Rugby Union - Six Nations & Erc

My 3 teams all in the semis.
England will have to be on top form to get through.

Which Wales team will turn up? Lucky to get through and if they play anything like the performance vs France they won’t have a hope.
But I think Wales will up their game and take the Bokke from the off.

It’s going to be close but Wales vs England final.

 

We only stand a chance if we take the game to NZ. Try and soak up the pressure and they win easily. I honestly think we have hit form at just the right time and who ever wins this will go on to win the WC. Buzzing.

 

Come on England.
10-0 HT
Playing well. NZ knocked back and not so sure in line outs.
More of the same H2 pls.

 

Yes, good solid performance but could have done with a few extra points there after dominating.

40 more minutes needed.

 

Well, it certainly wasn't clear and obvious.

If we lose now, that decision will have been critical.

 

England have been excellent...All Blacks have been awful.

 

Jug ears will be seethimg at VAR if NZ get back into this.

 

Ridiculous. Absolutely dominated them, little to show for it with marginal looking TMO reviews and now giving them a try.

 

Comfortable win. The defence in particular was absolutely magnificent

 

Excellent England.
Breathtaking play by England throughout.
Pressure constantly on NZ.

TMO controversy if NZ had got back but imo the referee was excellent throughout. Played advantage, very clear in his decisions and explained to both teams exactly why he had made his decisions.
A lesson there for the EPL.

 

It's in the name TMO - Television Match Official - he's can referee the game if the onfield ref misses something - plus the TMO doesn't stop a pulsating game, so the argument that it slows down football is nonsense.

VAR is not being used correctly in the PL - simple as.

Anyway, fantastic game, game plan worked perfectly, the line speed in defence was astounding, completely disrupted the All Blacks backs - they only broke the gain line a handful of times.

The only problem now is will the final be the 'after the Lord Mayor's show'? Can they reach that level of instensity again.

Both the Springboks & Wales will be dangerous.

 

Not sure I’ve ever seen a more complete team performance (lineout error aside) in any sport, considering the game and the opposition.

Utterly incredible inspirational stuff, well done England.

 

If it wasn't for the line out error then that would have been to nil, I don't think New Zealand have never not scored in a world cup match before.

As for the two disallowed tries, the first was correct, I didn't cheer the try as at normal speed it looked like an infringement. The second was a poor decision, the ball never completely lost contact with someone, it should have stood.

That was a complete defensive display, NZ never got any space.

 

Fantastic result and performance. Enjoy it while it lasts. When Wales beat us in the final to become World Champions next weekend we will never hear the end of it and will really regret beating the ABs for them !!

 

What an excellent performance. It was stressful not knowing whether the ABs would step up to their usual quality, but mentally at the end they were shot. they had no response.

We dominated in pretty much every aspect of the game.

In the end, the score line absolutely flattered New Zealand.

 

Also I didn’t catch the replay. Was the NZ pass forward, in the play before the lineout where NZ scored their only try?

Looked like it to me.

 

It was an obvious forward pass, had they scored directly from there, TMO would have disallowed it.

 

Forward passes seem to be consistently missed. Why? The line judge was right on top of that one.

 

You guys are spot on there was a definite forward pass in the lead up to the Kiwis try, it should have been disallowed. As for our disallowed try's one was right, but the 2nd was pretty harsh and maybe should have stood IMO.

 

I think the win started before the game with the way England dealt with the Haka, shaping like a V for victory and smirking at them. I wonder why the authorities allow the Haka so much respect, it's a good spectacle, but it usually gives NZ a head psychological head start. It isn't often teams have the guts to stand up to it, but England did. Just a small thing, but I reckon it contributed to the great start we made.

To think that the All Blacks were so dominated that they scored less than Leicester City, is quite amusing.

 

I agree your thoughts on the Haka.

I vaguely remember years ago the Irish (?) decided to turn their backs on the Haka.
I also can’t remember what happened in the game but it was probably even more of a psychological point of anger for NZ and they probably smashed them.

Doesn’t work too well for Samoa tho!

 

Mixed feelings on the Wales - SA semi.
Welsh father, SA missus.

I’m going Wales as my dad would have loved to see Wales in a WC final.
Also just to keep the household tension levels high.

Come on Cymru.

 

Close again but no cigar for Wales. Attritional game. Sooo many injuries at this level.

England to win the final if they play anything like their NZ performance imho.

 

Maybe, but I read today that the players thought it was important, and that Eddie Jones suggested the actual action they took.

They seemed to think it would help.

Personally I think the players mindset has a lot to do with sporting results, but the aforementioned gesture has to be done from a position of strength, otherwise it just comes across as an empty and false.

 

The missus doesn’t have a good sense of humour imho

 

I actually went to Japan to watch the group games and travel around, which was an amazing experience.

Can I justify flying out there AGAIN for the final? Probably not...