Rugby Final
Posted: Mon 15 October, 2007 Filed under: Cynicism, Thoughts 1 Comment »So, England are in the final of the Rugby World Cup, and play South Africa. For once in my life, I actually ended up watching both games – and bearing in mind my comprehensive lack of knowledge, as well as being aware of being supposedly “unpatriotic” I have to say, I think England are going to receive a serious kicking next Saturday.
To me, the South Africa/Argentina game on Sunday was a far ‘better’ game than the England/France one, and the gameplay by South Africa was far better than England. Now OK, I realise that “points are points” regardless of how they’re scored, but England currently seem to rely primarily on penalties and drop goals rather than the tries and conversions that are (in my novice opinion) the ‘bread and butter’ of the game.
South Africa relied more on tries and conversions, and knocked up the points accordingly with four tries, and four conversions – although admittedly they also scored from three penalties. England scraped through (until the last five/ten minutes) with a scrappy game where they scored one try, no conversions, and two penalties. In the earlier game against Australia, all the England points were through penalties.
Maybe I’m naïve – it wouldn’t be the first time, when it comes to sport – but to me, South Africa currently seem to be playing a more rounded game of rugby than England do, and I suspect that may influence the result next weekend.
Of course, I could be wrong too – again, not the first time- and if so, I’ll be the first one to say “I was wrong”.
Yes, tries and conversions are the bread and butter of the game but when you’re faced with impenetrable defense like England have been against France and Australia, you have to score points anyway you can. In an ideal world, a team won’t give any penalties away but the beauty of certainly the last 10 minutes of the England/France match was that England pressured Les Bleus so much, they gave away an easily scorable penalty. It was forcing Australia to make errors that won them that game too.
It’s going to be difficult to call it for next week – South Africa vs Argentina was hardly as well balanced as the France/England game and, to be fair, South Africa have not been challenged yet: with the exception of England, they haven’t faced any of the major teams: NZ, Oz or France. Both Tonga and Fiji gave the ‘boks more of a run around than they should have done and considering how many mistakes the Pumas made -virtually gifting the game away – I’m surprised that the scoreline wasn’t bigger. I’m also suprised that SA let Argentina get a try as well – perhaps there are exploitable holes in their defence?
However, they still have that victory over England in their favour and they are looking very formidable – but by no means unbeatable. I think you’re probably right and that they’ll win but I don’t think it’s a certainty – which can only be a good thing going into the final as it’s going to be an interesting game.
Think I’ll put a tenner on South Africa.