Bienvenue sur le fil de la coupe du monde de rugby!

Might want to revisit that statement in the cold light of day…

 

Well, blind optimism I guess can get you so far!!

 

No one watching this match?

Argie pack getting the upper hand.

Why did England not put Ford on last week….such a skilful player, vastly underrated…..same with Underhill…why didn’t they use him last week?

 

^ + 1

 

It did get a bit pedestrian

 

Hard not to be critical of ITV….I watched it on S4C….the ‘studio’ was pitch side, with roving reporters on the streets before the game.

ITV’s green screen studio up to the last couple of rounds….based in England somewhere…. zero feel for the fantastic stadiums or towns the games were in and usually irrelevant pitchside stuff made for a completely forgettable World Cup….it was just crappola.

Icing on the cake….Alphonsi talking rubbish again and for gods sake please retire Clive Woodward.

 

/\ if sport is only about wining, then yes England were the highest NH team, but if sport is about enjoyment and imaginative play, then imo there are a lot of teams who I'd put ahead of England. Final thought, if sport is about suffering, then England win the tournament

 

Don't get me wrong, the lads done good. I'm just more of a fan of the running game rather than the kicking game. It nearly worked last week and against SA, it was the right tactic imo.

 

Really?

Who can play with zero ambition and put all their efforts into stopping the opposition from playing too?

The England team of 20 years ago, the England team of 16 years ago and certainly the one from 4 years ago played with FAR more ambition than this England team.

It’s a 3rd place play off, so a nothing game….England play Arundell, your most exciting young runner and pass the ball to him ONCE. All game.

There’s no excuse for the unambitious garbage from last night…..the Argies wanted to let rip, England should have too.

I spent 21years in the coaching pathways in England what’s the point of teaching players how to give and take a pass, use footwork and vision, when to kick etc. from a young age if the pinnacle they are aiming for is what was served up yesterday.

The SA game was a lesson in how to nullify an opposition, it was ugly and limited but nearly got England to a final where they would have played another percentage game and played for decisions.

England are the only team I believe who will settle for just crap rugby but results.

20 years ago everyone wanted to be Jonny, Daws or Jason Robinson……kids don’t want to be Farrell or any of the other totally forgettable back line.

It’s such a pity there is so much talent in England simply giving up the game….it’s hard to blame them.

England were nearly scalped by Samoa whose total population is that of Coventry. Same with Fiji, whose population is roughly half that of Manchester.

In the 91 cup final, England finally threw off the shackles of their ‘Turbo’ back row (it had Dean Richards in it ffs) and lost to the greatest Aussie team in history. You had Carling (vastly underrated) and Guscott in the centres….why weren’t they letting rip every game not just the final…..oh yeah…..you had Rob Andrew!

Joking aside…that mantra seems to have been the guiding light for English rugby ever since.

It’s not working. It’s killing the game.

Borthwick and that team surpassed expectations by limiting everything they did and everyone else did. Kudos to them. They were really low expectations to be fair but within the time they had, fair enough.

Did Marcus Smith, Arundell, George Ford shine at all? They are your best players by far. Ben Earl, your actual tournament stand out wasn’t in your original 33, he’s an injury replacement.

England are a long way off the best team in the NH, I appreciate it’s your opinion and you are a rugby man but I genuinely think your just winding people up with stuff like that.

If I hated English rugby I’d be merrily agreeing with you….you’ve lost 4 pro clubs in one year in 2022 2023….fans are turning off in droves.

I have faith in Borthwick but if you want England to be everyone else ‘second team’ they need to be playing better rugby than kick and play for penalties.

Rugby union is at a cross roads, England are vital in that, I fear it won’t exist in the next two decades and the product needs to be excellent….it wasn’t at all last night.