RWC: ENG v WAL (Twickenham): POOL A

[Quick Hands]

Besides the 'Pooper' and Folau what area's are we perceived to be stronger? I can't see any - certainly isn't our back line with how they've been playing this season.

.

You think that England backline is better than ours?

 

[dru]

Actually based on this match, there is no reason why both England and Wales can't beat us.

Besides the 'Pooper' and Folau what area's are we perceived to be stronger? I can't see any - certainly isn't our back line with how they've been playing this season.

Both games are going to be to close.

Seb, you may well prove right but if we were ever to go far we needed to be in a position to push past both England and Wales. I don't agree that Wales have a reasonable shot at us. Injury problems just too much.

Not so much the areas that we ARE better than Enhland, but the areas I expect us to be better:
Scrum
Back movements.
Turn overs.
Rucks.
Hitting the advantage line.
Line Out, for as long as Simmons calls it anyway.
Half.
Aerial ability.

Areas I expect approx parity:
Mauls Attacking.

Areas I expect England to be better:
Discipline (that's a worry)
Line Outs (when Simmons is not on the field)
Pick and go
Maul defence (parity if Skelton is on and fired up)
Kicking in play
Kicking for points.

If I am close, the team that dictates how the game is played will win.

 

[Groucho]

So you must be "Cousin Blue"?!!

Him and the rest of the Welsh population.

Bless 'em all on this beautiful day.

 

[Pfitzy]

well if that shot was available wtf didn't they pass it on to ref?

Wouldn't matter - Garces is a knob end. The French refs are taught to just penalise the team NOT going forward, even if that forward involves a lot of sideways.

Note: Wales got penalised on their own feed because the AR - 50 metres away - called red for a poor bind. And he was right, but if Wales had taken a step forward it might have been a different outcome.

But let's worry about Los Teros tonight before getting into any of that shit. England have a week to sit in the hall of mirrors and I'm thinking they will pick their biggest, fattest forward pack and best kicking 10, and just try to smash us.

Well played Wales.

 

[Groucho]

I guess the English media have by now divided into two camps:

The ones getting up Robshaw for not taking the three, thereby costing England a World Cup, and

The ones waiting for England to exit the Cup before getting up Robshaw for not taking the three, thereby costing England a World Cup.

Nah, scapegoats are animals found mainly in the southern hemisphere.

They're bemoaning the lack of subsequent execution by a side that feels it has the world's strongest setpiece.

 

[Mr Doug]

Him and the rest of the Welsh population.

Bless 'em all on this beautiful day.

Couldn't have said it better myself, Groucho.

I haven't seen many posts from our English friends since the full-time whistle blew. As it is now 5:45 am in London, they will be rising soon to face the 'gloom', (aka 'reality')!!

 

[Lorenzo]

You think that England backline is better than ours?

If the Wallaby backline is Genia Foley Giteau TK Horne Folau AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) then they have played exactly one test together.......against Fiji.......and they couldn't muster up a try.......

 

[galumay]

Well I was really thinking we were going to end up with a draw there, which would have oboviously been the best possible of results for us, but the Poms chose to go for the points. A weird choice given they hadnt threatened the try line for about 60 minutes, and had kicked all points on offer.

I guess it makes sense in the overall pool sense, the bonus point against fiji was useless if they only got a draw here, the importance of keeping winning is greater in this pool than the others, still it was a bit all or nothing.

Other than the closeness of the score, and the fact the soap dodgers lost, it was an awful game. Either of those teams play that badly they will be soundly beaten by the Wobblies. Gave me a lot more confidence about our exit from this group.

It had more kicking than an AFL game, except that it was directionless, poorly executed and nearly always the wrong option. Izzy will tear them a new one if they try that tactic again. It was actually worse than the wobblies at their worst from a kicking perspective.

Well, except for the place kicks.

 

[ChargerWA]

Garces was horrible.

He let Wales sack 3 rolling mauls illegally. He called penalties for not rolling away as soon as the tackle hit the ground and the way he let Marler bore in I hear the Seattle aqueduct planners have expressed interest in his services.

Wales definitely got the rub of the green, which I'm pretty happy about because ABE, but England would have a right to feel a little hard done by.

 

[ChargerWA]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wales lose to Fiji, Aus lose to England but beat Wales.

In that scenario were likely to finish 3rd.

 

[Quick Hands]

If the Wallaby backline is Genia Foley Giteau TK Horne Folau AAC (Adam Ashley-Cooper) then they have played exactly one test together...against Fiji...and they couldn't muster up a try...

You're making a big assumption there about the makeup of the backline.

If you take Genai and Giteau out of the lineup that you've named, then the other 5 have played a lot of successful rugby together and Genia is at best 50/50 to start and Giteau probably less than that.

 

[Lorenzo]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wales lose to Fiji, Aus lose to England but beat Wales.

In that scenario were likely to finish 3rd.

This would require wales to score 4 tries against fiji and australia and lost both by 7 or less, and would also require Australia to not pickup a bp against Uruguay or England...

 

[Lorenzo]

You're making a big assumption there about the makeup of the backline.

If you take Genai and Giteau out of the lineup that you've named, then the other 5 have played a lot of successful rugby together and Genia is at best 50/50 to start and Giteau probably less than that.

So we don't even know who our best halves are? I dont think think it should be surprising that someone would rank another backline as being better than ours.

 

[The Snout]

England are done. If ever there was a team trading on past glory it's this one.
Winning 2003 WC and a win against NZ back in 2012 or whenever it was, somehow has it in their heads that because they are also hosting the tournament that will somehow see them through to the final untouched Harry Potter style.

Sink Low Sweet Chariot.

Burgess needed an extra year and he might be useful, he reminds me to Tahu when he came over from the NRL, never really figured out defending and alignment/realignment in Union. The fact Burgess even got a run says how the English really had no solid centre pairing.

The scrum bores in at more angles than a John Holmes movie. If the ref even gives half a shit about the laws a disciplined scrum from Team Gold should see that one trick pony off.

As for pressure next week. Wasn't really much for the English to take out of the last 5 minutes against Wales in how to handle pressure and execute was there ?

England will play Thugby against us next week. We need to play our own game, up tempo, turn them around, make them run side to side. Don't piss our pants and we will win, we are the better team right now, beat SA and NZ recently.

Oh and great win to Wales. Games aren't just about stats, some at the death are about belief and heart.

Fuck cautious optimism and hope, go Wallabies, the group is there to be won, sack up and take it.

 

[Cardiffblue]

With the double points, Wales are officially the number 2 team in the world right now!

Holy shit. Don't think we've ever been #2. 9th in Fifa rankings too. I feel giddy at such heights!

 

[Cardiffblue]

Obviously the games will be close and of course there is no reason why either England, Wales or both couldn't beat Australia.

What should give us some confidence is that England played an England text book game and still lost to a team severely weakened by injury. Wales will be injury weakened, we won't know the extent of it until we get to play them in a couple of weeks.

We play better injured! You wanna hope we don't get more

 

[Cardiffblue]

England are done. If ever there was a team trading on past glory it's this one.
Winning 2003 WC and a win against NZ back in 2012 or whenever it was, somehow has it in their heads that because they are also hosting the tournament that will somehow see them through to the final untouched Harry Potter style.

Sink Low Sweet Chariot.

Burgess needed an extra year and he might be useful, he reminds me to Tahu when he came over from the NRL, never really figured out defending and alignment/realignment in Union. The fact Burgess even got a run says how the English really had no solid centre pairing.

The scrum bores in at more angles than a John Holmes movie. If the ref even gives half a shit about the laws a disciplined scrum from Team Gold should see that one trick pony off.

As for pressure next week. Wasn't really much for the English to take out of the last 5 minutes against Wales in how to handle pressure and execute was there ?

England will play Thugby against us next week. We need to play our own game, up tempo, turn them around, make them run side to side. Don't piss our pants and we will win, we are the better team right now, beat SA and NZ recently.

Oh and great win to Wales. Games aren't just about stats, some at the death are about belief and heart.

Fuck cautious optimism and hope, go Wallabies, the group is there to be won, sack up and take it.

I'll lend you a gnome

 

[The Snout]

I'll lend you a gnome

2003 England beat Australia in Australia for the Cup
2015 Australia beat England in England to send them out.

"...Today I settled all family business... " - Godfather

Next week Australia settle family business.

 

[Groucho]

This makes the England match a must-win, basically.

You can put us and England on 9 and 11 points as both will earn a bp against Uruguay.

Wales will get to 13 at least and maybe 15 depending on bp earned against Fiji and us.

We will have a hard time getting to 15 if we lose to England.

We will know more after Wales play Fiji, obviously.

Nah, there are plenty of permutations where we go through if we lose to England. In that case our main danger is now Wales.

Wales not getting a BP today is therefore good news. Remember that if we beat Wales and are tied on the table, we go through.

England is a must-win for topping the pool, obviously, but that was always the case.

 

[Groucho]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wales lose to Fiji, Aus lose to England but beat Wales.

In that scenario were likely to finish 3rd.

I'd be very surprised in we finished third in that scenario. Wales and Fiji would both be on two wins, and we'd be on three wins. We'd have to score no BPs at all for Wales to be able to overtake us, and Fiji wouldn't be able to.

Are there any more unlikely future disasters for us to fret over? How about Millenium Stadium being struck by Pluto?

If that happens, I blame Robbie Deans.