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Should we now support England in the rugby world cup ?

horseofstone

England are our northern hemisphere ,6 nations brethren.I'm fed up with southern hemisphere sides winning it. I certainly wouldn't begrudge it to England and just to clarify I'm Irish.They play a nice brand of rugby, seem like a grounded bunch and put manners on the All Blacks.So should we support the English ?

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is_that_so

I'm supporting a good spectacle and I hope the best team on the day wins!

ClanofLams

No.

vicwatson

Yes, they’ve been the best team thus far

Pauliedragon

I noticed a lot of anti Welsh sentiment before today's game which I thought was strange. I wanted 2 southern hemisphere teams in the final for once.

is_that_so

Pauliedragon wrote: »

I noticed a lot of anti Welsh sentiment before today's game which I thought was strange. I wanted 2 southern hemisphere teams in the final for once.

Wales can be a bit smug on the rugby front - God-given-right smugness. It tends to rub people up the wrong way.

NIMAN

Couldn't care at this stage.

But England will win it. That SA team are poor to watch.

Tommysocks11

Course we should support the english, get over ourselves and accept we were not good enough to challenge this time, English are grand compared to the Scots who didnt even vote for our bid

flanna01

Im not being petty or anything..... But do we know if any of the English rugby team are direct descendents of the black & tans??

Just asking for a friend...

mugsymugsy

As someone born in England even I struggle to support the English rugby team.

As someone else said hoping for a decent game unlike the first half of that Wales v South Africa

horseofstone

flanna01 wrote: »

Im not being petty or anything..... But do we know if any of the English rugby team are direct descendents of the black & tans??

Just asking for a friend...

Yeah but for the good of the game in a world sense would it be nice to see England win it ?

lawred2

I'd be happy enough to see that team win it. Cracking set of players.

But their pundits and that media nonsense that follows everything England can f**k off

LostArt

Don't really care who wins tbh. I'd lean slightly towards SA because of how Rassie handled himself and Munster after Axel passed.

Vital Transformation

Thoroughly enjoyed England's performance yesterday. Would rather they win if SA continue to serve up the same scutter as today.

monkeysnapper

It absolutly kills me to say it as a welsh person but after they beat all blacks they deserve to win it...

So be it ....

....we'll be bloody hearing it for a thousand years but it is what it is.

BeardySi

England are on fire this year, I tipped them to win it before the tournament started so I wasn't at all surprised when they won it yesterday.

Doesn't mean I'll particularly support them (or anyone else for that matter) - I can enjoy the match as a neutral without having to pick a side.

champchamp

Two words sum up why we shouldn't support them - Eddie Jones.

[Deleted User]

Any team but them

Strumms

If Ireland ain’t playing i watch every game as a neutral.

Ardillaun

I tend to support NH teams if I can (even Gatland’s Wales), plus England definitely deserve it more than South Africa after those utterly contrasting semi-final performances. A NH win would be good for rugby.

connachta

Would rather die in a ditch.:P

KWAG2019

Don’t care either way: have bets to cover both. On the basis of the way they play and Farrell’s smirk at the haka, Go England.

Augme

People should support who they want. But I think it would be good for NH rugby if they win. And especially the six nation's. I think playing england knowing they are world cup winners would be a nice extra incentive in all the game and make for a bit of extra spicy. I also think seeing england win would provide a good motivational tool for all the other teams players, especially Ireland hopefully.

bizidea

Go on the black and tans

Former Former

Why should we not support England?

FrancieBrady

What a cringe thread title. :rolleyes:

Do you need permission to shout for England now?

I support one team - Ireland. Other than that , let the best team win...the world won't quit turning if 'we' in Ireland don't support them or if 'we' do.

Knock yourself out.

Dubinusa

I hope England win. Brilliant side, well coached and extremely talented. They mangled the kiwis and us. They are thoroughly deserving of it. Eddie Jones has done a fantastic job. Easily the best coach around.
There response to the haka was great. It could only be bettered if they Morris danced or did a monthy python skit as a rebuttal.

mangobob

lawred2 wrote: »

I'd be happy enough to see that team win it. Cracking set of players.

But their pundits and that media nonsense that follows everything England can f**k off

I completely agree with the first sentence. This England side have a fantastic set of players. They not only completely destroyed us but managed to make the AB's look positively average which is some feat.

As for the second point, yes its true. But its hardly the teams fault that their media can be unbearable when they win and in truth we are in absolutely no position to point fingers as we are just as bad in this country. Our media coverage can often be every bit as obnoxious and one-eyed as anything served up across the pond. Paeans of nauseating drivel, often bordering on hero worship are spewed out when we win, while the coverage can turn pretty savage when we dont (the medias appraisal of Joes legacy in the immediate aftermath being a case in point).

While we can boast some excellent rugby minds in a few quarters, in truth our own pundits run the gamut from tiresome attention seeking contrarians like Dunphy and Hook, to our own Stephen Jones wannabe Franno and a plethora of former players and coaches whose "analysis" often amounts to little more than puff pieces heavily skewed by either provincial bias (like Quinlan and Luke Fitz) or a personal axe to grind (a la EOS). Finally we also have that peculiarly Irish phenomenon of the Ewan Mckennas of the world who have a massive inferiority complex and a giant chip on their shoulders when it comes to the game of rugby who take utter glee from every defeat and love nothing more than to wallow in the teams failure. The Ewanites will always be with us, waiting hungrily in the long grass to gorge themselves on the carcass of another disappointing campaign. Believe me we have little to be proud of in terms of our own shower over here.

I realise i am in the minority on this but I would have no hesitation in supporting England generally. I see no contradiction in being a proud Irish person and still supporting our nearest neighbour. I for one hope England win on Saturday. Nothing against S.A. but this is Englands trophy to lose imo. They are a team who have peaked at exactly the right moment and they would be worthy winners. More power to them.

ClanofLams

Former Former wrote: »

Why should we not support England?

Support who you want.

England are natural rivals given the proximity between countries and that they play in the same championship every year as well in Europe at a club/provincial level. I don’t fancy listening to their media bang on about it every year. Or Eddie Jones for that matter. I don’t mind Eddie Jones really but he already has a very healthy level of confidence, which is justified to an extent in fairness.

clsmooth

Yes. We need a northern hemisphere win. I think it’s fair to say Ireland and Wales improved hugely after 2003. How much of that was the acceptance of professionalism as opposed to playing the world champions every year? Either way, the bigger picture for us is an England win.

sdanseo

If Dylan Hartley was playing, I would make a half joke, half serious jibe about how seeing him sent off in a WC Final would be the most entertaining thing of the century.

Since he's not:

1. Yes, we need a northern Hemisphere Win.
2. This is very much tempered by my general opinion that the English rugby team think too much of themselves and need to be taken down a peg or three at regular intervals.
3. If RSA win, it will be very much "against the run of play" to use a soccer term - and further proof that the world cup does not crown the best team in the world.

This is especially true in Rugby. While we have had a bad run of form ourselves this year, averaged over four, we have been better than 5th to 8th in the world as the rankings will put us after the tournament.
The other teams who have progressed to Quarters and beyond have not necessarily been the best teams consistently in the last year let alone four.
If anything, it has been difficult to decipher anything consistent from any of the SH teams.