Ever since Rugby Union became an international sport the northern hemisphere countries (the home nations and France) have been roundly beaten by the old colonies, New Zealand, South Africa and, latterly, Australia.
OK, England won the World Cup in Australia against Australia in 2003 and, somehow or other, managed to get to the final in France last year when they lost narrowly to South Africa.
But today Wales, far and away the best team in the north, lost 29-9 to New Zealand in Cardiff, despite dominating the first half. And England got monumentally stuffed at Twickenham by South Africa 42-6, despite dominating possession (South Africa made twice as many tackles in the game as England).
We’re always hearing how good the Guinness Premiership of top club matches is in England and how brilliant the pan-European Heineken Cup competition is.
But when push comes to shove, in terms of scoring when you’re in a good position and defending successfully when you’re under pressure, we’re still evidently bloody hopeless.
England under new manager Martin Johnson, captain of the side that won the World Cup in 2003, face the All Blacks on Saturday. Another humiliating defeat and those useless plutocrats at Twickenham who run the Rugby Football Union might be wishing that they’d stuck with mild-mannered Brian Ashton, the man who got us to a World Cup final in 2007 and nearly won it.
[Image Attribution: samsaundersleeds]
2 Comments
Don’t be so hard on yourselves… We did go out there today with a point to prove, England will lose to NZ but it won’t be as 1way as todays game. What is evident is that a man like Wilkinson is hard to replace. Southern hemisphere rugby is still allot stronger than Northern and consider too that this is the end of a long season for the southern teams. It was your decision not to adapt the new laws (ELVs) and this is whats setting us apart at the moment. Perhaps a rethink of the northern game is needed? We opposed the new laws until watching them in action… Is the Heineken Cup as exciting as the S14 ? Either way, the gap seems to have broadened with even Argentina now challenging the northern teams.
You should also remember that this is the worst AB side I have ever seen and i’ve been watching rugby since 1949.
They bought every dummy the Wales side put at them, if a baby was on the sideline they would habe bought that as well.
They missed tackles by the dozen, dropped the ball about every 10 seconds, yet still managed to bowl over Wales.