England very strong in the first half. No real NZ chances at all and that is unusual.
Unfortunately the try was correctly ruled out, thought so at first glance.
Still, only a 10 pint lead, not comfortable at all.
Try assist to the England #2 for the All Black try
Whew. Two tries disallowed, gave away the softest of soft scores just when they looked to have the game under control. kept waiting for the All Blacks to take it away and they never did. The England defence was massive.
Our Pommie mates on the SD have every reason to be roundly obnoxious in the wake of that effort.
Well, isn’t that a thing…
Phew. Blimey. Am exhausted.
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As a Saracens* and England supporter I’m extremely chuffed, but there’s no need to be unpleasant. 
England were superb against a world-class side (who have had a magnificent run of results.)
Amazingly the All Blacks’ only score came from an English mistake - the score could easily have been 19-0. :eek:
*7 of our club players in the England squad!
Shame it wasn’t the final. Also a shame that yesterday I backed NZ at 5/6 to win the trophy. Ah well, money well spent I suppose. Won’t be doing it again - hedging against your own team might make sense emotionally in theory, but in practice I was just uncomfortable for the entire game.
Was a pretty comprehensive display. The AB’s had three sorties into the England 22 in total apparently. Had it been 25-0 I don’t think it would have been an unfair reflection. I don’t think I’ve seen such a controlled and disciplined England display since the run-up to 2003.
All that is great of course but nothing is won yet. Roll on next week but I have no idea who I’d prefer we face.
Wow it’s been a while since any All Black team has been so utterly dominated. Hugely impressive from England. Their forwards were outstanding and ruled the set pieces pretty much from start to finish. England controlled virtually the entire game and the All Blacks had no answers.
By my count England missed two penalties and a drop goal, as well. Very well could’ve been 28 - 0. But 19 - 7’ll do.
I’m relatively new to rugby but it was obvious which was the better team today. And actually, one of the commentators mentioned something about England being the hungrier of the two teams with the All Blacks having come in as two-time defending champions and with their early ouster at home 4 years ago still sticking in England’s craw. Whatever the case, excellent play by England - I’ll be pulling for them in the Final!
Yeah, England definitely the better team in the first semi-final. I’m not much of a prognosticator, it seems, because while I thought that England were better than Australia last week, I didn’t think they’d have what it takes to beat the All Blacks. But their forwards were incredible, and never let New Zealand into the game. The All Blacks didn’t help themselves by missing more tackles in the first half of play than they normally miss in five or ten games, but many of the Kiwis’ mistakes were caused by incredible pressure from England. This guy is going to have to get his tattoo fixed.
The second semi wasn’t exactly pretty, but the result was a fair indication of the game. I was hoping that Wales could overcome the Springboks, partly because it would be epic to see England and Wales against one another in a World Cup final - a real local grudge match. As it is, we’ve got two incredibly good forward packs going against one another. I don’t think it’s going to be a very high-scoring affair. I think England will win it.
Just wanted to bring up this quote from back on the first page.
I think, no matter what happens next weekend, it’s clear that Eddie Jones has been completely vindicated. There were plenty of people criticizing his team selections all through the tournament, including for the semi-final, where he was roasted by a number of former England players and some commentators for going with Ford over Farrell at stand-off. But Ford played great, and Jones has to get credit for his management of the team and his game plans throughout the tournament.
Yes. Wales missed Liam Williams, but they fell into the trap of trying to match the Springboks’ kick-and-smash game without quite having the muscle to do it. South Africa got away with some poor kick-chases and flat-out bad kicking because both back lines were playing a defensive territory game and the Boks were slowly winning up front.
That said. Wales will be kicking themselves for letting through de Allende’s try - it was a real nothing shot with the penalty already given and they just fell off the tackles.
Agreed, those comments baffled me seeing as it hasn’t been a purely 15-man team for a long, long time. All this talk of “finishers” and powerful benches means you have to manage the full squad.
Incidentally. My little boy thinks Faf de Klerk is brilliant and has taken to calling him “The Little Guy”. The pan across the team for the national anthem was hilarious. I knew I’d seen something similar before. (see 45 seconds in)
South Africa will be bulletproof I’m sure but if England can play like they did against NZ I don’t think a sound scrum and kicking will be enough.
Still, one-off game and anything can happen. I’d put it 60-40 to England.
The way both teams have been looking, I think you’re right.
I thought everybody loves Faf? Here’s six minutes of him monstering dudes for you.
Nobody who has ever played rugby likes scrum halves :).
I thought the second semi was as poor as the first one was good. Both teams had plenty of bad kicks, which often weren’t punished. England will know exactly what they need to focus on in training this week. If England and SA both play like they did last weekend, the result is a foregone conclusion, but naturally that won’t be the case. England are favourites, but then again they were big underdogs last time out, so I’m counting no chickens at all.
Well the All Blacks won the game no one wants to play in.
Roll on the big final!