New Zealand vs England 2nd Test (13/07/24)

[Jimbo]

Well ignore the arm around Lawrence's neck should we.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Rugby

Called it

 

[Wasps92]

They deserve the win.

Two cross field kicks apart we've offered nothing and the bench was useless again.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Pretty apt end to the game, really

2 LBPs vs the ABs is honestly better than I expected

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Called it

Not coming home.

 

[TopTen2003]

Think the ABs know they've got away with one there based on that reaction.

England have to learn to take more when in the opposition final third.

Frustrating as that was an opportunity against an ABs side rebuilding in a new regime.

That said, so much better from England since that Ireland game in the 6N.

Something to work with going forward

 

[BPM]

Irritating. Lost that in the 3rd quarter by not taking a single point despite living in the NZ half for the best part of 20mins.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

That was entertaining. Enjoyed it more than I.expected to.

Commiserations England fans apart from Groundhog.

 

[Ceteris]

Did NZ not collapse the initial maul before the break off?

Plus seat belt tackle on Laurence?

 

[Grizwald]

Fine margins. Any win in NZ would have been massive but two really tight tests they're going in the right direction IMO.

Desperately need to sort the scrum as it's just not good enough against top tier front rows.

George playing 80 mins definitely wasn't in the script either.

 

[BPM]

Bench not good enough.

I defended Steward in the first half but defensively he was poor in the second half and so slow when he got the ball. We missed Furbank.

 

[Reiser99]

Had to listen on the radio. Sounds like England made it a good game and losing by 8 points across two games is nothing to be sniffed at.

However, there seems to be some consistent issues. England keep kicking too much in the 22 and don't get much from it. I think the last NZ try came from Lawrence kicking it away again. It's worrying that England don't feel they can keep possession for multiple phases near the opposition try line. I also reckon that Borthwick isn't quite getting the selections right and substitutions. Sounds like Curry didn't have much impact again. Underhill sounded like he was having another good game and yet comes off again.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Need to find a second xv that can play in a similar style to the first xv or at least add impacts. Steward is imo international quality, but he isn't what Borthwick needs atm.

Starting wise tighthead and inside centre are issues still. Like I can see Eddie's issues with Lawrence at times.

I don't get why we stopped targeting Telea? Borthwick bottled that tactic
Depth is worrying in pretty much every position
I still don't get why JVP wasn't picked

 

[stus768]

Had to listen on the radio. Sounds like England made it a good game and losing by 8 points is nothing to be sniffed at.

However, there seems to be some consistent issues. England keep kicking too much in the 22 and don't get much from it. I think the last NZ try came from Lawrence kicking it away again. It's worrying that England don't feel they can keep possession for multiple phases near the opposition try line. I also reckon that Borthwick isn't quite getting the selections right and substitutions. Sounds like Curry didn't have much impact again. Underhill sounded like he was having another good game and yet comes off again.

Yeah Earl had a stinker but underhill came off.

 

[BPM]

******* itoje again. He needs to be benched and not just retain his starter position by default.

But was excellent for the majority of the game. Who are you replacing him with? Coles?

 

[Reiser99]

But was excellent for the majority of the game. Who are you replacing him with? Coles?

Yeah sounds like Itoje was a menace, but got it wrong a few times. If he can tighten up a little then he'll be back to world class.

 

[stus768]

Yeah sounds like Itoje was a menace, but got it wrong a few times. If he can tighten up a little then he'll be back to world class.

He had a great first half but kind of reverted to pen machine in second

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Itoje tried too hard mainly because most of the rest of the pack wasn't giving him help

 

[esoj]

all blacks bench is definitely superior the impact they had compared to england in the last 20 mins was very noticeable.
England a very good team but lacking a bit of depth outside the top 15 and need work on the scrum for the sure.

All Blacks need to work on the lineout second week in a row it faltered badly. Against a better team they would have been punished more.
I think robertson will be maybe looking at starting bb at fullback going foward until jordan comes back.

 

[Jimbo]

I'm going to be the one to say it Furbank would have made a difference, I wouldn't go as far as to say it wins the game, I just don't think Barrett has that level of impact.