Clearly a thread that should have been started over a month ago and deserves a bit more by way if an OP but for now…
France v South Africa eh? Bloody hell.
Well, that was a nail-biter for sure.
The Wallabies early exit was the cause of short-lived angst (because Union is driving itself to being intractably 5th ranked of the AUS winter codes) but will be small beer when the AUS cricket team similarly underachieve expectations (which were overly optimistic in both cases)
For c.70 minutes I was pretty sure France were going to make it. Incredible work from the Books to first stop them stretching their lead, and then inch ahead.
A shame if Australia are going to drop out of the top tier international rugby, but also very very funny to see Eddie Jones fall flat on his face.
We’ve had two cracking quarter finals that came down to the wire, and which really should have been semis.
On the other half of the draw, we’ve got a creaking England that were lucky to squeeze past Fiji, and Argentina who burgled a win vs a tired looking Wales (and who got pumped by England earlier on).
If, by some miracle, either of these latter teams get through to the final, it will be both a travesty and hilarious.
Can’t help but be gutted for Ireland, who have been playing an amazing class of rugby for the past couple of years, and did in their QF, and still couldn’t get over the line. They likely won’t have a better chance at the WC.
With France having made a 50m break and then been turned over, I thought it was a strange decision by SA to kick the ball back with a minute to go. But they made it work for them, though a friend of mine feels they were lucky not to be penalised several times at the breakdown.
I agree about the obvious difference in quality between the two games on both days, betting against a NZ/SA final would be brave.
It certainly looks nailed-on for a SA/NZ final but of course any team can have an off-day.
England utterly pummelled NZ in the semi in 2019, playing pretty much flawless rugby and yet completely forgot to turn up for the final the following week. Funny thing sport.
This is looking like a good shout. England 2 steps above their form so far, SA 2 steps below.
They’ve been clinical I must say. Much more so than they’ve been so far. Really good kicking and top work at the breakdown. Generally good decision-making (which makes a change).
No dazzling rugby though, and still a long way to go.
I’m watching this in a hotel in Bologna with Italian TV and my son for guidance so my biased opinion may be way off.
England are doing a good job of denying SA space and time, and SA are knackered from their (amazingly intense) QF against France last week. And also beginning to panic.
French police currently investigating a robbery.
Fuck, that was close…
Oh man, that was painful. My commiserations to the real England fans.
That was much closer than I expected, which makes it harder to take. South Africa lucky to have a couple of late decisions go their way? Specifically, the final scrum penalty, and then potentially infringing at the breakdown right at the end.
Sad to see but I am an England supporter in the Rugby. Atrocious conditions, so I guess it came down to who ever screwed up the least. SA also destroyed them in the scrum, so although there may have been a few sketchy calls the power of the SA scrum forced so many penalties, well it seemed that way, it was going to break their way I guess.
Not being able to score a try doesn’t help either.
Anyway for 3rd place game I am pretty sure England will turn up, not sure if Argentina will. Final , NZ by a lot.
If England had won, the final would have been NZ by a lot a lot.
This is the essence of it. England shut down SA’s attack really well, but never looked like breaking through themselves.
Sure, we could’ve won by playing that tight, disciplined rugby but we will need a running game and some line-breakers to make a lasting impression. (having Smith fit might have made a difference but then I don’t know if they can play that stranglehold rugby with him in there as well).
In short, we’ve shown that the squad can be far from a shambles and if we can unlock some expansiveness then we’re in with a shout against anyone.
I do give the team full marks for a well-thought out plan and good execution but, though it pains me, I always thought that a combination of NZ/SA/FR/IRE were going to be ones left standing.
Could be cracker next week, far too close to call.
Yes, the last 20 minutes is where that scrum power started to tell. You could feel it coming. As you say, too many penalties given away.
The scrum isn’t really something that can be fixed on the pitch once it starts to wobble and I think it has been a weakness of ours for some time and really needs attention.
Some damning stats from the Guardian:
Certainly not the rugby itself. Stylistically, the gulf between England and the very best in the world has rarely been wider. England kicked away 93% of their possession on Saturday night, and spent a total of 73 seconds in the South Africa 22. They registered the slowest ruck speed of the entire tournament (narrowly beating the record mark they set against Samoa). It was the first time at this World Cup that a team played an entire match without registering a single line break.
Obviously, this is a strategy that can work, if you can simply not concede a try against world class opponents. But it’s not a strategy that will produce long-term success or, as the article goes on to say, any great enthusiasm for the sport of rugby union.