KingShark says...

Hahaha! All the stats about margins and arguments about closing gaps... The reality is that the NH teams lost to SH teams that had less than a week together in prep. Wait until the Boks and AB's have had time to gel under their new coaches - the slaughter is going to be horrific.

Posted 09:58 16th July 2012

TVaddict says...

@markpat

Wow, sorry mate! Did not get that at all! I'm so used to some SH people talking crap on here I've starting taking a lot of idiotic statements more seriously. :s

Posted 16:54 13th July 2012

porridge_time says...

It was great to be able to go out there and come back, I think, with our reputation enhanced."

Three tests and best they could manage was a dismal 14 all draw. Surely SL would be better suited to saying nothing until he has actually coached a sided that consistently beats the SH sides... because all he is doing is making a fool of himself.

Posted 11:18 13th July 2012

TVaddict says...

@northandsouth

England, Scotland and Ireland all currently having a winning record against Australia, with all three having won away from home as well. So....nice comment.

@markpat

Interesting, it's like you can't google. Why not just check it out yourself? Or did you do that and find out you were wrong? Here is what a quick wiki found out (here is the reference you desired: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_rugby_union_matches_between_England_and_South_Africa, let me know if you need me to find another reference to back it up)

-So the last tour to South Africa was in 2007. The first match was on the 26th May at Vodacom Park and England lost 58-10.

The second was on the 2nd of June at Loftus Versfeld and England lost 55-22.

I'm afraid I've lost interest half way through doing this, but I'm sure your not the idiot that your making yourself out to be so you'll be able to do the rest of the research on your own.

Have a nice day.

Posted 20:30 11th July 2012

markpat says...

@TVaddict - you've made the cardinal sin of supplying facts. I'm sure there's some reason that those facts fit into one of the following categories:

1 - they're skewed to prove your point.

2 - they're simply made up.

3 - they don't take into account injuries.

4 - they don't take into account referees.

5 - they aren't visible in the southern hemisphere.

Posted 13:16 11th July 2012

Kiwikev says...

What else is he going to say?

One of you learned NH posters defending SL please provide some statistics that show that the trend of losing to the SH is at least is decreasing in average margin or something along those lines...

I'll be waiting...

Posted 17:31 10th July 2012

rugby_rockstar says...

really Stuart? to be fair I like Lancaster. anyone who kicks haskell out of the EPS despite the hype shows promise. He does make mistakes though and to his credit he rectifies them for the next match.

As far as the gap closing... no. we got taught a lesson about rugby union basics in SA. Wales choked and just could hack the pressure. Ireland are still all over the place at test level. that third test was a bit of a cringe-athon even if you weren't Irish.

Posted 17:02 09th July 2012

markpat says...

"Once it's balanced with the NH having the same amount of wins or there abouts then the gap is closing."

Can someone from the southern hemisphere please explain the difference between the terms "the gap is closing" and "there is no gap".

Also, I'm struggling to understand the constant whining by the SH about timings of tours.

In June, the NH players have more time to prepare then the SH, but they've just finished a whole season, whereas the SH players are in mid-season form.

In November the SH players have more time to prepare than the NH, but they've just finished a whole season, whereas the NH players are in mid-season form.

Seems pretty identical to me.

Posted 12:05 09th July 2012

APV1 says...

"...I feel the gap is closing,"

and

"We can't be pleased with losing two and drawing one, but overall we have developed a lot of experience and lot of players have learnt and developed on the tour,"

Sums it up nicely, I reckon.

And daibok, FISh et al - stop being daft and learn to read.

Posted 10:16 09th July 2012

jonesy2 says...

this guys is just embarrassing himself. the gaps are ever far and increasing. full strength wales swept by wallabies missing 5 of the best players in the world. ireland destroyed to the tune of a combined almost 100 odd points with a somewhat second string side in the last match. england's best result a draw against a south african side that was picked to basically draw matches, if they ran into a boks side that was made up of the super 15s best it would have been so very messy. all this after no break or preparation time. what are they smoking up there?

Posted 06:25 09th July 2012