England v Tonga

[Bullitt]

England wont find gaps like that next week, all they'll find is big f*** off stirling mortlock.... [/b]

I am so looking forward to Panface trying to crashball against big Sterling, the f'ing mutant will get snapped in half! On eeeeeeeven more Farrell based humour, you will all see the replays and notice he attempted to make contact and go for crash ball when he scored, unfortunately the dopey ******** completely missed the man he was aiming for and fell over the line!

What a difference that second half made though, for the 1st 40, Rob Andrews <strike>Newcastle</strike> England kicked the ball in the air, were afraid top tackle (see; 1st Tongan try, it was at that point when I realise Paul Sackey must die), looked like a deer in the headlights and... erm... were crap. On a side note, Sackeys 1st try was never a score - the replay clearly showed his elbow had crossed the whitewash on the deadball line. In the second half, Ashtons halftime pep-talk did something good because the backs were running from deep, the forwards were offloading in contact and supporting the carriers, the ball went though the hands quickly and, dare I say it, England actually played an expansive, exciting style of rugby! Un-be-f***in-leavable!

Goes to show that Rob Andrew is indeed a Cee U Next Tuesday.

And one last thing, maybe the Islanders can STFU with their crap predictions now. We all know that England won't get passed Australia (bar some miracle or a circa 1995 poisoning incident, are there any SAs working in their hotel?) so our World Cup will end this coming Saturday. But for God sake, only a retard would thinking Tonga would actually do it? It may have been the fairy-tale end for them had they done it, but remember we're the moustache tweaking, evil, sinister English who thwart all storybook endings. Besides, Saints need Tonga'huia back, so thank f*** they're out!

 

[RC]

4 tries in a World Cup, not bad for a "shite" player. [/b]

You're right, Sackey's performing WELL over his limits.
The boy is a 7's player.
He proves that with every game (bad tackling, terrible defensive line, not able to do anything in confined spaces, can only score when he's got a run to the line.)

Nuff said.

 

[SaintsFan_Webby]

I thought the scoreline flattered Tonga a little to be honest. Credit to them for a spirited performance, but other than the two well taken tries they barely found their way into the England 22.

And someone desperately needs to teach them how to tackle. How Latu didn't get binned for smashing his shoulder into Moody's face I'll never know. Especially after all the other no-arm tackles he threw in.

And f*** it, while I'm moaning - how did Tonga not once get penalised for dragging down the maul in the first half? Every single time we tried to set one up a Tongan fell over.

I think it can be safely assumed we won't come close to the Aussies. The state of pessimism can be accurately summarised by the groan that went up across the country when Farrell was brought on.

And quote of the night goes to my Dad, who I was watching the match with. Upon seeing our returning captain touch the ball for the first time he eloquently proclaimed: "Bloody hell, Vickery's a pudding isn't he?!?!"

Make me chuckle because it's true.

 

[danny]

england are massive massive favourites for this!! but the way tonga have played with such passion and determination is something very admirable. even if tonga loose they should be extremely proud that theyve approached every game with a never say die attitude and pure roar passion and love for there country, which is something severely lacking in english rugby. in my opinion what tonga may lack in the basic skills, they more than match up to england in passion. Tonga can trouble england. if they can keep them out then chip a lead then who knows, the english aint the most confident looking of teams

go tonga!!!!
[/b]

nice win last night for your masters i think. Lets see if minnows Wales can cause a massive upset and beat Fiji today. Must be worrying for all the bitter taffs to see the green shoots of revival coming through for England. I thought our passion was an example to the rest of the British teams.
Go Fiji!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!.

 

[T.Rugby]

Well Done to England on the win, although i think only a few players of the english deserve jonny wilkinson, martin corry, lewis moody & andy farrel...too me these are the only players that played well......., england did their homework concerning tonga's strengths they limited the tongan forward pace by slowing down their rades and also shut down finau maka before he could get up from picking the ball up....



@ RC i agree on that comment on paul sackey, hes not the best eh...by all means hes a great finisher that has pace and fitness hwoever defensively he is horrible as can be seen by that try to sukanaivalu hufanga and he doesnt have all that much creativity in his game...england can do better!....and with a game against australia looming next week he will get destroyed by lote or drew

 

[Giacobani]

video of haka please ?

 

[Fa'atau82]

Good game, credit to Sackey i thought he had a good finishing game.

Tonga gave their all, and although it was very unlikely they were going to win they did show they are a good team and i see games like this as a measuring stick. I am very proud of Tonga last night.

Tonga conceded 101 in their last game vs england and Tonga have improved massively to concede only 36. This is a huge boost for the country and the rugby union in Tonga.

Tonga had nothing to lose and they played as such. Hopefully this will get them more funding and i see they have risen in the rankings with those 2 wins.

I don't care about who played well etc, i just care about how a team performs, how much heart they have and how they play for their country.

Tonga have over-performed and it is long overdue.

Thankyou Tonga, it's been a very refreshing campaign to watch.

 

[Prestwick]

Essentially nobody knew how it was going to turn out. Tonga were there, on form and ready to cause a serious upset and in a way they had already caused an upset of sorts against firece local rivals Samoa. South Africa just about got away with it with a second string team and so it was down to England to see how they would fare.

The actual game itself was very pleasing to me. I liked the fact that England were much quicker than their usual lethargic, stuck in treacle self and it showed that whenever Tonga got a penalty from which they could quickly tap and go from, you saw the England line dash back to their feet and back to make some room between them and the Tongans. A much more composed defence than against South Africa and most players did their part, none other than poor Matthew Tait who seems set to steal the "tackled most thrice-his-size players" crown from Jonny Wilkinson.

Speaking of Tait (and moving onto how England attacked), it was very pleasing to see him finally, after three years of waiting, show the promise that got him picked in the first place. Several good breaks, a try and possibly a second if there hadn't have been a fumble. If he better on the wings or at Full Back then he's making a damn good effort at Center.

The attack for England on the whole was much more encouraging although sadly let down by Barkley who seems to be ****ling from that hip injury and as a result he was quiet for most of the match until he was subbed off. However, Wilkinson did very well and helped where he could and he definitely had some superb help from a reinvigorated Andy Gomersall. Imagine, four years ago this chap was but a 3rd choice for Sir Clive Woodward now catapaulted into England Scrum Half of choice. And boy did he do well, some agonisingly slow ball in places but I'd say that he managed to produce quick ball about 85% of the time which is probably a 100% improvement on matches of late.

One thing which really helped was commitment from the wings and Lewsey at Full Back, all of which insisted on looking for work outside of their regular duties on the pitch and yet when the ball was being thrown out wide, they were there, ready and waiting for action. It was a real joy to see and nice to see Sackey start to improve. We all know he can tackle in the Guinness Premiership, his part of Wasps' triple trouble team with Lewsey and Cipriani at foiling opposition attacks is legendary but so far, we haven't seen this converted onto the international stage. Whether its because he's failed to gel well with Cueto, Lewsey and Robinson I don't know but its nice to see that rather than go back into his shell, he's starting to front up and scoring those two excellent tries goes a long way towards doing that.

Kicking for touch, even for Farrell later on was spot on and helped to pin back a dangerous Tongan side who, if left to run, will run all over you and this started to wear down the Tongans who played with lots of heart but were just outplayed on several levels by an England team with a serious point to prove.

In hindsight, I would have opted for Catt and Hipkiss at center and replace Cueto with Tait or even Catt and Tait at Center but in the end, Wilkinson and Tait did enough work to disguise the quietness of Barkley at 12.

To balance this with a sense of perspective however, this is a big improvement, but if we faced South Africa again in the Quarters (for arguments sake) would we be able to beat them 2nd time around on this form? Nope, not with a shaky Center pairing like that you won't. If you can't score against South Africa then what is the point?

 

[Hamster]

hahaha Tonga didnt play that well at all. England played alright.

Tonga barely poised a threat in Englands 22 and when they did they gave possesion away easily. Shame they didn't play well and it wasn't a close game.

 

[AllezWasps]

<div class='quotemain'>4 tries in a World Cup, not bad for a "shite" player. [/b]

You're right, Sackey's performing WELL over his limits.
The boy is a 7's player.
He proves that with every game (bad tackling, terrible defensive line, not able to do anything in confined spaces, can only score when he's got a run to the line.)

Nuff said.
[/b][/quote]

Oh well, least we won. Against a pacific side. .

 

[moriap90]

sackey is an awful player it says it all about how far england have fallen since 03 that sackey is a star now

 

[Ruggerboy]

The english are going to be totally run over in the quarter finals.

 

[RoyalBlueStuey]

Not sure if this has been mentioned 'cause I playing catch up after spending Friday night at a beer festival.

It was interesting to see the way the players swarmed over Farrell after he'd scored....seems a very popular team member. I'm not saying anything re his selection but I did wonder how he was going to fit and whether the other players resented him getting picked purely on his league reputation.