Eng -v- RSA (8pm)

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

kevmy

What has screwed England in this WC is the over-reliance on established (ie. aging) stars.

I know they've been unlucky with injuries but when they actually played good rugby during the 6N it was when they let the young kids loose. Flood, Geragthy, Strettle, Noone and Tait. These guys are now either at home, on the bench or injured. England would have a much more potent back line if they threw out the old and ushered in the new.

Marshy

LOL, I couldn't believe it when I heard it. Its a risk even playing the guy never mind letting him try and run the show. Amazing decision!

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

Ha, he's bad enough at 12 now they want to play him at 10. They may as well pick someone with no legs.

shrapnel222

England Hammered back to Twickenham

to be fair, they know they're playing for second place in that group, so why not try something different (and amusing) against SA?

Marshy

shrapnel222 wrote:

to be fair, they know they're playing for second place in that group, so why not try something different (and amusing) against SA?

Yeah not like they were going to win anyway I suppose

Kazu

Bryan Habana is going to have fun

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

Why wouldn't they put Catt at 10 and Farrell at 12? It's just stupidity and SA will eat them alive.

Easy_81

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Yeh may as well experiment...

Who knows it may pay off!!!

I doubt it however. If it does I'm sure it will be seen as a coaching master stroke.

jameshayes

Andrew Sheridan, Mark Regan, Matt Stevens, Simon Shaw, Ben Kay, Martin Corry (c), Tom Rees, Nick Easter, Shaun Perry, Andy Farrell, Paul Sackey, Mike Catt, Jamie Noon, Josh Lewsey, Jason Robinson
Replacements:George Chuter, Perry Freshwater, Steve Borthwick, Lewis Moody, Andy Gomarsall, Peter Richards, Mathew Tait

Os du Randt, John Smit (c), Brendon Botha, Bakkies Botha, Victor Matfield, Wickus van Heerden, Juan Smith, Danie Rossouw, Fourie du Preez, Butch James, Bryan Habana, Francois Steyn, Jaque Fourie, JP Pietersen, Percy Montgomery
Replacements:Bismarck du Plessis, CJ van der Linde, Johannes Muller, Bobby Skinstad, Ruan Pienaar, Andre Pretorius, Wynand Olivier

Predictions?

nesf

England -20

Does England +20 mean that England to win by 20+ or that England would win on a handicap of +20?

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

jameshayes

nesf wrote:

Does England +20 mean that England to win by 20+ or that England would win on a handicap of +20?

Means england will win by 20points +

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

I'd say England -10. Yes Farrell is at 10 (should be Catt) but other than that they have a decent team. SA have to play without Burger who gets the majority of their turn over ball but I think SA will pull it off.

I expect there to be a lot of punch ups and sin binnings too.

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

I understand Burger's ban has been reduced on appeal. Has anybody info of how long he will be out for now?

daveirl

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Amz

Yeah, it's 2, he should be back for their game against the USA.

smashey

Mad selection.

youcancallmeal

England -10

I have a strange feeling were in for another upset. I reckon England to win by 5 points

Sangre

I predict a comprehensive victory for SA.

Juan Pablo

England -10

I predict a narrow English win, all points coming from Farrells boot! Should make for an intersting game.

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Sa should take it by a similar margin Eng took it against them in 03. SA by around 20.

zAbbo

England +10

It's not such a huge risk, Farrel often drops in the 10 channel anyway, his kick is decent enough and he's got Mike Catt beside him as well, both can handle kicking duties.

In fairness Ireland could easily be in a similar position, with an over-reliance on experienced players. You've got to say England have been horribly unlucky with injuries to both key outhalves, along with pre-tournament injuries from Harry Ellis and Strettle.

nacho libre

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Even without Burger and De Viliers i think South Africa will win this game BY 15- 20 points.

kevmy

zabbo wrote:

In fairness Ireland could easily be in a similar position, with an over-reliance on experienced players. You've got to say England have been horribly unlucky with injuries to both key outhalves, along with pre-tournament injuries from Harry Ellis and Strettle.

Well we probably don't have the same ammount or quality of young players coming through. Also almost all of our side are on the sunny side of 30. Only Wallace, Hickie, Dempsey and The Bull over 30 I think.

Compare that to England: Farrell, Robinson, Catt, Dallagio, Vickery, Corryetc.

Stev_o

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Probably not a bad idea having Farrel at 10 he does have good hands and a good boot kinda adds an bit of mystic to the squad, SA wouldnt really know how he plays so you never know it could work out for them

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

I think their problem will be that Farrel's own team mates won't know how he plays either!

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

Maybe I'm missing something or have gone temporarily dizzy but I don't even think Farrell is a decent centre. I think he would be better used in the back row.

zAbbo

England +10

Catt is at 10 now, expect it to be interchangeable with Fazz, both are capable kickers from hand.

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

Wise move (finally) I think he must have read all the stick Farrell was getting and decided that if they go belly-up to SA it's best not to give people an obvious target.

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

They would want to make up their minds, 24 hours to go and all that...

EdgarAllenPoo

England -20

From reading (on the RWC website) the way Ashton announced the change it sounded like he did it on the spot because he was being heckled. I'm sure that's not the case though.

mikeruurds

Surely this mish-mash England team can't beat the boks. They're playing so many people out of position.

I will be very surprised if we don't clobber the English by 20+ points. The boks have been playing together for 4 years and are all playing in position. The loss of Schalk is a pain, but his replacement, Wickus van Heerden, is a good player and will cause his opposite number a lot of trouble.

I reckon Corry is going to see that red mist again and clothesline one of our players.

Read this article by a planet-rugby.com journalist about tomorrow's game - feckin priceless:
http://www.skysports.com/rugbyunion/World_Cup/Story/0,21043,13164_2726236,00.html

Marshy

I'm getting these weird visions of Farrell having a cracker againt SA. I know, it sounds ridiculous. Its almost so absurd it might pay off for Ashton.

Irish Wolf

daveirl wrote:

This post has been deleted.

Fear not dave.. you could be on to a winner here. Remember, only myself and Nukem and the Argies to win.

Then again you could still be propping up the table by the end of the week..

Juan Pablo

Juan Pablo wrote:

I predict a narrow English win, all points coming from Farrells boot! Should make for an intersting game.

Aye the greatest all around rugby league player in history is going to make his mark. The big players step up for the big games

zAbbo

England +10

Fazz had his best game for England (and probably in Union) in the last game. I'd like to see him do well, it's to easy to be negative about him (see Jerry Guscotts droll)

tHE vAGGABOND

England Hammered back to Twickenham

england to loose by 20 or more..

That must be the worst backline england has ever put out tbh - and I think the boks will take full advantage..

The interesting thing, is how much the boks miss Berger? Every team will miss one of the best players in the world taken out of their team, but how much....

Note: He may be the best rugby league player in memory, but he is 32 and **** slow. Plus, as one of the lads said at training last night, he was a prop in league, while not the same thing in each sport, he is hardly Offiah like, and going to be breaking lines and getting too far over the gain line...

..I would have ZERO confidence in him as a kicker too tbh. Different sized and shaped ball, besides the fact he has not been a place kicker for *years*! Just like I would be horrified if Brian Carney was Irelands kicker, cos he place kicked in league as a child

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

It's an average England team. Some very good players but none of them at the top of their game... What's going to kill them is their lack composure. Too many changes.. Farrel isn't a bad player but there's a huge difference between league and union and it shows. He hasn't adapted his game for union succesfully.

He's going to struggle and chopping between him and Cat at outhalf depending on the play will just add to confusion amongst a team that's already not too sure what to do with the ball when they get it.

I think their defence will be up there though. I can't see them scoring too many tries but they'll be hell bent on preventing the Boks from scoring. Expect a forward dominated, big hitting scrap in the SA v. Samoa mould. Boks should stretch away in the 2nd half if they take their time and be patient. AND if they don't implode.. They tend to do that sometimes when they're under pressure..

eyeball kid

England +10

Looking forward to this one. Should be a laugh.

SA should win comfortably but then not all games have gone according to the script in this world cup.

mikedragon32

England -20

tHE vAGGABOND wrote:

Note: He may be the best rugby league player in memory, but he is 32 and **** slow. Plus, as one of the lads said at training last night, he was a prop in league, while not the same thing in each sport, he is hardly Offiah like, and going to be breaking lines and getting too far over the gain line...

..I would have ZERO confidence in him as a kicker too tbh. Different sized and shaped ball, besides the fact he has not been a place kicker for *years*! Just like I would be horrified if Brian Carney was Irelands kicker, cos he place kicked in league as a child

I agree with some of what you say, but I'd have some confidence in Farrell's place kicking.

That's one of the better weapons in his arsenal.

I reckon he'll have about 80% + success rate for shots at goal.

Juan Pablo

England -10

Agreed. I seriously doubt a man who landed 1200+ goals in his 200 odd games for Wigan would become a poor kicker overnight! It will be intersting to see how often England elect to take a drop at goal tonight.

Danie Gerber

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Cant see too many drops at goal.. Not a league thing to do really, Faz might kick a few penalties but drops?

Easy_81

England Hammered back to Twickenham

So Mr Ashton has moved him from 10 hey....

Must have noticed the surprise from all the Boards.ie members.

Stev_o

England Hammered back to Twickenham

Ah i was hoping Ashton would take a gamble putting him at 10 would have been interesting to see cause no one knows what the hell he would do

zAbbo

England +10

Easy_81 wrote:

So Mr Ashton has moved him from 10 hey....

Must have noticed the surprise from all the Boards.ie members.

Well Faz has been dropping into the 10 channel in most of the World Cup warmups, I think Ashton is saying it doesn't matter what number is on his back, and it was moreso the media who pushed him for a choice, and he said Catt would start at 10 to shut them up.

Ashton does come across as if he's got a massive chip on his shoulder, he has been that way since taking over England.

Chucky the tree

christ itv is awful.

MrJoeSoap

Come on Habana! Make MrJoeSoap a rich(er) man!

besty

Really looking forward to this. As much as I dislike the ITV coverage, I think Martin Johnson got it spot on when he said one of, if not the key battle tonight is Matt Stevens against Os Du Rant in the scrum. Just watch this, it will be intriguing.

Amz

10 - 0 to South Africa so far, Farrell has had one good kick. Mongomerie's not taking all the SA kicks either.

bugler

BJ Botha's career as an international prop is something of a mystery. He is average at best.