Can someone explain to me the haphazard timekeeping? In the France/South Africa game, the referee verbally stopped the clock until the scrum started to form. Likewise after a try until the kicker’s 30 second conversion window started ticking. In the England/Fiji game, the clock carried on after England’s try until Farrell’s 30 second window started. The whole process wasted over 3 minutes. Surely the ball is ‘dead’ after a try until the kicker places the ball to kick the conversion? Also, the clock ticks away in some games during multiple scrum failures when the referee insists the scrum be reformed. What is the actual rule re. stopping the clock or just letting it tick away?
I think Tam, that when the scrum is first asked to be formed it is part of open play so the clock is ticking. Once an infringement is spotted and the scrum is to be re-set, the ref can either let the clock run, or if he has to have a word with them, pause the clock from wasting time. I agree that it's a crazy system where no two games seem to have the same time keeping, something that football is dealing with when you seen over 10mins of extra time being played nowadays... The open play penalty kick is another that gets at me also as the ref only indicates the shot clock is in operation once the Captain indicates he is going to take that option. He messes around for a while, looking at what he can do before indicating the kick is to be taken. The idea of the stop clock was to stop this timewasting and i would say that once the referee blows his whistle regardless of what infringement it is the stop clock should start.
I know there’s an army of analysts these days at top level sport looking at the 1%s, the aggregated advantage of marginal gains and all that stuff. However the SA charge down of the French conversion was genius. Yes it was out wide and he may have missed anyway. But an analyst has worked out that from the start of Ramos’ kick to the point of contact they had one speed freak in their team who could get there to charge it down. They won by a single point. That SA analyst will surely have got a huge bonus for that. And all the other teams analysts were thinking f*ck why didnt we come up with that! Also reminded me of an incident way back in my brief rugby career. Playing in Stevenage for a lowly team with a very enthusiastic but hopeless rugby player as our captain. We soon conceded a try and whilst the rest of us languished behind the posts our dear skipper sprinted out on a lone mission to charge down the conversion. Sadly it didnt end so well for him. The kicker scuffed the kick low and hard, hit our skipper square on the bonce, from where it took off and sailed through the posts. It took us a good while to regain our composure after that.
Red, thanks. What p-sses me off is the weak refereeing that is so prevalent nowadays throughout many sports. VAR and ancillary officials have effectively usurped the referees’ authority.There is so much time wasting, cheating, and blatant gamesmanship in sport and, despite the referees’s so called ‘final decision,’ the referees seem powerless and make no effort to stamp it out. I remember England saving a test match against India - I think- when captain Strauss sent out drinks twice(in addition to the statutory break) in order to run the clock down so India would fail to secure victory in the few minutes remaining. Despite my patriotism, I found the umpire’s inaction unbelievable and probably the worst example of gamesmanship I had seen. I’m doubtless an ancient species of dinosaur- or a biggus dickus a la Monty Python, but I’m becoming more and more bored with the delays and idiocy of many sports. Watching my home team, Burnley F.C. recently, a feigned injury prompted both managers, many subs carrying drinks, to come onto the pitch and have quite protracted discussions. I just switched off the TV, sickened by the whole charade. My wife, Incontinentia Buttocks, agrees with me.
A fine performance by England last night. In open play they were always on top. It was just the last 30 minutes that they lost their position in set pieces: scrums and line outs. They could still have won but they didn't quite convert that dominance into points. I'm proud of them if others aren't.
Agreed, Bustino. England got their tactics spot on, especially kicking for position. Libbok’s kicking was awful for South Africa, and changing him for Pollard was crucial and ultimately decisive. Overall, England deserved to win but sad that they couldn’t score a try. I have to say that the match had less “playing time” than I have ever seen. Too many stoppages and explanations by the referee are spoiling the continuity of the game.
Best England rugby performance since WC SF 2019. Brilliant tactics to nullify the threat of SA and mitigate the wet conditions. FB Steward was superb as was any number of others. Their bench more impactful than ours and was the difference in the end. Folk who know far more about forward play than me reckoned the deciding scrum penalty was harsh. A few bounces of the ball, particularly when their FB knocked on a Farrell grubber and May just failed to gather, and outcome could have been different. Massive step up though and, hands up one I didnt think this side looked capable of. 3rd place play off holds very little interest to me. The challenge for this side is to build on this performance into 2024 6 Nations.
A bit of a strange feeling come the final whistle, initially one of disappointment, then a bit peeved then oh well, got that wrong, well played the lads.. The conditions helped massively to our game plan, and the wrong team picked by the SA's also, subbing your main man Libbock off after 30mins play isnt exactly going to plan now is it. We had two massive opportunities to pull out what would have probably been a bridge too far for the SA's, the two line outs right on the goal line was just perfect to draw a penalty in or even get over and score a try. But those efforts would cost us. The scrums played a massive part to our success but once both teams swapped their props then the tide began to turn. I'm not totally sure that some of the penalty decisions that went against us were actually our fault, both of their props looked, to me anyway, as though they were pushing inwards and not straight, but Genge and Sinkler got punished...?? Well played, can we build on this performance, time will say, but it was an improvement. The only thing i have moving forward is that we are still light years behind the French and Irish and we must look at a big dynamic pack and backs who can finish off moves and score tries given the chance... That is something we do not do, and have not done for a while now, not against the big boys anyway...
And just one more point from the final for me, Owen Farrell...!! He's obviously a huge talent, has been for a long while, and has made many an impressive appearance for England, but... I find he is a player who needs to be pushing the boundary of what is acceptable within the laws of the game, especially as a captain, and has to be that way to get the best out of himself. He seems to question each and every call the ref makes, goes out of his way to try and wind up the opposition as much as he can, back chats more than most and never seems top learn from it... I do wish he would stop the dram-queen antics, but it's obviously what he needs to do to get the very best out of himself...
A woeful pi$$ poor performance by England in a do-or-die match up where they have collapsed to a pitiful 151-9 with jus over 32 overs bowled...!!! Champions they were, losers they are now...!!!
England lost 10 wickets for 111 runs in 26 overs after being 45-0 at one stage...!!! Dog and Duck cricket at its best...
Really looking forward to the Cricket World Cup final from Ahmedabad. I was there a few weeks ago on a business trip and it really is the most amazing city (despite being in the alcohol free state of Gujarat). Biggest cricket stadium in the world too. I think India will win but the Aussies are tough and it won't be a "sire of Douvan" for them..
The two best teams made the final, both with the bat, ball and in the field, but on watching it unfold the enormity of India trying to set a score to give the Aussies a headache just eroded all confidence to the point that the only hit 11x boundaries from the last 35 overs...!! You have to give great credit to the Aussie lads who after the opening two matches were rock bottom and a bit of a laughing stock if truth be told, but they dug in deep and got what they deserved. As for the Indians, it seems that a home cup World Final just got big on them, as they had been 'the' form team of the whole competition, Kohli especially stood up to be counted. Class act that lad... But, in one off games anything can happen and did, the silence was deafening...!! Well played to the Aussies, yer gits, we'll be back soon i hope to take at least one of the three titles you currently hold...!!
I can't say that International football gets my blood flowing anymore, rugby and cricket do, but the football scene just isn't what it used to be. That's not me looking through rose tinted glasses, far from it, there just isn't any good International football teams out there anymore. But when news of Terry Venables passing came through and I started to read what a great life he lead, the teams he ran, managed and played for it invariably brought memories flooding back to the summer of '96 and quiet possibly the best England football team to watch and support since 1966. Now, that team of '66 is beyond tv replays for me, but the '96 team, well that had real superstars, some I supported, some I loathed, but that team was one hell of a team and ole El Tel was the one and only reason that it was...!! The more you read about him the more you can see that this man was revered by his peers, players, fans and clubs with each one of them benefitting from his skill as a man, tactician, player, coach and a being a damn good bloke. Another one who will be missed by many, it's just a shame that he didn't get that one thing he really deserved for his very entertaining England team, the tag of being the 1996 Euro Winners... RIP El Tel...
And also missed out on the European Cup with Barca by the tiniest of margins. A dreadful final against Steau Bucharest who played for pens from the 1st minute
As a QPR player and manager Venables is much missed. The side he crafted in the early '80s from very little was a great team to watch and especially support. They were dreadfully unlucky not to win the '82 FA Cup and back in the 1st Division in the '82/'83 they could have been near the top side if they'd had more strength in depth. He had great plans for taking over totally at QPR and making them into a big side (with plans way ahead of their time) when suddenly he was lured away to Barcelona. At Loftus Road Terry will always be be very much admired for the football his sides played.
