England vs Springboks
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England have really been dented lately. I thought their 2 games in NZ were more inventive and energetic than their recent ones but now I am wavering on my assumption they are well-coached. Maybe so but the imagination factor seems to be wavering. Prove me wrong Mr Borthwick!
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@mariner4life said in England vs Springboks:
@OomPB said in England vs Springboks:
Real rugby supporters respect the opposition and understand winning and losing
so there are no real rugby supporters from South Africa?
Some South African fans are a little like some New Zealand fans. They can’t believe that their side could lose through not playing well enough. The other side win because of crap reffing, or cheating..
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@MajorRage said in England vs Springboks:
@OomPB said in England vs Springboks:
Bok team suppose to be release today. Springboks will need to play open rugby on saturday.
They will need to do the inverse.
SA should take this easily.
If they take your advice then I agree the Boks should win easily.
Really I think that was the lesson of the semi. It’s also what made that game so compelling. Boks arrived looking to run at England. Libbok and Willemse were primed to attack from deep. And it really didn’t work especially with Curry being a total savage at the breakdown. England controlled field position, put boks under pressure and harvested points. Rassie reacted fairly quickly but still 15 minutes too late and then it was a race against the clock for the boks to reel in the English.
Boks would’ve lost it too, if someone hadn’t worked out that Curry needed to be dealt with. Whoever did that was the man of the match alongside Ox and Pollard.
Which is what I’m really looking for this weekend: the boks sorting out their offensive breakdown work. It’s a serious issue with a fair few aspects to it.
Biggest easy fix is for our forwards to carry harder and worry less about offloads initially. And RG needs to be banned from throwing a pass until he’s made 20 post contact meters.
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I appreciate some of the positive 'it could come together' sentiment above about England but i'm not sure what its based on at the moment, at the end of the 6N we looked like we were gradually beginning to find a style in attack and defence, but the defence, in the absence of Jones now looks shambolic, half of them drifting, half of them blitzing, scramble is almost non existent as a result.
In attack, we look confused most of the time, Smith is playing well but we're rarely getting quick enough ball to play from and we look disjointed outside Smith.
Our forwards aren't good enough, particularly the front row, which means we're struggling at set piece to secure our own ball or attack the oppositions.
On top of the crap being served up on the pitch, our coaching set up is in total disarray and i'd love to know why, it looked like Borthwick was building a strong team but the best coaches have left very quickly which speaks to the environment and the quality of the head coach IMO. I was at the game last week, and am going again on Saturday, i repeat my earlier assertion, its going to be painful.
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Which is hilarious to say when you consider you could very easily be 2-0.
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@Dodge said in England vs Springboks:
we could very easily have won the last 6 games, but we've lost 5 of them.
Think positive. At least you don't have to put up with an Eddie Jones post-defeat presser.
And you're not a Welsh supporter.
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Good point. After he's trashed Japanese confidence perhaps the Welsh will invite him to replace Gatland.
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@nostrildamus said in England vs Springboks:
Good point. After he's trashed Japanese confidence perhaps the Welsh will invite him to replace Gatland.
We’re dumb, but we’re not that dumb
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Wilco Louw returns as Boks change 12 to face England
Wilco Louw will play his first Test match since 2021 against England in London on Saturday in a Springbok starting XV which shows 12 changes to the team which defeated Scotland 32-15 last weekend.
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@OomPB said in England vs Springboks:
Wilco Louw returns as Boks change 12 to face England
Wilco Louw will play his first Test match since 2021 against England in London on Saturday in a Springbok starting XV which shows 12 changes to the team which defeated Scotland 32-15 last weekend.
That really is a high quality Bok squad. I've been thinking all week that England do genuinely have a chance (although certainly not favourites). Seeing that squad, I'm not so sure now.
I know it's part of their strategy, but I'll always think it's criminal that Malcolm Marx doesn't start. He's not at this peak, but he's still a phenomenal player, significantly better than Mbonambi in my view.
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It beats me how Am does not start either.
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Borethwick announces the England squad with changes.
England: Steward; Freeman, Lawrence, Slade, Sleightholme; M Smith, Van Poortvliet; Genge, George (capt), Stuart, Itoje, Martin, Cunningham-South, Underhill, Earl.
Replacements: Cowan-Dickie, Baxter, Cole, Isiekwe, Dombrandt, Randall, Ford, Roebuck.4 changes to the starting XV, 2 of which were forced and the two that weren't go to his old Leicester protégés. Steward presumably in for his aerial skills but this Bok team have more strings to their bow than a simple kick and chase. JvP at 9 will guarantee us slow service and the potential for an intercept. Pretty much the same bench that cost us both the last games.
Sigh.
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blurgh. Seen a lot of speculation in the last couple of weeks about a return to full backs who dominate in the air because of the inability to run blocking lines, which obviously just encourages more kicking and more competition in the air. Can't believe we've dropped Furbank, he was basically the first name on my team sheet at the beginning of the AIs.
that team is pretty bang average and the bench is worse than that.
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last week i was convinced Borthwick should go, now i'm fucking certain of it, can't build and keep a coaching team, can't back a style of play, can't select a bench with any impact. The coaching set up is a genuine shambles. worst case scenario is scraping a dull 1 point win and pretending its progress
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@MajorRage There are a few unlucky Springboks but then Rassie decided before departure about the rotation and teams he want. Thought Willie (he is chasing his 100th test) and AE is unlucky after last week. However Fassie is very good under the high ball and a scoring machine. Also no lock on the bench meaning PSdT will be backup and need to play 80 mins. Will be interesting to see Libbok performance against England's rush defense. If he pass this test we will be good.
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