Pool A - England, Samoa, South Africa, Tonga, United States

[TT Boy]

The worrying thing is, is that SA didn't even play that well, du Preez had an awesome game.

Indeed. South Africa really didn’t get out of first gear last night and didn’t need to but how anyone expected England to win this game is probably gone in the head. To win you need to score points, how can you do that when you have no backs?
And when you consider that the majority of the back line wouldn’t beat CJ van der Linde in a sprint, it comes as no surprise to see that England were never going to trouble the scorers in ‘open play’.

What makes me laugh the most is that Brian Ashton came into the job saying England were now going to play expansive rugby, what a crock of ****e.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Dire is the word.

I mean, I don't mind losing, God knows having been an English sports fan for over a quarter of a century I'm used to it by now, but to see such an inept & gutless display from the nominal world champions is pretty hard to stomach. We (with the admirable exception of the sadly hamstrung Robinson) never looked like troubling the yarps. I thought the moment that summed up the whole match was when Billy, having made a clean break, pirouetted fully 360 looking for support but there was none. He's too good for us, really.

Ashton's thinking is just wrongheaded at times too, WTF did he take off Rees when clearly we needed pace & quick ball & left on the clearly out of his depth Easter? Moody to 6 (where he plays for the English champions) & Corry to 8 (ditto) was the move.

Samoa FTW. Put us out of our misery.

 

[Perm]

I thought Easter was decent, from what I seen. Lewis Moody is the best loose forward England have IMO, should be starting every game.

 

[BoyBrumby]

I thought Easter was decent, from what I seen. Lewis Moody is the best loose forward England have IMO, should be starting every game.

Decent, but really limited. Big, but little pace & ordinary distribution.

Anyway, fair play to Tonga. They've just earned the gratitude of all of English Rugby.

 

[Perm]

Is it just me or is Bob Skinstad horrible over-rated?

 

[BoyBrumby]

Is it just me or is Bob Skinstad horrible over-rated?

Talented and has good hands, but seems to lack a bit of heart sometimes. The fact he spent about 3 years just dicking about when he should've been at his peak suggests he's not fully commited to Rugby.

 

[Perm]

FFS, Tongan prop just got robbed.

 

[Perm]

Dannie Russow looking pretty bad now, hope it's not too serious.

 

[vogue]

Dannie Russow looking pretty bad now, hope it's not too serious.

...i missed that...what happened to him?

 

[Perm]

...i missed that...what happened to him?

He got his neck into an awkward position during a ruck and got it pushed back so that his ear was touching his shoulder, didn't look too bad for a start but they took him off in the stretcher.

 

[vogue]

He got his neck into an awkward position during a ruck and got it pushed back so that his ear was touching his shoulder, didn't look too bad for a start but they took him off in the stretcher.

..hope hes ok..haven't heard anything said about it since...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Horrible to see, hope he's fine.

Tonga have giving it a real lash tho, it must be said. Pretorius's kicking has been about their best player tho. Smit goes over as I type.

 

[vogue]

...wow...Tonga really having a great game here...another try...27- 22..great stuff

 

[steds]

Come on Samoa!

 

[vogue]

Come on Samoa!

 

[steds]

Here we go. On the board now.

 

[BoyBrumby]

It's not been great and by no means worthy of world champions, but we have at least looked competant at times.

 

[vogue]

..oooh a try for Samoa..making this interesting...26-22 to England

 

[vogue]

good finish for England ...last minute try for Paul Sackey..

44-22....

 

[BoyBrumby]

Unduly flattering to us, one suspects. I'm taking the win tho.