RWC Final: England v Springboks
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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.
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@Daffy-Jaffy said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@pakman Re: Willie
https://www.reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/comments/dpmf6v/sas_gameplan/That was pretty funny, Faf doing his hair before kicking more so than Willie.
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@Kirwan said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@Hooroo And it also doesn't matter. If the game plan is to kick and tackle, and they win the game who cares how many passes got them there.
I agree but it is still an incredible stat for me. That must be some sort of record in the modern age?
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@Hooroo said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@Kirwan said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:
@Hooroo And it also doesn't matter. If the game plan is to kick and tackle, and they win the game who cares how many passes got them there.
I agree but it is still an incredible stat for me. That must be some sort of record in the modern age?
Gregan had a similarly ridiculous stat in the lions series over the three tests . I can’t remember the exact figures off hand though .