[2014 Mid-Year Tests] New Zealand vs England (2nd Test)

[Chikwa]

England have announced themselves as more than genuine contenders for the World Cup.Lancaster has instilled belief in them.Congratulations to the All Blacks .The Strength in depth of the English is what may win them the World Cup.Read was sorely missed . As was Dan Carter.Israel Daag was not!

 

[William18]

All Black's fans should be reminded that Owen Farrell received a yellow card for not rolling away in what should have been a collapsed maul. The TMO call was bizarre but the question asked to the TMO was based on the assistant ref's opinion - an opinion clearly misguided.

 

[RoosTah]

Funny how we dont hear any Aussies praising Folau's name after that Ben Smith performance. IMO he was outstanding despite Jane out there "helping" him.

LoL what are you on about? There's like 2 Aussies on this forum and I'm one of them! Ben Smith was awesome tonight, but the fact that we haven't brought him up yet is because 1. the game just finished about 5 minutes ago; and 2. there's a fair few controversies (George Ayoub and his "reasons") and other things we're all keen to discuss before we talk about individual performances.

But him playing well doesn't change the fact that Folau is a freak.

 

[Big Ewis]

Funny how we dont hear any Aussies praising Folau's name after that Ben Smith performance. IMO he was outstanding despite Jane out there "helping" him.

patience child, patience...the Aus match hasn't even started yet
Bin Smuth was MOTM though, and if not for a shocker of a kick earlier in the game, he was brilliant.

 

[Aristodemus]

Burrell just missed tackles and did very little in attack, I don't get the love in for him.

 

[exeter]

Is Steve Hansen punch drunk?

 

[RoosTah]

England have announced themselves as more than genuine contenders for the World Cup.Lancaster has instilled belief in them.Congratulations to the All Blacks .The Strength in depth of the English is what may win them the World Cup.Read was sorely missed . As was Dan Carter.Israel Daag was not!

Do you really think England "announced themselves" here? I thought they were actually MUCH better last week... what's interesting is how deceptive both scorelines have been. The 20-15 score last week disguised what was a badly outplayed All Blacks, and this weeks 27-28 disguises an England team that pretty well packed up after a strong opening 20 minutes. The Kiwis dominated the rest of the game until the last 10, and even then England were gifted a try in a very bizarre decision.

 

[Tony Manx]

England have announced themselves as more than genuine contenders for the World Cup.Lancaster has instilled belief in them.

I agree and thank God it is another year away.........the only real problems I see now are the overall game plan and the centre positions where it is probably only the 12 if you buy into the argument that Manu HAS to play and would take the 13 position.

I am not convinced yet that he HAS to play any more than Billy Vunipola HAS to play....although they are both highly important members of the team whether starting or off the bench.

Given 12 months and the continued progress they should certainly be last four and maybe finalists and then who knows!

 

[goodNumber10]

Burrell just missed tackles and did very little in attack, I don't get the love in for him.

He had a poor game, but the first try was down to his first run, it held Cruden off the tackle and Yarde got past in that gap.

I honestly would like to see a Manu/Burrell midfield have a crack next week.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Only followed the game on twitter so don't know how badly/well we played, but can't be too upset with a 1pt loss especially as we had a man binned.
Hopefully find/watch it on YouTube later.

Funny how we dont hear any Aussies praising Folau's name after that Ben Smith performance. IMO he was outstanding despite Jane out there "helping" him.

What? It's been 15minutes since the game ended and this thread's nothing to do with Australia.
You're mental.

 

[Aristodemus]

You want to credit Burrell with the first try? Hahaha, cheers for that.

 

[ollecrab]

Meow!!!!

 

[GoTheNaki]

Jane out.
Cruden out.
Dagg out.

Barrett in.
B. Smith Fullback forever.
Need another winger.

Burrell out.
Twelvetrees hype...
Tuilagi in position...
Eastmond starting.

Game wasn't really as close as score suggests

 

[goodNumber10]

Do you really think England "announced themselves" here? I thought they were actually MUCH better last week... what's interesting is how deceptive both scorelines have been. The 20-15 score last week disguised what was a badly outplayed All Blacks, and this weeks 27-28 disguises an England team that pretty well packed up after a strong opening 20 minutes. The Kiwis dominated the rest of the game until the last 10, and even then England were gifted a try in a very bizarre decision.

think that's incredibly unfair on both teams.

NZ always have a period where they take the intensity through the roof, and two of their trys were during the yellow card period.

England struggled with the pace post halftime - New Zealand pack were incredible, but they stayed in the game despite that. Not saying they ever looked like winning it after halftime, but New Zealand will not be happy with how they got opened up for the last two trys.

 

[austingtir]

I agree and thank God it is another year away.........the only real problems I see now are the overall game plan and the centre positions where it is probably only the 12 if you buy into the argument that Manu HAS to play and would take the 13 position.

I am not convinced yet that he HAS to play any more than Billy Vunipola HAS to play....although they are both highly important members of the team whether starting or off the bench.

Given 12 months and the continued progress they should certainly be last four and maybe finalists and then who knows!

The only advantage England have is its at home honestly if you guys werent at home for next year id be giving you very little chance. Your team is very similar to us pre 2003 and 2007. Young team thats to unsettled on what players to start. If the England coach settles on a starting 15 and unearths about 3 or 4 world class players between now and then I might give you a chance. Personally I think SA will steamroller you guys out of the WC if you play this style.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

What back row options do we have for the mid week game.

Morgan needs a rest and Vunipola will start imo on the weekend.

Johnson and Kvesic are nailed on 6 and 7.

Backline for the midweek game for me
9) Dickson
10) Cips
11) May
12) Barritt
13) Trinder
14) Foden
15) Pennell

21)
22) Myler
23) Goode

Burns loked good for the short spell he had I thought cant wait to see him and Williams fight it out at tigers.

 

[Big Ewis]

Interesting stats. NZ issues with the boot there, that's a dreadful %age.
570meters run though, and look at the Defenders Beaten stat for NZ !!!!....England have been absolutely permeable on defense.
Excellent maul stat for England. Excellent scrum stats for England. Good with discipline too, England.
Advantage to NZ at the breakdown (Rucks Won, Turnovers Conceded).

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Would like to see Foden on the bench tbh next weekend, Brown could do with a sub replacement, because if he went of today we would have been screwed even more.

 

[smartcooky]

All Black's fans should be reminded that Owen Farrell received a yellow card for not rolling away in what should have been a collapsed maul. The TMO call was bizarre but the question asked to the TMO was based on the assistant ref's opinion - an opinion clearly misguided.

In the modern elite game, its a maul when the referee SAYS its a maul.

England learned one important lesson today.... Manu Tuilagi should not be wearing Jersey 14. A real winger would have scored that try. Also, if Mike Brown is the best fullback in the world, well I'll go "HE". Even an average fullback would not have run such an awful support line for Manu.

 

[exeter]

Burrell's a good player, but he's being played out of position and he's nowhere near as good as Tuilagi at 13. Twelvetrees ran out of gas (he's been out for a while), but I think Farrell's yellow card meant he couldn't be subbed.

I think Twelvetrees has the potential to be undisputed 12 - but he needs consistency and he needs game time with Tuilagi.