While there's no doubt that the teams outside the top 10 have improved hugely since the previous word cup, that doesn't explain the highly elevated amount unforced errors. We seem unable to catch the ball with regularity, are coughing up the ball in tackles consistently, dropping the ball from kickoffs, failing to make touch from penalties, etc. I don't want to jump on the team's back so I won't, but unless the error rate is reduced we'll be beaten easily in the quarters by France or Ireland, with or without referee assistance.
47-9 is a good score against a Tongan team who played well for 60 minutes but then tired noticeably, allowing our backs to run riot for the last 10. There were good performances from Mulder Scully and Ben at the Back Smith. Nonu was aggressive in tackles and Sam Cane was immense around the field without winning too many turnovers. Richie wasn't missed which was good. Kieran Read was a little disappointing but I'm sure he'll improve over this performance. If not, maybe there's the option of playing Cane at 8 instead of Read.
Conrad was quiet which was a shame, still this was the Nonu celebration day (100th test), so he was probably looking to keep things less dazzling than normal so he didn't make the man look bad.
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| Nonu's sporty 100th test boots with lots of lovely graffiti on them |
France bring the je ne sois quois, the jois de vivre, the va va voom, the holy cow, how did they beat us? We can't predict what they'll do. Obviously we should be good enough to beat them but nothing is guaranteed.
Ireland bring the no-nonsense, hard-as bastards who have dominated northern hemisphere rugby for the last 3-4 years. They will be super hard to beat, but are they at the end of their reign?
All the teams left seem to be pretty equal, barring Australia who look head and shoulders, needles and pins, salt and pepper better than the rest of us. Their game this afternoon vs Wales should be excellent - although are there any welshies left to play?
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