Pool A - Australia, England, Wales, Fiji, Uruguay

[Hurricane]

I don't care if this sounds stupid - but am frothing at the bit for tomorrow's match.

For both teams this match is huge. For the players concerned it is not necessarily the match of their lives as Australia made it to the semi final last time - but it will be up there.

Pocock and Hooper are in their prime. This is their world cup to shine. They will lay it all on the line.
Tomorrow's match will be played at even a greater level of intensity than England vs Wales for two reasons:
1) The players on the field are better in the centres. JJ brings a whole new dimension for England and will make things happen.
2) Perform or go home for England. They will play for all they are worth. They were embarrassed to lose against Wales and will come out blazing.

Can't wait.

 

[MW1304]

I don't care if this sounds stupid - but am frothing at the bit for tomorrow's match.

For both teams this match is huge. For the players concerned it is not necessarily the match of their lives as Australia made it to the semi final last time - but it will be up there.

Pocock and Hooper are in their prime. This is their world cup to shine. They will lay it all on the line.
Tomorrow's match will be played at even a greater level of intensity than England vs Wales for two reasons:
1) The players on the field are better in the centres. JJ brings a whole new dimension for England and will make things happen.
2) Perform or go home for England. They will play for all they are worth. They were embarrassed to lose against Wales and will come out blazing.

Can't wait.

Interesting place to froth. You might want to get that checked out.

 

[kiwiviktor81]

Interesting place to froth. You might want to get that checked out.

Apart from the ponyplay fetish stuff I agree with Hurricane here. This is one of the biggest matches these players will ever play in their careers.

 

[wpdavid]

I don't care if this sounds stupid - but am frothing at the bit for tomorrow's match.

For both teams this match is huge. For the players concerned it is not necessarily the match of their lives as Australia made it to the semi final last time - but it will be up there.

Pocock and Hooper are in their prime. This is their world cup to shine. They will lay it all on the line.
Tomorrow's match will be played at even a greater level of intensity than England vs Wales for two reasons:
1) The players on the field are better in the centres. JJ brings a whole new dimension for England and will make things happen.
2) Perform or go home for England. They will play for all they are worth. They were embarrassed to lose against Wales and will come out blazing.

Can't wait.

Which may well be England's undoing. If anything, they need to blaze a bit less and think a bit more to try and avoid conceding the unnecessary penalties that cost them the Wales match. Perhaps not easy when so much of it is split second stuff, but it shouldn't be beyond them at this level. But yes, from a neutral pov it should be great viewing.

 

[WalkingWicket]

Utterly petrified for tonight. Can't fathom going out at the group stage. Going to be very nervy watching.

 

[Tangles]

Got the game ready to go and the current commentary is in Italian. Bit worried since I'm in the US and not fluent.

 

[Uppercut]

This thread led me to believe Foley was the safe, unspectacular option at 10.

 

[WalkingWicket]

Might as well spend my next 40 minutes doing something more emotionally gratifying, like cutting out my eyeballs or burning down my house.

 

[hendrix]

Foley having an absolute blinder.

Genia and Pocock also awesome.

 

[wpdavid]

Might as well spend my next 40 minutes doing something more emotionally gratifying, like cutting out my eyeballs or burning down my house.

At least we'll be able to enjoy the remainder of the WC.

Not that I'm watching this one, just checking the score and running commentary on the Guardian website occasionally. But we're being systematically outclassed aren't we? Obviously the usual penalty conceded early on to concede an early lead, and I gather the Aus scrum that led to the second try was also courtesy of a penalty gifted by English ill-discipline. But we just aren't very good, so meh. Doubtless some will be calling for Lancaster's head after this, and being an honourable bloke he'll probably resign anyway. But Hercules in his pomp couldn't sort out this stable full of ****e.

 

[Uppercut]

I thought the Wales game wasn't anywhere near as terrible as the reaction suggested, but they're shocking here.

 

[WalkingWicket]

At least we'll be able to enjoy the remainder of the WC.

Not that I'm watching this one, just checking the score and running commentary on the Guardian website occasionally. But we're being systematically outclassed aren't we? Obviously the usual penalty conceded early on to concede an early lead, and I gather the Aus scrum that led to the second try was also courtesy of a penalty gifted by English ill-discipline. But we just aren't very good, so meh. Doubtless some will be calling for Lancaster's head after this, and being an honourable bloke he'll probably resign anyway. But Hercules in his pomp couldn't sort out this stable full of ****e.

Dunno - we've been pretty equal in most areas of the game, except for the breakdown, which is clearly key, and we've been sliced open definitively twice. Hands in the back have been poor, along with our general handling. Pretty dire and we deserve to be behind. They're letting the fans down.

 

[WalkingWicket]

Hooper and Pocock are just so good. Unreal.

 

[NUFAN]

What an odd decision. Probably kills England's chances of that fightback. Has a host nation ever not made it out of the group stages before?

 

[MW1304]

Looked like there might be a good attempt at a fightback for a while there but this last ten minutes has been embarrassing.

 

[BeeGee]

What an odd decision. Probably kills England's chances of that fightback. Has a host nation ever not made it out of the group stages before?

Nope. England have made history.

 

[Meridio]

Australia looking worryingly good tbh.

 

[Spark]

pocock for aoty

 

[hendrix]

Weird decision to card Farrell there. Does this TV ref understand rugby? Farrell was coming up in a straight line in defense and Giteau ran in front of the ball carrier, potentially shepherding. You can't be expected to just get out of the way of the attacking player in that situation.

The TV ref clearly basing his decision on a camera angle that wasn't in line with play.

However, Sam Burgess with a clear high tackle so I suppose justice done?

 

[hendrix]

The TV ref also warned 3 white when he tackled Foley during that attempted intercept. If you're making an intercept you have possession of the ball. You can't expect the defending player to just allow you to regain possession. He's perfectly entitled to tackle you in that situation.

Dunno who he is but he doesn't understand the game, clearly, and he doesn't understand camera angles.