Damned if they do, damned if they don’t
Back in the autumn of 2012, Chris Robshaw was heavily criticised for repeatedly having Toby Flood kick to the corner in a 20-14 defeat to Australia, and again a week later when he opted for three points with time running out in a one-point defeat to South Africa. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t, with precious little time to decide!
But they were autumn friendlies. Robshaw’s decision would have been understandable too in the Six Nations, where the Grand Slam is the Holy Grail. But this is the World Cup.
Perhaps there was an element of hubris. This was Wales. Would they have done this against New Zealand or South Africa? England also had the pressure of being at home, and had been leading for much of the night. But had they taken the kick, even if they’d missed, they’d probably have received the ball from the restart with about 90 seconds to play.
The English management cannot wash their hands of this one either, for they could have passed word down to their captain when Dan Biggar lined up his match-winning effort in the 75th minute to take any shot at goal offered to him in the opposition half; especially given how Owen Farrell was kicking.
In a group where qualification could come down to a bonus point here or there, or points difference, a draw would not only have earned England an extra point, but denied Wales two as well. They would now be on seven points each. Instead Wales are level with Australia on nine, and England on six.
Come kick-off on Saturday night at Twickenham, Wales could well be on 13 or 14 points. At least, if England are in the same pickle against the Wallabies, Robshaw will have no choice this time. GT
Romania making progresss
Romania demonstrated admirable grit this week to put in decent performances against first France and then four days later, Ireland, the two best sides in Pool D. The conceded 11 tries in the two games but four of those came while they were down to 14 players; two in each match.
Having attended both games, the issue going forward is that Romania desperately needs to find some backs. They are sending a scrumhalf and outhalf down to Canterbury in New Zealand but outside of fullback Catalin Fercu, who is at Saracens, they lack the basic skill sets to manage a game and often end up kicking away possession.
The Romanian pack is a handful as France discovered both in the scrum and at the breakdown and they had their moments against Ireland. But but a game against Tier 1 nations will not be won alone by driving lineout mauls and one-out runners. Lynn Howells has done a great job with them and it would be nice if the European Tier 1 unions encouraged Romanian development by playing the odd friendly international. JO'S
Too early to write off Bokke
Villa Park was like Ellis Park, Birmingham like Johannesburg on a scorching July day. The Bokke march on without their retired captain (who they no longer believed in anyway). The Springboks now journey north to Newcastle where Scotland are waiting mere miles from their border.
Jean De Villiers is no more (yet still no Frans Steyn). Victor Matfield’s hamstring is at him. Maybe time for the new generation of Springbok to be given their head.
For sure, Eben Etzebeth and Lood De Jager will be South Africa's locking partnership for the coming decade. At least the old wingers - Bryan Habana and JP Pietersen both shared four tries in toppling Samoan giants - are maturing like Pinotage Reserves. They are not done yet. GC
The Wembley Way
On Sunday as the Irish team members funnelled out of the Wembley changing room you became aware that this is usually the only view they get of the great stadia of the world apart from being in the dugout or playing.
But the bare concrete innards underneath were decorated with photographs going back to the 1930s and 40’s when teams like Stoke, Burnley, Huddersfield Town and Preston North End were challenging for FA Cups.
There was a wide monochrome shot of tens of thousands of people packed in for the 1948 Olympic Games, when nobody really knew exactly how many were in the ground because kids could be lifted over the styles for free. In the foreground a broad Olympic torch flamed up.
Another, even older shot, had a speedway king on his dirt bike, leather goggles and a sea of cloth capped fans filling the terraced ground.
Most stadia are runs of grey cement tunnels cut with sturdy supports and beams for the great stands above. Ellis Park, Stade de France, the Millennium Stadium, the ANZ in Sydney or Twickenham would be no different, miles of corridors and rooms bathed in neon light and the sound of the team bus revving up somewhere close by.
Wembley, though, was better than most. It had its history on the walls and in the stands it was magnificent for 90,000 people, the steeply banked seating lending a charged, enclosed atmosphere to the match.
The players, you feel, got it too, understood that this place is an important historical building that resonates with great world sporting events and this weekend it threw up the largest crowd ever to watch a World Cup match.
The game has made its contribution to the history. If it is not already hanging in some corner of Wembley, perhaps Tommy Bowe, Paul O'Connell and Catalin Fercu can now join the impossibly young looking Bobby Moore and the boys of'66. JW
