Plenty of cross kicks going on. 1 from England and two from NZ so far.
Plenty of cross kicks going on. 1 from England and two from NZ so far.
3-0 England.
Morning Pakie! Pom 15 comes inside on a tackle that was already made….NZ score.
Cracking offload from Sititi sends Tele'a through.
Howzit Moz.7-3
Stupid stuff from AB16 with an off the ball hit. They really do have discipline issues. Kickable penalty England. 7-6
Eng asleep at the base of the ruck and ABs nab it. Can't turn it into much though.
Excellent ball recovery by Smith off the double AllBlack kick attack.
All Blacks looking terrible out back, getting nothing going.
Smith's effort results in a penalty for England, they can clear out of their 22.
Itoje now with a break and pass, good ground gained for Eng.
ALB drops the attacking kick, Eng gets it. Itoje rumbles down the touchline. Bit of kicky ping pong until Eng calls the mark and clears.
ABs looking very tentative. Eng looking far more composed. Jordie with a break getting them some go forward, but they're penalized at the tackle. Not able to build any rhythm or momentum.
Pathetic England defense…Genge on Jordan in space.
Another AB pass falls in empty space.
Jordan slips through on the simple inside angle and the ABs manage to score. Eng will kick themselves for that.
14-6, it's been closer than that but the ABs will take it.
Cane penalized for taking the man without the ball. Penalty count AB 6-1 Eng. Should be 14-9 and is.
Unbelievable Genge and co get a scrum penalty.
Huge hit by Eng 6 on AB 5.
Smith’s trajectory just like Pollard
Second Eng scrum penalty isn't it?
So apart from 2 tries that were helped by poor defense, England has definitely looked the better side. ABs has plenty of ball but they're not doing all that much with it. 14-12 now.
Now Eng9's kick is charged which gives the ABs another soft opportunity.
And yet again they can't hold on to the ball. Sititi though picks up the scraps for a great run only for another pass to go to ground. Two knocks in two moves.
Interesting how the Pom tighthead going low is forcing Williams to extend and become vulnerable to losing his footing. Pretty even game so far.
14-12 to ABs at the half. Two softish tries to ABs, but scrum dominance, tackle dominance and penalties all to England. ABs very inaccurate in execution, lots of errors and knocks. Not much of a spectacle.
Englands game.
Unless NZ are actually able to score points in the last 20...which they don't appear to have done for yonks now.
Smith you little legend!!!
Magnificent play by Smith…great try England
Another AB backline move ends in tatters and this time England gets the try.
Very clever from Smith, buying time for the support to arrive and then making the right decision with the pass.
Now BB fluffs the kick past the in goal area.
Borthwick has put together a nice pack for England.
My feed stuttered right at the wrong time so I only saw the tail end of that try.
LOL, England clearing ABs ruck ball for them.
Whole new front row on for Eng.
Pakie, what do you think of Smith?
England have been excellent. Marcus Smith has totally outplayed Beauden Barrett today.
I suspect the All Blacks outside backs are still going to make the difference today. One of Jordan, Telea or Clarke is still going to win this for the ABs.
Haha what was Jordan doing???
Hilarious
NZ trying to attack from inside their 22 but Jordan's offload goes forward.
ABs very ragged…many balls lost.
Pakie, what do you think of Smith?
I don't see much of him Plum but I like him, seems to have a good all round game and sound judgement.
Interesting...
The free kick on the 22, going for the high bomb. I guess that's gonna be thing now.
Patrick Tuipolotu showing that he should have started.
Ben Earl is real weapon for England.
Space for Smith and BB will get in. England gives away another soft one. Ref wants to check though.
Excellent kick by Smith.
ABs score but they looking at a knock on from the ABs.
A try or a yellow...
It's gonna be a yellow.
Lol
Oh yeah the slapdown, I thought the ref had seen it at the time and just decided he wasn't going to call it.
Ref is clueless…that’s a yellow.
No yellow, but England should take the 3 here.
Another yellow for Caleb. Wasn't his other yellow against the Boks for the same thing? Something in my brain is tricking me into thinking so.
Beauden Barret's try chalked off. Right call even if it took a while. Clarke lucky to not see yellow.
It's Gardner, Moz...he's the arch spaz ref.
Oh it wasn't a yellow? Whatevs.
Smith gets the 3. Perfect.
I hope Manie is watching
22-14 England.
Rubbish. Angus Gardener is a world class ref.
But he seems like such a nice fellow.
DMac on, England is toast now 
Wallace Sititi must be the find of the season . . . after SFM of course . . .
Come on All Blacks!
ABs getting some flow going now, and just as I type that they're penalized at the breakdown.
Great tackle by Smith …England penalty
Ja Sititi has been excellent.
I would never have taken Smith off at that point.
Another offload forced, another AB knock.
ALB on for Jordie.
And forcing the issue now.
Long gone are the days of the calm and collected ABs.
Ja taking off Smith now makes no sense unless he has a niggle.
Nice shift from Cunningham. Was all over the place for 65 minutes.
Itoje shows tall men can be good on the deck
Now Itoje steals one.
I mean, the ABs are flying in from the side of almost every ruck and still failing to secure the ball.
DMac puts the ABs within a score of the win . . . 22-17.
Mackie gets 3...the ABs within a score now.
Dmac kicks the 3, 22-17
I'd just kick it from inside my own 22 if I was the ABs, they're not getting anything together with their running game today.
King Cole does his thing…AB penalty
Just as an aside, Arsenal and Man City both lost today and Liverpool - who were 1-0 down themselves but came back to win 2-1 - have established a commanding lead at the top of the English Premiership table.
Itoje getting some love from the commentators.
Rightly so, he's turned into a solid player.
Go for poles . . .
Two scrum penalties give NZ a chance
Itoje has always been a quality player. It's nothing new. Saffex will disagree but it's true . . .
Roigard is the AB version of Grant Williams . . . a real try-scoring threat every time he's on the ball . . .
Eng under loads of pressure now.
Telea scores!
Crucial touchline conversion to come . . .
Tilea runs right over Ford….that serial loser loses another one. Pathetic.
DMac nails it . . . the All Blacks lead!
Tele'a with the slippery leg magic gets over for the ABs. Terrible tackling Ford.
Mackie with the conversion attempt from the corner...
What a kick!
NZ lead by 2 with 3 mins to go.
If Smith wasn't injured the coaching staff has some answering to do about his substitution.
ALB yellow carded . . . gives England a chance here . . .
Now NZ implode…they will finish with 13
Can't imagine that in the whole of England Ford is the best flyhalf backup. Seriously?
Oof, head clash. Will probably be mitigation as the carrier was crouched.
England with a penalty...NZ watching a yellow.
That's a yellow and a Red.
What???
I'm so confused...
Ford has a kick to win it . . .
Ford gets a Pollard moment.
And this is a nothing game.
Some perspective on the massive balls Pollard had to slot those kicks in the WC.
Off the post!
Scrum England. It's not over yet!
Off the post!!!!
England get a scrum!
George blows it…serial loser. Lucky scrum
It's not a yellow and a red, chump. It's a yellow that will be reviewed for a possible red. ABs still 14 men.
Ford hits the pole. England have a scrum 10 out though.
Ford's drop goal attempt just wide. ABs win it. Good game!
Halfback panicking for Eng, ground lost.
Drop is astray. Two chances Ford, zero results.
Three times Ford blows the game….Smith watches from the bench. Nobody says rugby coaches are bright.
Fun game though!
Sititi named Man of the Match.
Nice England, take off the guy winning the match for you and bring on the Great Imploder. NZ didn't quite deserve that win, they were mostly terrible. England's subs hurt them.
Thanks for joining in fellows, nice to have company.
Cheers Pakie.
ABs’ discipline issues nearly cost us dearly. 3 tries to 1 however showed our attacking prowess was far superior. Poms’ only try came from an intercept otherwise they didn’t look like crossing our line.
Thanks fellas ............. another sparkling session.
I woke up at about 4am but too slapgat to make the effort & my slaapery was too lekker.
I woke up at about 4am but too slapgat to make the effort & my slaapery was too lekker.
Haha, I won't be particular to getting up from a lekker 4am slapie either these days. Back in my heydays I got up bright and early to watch Super Rugby and tests in NZ. Imagine getting up at that hour for a provincial game. Good times.
What code o aport did they play - if that was rugby something is very wrong with rugby in NewZealand that removed creativity from their playes ?
Well that was disappointing.
No Pakie, Smith wasn’t injured, they, in their ultimate wisdom, simply replaced him and potentially cost us the match with that one decision.
Ford should have been put out to pasture years ago, along with Cole.
We’re missing Mitchell at Scrum Half, no idea when he’ll be back fit, and, for some reason, they decided to leave Fin Smith out of the squad altogether. He’s a much better player than Ford.
CCS had a good game, as did Feyi-Waboso. I think we probably played the wrong Curry twin from the start as Tom is not back to his best yet and Tom Willis should be in the mix ahead of Dombrandt.
Freeman and Furbank had poor games, in my opinion.
All in all some decent play but a heck of a lot to work on.
Mike , nothing wrong with the ABs’ style of play when they can create 3 tries for their backline against 1 intercept. We don’t rely almost solely on the rolling maul, unlike a certain team I could mention…..
Nothing wrong with NZ’s ball in hand game Moolaa. There were a few mistakes like Barrett’s charge downs and quite a few handling errors, but NZ always looked dangerous. The concern if anything was the starting scrum that struggled in the first half.
Yes Moz, scrum didn’t go as I’d hoped in the first half. Had a feeling the Poms’ tight head was cleverly standing too far away and dragging Williams down but since I never graced the front row I can’t be sure! We only gained ascendancy when the Poms’ inexperienced reserves came on.
Moolaa
Based on that performance methinks your boys have a long way to go if they are to win the next RWC. They lacked flair, superior physicality, experience and dominance at the breakdown. Jordan's try was top shelf, very enjoyable, typical AB, and sure your defence held up against a monster England pack but I'm sure you'll agree they're a level short compared to previous great AB sides.
The POMS however were just religiously boring.
In at least two ot tries the England defense went AWOL and the constant kickng ad penalie sagaainst the AB"s was nnt what happened in th case of he AB's in the past. This style of play is somehing that the AB's in the past used to play rugby.
We will see what the Irsidh do the AB eam on Friday evening to the AB's it won't be nice to see. I gave the AB's to beat Egland by 13 point syesterday and o beat Ireland by 7 points . Sad to say I will have to change my prediction for that Ab's of a i by 7 points to an Irish victory by 12 points.
If even one of he drop kicks the English used in the final minutes of the game was over it would have meant a loss by the AB.s.. .
. .
Rooi, you pathetic twit...I was typing that as it happened.
One guy already yellowed. And then there was a clear red card offence too, from a different player.
You're such a damn wanker. Like seriously, do you have nothing better to do than to wait around and hope someone you don't like makes a mistake that you can pounce on?
Seriously, get a life.
Moola...
The Bok scrum is our major match winner. The amount of territory and points that flows from it is ridiculous.
You can keep the mauls if you like. But take our scrum dominance away and we'd struggle to beat anyone.
Moo, well done ABs, we've had enough one point victories to know a win is a win & you scored some grand tries. But there remains one consistent, regardless of coaching changes, the dreadful number of penalties the ABs concede, compared to their opponents.
Good start for the AB to pull that one thru. England,s scrum wasn’t bad and agree Borthwick shouldn’t have subbed Smith.
It looked like England was gathering a bit more momentum and then Ford kinda stopped it.
Anycase I think the AB need to be better in the scrum against Ireland and France.
Satiti is a good player and AB Backline play is really good. Well done AB.
"You're such a damn wanker. Like seriously, do you have nothing better to do than to wait around and hope someone you don't like makes a mistake that you can pounce on?"
Oh Rooinek you naughty, naughty little boy, now look what you've done you've put our resident crybaby into tears and chances are he'll probably cry himself off the board for a few months...... for the fifth time!
But here's the kicker....."Seriously, get a life."
This from the tough talking pseudo intellectual whose life is having his head up someone's asshole.
The Scotties 57 -17 Fiji. They are preparing for the Boks. Rassie,s first team will be interesting. Hope Wilco and Cameron will be in the Match 23.
Rooi...
Are you actually retarded?
I posted it as they showed the first replay of the head knock.
...I assumed it may be red. Although, since I do watch rugby, I know that it's always a yellow, which then gets looked at to see if it's upgraded to red.
This was after the first chap had already been sent off with the yellow...so a yellow for the first guy and I thought a red for the second guy was coming...hence me saying "A yellow and a red".
Fuck, you're pathetic.
And shut up Denise. Go twirl your skirt somewhere else you twatty little hoe.
Sounds like you've upset crybaby.......hehehehe
Go-on have a good cry.....it warms the cockles of my heart
Lol Denise...
I can smell your fear from here.
...or is it cheap tranny perfume?
Uh-Oh Our crybaby is trying to cover up the childish toss of his toys outburst. Too late you squeamish little Tosser it's all there for everyone to see.
Stop embarrassing yourself, you're putty between my fingers.
Yes it was the usual pathetic (sic) need to try ‘get’ somebody. These live commentary threads have been collegial, pushing points of view, but not looking for a spat. I thought (sic) had finally found a way to just be normal.. then that gloating gotcha.
Both teams played Jake-Ball whixh I consider not being top class rugby,
It was an arm wrestle, a boresnore. England reminded me of the Boks in bygone days.
"Both teams played Jake-Ball whixh I consider not being top class rugby,"
- this while the ABs scored 3 tries. 2 of those tries being nicely worked.
"It was an arm wrestle, a boresnore. England reminded me of the Boks in bygone days."
- this when the finish was nail biting with a potentially winning kick hitting the uprights and a dying minutes scrum on the AB's line.
2x noobish comments from 2x noobs.
It was certainly a backwards step from the summer.
I think England is not far off….a couple of personal changes and some new training Tatics , could change things positively.
After all they keeping it close with top teams in the world. Only a matter of time and they switch over to winning.
It was worth watching for a number of things….not least Marcus Smith’s work in creating that brilliant try of the year candidate.
Glad you enjoyed it, Mozart.
It was disappointing really from an English perspective.
Losing can be habit forming becs….one only has to look at our cricket Proteas. This was a game that warranted keeping the starting front row and half backs on the park until the game was secure. Ford gets much of the blame, but the first crack in the dyke was the scrum giving away a series of penalties.
Absolutely agree.
I think the blame has to lie with Borthwick and his obsession with substitutes. Why change something that was working ?
I think the blame has to lie with Borthwick and his obsession with substitutes. Why change something that was working ?
Yep. Smith stays on and England beat the All Blacks. I really do believe it's as simple as that for this game. The entire front row being switched didn't help either.
Borthwick is suffering a little from Rassie syndrome.
Only he isn't brining on Ox, Marx, Snyman, Kwagga, Pollard...
England are looking good though. A few defensive lapses aside, they were busy and climbed into the ABs....defending their ball a lot better than what the Boks did when we played them ABs recently.
If that penalty was 15cm to the left we'd all be singing a different tune today.
I believe they're on the up-and-up.
Roos needs to learn from Ben Earl - Choosing his battles and exploding at the right times.
Still crazy to think that a pleb on this site called that match a bore-fest.
Ben Earl...
President of nothing
In the two nicely worked tries tEngland Defense went AWOL. But at least they ended up winning in a match which was boring with repetative BS be te norm.
ookin g at the match on Satiurday I changed my score forecast for Friday evening from a 7 poin win by the SB's to a 13 point loss by them aginst the Irish,
Denny put it vey nicely - It was an arm wrestle, a boresnore. England reminded me of the Boks in bygone days.
That is why I called it Jake-ball - the way he Springboks played under White, De Villiers, Meyer and Coetzee. For most of the gme the AB's did the ame things all the time.
Being a fair minded neutral ie. wanting both teams to lose, I enjoyed the encounter. 4 good tries, lead changing throughout & the occasional magic & brilliance from an Itoje, Smith or Barrett to savour.................. & thinking thank god we've Pollard.
Great tense game evidencing how close all the top sides are
Moments seperate them - an intercept by England to put them ahead, a missed drop to lose it
Agreed Dave it was a great game of rugby with villains, drama, heroes and goats…..undecided till the final whistle.
But we still lost 
Reminded me a bit of Freddie Stewards vertical up and under that got Harrassmiss out of the dog house at the WC. Funny nobody is calling Razor a genius.
Yes becs it’s not nice loosing. But it’s obvious that Your coach made a major mistake at that stage of the game to sub smith with Ford.
Also the defence lapses that happened at crucial stages, was also not good.
If Borthwick keeps on breaking the cohesion of the starting team at the wrong moments, it will happen again.
He needs to find the right balance when to bring on your Guys Bomb Squad and when to persist with the Starting team.
I agree with Pakie on that, it was the most obvious thing that made you guys loose.
Oh I agree.
It’s still a mixture of players who are finding their feet and some who should be put to pasture though.
If we don’t win this weekend, it could be a long autumn for us
3 Tries to 1 and the AB's still trying everything to lose.
It was never up to England - They were only in the game because of bad errors by NZ.
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