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Super computer wrong again predicting England to win 22-20.
This morning the World Cup Final was won by the "Underdogs" South Africa by 32-12. England had come into the game as slight favorites after hammering and knocking out the All Blacks in the semi finals. Eddie Jones said that they had beaten the rugby Gods, but had spoken too soon. They had one more game to play and had won nothing yet. I think the team was over confident and thought they could sweep aside the Springboks and that was never going to be the case. South Africa had never really played any rugby up until this game as they hadn't needed to.
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A final in any sport is different as you have to eliminate all mistakes and take any opportunity. A team has to have a clear game plan and be able to change the plan as the game unfolds.South Africa are a proud rugby nation and if we are honest we have never rated England as a team. I know New Zealand is embarrassed as a nation every time they lose to England and South Africa is the same. England have improved over the years lately, but are a flash in the pan team who have been built up by their own press. England won the World Cup in 2003 with a great team and a great coaching set up and since then have failed to deliver. How do you improve if you don't play the best teams?
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New Zealand have not played up to the standards we are used to, but then again they are not the team they once were. Australia, South Africa and England have beaten them this year which is not what you would normally expect. England looked brilliant last week and this week up against a team that is strong up front they were hammered. The scrums they were out muscled and the loose play were shoved off the ball. England managed to stay in the game much like Wales did last week, but were played off the park in the last 20 minutes when the game opened up.
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South Africa played with an intensity that England couldn't match. and replicated what England did to New Zealand last week. The scrum is one of the most important pats of the game and the much talked about English scrum was demolished. England had one of their attacking weapons removed immediately.
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Eddie Jones was out smarted by a better coach today.
The Springboks strangled the life out of an England team who hit a defensive wall that they couldn't break. They had 25 phases of possession 5 m from the South African line and were not able to break through. New Zealand lasted 98 seconds and South Africa kept them try less for 80 minutes. The defence was crucial as it removed all the confidence England had. A team starts panicking when what they expected doesn't happen and puts them on the back foot.
England play the Southern Hemisphere teams in the November internationals each year and what everyone fails to see is those teams are not at full strength. It is at the end of the season and most of the squads are riddled with injuries. South Africa had a full squad to choose from today and it made a huge difference. The power showed and they eventually ground down England in every department.
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England tried to play the same game tactics this week and were found wanting. Rassie Erasmus the South African coach is no fool and knew what was required today. What he has done in the last 12 months since taking over has been really impressive. The team was no where and slipping backwards and had three previous coaches who should never have been coaching the national team and two of them shouldn't have been coaching full stop. If politics can stay out of South African sport then everyone benefits and performances like today will not be every 12 years(1995,2007 and now 2019)
England need to regroup and try and improve and maybe the International season needs to be included after this. England have been the stumbling block in accepting the new ideas and it shows they need it to improve. Playing the Six Nation teams and weakened Southern Hemisphere teams doesn't help them and they wont improve. Having an international league will improve all the sides around the world and generate new interest. The game needs to grow and include teams like Japan,USA and Uruguay .