Not good when every scrum is a penalty for your opponents!mik wrote: Sat Oct 21, 2023 10:00 pm Tense!
Rain played a real factor there - ball was clearly like a bar of soap.
Rugby World Cup
Re: Rugby World Cup
Re: Rugby World Cup
Well that was 78 minutes of tense agony and 2 minutes of despair.
Second World Cup where we’ve gone out against SA on the basis of our scrum. The irony is that Dan Cole came good and Sinkler bottled it. The exact opposite of what I imagined.
Anyway. Not sure whether I’m amazed that we got so far or dejected to be dumped out so close again. Both I guess. Just heartbreaking when we absolutely dominated in the air, in the front foot tackles and in the line outs.
The utter irony of it all is that in SA we came across a nemesis that was perfectly neutralised by our style of kicking play with all our backs being about a foot taller than theirs… yet it was not to be so. Gutted.
Second World Cup where we’ve gone out against SA on the basis of our scrum. The irony is that Dan Cole came good and Sinkler bottled it. The exact opposite of what I imagined.
Anyway. Not sure whether I’m amazed that we got so far or dejected to be dumped out so close again. Both I guess. Just heartbreaking when we absolutely dominated in the air, in the front foot tackles and in the line outs.
The utter irony of it all is that in SA we came across a nemesis that was perfectly neutralised by our style of kicking play with all our backs being about a foot taller than theirs… yet it was not to be so. Gutted.
Last edited by GG. on Sat Oct 21, 2023 10:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Rugby World Cup
Proper arm wrestle 
Big balls from South Africa changing team/strategy after 30 minutes, can't be easy doing that with big egos but horses for courses paid off.
Big balls from South Africa changing team/strategy after 30 minutes, can't be easy doing that with big egos but horses for courses paid off.
Re: Rugby World Cup
So who's gonna win then?
I don't mind admitting facing South Africa after they came from behind like that is quite daunting. They must be so fucking hyped up and that's not a version of South Africa I fancy squaring up against.
I don't mind admitting facing South Africa after they came from behind like that is quite daunting. They must be so fucking hyped up and that's not a version of South Africa I fancy squaring up against.
Re: Rugby World Cup
I think South Africa will edge it, but I do wonder whether two bruising encounters in a row will have taken its toll.
Re: Rugby World Cup
Enjoyed that:
As a complete impartial, I’d decided I wanted ZA to win it - mainly cos I know more South Africans than I do New Zealanders. Within 20mins I’d completely switched my allegiances.
As a complete impartial, I’d decided I wanted ZA to win it - mainly cos I know more South Africans than I do New Zealanders. Within 20mins I’d completely switched my allegiances.
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Swervin_Mervin
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Re: Rugby World Cup
I was keen for RSA (mik wrote: Sat Oct 28, 2023 10:47 pm Enjoyed that:
As a complete impartial, I’d decided I wanted ZA to win it - mainly cos I know more South Africans than I do New Zealanders. Within 20mins I’d completely switched my allegiances.
) to win it as well but ended up fairly neutral. It was a great game for a neutral and they were very evenly matched. I genuinely thought that NZ would sneak it in the end - do to RSA what they'd done to Eng.