Out of interest, the RU club I have played for for a couple of years, has had a bit more of an influx of players from Outlaws. We now have a 10, 12 & 13 from Outlaws, with most of the back row there too. Our wide defence is great, and when we run the ball in the backs we do well. The problem is that the rest of the team aren't so good at the Union things like scrums and lineouts. We won a game away at the team top of the league on Saturday that we had no right to win, simply because we could defend one dimensional rugby, and take advantage of teritory when we got the chance

Hypocrite.

As I recall you possess a pair of cufflinks yourself. In fact, typical of your attempts to bludge your way to ebourgeoisement, you didn't even pay for them.

And Botha could have gathered the restart, a few forward phases later and someone slots a three pointer and you're licking Robshaws balls for astute decision making. That's rugby for you.

They seem to get the decision making right today against the All Blacks
A game I thoroughly enjoyed watching.

Totally agree OF big wraps to the yawnion lads today they got stuck in and got teh win they deserved.

Me too. Big commitment from the whole side with the pack outstanding and Farrell didn't look out of place against Carter either!

Except there were 45 seconds left when SA got round to kicking off and England hadn't been able to manage anything resembling what was needed for the previous 79 minutes and 15 seconds. A no brainer - kick to the corner and catch and drive 5 yards for a winning 5 points. Robshaw f*****d up - simple as that.

On a brighter note, Robshaw and the rest of the England team showed some serious character yesterday, and a combined it with some real skill. Well done boys, last thing the All Blacks would have wanted was to lose their unbeaten run to England - and they wouldn't have even dreamed of a record score against them by the English.
Nice to see Freddie Burns get a run - the future for England at 10.

Got to say although theer were mistakes aplenty against the Aussies and Boks and Robshaw etc got slated i at least enjoyed watching them attempt to play an attacking game and backing themselves.
That obviously was the gameplan yesterday along with some excellent defensive aggression at the break down and it showed that "new look" England can be a joy to watch at this level and that there are new potential stars out there so please no more Tindall at 13 etc etc leave the old guard out and move forward.

The All Blacks were visibly shaken and confused - no question. England did their homework and moved the ball away from the Kiwi back row on attack - Nonu is a wobbly defender and they seemed to pick him out. Mike Brown had a storming game running the ball .
Tom Wood made a huge difference - absolutely tremendous play on the ground.
I just picked the wrong week to go to Twickenham (I could have had tickets for the All Blacks game). Mind you, I was pretty slaughtered last week, if I'd actually had a win to celebrate I might still have a headache now.
I also discovered that going into the England Rugby shop at Twikkers with your son after a few beers can be quite an expensive experience.

While I'd have also kicked to the corner, the penalty kicked and re-gather from the re-start to hopefully work a position to attempt a field-goal was also a workable option - perhaps even the higher percentage option as it didn't require getting across the line with ball in hand.

As previously stated I'm only a casual viewer but time remaining (it appears to me) is not altogether critical as they seem to play on to the next infringement or the ball being kicked out of play before ending the tedium and that coud take forever.

It was chucking it down with rain, England hadn't been able to string 3 phases together the whole match without fumbling (neither had SA to be fair) and SA were tackling England backwards at the time. SA were going to kick deep and then could afford to infringe as much as they wanted as there wouldn't have been time for England to take a lineout from any penalty kick. Farrell and Robshaw between them had already turned down a kick at goal 4 or 5 minutes earlier from just inside the SA half, bang infront of the posts - again - a really poor choice, and suggesting that in the conditions (it was truly awful) Farrell needed to be close to the posts even for a place kick. He would have needed to be 25 out, band infront for a reasonable drop attempt.
Literally 80,000 people in the ground were screeming for England to kick to the corner. Even in perfect conditions moving the ball 70 metres after the end of the match and then dropping a goal is a miracle play. Catch and drive from 5 yards out is much higher percentage. I'd rather be on the SA line with the ball trying to score a try after the hooter, than 70 yards away trying to drop a goal.
He f****d up and made the wrong call. He'll learn from it though, he's a quality player. Anyway, all meaningless now, beat the All Blacks and nothing else matters.

Was the re-start kicked deep by South Africa after the successful penalty? I didn't think it was which I thought looked odd at the time.

So are you saying that unlike in League conceding a penalty doesn't extend the play beyond the eighty minutes?

What a peculiar sport.



It appears so.

No, the game does carry on - you can tap and go forever after the clock has expired, but if you chose to kick the ball out of play then it's a re-start, and that happens to be a lineout with throw in to the team who kicked the ball "dead".
However, as a lienout is considered a "contest" there has to be time on the clock for it to take place - so you actually have to check with the ref if there is time to have the lineout before you kick a penalty dead. You can't do this once the clock has expired - you can only tap a penalty and run with it.

It is still a peculiar sport though.

Snap.
It does make it easy for the BBc to show the highlights on the news though.
They just show the try (if there was one) or the winning penalty.