Only got 1 more thing to say before next sunday... Go Johny Johny, come on johny johny.. johny wilkinson!!!

terrible game of rugby. as i was saying earlier, so predictable.

give it to jonny wilko.


without him england wouldn't stand a chance.

you play to your strengths, any team that had a kicker who could score from the halfway line would be looking for the penalties.Itd be ludicrous to play any other style but if need be England have got enough depth to win without Jonny.

In some ways i hope he gets injured coz we would still win and might actually get to see some tries from england. I know its not pretty sometimes but you dont get any points for playing attractive rugby

fuck off they could win without him
they would play alot better without him
the difference between him and other fly halves around the world is that they will attack the line instead of one two pass/kick
yes he is a good kicker and all that, but he is playing off the back of one of the best, if not the best forward packs in the world. fuckin back yourself and im sure theyd score more tries. how frustrating would it be to be playiing on the wings or centres....i mean robinson got one ball against france from set play, and he wouldve blitzed it had he not been tripped. the back three are living off scraps from poor kicks
aahhh fuck conservativeness

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yeah that's where the strenght is; in the forwards. Id love to see a different style of play with more flair and runners but at the end of the day England went out there to do a job and they are gonna do that job in the way that will most likely succede ie. a kicking game with Jonny going for penalties and drop goals however boring that is.

Th conditions on Sunday were perfect for that type of a game as the wet ball meant the French backs had difficulties catching the ball. I think England are lot cleverer and tactically minded than ppl seem to think. Im sure there would have been more backs play if the final had been against NZ bt Australia are strong in the forwards so i can see it being a bit of a war of attrition. I reckon there will be quite alot of high kicks tho as the Oz back three arent the best catchers in the world.

You lot are aware that only the All Blacks average more tries a game than England over the last year aren't you?

No surprise to see England not shipping the ball wide when it's pissing with rain and blowing a gale!

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quote:

Originally posted by Mallard You lot are aware that only the All Blacks average more tries a game than England over the last year aren't you?

i wasnt aware of that exact stat (good bit of knowledge) but i know England score and have the potential to score alot more tries than some of the ppl here think

YEY we won, we won!! What an atmosphere in the french pubs out here!! I think us english managed to piss most of the french off with the Wilkinson chants! Managed to get in the french papers as well cos some journalist guy interviewed me after the match!! (just thought id add that one in!!) Not a bad game overall i thought. Ok we rely a lot on Jonny, but so what? If it gets us through the matches then ill settle for that! I think its ours for the taking now. Ok Australia have had 1 good game against the all blacks, but i cant see them beating us in the final (touch wood!) Bring em on!!

quote:

Originally posted by Mallard You lot are aware that only the All Blacks average more tries a game than England over the last year aren't you? No surprise to see England not shipping the ball wide when it's pissing with rain and blowing a gale!

it wasnt pissing and there wasnt much of a wind to talk of
i said it in the aussie forum, england played awesome during the 6 nations but went all gay for the world cup

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quote:

Originally posted by OLi_A it wasnt pissing and there wasnt much of a wind to talk of i said it in the aussie forum, england played awesome during the 6 nations but went all gay for the world cup

A little bit gay perhaps, but the stats for the last 2 years still make interesting reading:

The only results I've left out are the Namibia & Romania games for Aus, and Georgia & Uraguay games for Eng...they distort the stats.

Ok, since the beginning of 2002:

ENGLAND
P23 W21 L2 P+755, P-298 T+71 T-23

Thats a 91% win rate, Avg Score: 33-13

2 Games when ENG din't score tries (NZ in June, Fra on Sunday)

In total 355 pts scored from Tries, 400 points from kicks (47%)
Ratio of Tries scored to Tries conceded is a fraction over 3:1

Avg 15 points per game scored in tries, 5 conceded
Avg 18 points per game scored in Kicks, 5 conceded

WALLABIES
P21 W13 L8 P+516 P-394 T+52 T-36

Thats a 62% win rate, Avg Score: 25-19

2 Games when AUS didn't score tries (NZ in 2002 3N, Ire last Nov)

In total 260 pts scored from Tries. 256 points from kicks (50%)
Ratio of Tries scored to Tries conceded is a pathetic 1.4:1

Avg 12 points per game scored in tries, 10 conceded
Avg 13 points per game scored in Kicks, 9 conceded

(pinched wholesale from another message board)

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Don't fight it, feel it.

well what are the stats for the world cup?

If you take away the matches against the minnows then England have only scored I think 2 total tries the whole world cup? (vs france, SA and Wales) and one of them was from a charge down :P

We'll see what happens but if they dont score any tries against Australia they will lose (unless its raining again!)

quote:

Originally posted by OLi_A it wasnt pissing and there wasnt much of a wind to talk of i said it in the aussie forum, england played awesome during the 6 nations but went all gay for the world cup

shit yeh! conditions were great! that's why there were about 4 line breaks in the whole game, and Michalak, supposedly the in-form fly half of the tournement prior to the game, misses 4 out of 4 penalties