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[2015 RWC] Pool A: England vs. Wales (26/09/2015)

There was time on the clock to go again.

It wouldn't have been worse because it's an understandable decision, if the kicker misses he misses but to pass up the opportunity of the draw, the opportunity to avoid defeat is criminal, it was the wrong call.

If you kick to the corner a lot of things have to go right for you to score a try, with the kick at goal, it's just one.

A kick takes roughly a minute, that would have left approx two minutes on the clock left to play.

If they miss the kick Wales kick long and England who were struggling to gain any dominance are back in their defensive zone under the pump chasing a game with a pumped up Welsh defence coming forward.

If they'd got it, same scenario except not chasing a game.

Kick to the corner and score gives England a minute to wind down the clock on the kick, and means Wales must score a try in a minute after surrendering possession.

The call was fine, the poor call was going to two in the lineout instead of tail where launchbury would have jumped against Tipuric and Wyn-Jones would have been lifting and not Maul defending, or chasing a breakdown - that would have been Lawes (to go to 2) call iirc.
 
I wish we had other obvious leadership candidates beside Robshaw(who I like as a player). Parling's a questionable selection at lock so not an obvious captain. Hartley set's a terrible example. the Youngs brothers have only 3/4 of a brain between them. Wood doesn't deserve his place particularly..

We do, in the back row. Or at least he will be before long. Last night he was at 12 though. Burgess just oozes leadership and stature in a way that no-one else in the squad does.

And before you scream that he can't do everything, nor can Lydiate but he's an integral part of that Welsh team.
 
A kick takes roughly a minute, that would have left approx two minutes on the clock left to play.

If they miss the kick Wales kick long and England who were struggling to gain any dominance are back in their defensive zone under the pump chasing a game with a pumped up Welsh defence coming forward.

If they'd got it, same scenario except not chasing a game.

Kick to the corner and score gives England a minute to wind down the clock on the kick, and means Wales must score a try in a minute after surrendering possession.

The call was fine, the poor call was going to two in the lineout instead of tail where launchbury would have jumped against Tipuric and Wyn-Jones would have been lifting and not Maul defending, or chasing a breakdown - that would have been Lawes (to go to 2) call iirc.
In general, you are more likely to score the penalty than the try in this situation. Specifically in this match, where Farrell was kicking at 100% and had already nailed equally hard kicks. If it failed, then it was a dropout and England would have set up 5-10m into the Welsh half, and whilst the Welsh defence would have been hard, England would have been in penalty range again. Sorry, but there's no defence for it, it was a terrible decision.

A draw would have been a decent result for England. Wales don't have the best record against Australia, and they'd have to work hard to get the bonus point from Fiji like England did. Uruguay is last for England, so if in-game points become the difference, England could have gone into the match with the aim to pile it on Uruguay. The onus would have been mostly on Wales to get out of the group stages.
 
A kick takes roughly a minute, that would have left approx two minutes on the clock left to play.

If they miss the kick Wales kick long and England who were struggling to gain any dominance are back in their defensive zone under the pump chasing a game with a pumped up Welsh defence coming forward.

If they'd got it, same scenario except not chasing a game.

Kick to the corner and score gives England a minute to wind down the clock on the kick, and means Wales must score a try in a minute after surrendering possession.

The call was fine, the poor call was going to two in the lineout instead of tail where launchbury would have jumped against Tipuric and Wyn-Jones would have been lifting and not Maul defending, or chasing a breakdown - that would have been Lawes (to go to 2) call iirc.

A pumped up Welsh defence...with a decimated backline. It would not have been impossible to win another penalty before the match ended (much tougher to score a try), but here's the thing, like you said even if they didn't - they would still have the draw. As it is, they have nothing.

On your latter point, even if they had gone to the tail there was no guarantee of scoring a try. They risked everything on so much having to go right, and predictably they came up short.

Lancaster has been an unmitigated disaster as head coach and he has now brought shame to the door of English rugby in the same manner as Meyer of South Africa. It will take quite some turnaround to spare his head on the chopping block and I don't like his chances at this point in time.
 
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TBH I still fancy England's chances to go through quite a few people talking about Saturday but the reality is Thursday could very much put the ball back in England's court. Even a bonus point loss to Fiji will put England in the driving seat IMHO.
 
TBH I still fancy England's chances to go through quite a few people talking about Saturday but the reality is Thursday could very much put the ball back in England's court. Even a bonus point loss to Fiji will put England in the driving seat IMHO.
So England's hopes rest on Wales (now ranked 3rd) losing to Fiji (ranked 9th) at home? They've got a lot of injuries, but they'll win. England's only hope now is beating Australia. Based on last night, that's a long shot; either we change personnel and lose cohesion or play the same team and watch them score tries galore outside Barritt's channel.
 
Umm, if the call to go to 2 in the lineout was Lawes´, then he made it from the bench with his leg bandaged up whilst overuling the lineout leader, Parling.

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Crapspray, I don´t imagine that they will have many problems attacking down Burgess´channel either, Scott Williams didn´t.
 
Anyone know what's going on with Faletau in this pic after the final whistle? Looks a little odd:

JS73162253.jpg
 
Justin Tipuric looks absolutely gutted to have won a historic game.
 
I hope people finally see how good Dan Biggar is - both as a player and as a goal kicker! Lot of talk pre-tournament scoffing the idea of him being outstanding, think he showed that he certainly is in that bracket!

Sorry, wrong mentality. A line out 5 metres from their line. If you don't back yourself to score then, then you'll never back yourself. Englands line out had been good all day, as had their mauling.

Was it though? Don't remember Wales ever being massively under pressure by the English maul, definitely didn't see the Welsh try line severely under threat by it anyway! (Feel free to correct me there, the memories are still hazy from booze and sheer joy)


Is it me or does Samson Lee knock on at 1:29.48? When the scores are tied 25-25. Not saying this cost England the game, but still if he did he got away with it.

Potentially a knock on, could easily be a fumble in the hands though - would need another angle to confirm imo.

And anyway, plenty of things missed / bad decisions went against both sides - i.e. the not straight down the middle line out before England's try, or Dan Biggar's "knock on" followed by a dodgy looking scrum penalty to Wales.
 
Crapspray, I don´t imagine that they will have many problems attacking down Burgess´channel either, Scott Williams didn´t.
True. But I was thinking more of last Autumn, when Adam Ashley-Cooper made hundreds of yards down it. Either way, I have a ****ling suspicion I'll be turning off the telly after sixty minutes.
 
I hope people finally see how good Dan Biggar is - both as a player and as a goal kicker! Lot of talk pre-tournament scoffing the idea of him being outstanding, think he showed that he certainly is in that bracket!

I was one of those a few years ago that wasn't massively enthused of seeing him be our 10. He spent too much time showboating, arguing with teammates, opponents, refs for my tastes. Once he got a sniff of the 10 jersey he's stopped all that and has focused his game. I don't think he has a targetable weakness, he's good attacking, defends like he doesnt care if he gets hurt and can slot kicks at goal from almost anywhere in opponents half.

Before I would worry if he had to take over from Stephen Jones, now I worry if someone has to take over from him.

PS: Now I think about it, who would people say is/was better Jones or Biggar?
 
Jeeze, is that it?!
I missed it live but from the Welsh reaction on social media you'd think he stamped his boots directly into Williams' eyes, scrunched his boot about a bit and then took a dump on his wounds after, for good measure.


Really? Not seen anyone talking about it like that on my end.
Nothing in it for me, bit careless, but he's going for the ball. Bit like that English lock (Attwood I think?) catching North in the face back in February?
 

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