Kapa O Pango
Bench Player
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- Jun 3, 2012
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I agree with you. Also needs players of Dan Carter and Conrad Smith calibre to get him going lolMate Ma'a Nonu has been baffled by it most of his career.
I agree with you. Also needs players of Dan Carter and Conrad Smith calibre to get him going lolMate Ma'a Nonu has been baffled by it most of his career.
Agree with everything but the forearm. That was patently ridiculous.I absolutely agree. I do however wonder whether Cheika's siege mentality sometimes distracts from his ability to apply logic. Two teams have adopted the "it's so unfair we've always operated like this" defence notably Samoa (7 yellows and 1 Red) and Australia (3 yellows and a postdated red for Hodge) who were lucky to avoid further sanctions for Hooper cheap shotting Biggar and Arnold for smashing someone in the head in the same tackle that got Naisarani binned. You also got the epic whine about Kerevi forearm smashing Patchell in the throat.
Personally I hope that Australia continue to play the victim and don't alter their behaviour. As I stated above if they do that they'll end up playing with less than 15 for large parts of the game and England will roast them if they choose to do that.
Recipient, and then everyone will say how he deserves it - again.So Farrell high tackle/no arms, deliverer or recipient this game?
Recipient, and then everyone will say how he deserves it - again.
Interesting isn't it? My view is that this line-up marginally favours the Australians. In my opinion Garces is the worst referee when it comes to policing the breakdown, the offside line and is entirely random when it comes to scrum enforcement. He also makes at least one utterly baffling call per match which could go either way.
The most important point being the breakdown. If you compare and contrast say Nic Berry's approach with Garces you have chalk and cheese. With the former the ruck contest is a very small window in which either a player wins a penalty / turnover or the contest is nullified. With Garces it's much much longer with players loitering around and on the ball (imo Garces is Wales' dream ref), multiple cleanout attempts etc. Now whilst I'm sure Pocock, Hooper (and Curry too) would prefer the former (more lightning turnovers / pens) the Aussies will quite happily adapt to the latter. England play best off fast, clean ball. If we don't get that then Youngs does his stupid arm flapping thing (+ ref moaning) and the service becomes glacial. Which then leads to booting the ball away and if we stay true to type that'll be up the middle to someone like Beale........... That still feels like a stupid plan to me.......
Ben Skeen - Well the match might take 4 hrs to play as he decides to intervene over the most trivial incidents. But both teams will need to manage their tackle discipline. Thus far only one team in this contest has proven capable of doing so. If Australia adopt the "well that's just how we do it" mentality they've displayed so far they'll be playing with 13 men for some of the game.
I hope it doesn't but this might come down to which random call Garces decides to make and who it favours..........
Ben just got black carded - Death Penalty
Hey Australia could always try the tactic of running up Ford's channels. A tactic that's shown zero effectiveness at international level.Faz getting smacked in the head is deliberate - because now players aren't targeting Ford.
/tinfoil
Hey Australia could always try the tactic of running up Ford's channels. A tactic that's shown zero effectiveness at international level.
On refs, I'm ambivalent Garces is shite but England rarely get the run of the green and at best we get an even match.
Yeah but in reality Hughes is the worst carrier in the history of the international game because Faf sent him backwards in one tackle. So on the scale of 1 to 10 that puts Ford at -7. Obvious when you really put a bit of thought into it.Yeah but remember that one game where Hughes ran over him a few times in Bath vs Wasps? Clearly Ford is therefore useless in defence and Hughes has some of the best carrying ability of any international. Nothing else matters. Also Farrell is an absolutely **** kicker based on his last game and none of the other games matter.
They're better off resting their top team I reckonEarly kick off for this QF of 8.15am BST on Saturday. So better get that breakfast on in time.
Hopefully full strength England 23 for this one. Any update on Binny's ankle?
They're hardly going to get complacent in a World Cup playoff?I keep reading stuff like this but really can't see where it comes from. Maybe on paper, but utterly unproven on grass.
RWC so far. 2 minnows and 14 man Arg. Can't read anything into those. Or the warm ups that went before.
So it's back to the 6N for anything meaningful and that was a total mixed bag. Sublime against Ire, and ridiculous against Sco. The mental softness we showed v Sco and others beforehand bothers me far more than having lost a little momentum in a week off. Really not convinced how we'll react when the going gets tough. Opponents know we've shown a soft centre on a number of occasions.
TBH the Aussies best chance is to throw the first half and let us build a lead.
The English always overrate their pack, Just like their football team. The wallabies destroyed them up front 4 years ago, though I'm not sure we'll see exactly the same they should have some degree of parityThe stereotype that our pack is weak is old hat. It's just about our only strength. Solid scrum and lineout with several decent carrying options and finally an actual number 8.
Ahh crap hell sandpaper the ball, making it extra slipperyFor England to win this game they will have to stop man mountain 13......and I heard a certain Mr Steve Smith was spotted in Tokyo......
He will always deserve it, his face just reeks of English arroganceRecipient, and then everyone will say how he deserves it - again.
They're hardly going to get complacent in a World Cup playoff?
The man speaks a lot of wisdom. We are good enough to beat anyone but I can't see us maintaining the right mentality through 240 minutes of knock out rugby.Not a case of complacency. The question mark is over mental hardness, particularly the ability to manage a game when the flow starts going against them.
Bit like Andy Murray in the old days. Ultra competitive and then his head would go and he'd lose 8 games in a row and the match would either be gone or a lot more difficult than it should have been.
For me, that's the missing piece of the jigsaw. And that mental toughness was why Jones put a lot of faith in the early days in the likes of Brown and Hartley.