Rugby union?

France vs USA

It was looking a bit lousy for France for a while there. They started brightly then did the usual French trick of subsiding into too many mistakes. 12-6 at half-time, USA got the French lead down to 12-9 during the second half. Then the French turned it back on, secured the bonus point and won 33-9. USA could have gotten more out of that, you feel. They just ran out of quality and steam with too much time to go til the final whistle. With all the mistakes made, that result flatters the French.
 
Well, that's a bit of a disappointment in terms of entertainment. No chance for Argentina now, the extra space for Watson/May/Daly is going to end up in lots of tries.

Unless of course we lose a player...
 
15-3 at HT when it really ought to be 24-3 flat out sucks. Farrell's kicking game is out to lunch, and it was out to lunch even before he got brained by Lavanini.
 
Uncharacteristic from Farrell...but at least it's in a non-pressure game after that card.

Can't really read much into it, essentially a minnow opponent. It'll be disappointing if they don't put 3 more tries on when the argies tire a bit and the extra man comes into play more.
 
Not a great performance but a good result. England weren’t all there in the second half. Can’t afford that display against any of the better teams. Still lifts the pressure a bit for France game.
 
PlacidCasual said:
Not a great performance but a good result. England weren’t all there in the second half. Can’t afford that display against any of the better teams. Still lifts the pressure a bit for France game.
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Looked like they were taking it easy. I don't blame them, it was a comfortable win for us anyway. No point getting injured in a game like this.
 
JRS said:
Oh come on...TMO rubbing out a French try three minutes after it was given. That is ridiculous.
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Agreed. Never felt the TMO is detracting from the game before until this World Cup. Lots of minor things that they have stopped the game for long after they happened that none of the refs spotted. Breaking the flow of play up as much as the usual scrum reset nonsense in some cases!

Refs also don't seem capable of making any decisions by themselves which is something I haven't seen before either. How many times have they asked both touch judges and the TMO if they all agree with the decision before making it?

May as well have a whistle in the overhead camera and let a truck full of TMOs make the decisions from home!
 
Mr Jack said:
Looked like they were taking it easy. I don't blame them, it was a comfortable win for us anyway. No point getting injured in a game like this.
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It became a dead rubber. I was also disappointed that the second half was pretty dull, but thinking deeper, we played a safe game, changed to appropriate tactics by kicking into the corners more, and we got out with a safe win... got to be happy with that.

Skillmister said:
Agreed. Never felt the TMO is detracting from the game before until this World Cup. Lots of minor things that they have stopped the game for long after they happened that none of the refs spotted. Breaking the flow of play up as much as the usual scrum reset nonsense in some cases!

Refs also don't seem capable of making any decisions by themselves which is something I haven't seen before either. How many times have they asked both touch judges and the TMO if they all agree with the decision before making it?

May as well have a whistle in the overhead camera and let a truck full of TMOs make the decisions from home!
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It is frustrating, but I sympathise with the refs feeling under pressure after World Rugby threw them under the bus after the first week, and the likes of Cheika are getting airtime complaining over decisions. The Times had a very accurate headline today that many coaches and ex-players refuse to face... "High tackles will ruin the World Cup, not red cards". Underhill, Curry and the entire Japan team have demonstrated that tackles do not need to be high to be effective... those teams that refuse to accept the current rules and adapt accordingly deserve to be punished.
 
It was pointed out to me that England's tactic of smart kicking could well be with a view to minimise major impacts such as rucks and tackles.

Makes sense when dealing with a long campaign.
 
Unseul said:
It was pointed out to me that England's tactic of smart kicking could well be with a view to minimise major impacts such as rucks and tackles.

Makes sense when dealing with a long campaign.
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Perfect example from SA vs Italy at the weekend... game won, clock in the red, SA press for one final try and their star winger goes over on his ankle and limps off the pitch. Thankfully for them, Kolbe appears to have recovered, but a level of pragmatism is needed early in the tournament.

Similarly, England should be resting a few players this weekend, notably Farrell. Can't tell if Billy needs a rest or more game time to find his groove. Wilson should definitely get a run out... same for JJ, however, Slade also needs some game time.
 
England v France cancelled :(

Was looking forward to smashing the French. Turns out I'm stuck driving to pick up the missus from the airport for our quarter final...hope I haven't seen our last match
 
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