The Silver Fern

@Machpants said in Australia v England - 1st Test:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Australia v England - 1st Test:

@Machpants said in Australia v England - 1st Test:

@Victor-Meldrew said in Australia v England - 1st Test:

Game started off as a snore-fest and became a classic. Bloody well done Oz. Eddie has some serious thinking to do.

Gonna grab some popcorn and head over to social media to enjoy the reaction.

I really disagree this is a classic.

Well maybe not a classic in the sense of a great game with flowing rugby, But as an enthralling watch, particularly the second half, it was pretty damn good.

Whereas I see this as really poor rugby throughout. Yes there was heart, and if this was outer Mongolia versus Iraq, I think that's a great game. But for two supposed rugby tier 1s? Nope

I agree. As I said I watched it live and maybe it was better on TV, but live it was so poor. Two teams with very dull uninspiring gameplans. Forward hits it up in the 10/12 channel x2, switch direction, forward hits it up in the 10/12 channel then throw it wide with a decoy runner and repeat...constant box kicks and chase... Perhaps it's the rules that need changing. There seemed to be virtually no line breaks, no space and almost resembled a game of league.

I really haven't seen much of the Boks in 2019, missed most of the rugby championship, but assumed they had a solid side with their thrashing of the Wallabies and draw with NZ. They looked good in patches vs ABs, but were very average against Wales. A solid pack who will hold their own, 9, 10, 12 looked pretty handy then nothing beyond that, The ball skills of the back 3 were dreadful, virtually every high ball that they had to contest was dropped, quick, but little power, little penetration, they just didn't look dangerous when they got the ball out wide. I expect SA to play a kicking game, but if they can't challenge for the ball without knocking it out, it's just going to hand the game to England.

De Allende went well, but the the Welsh defence was ordinary when he scored his try. He will most definitely be targeted and nullified. England will have to play really shit to lose this.