10-16-2007, 02:27 PM
Quote:On a slightly different note, is anybody else a bit disappointed with the general dominance of defence and the lack of tries?...IIRC England have managed to make the final and only scored 1 try in the preliminary rounds.....
Er... isn't that what Australians say every time their rugby team's beaten by Jonny Wilkinson's boot? :wink:
What about the Wales / Fiji game, which was a classic example of all-out attack and absolutely no defence? I think there's a gradual evolution in the game of rugby - defences improve, so the laws are altered slightly to encourage attacking play / penalise negative play and make defence harder. Then the defences adjust and improve again (or push the laws on defence past their limits in the case of the All Blacks), so there's another adjustment back in favour of attacks. Dominant defences and lack of tries doesn't necessarily lead to a boring game - Saturday's was exciting precisely because the lack of tries meant it was so tight.
I think I'll find myself a neutral again this weekend.
ps. great excitement - this post has just made me a Primus Pilus