The Rugby Thread

[dtaai-maai]

... massive display from the Lillywhites, but ultimately SA just about pinched it.

Yep.

[Big Boy]

We're the underdogs, the rest of the world has already written us off....

Oh come now BB - "Dry Your Eyes".... Isn't there a song about that?

Whatever happens, England are winners.

Nope.... You lost.

In all seriousness, far from the game (or result) I was expecting. I'm happy to eat humble pie - massive display from the Lillywhites, but ultimately SA deserved winners.

A sterling display for a team many were predicting wouldn't even get out of the group stages. In any competition there can only be one winner. To finish top 4 was bloody marvellous. Imagine if England had taken a decent team to the tournament. No real disappointment here.

[Lost]

Gutted.

Those two fluffed lineouts at the beginning of the 2nd half (especially the first) were costly. I don't understand the rules of scrums, so I can't add an opinion, but there seems to be seen some controversy over the last penalty awarded that resulted in the winning points.

Interestingly, comments online in the first half were saying England had 'bought the ref'. In the second half it was SA had bought the ref. So I guess it evened out.

[Bamboo Grove]

BB wrote:

Whatever happens, England are winners.

They must be coming home now.

[Big Boy]

No, unfortunately not. They've got to play one more game yet.

[Lost]

No, unfortunately not. They've got to play one more game yet.

Ugh, forgot about that. The worst game to be in, be it rugby or football. Should be scrapped.

[pharvey]

As for the HHF/Superbru League after the Semi's - congrats to PeteC on the Yellow cap!
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Next up the Finals - 3rd & 4th Playoff and the Grand Final itself

I hope the Pumas will raise their game somewhat after their display in the Semi-Final against NZ. Hearts may not be in it for some, but I for one am always up for a decent game of rugby.

Prior to the Semi's, I was betting on SA to take the title - I'm not too sure now, this is a tight one to call.

[Big Boy]

How does that work? I moved up a place, whist winning the wooden spoon

[pharvey]

How does that work? I moved up a place, whist winning the wooden spoon

Not sure why you're being shown as the recipient of the Wooden Spoon this round, that honour should fall to "Abram" and "Pooley". You have indeed moved up 1 place - sympathy if nothing else in voting for England!!
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NOTE: "pooley" has played in a fair few HHF/Superbru tournaments in the past and I've known him for a fair few years. "Abram" and a couple of others will be deleted from the table after the final weekend.

[Big Boy]

Damn, I thought I'd won something.

[pharvey]

Damn, I thought I'd won something.

There's always the Playoffs!!

[pharvey]

There's a great deal being discussed "post-match" with comments, theories and accusations left, right and center.

Imagine if England had taken a decent team to the tournament. No real disappointment here.

England were quite rightly put as underdogs against SA after a pretty dire run of results, certainly by their standards. They are however by no means a poor team - quite the opposite I hate to say being a proud and devoted Welshman!! The core of players is there (plus a huge strength in depth), but they had failed to gel and were simply not playing to their strengths or abilities. Against SA, they were well and truly fired up and aside from a few players, all had cracking games.

Unfortunately though, certainly some "fallout" etc. from the game.....

Refereeing: - As in a fair few games, there have been things missed. It's unfortunate, but part of the game - especially at the pace it moves these days!! Of course in such tight games with a hell of a lot to play for the Ref's, assistants and TMO's are going to be even more under the spotlight. Questions over the "deciding penalty" being a point of fact - of course there'll be an outcry from English supporters and jubilation from SA supporters!! At the end of the day though, the English front-row had given away that many penalties by this point, they were lucky to avoid a Yellow Card which could have changed things somewhat earlier on. Genge certainly being a guilty party in earlier scrums and one player having a poor match overall.

Farrell: - The guy annoys the cr@p out of me - can be superb one moment and the next a liability. Some great kicking both in converting and out-of-hand, solid defence.... Then there's the brainless tw@t - mouthing off to the ref costs 10m on a penalty against England and puts SA in a "kickable position" and 3 points. Had to be held back on more than one occasion by teammates both during and after the game. Would George Ford being selected at 10 led to a different result? Quite possibly IMHO.

Racist Slur: - Accusations have been made against the SA Hooker Mbonambi making racist comments against Tom Curry....

"Curry had drawn the incident to the attention of O'Keeffe during the match and in audio released following the semi-final, he can be heard on the referee's microphone saying: "Sir, if their hooker calls me a white c*** what do I do?". The official replied: "Nothing, please. I'll be on it.""

There's no place for racism in rugby, sport or life in general, but unfortunately it's there and (no pun intended) it's not simply black and white. At the end of the day Mr Curry - grow a pair!

Benches: - Well, the Boks won that hands down - Pollard, certainly one of the best kickers in the game especially long range and ultimately England's downfall. The front-row, outplayed their English counterparts and provided Pollard with the opportunities!

Resignation/Retirement: - Post RWC, both Kevin Sinfield and

"The Telegraph have claimed that Sinfield will leave Borthwick’s backroom team following the Rugby World Cup and will be replaced in the role by Felix Jones.

It had already been announced that Jones would join the Red Rose after the World Cup, but the initial indication was that he would be alongside Sinfield in the coaching team."

"England veteran Courtney Lawes has confirmed that he will hang up his boots at Test level following the third-place play-off at the Rugby World Cup this weekend.

Lawes has been a regular player for England for the most part of the last 15 years, representing his country at four different World Cups and playing over 100 games.

His form for club and country earned him a spot in two British & Irish Lions tours during the course of his Test career."

Can't comment on Sinfield TBH, but Lawes is a class act - certainly wouldn't have complained if he had Welsh qualification!! Outstanding career and RWC to date - hopefully he'll be around for a year or 2 at club level.

[pharvey]

EDIT to above regarding Tom Curry: -

"A statement issued on Monday morning said: "World Rugby takes all allegations of discriminatory behaviour extremely seriously. We can confirm that we are formally reviewing the allegation made by England’s Tom Curry in relation to the use of discriminatory language during the England versus South Africa Rugby World Cup 2023 semi-final on Saturday.

"World Rugby will not be making further comment until the conclusion of the process.""

[joelle]

Nothing about the final ?? Has everybody gone to sleep??
Or so gutted therefore no comments can be made??

[Big Boy]

Was there a final? I thought it all finished when England were awarded their Bronze Medals last Friday.