BEVS

It was jimenato. We enjoyed it .

jimenato

Only a few hours to act 2.

Scrum half, fly half, inside and outside centres all changed for England - brave move considering the last match performance? Certainly shows strength in depth.

Can't wait...

jimenato

One friggin' point!!

Mind you to be fair I think NZ were better than a one point difference.

bearskin

No they weren't. They were the better side for around one third of the game. However, in that time they were clinical, piling on the points and making game-saving tackles etc. England just didn't get over the line enough when they were so clearly on top in the first half in particular.

Didn't help that the English no.10 was sin-binned for nothing. Would love to see a NZ test match where there wasn't one rule for the home side and another for the visitors.

Woodlea

I hate bad referreeing decisions, although England were probably lucky with the Mike Brown try when his hand was between the ball and the ground.

TommyLuck

I suspect we'll see a slight change in the laws as a result of this very rare occurrence.

Technically not a try but common sense prevailed as it was the attacking players hand obstructing contact with the deck and not a defending player.


I said it last week, and I'll say it again this week - we can't moan about the refereeing. It's the same in all sports, the tops teams are always favoured by the referee, especially at when that team is at home.

One day there'll be a study on it, I'm sure.

Yes, Farrell's yellow was tenuous at best - but I suspect that the old guard for NZ and McCaw in particular having a 'way' with their words out on the park leading to things like this.

Gamesmanship they call it and all of the very best sportsmen and coaches over the year know who to use gamesmanship - Sir Alex Ferguson is to gamesmanship what Yoda is to the Jedi.

The difference was that NZ played at 80% for most of the game, ramping up to full tilt for that crucial third quarter of the game which coincided with an England lull.

It's frustrating because again, England were in a position for large chunks of the game to win - but ultimately didn't.

For the long term the fact they're so close, but yet so far might prove to be a good thing - don't want to peak too soon before the World Cup next year and this will keep them grounded, whilst giving the belief that they aren't far behind.

After all a less experienced England team thank this will be come world cup time, defeated NZ at Rugby HQ on December 2012 (what a day that way) - so if the progress curve continues England will be confident of beating anyone come Sept/Oct next year.

jimenato

I think we tend to forget the relative youth and inexperience of this England team - only one player in his thirties and he was thirty. In contrast I believe NZ had nine.

We have an autumn series and a 6 nations campaign before the world cup to really sort the team out. I am cautiously optimistic.

TommyLuck

Agreed.

The current squad are in the main young enough to appear at the next 2 world cups and with a strong U20's team coming through (they play SA in the Final of the Junior World Champs on Friday at Eden Park) the next decade of English Rugby should be a good one!

I think we're now seeing the knock on effect of the 2003 WC win and the rise in popularity of the sport in the UK and the subsequent uptake and investment in the game.

TommyLuck

How the tables turn ...



Although I'm not sure what the palaver is all about.

He got the crucial decision right in my opinion.

Tom H

He was very inconsistent again for both sides, more so New Zealand this time. I don't think Coles should have been sin binned and we should have been down to 14 men as well.

Saying that, the 3 point defeat flattered us. Had Dan Carter been playing, that would have been a spanking. They were unplayable second half

We can all whinge about Aaron Crudens try but he had the best view and i'm certain he would have seen the ball touch the chalk to award it.

Unless they have an off day against the French, I can't see anyone stopping them next year in the world cup.

BEVS

We haven't got Sky at all so had media blackout here all day Sunday. I managed to find an hour of highlights via BBC iplayer

TommyLuck

I find the bleating about referees hilarious.

There's no sign of it stopping.

I'm beginning to get the impression that the whole of the New Zealand Rugby press are on a crusade to just scare referees into giving the New Zealand Rugby team the benefit of the doubt in calls going forward.

They appear terrified that a referee could be the reason that they don't win a game, or even a tournament.

But to me, that's sport - officials fail - Frank Lampard at South Africa 2010?

It's also the lack of factual correction that makes the NZ media on this difficult to take seriously.

Whilst I would like to have seen Owens not consult the TMO with regards to the Faumuina try and go with his instinct he was well within his rights to go to the TMO, contrary to popular belief in New Zealand.

Many believe that when I try is awarded, that's it you can't go back on the decision. In truth the referee has until the moment conversion is kicked to check with the TMO.

A mountain out of a mole hill that one.

I have sympathy for Owens on this one, because some of the relays were misleading, with some advertising giving the impression the Faumuina was short.

I personally feel that aside from an incorrect late tackle call on Dylan Hartley he got the crucial decisions right.

Cruden Try - Very close, but it was a try. I like to see the attacking team be given the benefit of the doubt, clearly there wasn't any doubt in Owens mind at the time.

Whitelock no Try - He propelled the ball forward, no downward pressure. Correct decision.

Coles Yellow Card - You simply can not lash out like that, you risk a sin bin. If he hadn't connected with Care's ankle he would have probably got away with a penalty and a talking too. It was a reckless act, after all Care wasn't the man we was trying lash out at - it was Dylan Hartley. He got the wrong bloke!

I wouldn't have had any complaints had it been an England player sin binned.

Morgan not being sin binned - As this happened I was expecting a Yellow Card to surface with no hesitation. Morgan was only fractionally off-side and simply didn't retreat far enough.

Technically it should have been a yellow card, however it wasn't a cynical act which is why I suspect he was given the benefit of the doubt. Morgan didn't blantatly slap the ball away, he tried to retreat and tackled the bloke who took longer than he should have to get the pass away.

Tom H

Was that the foul that led to Cruden converting the penalty to make it 11-11? One where he had every right to go for the tackle on Franks??? Think he made the pass a second before the tackle?

Anyway apparently England are a bunch of disrespectful racist idiots. I've never seen such a sad pathetic whinge because we sang swing low during them doing the haka? Wales sing, Ireland sing, France sing - in fact I remember Wales refusing to move once, also the French going close up having one of the ABs almost face to face with the long haired bearded forward. I presume they were being disrespectful and racist?

I don't know what all the fuss was about with the booing of McCaw but according to the fans of the ABs, that's completely unacceptable but booing and slating Quade Cooper is ok.

Some of the mentality of All Black supporters is beyond belief. It's almost as if the world is coming to end if something goes against them or something happens that they don't like. I thought Liverpool fans were bad during the Suarez fiasco but their victim mentality is nothing compared to the ABs victim mentality. Deluded or what

TommyLuck

Yeah - not sure he could have pulled out of that one. One wonders if Hartley's reputation precedes him ... ?


I hear you brother.

Tom H

Here's another chapter in the "throw toys out of their pram" guide to supporting the All Blacks

Englishmen outnumber Kiwis in British world XV | Stuff.co.nz

Attempting to inform that this was done on watching all the northern v southern hemisphere tests recently (yes there are other rugby teams) - it's such an outrage that it wasn't 15 all blacks

Bar their convincing 2nd half performance v us and a decent second half v the Welsh, you cannot inform them that they were bang average and were not the superpower these deluded souls think

What exactly did Julian Savea do in the tour - buga all to be fair? But don't tell that to these poor souls as disrespecting Savea or McCaw or Carter is like disrespecting a god.

Oh how I will laugh if they lose the world cup in a similar fashion the Team New Zealand boat team lost the Americas cup. Then again, this country would probably be unbearable given the years of grief, outrage and blaming on Owens, Barnes or any other northern hemisphere referee that was biased to the Northern Hemisphere teams

It must be the easiest thing in the world to wind an all black up. Just mentioning Wayne Barnes causes them to do a King Kong style tantrum