WRWC 2025 Semifinals

-

I’m going to do something a bit different with these. Because of circumstances I couldn’t watch the first semi live, and I ended up watching it in two parts, having slept in between. Then I watched the second semi more normally. But it felt very different.

When Canada faced New Zealand it felt like a clash to decide who would get to face England. France had lost three important players to injury or suspension, England have not looked as imperious as perhaps they should, but have still looked good, and they’re welcoming back World Player of the Year from a concussion break.

The two matches started, in some ways, quite similarly. The eventual winners scored early. However, for Canada that looked like something that came from work and building pressure, for England it was much more a case of a bit of luck then a magical bit of star play. No complaints about them taking their chances but they didn’t really work to create one.

After that, well none of the sides were actually faultless of course, but comparatively speaking Canada played to a far higher standard than anyone else, really for the whole match. The other three teams were scrappy, really scrappy given the level. Some of that may have been nerves, some was undoubtedly defensive pressure, but some was just poor skill execution.

Canada just kept playing the same fast game and smothering defence, stretching the lead almost at will. Really it wasn’t until the last quarter that the Black Ferns started to work out how to respond and score some points reliably. By then the game was gone. By contrast, England changed tactics in the second half, reverted to their tight game and it was productive. But, despite several players getting plenty of turnovers from French breakdowns, they could never actually close the game out until late when another piece of luck, bad if you’re not English, saw a blocked kick bounce back straight into Kildunne's arms, and she ran it in for a try.

Although New Zealand fought back for a bit of pride going forward, they were never in their game. The scoresheet will show an apparently comfortable England win too, but with 15 to go it was tense, and but for two fluke tries it would have remained so.

I don’t know if Canada can cope with the English maul, but the other big weapons that England deployed to win this game, the ridiculous number of turnovers from Jones and Botterman, among others, are not going to happen with the way Canada play. They offload, pop from the floor and so on, and rucks never, well hardly ever, form. The waves just keep coming. France scored three tries that way, and Canada have looked much, much sharper than les Bleues.

In the other match, I think the Black Ferns probably start as favourites. France raised their game, they had something to prove, but doing it again is hard. The Black Ferns are in that position of having something to prove now.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Gorge (Apple TV+)

-
Generally, even if I don’t review them here as religiously as I should, I like a lot of Apple TV's tv shows ( Slow Horses, Silo and Severance in particular, but others too) but I’ve been less impressed by their film output. The Gorge changes that for me. Let me be clear, this is not a great piece of art. It’s unlikely to change your life on a deep, emotional level. I’ve seen a review that says “there are so many plot holes in The Gorge that…” and this might be true, but it’s missing the point. This is monster-slaying fun, very much in the mould of The Mummy , the one with Rachel Weisz in it. Both of them have plot, but that’s not really important, there’s just enough that as things bounce along the switches and changes have something to hang on, if you care. I paid enough attention to notice them, but I’d have been happy enough if they weren’t there. I need to say, before going on, this film is very dark. Maybe not Daredevil dark, but approaching it. Often it feels appropria...
Read more

Women's Six Nations 2025, Week 1

-
The biggest question, the perennial question of recent times, is can anyone beat England? But, that’s not the only question. At last year’s WXV Ireland were the surprise package. Did they flatter to deceive as other teams blooded new combinations before the World Cup later this year or was it a real improvement? Whilst I have a lot of sympathy for Cunningham, who paid the price for some terrible off-field behaviour by the WRU and the uncertainty that sewed throughout the squad, we have a new Welsh coach, literally hot off last week's PWR victory, and a fresh team. How will the Welsh Women go? The Italians also have a new coach, although not quite as minty fresh as Sean Lynn. The Matches Ireland v France This was a game with a lot of effort and good moments, but a lot of inaccuracies. France will rue the penalties, and particularly the red card, that they gave away. These conspired to keep the Irish close for longer than they probably deserved. Equally, the Irish will look at the...
Read more

Women's Six Nations 2025, Week 5

-
Final places will be determined this weekend but the normal procession of matches on Super Saturday has been disrupted by outside events. Italy were meant to host Wales in Rome but a slightly more important event, the funeral of Pope Francis, was also taking place so the rugby was pushed back 23 hours. The part of me that is an atheist rugby tragic might want to grumble, but the part of me that avidly consumes the news every day thinks that the pope’s funeral is just a bit more important. Anyway, on the reviews. The Matches Scotland v Ireland I wanted to like this game, but for large periods it seemed to promise much and not really deliver. That’s not to say there wasn’t plenty of effort but it felt like a game where both sides were well matched and, rather than producing an interesting tussle, they largely nullified each other. Even when one side or another crossed the try line, the ball was held up several times. I can enjoy a good defensive tussle, but this didn’t feel like that ...
Read more