ABs vs Poms

[Lee Grant]

Except Ashton, of course.

Well, maybe if you don't like him, but he had his best match for England in a while.

 

[boyo]

Swan-dives are dangerous: risk of an injury, knock-on, etc,

 

[mr pls]

England played a very good upfront game and did one thing every other team fails to do against the All Blacks. Beat them up front in the forwards. You can tell just by the way they were tackling that they wanted it. The All Blacks arent invincible you just have to meet them face to face and beat them at there strengths.

 

[daz]

That was one of the best performances by England in the professional era and I've seen most of them.

Before last weekend I was picking a Lions team at the minute, to do a blog, and there weren't many England 1st XV players in my Lions run on side - and not a whole lot in the Twos. But based on the All Black game by itself, I'd put all the Pom starting players last week into the touring squad.


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I agree with most of the rest of your post, Lee, but I would caution those followers of English rugby not to get too carried away. One win in a row after a few nasties does not mean world domination; if it did, the Wallabies would be in first place forever and a day.

Having said that, of all the NH teams I fear the Poms the most. Yes, we have a decent record against them and they are very inconsistent, but if they ever get their shit together more often than not, then holy hell. Look out.

They really do have some super-exciting players in that team. And I am a Lancaster fan, pure and simple.

I still want to see Ashton flop a try mid-dive, though. Just for fun.

 

[Lee Grant]

Agree daz - that's why I wrote the words "based on the All Black game by itself". I knew too much about English rugby and its national team not to put something like that in.

Having said that, it was the best game from England since they whacked the Wobs at HQ two years ago.

6N is going to be very interesting this season; not least to see if England can play to that standard again - and for more than one game in the five.

Gatland knows these England players well and won't be impressed by their contributing to just one grand team performance, but his interest will be perked. He needs players for the Lions who can contribute to a team game because such fellows will take less time to fit in with team mate strangers - and Gatland's enemy will be time.

Jonno's England team in the 2003 RWC obviously had good men in it, but they were also one of the best group of team players I have seen. For example: some of their mauls were like set pieces and even some rucks had structure. The individuals became like the cogs of a machine, who put themselves into the right place at the right time by quick reaction.

It took Woodward a few years to judge the team merit of the individuals and to assemble these players, but he got there when it mattered.

Unlike Woodward in the 2003 RWC with his national team, Gatland won't be able to assess his Lions players' compatibility with other likely Lions on the park before the tour squad is selected.

But I bet that some of the England players against the All Blacks rose higher in his estimation because of how well they played with each other.
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[Inside Shoulder]

That was one of the best performances by England in the professional era and I've seen most of them.

Before last weekend I was picking a Lions team at the minute, to do a blog, and there weren't many England 1st XV players in my Lions run on side - and not a whole lot in the Twos. But based on the All Black game by itself, I'd put all the Pom starting players last week into the touring squad.

13. Manu Tuilagi and hard man, no-frills 6. Tom Wood, had extraordinary games and young lock Joe Launchbury announced himself as a Lions candidate rather than just a fringe possibilty.

You could go through the whole team and give them each a pat on the back, even guys that have been duds, or nearly so, against Oz or the Boks - players like skipper Chris Robshaw, a true notter at 7, and 12. Brad Barritt. Young Owen Farrell, subbing for the injured Flood, had a bit of a blinder at flyhalf also. As a 10 who can play 12, he would give some value to a Lions squad also.

On the other hand the All Blacks look jaded, a bit like the Wallabies did in their last two games. You could see the signs in the second half against Wales and by all accounts there was a virus affecting the Kiwi team. It looked like it.

The Pom commentators, Miles Harrison and Stuart Barnes, were a bit bemused about the slackness of the ABs performance but warned that the scary part of the movie was about to be seen. Indeed, the Poms were 15-0 up at about 47 minutes but the Blacks ran in 2 tries in 4-5 minutes to be within range.

Instead of folding the Poms came again and defended the ABs out of the game. The Kiwis looked out on their feet; Carter was hooked and Conrad Smith had a shocker defensively - Conrad Smith !! Tuilagi was so dominant that Smith was coming out of the line to nail him and they just ran behind his heels into the gap he made.

And so on.

I've written before that NZ have played some poor rugby this year but were able to execute brilliancies 3 or 4 times in a game to turn the result.

But they couldn't at Twickenham.
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How have you managed to see the whole game Lee?


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[daz]

Sentanta Sports. It is an add on channel to the Foxtel package.

I think it costs me about $9/mth to have the channel, but it gives me shit loads of European rugby (especially the British leagues) as well as England rugby games and the 6N tournament.

 

[Lee Grant]

Exactly right daz - I spruiked the value of subscribing to Setanta a couple of years ago so much that one forum member jokingly accused me of being on commission.

For a rugby tragic it is well worth the money. You can pay on a monthly basis to give it a trial at $17 a month, but it is cheaper per month for a longer term.
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[boyo]

Just got around to watching the replay since it was exclusive to Santana Sports --

Carlos?