• Help Support The Rugby Forum :

England v South Africa - 16/11/2024 (17.40)

It's criminal how badly we fade away from the sixtieth minute every week.

I think I'll give Borthwick's post match comments a miss. I'm fed up of hearing his excuses.
 
Almost can't believe we won that one considering the amount of turn overs and penalties conceded.

But credit where it is due, England forced us into lot of errors.

Felt the refereeing was a bit of a lottery but at least it went both ways.
 
Ugo raising a great point, England finding 3 different ways to lose a game in 3 weeks, at least elite and developing at something
 
Frustrating because we play some very good stuff but then just drop off in the the last quarter.

Also I saw Dombrandt warming up and just said don't take underhill off...please....underhill went off, so much lost there even over CCS IMO.


Did Ford come on? Why wasn't Smith put to FB tp just give us that attacking edge, when 9 points down and 10 min to go against 14 men you can afford the risk.

Did Roebuck come back on? If so who for?


I really dont want the coaching team to go, I want an actual attack coach to come in
 
Since we won I can say once again Andrew Brace and his team are shït.

No consistency. Every ruck and scrum were a pure lottery. I watch a lot of rugby and I have no idea what Brace wanted.
 
For every good thing we do something else bad.

Defence is all over the place and it's either a system issue or players not making the right choices.
Slade's best contribution was his kick to the corner. He's not playing well enough.
Our attack at the start was good and then we go conservative near the end and just keep running into the Boks.
Subs make 0 impact.

We've clearly got some good players to build around, but as a whole team we just aren't performing well enough over 80 minutes to win games.
 
Frustrating because we play some very good stuff but then just drop off in the the last quarter.

Also I saw Dombrandt warming up and just said don't take underhill off...please....underhill went off, so much lost there even over CCS IMO.


Did Ford come on? Why wasn't Smith put to FB tp just give us that attacking edge, when 9 points down and 10 min to go against 14 men you can afford the risk.

Did Roebuck come back on? If so who for?


I really dont want the coaching team to go, I want an actual attack coach to come in
An attacking coach coming in would only solve anything if they were allowed to coach an attack. Will wait on el-abd, but hiring your uni mate might not of been the best shout. Maybe try and resolve unhappiness with the elite coach you had.
 
They've got one and no-one knows how to play alongside him
I don't think M Smith has rugby IQ to be honest. He's the best gamebreaker in the game but game management is on the 10. Runners taking the ball into contact isolated, the midfield barely touching the ball in attack etc... is a symptom of someone not running the show effectively.
 
Is that the issue though? George ford should have that IQ and he has not helped at all coming on.
I think Finn Smith could become that player. Really should be playing for EngA tomorrow.

Ford is, but needs time on the pitch (and being match sharp) to work things around. Ford needs to start, or stay at home.

I keep being told that Marcus is improving that aspect of his game, and I keep failing to see it. He's a bloody good player, a complate freak. But he's not an organiser, phase-play controller. There's no-one better (in England) at seeing a mismatch or half gap within 15m of himself. But he's not someone to play chess with the defence, to manipulate that mismatch in 3 phases time.
 
I don't think M Smith has rugby IQ to be honest. He's the best gamebreaker in the game but game management is on the 10. Runners taking the ball into contact isolated, the midfield barely touching the ball in attack etc... is a symptom of someone not running the show effectively.
Marcus Smith is Elton Jantjies and Damian McKenzie. Their brilliance blinds you from the stupidity.
 
I don't think M Smith has rugby IQ to be honest. He's the best gamebreaker in the game but game management is on the 10. Runners taking the ball into contact isolated, the midfield barely touching the ball in attack etc... is a symptom of someone not running the show effectively.
Aye fair enough, but we're not getting anything like the most out of him whatever you call it
 
Top