QF v Fiji

[Big D]

Congrats lads.

There’s no need for the sarcasm.

It wasn't. Did what you had to do.

[Spiffy]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Was that his fifth turnover on the floor to win it?

Must be due an unbelievably shit game next week based on that showing.

At one point the ref awarded a penalty against Botia for taking his weight on his hands before grabbing the ball in a turnover. Five minutes later, Lawes does exactly the same thing and wins the penalty.

[p/d]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Was that his fifth turnover on the floor to win it?

Must be due an unbelievably shit game next week based on that showing.

There is that concern. I keep writing him off and then he does that.

Thought Cole had a monster of a game. How he kept his hands off the ball for 50mins was something only experience can teach.

[francoisfou]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Solid reasoning for him to be dropped for the semifinal!

[p/d]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Was that his fifth turnover on the floor to win it?

Must be due an unbelievably shit game next week based on that showing.

At one point the ref awarded a penalty against Botia for taking his weight on his hands before grabbing the ball in a turnover. Five minutes later, Lawes does exactly the same thing and wins the penalty.

Whatever Spiffy. But don’t hold that against Lawes.

[Puja]

We did enough. Breakdown much better, managed to knock Fiji out of stride and took pts when we needed to. Earl was very good. So too Marchant.
Fiji only really came alive in the last quarter. They kicked poorly (not really their game) and made far too many dull errors.
Onward to the SF. Based on what we've seen we are 20 pts inferior to either France or SA but getting there isnt a bad achievement given our starting point.

Offer me a 20 point loss rn, and I think I'd take your hand off at the wrist. I'm worried about getting Italianned.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Was that his fifth turnover on the floor to win it?

Must be due an unbelievably shit game next week based on that showing.

At one point the ref awarded a penalty against Botia for taking his weight on his hands before grabbing the ball in a turnover. Five minutes later, Lawes does exactly the same thing and wins the penalty.

Are you suggesting that sometimes reffing of the breakdown is a bit inconsistent?

[p/d]

Courtney. Stand up and take a bow

Solid reasoning for him to be dropped for the semifinal!

Spent the whole tournament hoping he would be dropped, so hopefully yes. I’m shit at accepting I might be wrong.

[Mr Mwenda]

Potted thoughts:

Earl good. Curry looks like someone who hasn't played much rugby the last few months.

It was funny watching the ref ignore Farrell's bleating - why did he try to speak to him every scrum.

Marler and Tuilagi clearly don't get on.

Saw something of the game i'm familiar with when the Fijian 9 stomped on Care's feet.

At times, in attack, players looked like they were singing from the same hymn sheet. That is a big step forward.

[Mush]

[/quote]

Earl has played himself into a starting slot but Curry has not been all that impressive and is increasingly showing poor discipline. He seems to be considered un-dropable by many fans but he does not look the player of 2-3 seasons ago and looks to have lost some mobility.
[/quote]

Other than the penalty give-always he (Curry) was defensively sound. I still think I would prefer the return of brother Ben.

[morepork]

I can't believe yoose are in a semifinal. Oh well, best of luck to you. Fuck me Smith took a beating and kept coming back at it didn't he? I wish Fiji had gone all Japan and just concentrated on getting the ball out at the set piece. And not knocked on so much. They could have won that.

I'd start drinking now for next week. You'll need courage. I'm hurting today. I didn't have to buy a drink for three hours after the game against Ireland yesterday and am getting text messages from Irish people I only vaguely remember. If you've never seen drunk Irish rugby fans at an open mike hip-hop do in North Philadelphia, I can throughly recommend the experience.


Farrell is such a negative whiny bastard that doesn't do justice to the nice English people on here.

[Which Tyler]

Utterly ridiculous. One had waft to stop the game. Should have been yellow.

Penalty seems dead right to me - why yellow?
Isn't that down to "did the knock on stop a significant line-break"?
Or is there something else about pure cynicism?

Aaron Smith feeling a little put out right now

He shouldn't - his actually did prevent a significant line-break

[Mellsblue]

Having flashbacks to the time Genge wouldn’t let go of, I think, Lomani’s jersey after the whistle was blown so Lomani had to slap it away after quite a few attempts. Only for Genge to whine to the ref “he slapped me, he slapped me” and which point our captain and leader joined in like a toddler having a tantrum. A new low in a summer & autumn of lows.

[Mr Mwenda]

Didn't the slap precede the jersey grabbing?

[Mellsblue]

Meanwhile next weekend the dildo of consequence arrives at a rapid rate of knots and without any lube.

The problem is that the unlubed dildo of consequences has defiled the entire fan base over the last 10 weeks before moving on to the players next weekend, and again the weekend after

[fivepointer]

Having flashbacks to the time Genge wouldn’t let go of, I think, Lomani’s jersey after the whistle was blown so Lomani had to slap it away after quite a few attempts. Only for Genge to whine to the ref “he slapped me, he slapped me” and which point our captain and leader joined in like a toddler having a tantrum. A new low in a summer & autumn of lows.

Pathetic wasnt it?

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

[Mellsblue]

Didn't the slap precede the jersey grabbing?

Not that I saw. Either way, it’s embarrassing to watch the baby rhino and ice man act like Will Ferrell and John Reilly in Step Brothers.

[Mellsblue]

Having flashbacks to the time Genge wouldn’t let go of, I think, Lomani’s jersey after the whistle was blown so Lomani had to slap it away after quite a few attempts. Only for Genge to whine to the ref “he slapped me, he slapped me” and which point our captain and leader joined in like a toddler having a tantrum. A new low in a summer & autumn of lows.

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

Bloody hell, I didn’t realise that. Also pathetic.

[Which Tyler]

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

How TF did that happen?
Presumably, whoever chose that, made their decision before the match.

[p/d]

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

What? You are joking

[p/d]

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

How TF did that happen?
Presumably, whoever chose that, made their decision before the match.

Bloody drop goals. A curse we can never lose

[Banquo]

As you all know i can’t abide Farrell. But he was mostly the best of Farrell today- not that high a bar, I grant you.

[switchskier]

Farrell MotM. Who would have guessed that eh?

How TF did that happen?
Presumably, whoever chose that, made their decision before the match.

Thought Earls was given it?

[Which Tyler]

Thought Earls was given it?

Certainly should have been

[pompey-zebra]

Fiji must now be regretting missing two easy kicks in the 1st half.

We won. What else is there to say?

It was better all around. Our rucking and thus ruck speeds were significantly improved, our defence was very solid before we tired, and we showed a modicum of creativity.

We're still going to get murdered by the French, but that was a very good Fiji side and we got a victory with our best performance of the tournament so far. I don't think that's to be sniffed at.

Puja

Has it been mentioned that a France v England semi final would be on Trafalgar day? Just saying....