2023 Rugby World Cup

[KnickerlessParsons]

Can't find a thread so thought I'd start one nice and early for some pre chat.

Really don't think either England or Wales are going to get out of the pool rounds 🙁

should George Ford have been brought on before, big fat yes.

He should have been on from the start, instead of Farrell.

So does that mean that SA played badly or well tonight? And if that means SA played well, does that mean England played better than expected and just had easy draws in their group, but also didn’t necessarily play as well as they could’ve done in their previous games?

That’s what BBC sport text was saying!

Yoh!

That was nerve wracking, again.

One point, again.

England really played well, and I thought I called it for them to win at one point. But we did it, but they need to up their game for next week. I'm not sure we deserved the win tbh.

Proudly SA and of our Bok boys, but next week is going to be tough.

I think it's worse to be pipped at the end than lose by a decent margin. Our scrum went to pieces and the penalties started racking up. I'd just nudged into the hope zone....aaagh.

SA played badly and were lucky, I think. I've never seen so many handling errors. I think they just didn't expect England to come out all guns blazing so were a bit shell-shocked. But you never see SA like that two matches in a row, so it won't be an easy shift for the ABs next week.

That’s what BBC sport text was saying

I've obviously missed my calling! 😀

Well done, Steve, marra. Whatever you said to them tonight, it must have been pretty good.

SA didn't play well, and I think England played better than expected. SA don't play their best in wet weather, they are so messy with the ball. But I also do think England got shafted in the pool rounds. I believe this will be changed and called closer to the WC next time.

@GrouchyKiwi see you here next week 😃 big competition to who now wins the cup for the 4th time, as we are at a tie with 3 now.

@isthismylifenow I'll add rain to the list of things I'm hoping for next week.

Should be a titanic battle for the 4th!

Yep rain dance needed

How did England get shafted in the pool games; they had a pretty comfortable ride? They worked hard, but it all was 'bowling-shoe ugly'. SA looked a bit sloppy, compared to their excellent effort against France. They'll need to be a lot better to give the ABs a game.

England are playing Tonga at league tomorrow; it's on the BBC. I hope a few of you will watch; should be a good contest, as Tonga are stronger at league than Union, with a lot of top NRL players in their ranks. I'll start a separate thread tomorrow.

But I also do think England got shafted in the pool rounds. I believe this will be changed and called closer to the WC next time

How did they get shafted? The general consensus is that both England and Wales had an easier pool round than France and Ireland for example.

That came out wrong. Apologies, I should wait until the next day to make posts.

@duc748 I’m a League girl at heart.

How on earth did England get shafted in the pool rounds @isthismylifenow ? They had about an easy journey to the semis as it could get. Scotland, Ireland and France have a better argument for being shafted by the draw. Hence why 2 of the quarter finals last weekend felt more like finals. Felt a bit sorry for England last night as they came closer than I thought they would but it was a pretty dull game of rugby for the neutral. Although at least it was close, unlike Friday night's fiasco.

Feeling sorry for England this morning. Just listened to an interview with a very emotional Freddie Steward. To be honest I had been expecting us to lose quite badly but we stepped up and played really well. Disrupted South Africa in a way they do to other teams. Don't think SA played a 100% but still think England did a good job. Dan Cole and Marler did great. In the end though we just didn't have a strong enough attack or ability to get tries.

Final should be interesting so looking forward to that.

Dan Cole and Marler did great.

Particularly when Genge and Sinckler came on and the scrum penalties conceded cost us the game.

Our lack of backs' moves frustrates me immensely but a great performance and so annoyingly close to making the final.

I noticed that Owen Farrell was very sporting on the pitch with the opposition, when the match ended, despite the heartache. 👏🏻

I didn't see the tv interviews with the players afterwards.

England definitely didn’t get shafted they had an easy ride!

But a few weren’t rating England and especially because they had an easy ride in the pool rounds. Although a lot of their points yesterday were from penalty (and a great drop goal) I thought England’s game yesterday was good and I wasn’t expecting that!

Anyway onto the final, I’m not biased either way but have Kiwi relatives (through marriage), so prob rooting for the Kiwis.

I wish there were more drop goals.

Says she who can't kick a ball out of her way.

On the BBC text report they were saying why aren’t there more drop goals, and I honestly don’t know why because I don’t know the finer details of the game!

I’m similar to you re kicking balls!

Thread on this afternoon's Test started in this folder

@JayAlfredPrufrock and any other interested parties.

On drop goals, my take is, there could be more of them, but I think it's really often just poor skill levels, or lack of confidence them. It really shouldn't be hard for any competent kicker to knock one over if he's "in the pocket", and a fair way back from defenders who might charge down. Farrell's (excellent) drop goal wasn't really like that, it was effectively in open play. At 60% of the value of a try, drop goals look good value for money to me. You might consider that in rugby league, a drop-goal is worth only one point (so 25% of the value of a try), because they are felt , rightly in my view, to be a bit 'too easy'. I remember way back in the day, SA used to rely on drop goals to win matches. Fella called Naas Botha.