[2015 RWC] Pool A: England vs. Australia (03/10/2015)

[ABs2011]

Palu has been ineffective since his 2014 season with the Tahs to be honest. I actually don't think either are bad for us...

Yeah he has not been in great form. I just think OZ will do it tough to win 3 knock-outs in a row without a legit #8. I think the Pocock, Hooper, Fardy trio works well in certain types of games, but in others you need to have big muscle go forward, usually from your #8. Palu even out of form still does a pretty good job at that. The replacements are kinda odd as well in that they've swapped an 8 and lock for a hooker (James Hansen) and lock (Sam Carter). No love for Horwill still as well...

 

[RoosTah]

Yeah he has not been in great form. I just think OZ will do it tough to win 3 knock-outs in a row without a legit #8. I think the Pocock, Hooper, Fardy trio works well in certain types of games, but in others you need to have big muscle go forward, usually from your #8. Palu even out of form still does a pretty good job at that. The replacements are kinda odd as well in that they've swapped an 8 and lock for a hooker (James Hansen) and lock (Sam Carter). No love for Horwill still as well...

Definitely agree there. Don't understand the lack of love shown to Horwill - thought he really showed some great form in the RC. Certainly better than Carter...

 

[McTallshort]

I think this ^ is why England are favourites... They have a suffocating style of play that Australia just doesn't cope well with, and at home in front of 80k screaming fans, they should be pretty solid favourites. Australia were always favourites to beat Wales and to lose to England, and I don't think that's changed much.

What has changed is the pressure. It's all on England now - they lose this week and it's game over. So the question is, will they choke under that pressure or thrive? Judging by how the played against Wales, I'm not so sure this unit deals with pressure all that well... Also, whilst Australia finds the English game troubling, our forwards have made some important strides this year at the set piece, and we were able to effectively grow into the game against a similar side in the Boks (who are 10-0 against England in the last decade), so depending on who Cheika picks in his starting line up, we should be a lot harder to shove around than normal. All in all it should make for a tight game, but I have a feeling our goal kicking will kill us more than anything...

This. England are now playing knockout rugby 3 games early and a large part of the success of this world cup depends on them staying in but this is what its all about, if you stick your neck on the the block by hosting a world cup your team has to perform and if they lose to Austraila on Saturday then heads will roll including Robshaws and Lancasters and the finger pointing will be worse than it was 4 years ago.

Glad Im not watching it!

 

[81st_Minute]

Wales, Aus or England. Anyone of them could easily be knocked out before the quarters.

 

[RoosTah]

This. England are now playing knockout rugby 3 games early and a large part of the success of this world cup depends on them staying in but this is what its all about, if you stick your neck on the the block by hosting a world cup your team has to perform and if they lose to Austraila on Saturday then heads will roll including Robshaws and Lancasters and the finger pointing will be worse than it was 4 years ago.

Glad Im not watching it!

I'm tempted to avoid it TBH... too stressful to watch first thing in the morning (it'll start pretty well at Dawn here), so I'm semi tempted to sleep in and watch the recording later in the day so I can emotionally prepare for it lol.

 

[McTallshort]

I'm tempted to avoid it TBH... too stressful to watch first thing in the morning (it'll start pretty well at Dawn here), so I'm semi tempted to sleep in and watch the recording later in the day so I can emotionally prepare for it lol.

Theres a good tide on the east coast and Im going fishing on a nice beach in the Autumn sunshine, much better for the soul then watching England.

 

[TobesHodges]

Shaun McMahon played himself onto the bench? What an engine the guy has on him. Toomua will start at 12, Speight, Tomane or Horne on the wing? I'd probably go Tomane, has been in good form.

 

[TommiG88]

We lose, the coaching staff are sacked and we'll finally (fingers crossed) get in a decent coach like we should have 4 years ago. Johnson's era is ridiculed by the press and pundits alike, however he did win a 6 nations and also qualified for the knock out stages unspectacularly. I also think, his pool of players to choose from 4 years ago aren't as good as the ones we have now.

We win and we have to bear Lancaster for another 4 years.....

 

[The Jones Boy]

Palu has been ineffective since his 2014 season with the Tahs to be honest. I actually don't think either are bad for us...

Agreed, he is not the force he once was 5 years ago.

 

[ncurd]

Someone is asking why we are banging on about the backs and not the forwards. I'll tell you why Lancasters forwards are all identikit players and the players in reserve a not much different/better than the ones not. So there are no real changes that an be made there...

 

[TRF_heineken]

Wales, Aus or England. Anyone of them could easily be knocked out before the quarters.

 

[Peat]

Why are you Poms even discussing your backline.

a) We know what the pack is going to be, even if we disagree with it. We don't know what the backline will be, so it's a more interesting conversation.
b) We just lost a game where we smashed their scrum and dominated their lineout because our backs couldn't score enough points when were on top and couldn't defend well enough when we weren't. We're simply not winning this game by our pack alone.

I think this ^ is why England are favourites... They have a suffocating style of play that Australia just doesn't cope well with, and at home in front of 80k screaming fans, they should be pretty solid favourites. Australia were always favourites to beat Wales and to lose to England, and I don't think that's changed much.

I don't think we're that suffocating at the moment tbh. The defence and discipline aren't good enough - suffocating teams don't concede seven kicks at goal.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Haha! What bookie do you use mate? I gotta get me a piece of that! Guaranteed money!!! Seriously, I've not seen a single bookie who has OZ favourites let alone "massive favourites"!

I think you may have your wires crossed their buddy!

I'm not talking about bookies, more about anyone that's seen the two sides play in the last few months.

 

[Hulkster]

You just know Lancaster is going to fudge it for this one and play Farrell at 12.

 

[81st_Minute]

What I meant was; they're all a bit s**t. lol.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Interesting article:

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/rwc-analysis-know-your-enemy/

People go on about Cole and penalties but why the fuk is he the second highest ruck participate in the forward pack?

Perhaps if the other players actually made more of an effort to hit the ruck early in defence and provide support him wouldn't be the only one trying to create a turnover?

James Haskell in 18 minutes hit 3 rucks, Brookes in 9 minutes hit 2 rucks why has Haskell did Haskell hit only one more ruck than Brookes despite playing twice the time.

Interesting that Burgess has the same work rate in the ruck as Vunipola. It looks quite impressive really for Burgess in terms of rucks and why Bath see him as a flanker.

Also shows how much work the Aus back row makes.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

You just know Lancaster is going to fudge it for this one and play Farrell at 12.

10. Goode
12. Farrell
13. Barritt

"The club bond between the players will solidify the midfield and the addition of an extra playmaker will help us really take it to the Australian side."

 

[ncurd]

All the talk about Burgess pre-flanker was how about he just wanted to get involved more in the game than he could at center. He was also desperate to get his first turnover ball in one and the entire team all congratulated him quite a bit when he managed it.

I know Lancaster (probably more likely Farrell) really really wanted to involve Burgess in this world cup but honestly I just see this as slowdown of his learning curve as a Union player. By not practicing as a Flanker for Bath all summer he's going to be a bit behind where he was at the end of last season. Which is a real shame because at the rate he was going I thought he'd be a real contender for the 6 shirt comes the next 6 nations. Now I don't have a bloody clue and if Lancaster carry's on he'll probably take him away from Bath AGAIN to play him at center....

 

[Mrs. Peter Quinn]

Can anyone clarify for me what Tom Wood was doing on Saturday night?

Espn Stats suggest he made 3 tackles, conceded 1 turnover, 2 penalties, made 9 metres..

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Can anyone clarify for me what Tom Wood was doing on Saturday night?

What ever Wales fan wanted to do last summer: Kicking Liam Williams in the head.