ChrisH wrote:There is already a groundswell building over here to change the rules Ian, so that the boring kicking game becomes less important - the push is for more points for a try and less for a kicked goal.
You just watch - if that kicker beats the Wallabies single-handed again, the groundswell will really get a "kickalong" !
regsrds
Chris
Hi Guys
I am an Aussie living in London and find it remarkable how an English team gets accused of boring "kicking game" based rugby - perhaps beacause they're actually half decent side.
A couple of questions.....
- How many tries did Australia score against New Zealand in near perfect conditions on Saturday? One, and it was from an interception. The remaining points were all scored from penalties.
- How many tries did Australia and England score when the two teams last played in Australia, with England defeating Australia for the fourth time in a row? From my recollection, England scored three tries to Australia's one.
- Had Australia been playing France in Sunday's conditions, would they have thrown the ball around in a very open attacking style? Well, we'll never know, but any professional team that is focused on winning will adapt its gameplan to suit the conditions and play the style of rugby that is most likely to win. England did that on Sunday and comprehensively beat the team that many said had been the form team of the tournament (perhaps along with New Zealand).
For all the criticism of England, the style of rugby they play is not greatly different to Australia's, except that in Wilkinson they possess the world's greatest place kicker and drop goal proponent (though not necessarily the world's greatest fly half).
Saturday will decide who is the best rugby team on the planet, and what more could you want than the defending world champions against the team that has beaten all comers over the last couple of years. For mine, I think it will be a toss of a coin........can't wait.
Cheers
Phil