[RWC2019][The Final] England vs. South Africa (02/11/2019)

[TRF_heineken]

2007 was essentially a cripple fight, nobody was any good.

And Cueto's foot was out!

That 2007 WC is the perfect example of how differently teams play pool stages and playoff matches. In the Pools JP Petersen and Fourie Du Preez made the English team look like amateurs and in the Final it was a kick-fest. It's not going to change.

@Jer1cho - Faf is a confidence player. When he's confident, he plays great, when his confidence is down, he plays crappy. That was also evident in this World Cup, actually this whole year.

But what Faf is doing very well, which a lot of teams perhaps didn't look at, is his defence. Him being a constant nuisance around the breakdowns, rushing the scrumhalf and the the flyhalf as much as possible. England did the same thing against NZ, although it wasn't Youngs that did the rushing.

 

[Hydraulxx]

a toe in touch still means Cueto is in touch

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

#justice4cueto

 

[Jer1cho]

#justoe4cueto

 

[Bull]

Never forget

 

[TRF_heineken]

Garces has announced that he will retire after the World Cup.

 

[ncurd]

And Cueto's foot was out!

That 2007 WC is the perfect example of how differently teams play pool stages and playoff matches. In the Pools JP Petersen and Fourie Du Preez made the English team look like amateurs and in the Final it was a kick-fest. It's not going to change.

I'm referring to 2007 as a whole, don't think any team can claim to have vintage team.

SA want a kick fest, they want to tighten up the game. England have to resist every urge to do so and I don't think they will. If they get into an arm wrestle it will be because SA have forced them into it not because that's the tactics they want to play. Based on form SA only win if the game is tight get it free flowing and England win.

We all know what going to happen England are going to go out all guns blazing, SA are going to have defend like gods (they can do it) and stop England from getting on the scorecard within the first 20 mins. Once that initial phase is done we'll have some idea if this will a tight match or not.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Never forget

Fake shoes

 

[TRF_heineken]

I'm referring to 2007 as a whole, don't think any team can claim to have vintage team.

SA want a kick fest, they want to tighten up the game. England have to resist every urge to do so and I don't think they will. If they get into an arm wrestle it will be because SA have forced them into it not because that's the tactics they want to play. Based on form SA only win if the game is tight get it free flowing and England win.

We all know what going to happen England are going to go out all guns blazing, SA are going to have defend like gods (they can do it) and stop England from getting on the scorecard within the first 20 mins. Once that initial phase is done we'll have some idea if this will a tight match or not.

That's exactly what Johnny Wilkinson said.

But based on the NZ, Italy, Canada and Japan game, that's precisely what SA did in the first 20 minutes. If both teams do this, then we could see some fireworks...

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

I'm referring to 2007 as a whole, don't think any team can claim to have vintage team.

SA want a kick fest, they want to tighten up the game. England have to resist every urge to do so and I don't think they will. If they get into an arm wrestle it will be because SA have forced them into it not because that's the tactics they want to play. Based on form SA only win if the game is tight get it free flowing and England win.

We all know what going to happen England are going to go out all guns blazing, SA are going to have defend like gods (they can do it) and stop England from getting on the scorecard within the first 20 mins. Once that initial phase is done we'll have some idea if this will a tight match or not.

SA like to start guns blazing as well. It might be the shoe is on the other foot. I'm not convinced SA doesn't win an open game. Our scrambling defense is good so England will have to watch from where they attack if they are going to play fast and loose (if that is what you are saying?) and we have a few players that will revel in space. Its exactly our structured and phased attack that has been failing.

Pointless trying to crystal ball. I for one don't take into account form. trying to not take the referees into account. I think we'll have to see but there have been so many remarks already someone is going to be largely right.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

#justoe4cueto

Nice.

 

[TRF_heineken]

SA like to start guns blazing as well. It might be the shoe is on the other foot. I'm not convinced SA doesn't win an open game. Our scrambling defense is good so England will have to watch from where they attack if they are going to play fast and loose (if that is what you are saying?) and we have a few players that will revel in space. Its exactly our structured and phased attack that has been failing.

Pointless trying to crystal ball. I for one don't take into account form. trying to not take the referees into account. I think we'll have to see but there have been so many remarks already someone is going to be largely right.

Yeah I also don't buy that crap that we won't be able to be effective on Broken play. Last year when England toured us, that was how we scored most of our tries. Remember RG Snyman's run?

And what was our downfall in those matches was our wingers shooting up too quickly and giving England the overlap out wide. Well I think we have improved a lot in that area, plus we have other wingers playing too (apart from Nkosi).

 

[User1245]

The legend Joost with a young Faf de Klerk

The legend Schalk Burger with a young Siya Kolisi.

I believe both Faf and Siya will replicate the achievements of these legends!

 

[ncurd]

The reality is in a combined team of last week starting 15 who out the backs would be selected?

Faf and le Roux. You'd definitely take Ford, Farrell, Manu, May & Watson over their SA counterparts.

Then when you get to the forwards, Englands front row do things no fatty has any right to do. With Billy being a great option at 8.


Look its not dismissing SA capability I just think on paper England's is better.

 

[Jer1cho]

Look its not dismissing SA capability I just think on paper England's is better.

Good thing the final will be played on grass and not on paper then.

 

[ncurd]

Good thing the final will be played on grass and not on paper then.

Yeah and when they play on grass we can stop speculating and enjoy the match. Until then paper comparison is all we have.

 

[TRF_heineken]

The reality is in a combined team of last week starting 15 who out the backs would be selected?

Faf and le Roux. You'd definitely take Ford, Farrell, Manu, May & Watson over their SA counterparts.

Then when you get to the forwards, Englands front row do things no fatty has any right to do. With Billy being a great option at 8.


Look its not dismissing SA capability I just think on paper England's is better.

Yeah yeah, we are just kak from start to finish. write us off.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

The legend Schalk Burger with a young Siya Kolisi.

A young Boris Johnson

Yeah yeah, we are just kak from start to finish. write us off.

 

[Jer1cho]

Yeah and when they play on grass we can stop speculating and enjoy the match. Until then paper comparison is all we have.

Yeah you have the backs, even though I think De Allende has been better than Farrel, and Kolbe is also right up there. We have the best tight 5 in the world, and our loosies are no pushovers, even though everyone is one the England back row bandwagon. I definitely think England have the better side overall, make no mistake, but the way some people are speaking it's as if it's men against boys. Which I disagree with.

 

[SomeOke]

Basically it's going to come down to whether Willie and Faf can find some form, Faf with the boot and Willie in general.
We will be implementing our territorial game plan, it's just a matter of how well we can manage to execute it with our current generals.

Nothing wrong with Pollard as far as I'm concerned, good tactical kicker, good defensively, and has a surprisingly strong running game, he's worth a try or two, wouldn't be surprised to see him on the try scoring sheet this weekend.

England definitely favourites, they just have a more diverse game plan and fewer weaknesses, but as I said, perfect execution from the Bokke could do it (and perhaps an off day for the English).

I don't think our backs are bad, we just tactically don't use them much, both our wingers are pretty deadly in space.