sandal says...

pog_mahone says...

""I don't think that Ireland "blew it" or "let the All Blacks out of jail", did they? I thought the referee did that for them all on his own, and despite Ireland's best efforts. Horrendous cynicism from the All Blacks when put under pressure.""

Interesting, pog_mahone. Please explain. Especially the cynicism.

On the "Team of the week" thred I cite four instances in the second half where I believe the referee erred and in doing so gave Ireland a substantial advantage. That is four more instances than you cite in making your case.

@magic_dragon

Check. And thank you for the elucidation. Please feel free to make any more clarifications.

Posted 04:01 19th June 2012

safehands says...

Although I was very excited at the prospect of England overhauiling the Boks....it was never gonna happen. England, like Wales, France and Ireland got exactly what they deserved from their respective matches.....NOTHING.

This is professional sport, either front up and produce what it takes on the day to win the match or lose....pretty simple really.

All the wishful thinking (usually whinging) in the world will not change the results.

On a side, there is no such thing as a lucky try either for the very complacent Saffa fans out there.....people make mistakes under pressure (such as Bismarck did in the lineout) and they lead to tries. No team produces every single try from scintillating build up play, many are made from the other teams mistakes, such as the first try SA scored against England (was that a legal try by the way??)...replacements are part of the modern game too....if it disrupted the Bok rythm that much, you should be very concerned....England did not look like winning but neither did the Bok side look all that impressive after the 1st twenty minutes....

Posted 01:17 19th June 2012

StunTheMullet says...

@ meldave - What a load of codswallop - this year the SH teams had a couple of training sessions and played a round of Super Rugby the weekend before the first test while the NH teams had the luxury of being in the respective country for a couple of weeks PLUS played warm up matches against Barbarians....

So the deck was well and truely stacked in the favour of the NH teams this year.

Just turns out that Super Rugby isn't basketball rugby after all.

Posted 00:32 19th June 2012

Zambokke says...

Magic dragon, I guess that you hate SA because you keep losing to us?It's your perogative and likewise I even support the Wannabees versus Wales. The English have been badly maligned as being whinging poms when in fact the true whinging poms are the 'so close but no cigar' hill hobbits. How many games did you lose during your fantastic RWC and how many since? You are lucky that you were only marginally losing to Australia rather than getting hammered by NZ. Big respect to Ireland, none to Wales or England (as we weren't great and had no prep).

Posted 22:50 18th June 2012

new_j4a says...

It seemed to me that the NH mood swings have been as follows:

week 0: full of hope

week 1: full of anger and blame for the refs

week 2: full of self doubt in spite of a magnificent showing by Ire, Wales, and England

week 3: I hope has a couple of NH victories (Ire and Wales preferably) and a return to self belief

Posted 22:04 18th June 2012

NHsaints says...

Well England did have the beating of the boks at points in the match but their chances were severely damaged by the ref and touch judge making a couple of really bad calls (the first try and two scrum penalties that should have gone the way of the english), that's not to say the boks wouldn't have upped their game to win but that's two shots at goal (fortunately that were both missed) and a try that the boks were gifted. All discrepancies aside the final scoreline (had there been no wrong calls in scoring positions or missed shots at goal) would have been 43 to 27. Now considering how much England lost to the Boks by last time they were on the highveld that's not too bad a scoreline but we seriously need to be more aggressive in defence and we need to keep hold of the ball better...as soon as we hit more than 8 phases we were tearing through the SA defence and we're going to really struggle this coming weekend if we don't solve those problems and get someone into the side who can snaffle the ball like Robshaw has been doing. I seriously think that we will be a Force to be reckoned with in the Autumn when we have Lawes, Wood and Croft back in the fold. And for God's sakes! Can somebody please tell me why Wade isn't at least on the bench for England??!

Posted 20:16 18th June 2012

magic_dragon says...

Ps. I'd just like to add my dislike of the English and bok are purely sport related. Peace out.

Posted 19:05 18th June 2012

pog_mahone says...

I don't think that Ireland "blew it" or "let the All Blacks out of jail", did they? I thought the referee did that for them all on his own, and despite Ireland's best efforts. Horrendous cynicism from the All Blacks when put under pressure.

Posted 17:21 18th June 2012

socalrugby says...

I agree with bloemboy, but the captain and senior players of the Boks have to take responsibility and build on leads, not defend them. Great teams don't just win, they dominate. That leaves no room for doubt about who truly was the best side, scoreboard aside that is.

Posted 16:09 18th June 2012

froggy73 says...

@Fozza: I agree with you... SH are stronger (but only just), fitter (true) and better (without any doubt) right now. However you forgot to state they are also more arrogant (to say the least).

Posted 15:56 18th June 2012