[RWC2019][Semi-Final 1] England vs. New Zealand (26/10/2019)

[TRF_Olyy]

Given Nowell is injured its a good side. Shame we didnt see more of Genge this world cup. Guessing he will get a run out when we play Wales next Friday...

Should've given him a run at 8, to rest Billy.
His scrummaging isn't good enough but his carrying is top notch

 

[Vieux Talonneur]

However maybe we are worrying too much. Every team so far has struggled to put any try's over us, due to the team defensive effort. And Daly is pretty handy in the attacking line. Let's just hope that for any points he bleeds, he makes them back in attack.

True, but we haven't faced anyone remotely of the ABs calibre. They are the best in the world at identifying and exploiting weaknesses. They're also defensively better than anyone else we've faced. The likelihood of Daly being able to more than offset any howlers is low.

Daly at 15 has always been a gamble. Jones will know that as much as anyone but, to his credit, has backed his man and now would be a very good for that faith to be fully repaid. Youngs and Binny are others who need to repay Jones' faith in them.

 

[TommiG88]

Given Nowell is injured its a good side. Shame we didnt see more of Genge this world cup. Guessing he will get a run out when we play Wales next Friday...

That's the spirit.

 

[Cooper]

Great line-ups from both teams. It's going to be a classic!

Barrett/Rettalick/Whitelock all on the park at the same time is going to cause England some real problems at the set piece. We lose a bit of mobility with Sam Cane on the bench, but don't forget he comes on in the 2nd half and will provide so much going into the later stages of the game fresh. Scott is very good at blindside as well and still very mobile.

I think there's three obvious key area's that we can target/exploit.

-Lawes ahead of Kruis, come line out time we can really steal some ball with Barrett/Rettalick/Whitelock all jumping.
-Slade being dropped for Ford is a good move, but Farrell to 12 means ALB can exploit Farrell's defence, Farrell has 33 tackles and 11 missed tackles this tournament off the top of my head. I feel we can target him for breaks.
-Daly, if we get the ball to the outside backs (which we will), Daly is very questionable on defence. I would also be targeting him with highballs and runners, he has not being good lately.

In my opinion I see more weak points to the England line-up than ours and I'm confident we will win, but it's going to be close and probably down to the wire!!! This is knock-out rugby, nerves will be there and all England need is some early points to build confidence and they will be hard to stop. We need to start well and get on top of them early to control the game.

 

[Larksea]

Manu Samoa is tackling at about 65% as well I think?

 

[Cooper]

Manu Samoa is tackling at about 65% as well I think?

Yeah, their midfield was asked a few questions vs Aussie defensively and weren't flash. I feel England have been getting away with it due to the opposition they've played. I think ALB and Goodhue and going to really put them under the microscope!

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Hmmm. I don't like either sides unforced changes, I thought Cane and Savea would be better flankers than Currderhilly which would immediately put England on the back foot. Barrett naturally slows things down, I still don't think England will be able to deal with the way NZ move the ball (Don't think anyone can) but this is a chance to get on the board early and hold on for dear life.

On to Ford to do it against world class opposition, I'll believe he can do it when I see it.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

I completely agree that New Zealand will look to target potential defensive deficiencies. However, missed tackle stats aren't always the most important metric. England have conceded few tries regardless of the stats. Will New Zealand be more difficult to deal with, absolutely they will? Will they score tries for fun against us, I'd suggest it's unlikely (but not impossible). The Australians thew all their attacking prowess at us for 80 minutes and scored one try.

That said I'm intrigued. The multi pod system is going to be a conundrum. Just rushing it is asking for trouble. What will we do?

 

[Cooper]

Hmmm. I don't like either sides unforced changes, I thought Cane and Savea would be better flankers than Currderhilly which would immediately put England on the back foot. Barrett naturally slows things down, I still don't think England will be able to deal with the way NZ move the ball (Don't think anyone can) but this is a chance to get on the board early and hold on for dear life.

On to Ford to do it against world class opposition, I'll believe he can do it when I see it.

Got to remember Cane is still on the bench. If things aren't going as good as expected at HT, I expect Cane to come on. I pick him to come on around the 50/55 minute mark anyway.

 

[Lé Ddanno]

Hmmm. I don't like either sides unforced changes, I thought Cane and Savea would be better flankers than Currderhilly which would immediately put England on the back foot. Barrett naturally slows things down, I still don't think England will be able to deal with the way NZ move the ball (Don't think anyone can) but this is a chance to get on the board early and hold on for dear life.

On to Ford to do it against world class opposition, I'll believe he can do it when I see it.

You only posted this to wind up WT, you swine.

 

[duncanb]

Fairly happy with team all would prefer a genuine back three player on bench.
Not to worried about perceived only 2 jumpers.
If you call a front ball a good % then only 1 can steal.
If you throw to back only a bad throw brings middle jumper into play so again 1 to steal.
As a huge amount of line involve a reduction in numbers bar variations on the full line out I see little value in 3 out and out line specialists.
I'm happy with our 2.5 the arrow thrower and jump timing is way way more key.

 

[Jakedood]

People keep talking the lineout here, and while I would say Kruis is a better option, having more jumpers isnt necessarily a key to being better in the lineout

Offensively it will help, for sure, but England could call 5 or 4 man lineouts, and completely negate the point of having 4 jumpers, as well as being more about where you jump in relation to your opposition jumper, whether you can use decoy jumpers to move their contestable lifters and jumpers (and lifters are just as important). Kruis is a better lineout operator as he reads the lineout better, not because he jumps higher, but Borthwick will have a plan in place for this area.
I'm not saying New Zealand dont have an advantage, because they do, but England can be canny about their Jumpers in order to stay secure.
In summary, its more important to be jumping just in front, or well behind your opposition jumping pod, than simply being taller (though this helps for sure)
One issue last year in the second half was the overuse of Itoje jumping at the front, which is where i think 2/3 of the losses came, its an easy place to contest if you're not showing threats to take the ball off the tail or the middle.
On top of this I think Jamie George is one of, if not the best Lineout thrower in the world right now, given the variety of ways he can hit any position in the line, looping, arrowing it in, etc... he's absolutely brilliant

That said given the likely heavy kicking plan of England (either crossfield or into touch) the Lineout will be crucial, and England will target either perfection or maybe the loss of 1 lineout, 2 at most. More importantly, they must provide some pressure on AB's ball, if they can nab one or two with intelligent jumping, I think England will win this game

 

[Cooper]

The choice for 3 locks is just an option that works best for us with Todd's injury and Frizzel's inexperience as well. I noted earlier it's semi-forced to an extent because Frizzel won't be trusted completely to fill that bench spot in a game of such magnitude (he was initially selected behind Jacobson who had to pull out due to injury).

Tuipulotu has more experience, is in good form and has played vs England before. It's a flexible strategy when can use to if a situation like this arose.

 

[Cooper]

Will be very interesting to see what they do with this back row.

Big Patrick is a rocks or diamonds type of a player (arguably mostly rocks).
He can be a penalty magnet, and lazy. When he's on there a few better ball carriers on a footy field.
Will take half the English pack to contain him.

I think this season he's kicked on.


The Blues culture doesn't appear to be helping out players, the two Ioane brothers have not developed, there's a serious problem at the Blues, I think Tuipulotu has suffered here in the past and that's why he wasn't being selected, but he's kicked on. He's a much different player this season.​

 

[donmcdazzle]

The choice for 3 locks is just an option that works best for us with Todd's injury and Frizzel's inexperience as well. I noted earlier it's semi-forced to an extent because Frizzel won't be trusted completely to fill that bench spot in a game of such magnitude (he was initially selected behind Jacobson who had to pull out due to injury).

Tuipulotu has more experience, is in good form and has played vs England before. It's a flexible strategy when can use to if a situation like this arose.

I guess they back Barrett to bring the same intensity in defence as Cane early, then keep the pace by bringing on Cane later (like what they did with Todd in the last game).

 

[donmcdazzle]

I think this season he's kicked on.


The Blues culture doesn't appear to be helping out players, the two Ioane brothers have not developed, there's a serious problem at the Blues, I think Tuipulotu has suffered here in the past and that's why he wasn't being selected, but he's kicked on. He's a much different player this season.​

The treatment / enablement by the Blues of Akira is such a shame. He is one of the most physically gifted guys I've ever seen. Imagine if he went to the Crusaders... he would be starting at 6 or 8 this weekend for sure.

 

[Cooper]

I guess they back Barrett to bring the same intensity in defence as Cane early, then keep the pace by bringing on Cane later (like what they did with Todd in the last game).

I'm actually really digging it, I think Cane in the 2nd half will be an absolute weapon in the backrow.

 

[TW27BA]

Happy enough with the England 23, but is there any need for both Slade and JJ?
I'd prefer to see JJ and Big Joe myself, but thats an armchair selector for you.

Both Genge and Launch must consider themselves unlucky too. Genge has time on his side (Will Marler retire from international duty after this WC?) and Eddie obviously sees what is going on in training to make his decision. Just bad luck on the one left out when we have 4 very proficient locks at the same time.

 

[Yoshimitsu]

Happy enough with the England 23, but is there any need for both Slade and JJ?
I'd prefer to see JJ and Big Joe myself, but thats an armchair selector for you.

Both Genge and Launch must consider themselves unlucky too. Genge has time on his side (Will Marler retire from international duty after this WC?) and Eddie obviously sees what is going on in training to make his decision. Just bad luck on the one left out when we have 4 very proficient locks at the same time.

I don't get Slade on the bench either. For me he's either a starter (which I could make an argument for) or he's not there at all. What does Slade bring from the bench that we're going to need to win this game? He's clearly a very capable player but if I want defence as we're ahead I'm bringing JJ on. If want attack, it's marginal between Slade and JJ but but by taking up a bench spot it denies Eddie a chance to include someone who could really change things up, that being Cokasaniga. If we had 10 minutes left and were 5 points down I know who'd I'd want to throw in..........

All that said, it's a fine team and great players all.

In Eddie we trust.........

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Remember when Retallick called Lawes "Michael Lawes"
#ArrogantAllBlacks

Just seen Haskell's comment on it:
"After that match - which we lost - I walked past Retallick and said: 'Learn our f..... names next time you p....'"


Love a bit of bants in the pre-match build up