll I've found a comparison to the NZ Vs Scotland game.

NZ is Haye, Scotland is Harrison...except Harrison gets paid alot to just stand there and get beat up.

[finbar]

I knew I was in for a bad day as soon as Goldilocks missed the kickable early penalties. All very simple, really. England came out fired up, prepared to run the ball at every opportunity from anywhere, engineered by the excellent Ben Youngs. The forwards joined in, hunting in numbers and at speed, carrying the ball, attacking the breakdowns, neutralising Pocock. The Wallabies weren't prepared for the England approach, never adapted, and gave them a huge helping hand with some of the lousiest defence you'd ever see. Cooper is a known turnstile - he has to score or engineer tries because he personally leaks so many potential points - but watching the likes of Cueto and Tindall skip through and around tackles like fat spring lambs was just ludicrous. The last stat I saw had 12 missed Wallaby tackles just after half time. That figure must have doubled by the end. Regardless, good on England for having the guts to get out there and go for it. It might be a turning point, it might not. Hard to tell in the context of such garbage defence.

The frustration with this Wallaby team is the sheer inconsistency. Excellent defence against the ABs, solid against the Taffys, garbage yesterday. Similarly across the spread of the Tri-Nations. Bizarre tactics - kicking away so much possession, negating the team's strength, yet when the tries came they came fairly easily; idiotic lapses of judgement - behind on the scoreboard but not dead, a man in the bin, unmissable penalty, Genia darts on his own, isolated, turnover, length-of-the-field try. It speaks of a lack of onfield composure and clarity of thought, a lack of onfield leadership. I've never thought Rocky enough of a thinker to be a good captain and nothing's changed.

There's something seriously amiss with Matt Giteau. He hasn't been himself since all the financial argy-bargy at the Western Force and his return to the Brumbies. On top of what is still a strained relationship with Robbie Deans after missing out on the vice-captaincy. There's absolutely no doubt he'll quit after the World Cup. Get out your cheque book, Havak. Berrick Barnes is contributing vastly more when he get onto the field and I suspect that - barring a huge turn around - Giteau's days are numbered. Or, at least, under the current circumstances, they should be.

I only saw ten minutes of France -v- Fiji. The conditions looked terrible.

I watched the ABs demolish the Haggis Munchers. They might have made it into second gear at some point. SBW and Conrad Smith looked a handy combo. I suspect SBW won MOTM on the basis of the size of his mitts. They must be huge.

[Havak]

I don't think the ABs even got close to needing second gear.

Giteau would be fine fit for Tigers - but his days are numbered in wattle more because of that ludicrous mexican facial hair surely? I note he made the professional decision to take ten minutes instead of concede a try - still a man who takes good options then?

I enjoyed the game obviously - more for how they played than the result in fact. More of the same please.

The substitution of Youngs was not tactical - he took a knock to the ribs and was coughing blood and spasming. Hopefully not serious but I doubt he will be used against Samoa. Time for Care to prove he has learnt something from Ben.

There is a kind of happy shellshock amongst England fans - with that nagging little demon on the shoulder saying "but can it last?"

Hopefully it does mean Borthwick will never darken England's door again.

[LDiCesare]

France Fiji was indeed under a terrible rain. It was in Nantes, which is in Bretagne (except from an administrative point of view), region renowned in France for its rain. Of course, les bretons say that it never rains in their land, but everyone else thinks it never stops raining over there. That was the case saturday: Very rainy.

There were some nice pictures of Schuster (French loosehead) demolishing his vis-a-vis, but apart from that, not much to be seen honestly.

Against Argentina, the team will be very different. I expect Mas and Domingo to start as props, Servat will be back hooking. Thion should remain in the second row, with Nallet and Pierre probably on the bench. The back row should be the usual Bonnaire/Harinordoquy/Dusautoir, with Chabal on the bench. I expect Parra to start as scrum half, Traille as 10. The only surprise is Estebanez is in the group, probably to be back-up 10 instead of Skrela. Jauzion and Rougerie are going to play center, and Andreu and Huget will probably be on the wings, Porical at full back and Palisson on the bench.

[finbar]

The Argies shouldn't trouble France. They were pretty average against gli Azzurri. The Italians started very well, tossing the ball around nicely, could have had two early tries with a bit more luck but they lost their way. When is Hernandez not injured these days?

but his days are numbered in wattle more because of that ludicrous mexican facial hair surely

Could he look any more like a spiv? I'm not sure whether I prefer it to the pink hair he once sported.

Ah, Steve Borthwick. You know, if he hadn't hurt himself, he'd still be in situ. J**** couldn't bring himself to sack him. It's the young players who have energised England and it took J**** so long to put them in place. Still, better late than never.