Watching opening ceremony.

Anyway, have we been lulling everyone into a false sense of security since Borthwick took over?

I know the answer is no btw.

Mad that the world's top 5 countries are in the same group.

These 2nd tier teams, if that's what you want to call them, are closing the gap on the big teams. I reckon Australia are in that 2nd tier now. 

Poor RU must be one of the shittest sports on earth

That was muck

4 minutes ago, Casino said:

Poor RU must be one of the shittest sports on earth

That was muck

The only highlights were the jinking Japanese breaks and the cross field ball from Ford…. Looks a poor English team to me and not convinced our coach has much of a clue on how to coach and drill a team. 

Its been a poor team for a while

The surprise is that we beat argentina

Borthwick feels like a short term fix, to be replaced pretty soon

Jones wasnt much better in the end

Too much attritional stuff and very little flair allowed

The reliance on the kick is soul destroying. The use of this tactic probably highlights England's lack of ability in other areas of the game. Indiscipline by Argentina and the lack of know-how by the Japanese have been Englands saviour in this WC upto now. But having said that I thought we played well against the Argies given the circumstances.

Some under estimating of the Japanese here, they've don't quite well in recent world cup. 

That apart, it was frustrating at times last night, but they started to become more fluid as they wore the Japanese team down.

Yes the Japanese at times were a bit quicker in the way they moved the ball, but overall their breaks from the lines weren't that common.

A bit easy to keep a dim view of things, but I reckon they are improving.

Had a huge task against Argentina and were magnificent and pragmatic (note to Evatt).

Will be really tested assuming they get to the quarters finals against stronger teams, but it's been better than I feared it would be before the start 

Good performance from England. 

Had to withstand some early Chile enthusiasm, then gradually dominated. Some great play, and Marcus Smith is a player to get fans off their seats.

Good watch. 

How poor were Australia??!! 🤣

Without underestimating Fiji - they are a very good side, England couldn’t have hoped for a better route to the latter stages.

Crazy that a semi, or dare we say final, is not beyond our ambitions. We looked to have no chance prior to the tournament.

 

At half time, I expected Australia to come back!

Anyway, hopefully Ireland will have peaked too soon. Bit like we did before (last world cup iirc) when we beat th'all blacks.

Would love to stuff it up them, even if I can't see how!

They aren`t half stringing this bloody tournament out, all the flags outside the pubs are fading.

17 hours ago, Nowack said:

They aren`t half stringing this bloody tournament out, all the flags outside the pubs are fading.

Find myself losing a bit of interest due to the dragging out. Dulls the intensity of a World Cup somehow. Plenty of mates still saying it's between Ireland and South Africa. I wouldn't be writing off the frogs or the kiwi's personally.

England performed OK so far. Big lift needed to beat any of the four mentioned above. Fingers crossed.

20 hours ago, Nowack said:

They aren`t half stringing this bloody tournament out, all the flags outside the pubs are fading.

I suppose the physicality of the game means longer recovery between games is necessary… don’t think we will be troubling the judge by the time the final comes round. 

Fortunately we could quite readily get to the semis.

Can't play all the top teams, so who knows if we get there.

By the fuck they made hard work of that.

Samoa were good, and England sluggish and sloppy. 

Game won though. 

18 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

By the fuck they made hard work of that.

Samoa were good, and England sluggish and sloppy. 

Game won though. 

Good prep for Fiji in the quarters.

2 hours ago, Underpants said:

Good prep for Fiji in the quarters.

Pundits felt they'd eased off a bit in the 2 weeks since the last game, and they were already through.

Need to get into a more energetic, positive mind set for next week, and I reckon they will.

Still won't be easy though.

3 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Pundits felt they'd eased off a bit in the 2 weeks since the last game, and they were already through.

Need to get into a more energetic, positive mind set for next week, and I reckon they will.

Still won't be easy though.

There's an argument to be had that the 2 week break took England out of the WC zone. I reckon the tough test they experienced against Samoa will focus their minds against another pacific island team Let's not forget that Fiji dicked a confidence lacking England at Twickenham a month ago. This QF could go either way. 

Looks like the Aussies are out

2 minutes ago, globaldiver said:

Looks like the Aussies are out

Quite.....

There's two QFs that should be 2 SFs.

Tournament format is shite. I get the rest thing but 5 team groups don't help. 

On 08/10/2023 at 22:50, globaldiver said:

Looks like the Aussies are out

Oh dear, how sad, what a shame.

I hope that they are down and out after Friday nights friendly too.

There are a few I need to catch up with when I get back 

4 minutes ago, bolty58 said:

Oh dear, how sad, what a shame.

I hope that they are down and out after Friday nights friendly too.

There are a few I need to catch up with when I get back 

😁

Fwiw, if england won the WC, which they wont, itd be a disaster

Boring, one dimensional stuff

I cant believe our backs are as poor as we make them look

Dear me, winning a tournament is a disaster!

We probably won't, as we're both playing well enough, but if we do, it will be because we've upped our game. 

And if that happens, it we will have deserved it.

6 hours ago, Tonge moor green jacket said:

Dear me, winning a tournament is a disaster!

We probably won't, as we're both playing well enough, but if we do, it will be because we've upped our game. 

And if that happens, it we will have deserved it.

Have to agree. Can't see it myself but, being honest, even reaching a semi final must be viewed as relative success against the poor performances leading up to this tournament. We aren't there yet mind. As we all know, this lot are a very large potential banana skin. If we do reach the semis, France or RSA will be the real test.

'One dimensional'. 'Public enemy number one'. Keep 'em coming - love it. No extra motivation required from the coaching staff.