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[RWC2023 SF2] England vs South Africa (21/10/2023)

South Africa has played England 6 times in the Rugby World Cup. They conceded just 1 try in those 6 games combined(!)
 
I couldn't believe it when I looked this up. That's the 2nd most shocking fact this World Cup after realising SA and Ireland had never played each other before.
I can because bar the controversial Cueto no try in 07 and Greenwood's in 03 we have never truly threatened your line in World Cup
 
That scrum near the line due to the Arendse knock on was the best opportunity. Score points from there and I can't see South Africa coming back from that. Huge momentum shift.
Again would have, should have, could have. But they didn't. This is a World Cup semi final. Got to take your chances. Just saying it is one the reasons they lost. And that is one. How many others? Especially in the last 15 mins?

Peeps were "daring to dream" being 9 points up and calling it but I was looking at the scoreboard and thinking "way too soon. This game is far from over."
 
I don't think SA played well at all in this game. They were sloppy, making mistakes and really struggled to get going. England just had a moment of defensive error and it cost them a lot it seems. Awful way to bow out.
 
I don't think SA played well at all in this game. They were sloppy, making mistakes and really struggled to get going. England just had a moment of defensive error and it cost them a lot it seems. Awful way to bow out.
This game was a typical SB game.
Suffocate the opposition and frustrate them, (the weather helped that to be more successful).
Then hope to score 3 points when the opportunity arises.
The work on is to become more clinical when we get disorganised defences.
 
It's funny. A few minutes from the end of the match, the referee calls a foul against England which allows Handré Pollard to score!
This referee will leave a very bad image of him in this World Cup.

We could say that Ben O'Keeffe will have single-handedly defeated two teams from the northern hemisphere to favor South Africa. What a shame.
 
TBF as much as England did well in the air and at the breakdown winning penalties, they never looked like scoring tries to put enough daylight between them and the Boks. 9 point lead never looked like cutting it with 15m to go. It was however much better performance than the rubbish from last 4 years, but it was a massive opportunity missed to get to another final.
Always the SB plan, suffocate the opposition, then start to think of scoring.
 
How is this a SA penalty? Koch is diagonal....
England must file a protest, he did everything to give the advantage back to South Africa, this referee is a shame.
Vincent Koch pushed diagonally but of course Ben O'kefee didn't see anything even though he was right in front of him.
 
I think it was just a case of Genge and Sinckler started badly and then, even subconsciously, O'Keefe was focusing on them. Often happens in games.
Oh I agree we were getting pumped in the scrum by the end....but...something that obvious should be picked up.

Anyway...Sunday morning...gutted but genuinely looking forward to seeing where this team can go especially when they start building the attack.

6n could be interesting as an English man this year
 
I'm not going to blame BOK. We made too many errors in the 2nd half and it cost us.

The Le Roux call for the mark was an absolute joke. He went to run then noticed he had been blindsided. Called the scrum and got the pen
 
Oh I agree we were getting pumped in the scrum by the end....but...something that obvious should be picked up.

Anyway...Sunday morning...gutted but genuinely looking forward to seeing where this team can go especially when they start building the attack.

6n could be interesting as an English man this year
Steve Borthwick and the RFU should start investing in rain inducing technology straight away, because with similar tactics as yesterday and a fair weather, England will be pummeled again by Ireland and France and suffer against Scotland...
How much time did England spend in SA 22 with the ball in hand yesterday ? 30 seconds ? Even less ?
 
Steve Borthwick and the RFU should start investing in rain inducing technology straight away, because with similar tactics as yesterday and a fair weather, England will be pummeled again by Ireland and France and suffer against Scotland...
How much time did England spend in SA 22 with the ball in hand yesterday ? 30 seconds ? Even less ?
Ha ha course we won't get pumped by Ireland, France and Scotland.

Got the celts concerned now I see....
 
In hindsight….

The Boks were poor. Maybe our performance surprised them, maybe they were looking ahead to next week, maybe we didn't let them play well, but they were poor. This was a big chance and after 50 minutes I was feeling pretty relaxed. But Borthwick feels like one of rugby's nearly men so there was always a suspicion that something might go wrong.

Yes, we smashed into them, pride, passion etc. Big question about where the hell that's been for the last 3 years. But this was a World Cup semi final, if you can't be bothered to get out of bed for that, when will you? Absolute minimum requirement, but met.

Conditions meant it was always going to be a simple game plan. Borthwick deserves credit for the Cole, Marler and Martin selections and Steward put to bed most of the nonsense around him. May and Daly chased and competed well. Itoje and Faz reminded us of what they can do. Back row competed hard, Mitchell came out in credit. Didn't really notice Manu much, Marchant was competitive. Disappointed in George who I thought had a fairly average tournament overall.

Where Borthwick got it wrong….

Binny. His instincts of months ago were right. Shouldn't have been anywhere near the squad and certainly shouldn't have been involved last night. We needed intensity - Ludlam or Underhill would've brought that.

Props. Sinckler and Genge (should've stayed at Tigers) are poor imitations of what they were / could be. Not good enough and it cost us. In the rebuild he should put maximum emphasis on scrummaging and nothing else. Rodd and Stuart weren't used and were wastes of places. If VRR and Schonert / Collier are our best scrummagers they should have been on the plane to give options.

Selection of, and then lack of trust in, Dan and Walker. His lack of experience and modest stature meant that Dan was actually a bit of a reckless gamble. I think Borthwick maybe eventually realised that. McGuigan should have been on the plane to take some of the pressure off George.

Let's get the pack sorted before we start worrying about the backs. But age / France will mean that unit starts looking different fairly quickly.

As a wrap up, I remain largely unconvinced by Borthwick and his coaching team. But, if there were doubts, last night will have secured his future. At the end of the day we beat a load of lower ranked teams and lost to a higher ranked one we'd put ourselves in a position to beat. Not disastrous, far from stunning. Kind of par.

There's a big rebuild coming. Let's see how Borthwick handles that. His excuses window is now closed.
 
England must file a protest, he did everything to give the advantage back to South Africa, this referee is a shame.
Vincent Koch pushed diagonally but of course Ben O'kefee didn't see anything even though he was right in front of him.
Ah, get off it. First half we were attacking on the English line and Mostert was tackled by two players where neither even attempted to wrap spilled the ball. Attacking opportunity gone begging. Then at the end end of the half Kolbe was taken out in the air. What would've been a yc previous world cup somehow bok found a way to penalize PSDT for standing still and 3 points for England. I could go on and on about continuing off sides that killed any shot of constructive play and the first half rucks especially but it'd be totally pointless. You are cherry picking and coming off looking graceless. I understand that it'll be the latter non calls that'll stick but you clearly have a chip on your shoulder. Take a break from the sport. You need it.
 
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