RWC Final: England v Springboks
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@booboo said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Just occurred, and apropos to nothing: SA have never lost a World Cup Final.
Every other country to have made it to a Final has lost at least 1.
NZ 1
France 3
Aus 2
Eng 2Wow, despite the gains countries like Wales, Ireland and Argentina have made in recent years, still only 5 teams have ever contested a WC final.
Wonder how many have made the semis?
Obviously all of the above 5 finalists plus,
Argentina, Wales, Scotland... don’t think I’m missing any?That makes 8 semi finalists.
And quarter finalists,
The above 8 plus, Fiji, Japan, Canada?, Samoa, Ireland.
13 quarter finalists.
Not sure why I bothered working those out, just interesting yet useless stats I suppose.
I’d like to see more quarter and semi finalists over the next few years, (so long as it’s not at the expense of the ABs), as I’m sure World Rugby would.
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I’ve loved a lot of rugby teams. Starting with Pienaar’s Transvaal of the early nineties, my unbeaten u14c team, the 95, 97 and 09 Boks, the mighty Happy Valley RFC, Whiteley’s Lions. But these Boks are special.
I don’t have the ability to articulate how much promise and hope they represent. Maybe as a reluctant but now long-entrenched expat I don’t have the ability to really understand it either.
But this short video put it into some kind of perspective for me:
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interestingly, between England & SA they have played 6 finals, and only 1 try scored between both teams (SA have not scored a try in a final)
While I wouldnt expect a try-fest, you'd expect a few?
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
interestingly, between England & SA they have played 6 finals, and only 1 try scored between both teams (SA have not scored a try in a final)
While I wouldnt expect a try-fest, you'd expect a few?
And only three tries overall in those finals. Thank God Aus turned up eh?
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@Catogrande er, yes, yay Australia!
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@Catogrande er, yes, yay Australia!
Well you lot were no help!
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@Catogrande I am getting a sneaky suspicion we have been down this road before...
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@Gunner And a slightly different analysis.
We are great in pool play - 9-0 against our strongest rival
We are excellent in the QFs 8-1
We are pretty good in the Final 3-1
But only average in Semis - 4-4
I'm somewhat inclined to think that you should add the Semi and Final scores together, because you're usually meeting a pool winner - hence a 7-5 outcome would reflect that historically we're a strong top four team.
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Willie Le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherb, Mbongeni Mbonambi, Tendai Mtawarira
Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, RG Synman, Franco Mostert, Francois Louw, Herschel Jantjies, Frans Steyn
England name their team at 3:30pm
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That's a handy bench.
Will Le Roux have another mare and hand England territory and possession?
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15 Elliot Daly, 14 Anthony Watson, 13 Manu Tuilagi, 12 Owen Farrell (c), 11 Jonny May, 10 George Ford, 9 Ben Youngs; 8 Billy Vunipola, 7 Sam Underhill, 6 Tom Curry, 5 Courtney Lawes, 4 Maro Itoje, 3 Kyle Sinckler, 2 Jamie George, 1 Mako Vunipola
Reserves: 16 Luke Cowan-Dickie, 17 Joe Marler, 18 Dan Cole, 19 George Kruis, 20 Mark Wilson, 21 Ben Spencer, 22 Henry Slade, 23 Jonathan Joseph
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@Duluth said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Willie Le Roux, Cheslin Kolbe, Lukhanyo Am, Damian de Allende, Makazole Mapimpi, Handre Pollard, Faf de Klerk; Duane Vermeulen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi (c), Lood de Jager, Eben Etzebeth, Frans Malherb, Mbongeni Mbonambi, Tendai Mtawarira
Reserves: Malcolm Marx, Steven Kitshoff, Vincent Koch, RG Synman, Franco Mostert, Francois Louw, Herschel Jantjies, Frans Steyn
England name their team at 3:30pm
I would have kept Nkosi on the right wing and picked Kolbe at full back.
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Youngs injured early could be telling.
Still not convinced that Slade is fully match fit.
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@MiketheSnow said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Youngs injured early could be telling.
Still not convinced that Slade is fully match fit.
Slade is the worry, he’s a great player and adds a lot to England’s attack but has been a run short of a gallop in the RWC. Nowell is either still not fit or has dramatically slid downhill in Eddie’s thoughts. I’m not too worried about Spencer coming on for Youngs, as I feel he should have been there from the start. What does worry me is an early injury in the back three. No real cover there.
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Question for you Mike, now that the immediate pain of missing out on the final may have lessened, which would you rather have in your pocket - RWC final or ending 66 years of hurt and beating NZ? And no, I’m not giving you the option of winning the Cup.
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@Catogrande said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Question for you Mike, now that the immediate pain of missing out on the final may have lessened, which would you rather have in your pocket - RWC final or ending 66 years of hurt and beating NZ? And no, I’m not giving you the option of winning the Cup.
100% being in the Final and having the opportunity to win it all
Whilst the opportunity to win the WC comes round every four years, for a team like Wales it's more like an 8 or 12 year cycle.
But seeing as you took that off the table, beating NZ.
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@Catogrande said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Youngs injured early could be telling.
Still not convinced that Slade is fully match fit.
I’m not too worried about Spencer coming on for Youngs, as I feel he should have been there from the start.
Parachuted straight into a WC Final and coming on before the match is sewn up.
Will take Beaver sized balls to not get overawed.
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@MiketheSnow said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@Catogrande said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
Youngs injured early could be telling.
Still not convinced that Slade is fully match fit.
I’m not too worried about Spencer coming on for Youngs, as I feel he should have been there from the start.
Parachuted straight into a WC Final and coming on before the match is sewn up.
Will take Beaver sized balls to not get overawed.
You may have a point although perhaps less of an issue for him than Beaver. The latter had been looked at, derided and the overlooked. Was not even on the radar -not even a shirt to fit him and relatively unfit. Spencer has been on call from the word go and was involved in the England set up right until shipping out to Japan. For sure it's quite an ask but not up there with the Beaver fairytale. Doubt that can be beaten.
