Well done England

[Egret]

Surprised to see that no one had started a thread to congratulate England on their performance yesterday,. That was not a training run for SA

[WonkyWasp]

mmmmm ......  do you have your tongue in your cheek??

[wycombewasp]

I was so excited watching the game I fell asleep at half time.

[NellyWellyWaspy]

Painters across the country are rejoicing that so many people watched their work drying.

Both SFs were a REALLY poor advert for our wonderful game.

I expect the final will be a grunt fest of big hits, where the ABs win by an unnecessarily wide margin.

[COYW15]

Surprised to see that no one had started a thread to congratulate England on their performance yesterday,. That was not a training run for SA

I was surprised to see that no one had started one to moan about something England related! Nothing seems to unite this forum like being negative about England regardless of the circumstances.

[westwaleswasp]

Went on the other site for once.
I enjoyed the tactics for wet weather rugby being applied to wet weather rugby.

[Shugs]

Congratulations?!?! Never witnessed such a bizarre game. Played exclusively in the middle third it was a desperately boring kick and jump competition. No line breaks, no attempt at craft. You can then throw in Farrell?s ridiculous football style petulance - if I was O?Keefe I?d have just yellowed him for being such a cretin. Terrible, terrible advert for the game epitomised by the fact we now have teams calling the mark and opting for scrums to milk penalties. Ah, the genius of Erasmus. All we can hope for now is that an extremely watchable All Blacks side dispatches SA and lends a shred of credibility to the trophy.

[Nigel Med]

I?ve been amongst those fiercely critical of Borthwick but I?ll cut him a little slack. He had very little time to prepare for the World Cup and inherited the squad from Jones so we shouldn?t be too surprised that he stuck with veteran players and a very basic (dull) game plan. Actually reaching the Semis was quite an achievement, even given the relatively easy group and the intensity yesterday was at a level we haven?t seen since the Semi Final against the All Blacks in Japan. Obviously the weather helped out game plan but even so, we really troubled the Boks until the front row replacements came on.

 I was also encouraged by Borthwick?s comments about the youngsters in the squad which hopefully means we can retire a good few of the ponderous, well passed their best ?vets? that make up the bulk of the squad and plan for a more expansive game with a bit of pace in the back three. Hopefully we?ve seen the last of the likes of Cole, Marler, Daly, May and Tuilagi albeit they played well yesterday. If I ever see Vunipola in an England shirt again I?ll turn the tv over, total waste of space. Now that Tom Willis has signed for the cheats (that is still painful to consider) I doubt that Billy is going to get much game time. I?d like to include Farrell in that list but Borthwick seems to think he?s the Messia. Wonder if it?s occurred to him that Farrell?s backchat gifted SA 10 metres and an easy 3 points in a game we lost by a point?

Incidentally, I have to agree with a few posts I?ve seen regarding that last penalty, ?the Wasp that never was? Vincent Koch was boring in at 45 degrees, problem was the referee had already made his mind up who was going to be at fault. It infuriates me that this is so rarely penalised, Koch?s fellow countryman ?The Beast? who gave Phil Vickery such a torrid time on the Lions tour was always doing it. As a referee my front row briefing was always just that- brief. They aren?t interested, they?re busy with their pre match, so it would always be ?Straight and Square, safe and legal? Koch was NOT scrummaging square by any stretch of the imagination.

[PestNproud]

I've been amongst those fiercely critical of Borthwick but I'll cut him a little slack. He had very little time to prepare for the World Cup and inherited the squad from Jones so we shouldn't be too surprised that he stuck with veteran players and a very basic (dull) game plan. Actually reaching the Semis was quite an achievement, even given the relatively easy group and the intensity yesterday was at a level we haven't seen since the Semi Final against the All Blacks in Japan. Obviously the weather helped out game plan but even so, we really troubled the Boks until the front row replacements came on.

I was also encouraged by Borthwick's comments about the youngsters in the squad which hopefully means we can retire a good few of the ponderous, well passed their best 'vets' that make up the bulk of the squad and plan for a more expansive game with a bit of pace in the back three.

+1

Atmosphere at SF was terrific, with the locals struggling to decide who they hated most: us, boks or ref!?

Fazza got all barrels in warm-up, too, which prob did wonders for motivation. Reckon at least twice as many Eng supporters later on once we were deemed to be in with a chance and spooking RSA. Locals near us were serious, respectful fans and with Eng from outset - felt like the only ones, though... great, crazy night, edge of seat, but contemplation of ABs in a final was mind blowing. France would have gutted us, I imagine, but loved seeing boks get a taste of their own for so long and all the more remarkably from us...

[bournender2]

Reading this and today?s media, can this be the impetus for our leader OF to be considering that a move to the 13 a side might be attractive?

[Trevs Big Tackle]

Reading this and today?s media, can this be the impetus for our leader OF to be considering that a move to the 13 a side might be attractive?

Oh, god, no. I've just started following league as I'm fed up with union. Stay in union please, Owen.

[WonkyWasp]

Better still Owen .......  just retire.  Take the dog for walks.  Zip your lip.

[Chunky24]

Better still Owen .......  just retire.  Take the dog for walks.  Zip your lip.

A lot of talk he is heading to Wigan RL...

[Trevs Big Tackle]

Better still Owen .......  just retire.  Take the dog for walks.  Zip your lip.

A lot of talk he is heading to Wigan RL...

But they have lots of good players, why do they want Owen?

[Chunky24]

Better still Owen .......  just retire.  Take the dog for walks.  Zip your lip.

A lot of talk he is heading to Wigan RL...

But they have lots of good players, why do they want Owen?

Alot of young RL talent heads to NRL these days (Smithies just gone from Wigan) Farrell family legacy at Wigan is massive and would no doubt commercially be great for them plus his salary would be exempt from cap for 1 year and 50% the second year as a new talent player who hasn't played league before.He doesn't seem to want to play abroad so this could be his (even) bigger payday.

I'll add the words you probably don't want to hear, he could then return to Union ahead of next world cup if wanted by coach.