England v South Africa
-
@rotated said in England v South Africa:
@bones said in England v South Africa:
Pressure...
After watching that it would almost be cruel if Hansen needled him during the week.
Hansen should deadpan some sympathy with him leaving the press to decipher whether he was being sarcastic or not.
After the game maybe something like 'You blokes should stop hassling Eddie, he's doing a great job and we look forward to possibly meeting him again in Japan'
-
@billy-webb saved me a post. All of this.
Rassie needs to find a reliable test match kicker. We win this game if Pollard converts the try or the penalty. Neither were gimmies but Morne Steyn nails both and Monty would have hit at least one.
Rassie's year would look a lot better if Pollard could find his kicking boots more regularly.
-
@smuts Cheer up Smuts, if Jantjies had been playing you would have lost by more.
But yeah, agree with @Billy-Webb we didn't win that game so much as the Boks lost it. Many England fans are lauding the "never say die" mentality of the England defence but who knows if that attitude would have lasted if the Boks had converted more of that pressure early on. As an Englishman I'm very pleased with the result but let's not kid ourselves that we were anything other than rubbish and bloody lucky.
-
@catogrande said in England v South Africa:
@smuts Cheer up Smuts, if Jantjies had been playing you would have lost by more.
But yeah, agree with @Billy-Webb we didn't win that game so much as the Boks lost it. Many England fans are lauding the "never say die" mentality of the England defence but who knows if that attitude would have lasted if the Boks had converted more of that pressure early on. As an Englishman I'm very pleased with the result but let's not kid ourselves that we were anything other than rubbish and bloody lucky.
Yeah, we'll never know how that game would have developed had the Boks scored quickly after Itoje was sent off. One might guess that they would immediately plug the corner and have another crack. IF that was successful England would have had to start scoring tries and the whole shape of the game is different.
-
@crucial Jantjies probably would have nailed one of the two kicks...
also think he might have found more holes in England defence. Pollard just isn't great at setting other players free. He has other strengths but this game showed his limitations.
I can also understand why the Boks kept trying to punish England's maul, but I really, really wish this bok team would use its scrum as an offensive weapon in the red zone, especially when you've already reduced the opposition to 7 men.
And that is one of pollard's strengths - running at the line off the 5 yard scrum. I mean, either you crush the English scrum (and potentially get a prop sent off) or you set Pollard, DDA or Nkosi at the weak English inside channel. Seems a much higher percentage play than the lineout.
-
@crucial said in England v South Africa:
@rotated said in England v South Africa:
@bones said in England v South Africa:
Pressure...
After watching that it would almost be cruel if Hansen needled him during the week.
Hansen should deadpan some sympathy with him leaving the press to decipher whether he was being sarcastic or not.
After the game maybe something like 'You blokes should stop hassling Eddie, he's doing a great job and we look forward to possibly meeting him again in Japan'
-
Nice to see that humour is still a go-to coping mecahnism:
-
-
@machpants bloody hell Rassie looks small in that clip. That's a centre doing the tackling right?
-
-
-
-
@nepia said in England v South Africa:
I saw a tallish but not particularly large bloke in the gym a couple of months ago and was surprised that on closer inspection it was Dallaglio. I'd say he's lost a couple of stone since his playing days. So not too surprising Rassie does seem particularly large against AE who is 6' 4 1/2.
-
@pakman a number of those ex England guys are now into road cycling (including Dallaglio). Austin Healey and especially Martin Johnson are right into it and are at a pretty decent standard. Johnson was looking v slim last time I saw him on a bike.
-
My son works with quite a few ex players as a trainer to change their bodies for life after code. Gone are the days when an ex-player just goes to fat (unless that's their choice). Sports science is pretty good now on 'shifting' bulk or removing it gradually.
Many do end up taking up other sports as they realise the competitive drive hasn't gone. -
@billy-webb Another annoying thing about the game was the nothingness of the penalties that England scored off
1 off side from a knockon
2 off side where there was no pressure, just poor timing
3 not sure, De Allende was disrupting with his boot, but again a nothing position in the middle of the pitch
4 contact in the air at the line out (I thought that was soft, but Itoje gave away very soft one earlier) - missed
5 - a scrum penalty that went the wrong way, but at least this one was in dangerous position ( we also scored from a incorrect call in the first half).It's not like we were robbed, just really soft points to concede, which sucks hairy ones.
-
-
@sidbarret said in England v South Africa:
@scribe a number of retired boks have taken up cycling, Joel Stransky, Rob Kempson and Victor Matfield all done the Cape Epic which is pretty extreme mtb challenge.
That ride is insane (as are those that do it)
