Kudos to Lawes and Earl, the best on the park. Best display of RWC from England except for Pumas.

But my overwhelming takeaway from this one is that the officials are applying two sets of rules here. I thought you had to hold your own weight prior to jackling, could not play the ball on the ground in the ruck and could not take players out off the ball or deliberately knock on. Apparently not so today. I thought that last act was an obvious yellow card when Farrell took out the passing player with a late charge after the deliberate knock on. And how does he not get pinged for late and high charges?
I am concluding now that it is familiarity with a lot of the players that seems to cloud the judgement of Raynal Carley and Co. The players know what they can get away with with them and really milk it.
That all said the Fijian did not deserve the victory as their passing was horribly inaccurate all game

Earls is still a right twat

How on earth was that Fijian YC not an obvious straight RC? "change of direction"

Why can't they just agree and be consistent? To think games and series have been determined by this arbitrary nonsense is fucking infuriating.

@antipodean said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

How on earth was that Fijian YC not an obvious straight RC?

I felt there was mitigation personally.

Firstly: fuck England and fuck Farrell.

Fiji had their chances and didn't take them. Yes Raynal fucked them in the scrum a bit but generally he was consistently * gallic shrug * with his decisions, which is exactly what you expect.

@Steven-Harris said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Get Fiji into the Rugby Championship, not in 5 years , not in 3 years but next year..make it happen

The NH half of their team wont be available half the time, plus they can't even beat Portugal.

I'd fucking laugh if Borthwick won it and McLennan had to acknowledge what he'd done.

@antipodean McLennan is such a fucking narcissist he never would.

Was at a function with him in the room earlier this year, and there were mutterings from several arrived me after he made a speech.

@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Stuck on a bus in rural Wales with too weak a signal to watch live

Got the radio at least
Radio 5 Live
Abysmal
Two toffs and Matt Dawson
Orgasming every time England has the ball

So at the time, maybe twice?

I had to listen to the last part of the Arg / Wales game as well. It was exactly the same but with 3 Welshies. They were absolutely gutted when Argentina got the intercept.

I don't mind proper one sided commentary.

I finally got a chance to see this game. Fiji were unlucky but their general kicking really cost them and put themselves under pressure. I assume Glen Jackson was in charge of this. Mistakes on attack too. Despite all that they gave themselves a chance of the upset.

Farrell's continual whining is fuckin' annoying, not helped by that Northern accent.

Raynal had no consistency over obstruction.

Fiji are industrious and very physical, but they're too inaccurate at the mechanics of rugby at this level. Kicking, passing, ruck, set piece, it all stumbled too often to win this game.

England defend well, kick well, certainly matched them physically, and.made an absolute mess of the breakdown.

Itoje is not going to enjoy the video review of the Fiji comeback

@Steven-Harris They'll only get stronger over time too. 2027 I expect big things from them.

I don't see any reason why they can't be included

@African-Monkey i was chatting to a friend in the know , apparently the governance of Fijian Rugby needs to be sorted first before everyone can move on to the next phase in and around entry to the Rugby Championship.
2026 a possibilty if boxes are ticked.

@Steven-Harris said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@African-Monkey i was chatting to a friend in the know , apparently the governance of Fijian Rugby needs to be sorted first before everyone can move on to the next phase in and around entry to the Rugby Championship.
2026 a possibilty if boxes are ticked.

In a country where the PM is head of rugby, they pick a murderer relation as their WR rep, and money seems to just piss into thin air has a fair way to go!

@Steven-Harris Thanks for the info, hopefully it happens sooner rather than later. Fijian rugby is only gonna get stronger.

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

View image

Just another map without NZ ...

... Or Fiji for that matter ...

@Luigi said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Dodge said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Holy fucking shit.

Comms pull the old "south sea islanders".

Now they get it

I didn’t know that was an insult.

Really? I still remember my ex's families embarrassment when her geriatric grandfather called me a colonial. I had a laugh but many probably wouldn't. Same thing. Jingoistic slang from the early to mid 1900's.

I used to play rugby against an Aussie team called London Colonials.

@dodge and @Luigi ...

... England still in the World Cup?

Fark ...

.. they're playing South Africa ...

... stand ye steady for the 'Zulu' references...

@Steven-Harris said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@African-Monkey i was chatting to a friend in the know , apparently the governance of Fijian Rugby needs to be sorted first before everyone can move on to the next phase in and around entry to the Rugby Championship.
2026 a possibilty if boxes are ticked.

And in the least surprising new of the past week ...

@booboo said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Luigi said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Dodge said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Holy fucking shit.

Comms pull the old "south sea islanders".

Now they get it

I didn’t know that was an insult.

Really? I still remember my ex's families embarrassment when her geriatric grandfather called me a colonial. I had a laugh but many probably wouldn't. Same thing. Jingoistic slang from the early to mid 1900's.

I used to play rugby against an Aussie team called London Colonials.

@dodge and @Luigi ...

... England still in the World Cup?

in name only IMO

@Dodge said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@booboo said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Luigi said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Dodge said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Holy fucking shit.

Comms pull the old "south sea islanders".

Now they get it

I didn’t know that was an insult.

Really? I still remember my ex's families embarrassment when her geriatric grandfather called me a colonial. I had a laugh but many probably wouldn't. Same thing. Jingoistic slang from the early to mid 1900's.

I used to play rugby against an Aussie team called London Colonials.

@dodge and @Luigi ...

... England still in the World Cup?

in name only IMO

Previous RWC winners, so strong they don't even need Eddie Jones to coach them.