@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@nostrildamus

I found myself thinking earlier on this morning that even if the unthinkable happened and we won the thing would this make me accept what Borthwick has been doing and I honestly felt that no, it wouldn't. I was then wondering if you Kiwis felt the same re Foster?

For me, the abs aren't only about just winning the world cup. It's about every day excellence, and the fact foster has permanently fucked many records the abs cannot ever get back over rides a RWC victory. We have 3 RWC victories, but have a hundred years or more of not losing to Argentina or not losing by such huge margins (fosters ABs have the biggest losing margin against every tier 1 team bar Wales), etc c.f. fosters firsts thread

Fiji had stage fright last night and played withing themselves and as individuals

They won't make the same mistake again

If they can keep their discipline and keep 15 on the park then they have every opportunity to make their first RWC SF

This would be helped by Borthwick selecting Farrell and Ford in the backline

It doesn't work

I'm going for Fiji by more than 9

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Fiji had stage fright last night and played withing themselves and as individuals

They won't make the same mistake again

If they can keep their discipline and keep 15 on the park then they have every opportunity to make their first RWC SF

This would be helped by Borthwick selecting Farrell and Ford in the backline

It doesn't work

I'm going for Fiji by more than 9

You're hoping for

@Machpants said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Fiji had stage fright last night and played withing themselves and as individuals

They won't make the same mistake again

If they can keep their discipline and keep 15 on the park then they have every opportunity to make their first RWC SF

This would be helped by Borthwick selecting Farrell and Ford in the backline

It doesn't work

I'm going for Fiji by more than 9

You're hoping for

Taking the performances to date and who England struggle against

@MiketheSnow Did you watch Fiji's last 2 games? They are on a downward, not upward curve.

England can dust off the Argentina game tactics and win in multiples of 3.

@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@nostrildamus

I found myself thinking earlier on this morning that even if the unthinkable happened and we won the thing would this make me accept what Borthwick has been doing and I honestly felt that no, it wouldn't. I was then wondering if you Kiwis felt the same re Foster?

Same.
I'd feel smug on the outside and dirty on the inside.

@stodders said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@MiketheSnow Did you watch Fiji's last 2 games? They are on a downward, not upward curve.

England can dust off the Argentina game tactics and win in multiples of 3.

I did

Did you watch England's play in the Pool stages?

These sides are evenly matched

Both had their best performance early

Both have been inaccurate and stuttering but have ground out a win and/or a losing BP to advance

The big difference between England and Fiji is Fiji knows how to score tries

They can't spill as much ball and butcher that many chances again

They'll be the underdogs in this fight and that will suit them

@MiketheSnow Fiji looked completely unstructured last night. England have shown (albeit in patches) that they can isolate ball carriers and win turnover penalties. That is all they need to do if Fiji play anything like they did last night.

And they won't have to win by scoring tries

Same reason I am tipping Wales to win their game - England are decent at this knock-out stuff.

God knows. Would be nice to pick players in the right positions. Get rid of the Ford, Farrell, Tuilagi axis. Pick a quick winger. We won’t though.

If we turn out the same team as this weekend, then Fiji will cause havoc in the outside channels

@Billy-Webb Wales have a decent coach though. England? Jury is out.

@stodders said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Billy-Webb Wales have a decent coach though. England? Jury is out.

Jury is in

@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@NTA Did you watch the Samoa game?

Now I have.

England didn't do much, but they did enough.

The question is whether Fiji will let them into the game the way Samoa did.

I counted three poor kicks from Sopoaga that probably had more effect than the disallowed try; important to note that the try was disallowed in the first half so England had plenty of time to recover. Who is to say they don't score 2 of their own before the break? Sliding doors.

I barely heard Ford's name in the commentary. Or Farrell's, either. TBH that first 20 minutes the Poms looked unhappy and a bit stunned, like they didn't know what to do.

If Fiji play like they did for the last 20 minutes against Wales, maybe they're a short, but they'll have to seriously lift their discipline.

England? Well if they forget they've got backs and just bosh-penalty-lineout-maul-penalty-lineout-bosh-try etc they should do it.

Worked since forever.

Said it soon as Fiji beat England in the Warm Ups

Kick long, kick dead, compete at lineout

Take 3 points every time it's offered

Drubbing, and England won't have to get out of 3rd gear

Which is good because I don't think they have a 4th

@MiketheSnow

We have a third?

@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@MiketheSnow

We have a third?

You used it against Chile

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Catogrande said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@MiketheSnow

We have a third?

You used it against Chile

OK so that's had though rather than have :anguished_face:

Referee: Mathieu Raynal (FFR)
Assistant Referee 1: Nic Berry (RA)
Assistant Referee 2: Pierre Brousset (FFR)
TMO: Ben Whitehouse (WRU)

Thank fuck we can't have Whitehouse

Does the pedantic nature of Raynal favour Fiji or England, I can't decide.

@frugby said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Does the pedantic nature of Raynal favour Fiji or England, I can't decide.

England

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

Can I change my vote?

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

lol what? jesus and we thought we had coaching and selecting problems

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

That can't be surprising since he's done nothing in the pool games.

Quite a few tickets on the resale sight yesterday, assume that was Aus / Welsh fans giving up their tickets but still, shows how far England have fallen in the eyes of their fans.

If we pick Smith at fullback we’ve lost the plot

@Dodge said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Quite a few tickets on the resale sight yesterday, assume that was Aus / Welsh fans giving up their tickets but still, shows how far England have fallen in the eyes of their fans.

If we pick Smith at fullback we’ve lost the plot

You can’t lose what you never had.

Borthwick, EJ and Foz are secretly best mates and are fucken loving the big joke they're playing.

@antipodean said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

That can't be surprising since he's done nothing in the pool games.

Who Ford?

@MiketheSnow said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@antipodean said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

That can't be surprising since he's done nothing in the pool games.

Who Ford?

I think I've used up a week's worth of sarcasm in that post.

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

Farrell is the chosen one, so no matter what he starts. He's England's beaudy

@Machpants said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Duluth said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

According to reports in the British press Ford won't be in the starting xv, Farrell at 10 & Smith at fullback

Farrell is the chosen one, so no matter what he starts. He's England's beaudy

You have managed to insult both players at once.

So reports of a fight between Arundel and....guess! Yeah you got it right, Farrell.

Also reports of there being a 3-way split between the Drua players, NH players and coaching group.

Personally I reckon this is just the "forgotten" quarter trying to create some excitement.

I think Fiji now having reclaimed the underdog tag will play much better than what they did against Georgia and Portugal.

I think after they beat Aus they found themselves in the unfamiliar position of being expected to not just win, but win well on the world stage and make the 1/4's, a situation they don't often find themselves in.

I don't think the players responded well to that pressure and expectation and played within themselves and conservatively which certainly didn't suit the Fijian rugby style.

So I expect them to play a lot better - whether that "better" is enough to beat England I'm highly unsure. Conservative, knockout rugby simply suits England down to the ground.

So I'll say Fiji with my heart and England with my head...

Who has to change their jersey?

@Bovidae said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Who has to change their jersey?

Yeah not seen who won the toss, would've been done earlier in the week I guess

@Bovidae said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

Who has to change their jersey?

I've seen this image posted elsewhere. I assume it's correct

@Duluth England wearing white again, very rare.

@Bones said in RWC QF: England v Fiji:

@Duluth England wearing white again, very rare.

They keep changing the shirts so as to sell more. I can only assume they feel no-one wants to buy them currently