@Bones said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

@NTA said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

@Bones said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

Pretty odd England didn't take the 3 at the end and regroup. Arrogance eh...

Sarcasm?

They were basically mauling tries at will from the 22. Go for the win and don't risk bounce of the ball in 20 minutes of ET.

They made a really bad call on the throw and paid the price. The red card was almost irrelevant at that point.

Their lineout had been deteriorating, I guess maybe the lineout was the right option if they didn't go 2, but that hadn't worked for them in a loooong time.

Thier best bet was to play out for penalties imo.

It was really obvious for that last line out what England were going to do and NZ simply had to challenge. If you know where the ball is going, then is it too hard to challenge it. Totally worth risking a knock on for, given that time is up so a scrum will be end of the game.

Flatman (great pundit btw) pointed it out after the final whistle as well.

@chimoaus said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

Feel for the English players that have 2 silvers now.

Hunter and Scarratt did win in 2014.

Speaking of medals, Fluhler, Hirini and Woodman had won a silver and bronze at their two pinnacle events this year so they'll be happy to complete the set now.

@Bovidae Those girls have a huge collection of medals by now. Insane!

@Bones said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

Pretty odd England didn't take the 3 at the end and regroup. Arrogance eh...

I don't think that was the right move. Just running the numbers it's not the right move.

Assume she kicks it 80% of the time. Kicking 3 would only take it to extra time and (at best) a 50% chance to win*. That gives win equity of 40%.

On the other hand going for the line out drive had been very successful. Had to be a better than 40% chance they would score a try from the line out.

Going for the line was the correct play.

• if anything slightly lower because they looked out on their feet and might not have coped with another 20 minutes.

Haven't followed or read the thread.
But...
FUCK YEAH!

The ref allowed play to continue before going back to see Woodman. Yet when the English forward nosedived she stopped us as we were building our attack. That doesn't feel like consistency to me

@Damo I don't think she would have missed from in front and wasn't there still time after that? England then just needed to hold the ball and work their way up the field as they'd just done fairly easily. I don't think NZ would have challenged any lineouts unless 5m out.

@canefan said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

The ref allowed play to continue before going back to see Woodman. Yet when the English forward nosedived she stopped us as we were building our attack. That doesn't feel like consistency to me

We can safely say that the Cup was poorly refereed due to the decision to use only female refs. The ref of the final has been a pro ref for a couple of years and only ever reffed women's matches of any significance. The only female ref with any real experience is English, and has reffed premiership, and men's internationals, I think. So it was a PC decision ahead of its time - the refs were not ready and were really poor. Admittedly they were part of how fast the game was, they let all sorts of shit go, but it really wasn't good enough. Rucks were a free for all with hands on the deck, and many of the calls were a lottery. But you can't say any team got it worse than any other because it was so random.

It detracted for the knowledgable but maybe was the best call for the game. Non-rugby nerds had no idea and were happy with what they saw.

@canefan said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

The ref allowed play to continue before going back to see Woodman. Yet when the English forward nosedived she stopped us as we were building our attack. That doesn't feel like consistency to me

DUSRUSPICT!

TBH the takeaway from this from World Rugby is ensuring they develop the women's game further, both playing AND refereeing.

I remember the first time I had a female ref was back in 2007 - have not had one since. In the Sydney area there are about 3 besides Amy Perrett who is in the ref management side of things now and no longer full time.

There isn't enough womens rugby to grow a really substantial crop of them, and things like starting a family affect womens rugby far more than mens.

But there needs to be some investment to get the ball rolling.

@Bones What about a scrum option? They were just as effective, although the England forwards looked out on their feet tbf.

@Jailbreak7 said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

@Bones What about a scrum option? They were just as effective, although the England forwards looked out on their feet tbf.

Yeah that would have been worse for them unless they got a shove on, because their forwards wouldn't have been able to get across the park and their backs weren't going anywhere. The only way they were going to get points was from the boot or a maul.

This looks suspiciously familiar by World Rugby...

@Stargazer said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

Cocksedge kicks a 50:22!

The ABs with all their advantage with distance in a punt still have yet to record one.

@antipodean said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

The Professor can wander off into the sunset with the greatest reputation. Well deserved.

If NZR want the women to continue to develop a legacy, investment in set piece and goal kicking would pay dividends.

And raid the netballers for some locks...

@Joans-Town-Jones said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

@Stargazer said in WRWC Final - NZ Vs England:

Cocksedge kicks a 50:22!

The ABs with all their advantage with distance in a punt still have yet to record one.

Wrong thread. But I'd be interested to see where you read that.

Don’t think we were winning that without the red card. Nevertheless well done. Fluhler is fantastic. DC was a great 10 but he is a shît goal kicking coach. We need to learn how to defend a maul.

@Bones It's also not true. David Havili kicked a 50:20; I think it was in the Ellis Park test, but not sure.

@Stargazer yeah I figured but now you've ruined what was going to be a fun exercise!

I have been thinking about our kicking game, or lack of, and I think the way we played, which at times was sheer chaos, but seemed based solely on the natural instincts of the girls.and how they want to play.

Anyhow, the kicking, our gameplan was based around the fact we had next to no kicking game (distance wise) certainly not one to get ourselves far enough out of our 22 to negate thier maul, meaning they rolled the dice running it, all the time (dare I say how, junior rugby is played)

Sure this leads to some bizarre decisions and plays, but being that unpredictable makes it hard for the opposition too.

As I mentioned last week I think, the best thing about how they play, is they look like they are loving it, pure enjoyment, epitomised by the amazing Fluhler and Tui.

Anyway, that's my over analysis, over.