South Africa 3rd Test

[Broadstaff]

So a draw. And yet I feel more disappointed than after either of the first two tests. In my opinion England will never have a better chance to beat the Springboks. I thought England played with incredibly little ambition (Farrell has a lot of work to do if he is going to be an attacking fly half and develop his game beyond the aimless kick), we lacked leadership after Flood's departure and throughout gave away the dumbest of penalties and seemed to not understand the laws at all. Great opportunity thrown away in my opinion.

[Bill W (2)]

Great opportunity thrown away in my opinion.

Concur. Same could be said of the whole tour.

What has Slancaster learnt?

[tig1]

Lets keep it in context. Its Englands best result against South Africa since 2006, with the Boks winning the last 9 test matches. A fantastic effort with a young and inexperienced team.

Many predicted a beating for England on this tour, but it hasnt transpired at all with just a net 15 point defecit over 3 tests. The last time England toured South Africa in 2007 they conceded more than 100 points in 2 tests.

[TomR96]

Couldn't agree more, ever since Owen Farrell came on, all he did was kick. A great chance just as Flood came off, on the Boks' 5 meter, and he tries a grubber kick through. Why? We have to score from that. I though all the Tigers lot played fantastically, TTTE was great, controlled the scrym and made fantastic carries. Geoff Parling played awesome in defence, attack and the line out. Dan Cole did well to keep the Beast quite. But by far Tuilagi was my MOTM. Got passed the gainline every single time he had the ball, great in defence, keep him at inside centre.

My England Dream Team:
Prop: Dan Cole
Hooker: Dylan Hartley
Prop: Alex Corbiesero
Lock: Geoff Parling
Lock: Tom Croft
Flanker: Chris Robshaw ©
Flanker Tom Woods
Number 8: Thomas Waldrom
Scrum Half: Ben Youngs
Fly-Half: Toby Flood
Wing: Ben Foden
Inside Centre: Anthony Allen
Outside Centre: Manu Tuilagi
Wing: Chris Ashton
Full Back: Alex Goode

Replacements:
Rob Hawkins
Joe Marler
Tom Palmer
Ben Morgan
Danny Care
Freddie Burns
Jonny May

[Alatoruk]

Never mind SL, what have we learnt? To be fair - nothing - we all said the bench was weak and Farrell couldn't cut it. And we were proved right.

[Bill W (2)]

"We are gutted not to have won the game, we wanted to win it and the series, but there are plenty of positives we can take out of it"

The positives being?

We (England) have two decent scrum halves;
We have only one decent fly half;
Reasonable choice for back 3;
Fairly mediocre choices in the pack, with no strength in depth and no impact subs;
Only one decent centre.

Drawing board. Back to.

[tig1]

What we have learnt is that this England team is able to do what no Welsh, Irish or Scottish team has done in history...which is to avoid defeat in a test match away in South Africa.

Its only the 4th time in history a home country (England) has either won or drawn a test in South Africa.

When its considered how many great teams and players have gone down there and been whitewashed, it puts into perspective what the team achieved tonight.

[Smurphswillgetya]

As soon as Flood went off I thought that's the end of any chance of attacking play or scoring tries and so it proved. Well played the Leicester boys and Goode.

Hope Toby and Ben's injuries are not too serious , otherwise England may come calling for Harrison - Ford

[MJ Chairman]

Props did fine.
Hartley over rated need Youngs senior and George to step up to the mark.
2nd row Need Lawes back to partner Geoff.
Back row Waldrom, Croft, Woods/Robshaw.
Half Backs Ben and Toby.
Wings Ashton and Foden
Centres Manu has to play 13. 12 has to anyone but Fazlet, who can put Manu into some space.
Fullback Goode/Brown

Team is young enough to take England forward, and fit in anyone who develops before the 2015 world cup.

[norfolkexpat]

In hindsight, England were brave and deserved a draw.

However--surely Slancaster must now realise Fazlet just isnt anyway near International standard--he gummed up the whole works.

i'll bet even Wellsy and Johnno would prefer Cipriani... !!!

And another who really is terrible is Hartley--if you see a recording of the series clock how many tackles he misses...

[tigerburnie]

I feel the squad has done well,better results than I expected,so credit where it's due.

[bc]

Manu has to develop an off load and passing game toreally become devasting. It can be done, look at M'Nonu.

[sjm]

The fact is we had a chance to win the match but it was blown in the end by some awful kicking and i know Farrell is only 20ish as SKY keep on telling us as some length,also a captain who is flaky at best and as soon as i found out i did say he would be sin-binned and this is not a case of hindsight but i agree with what has been posted. So over the 3 tests i would say that Foden and Ashton both lucky to play in all 3 matches Fullback due to injures can not be judged but Goode did well, centres Manu could have been dropped after the 2nd test but lets not forget him was playing out of position but played well today Flyhalf it has to be Toby unless Farrell learns to pass some of the instead of kicking(poorly) all the time Scrumhalf toss up between BY and i hate to say it care, now this is where it gets interesting the front row IMHO only Dan Cole isthe only one to stand out the same goes in the second row Parling stood out and in the back row Robshaw as captian TTTE took his chance with both hands and that leaves Croft to come in for Johnson who had two good games but you can forget about last week and then Courtney (thug) Lawes into the 2nd row so as far as i can see we need an inside centre AA maybe or if he could pass OF but we have to see how Ford goes next season

[Isambard]

We need a decent hooker. Hartley is a liability imho

[Smurphswillgetya]

Without showing any Tigers bias I think the England team should be the following if all players are fit

1. Corbs
2. Jamie George
3. Cole
4. Lawes
5 Parling
6 Croft
7 Robshaw (C)
8 Waldrom
9 B Youngs
10 Flood
11 Joseph
12 A Allen
13 M Tuilagi
14 Foden
15 Brown

Subs:
Tom Youngs
Marler
Woods
Goode
Ford
Barritt
Care
+ Tighthead