SA look good, England look SHEIIIITE

[frontrow]

Absolutely atrocious performance from England, and a relatively strong African effort in my opinion...

14 September 2007 - 21:00, Stade de France, Saint Denis
England0-36South Africa


South Africa crush England 36-0 in Paris
PARIS, 14 September - A polished and ruthless South Africa scored 36 unanswered points as IRB Rugby World Cup holders England saw their grip on the trophy loosen.

South Africa were superior in every part of the field, consigning England to a first blank scoreline in their world cup history.

Jason Robinson was one of the few bright sparks for England, catching a series of high balls and providing most of his side's scant penetration. But it wasn't enough to counter the talent and nous of the Springboks, and just 57 minutes had passed when Robinson left the field, injured and bloodied by his efforts.

Behind 20-0 at the break, the second half began with more bad news for England, Percy Montgomery adding three points from a penalty. Then a Robinson-inspired move saw veteran Ben Kay presented with a golden opportunity to put Paul Sackey through on the left wing, but he tamely kicked straight into grateful South African arms.

Montgomery put his third penalty in the bag, to add to his two conversions, on 55 minutes. Then, England suffered a hammer blow just as a try was in their sights.

Acres of space opened up on the left as England worked the ball out to Robinson. But just as he started off on his run, with Josh Lewsey on the outside, he pulled up and hobbled to a standstill clutching his left hamstring. He was helped off the field, shirt spattered in blood from a wound above his right eye, to be replaced by Mathew Tait.

Without their star player, England fell further behind. Francois Steyn jinked out to the right and offloaded to scrum half Fourie du Preez, who had a simple task in putting JP Pietersen through for his second try. Montgomery converted to make it 33-0 and keep his 100 per cent conversion and penalty record, kicking a further penalty a minute from time to rack up 18 points from the boot.

Du Preez's intelligent kicking caused England all sorts of problems in the first half after South Africa took a lead through Juan Smith's sixth-minute try and Montgomery's conversion. Then Steyn struck a penalty to make it 10-0.

South Africa had England pegged back for most of the half and an infringement from prop Matt Stevens allowed Montgomery to kick a penalty and make it 13-0 four minutes from the whistle.

Seconds later, Pietersen finished a length-of-field break to leave England already staring defeat in the face.

[Jethro]

England looked absolutely clueless in this match.

[The EnForcer]

That was probably the worst england game I have ever had the pleasure of watching.

They have absolutely nothing now Robinson is injured. Bring on Samoa!

[chook]

And the other good news is that the Pomlandians got flogged in their Twenty-20 match last night too!

Robinson was the only Pomlandian even trying.

[frontrow]

You won't hear me say this very often, but i will praise the gamesmanship of the South Africans when Robinsons hamstring snapped like a twig, in that they allowed him to go to ground and instead of contesting the breakdown they left it for the poms to cleanout then allowed the ref to call a halt to play...Like i said, you won't hear me praise SA very often but i applaud them in this case...Another great display of sportsmanship in RWC07....

[Burgs]

Fair chance we won't be seeing Luke back on TWF anytime soon...

[Shaun]

England were never in it. Springboks overall performance was very good but had a few patches were a couple of mistakes were made in a row. Special mention to Monty for his 100% conversion/penalty rate, Fourie Du Preez for an outstanding game and Juan Smith. Just missing out on special mention were so many other players, great game boys! BOKKE BOKKE BOKKE!!!! Oh and I got the new RWC Boks jersey and am wearing it loud and proud

[gotheforce]

It was arguably the worst most-hyped-up match for this round. It was just terrible, i regretted waking up at 2.30am to watch it. I went back to bed in the last 20 mins. Jason Robinson i thought was outstanding, well deserved of his standing ovation as he left the pitch. Andy Farrell had moments of brilliance, but looked ordinary. Mike Catt is definitely not flyhalf quality. It was just one of those nights where everything went to plan for the boks. Kicks were kicked into touch, passes were caught and lineouts won. And definitely good to see the boks leaving robinson alone. I think its not only sportsmanship, but also a mutual respect for him.

I'm not a big fan of Frans Steyn though after this match. He looked ordinary, if not amateur-ish. He needs a bit more experience and to be able to work under pressure. Jacque Fourie and Fourie Du Preez were in my books, the top few players last night.

[gotheforce]

And i'm definitely looking forward to Samoa vs England next week. I hope Brian Lima will be able to play in this match. I think Samoa might even have a shot of beating england.

[JediKnight]

You won't hear me say this very often, but i will praise the gamesmanship of the South Africans when Robinsons hamstring snapped like a twig, in that they allowed him to go to ground and instead of contesting the breakdown they left it for the poms to cleanout then allowed the ref to call a halt to play...Like i said, you won't hear me praise SA very often but i applaud them in this case...Another great display of sportsmanship in RWC07....

This was mirrored in the bar in Philadelphia where there was 90% South African, 7% English & 3% neutral....when Robinson was helped off all the Saffers applauded.....that's what rugby's all about.

Funniest thing I saw was Eddie Jones sitting next to Jake White & he was wearing a SA team uniform.....hysterical!!!!

[shasta]

Funniest thing I saw was Eddie Jones sitting next to Jake White & he was wearing a SA team uniform.....hysterical!!!!

Dunno if it was Tuney of Ben Darwin on the Channel 10 commentary who said that the "new" attacking ZA performance had Eddie Jones written all over it.
Whoever it was way wide of the mark IMO. The Sharks and the bulls showed the "new brand" during the S14.

I'd say it might more likely had David Campese written all over it. Eddie's only been there 5 mins.

England are unlikely to make it out of the pools.

[Jess]

I fell asleep when it was 10-0. Didn't seem worth losing any sleep over at that point and looks like I was right.

I wasn't sure who I wanted to lose more in this game so I decided a nil all draw with a vast majority of each team being cited was the best outcome.

But watching England being humiliated in both the Rugby and the Cricket was almost as good.

[JediKnight]

But watching England being humiliated in both the Rugby and the Cricket was almost as good.

Short memory Jess? Wasn't it Zim who humiliated Australia in the cricket only a few days ago?

[Burgs]

Think there is a slight difference between the two results JK

[JediKnight]

Think there is a slight difference between the two results JK

Obviously, Australia won one of them and lost the other. Can't get more different than that!