[RWC2019][Pool C] Round 1 - England vs. Tonga (22/09/2019)

[Rinkadink]

Argentina will be pumped for this; they got mad at France never mind a country they despise.

Hopefully no injuries and foul play spoil the encounter.

 

[BPM]

Which is why I'm disappointed, not worried or angry.

Same here, although the only other comment I'd make on conservatism is that we did kick for goal on a few penalties that we could have kicked to the corner or in one case, gone for a 5m scrum. That's a little more conservative than I would have liked when we surely must have been regarding the bonus point as essential.

 

[BPM]

Argentina will be pumped for this; they got mad at France never mind a country they despise.

Hopefully no injuries and foul play spoil the encounter.

I'm sure they will be 'pumped'. Taking aside any historical/political element, losing to France realistically means that they need to win.

Their game against Tonga on Saturday will give us a better indication of the right context for our result.

As an aside, we actually have the best points difference from the first round of fixtures (+32). It doesn't mean a great deal, but let's not be too downbeat.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

Interesting indeed. I watched it at my local rugby club for which some completely inexplicable reason has massive screens but no ability to project sound into the room. So sans commentary you have the chance to make up your own mind about what's happening with of course the input of other know everything rugby fans (pot / kettle here).

I found the whole thing massively frustrating to be honest. I thought we'd moved away from aimless kicking which keeps the ball in play but it was very, very much in evidence. Kicks were mainly non-contestable and seemed to be a tactic to just allow the Tongans to run into brick walls which they duly did. But in terms of inventiveness or quality play? There wasn't very much in evidence at all. Additionally having seen what Penaud, Medard, Dupont and Ntamack did with ball in hand I'm not entirely sure that booting them the ball all day is a particularity genius plan. Yes we had some success with it in the 6 nations but I hope to God we don't get collective amnesia and forget exactly how woeful France's defence was that day. Huget playing fullback worked as well as a Bergamasco playing 9....... That won't happen again.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Argentina will be pumped for this; they got mad at France never mind a country they despise.

Didn't do much for them in the last decade (even a decade ago it was only a draw), and they're a much worse side now.

Obviously we could slip up, but it's definitely the easier of the Arg/Fra games.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Extended highlights of the game if not already posted.

Edit: Credit for WR listening and extending their highlights from their measly 3 mins to 11.

 

[Goodey]

Extended highlights of the game if not already posted.

Edit: Credit for WR listening and extending their highlights from their measly 3 mins to 11.

I don't think the comments have anything to do with it, they have uploaded a 2 minute and 10 minute highlights for every game with the longer one coming the day after.

Probably something to do with broadcasting deals, that they have to wait before releasing proper highlights.

 

[Scotty]

Extended highlights of the game if not already posted.

Edit: Credit for WR listening and extending their highlights from their measly 3 mins to 11.

Tbf when ever we made a break, while our handling and accuracy let us down we always had support, manus try ford was on his shoulder, JJs break. Had 2 on 1 shoulder and LCD on the other. Over run or a bad pass daly was right on slades shoulder.

 

[Zed]

I found the whole thing massively frustrating to be honest. I thought we'd moved away from aimless kicking which keeps the ball in play but it was very, very much in evidence. Kicks were mainly non-contestable and seemed to be a tactic to just allow the Tongans to run into brick walls which they duly did. But in terms of inventiveness or quality play? There wasn't very much in evidence at all. Additionally having seen what Penaud, Medard, Dupont and Ntamack did with ball in hand I'm not entirely sure that booting them the ball all day is a particularity genius plan. .

Yeah I just don't get this tactic. Although England beat Australia 3 - 0 when they toured, I did feel perplexed at this tactic of continually kicking the ball to Folau, one of the best receivers and counter attackers out there. He'd always catch it cleanly, return it and gain ground. You would think at some point the penny would drop "oh we better stop kicking it to him". And I remember a Scotland game where they kicked the ball to the Italians, who counter attacked and scored. 5 minutes, later, Scotland get the ball and did exactly the same thing. I would call it schoolboy rugby, but when I was playing schoolboy level, we adapted. If the back 3 were strong and quick with good skills, we'd keep the ball from them, not continually kick it down their throats in the vein hope they'd drop it. I don't think I've seen Folau drop one single high ball, yet teams keep on kicking to him, hoping he will one day.

If England continue with this tactic against the ABs and Boks, they will be ripped apart. You fight so hard for possession and just give it away.... there are times when box kicks are the way to go, but it seems to be a primary tactic of the English as well as other teams. Boks were just as guilty and were punished for it. England have some great forwards, why not use them. If they can hold onto the ball, recycle it, go through the phases, they'll make ground and more importantly keep possession. I remember one Bledisloe cup game and I watched the ABs "aimlessly" drive it at the Wallabies defence, seemingly not getting anywhere, but they got through 20+ phases and eventually gaps opened up and they scored. If you can get players like Vunipola running at say Richie Mounga, he's got 40kg on Mounga. He's going to make the gain line. If he doesn't the first time, he will the second time.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Yeah I just don't get this tactic. Although England beat Australia 3 - 0 when they toured, I did feel perplexed at this tactic of continually kicking the ball to Folau, one of the best receivers and counter attackers out there. He'd always catch it cleanly, return it and gain ground. You would think at some point the penny would drop "oh we better stop kicking it to him". And I remember a Scotland game where they kicked the ball to the Italians, who counter attacked and scored. 5 minutes, later, Scotland get the ball and did exactly the same thing. I would call it schoolboy rugby, but when I was playing schoolboy level, we adapted. If the back 3 were strong and quick with good skills, we'd keep the ball from them, not continually kick it down their throats in the vein hope they'd drop it. I don't think I've seen Folau drop one single high ball, yet teams keep on kicking to him, hoping he will one day.

If England continue with this tactic against the ABs and Boks, they will be ripped apart. You fight so hard for possession and just give it away.... there are times when box kicks are the way to go, but it seems to be a primary tactic of the English as well as other teams. Boks were just as guilty and were punished for it. England have some great forwards, why not use them. If they can hold onto the ball, recycle it, go through the phases, they'll make ground and more importantly keep possession. I remember one Bledisloe cup game and I watched the ABs "aimlessly" drive it at the Wallabies defence, seemingly not getting anywhere, but they got through 20+ phases and eventually gaps opened up and they scored. If you can get players like Vunipola running at say Richie Mounga, he's got 40kg on Mounga. He's going to make the gain line. If he doesn't the first time, he will the second time.

Teams don't always like taking the risk of getting penalised in their own half though right. When you go through phases and are getting slower ball, opens up opportunities for teams to flood the odd ruck and get a penalty or turnover. Hence they kick and try pressure the other team in their end.

 

[Zed]

Teams don't always like taking the risk of getting penalised in their own half though right. When you go through phases and are getting slower ball, opens up opportunities for teams to flood the odd ruck and get a penalty or turnover. Hence they kick and try pressure the other team in their end.

yeah good point.