As a casual viewer it is so hard to understand the scrums, feels like guess work from the refs
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
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We are completely broken. Have to hope for that NZ terrible discipline.
Having said that, we always kak ourselves in semis. Maybe it was another one of those
To be fair to England it was a great underdog performance from the 5th best team in the northern hemisphereCould be worse - could be a generation who's best performances were in a quarter final they lost instead of 2 semi-finals - one of which they won.
I hate scrums in modern rugby. Make no sense to me. Lock in, both teams go down. Penalty
At this point all I know is SA wins the scrum every single time.
Was just coming in here to tag you mate. Don’t think we deserved that, which says it all. Great effort and very unlucky man. There’s no consolation prizes in this game but your boys should be proud.
I was telling everyone to stop thinking this game was a foregone conclusion and until that Pollard kick I was not expecting us to win this. You guys played your hearts out and definitely were the better team for most of the game.
Yeah the officiating was poor today, no 2 ways about that.
Just hope it doesn't have any hand in the final game.
And the refs seemingly tosses a coin to decide who gets the penalty
Well done. You definitely outwitted the tactical ‘master’ rassie.
What’s your views on the final? I think we look absolutely broken, bodies are shattered. The only thing is this game wasn’t a slobber knocker, so maybe we will be ok
You are welcome.
It's probably the first time in my life that I genuinely dislike a ref, there is no explanation for so many of his decisions. How can this ref be the one that sanctioned France scrum very quickly last week but gave both teams an eternity to sort themselves out today, he was also incredibly lenient with SA last week at the end of the game for no reason and wasted a lot of the clock. His advantages are inconsistent, he can't spot a knock on to save his life or crooked line-out, being onside for SA seems to be optional.
I'm an english hater when it comes to Rugby but that second half was dubious from the ref.
You think?!?
Didn’t watch the game but can imagine that’s a very tough one to take for England. Especially when I’ve just been told that they were both leading on the scoreline and looking the better team in large spells of that game.
They've been the best team in the world for most of that period. I'm not saying they're not good, just that saying the other 3 and a half years don't count and one tournament does (as the original poster did) is rubbish.
It is but Brazil have been the most successful in the world cup since the 50s. NZ won the first and then couldn't win it until they were next the hosts. It shows that you can be brilliant and still struggle in one tournament.
SA didn't lead until about the 75th minute.
Never say die attitude. Pollard, Nche and Snyman were incredible off the bench. Not the best game of rugby but onto the final we go. Commiserations to England, they were excellent for most of the game.
Far and Pollard have to come in for the final.
Far and Pollard have to come in for the final.
Horrible match to watch. Fair play to South Africa. Thought you were going out. Great character to find a way to win. I really hope the conditions are better in the final. Be a terrible shame if a great competition doesn’t have at least one more really high quality game.
Yeah no, I think we have to make it a war of attrition again. libbok and Reinach can't start it, we will be so far behind by the time Pollard and Faf come on.
Even then, like you said, we so broken, our defense will have a massive battle to keep NZ forwards at bay.
I thought tonight was a free hit but to be 15-6 up and still be leading for 78 minutes and then lose does hurt. But, considering where they were 3 months ago, England have done themselves proud.
I'm not too sure what to make of that. A strange game, that was. Complain about O'Keefe as much as we like but England did have their chances to finish the game off and they didn't take them. That said, on the balance of the game I don't think South Africa deserved to win that.
Yeah no to trail for 75 mins. It speaks volumes on how England couldn't close the game off, but that SA were poor and got super lucky while getting some critical decisions go their way to get over the line.
Our coach needs to utilise the squad otherwise we won't beat NZ.
Here Here!
I’d say our best performance this tournament was beating South Africa actually. Either that or annihilating Scotland. You see not all of the group games for 6N teams were against cannon fodder.Could be worse - could be a generation who's best performances were in a quarter final they lost instead of 2 semi-finals - one of which they won.
Best games of this generation overall would be en route to Grand Slam and wining a test series in New Zealand.
Better team won, hard-fought game. England can exit with heads high.
I swear they showed one camera shot from above and SA were clearly coming in on the angle first, you could hear George telling the ref every scrum and obviously he disagreed but it looked very obvious.
Do you think Ireland will ever win a knock out game?
You a saffer? Aargh, nice!
England dominated the first half.
SA dominated the last quarter.
Was always gonna come down to tight decisions, but SA edged it. Wasn’t pretty. I can laugh at England being Scottish, but Jesus, if the shoe was on the other foot I’d be absolutely gutted.
So, unlucky England. Genuinely.
SA dominated the last quarter.
Was always gonna come down to tight decisions, but SA edged it. Wasn’t pretty. I can laugh at England being Scottish, but Jesus, if the shoe was on the other foot I’d be absolutely gutted.
So, unlucky England. Genuinely.
Yeah, my lad is devastated by I’m not, I’ve not been proud of the national team for a couple of years but I was so proud of them tonight. No-one gave us a chance, it was a sham we were there etc etc….no rational person can say that now
I said earlier in the thread that I was surprised he didn’t start Faf and Pollard. Seemed a no-brainer really.
I could pick up so many bad calls, critical calls as well in the last 10 mins, but feck it. Rugbys a hard game to ref especially when it’s at the top level of physicality
Well we know the ABs will be pretty fresh, don’t think they have any injury concerns either. Depends how much you guys have left in the tank. You smashed them in the warm up though, so there’s a psychological edge. Plus, the ABs won’t turn it into the same spoiling shitfest that we did. Got a few things to sort out though, your scrums came right in the end but I can’t remember seeing such a poor South African lineout. And we exposed your aerial game as well….I imagine Mo’unga and Barrett will be watching that with interest
Yeah I see this a lot in rugby that when refs start giving it one way then you hardly ever see it turn, it just goes that way after that.
I stopped trying to understand it years ago. The refs really do guess. In theory, the ball should be rolled in straight but that rule is never enforced.
don’t need to when you score 19 tries on the group stage.
It would be peak Ireland that we beat the reigning and eventual world champions while still losing in the quarters.
Yeah you were talking about conditions not favouring Libbok and more suited to Pollard etc before the match. Well played. Also good change by Rassie, I guess. Rather late than never.
Yeah that warm up game was something against the AB’s. Though they were down to 14 for most of the match. I just hope it gives us a psychological edge and not the reverse - fires them up for being written off since then & basically the entire WC
Also, sorry to hear about your lad @T00lsh3d 
Obviously. Might take a while though
Ya the only silver lining is maybe this was a shock to the boys and there won’t be any relaxing in the prep.
I never understand this. All I can think is I don’t understand the rules and something is very obvious on the field we can’t see
Dunno. Depends who we’re up against. We would have pissed all over all four QF teams on the other side of the draw, if we’d played them instead of NZ. C’est la vie. Nothing we could have done about that.
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