# Bad Rugby Day



## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

England 20 - 41 New Zealand









England's biggest losing margin and biggest losing points against EVER at Twickenham









What makes it worse is that the All Blacks had 6 reserve team players in the starting line-up and brought on 6 replacements









Is the England coach Andy Robinson going to get the chop I wonder?


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## Nalu (Nov 28, 2003)

JoT said:


> England 20 - 41 New Zealand
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Came to RLT tonight because I knew JoT would be hurting







I 'watched' the game on the scrolling text that rugbyrugby.com sponsors - no cable yet and haven't found the pubs which show the games yet.

The ABs are unbelievable and quite possibly the deepest they've ever been.

I don't know what England can do. Changing coaches 10 mos before RWC is a recipe for disaster. To whom would they change? Rob Andrew? A good choice for RWC11, but not next Sep.

Anyone see the Wales/Oz match? I know nothing but the final score and would love to hear impressions.


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## julian (Jun 3, 2003)

Nalu said:


> JoT said:
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> > England 20 - 41 New Zealand
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Well Colin the Wales/Oz game was a very fast affair generally .Aus. pulled ahead with ease in the first quarter and it looked as though the sleepy welsh team was in for a hiding .

Australia's backs had so much time and could pick angles putting guys into huge spaces .In short they looked very good -certainly much better than Wales .

Then Stephen Jones injured knee ligaments and went off to be replaced by a very young James Hook at 10 who played very well indeed to help pull back a Welsh effort which took them into the lead at 26-17 IIRC.

A crap defensive kick by Kevin Morgan at fullback allowed the MOM Latham to run back right on the touchline for a great score.In the last 10 the Wales forwards began to get on top in the tight and hurt the Oz scrum a few times .The whistle blew at 29 -29 .At that time I believe Wales looked the fitter side but in fairness neither side wanted a draw but rather wished to sneak a win at the end .Aust drew having scored 4 tries to 2 .I always look to the try count when forming a private opinion .However Oz were guilty of many blocking incidents which with another reff would have brought maybe two yellows.

A full AB's side would eat either of these teams for breakfast IMO

What can England do ?

Stick with the team .They were beaten by the best team in the world currently.Also you have to ask two questions .Do England have the players in stock ? Is the Guinness Premiership playing style going to produce great numbers of the kind of player needed for the modern game particularly bearing in mind the scrum law changes and IMO other changes to come covering the breakdown area .


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Nalu said:


> Came to RLT tonight because I knew JoT would be hurting


Thanks Colin you are all heart











Nalu said:


> I don't know what England can do. Changing coaches 10 mos before RWC is a recipe for disaster. To whom would they change? Rob Andrew? A good choice for RWC11, but not next Sep.


I fear the vacillation by the RFU has meant that we are now stuck with Robinson, a few months ago the RFU cleared out all the positional coaches; Robinson was the only coach to survive the cull. We still have good players (despite the Guinness Premiership) although we are very thin on the ground at fly-half and inside centre .... not a good area to be thin on unfortunately









Robinson has always seemed unconvincing as a head coach and I also think that Martin Corry is not captain material. Corry is a good player who will always give 100% but he is not a leader, he is not a Johnson or Dallaglio or even a Matt Dawson









Julian's point about the Guinness Premiership is very valid; although I am not sure that the style of rugby is at fault. Personally I think it is more to do with the mix of players, while the rules state that there can only be one "foreign" player on the field at any one time except during the international "release periods" (currently 8 a season) when a team can play up to three foreign players. Only non-EU citizens are considered to be foreign by law and many of them seem to have EU passports after searching their family trees for European grandparents! How many English Fly-Halves have we in the Premiership I wonder? At Harlequins we have a promising young English fly-half in Adrian Jarvis, who was he up against on Saturday? Carlos Spencer! I would like to bet that at least half of the Guinness Premiership players are either not eligible to play for England or are former England internationals.

The changes in the scrum law will be welcome by most; it looks as if it will go from _crouch - hold - engage_ to _ crouch - touch - hold - engage_ it should reduce the impact at the scrum and hopefully reduce the raft of spinal injuries currently being experienced. As for effectively removing the ruck out of the game at the breakdown, I think if that happens it will be a shame and won't stop serious injuries. In the modern game players seem to spend a lot of time bent over at the breakdown situation leaving themselves vulnerable to serious injury, removing the ruck from the game will only make this worse in my opinion; a cut scalp can be stitched and bandaged, a neck injury can't


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

Hard to believe that Johnny Wilkinson has been injured in only his second game back







sounds quite serious, kidney damage, he could be out for the rest of the season









Worried about today's game against Argentina .....


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## julian (Jun 3, 2003)

JoT said:


> Hard to believe that Johnny Wilkinson has been injured in only his second game back
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England to win after slugging it out in a tight game .

Argentina are quite useful but the AB's they aint (even on a bad day for the AB's)

There-I've jinxed it for you !!


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

England 18 - 25 Argentina









First time I have EVER heard an England team booed of the field at Twickenham.

Argentina played an intelligent, pragmatic game and considering they have only been together for about 4 days it puts an appalling England performance into perspective


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## julian (Jun 3, 2003)

JoT said:


> England 18 - 25 Argentina
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Oh dear .

I've been at work so I haven't seen any rugby today .All recorded so will have some amber nectar shortly .I'll start with the Wales game .Don't know the result yet .


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## lordridley (Jan 9, 2006)

JoT said:


> England 18 - 25 Argentina
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The memsahib herself is at Twickers this afternoon with the young master. Couldn't go meself; busted acl. I was talking to a friend from France in the summer and he predicted the pumas to be in the world cup semis. They did beat France in Marseilles and today they outplayed England. England lacked flair, I shall await the family's return and hear first hand an analysis of it all. Meanwhile must watch the match from Lansdowne road on the Telly. Now there is a team to watch, possible quarter finalists? ttfn.


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

England 23 - 21 South Africa

Why is an England win in the "Bad Rugby Day" thread? Because England were crap.

The South Africans were a 2nd / 3rd XV (SA have left their 1st XV at home) that should have been buried.

Yes its a win but the problems are still there.

So its a bad day


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## JoT (Aug 12, 2003)

England 14 - 25 South Africa









England behaved like a bunch of moffies and were outplayed by a South African 2nd XV. England have now lost 8 out of the last 9 games, England's worst ever run







I don't care if we are near the World Cup, Andy Robinson has to go along with the RFU Chief executive Francis Baron









Sale 17 - 12 Harlequins

The Quins were asleep in the first half and should have won this game, OK we got a bonus point but are still going to drop to eigth position in the table after the London Irish - Northampton game tomorrow









Wales - New Zealand; some sort of political row between the Welsh RFU and the New Zealand RFU meant that the All Blacks didn't do the Hakka on the field but in the changing room before the game. No doubt the reasons will become apparent but given that the All Blacks are 16-0 up after 19 minutes I think it has only pissed them off


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