EOYT: England v New Zealand, 01/12/2012

[j'nuh]

Now that I've come down a bit, I still think that we shouldn't get carried away with this. Just remember Australia in 2010. I think that the pack have been pretty damn good, all the way throughout the last year. Might be a testament to Rowntree's coaching talent. Launchbury has to be find of the year for England, and if Wood keeps performing like that, I don't really mind if Armitage isn't involved (although if I can dream, 6. Robshaw 7. Wood 8. Armitage...). But I don't think we should get carried away with the backline just yet.

 

[SelimNiai]

Jeez, I was only saying.

 

[austingtir]

I think this is about it for me, what it shows is that on their day any one of the top 8 teams can beat the others (although apparently saying so last week made me a poor winner).

I doubt I will take too much from the match and certainly don't think it is cause for concern the better team won on the day however if it happens 3 or 4 times in a row then I will worry about it.

Well i predict you will start worrying by the end of the france test series next year. A smith needs to be dropped on this performance alone imo and work his way back into the team.

Will be intresting to see how AB's go next year. I honestly think they've been lucky this year that most teams they've played have been rebuilding or have just been very poor tactically.

A smith seemed that bad that the rest of the team caught it off him.:wall:

Now that I've come down a bit, I still think that we shouldn't get carried away with this. Just remember Australia in 2010. I think that the pack have been pretty damn good, all the way throughout the last year. Might be a testament to Rowntree's coaching talent. Launchbury has to be find of the year for England, and if Wood keeps performing like that, I don't really mind if Armitage isn't involved. But I don't think we should get carried away with the backline just yet.

Its a great result for you guys but you must admit that performance by NZ was very odd?

 

[martinspoonboy1]

i thought brad barritt played a blinder, had no idea he could run that fast!

 

[Tawa002]

Englands 7th win over the All Blacks and maybe their best at that.

Now to find the local rugby shop and see how much a England jersey costs, Im buying me one.

 

[donmcdazzle]

Congratulations England, awesome performance. I hate watching the AB's get hammered, but had to admire how England went about it to be honest. Great defensively, smashed into the collisions and scored some cracking tries to boot. The way your lot reacted after we scored two quick tries was pretty impressive, it looked like we were about to snatch the game away from you. It was very refreshing to see that sort of game from England, it was a really good game of rugby (just not for us NZ fans).

Our guys, well we played poorly, but thats down to England not really letting us to get into the game. I guess we were due a loss after a good run. At least it will ensure no complacency from the coaching staff. Jane was an animal, Savea was ok, the rest of the backs were rubbish.

 

[TRF Mr Fish]

Quick comments before I go to work:

Awesome game by England. First half was a perfect showing from them. Second half was more about capitalising on poor NZ play, but that first half effort from them was spot on the money.

A Smith had a shocker, should've been pulled before half time.

NZ need to reassess their tactic - it doesn't work. Most of their tries this year have not come from any greatly constructed plays, we will struggle when other teams start become half decent again. International rugby is not at a great level of quality at the moment.

 

[Big Ewis]

Its a great result for you guys but you must admit that performance by NZ was very odd?

England won, legitimately. They were enraged, they caught fire.
And I absolutely hate to take anything away from a huge night, a huge event...smt deeply meaningful to some...
but yes...I'll be "watching film" when I get my hands on this match and check it out again, but the AB's performance was "odd" yes, that's the word. Lethargic in many parts, then a bit of reaction all of a sudden.

What's for sure - and absolute objectivity - is that England's defense was mighty, the pack and forward work answered present (but that's standard), and Tuilagi REALLY helped the team out just by himself. AB's should have been more wary that you miss a tackle on him and you've just conceded 5 or 7 pts.

Farrell played a fantastic game...Carter didn't...
3 tries all, but it seemed like England had more...
England played well offensively, but what the hell was wrong with NZ on defense (esp. in the second half)...wind knocked out of them, smt wasn't right. It looked too easy for England in parts, and then all of a sudden the Blacks would wake up and score a try...then look like harmless puppies again...

iiiiiiiiii dunno !

 

[donmcdazzle]

One more thing, we are bloody predictable at times too. The whole pass it to a forward who then offloads to another forward thing we have done to death. Teams are coping with Smiths fast delivery better now too. Coaches need to get their thinking caps on.

 

[Zapphod]

Well i predict you will start worrying by the end of the france test series next year. A smith needs to be dropped on this performance alone imo and work his way back into the team.

Will be intresting to see how AB's go next year. I honestly think they've been lucky this year that most teams they've played have been rebuilding or have just been very poor tactically.

A smith seemed that bad that the rest of the team caught it off him.:wall:

It is possible the French are a good team and the AB's are still in a bit of a muddled transition but as has been pointed out this was just one game on the end of a surprisingly successful season.

We have based the "invincible" tag solely off a couple of performances against an Australian team that is clearly below par but if you look at the AB's performance through the year they have been given a reputation that has not really been deserved and today they came up against a team that has proved that.

With luck they will learn from it and improve or at the very least stop believing their own hype.

 

[admartian]

One more thing, we are bloody predictable at times too. The whole pass it to a forward who then offloads to another forward thing we have done to death. Teams are coping with Smiths fast delivery better now too. Coaches need to get their thinking caps on.

This. That intercept try needn't happen if Read just hung onto it. I've seen near misses and another intercept try of this nature, too many times this year.

Hansen needs to adapt as he's been skating on people not being able to capitalise better.

 

[tenpm]

Ugh, that was painful. At least we were beaten by a brilliant England side and Tuilagi (my favourite player for England) was playing great.

The referee was perhaps harsh in some places and lenient in others but he was fair. I don't think we can use that as an excuse.

A number of All Blacks had a poor day, at least by their standards - most of the backline wasn't their usual selves. I hardly noticed any of them (save for Savea and Jane in the second half, and maybe Nonu) except when they were a) missing tackles or b) kicking the ball away. To be fair, they didn't have the room to play because the England defence was so good and the All Blacks' forward pack was struggling.

 

[Sam Owen]

i thought brad barritt played a blinder, had no idea he could run that fast!

Yeah he played really well, actually I thought the whole England team played really well. As mentioned from previous posts, the England team are still young so Im betting on more good upcoming performances from them.

Just when the ABs started off the second half with a quick 2 tries. The English did not falter, they let loose Tuilagi in the right situation. They all worked well to bring that about and that was the best response. The Boks had the ABs earlier this year IMO but they fell off the boil where as England announced they were in it for the full 80 and they did that.

The English forwards on defence used their defence as an attack. Picking out the correct runner 'cos they completed their homework and making sure the ABs were making as little to no ground. They also got in the rucks, scrums, lineouts, mauls they made every post a winner.

William Webb Ellis will be smiling down on his fellow countryman.

 

[j'nuh]

Its a great result for you guys but you must admit that performance by NZ was very odd?

I think the term you're looking for is poor. Which isn't odd at all - even the best have off-games. I don't think NZ are so clearly ahead of the rest as some people believe though. My only surprise is how England won by so much.

 

[donmcdazzle]

I think the term you're looking for is poor. Which isn't odd at all - even the best have off-games. I don't think NZ are so clearly ahead of the rest as some people believe though. My only surprise is how England won by so much.

i think you're right, it did take a great performance to best us though. But other people have mentioned it too and I think we have won a few games this year not playing all that well, rather the opposition was playing shite. It is always going to take a great game to beat us, but we certainly are beatable (and have been all year). SA almost got us in Dunedin, Aus almost got us at suncorp, and now the English finally did get us.

 

[martinspoonboy1]

i think you're right, it did take a great performance to best us though. But other people have mentioned it too and I think we have won a few games this year not playing all that well, rather the opposition was playing shite. It is always going to take a great game to beat us, but we certainly are beatable (and have been all year). SA almost got us in Dunedin, Aus almost got us at suncorp, and now the English finally did get us.

And Ireland in June in one of the tests if i remember correctly

 

[martinspoonboy1]

And Ireland in June in one of the tests if i remember correctly

By this i mean 'almost'

 

[RWC2011Fan]

Caution: Casual fan spouting bullshit!

Dear All Blacks,

All is forgiven, I will start supporting you guys again...unless it's against Ireland, or possibly South Africa. Seriously though, England's future is looking bright and it'll be great for them going into 2015 and I can't wait for the 2013 Six Nations. England, France and Ireland are all looking pretty good.

By the way, I hate to brag, but I swear I knew this result was coming and this may be stretching it but I swear the scoreline was in the back of my head as well, except I had that down for England's next game against Italy.(and I'm sure you're all thinking, "suuuuurrrreee...")

On the New Zealand side of things, I can't wait to see what sort of **** the NZ media puts on the pages over the next few days. I swear they act like the AB's are untouchable and they hardly ever credit the other team. Anyway, I think the next test against France could be very ugly, so for the moment:

PS. It was Suzie. Does anyone recall that the majority of the squad came down with food poisoning in the middle of the week.
Also, it's a pity it was England that toppled the world champions, would've been nice if it had been Ireland.

 

[Rhyer]

The All Blacks haven't been that great all season, with only four performances I think that were deserving of this applause (2 against Ireland, 1 against Argentina and 1 against South Africa) and the rest have been pretty darn awful. So, over rated team, fatigued as it was the last game of the season, the sickness in the week clearly had some impact as everyone looked sluggish and a resurgence from this English team all spelt the doom of the All Blacks. End of the day, it doesn't really matter, everything was already over when the All Blacks drew with Australia. All Blacks are still number 1 in the world and haven't done too badly, they're still building I would say as two coaches are still finding their feet.

Aaron Smith was the worst All Black today and Jane was the best.

I think the game was summed up when Ashton got his try, McCaw, Carter and C.Smith all missed tackles in the same phase. These are the best defensive players in the world and if they miss then the whole All Blacks structure is gone.

 

[Joseph14]

I predict England's first choice front row will be the Lions first choice front row.

Just thought I would share that!