Rugby Union 2012/13

[cheltenhamlion]

Vunipola in the bin for a stupid challenge. Savea in with 5 minutes left. 38-21.

[cheltenhamlion]

England win! 38-21. Fabulous performance.

[PaulWinch again]

That was incredible and it also showed the backline didn't lack talent(like I thought) it was confidence. Once they starting scoring the passing became sharp(Farrell) and the lines that were run were brilliant. Magnificent performance.

[Proposition Joe]

I never saw that coming!  Awesome.

[JD]

Brilliant win. I love living in New Zealand after results like this as I get sick of hearing how great the All Blacks are all the time (it's like living with a whole population of Manure fans at times).   

[nordenvillain]

Now That's What I Call Rugby ! In a bit like the Villa at the moment, we have an England team that are growing up together. I wouldn't have gven Man of the Match to Tom Wood - I would have given it to the whole team. Rugby is not like football where 1 player can have a huge effect on a game, the interaction between the forwards and the backs leads to a team victory in the modern era - The days of a trundling pack of forwards winning a game are thankfully over. Another huge factor in England's victory was George Clancy, the referee. He did not fall for the All Blacks, and in particular Richie McCaw, sealing off the ball at the breakdown and just plainly being in offside positions or entering rucks straight from the side. Owen Farrell had his best game for England, but the introduction of Freddie Burns saw one of the best miss passes I have seen for some time stright into the recipient's 'bread basket' not to his shoulders leaving a big target or his knees leaving no latitude for the player to make serious yardage. We still have Ben Foden and Dylan Hartley amongst others for instance easing their ways back after injury and George Ford who I think will be England's number 10 inside 18 months to come into the squad. And that is the reality, England are building a squad and have a coach in Stuart Lancaster that understands and can relate to players in that well liked teacher, that he is, way. Roll on the 6 Nations !

P.S I was gutted to see that Wales had lost in the last minute to continue a losing run of 7 games - Amazing how quiet the Welsh are after crowing from the highest roofs about last season's Grand Slam when they were extremely lucky to win at Twickenham.

P.P.S Quiz question for the future or "What Happened Next" on Qurstion of Sport - Has there ever been a previous occcasion when one international captain's partner sang the the other team's national anthem before a game like Camilla Kerslake, partner of Chris Robshaw, did in singing the New Zealand national anthem yesterday ? Turns out her dad is a Kiwi !

[lovejoy]

I think the ABs were off their game and whilst England took advantage well, the concern is that this game was a flash in the pan rather than the South Africa and Australia ones.

[paul_e]

Really good performance.  This front 5 is immense and wood is an exceptional talent (give him a run of 10 caps without injuries, etc and he'll be the best 6 in the world).  Morgan and Robshaw both played really well too which led to us bossing it in the set pieces and in the tight.

1st half was very much as expected, Farrell kicking points at every opportunity but us not really looking like getting tries, but being solid defensively, combined with a poor all blacks performance gave us meant that was really valuable.  2nd half started the same way and I think no score from the ABs would've seen us grind it out.  However when they got back in to it we did the unexpected and started looking to draw the tackles and make space for each other.  Manu in particular played in a way I've never seen before, looking to get the ball away and the timings of passing was much better, with us making sure the tackler was committed every time.

Burns gave a glimpse of how good this side could be with a more progressive 10 and needs a lot more game time in the 6N to show if he can deliver.

I reckon I need to back down  a little on the criticism of Mike Brown, who played superbly yesterday.

[nordenvillain]

I think the ABs were off their game and whilst England took advantage well, the concern is that this game was a flash in the pan rather than the South Africa and Australia ones.

England could and should have won both the Australia and South Africa games. Better decision making and ball retention should have seen us win both games. Let's be honest, the Springboks try was a fluke. Whilst accepting that the AB's did not play to their full abbilities, England did not allow them the space to, played what was in front of them as they say and I reiterate George Clancey refereed the game very well in not allowing the AB's to seal off the ball at the breakdown and enter rucks illegally. Richie McCaw did not know what to say to the referee - He could hardly complain that the referee wasn't allowing him to be on the 'wrong side' of rucks !

[PaulWinch again]

I don't think that was a flash in the pan performance more a coming of age. You could see the confidence of the players when they realised they could do it. Once he settled Farrell was superb in every facet of the game as well. I don't think people should underestimate that's one of the greatest results in the history of the game. Just listen to Hansen talk about England, he rates us very highly.

[Dave Summers]

Negatives :  What a thoroughly depressing set of backs that is?.  It has got very little going for it in my eyes and I can't quite believe we have gone through the entire Autumn series and picked Barritt and Tuilagi every single game?. 

This team is set up, in a McLeish type way, of damage limitation and going out there not too lose, as opposed to trying to win.  If Farrell is the answer then goodness only knows what the question is.  He can't get a game at 10 for Sarries, so why in heavens name is he being picked in that position for England?.  Ashton and Brown may as well come and sit with me in the North Stand, because I have as much chance of getting a pass as them




Well I go that right from last week?.  I have absolutely no idea where that came from but it was absolutely stunning.  I felt priveliged to have been at Twickenham on Saturday and to think when I woke up, I wished I could have been 5/6 miles away at Loftus Road instead.

We now have a set of forwards that can take on and beat any other pack in the world and that's come from the whole of the Autumn series.  We have the likes of Hartley, Lawes, Haskell and Croft to come back in to the eight that played on Saturday which gives us some interesting picks for the 6 Nations.

I've been eating large helpings of humble pie since Saturday on the subject of Farrell, Barritt and Tuilagi.  What can I say?  The two centres totally proved me wrong, although they nearly messed up Barritt's try and Farrell's game management was outstanding. 

It's one thing to beat New Zealand but quite another to smash them as we did on Saturday.  Congratulations to every player and all the backroom staff and to agree with CL above, yes the crowd were bang at it.  It's the best atmosphere I have ever experienced at Twickenham.

And so ends a fantastic sporting 2012.  I was lucky enough to see 3 Gold medals for GB in person at the Olympics and then last Saturday put the cherry on top of the icing on top of the cake.  Probably won't get any better than this :-)

[PaulWinch again]

Australia and Wales in World Cup, gonna be tough.

[Dave Summers]

Australia and Wales in World Cup, gonna be tough.

And in all probability Fiji as well.  I'm glad we are at home for this World Cup as I wouldn't fancy that pool on neutral territory.  It's crucial to see which side of the draw we are on from the Quarters, should we get there, as well.  If we play the French group with Ireland in it, then probably won't matter if we finish top or not as they are equally tough.

Was hoping for France and Tonga I must admit. However, let's hope last Saturday is the start of a resurgence for England Rugby and it won't matter who the hell we play come 2015

[PaulWinch again]

It might be useful though. I still get the feeling part of our problem at the last World Cup was because we never got going, as we didn't have massive games in the pool. We played Scotland and Argentina, which whilst tricky we were expected to win. The pool for the next World Cup will mean we're straight into hard competetive matches.

[PaulWinch again]

I see the Welsh want to play the game against us at the Millenium. Forget that, they're the lower seeds so we should play at home.