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Rugby World Cup 2007
England v Tonga
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<blockquote data-quote="Prestwick" data-source="post: 149005"><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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. </p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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.</p><p></p><p>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?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Prestwick, post: 149005"] 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? [/QUOTE]
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