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[RWC2019][The Final] England vs. South Africa (02/11/2019)

ncurd said:
Japan in the context of this world cup is a fair cop but still a game you should be winning.
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Every Irish fan:

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Recommend watching the last episode of rising sons after the semi final victory.
What struck me is how level headed guys were after that match - there's absolutely no sense that this was our final as Gatland implied. These guys are confident but neither arrogant or complacent.
There is a sense that they have come here to do a job and that is to win .
Really impressed with the attitude of those boys- bides well for Saturday in my opinion
 
This is going to be one tough match. Doubt he will change the team much but happy Cheslin is back.
 
spartan32 said:
Hope SA play as badly as they did on Sunday would be plan A.

failing that I think EJ will want to keep us away from
an arm wrestle, which is what SA want. We have a significantly better kicking game and much better chasers across the field. SA look pretty poor at full back and as good as Kolbe is he's a short little guy who, like the great Jason Robinson before him, can be easily isolated with bombs.
To my eye most of the SA power comes from the forwards so shift it away from them and punch holes in the mildly weaker back line with Manu, creating legs and getting in behind the SA defence.

in defence it will be all about line speed for us. A big lad is only handy if he gets up a head of speed. Jump him before he's taken a step and all the size counts for little. If our line speed is as good as Saturday then we can actually push SA back in defence. Let them over compete at the ruck, suck in attacking options and isolate smaller player with Itoji, Curryhill etc. Wait did the kick to inevitably come from Faff and then counter.
Something like that
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I watched the relook at the AB match and England (1) defended in the first half almost exactly the same way the Boks do. Outside in with the 13 shooting up. The All Black's (2) unwillingness to kick combined with that suffocating defence put them under some serious pressure in the first half. The All Blacks also (3) didn't disrupt the ruck that much, so England were getting quick ball.

I think the Boks will do all 3 better so England will almost certainly need to play differently on attack. What looked really dangerous to me were the decoy runners and offloading from England. They were near perfect and it created all sorts of issues for the ABs. But how would this look if they're not getting over the gain line consistently? I think that's the key to the Boks winning this one.
 
If Jonny May is only running at say 70% with a chance he could go down in the first 10 mins of the game.... does this change Eddie's thinking? With the aerial battle that could occur does a rethink about having an out and out back 3 player on the bench? I take it Nowell is still injured so that would leave us with Cokasinga and Mcconnochie
 
ncurd said:
I appreciate losing to Italy was definitely something to be avenged but not something you really should be writing home about.

To put this into context England have never lost to Italy not even when we were at our Andy Robinson worst and we've played them ever year for the past 21 years. Although they did run close in '08, '10 and '12 at home.

Your loss was also their last win against a Tier 1 nation.



Japan in the context of this world cup is a fair cop but still a game you should be winning.
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I'm sure if the Tories or Labour were dictating who your head coach is you'd lose to Italy as well.
 
Steve-o said:
I'm sure if the Tories or Labour were dictating who your head coach is you'd lose to Italy as well.
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HA thats where you are wrong! If the Tories and Labour were dictating who was our head coach they wouldn't agree to a decision and the EU would have to pick one instead ;)
 
Steve-o said:
I watched the relook at the AB match and England (1) defended in the first half almost exactly the same way the Boks do. Outside in with the 13 shooting up. The All Black's (2) unwillingness to kick combined with that suffocating defence put them under some serious pressure in the first half. The All Blacks also (3) didn't disrupt the ruck that much, so England were getting quick ball.

I think the Boks will do all 3 better so England will almost certainly need to play differently on attack. What looked really dangerous to me were the decoy runners and offloading from England. They were near perfect and it created all sorts of issues for the ABs. But how would this look if they're not getting over the gain line consistently? I think that's the key to the Boks winning this one.
Click to expand...

Yes the Bokks won't make the same mistake as the Aussies/Kiwies and they will play The territory - I can't see them varying their tactics at this late stage and doing what England did back in the 1991 final and go against their natural instinct. The Bokks will play it tight.
How England play this one depends on Eddie's thinking - does he keep the Ford -Farrell axis from the off or does he wait until the second half ? One thing is sure is that he is not afraid to take guys offs quickly if his strategy is not working - I remember during the last Australia tour he took off Harrison and Burrel off after only 30 minutes when things were not going to plan.
Attack wise I think our key strength is that unlike the Bokks were are not 1 dimensional - We have the ability to shift the point of attack .
For me the key to this game is quite simple. I expect a slug fest and an arm wrestle but we should come out on top at the breakdown where Undercurry will prevail over PsdT and Kolisi .
But the key for me is Faf du Clerk and how well we control him - he was the reason we lost that series in SA and the Bokks gameplan is largely dictated by him.
England by 12
But my track record is poor as I predicted we would only win by 5 on the Aussies and the Kiwis
 
Rob Horsfall-turner said:
If Jonny May is only running at say 70% with a chance he could go down in the first 10 mins of the game.... does this change Eddie's thinking? With the aerial battle that could occur does a rethink about having an out and out back 3 player on the bench? I take it Nowell is still injured so that would leave us with Cokasinga and Mcconnochie
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If theres any doubt he's much less than 100% he shouldn't start.You cant have him not being able to outsprint locks in such a big game. Nowell to come in his place you'd assume. Not sure who'd bench as Joseph was picked ahead of McConnocock for the Aus game.
 
FLOBALOB said:
If theres any doubt he's much less than 100% he shouldn't start.You cant have him not being able to outsprint locks in such a big game. Nowell to come in his place you'd assume. Not sure who'd bench as Joseph was picked ahead of McConnocock for the Aus game.
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One would assume Big Joe, but I don't understand why JJ and Slade were both on the bench over him.

If May is croaked it has to Nowell if not Joe. Going by last weekend I'd be surprised if the bench changed.
 
Does Joe have the defensive and aerial skills to be thrown into a final? Big game experience does count for a lot at this stage.
 

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