Roar Rookie
Joined October 2015
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A non-playing poorly informed rugby fan with strong opinions. Lee Hughes is a former soldier, armchair fan of Auckland and New Zealand rugby. He played hooker once but he most regularly disappointed his team mates on the wing with his leaden running and flat footed sidestep. He also drops catches and once threw a perfect hospital pass.
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Following the Rugby World Cup, there has been the expected hand-wringing in the ever delightful English press. They are a savage pack and they…
Coaching has changed a lot since the early days of rugby Tests and it's changing even faster now than ever before. In the black…
England failed mostly because their defence was unable to stop Australia from making the advantage line almost every time they ran the ball. In…
Yep – ABs must resist the temptation to take 3 themselves. In a close game they sometimes do and I don’t think they should. Go for touch and drive over in the corner.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Awesome!
So true. What penetrating insights.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Yep – they do that. Thanks
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
No disagreement here. I’ve never liked it. I know how bad my judgment is when I’m amped up and the haka does that to you.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Thanks Wal – that is flat out incredible. No real endurance but a ton of speed when he needed it. Hmmmm, makes me rethink a few things.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
All right.
OK Roarers, what is NZ biggest weakness? What will Eddie target?
I don’t mean to ask what strength the England team will play to.
SA rattled us when they got over the gain line early on, a bit like the Aussies in Perth, but we handled those things (even in Perth until we lost Scott Barret). That’s all I can think of.
So where are we vulnerable?
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Yep – for Aaron Smith’s second try against Ireland the clearance at the ruck in the corner was done by 9, 12, 13 and 14 with 11 underneath it all.
That was special to see.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
‘Insular’ is what we do. Kiwi’s are an island people.
So is Britain, iirc.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Yeah – for reasons that others have given below I think Youngs will not trouble Aaron. But Curry and Underhill might have a go at disrupting him at rucks.
Aside from that I think England will rely on kicks, stout defence, slowing the ball at rucks, slowing the pace of the game at rucks and scrums and finally, maybe a counter attack or two.
I just don’t rate their own carrying attacks as terrifying. Tuilagi and Billy V will be a handful but I think we can cope. Not too worried about their backs – we can run them down. Maybe their mauls might work. We’ll see.
But we’ll see.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
I hadn’t thought of us targeting Youngs. That could be very interesting.
But Ford is going to see some heavy incoming traffic.
The English kicking game could be their Achilles Heel. We’ll handle that – and even exploit it.
Amazingly England’s improved counter-attack could be their best hope. We might see a few hot chases of May, Watson etc and see some last ditch tackles from Richie, Mo and Reece.
I don’t see scrums being a key feature. Lineouts – yes. Quick rucks – yes. Offloads – yes. Turnovers – not so much as they used to be.
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Spot on. Running from deep at a rush defence is a disaster. But kicking occasionally from deep is a big asset. Keeps the blitzers honest and cautious.
NZ have definitely got what it takes to crack the England defence.
England have too, but not as often.
NZ by 10+.
Can England dethrone the All Blacks in their World Cup semi-final?
Hi Funbus,
Like you I’m looking forward to a huge game and England will definitely bring the biggest challenge the ABs have had so far. But to support Chris H above I’ll say this.
Speed is one thing – endurance is another. Recovery time is relevant too – for forwards especially.
Pace of the game is the thing that makes the ABs hard to handle. Fast tempo affects recovery times and that changes endurance and that affects available speed.
Drag races are one thing – the Le Mans is another type of race entirely. They are both valid forms of racing and their equivalents are found in rugby matches but oddly enough, we have an advantage in both at the moment.
Our most blistering speed is available in the midfield when BB blasts into the fray with ball in hand. The England speed machines are further out and may not see as much ball as BB, Richie and even Reece (if he keeps coming infield looking for work).
So, while acknowledging the apparent raw speed of England players, I question whether it will prove to be decisive when things like endurance, recovery time and ready access to the ball are also factored in.
That’s what I mean when I say NZ are faster and fitter and I think its what Chris H implies too.
As for the ‘youngness’ of the players. Well the biggest advantage for a young player on the scene is the fact that often their form isn’t studied as much because they are new to test footy. It’s not ‘age’ per se that matters – its ‘newness’ that counts. Bridge, Reece, Scooter, and Richie are familiar faces to NZers but not so much to England players and coaches. They can spring surprises and their ‘tells’ are not so well known in Japan. That’s what I think counts.
In the England side, Curry and Underhill have some of that ‘newness’, but as for the rest? They are old hands that have been well studied.
Can England dethrone the All Blacks in their World Cup semi-final?
If I was England and I wanted to find a weakness to target, I’d be scratching my head. But if they look for an AB strength to nullify then they might learn from SA.
Aaron Smith’s long fast pass is a huge asset to the ABs. Immense. But when Faf De Klerk targeted Aaron and disrupted his rhythm he caused quite a few problems. Faf is good at that and he can go on to hassle the first receiver -especially if its BB or Richie standing in behind the scrum or ruck.
If I was England, I’d be finding a way to derail the AB attack and defence at the earliest possible vulnerable point. That isn’t the actual scrum or ruck – its the pass from the scrum half.
That’s the only place I think they could apply pressure to the ABs consistently and usefully, but….
have they got a man like Faf to do it?
No Jonah-led demolition but All Blacks have too much class for England
Barrett is a fifth lineout target for the hooker to hit. That’s important.
England kick their way up to the opposition 40 yard line and only then do they seriously carry. They use a lot of different kicks including chips and bombs etc, but they do kick for touch a lot and they love a lineout – especially to start a rolling maul close to the line.
Barrett or someone else will help contest the throw at English lineouts and maybe even those lineouts near the corner post where England love to maul forwards over the try line.
This could turn a close victory for NZ into a crushing one.
Five reasons why Hansen’s Scott Barrett surprise could be a master stroke
😂 My wife thinks there’s something wrong with me too but she says it goes further than concussions….
Why we'll have an all-southern hemisphere World Cup final
I meant the Roarers with a foot in each camp depending on the day seem to be suffering from knocks to the head…
Why we'll have an all-southern hemisphere World Cup final
Harry – defences don’t win competitions. Even with a perfect defence the best you can hope for is a nil all draw. Ya gotta attack!
NZ by a decent margin over England.
NZ by less over SA a week later.
Rugby World Cup semi-finals expert tips: stress-free and freakin’ out!
They’ll look like the ABs in 2003. And for the same reasons:
Coming off four years of miserable results (2015-19) followed hopefully by four years of improving results (2020-23) against RC teams that they try desperately hard to beat.
Note: these may be teams that are perhaps not focused on anything but the 2023 RWC to come and might even not take the WBs leadup games as seriously as the WBs do. This is what happened to Ireland in 2016-18 when they beat the ABs twice in EOYTs that the ABs didn’t take as seriously as RWC matches.
With a slightly inflated opinion of their own skills because its hard not to believe your own national press.
With no senior starting players with experience of playing in a RWC final. (Hooper will not last the distance because his weaknesses will no longer be tolerated in order to ensure he starts each game as captain.)
With a new coach who is still learning the game at international level (unless they re-hire Eddie).
Note: no coach after Rod McQueen in 1999 has ever won a RWC unless they had at least 4 years in charge of an international team first. Its getting harder and harder to learn on the job and also win a RWC. The best teams now have very experienced coaches that have all suffered defeats and who have learned from their setbacks. The best of them also have had their own successful mentors before they took over national teams. It’s hard to see how Cheika’s tenure provides that sort of grounding for a new WB coach. His assistants have learned nothing from him and none are in line to take over from him.
RWC Winning Coaches and Their Years of International Experience When they Won the Cup:
1987 Lochore – 2 years
1991 Dwyer – 6 years
1995 Christie – 2 years
1999 McQueen – 3 years
2003 Woodward – 6 years
2007 White – 4 years
2011 Henry – 13 years
2015 Hansen – 13 years
2019 Hansen – 17 years (possibly)
What will the Wallabies look like in 2020 - and at the next World Cup?
No. Its the result of concussions. Lots of concussions.
Which kind of makes the case for more cards….
Why we'll have an all-southern hemisphere World Cup final
Corne – the Boks will slaughter Wales.
If not then I will change my name to ‘Homer Knows Nothing About Everything’ for one week.
All Blacks vs England will be one of the greatest rugby matches ever
If we start to struggle at lineout time for any reason, then if the Poms kick long or for the corner post, then I expect we’ll start sprinting back and gathering the kicks from touch and throwing them in unopposed to Barrett and Mo’unga to return the compliment.
If the Poms kick shorter to prevent this, then we’re winning the tennis match.
But I reckon our lineout will do OK. Itoje and Lawes are very good but so is that big bugger – what’s his name? Retallick!
All Blacks vs England will be one of the greatest rugby matches ever
I won’t dispute what you say there, but I’ll repeat that I question their endurance in the long run, especially if we move them around like we moved the Irish.
The pace the ABs have played against the Boks, the WBs and the Irish this year was shattering to those teams on different occasions. I can’t see the English standing up to that heat for 80 minutes and if the English start to fade when contesting the breakdown it’ll be like a dam bursting.
No one from up north has played a game in this RWC at the same pace as the Boks and NZ regularly do. (Oops – except Japan.)
But we’ll see.
All Blacks vs England will be one of the greatest rugby matches ever
Hi Funbus,
Hope you’re reading this.
You wuz right and I wuz wrong. England had all the stamina and speed they needed.
Their tactics worked and they executed well.
We were beaten fair and square.
Well done England and Eddie Jones.
Sighhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.
See you back here in four years time Funbus and all the England supporters.
PS. Go SA!
Five talking points from England vs All Blacks