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Can't help feeling Lancaster has made a huge mistake with Cipriani, he obviously knew before the France game he wasn't going to pick him so what on earth was the point bringing him on? He is a game changer and England have few of them. Burgess is nowhere near ready for this tournament.

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Burgess could well be as every bit a game changer as Cipriani (I'd have picked them both)

 

The squad is pretty much a combination of the last two that have finished second in the 6 Nations. Not exactly inspiring, but as long as we beat either Australia or Wales we should progress- and surely we will do that!

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Burgess was going to be in that squad from the moment he switched codes.

I'd have picked Burrell over him, and I'd have had Cipriani in there too.

 

Agree - Burgess was a shoe in the moment he put that (god damn awful) Barf shirt on. I just don't see him as a centre

 

As for Cipriani, he's something different, can change a game in a heartbeat - therefore he's no use to the slow, tepid style England will no doubt employ for large swaths of the tournament. Got a nasty feeling we won't get through the group

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You have an absolute pig of a group. I think the Aussies will be ok as long as nothing happens to Hooper or Pocock between now and then. On current form I'd expect them to top the group as I can't see Wales closing the game out against them (they've failed so many times in the last few years) but you can turn them over if you get parity at the breakdown. I agree that leaving Cipriani out is crazy, problems aside he is a game-breaker, but you've already ignored Steffon and Abendenon so why not him as well. I'm still not sure about Burgess but in fairness I haven't seen any of England's warm up games so I'm not well placed there.

 

Our group isn't too bad, but even with our consistency over the last few years I worry about our ability to beat France when it really matters. I think we could do well as long as we don't meet NZ. If we do then we'll have to change the jerseys to red and call ourselves Munster to have any chance of beating them. Disappointed that Joe didn't take account of this possibility and demand a red change strip just in case.

 

Can't wait for the big kick off, it's going to be fantastic.

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Can't help feeling Lancaster has made a huge mistake with Cipriani, he obviously knew before the France game he wasn't going to pick him so what on earth was the point bringing him on? He is a game changer and England have few of them. Burgess is nowhere near ready for this tournament.

 

I agree with your Cipriani comment; why bring him on for 20 minutes?

 

Either to provide him with a 'consolation' - a bit soft - or in a failed attempt to demonstrate that he wasn't deserving of a place in the squad.

 

Whatever, a somewhat bizarre decision.

 

Burgess is probably not ready, but could prove one of those surprising, last-minute heroes.

 

We shall see in a few weeks.

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Can anyone explain as to why Lancaster brought Cipriani on for that 20 mins against France? He was superb so his mind must of been made up before then.

Personally I think people are making to much of his 20 mins v France.

France virtually had the game won by then and took there foot off the peddle.

England have made a habit in the last couple of years of scoring late tries in games that they have already virtually lost, 2-3 times v NZ come to mind.

Also don't forget that this is a 10 that struggled to make any impact when playing for Melbourne in the super 15, and would have come up against many from this competition in the WC.

As for England's group, obviously Wales and Aussie are massive games, but don't write Fiji off, they are capable of creating a surprise in one of their games.

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Personally I think people are making to much of his 20 mins v France.

France virtually had the game won by then and took there foot off the peddle.

England have made a habit in the last couple of years of scoring late tries in games that they have already virtually lost, 2-3 times v NZ come to mind.

Also don't forget that this is a 10 that struggled to make any impact when playing for Melbourne in the super 15, and would have come up against many from this competition in the WC.

As for England's group, obviously Wales and Aussie are massive games, but don't write Fiji off, they are capable of creating a surprise in one of their games.

 

Indeed, and tipped by several Australian players to qualify with them.

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Personally I think people are making to much of his 20 mins v France.

France virtually had the game won by then and took there foot off the peddle.

England have made a habit in the last couple of years of scoring late tries in games that they have already virtually lost, 2-3 times v NZ come to mind.

Also don't forget that this is a 10 that struggled to make any impact when playing for Melbourne in the super 15, and would have come up against many from this competition in the WC.

As for England's group, obviously Wales and Aussie are massive games, but don't write Fiji off, they are capable of creating a surprise in one of their games.

 

Fiji are by far and away my favourite rugby team to watch. Almost every player is built like a brick poo house and they seem to dislike rucks and mauls, much favouring the offload and keeping the ball moving. In addition their kicking game is less developed so they go for trys more. Love 'em

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Burgess won't play in the centres for Bath again unless they have an injury crisis, he's in the England team because of his presence, teams will be cautious with him around. Also he has great experience as an international in league so knows how big tournaments feel. 

 

Cipriani is a tough one, it depends whether Lancaster was always going to pick 2 fly halfs, if he was then Ford and Farrell are your men.

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I don't think Burgess should be playing.  He is a good rugby league player but has a lot to learn about rugby union. There were many other players who should be in before Burgess and now have missed out .

I hoping he All Blacks will win the  cup again  and be the first to do the double  , in consecutive World Cups.  A lot of our players will be playing their last games for New Zealand,  no doubt  we have hungry youngsters waiting in the wings to play. 

What ever happens,  it's going to be a good World Cup.

Good luck to all. 

Come on the All Blacks. 

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I don't think Burgess should be playing.  He is a good rugby league player but has a lot to learn about rugby union. There were many other players who should be in before Burgess and now have missed out .

I hoping he All Blacks will win the  cup again  and be the first to do the double  , in consecutive World Cups.  A lot of our players will be playing their last games for New Zealand,  no doubt  we have hungry youngsters waiting in the wings to play. 

What ever happens,  it's going to be a good World Cup.

Good luck to all. 

Come on the All Blacks. 

I think Burgess was lucky (or rather Burrell was unlucky), but I think he brings a certain something. I grew up playing League and have become a Union convert in recent years, so perhaps I'm biased, but he offers a certain X-Factor on and off the pitch. I would imagine he'll be used as a battering ram in the last 20 against tired defenders, so he may make the bench more than Slade, despite Slade being unlucky not to make the starting 15 on current form. I'd ask you this; despite the technicalities of the game in which he's deficient, if you'd played 60 minutes of rugby in a tight match, who would you rather see baring down on you with the ball in hand? Luther Burrell or Sam Burgess?

NZ will be the team to beat, no doubt. The Springboks will be up there, Australia seem to have made rapid improvement in the last 12 months and up until Saturday, I'd have said Ireland had a decent shot. England do seem to be peaking, though I'm not sure the consistency is there to win the tournament. Hope I'm wrong though, All Blacks v England in the final would be fantastic and involve many, many beers I imagine

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Better from Enlgand today but they have to start taking the chances they create. Thought Ireland were shocking

We were dreadful throughout. No idea how you only beat us by 8 points, you should have put 30 or 40 on us.

 

The only positive is that Murray and Sexton look to be ok. If we lost either (or both) our goose would be cooked. We need to bring Henderson into the pack for Devin "ruck inspector" Toner and remind Bowe that he is expected to make tackles (I loved that idiot Barnes trying to blame Zebo for Bowe refusing to lay a hand on May for the first try).

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Listened to the first part of Woodward's World Cup podcast on the way to work this morning, two years old - but still gets the hairs on the back of my neck standing up listening to him go through the 03 final. Aussie's have just levelled to take the game to extra time, nervous as hell listening to it - still think there's half a chance we'll lose the game!

Only clicked the other day, I'm at a wedding on 26th September......England - Wales day. Having been to the place where the reception is before I'm sure there are no TV's there, someone better have Sky Go!

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Bit of controversy already. Ref gave Fiji try and they were about to kick the conversion when a replay appeared on the big screen for the people in the stadium. They all yelled when the player didn't have control of the ball and then Ref treated the replay as the TMO and asked for an opinion. The try was disallowed. 

I don't think once the ref had made the decision to award the try ( he didn't deem it as needing TMO) that it should have been changed. Ok, ultimately the decision was wrong and now 'righted' but it just didn't seem on the spirit of the game.

ps: I'm fully expecting Robbored to comment on this. 

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Bit of controversy already. Ref gave Fiji try and they were about to kick the conversion when a replay appeared on the big screen for the people in the stadium. They all yelled when the player didn't have control of the ball and then Ref treated the replay as the TMO and asked for an opinion. The try was disallowed. 

I don't think once the ref had made the decision to award the try ( he didn't deem it as needing TMO) that it should have been changed. Ok, ultimately the decision was wrong and now 'righted' but it just didn't seem on the spirit of the game.

ps: I'm fully expecting Robbored to comment on this. 

that try should of been given. This is such a poor quality. Was expecting more from England.

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