166000 of the remaining juniors who chose not to play or weren’t good enough to play football instead. Rugby is footballs poor cousin in England and as long as that is the case, will never get the pick of the best athletes. We all know that quantity is nowhere as important as quantity. Look at NZ as a good example of this.

I think the games today highlight the difference in mental attitude, leadership and team spirit between the home nations as others have already said. Super proud of Wales and impressed with Ireland too.

How funny was Mike Phillips? “So were you surprised when the gap opened up for your try?”… “well to be honest there was no gap and I had to beat several players to score a good try” 😀 Not an exact quote but you get the gist of his modesty! Bless him.

I think the only team Wales or France would really fancy in the final is South Africa- a little more predictable and controllable. I’m no fan of France but a France vs NZ final with an northen hemisphere victory would be pretty funny 😀

An example of this is a friend of mine is a national youth coach who was sent to Australia on a coaching course. He watched the Australian under 18 players bring put through their paces. At the debrief the coach asked if there were any questions. My mate queried how they coached the contact. The reply was succinct ” we teach them to avoid contact mate”. That sums up their coaching philosophy in a sentence.

Im no england hater…. I just hate watching the joy squeezed out of the game by dull play.

Double post

I would say that the number of overseas player in the rugby and football premierships is undoubtedly contributing to the national teams poor displays. Yeah you want a few of the best overseas players but not teams made up of multinational mercenaries.

I would say in football yes there is an argument for that. In rugby England choose to play a style that does not encourage young players to take up the game. As for football taking all the best athletes. Can’t agree with that. Your average rugby internationalist is over six feet tall in excess of 15 stone of lean bodyweight and can still run for eighty minutes. hardly a bunch of big fat boys chundering through the mud.(that’s sounds like mtbr’s)

Off the top of my head, prob 3 or so of gloucester’s 36 man squad are overseas. A few from Scotland, mind.

By from overseas scamper do you mean not from the forest of dean ;0)

TandemJeremy – Member
Jeremy is a good welsh names isn’t it. Can I support Wales please?

All are welcome in the Welsh camp, TJ! Just remember that it’s Welsh with a capital letter, mind you!

And, from here on in, we’re all Welsh, right? After all, I supported England when they reached the finals. In fact, I’ll support any home nation that does better than Wales, when that happens! (Then France and/or Argentina depending on results!). So, don your leeks, stiffen the vocal chords and let’s all sing some hymns and arias….AR HYD Y NOS! 8)

So, on to the next…..I’ll miss almost all of tomorrow’s games, I think. Which is a shame.
SA v Australia? SA should stroll that one.
NZ v Argentina? As above, a stroll for NZ. But, and it may be a big but, at what cost? What about injuries?

Which leads to a semi line up
Wales v France – Heart says Wales, head says France
SA v NZ – SA to win. That choker just suits NZ so well…

And then? Who knows…….

So, accepting that rugby is a minority sport in England that is poorly supported by the RFU and the kids would prefer to play football over rugby and therefore not a powerhouse in the rugby world, does this mean we’ll not get the “England will win the World Cup” rhetoric next time? 😛

Argentina all the way!!

As a rugby fan I loved today’s games and you can’t be disappointed losing to France because, well, they’re France.

It’s a shame d-d’s gone on holiday as I was going to congratulate him on Ireland equalling their best ever RWC performance and mention it was England’s worst. 😉

England have the depth of talent to reach the heights of 2003 consistently if only the structure was there.

The RFU needs to be culled severely and MJ (good bloke though he is) is not an international coach. He’s too immersed in the Leicester way – why else were Deacon and Moody playing FFS? Flood and Youngs both bottle it on the big stage too.

Next England fly-half? We need someone like Carter who offers a threat on his own as well as having all the other skills. The Aussies did it by taking a great rugby player and converting him to a fly-half – Stephen Larkham. We should do the same with Ben Foden. OK, he hasn’t had a great RWC but he’s got all the tools. His preferred position is scrum half so he has the passing/kicking/decision making skills. He has the power/pace/elusive skills of an outside back too. Perfect combo.

It won’t happen but maybe it should. 😐

Well I hope Mike Phillips has been given the praise he deserves on here as many have spent a lot of time slagging him off. I think it was Gwyn Jones who said recently that he is a ntural scrum half or a natural in any other position but what he is is a natural rugby player and as such he would be in most teams in the world.
Warburton also pissed on O’B’s chips from a great height. An amazing performance by Wales.

I would say that the number of overseas player in the rugby and football premierships is undoubtedly contributing to the national teams poor displays

You know what I think thats rubbish, given a descent coach and a gameplan a little more complicated than dominate up front the current England team could perform so much better. Foden for example wonder what the **** is going on.

Ashton still considered world class by many? He’s good when given the ball in behind a defence but when faced with a defensive line he is awful.

Oh and Flood is a perfectly decent outside half.

Yeah Philips had a great game. It’s a good point about him being a natural rugby player so he’d do well in most positions – like Foden.

I was glad to see Ireland lose as I think they’re beginning to resemble England in green shirts. To be fair, O’Brien is no openside but rather a blindside filling in for David Wallace though Warburton was exceptional.

I love watching Wales play in RWCs because they always play proper exciting rugby, even in defeat (NZ/England/Fiji) so hats off to them and I’d love to see them take on NZ in the final. 🙂

Arent you the gavster biggest fan?

don simon

does this mean we’ll not get the “England will win the World Cup” rhetoric next time?

But England WILL win the next RWC, surely. 😉

Arent you the gavster biggest fan?

yes, why?

Thought i remembered you bigging up on here a few weeks ago, thats all.

Long live the king….thought i saw him at the porthcawl elvis festival… He blended in well!

But England WILL win the next RWC, surely.

Last I heard, Vickery thinks they’re still in with a shout for this one! 😯 😆

Last I heard, Vickery thinks they’re still in with a shout for this one!

😆

“C’mon England!” Bless him.

Actually I thought Phil was quite good today. He tended to cut straight to the point: (about Flood) “You shouldn’t criticise other people, you should start by looking at yourself first.”

According to MJ post match, this teams best days are ahead of it!

well, well, well what a day for Wales!

thought ireland would have put up a bit more of a fight, i think we scared them in the first 5 minutes 😉 o’driscoll going for touch too much rather then taking the kick he’ll have sleepless nights for a while.

i sincerely feel sorry for johnson, contract up in december, thinking of packing it in already,…. half his team didn’t even have the right attitude when they left for nz!

think we can do france (fingers crossed), but who will we get in the final…. Hmmmmm

England have the depth of talent to reach the heights of 2003 consistently if only the structure was there.

When will people in charge (of any sport) realise that you absolutely have to properly re-organise your grass-roots structure to do well in the modern sporting world? Time and time again we hear about ground work paying off – British Cycling anyone? Australia?

Quite right about the players attitude tho MB – Johnno really must go – poor results can be excused for various reasons, or at least given second chances, but messing around between games – come on.

So, accepting that rugby is a minority sport in England that is poorly supported by the RFU and the kids would prefer to play football over rugby and therefore not a powerhouse in the rugby world, does this mean we’ll not get the “England will win the World Cup” rhetoric next time?

Perhaps you’d better tell the British media that. Is is, after all, them, who choose and have the means to project that tenet, c/f 1966….

At friends for breakfast and to watch the Rugby on a beautiful South African morning 🙂

Go Bokke!!!!!

Good morning sports fans… C’mon Aussie!

Morning from a neutral. 😀

Morning all

😯

Good start from the Wallabies, they’re looking really strong at the breakdown aren’t they, lots of turnover, that’s the benefit of having Pocock back 🙂

Supporting the Aussies today. Looking very composed in defence at minute.

One visit to the Saffa’s try line, one try. How many times did the Bokkes get to the Wallabies line and come away with naught? Good defence indeed! 🙂

Need to sort our lineout though, that’s going to hurt us if we can’t… don’t really care how we win today, as long as we do!

Saw the one break by the Aussies early on, looked dangerous.

Referee is having a shocker.

….as are ITV commentary, but then that’s par for the course.

Ref is an ARSE.

Referee is Bryce Lawrence. He’s (as usual) making the commentators look good…

The momentum has swung now. Australia desperately need to get a grip of this. They’re getting outmuscled by the Germans at the minute.

Great drop goal to help overcome the refereeing… Cmon SA!

Wallabies are in headless chicken mode.

Wallabies are ahead!