# England (rugby) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [September 14, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223 "2007-09-14T20:33:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/1 "2007-09-14T20:33:29Z")
You’ve got 11 minutes to score **thirty four fucking points**. Fuck’s sake, at least score THREE points otherwise you will crash out for NIL! And Robinson’s off injured. You are a bunch of bumbling adolescents and South Africa are the jocks stamping on your emo hair and stealing your girlfriends. Holy shit. (I don’t even primarily support England, my allegiance having been stolen by the Emerald Isle, but it’s my nation and I’m here, so I was behind you - but… FUCK!) ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/2 "2007-09-14T20:46:10Z")
**36-0** The worst defeat for England in an international. Ever. Outrun, outplayed, outgunned. What a fucking national embarrassment. Four years ago, England held the World Cup. Today, England holds a used condom full of South African spunk. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/3 "2007-09-14T20:47:20Z")
Ook. That was just sad. ☹ And it looks like Samoa will be a challenge too now. Oh well, at least they beat the USA 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/4 "2007-09-14T20:51:53Z")
They didn’t deserve to beat the USA. And they only just did. Now Ireland’s woeful performance against Namibia doesn’t seem so bad. How humiliating. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/5 "2007-09-14T20:53:54Z")
Poor, poor Martin Corry being interviewed just then. He looked suicidal. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/6 "2007-09-14T20:58:38Z")
yah, I’m sure he was just dying to talk to the press. They did let him go pretty quick though. ---
**Author:** ![slumtrimpet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@slumtrimpet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slumtrimpet)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/7 "2007-09-14T21:02:26Z")
Jason Robinson done. And in such a crap way. Now… if I could just figure this game out… 😉 (that’s 40 years invested in trying to understand American football and I have to start all over again) ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/8 "2007-09-14T22:18:45Z")
Let’s face it, England are lost if they can’t shut the game down and just grind out penalties, especially with Jonny Wilkinson seemingly permanently sidelined: their own fault for poncing around for three and a half years humming “We are the Champions” and posing for Nike ads with David Beckham instead of wholly revamping their geriatric squad two weeks after the last World Cup. Samoa proved that it’s possible to lose to the Boks with grace and style: they were always going to go down, but they did it with all colours flying: on the strength of those matchups, Samoa are going to take England. ---
**Author:** ![Flyhalf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea5d25/32.png) [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/9 "2007-09-14T22:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] **36-0** The worst defeat for England in an international. Ever. Outrun, outplayed, outgunned. What a fucking national embarrassment. Four years ago, England held the World Cup. Today, England holds a used condom full of South African spunk. [/QUOTE] Don’t tell me you were surprised by this outcome. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/10 "2007-09-14T22:28:27Z")
[QUOTE=Flyhalf] Don’t tell me you were surprised by this outcome. [/QUOTE] Well I thought they’d lose… ---
**Author:** ![Flyhalf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea5d25/32.png) [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)\ **Post date:** [September 14, 2007, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/11 "2007-09-14T22:39:33Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] Well I thought they’d lose… [/QUOTE] Of course they were going to lose. England haven’t had a side worth a shite since '03. And all the talk about confidence, coming together, etc. for the RWC by Dallaglio and Johnson was delusion at best. I’m not busting your balls or anything, just laying it out there (and I’m not a Bok supporter either). ---
**Author:** ![Rysdad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/7cd45c/32.png) [@Rysdad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rysdad)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/12 "2007-09-15T01:07:20Z")
The US has a rugby team? Really? ---
**Author:** ![Flyhalf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ea5d25/32.png) [@Flyhalf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyhalf)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/13 "2007-09-15T01:36:37Z")
[QUOTE=Rysdad] The US has a rugby team? Really? [/QUOTE] Yes, there is a US national side (team), but most of the players are amateurs. There are a couple to a few who play professionally in Europe. ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/14 "2007-09-15T01:39:15Z")
[QUOTE=jjimm] **36-0** The worst defeat for England in an international. Ever. [/QUOTE] Well, they lost 64-22 to the All Blacks in 1998, depends on how you define “worst defeat” I guess. ---
**Author:** ![MJinks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/da6949/32.png) [@MJinks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MJinks)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/15 "2007-09-15T04:22:04Z")
There was a positive side effect… I found out that the new series of French and Saunders isn’t as woeful as the last and that ‘Not Going Out’ is still pretty funny despite the minor change in cast. Then over the C4 for for The I.T. Crowd. A good, solid, hour and a half of british comedy. At least the Football team is playing well for once… ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/16 "2007-09-15T05:39:17Z")
[QUOTE=Rysdad] The US has a rugby team? Really? [/QUOTE] Yeah. It lost to Tonga. {Although to be fair, as **Flyhalf** points out they are largely amateurs and/or Kiwi and Aussie ex-pats, and they gave the Poms a good scare early on}. ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/17 "2007-09-15T08:29:54Z")
::thinks::: Is it possible that England are lulling the opposition into a false sense of security? 😛 Anyways, the womens footie team are doing …erm…OK ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/18 "2007-09-15T09:43:25Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] ::thinks::: Is it possible that England are lulling the opposition into a false sense of security? 😛 [/QUOTE] Always a possibility. I will say that I’ve never seen a sight as sombre and subdued as a RER carriage full of England rugby fans at 11pm last night. ☹ Even the French were slightly sympathetic… :eek: (and only taunting a bit) ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/19 "2007-09-15T10:12:44Z")
Totally walloped… we didn’t get near 'em. Fair play to the Boks, they looked proper lean ‘n’ mean… but we should have put up more of a fight than that. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2007, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223/20 "2007-09-15T13:08:09Z")
Yeah, well Portugal in their first ever World Cup outing showed the Poms how the game ought to be played: they were always going to be beaten and beaten well, but they never stopped fighting; and that drop goal was a wee gem. They got 100 points stuck on them, but still they played like champions. Hats off. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/england-rugby/419223.md?page=2)