International Rugby

[dave shelley]

At least we turned up.  If anyone's to blame its my bleedin' missus.  Had to open her mouth about no try being scored about ninety seconds before they got theirs.

[Monty]

And so a tournament that promised so much ends up with the most boring possible final.

[Proposition Joe]

Let's look on the bright side - one of NZ and SA will lose the final next week. I prefer not to think about the flipside of that.

[Risso]

That shit kick by Steward on about 75  was a turning point.

[AV84]

That's a good World Cup for England given how they've been playing recently. I genuinely thought they'd struggle to get out of their pool, and I thought they'd be well beaten tonight. South Africa just have a way of getting results though. It's rarely pretty to watch, but here they are in a final again.

It's kind of depressing to see another all Southern hemisphere final, especially with how good France and Ireland have been over the last 2 years.

[Gareth]

Game turned once Sinckler came on, scrum became a total liability.  Not to mention George throwing away 2 lineouts in excellent attacking positions.

Impressive to make it a game as I was one who expected 40+ point defeat….felt SA played down to Englands level tho…

[PaulWinch again]

Yeah it was Sinckler sadly who ultimately cost us. But a hell of a performance and they deserve immense credit.

[edgysatsuma89]

Vunipola also came on twice and was, well... a bit shit twice.

[PaulWinch again]

The important thing is we’ve shown what we need to do now. Build from it - the last 4 years have been shit. We’ve fallen away behind the likes of Ireland, France, and to a lesser extent Scotland, who have been fantastic. We need to build now, this level of performance is there. We need to add some sparkle but it can be done.

[Tony Daleys Shorts]

Gutted, hope we can build on this but yeah just gutted. Not sure about the pen at the scrum but there you go.

Hope NZ win next week.

[AV84]

The important thing is we’ve shown what we need to do now. Build from it - the last 4 years have been shit. We’ve fallen away behind the likes of Ireland, France, and to a lesser extent Scotland, who have been fantastic. We need to build now, this level of performance is there. We need to add some sparkle but it can be done.

Where do you stand on the Farrell vs Ford vs SomeoneElseEntirely issue? They'll be 36 and 34 by the next World Cup, which isn't too old by any means, but maybe it's time to look beyond either of them?

[PaulWinch again]

It’s a tricky one - Marcus Smith brings the spark to the back line - we need to find a way to integrate him. But England need to build properly over the next 4 years, discarding experience and quality along the way is just daft. Eddie Jones projected forward too much and lost his way, it’s about a gradual overhaul - at least for me.

[steamer]

well played England you had a good game plan and it almost worked
Much better team for most of the game, it was only when our scrum was boosted that we got back into the game and scored the winning try and Penalty.
Lots of youngsters in the England team so something to work with
I think the Boks are out on their feet after France and England games where the all blacks have had a bit of a stroll to the final
Can not imagine why Monty thinks it will be the most boring Final ?
Do you think Argentina England would have been the go to game ?

[Rory]

And so a tournament that promised so much ends up with the most boring possible final.

Yep. With the honourable exceptions of all you fine people, I've found the England rugby fans I've met to be some of life's biggest tossers, so I am glad that those people have been let down.

Boring final, and I won't be watching.

I'll be enjoying the mighty England cricket team instead, and our marvellous procession to a brilliant world cup defence... oh.

[Risso]

well played England you had a good game plan and it almost worked
Much better team for most of the game, it was only when our scrum was boosted that we got back into the game and scored the winning try and Penalty.
Lots of youngsters in the England team so something to work with
I think the Boks are out on their feet after France and England games where the all blacks have had a bit of a stroll to the final
Can not imagine why Monty thinks it will be the most boring Final ?
Do you think Argentina England would have been the go to game ?

Boring as in it's the two best teams in the world, rather than boring rugby, I'm guessing. Boringly predictable like Man City getting to cup finals every year.