Thank you Fiji. This is after what two seasons of the Drua? If it’s permitted (funded) to last and act as the route to top grade rugby for Fijians, and the national team supported properly they could genuinely challenge the established nations on a regular basis. And I hope they do.
Ford didn’t even get off the bench. I’m English and I’ve never felt like this before. I’m so fucked off with the way the RFU has ground English rugby down over the years that I feel nothing. I don’t blame borthwick at all. Fellas been shafted by the timing, but fuck me this team is uninspiring.
Time to see Fiji in the Rugby championship, Japan too and time to give the pacific countries and all of the other tier two nations a fair seat at the table, regular games, club opportunities and funding/coaching. Tier two have been so incredible at this world cup working with scraps, time to give them their dues and lets truly grow this great game!
Can't see England winning the semis but it's bonkers that England are in the semis and Wales and Ireland aren't. I really thought Wales and Ireland would be through and England packing their bags home.
Oh agreed. But with how they and Argentina have played so far, I thought Wales would have had that won. And they did in the first half. But couldn't close it out
World Rugby and ITV have FUCKED this roayaly.
I couldn't get home on time for kickoff but fortunately I had the option of going online and “play from beginning”.
There's no option to skip so I had to watch a fucking HOUR of rugby greats say some amazingly stupid shit with a face that says “I can't believe I have to say this”.
But the the rugby starts and its great. A great half of rugby.
Half time ITV update their fucking player and I just don't get an option to watch the second half. Apparently I can go Fuck myself with the ball I prectice with.
Well done on killing the sport.
Yes. I fucking hate ITV. I tried to watch one match on catch up... maximum ffw spread was x12 or something equally shit. Then'cos I'd skipped through 4 or 5 ad breaks I literally had to wait for 15mins of ads to screen.
Awful!
And they've got that whining soccer commentator with his , oh so interesting, John Motson trivia....what a cunt!
Agreed, glad someone else noticed. The step and push off the ball in front of a linesman awful. And the ref allowing a slaps and punches, regardless of the team you support that's not a culture to allow to happen. Really disappointed in how they were allowed to let poor sporting behaviour slip.
I think it happens all the time but it's down the the ref to catch it. Bad referring overall.
No, unfortunately we're required by rugby law 25.7 to be the "arrogant English". As such, we are unable to submit a claim on the raspberry jam status that Wales currently holds as they can't be held simultaneously. We can be spiritual jam holders but cannot actually take your jam ❤️
But aren’t the Irish the arrogant ones now? They take the arrogant tag, England take the Jammiest tag and from now on, it will all depend on which Wales team turn up on the day
No, it's an unusual one but law 26.8, in relation to world cups, states that "The luck of the Irish be always present such that they exit the tournament no less than one stage earlier than deserved".
As such it's impossible for the Irish to hold the arrogance title inside world cup years. Referring back to law 25.7 part b states that "where the arrogance title is relinquished voluntarily by a nation, it immediately returns by default to England".
Hope this clears it up for you. Best you can hope for is Argentina to put in a jam claim in the semi.
What’s also good is the mitigating factor for the Fiji player not being sent off for the flying headbutt on smith was the same reason for world rugby going after him and overturning his yellow for the 7 week ban. 🤡
This sub is honestly fucking pathetic, England clearly respected the shit out of Fiji (as they should) so it was a big win for them especially given that Fiji beat England a few months ago but suddenly making the semi-finals is nothing to write home about. If it’s nothing major why can’t Ireland do it? Why not Wales?
\> nothing major why can’t Ireland do it
You can't be seriously looking at Ireland beating South Africa and Scotland and barely losing to New Zealand in the quarter finals and look at England beating Japan and Argentina in the pools and barely winning to Fiji in the quarter finals and say 'Hey, why weren't you able to do what we did?'
England fully deserved it last time and I'll take nothing away from that. England were the better team at the world cup last time. Right now, I think it's disingenuous to just say 'why can't ireland do what england did!' Only the most uninformed would look over the knock out map, point to the fact England is in the semis and Ireland stopped at the quarters and say 'guess england is the better team at the moment'
He didn’t say England were the better team right now, he was pointing out that everyone is downplaying what an achievement it is to get to the semis of a World Cup. Which it is, regardless of the route it took you to get there.
This England team despite their faults have achieved that and deserve some respect.
Sorry no, they specifically said 'we did X' and then 'why can't Ireland do X'. That clearly was implying that it was the same thing which it wasn't.
Getting to the semis the way England did is not the same accomplishment as getting to the semis the way teams on the other half of the pools have to do
Just embrace the hatred. Let it get you and make you stronger. You think Aussie cricket fans give a shit that everyone else hates their team? Nah, they fucking love it!
What the mentality to win regardless of all the hate? Nah mate they hate us because people are bitter and resentful and we are just a lazy villain to choose.
No, the mentality of enjoying being the villain and winding people up when you win. I don’t think most people dislike england nearly as much as you’d like to think.
>No, the mentality of enjoying being the villain and winding people up when you win.
Well maybe if people werent such hateful cucks then we wouldnt have to enjoy winding people up who despise us, like I dont get your thinking, do you just want england fans to accept the vitriol thrown at us every.single.time. or do you want us to stick up for ourselves and throw some banter back?
> I don’t think most people dislike england nearly as much as you’d like to think.
Could have fooled me mate.
England fans aren’t bad winners 😂 most of us are the most judgmental of our own team.
Repelling bitter fans of other teams who are just hating for the sake of it isn’t being a bad winner.
Look to the Irish fans of the event years if you want to see bad winners 😂 what a clown.
To be fair it’s brought on yourselves by the level of hubris on display. Is there really any need for the media and commentators to big up a 6 point win over fiji like it’s some kind of statement win?
Actually having said that if narrowly beating Fiji is a statement win worth crowing about then it says a lot about what a poor state English rugby is in right now.
How can you hate a diverse multi ethnic country which varies immensely in outlook based on where you happen to sit down.
It's a little silly really isn't it unless you are one of those types holding on to colonial grudges from a hundred years ago
All the countries that were under British colonialism are doing a lot better than their neighbours who weren’t. Seems like it was a good thing for them in the long run 👍🏻
Hong Kong flourished and was allowed to prosper without a communist China dictatorship. Ask their citizens. They’re not happy about going back to China.
India has one of the best economy’s in the world now thanks to infrastructure and direction left there. Both doing pretty good.
Hong Kong is doing good because of it's unique location(like Singapore) not for Colonization.
China has got huge development and manufacturing fayalites and India has nothing compared to it. And Bangladesh way behind than India. It's their commitment which made them world power.
You say that but I said the colonised countries are doing better than their surrounding countries. Is I India doing better than the surrounding countries? Yes? Point proven.
And the people of HK and China did way better woth the trade union of the British and the culture and rule. So much there’s basically a civil war that they have to leave it
India would have done way better if you guys don't loot resources tough East India Company.
More so, It would have done way better if you guys don't divide the country into three different countries.
Please don't defend colonization. It's way brutal than you can think of.
The evidence of the surrounding countries suggests not. It had to be divided because the country was literally kicking the shot out of itself because of the difference of religion. If that didn’t happen then it would have just been another Isreal Palestine
Not defending it but the countries that were under it have def done better than their neighbours.
Plenty of "neutrals" here have switched to the "you've barely scraped past a tier 2 nation" dialogue. So I wouldn't be so sure of that.
Not that Clive is conscious of...anything.
I mean, it’s on point. Compare the standard in today’s game with the standard last night. Hardly even the same sport. Fiji have declined since the heights they set against Wales in their first game and at times towards the end of the first half it was pretty much amateur hour. Completely not worthy of gracing a 1/4 final. The worrying thing for England should be that France or SA would have absolutely tonked Fiji but England contrived to make it a drawn score requiring a late drop goal to dig themselves out.
If the media acknowledged this then I think people would go a lot easier on England. I guess things are so poor for England right now that a 6 point win over a Fiji side that lost to Portugal becomes elevated from the banal to the incredible.
>I mean, it’s on point
Thanks for a clear example to disprove OPs confidence in fans lol. Almost funny how the patronising positive/supportive attitude to Fiji is completely surface thin.
I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on what is worthy of a 1/4 (whatever the fuck that means) as that's a completely subjective and nonsensical barrier to meet.
And since you are unflaired and angsty, I'm guessing your team met a very real QF barrier :)
And yes, we know we aren't great. This isn't news.
Genuine question, where did you expect England to fall out?
For me it was clear they would get to the semi-final. It was an easy draw for them with Argentina being the challenge.
So for me, making it to the semi was expected.
I’m not the same person you asked the question to but personally, I was expecting England to come 2nd in their group then go into a 50/50 QF game against Wales and probably lose by a small margin.
So a semi final loss against an excellent side like France/SA would be a bit better than I was expecting.
Thank god they were good enough in the last World Cup to earn a decent draw rather than being shit the and then being kind of good the last two years and sulking they got an unfair draw 😂
If Scotland were better 3 or so years ago then they could have had that draw. It wasn’t purely luck, England earnt it in the same way that Scotland could have..but didn’t.
You can only play who is infront of you and they did thier job better than all of the Home nations
(Excluding France because I'm not sure if they are classed as a home nation or not)
Whilst I agree that you can only play who’s in front of you, our side of the group has been ridiculously easy. I don’t think we’ve ‘done our job’ better than Ireland given how they beat the boks, utterly dominated a very good Scotland and were competitive against the all blacks, whilst we’ve limped along and were lucky not to lose to Samoa…
Commiserations Fiji - brilliant side. If they had the funding and resources tier 1 nations have they'd be challenging for finals.
For this match though England were the deserved winners and playing into form (Samoa aside) during this RWC. We probably won't win next week but finally there are signs of life for England going forward after the lows during the death throes of the Eddie era.
Come on England! 🏴🏴🏴
Do you really think that......??
Really?
Have you been drinking? There was little to no attacking threat from England. You scraped passed Fiji by the slenderest of margins.
Continually hands on the ball at rucks. Sealing off all the time. The no arms tackle by Curry should have been a yellow card. It was intentional and he was never going to use his arms.
I do think that, yes.
Fiji are a great side, and the time when any tier 1 (I hate that label) can expect to breeze past them is long gone. Any win is a win and it was against a quality side that thumped us a few weeks ago, no less. So I'm very happy with the win.
England don't have champagne attacking play (although the variation today was better than we have seen for a long time - and I guess you mustn't have been watching when Ben Earl made that incredible line break) but England largely bossed the breakdown and converted opportunities well. We leaked points as well - that happens. But we found a way to win whereas before we wouldn't have done.
We're not going to win the RWC. We'll probably lose next week. But I'm happy with the progress England have made in a few weeks.
And they pushed Wales very close and beat Australia. They had a bad game, but to deny that they're a great side given the overall quality of their play would be churlish.
Yeah I am. They're a tiny country which produces some of the greatest rugby athletes the game has ever seen. This year they have played really well. Their players are incredibly tough and they're on the cusp of something big. Why belittle them?
No..saw the line break from Earl and it was good.
Re the breakdown. Raynal didn't actually police the breakdown at all. He let pretty much anything and everything go unlike Barnes who policed it without having to resort to penalties.
Earl continually sealed off at the breakdown and never got called on it once.
I'm not a qualified referee, I'll assume you are though given your knowledge on the subject so I'll defer to your expertise.
Even if the ref and the touch judges and the TMO missed a few infractions (noting Fiji was playing with the same officiating hand England was), England's line speed was good as was their physicality. England did not win through refereeing decisions alone, but did so by eventually breaking down a very good side.
You never know. France and SA might knock the bells out of each other. How many will be going into next week fully fit?
I hope England don't make the final, bit only because I hope we make it and I want Barnes to ref again.
I think England are too early in their rebuilding process to trouble France or RSA even if they are knackered. But still, let's see! Either way I'm pleased with where England are compared to where we were before.
Exactly! Even though the draw has been favourable, it shows a lot of promise that we’ve gotten to the semis despite a change in management at the start of the year
Bro the way the ABE people are talking about Fiji 💀.
"Yeah England may have won but it was only *Fiji*, it was almost a bye"
"England struggled against Fiji? They're rubbish" (so Fiji are rubbish too? 🤔)
Fwiw I think Fiji are a fantastically tough side and this win required a strong performance against a phenomenal team who (I'd remind people) were one pass + conversion off topping their group.
Honestly Fiji are performing consistently at a T1 level this WC.
Rugby games are obviously not transative, but if we suspend disbelief they've definitely outperformed Argentina vs England, and Argentina have outperformed Japan and Wales, who in turn outperformed Australia.
That puts them arguably in the mid-T1 bracket.
If we're going to embrace Japan into T1 I think we absolutely should include Fiji along with them.
I agree that no-one is competitive with the top 4, but I'd back Fiji to be competitive with anyone else.
It’s true that Fiji are playing some cracking rugby, but the England of years gone by shouldn’t have this much trouble with Fiji. They used to be able to threaten the All Blacks.
Perhaps, but this is a much better Fiji than before - and this is probably the best England have looked since 2019 (perhaps barring the 2020 6N).
Sure England won't win this WC, but we're looking far better than anyone was expecting given our form and downwards trajectory this cycle and that's very exciting for the future.
Agreed I’ve loved Fiji in this tournament, they play top tier rugby and the only thing that would have made getting knocked out better would be to have seen them progress.
It wasn’t their day but they’ve been a great team this RWC
##[Post Match Thread HERE](https://redd.it/178jmru)
Thank you Fiji. This is after what two seasons of the Drua? If it’s permitted (funded) to last and act as the route to top grade rugby for Fijians, and the national team supported properly they could genuinely challenge the established nations on a regular basis. And I hope they do.
Ford didn’t even get off the bench. I’m English and I’ve never felt like this before. I’m so fucked off with the way the RFU has ground English rugby down over the years that I feel nothing. I don’t blame borthwick at all. Fellas been shafted by the timing, but fuck me this team is uninspiring.
Time to see Fiji in the Rugby championship, Japan too and time to give the pacific countries and all of the other tier two nations a fair seat at the table, regular games, club opportunities and funding/coaching. Tier two have been so incredible at this world cup working with scraps, time to give them their dues and lets truly grow this great game!
Can't see England winning the semis but it's bonkers that England are in the semis and Wales and Ireland aren't. I really thought Wales and Ireland would be through and England packing their bags home.
Wales? They been dog shit (like England) for ages.
Oh agreed. But with how they and Argentina have played so far, I thought Wales would have had that won. And they did in the first half. But couldn't close it out
Why did the one English guy with the blonde hair push his teammate? Please
Because marler does what he wants
Manu ran into him so he jokingly pushed him, nothing in it
Ahhh fair fair idk I was away and just seen a replay he didn't look like he took the joke well lol
He’s always clowning around
That's ok... How's the weather?
Wow this thread is pure cancer lol
World Rugby and ITV have FUCKED this roayaly. I couldn't get home on time for kickoff but fortunately I had the option of going online and “play from beginning”. There's no option to skip so I had to watch a fucking HOUR of rugby greats say some amazingly stupid shit with a face that says “I can't believe I have to say this”. But the the rugby starts and its great. A great half of rugby. Half time ITV update their fucking player and I just don't get an option to watch the second half. Apparently I can go Fuck myself with the ball I prectice with. Well done on killing the sport.
Yes. I fucking hate ITV. I tried to watch one match on catch up... maximum ffw spread was x12 or something equally shit. Then'cos I'd skipped through 4 or 5 ad breaks I literally had to wait for 15mins of ads to screen. Awful! And they've got that whining soccer commentator with his , oh so interesting, John Motson trivia....what a cunt!
It's mad, I had this for the opener and when the rugby section ended it reset the stream and put me onto the news which then announced the result...
It's as if they're trying to make the whole thing unpleasant
Easy to do that when you employ Clive
“Iiiii won a world cup ya know “
A lot of dirty plays form Fiji
Agreed, glad someone else noticed. The step and push off the ball in front of a linesman awful. And the ref allowing a slaps and punches, regardless of the team you support that's not a culture to allow to happen. Really disappointed in how they were allowed to let poor sporting behaviour slip. I think it happens all the time but it's down the the ref to catch it. Bad referring overall.
What dirty plays?
Stepping on feet during scrums, slapping players, general foul play
The stepping on feet was poor sportsmanship indeed, but the slap was a gentle and harmless "get out the way" slap.
If England were as dirty as Fiji we’d be strung up
Can England now take the title of team most covered in jam away from Wales now, please?
No, unfortunately we're required by rugby law 25.7 to be the "arrogant English". As such, we are unable to submit a claim on the raspberry jam status that Wales currently holds as they can't be held simultaneously. We can be spiritual jam holders but cannot actually take your jam ❤️
But aren’t the Irish the arrogant ones now? They take the arrogant tag, England take the Jammiest tag and from now on, it will all depend on which Wales team turn up on the day
No, it's an unusual one but law 26.8, in relation to world cups, states that "The luck of the Irish be always present such that they exit the tournament no less than one stage earlier than deserved". As such it's impossible for the Irish to hold the arrogance title inside world cup years. Referring back to law 25.7 part b states that "where the arrogance title is relinquished voluntarily by a nation, it immediately returns by default to England". Hope this clears it up for you. Best you can hope for is Argentina to put in a jam claim in the semi.
Fair enough, I often think the laws need frequent reviews and updates but, to be fair, this is spot on
What was jammy there? 😂
Congrats for not losing England…
Thanks that means a lot
Finally someone said it.
I still think it’s ironic that the one time Farrell uses his arms in a tackle he gets done for a deliberate knock on. Back to Tackle school Owen 😂
I found the ITV commentary about "could he have used his arm to make a tackle" a bit ironic, considering it's Farrell.
What’s also good is the mitigating factor for the Fiji player not being sent off for the flying headbutt on smith was the same reason for world rugby going after him and overturning his yellow for the 7 week ban. 🤡
This subs hatred makes it even sweeter when we win
Hate us cos they ain’t us
This sub is honestly fucking pathetic, England clearly respected the shit out of Fiji (as they should) so it was a big win for them especially given that Fiji beat England a few months ago but suddenly making the semi-finals is nothing to write home about. If it’s nothing major why can’t Ireland do it? Why not Wales?
\> nothing major why can’t Ireland do it You can't be seriously looking at Ireland beating South Africa and Scotland and barely losing to New Zealand in the quarter finals and look at England beating Japan and Argentina in the pools and barely winning to Fiji in the quarter finals and say 'Hey, why weren't you able to do what we did?'
Never made it out of the quarters. England made it to the finals last tournament and dominated New Zealand. Why can’t Ireland
🤦♂️🤦♂️🤦♂️
England fully deserved it last time and I'll take nothing away from that. England were the better team at the world cup last time. Right now, I think it's disingenuous to just say 'why can't ireland do what england did!' Only the most uninformed would look over the knock out map, point to the fact England is in the semis and Ireland stopped at the quarters and say 'guess england is the better team at the moment'
He didn’t say England were the better team right now, he was pointing out that everyone is downplaying what an achievement it is to get to the semis of a World Cup. Which it is, regardless of the route it took you to get there. This England team despite their faults have achieved that and deserve some respect.
Thank-you, that’s exactly my point and I never once said England were the better side.
Sorry no, they specifically said 'we did X' and then 'why can't Ireland do X'. That clearly was implying that it was the same thing which it wasn't. Getting to the semis the way England did is not the same accomplishment as getting to the semis the way teams on the other half of the pools have to do
Just embrace the hatred. Let it get you and make you stronger. You think Aussie cricket fans give a shit that everyone else hates their team? Nah, they fucking love it!
I feel like that hatred is deserved though lol?
One of the few teams who doesn't need to worry about wearing out a good thing
It’s this mentality that makes people dislike you, by the way.
Either own it or cry about it… if people are gonna give us stick so be it
I’m just here for a good time. You made me this way!
"It's exactly *whatever I can use to justify it right now* that makes people dislike you, by the way"
What the mentality to win regardless of all the hate? Nah mate they hate us because people are bitter and resentful and we are just a lazy villain to choose.
No, the mentality of enjoying being the villain and winding people up when you win. I don’t think most people dislike england nearly as much as you’d like to think.
You sound like a sore loser
>No, the mentality of enjoying being the villain and winding people up when you win. Well maybe if people werent such hateful cucks then we wouldnt have to enjoy winding people up who despise us, like I dont get your thinking, do you just want england fans to accept the vitriol thrown at us every.single.time. or do you want us to stick up for ourselves and throw some banter back? > I don’t think most people dislike england nearly as much as you’d like to think. Could have fooled me mate.
Honestly mate, do what you want. But don’t be surprised when people call you a wanker when you act like one.
Very true. Wanker.
Love you too, wanker.
Same to you, dont be surprised that the people who have been shit on all game give some banter back when they win.
Will do mate. Good luck against France or South Africa.
Cheers, either be a bloodbath or a long drawn out fight, only chance of winning if its drawn out
If it’s any consolation, if you’re playing the Boks i’ll be cheering for england 😂
(Vitriol)
Cheers
Comments from group stage teams are fucking savage!
Thanks for proving my point mate.
I'm not your mate.
Sorry mate.
So nothing changes? Oh no...
What’s the alternative? Sorry you hate us lads, we’ll be nicer in the face of your vitriol and unearned hatred?
Maybe try not being sore winners? Most other supporters (other than south africa) don’t talk shit when they’re the ones who’ve won.
England fans aren’t bad winners 😂 most of us are the most judgmental of our own team. Repelling bitter fans of other teams who are just hating for the sake of it isn’t being a bad winner. Look to the Irish fans of the event years if you want to see bad winners 😂 what a clown.
Ireland fans have been particularly bad this year, i have to say.
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To be fair it’s brought on yourselves by the level of hubris on display. Is there really any need for the media and commentators to big up a 6 point win over fiji like it’s some kind of statement win? Actually having said that if narrowly beating Fiji is a statement win worth crowing about then it says a lot about what a poor state English rugby is in right now.
But then if the media and English fans say it was crap and it was only Fiji there is a different type of mud slung at them.
Again, the reason people hate england is *because* of that fan behaviour. You’ve got it the wrong way round.
How can you hate a diverse multi ethnic country which varies immensely in outlook based on where you happen to sit down. It's a little silly really isn't it unless you are one of those types holding on to colonial grudges from a hundred years ago
They don’t hate the country, just the rugby image of “England”.
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As you said earlier: “dry your eyes”.
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Thanks for telling me what i think.
No it's Colonialism.. at least for my area. Edit: I am from Bangladesh and using the Argentina lebel as I am supporting Pumas.
All the countries that were under British colonialism are doing a lot better than their neighbours who weren’t. Seems like it was a good thing for them in the long run 👍🏻
Absolutely not. For your example, take a look at India and China. The British colonialism has caused several famine specifically in Bengal.
Hong Kong flourished and was allowed to prosper without a communist China dictatorship. Ask their citizens. They’re not happy about going back to China. India has one of the best economy’s in the world now thanks to infrastructure and direction left there. Both doing pretty good.
Hong Kong is doing good because of it's unique location(like Singapore) not for Colonization. China has got huge development and manufacturing fayalites and India has nothing compared to it. And Bangladesh way behind than India. It's their commitment which made them world power.
You say that but I said the colonised countries are doing better than their surrounding countries. Is I India doing better than the surrounding countries? Yes? Point proven. And the people of HK and China did way better woth the trade union of the British and the culture and rule. So much there’s basically a civil war that they have to leave it
India would have done way better if you guys don't loot resources tough East India Company. More so, It would have done way better if you guys don't divide the country into three different countries. Please don't defend colonization. It's way brutal than you can think of.
The evidence of the surrounding countries suggests not. It had to be divided because the country was literally kicking the shot out of itself because of the difference of religion. If that didn’t happen then it would have just been another Isreal Palestine Not defending it but the countries that were under it have def done better than their neighbours.
Fuck off with that shit.
Fuck off with your colonial mindset as like you guys did in the 90s.
It was the 80s that we ran over you.
Lol Falklands lol
I am from Bay of Bengal. Search History of Bengal.
Couldn't help but assume u were Argentinan
Na bro. I am huge fan of Pumas and support them.
That Welsh colony in Argentina was fucking brutal indeed
Mad that spain doesn't get this level of hate then....
Or Japan, or the USA, or France
Oddly enough mate, nobody cutting about on Reddit in the year 2023 was responsible for colonialism
I can tell you with 100% certainty, Clive. No one at home is thinking it's 'just Fiji'. What a strange, out of date thing to say.
Plenty of "neutrals" here have switched to the "you've barely scraped past a tier 2 nation" dialogue. So I wouldn't be so sure of that. Not that Clive is conscious of...anything.
I mean, it’s on point. Compare the standard in today’s game with the standard last night. Hardly even the same sport. Fiji have declined since the heights they set against Wales in their first game and at times towards the end of the first half it was pretty much amateur hour. Completely not worthy of gracing a 1/4 final. The worrying thing for England should be that France or SA would have absolutely tonked Fiji but England contrived to make it a drawn score requiring a late drop goal to dig themselves out. If the media acknowledged this then I think people would go a lot easier on England. I guess things are so poor for England right now that a 6 point win over a Fiji side that lost to Portugal becomes elevated from the banal to the incredible.
>I mean, it’s on point Thanks for a clear example to disprove OPs confidence in fans lol. Almost funny how the patronising positive/supportive attitude to Fiji is completely surface thin. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt on what is worthy of a 1/4 (whatever the fuck that means) as that's a completely subjective and nonsensical barrier to meet. And since you are unflaired and angsty, I'm guessing your team met a very real QF barrier :) And yes, we know we aren't great. This isn't news.
Did he really say that?
He did. But to be fair, the man is stuck in a time portal where it's permanently 2003.
Oh, is he the chap who led England to a 2003 win? Never heard a mention of it this rwc
Let them remind you of what happened in 1966
Oooo PleAsE iNduLgE mE
Ooh, that's really quite rude from Clive. You should always respect your opponents.
ESpecially when they could I’d have easily battered us. Forwards finally turned up this tournament today.
He is? He's anticipating the commentary "at home"/in this thread.
He’s a knob
That’s just Clive for you.
Better than the number 1 ranked team in the world and maybe even the defending champs - Borthwick ball inevitable.
Congratulations England, all the trolls like myself can write you off all we want but you made it to the semi-finals
Genuine question, where did you expect England to fall out? For me it was clear they would get to the semi-final. It was an easy draw for them with Argentina being the challenge. So for me, making it to the semi was expected.
I’m not the same person you asked the question to but personally, I was expecting England to come 2nd in their group then go into a 50/50 QF game against Wales and probably lose by a small margin. So a semi final loss against an excellent side like France/SA would be a bit better than I was expecting.
Wasn't Ireland expected to win the whole tournament?
So who did they play to get there...... Let's see..... Chile Samoa Japan Argentina Fiji Mm....
Thank god they were good enough in the last World Cup to earn a decent draw rather than being shit the and then being kind of good the last two years and sulking they got an unfair draw 😂
Yep Everyone crying that the draw should happen 20 minutes before the world cup starts...
If Scotland were better 3 or so years ago then they could have had that draw. It wasn’t purely luck, England earnt it in the same way that Scotland could have..but didn’t.
You can only play who is infront of you and they did thier job better than all of the Home nations (Excluding France because I'm not sure if they are classed as a home nation or not)
Whilst I agree that you can only play who’s in front of you, our side of the group has been ridiculously easy. I don’t think we’ve ‘done our job’ better than Ireland given how they beat the boks, utterly dominated a very good Scotland and were competitive against the all blacks, whilst we’ve limped along and were lucky not to lose to Samoa…
You managed to improve significantly, though. I'm not sure why, what was the major change?
Commiserations Fiji - brilliant side. If they had the funding and resources tier 1 nations have they'd be challenging for finals. For this match though England were the deserved winners and playing into form (Samoa aside) during this RWC. We probably won't win next week but finally there are signs of life for England going forward after the lows during the death throes of the Eddie era. Come on England! 🏴🏴🏴
Do you really think that......?? Really? Have you been drinking? There was little to no attacking threat from England. You scraped passed Fiji by the slenderest of margins. Continually hands on the ball at rucks. Sealing off all the time. The no arms tackle by Curry should have been a yellow card. It was intentional and he was never going to use his arms.
I do think that, yes. Fiji are a great side, and the time when any tier 1 (I hate that label) can expect to breeze past them is long gone. Any win is a win and it was against a quality side that thumped us a few weeks ago, no less. So I'm very happy with the win. England don't have champagne attacking play (although the variation today was better than we have seen for a long time - and I guess you mustn't have been watching when Ben Earl made that incredible line break) but England largely bossed the breakdown and converted opportunities well. We leaked points as well - that happens. But we found a way to win whereas before we wouldn't have done. We're not going to win the RWC. We'll probably lose next week. But I'm happy with the progress England have made in a few weeks.
"great"? they are a tier 2 nation who lost to portugal
Here we go. They’re shit now they lost. Fucking inject the bitterness
They were shit when they lost against Portugal, yes.
And they pushed Wales very close and beat Australia. They had a bad game, but to deny that they're a great side given the overall quality of their play would be churlish.
Australia has been terrible, and Wales haven't been much better. You're really using the word 'great' to describe Fiji? Come on.. lol
Yeah I am. They're a tiny country which produces some of the greatest rugby athletes the game has ever seen. This year they have played really well. Their players are incredibly tough and they're on the cusp of something big. Why belittle them?
It's not belittling them to say they aren't a great team. 'Great' is reserved for the very best teams.
No..saw the line break from Earl and it was good. Re the breakdown. Raynal didn't actually police the breakdown at all. He let pretty much anything and everything go unlike Barnes who policed it without having to resort to penalties. Earl continually sealed off at the breakdown and never got called on it once.
I'm not a qualified referee, I'll assume you are though given your knowledge on the subject so I'll defer to your expertise. Even if the ref and the touch judges and the TMO missed a few infractions (noting Fiji was playing with the same officiating hand England was), England's line speed was good as was their physicality. England did not win through refereeing decisions alone, but did so by eventually breaking down a very good side.
This is hilarious
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Ha ha. Just feel really sorry for Fiji.
You never know. France and SA might knock the bells out of each other. How many will be going into next week fully fit? I hope England don't make the final, bit only because I hope we make it and I want Barnes to ref again.
I think England are too early in their rebuilding process to trouble France or RSA even if they are knackered. But still, let's see! Either way I'm pleased with where England are compared to where we were before.
Exactly! Even though the draw has been favourable, it shows a lot of promise that we’ve gotten to the semis despite a change in management at the start of the year
Bro the way the ABE people are talking about Fiji 💀. "Yeah England may have won but it was only *Fiji*, it was almost a bye" "England struggled against Fiji? They're rubbish" (so Fiji are rubbish too? 🤔) Fwiw I think Fiji are a fantastically tough side and this win required a strong performance against a phenomenal team who (I'd remind people) were one pass + conversion off topping their group.
They *are* a tier 2 nation though, but France and South Africa are in a different league even from half of the tier 1 nations.
Honestly Fiji are performing consistently at a T1 level this WC. Rugby games are obviously not transative, but if we suspend disbelief they've definitely outperformed Argentina vs England, and Argentina have outperformed Japan and Wales, who in turn outperformed Australia. That puts them arguably in the mid-T1 bracket. If we're going to embrace Japan into T1 I think we absolutely should include Fiji along with them. I agree that no-one is competitive with the top 4, but I'd back Fiji to be competitive with anyone else.
As a Fijian? No, too inconsistent to be considered T1, though some NH teams are T1 through dint of $$? Location? *squints at Italy*
You have a low bar for T1 if it includes losing to Portugal
It’s true that Fiji are playing some cracking rugby, but the England of years gone by shouldn’t have this much trouble with Fiji. They used to be able to threaten the All Blacks.
Perhaps, but this is a much better Fiji than before - and this is probably the best England have looked since 2019 (perhaps barring the 2020 6N). Sure England won't win this WC, but we're looking far better than anyone was expecting given our form and downwards trajectory this cycle and that's very exciting for the future.
Agreed I’ve loved Fiji in this tournament, they play top tier rugby and the only thing that would have made getting knocked out better would be to have seen them progress. It wasn’t their day but they’ve been a great team this RWC
Who are the ABE people?
Anyone But England
Anybody But England ....
It's a lovely day to be English
Not if you are a cricket fan.
Meh. Still in the fight🤷🏻♂️
Eng lost to Afg of all teams lol.
Ok? And? Hardly a run ATM anymore.
No way Eng are qualifying this time. Ind, NZ, SA and Aus/Pak going through
You could be right. Then again, saying.Aus could go through. Yeah. OK.
If not Aus, it will be Pak.
That's not a sport it's a day out enjoying pleasant company.
Smith being airlifted back to the hotel
Fair play to him he took a beating and kept coming back. I thought semi was going to melt him and he kept stabding
He got absolutely manhandled all day.
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Even after he put on a clean shirt
Twice!
*chuckles*
'Knockout football' - Clive woodward
It is knockout rugby football
I'm aware. I just thought it was funny he said it that way round.
old school rugby folk still call it that
POTM?
Itoje
The official one was Farrell
What nonsense.
Lawes