2014 Junior World Championship - June 2 to 20

[TRF_heineken]

11-10 at half time for England with SA struggling to turn pressure into points and a good break by the English 13 setting up the try for them at the end ff the 1st half. So an evenly balanced game. While I'm disappointed we havn't been able to convert pressure into points by letting up through mostly silly errors we've seen SA behind more games than not so far at half time so I am hoping that the trend of a more accurate 2nd half from us continues but England has had the momentum the last 10 minutes or so..

All in all an exciting game if one ignores those silly little errors.

Yeah, I hope Dawie Theron's speech at half time does the trick again, as we tend to pick up the pace in the second half of the matches we played so far. Also a lot of kicking, some working well, some not so much. Handre needs to kick the ball out if we get a penalty, 2 times he tried to kick it long, and both times it didn't went out.

 

[Gena_ZA]

Great contest. One slip tackle by SA no13 and England taking the lead

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hope Els is alright looked nasty.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Hold on to your buts this is gonna be tight.

Missed SA DG 7 mins left.

 

[Peat]

Feel we were very lucky there...

edit: I'm eating some biltong and feeling very treacherous as a result

 

[Gena_ZA]

Wow this is close, England forwards excellent

 

[Peat]

Victory for the Mini Orcs!

 

[Gena_ZA]

Settled

Congrats England, deserved victors

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

England are the champions.

Can see of this class making it at senior level.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Well, just not enough at the end. If the calls aren't going your way you need to make your luck. England did enough that middle stanza to clinch it, congrats.

 

[goodNumber10]

had to follow a text commentary as i'm at work - was it as epic as it seemed?

unlucky SA, sounds like they really played well. Congrats to the boys in white.

 

[Big Ewis]

Settled

Congrats England, deserved victors

hahaha...well rebounded there.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Now the seniors will just have to dismantle Wales to make up..

 

[ratsapprentice]

had to follow a text commentary as i'm at work - was it as epic as it seemed?

Ja... was a butt-clencher for sure.


Definitely the two best teams in the tournament - not much between them... England perhaps a little more well rounded in their skillset.
Unlucky Saffers - could have gone either way.

I was very relieved that Paul Hill managed to play the entire game, because he is massively important to our scrummaging without Scott Wilson.
Itoje definitely should have been a junior player of the year nominee.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Apart from the up and unders not working, SA players should have realized the tactic of holding the player up in the tackle wasn't working. Those two really misfired in that we gave England possession from kicking aimlessly and/or not having an effective enough chasing game whereas kicking out was much more effective particularly with us shading it in the line-outs. Then with England making good ground ball in hand we should have realized much earlier that we weren't able to hold them up in the tackle. Going low would've given us more scoope to compete after the tackle and a number of times going in high meant we let the player just make too much ground and lead even to a few bump-offs whereas chopping the player off at the legs and stopping them there and then would've been much more effective.

But anyway, lessons will have been learnt and that is the whole point of this competition isn't it. SA and England look like the two teams that might hopefully start to erode the AB general dominance at rugby (in the pro era of course) if you look at the current seniors teams and looking at these games with the future in mind.

 

[big ginger 8]

Just a few thoughts on the Irish match.

First half good, second half not so much. However there were a lot of good signs especially considering the amount of u19's. If our pack can have the necessary physicality next year we should be a real threat. Hopefully the players today learn a lesson from NZ in being clinical. Also the Mike Ruddock realises a big reason for doing well in the first half was the freshness of the players and that we can't keep essentially the same team throughout a tournament with few changes.

 

[Captain Robshaw]

Great final that was. Two best teams clearly and both have a lot to take from the tournament. Really impressed with how England handled the Boks' power, that said I don't think they were quite on their game today.

I think England still have a bit to learn at game management, don't think Burns was great at 10, English pack superb and great defence at the end when it looked like we were going to get steamrollered. Add Earle to the list of great potential wingers for England (if they ever get a look in)

 

[Big Ewis]

is this final worth watching for a guy who's used to (senior) club level at minimum and sometimes can get bored with that even ?

 

[ratsapprentice]

Yes... some of the drama might be lost knowing the result - but it should be a good watch anyway.
It's hardly the greatest game of all time, but it's good quality - U20's is actually very watchable these days.

 

[Tony Manx]

Big well done to the English lads...............only just caught up on the highlights and inspirational stuff for the senior side presuming they were watching!