Wow! How did England throw that one away ??? Huge decision to not kick for the leveller...looked like Farrell took liberties there as I didn't see Robshaw making any call on it. Strange. The only thing is that England have a tremendous record against the Aussies (haven't lost in a WC since '91 to them) which bodes well going forward. The big one tomorrow anyway, Eire vs Romania
Well they where ****e in the 1st half. Just England where even worse in the 2nd half. Gonna have to beat the Aussies now to get through, which isn't gonna be easy. If we do that bonus point against Fiji could be crucial. It doesn't bode well for our chances when we can't even beat Wales on our own turf though
Comes back to the same old issues. Too much sideways and powderpuff in the rucks. 69 minutes in we have a pack going forwards in scrums and line outs, we have a rock solid pair of centres and a 10 who hasn't missed a beat all game. Lancaster then makes pre mediated subs with the opposition on the floor with injuries. Lancaster still doesn't know his go to men and was unable to trust a side that had dominated 70 minutes. This was always the risk but to throw it away with such poor decision making from the staff when in control is suicidal. There is no way on this earth that we will beat the Aussies if we can't beat that Welsh side. Sad to say but our tournament could be over in 7 days time.
The thing is you could see it coming. Poor discipline, butchered opportunities, aimless kicking (as always) and poor replacement decisions. Wales were in disarray with the injuries yet we played right into their hands by changing key positions. Shambolic and fair play to the Welsh they deserved it just through their spirit and determination.
I disagree BOS. It's all too predictable. We're not clinical enough when an opportunity arises and we continuously get on the wrong side of the ref.
Well for the first 35 mins you were the only team playing attacking stuff and for parts of the second half too. Wales forwards were shocking first half helped though, they shaped up better in the second half. Couldnt believe they turned down the chance of a draw, that was suicide. A draw wasnt the end of the World (Cup). Defeat might be!
Our discipline from the first minute wasn't good enough, considering how much we stressed the importance of it
Cheap penalties throughout though. We got in front by 10 a few times but every time within 2 minutes had given away 3 to keep them interested. Silly penalties too not saving a potential 7. The lineout option was the wrong decision mainly because our lineout isn't great. I suspect that led to the bad decision to go for the safe option at the front which gave Wales the chance to push us out. The only consolation is that I can't see any team from this group going the distance. There's 3 well matched sides and Fiji who are no mugs who will smash each other too pieces. Meanwhile the Kiwis can finish top of their group barely getting out of 2nd gear.
We keep saying discipline- is it really? Is that back row honestly good enough at the breakdown? Nowhere near the gold standard of the Southern Hemisphere.
It looks like the England Rugby team are trying to emulate the England football team and get eliminated from the World Cup at the Group stage. ITV will be sweating as the potential failure of the hosts to get through to the knockout stages would probably half viewing figures and seriously dent advertising revenues. My mate will be ecstatic: he took his son to White Hart Lane to see Spurs thrash Man Sheikhy and then got his money back (plus quite a bit more, I expect) thanks to the Taffs +8 at Twickenham. Doubtless tomorrow’s back pages will be gunning for Lancaster for failing to try for a penalty to tie the game at the end and fruitlessly trying for the win.
Although we look a hard team to gain ground against, and are good at defending against tries, scoring tries ourselves is our big problem. The amount of times we got into strong positions to score tries, but we failed to capitalise by sloppy passing. Giving away the penalties is also a huge problem
England beaten on their own soil in a WC is huge, they now stand the chance of being the first host Nation in World Cup history to not make it out of the pool stage. Early days yet though, there is a chance for redemption against Australia. Despite rolling South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina to take out the four Nations, Oz has at times look a bit frail. That too will be one hell of a game. It turns out that the idea of not taking the kick was down to Robshaw. It was a tough kick, but Farrell had potted 6 from 6 and put over a field goal as well. Even if he'd missed, Wales would have probably had to have kicked the ball back to them.
Just can't get into the union game, too much stop start with penalties and not enough try's! I think they need to reduce the points you gain for penalties in order to get teams going for a try! See when he took the 'league' man off Jamie Roberts got a bit of space which lead to the Welsh try
Yep the penalty issue has long been a problem for me too City. Five points for a try and three for a penalty is rubbish. It just promotes a negative game.
