Kiwi Press Put The Boot Into Home Bound England

Under the headline "The Joke's on England", Kiwi press has been quick to lash out at home bound England, who were dumped out this morning in the now predictable unpredictable French knock out upset.

"Other than their devoted supporters no-one will lament the Red Rose's departure.

From the moment they touched down here arrogance has been the prevailing projection. From the Queenstown party antics to the above-the-rules ball swap, they have generally annoyed."

Ouch. That's harsh.

Personally, I'd just like to offer my condolences to England. For good or for bad, England bring the vital element to the game - a huge audience and a passionate enthusiasm for their side through thick and thin. I think at times they are portrayed as pantomime villains as a result of a combination of the British tabloid's fascination with anything that smells like mud, and the global reach of their media.

The vast majority of England fans I've ever met are invariably charming, open minded and fantastic to have a few beers with (unless they've just won something). I for one am sorry to see you go out to those cheating thieving back-stabbing fickle untrustworthy underhanded French, and may you recover from your shock exit with more grace than a number of my own countrymen did. (possibly even me), and I'm sure my home country will miss your many fans well spent pounds.

Yeah, England were so arrogant and annoying paying the residents of Christchurch a goodwill visit. You're welcome.

Otherwise, GG

Yeah, I think as hosts our national media have a responsibility to be a little less pompous.

It's the media. Who cares?

Ghost, fair play. Hoping for New Zealand v Wales final. Wouldn't mind which won in that case

Don't think it was a shock result, frankly. France have much better players. It's as simple as that. They've been underperforming coz of bizarro selection.

Didn't Trinh-Duc look a class act when he came on! Playing Parra at 10 was simply mental, worse than Jonno's JH/Flood idea.

I don't think it's a particularly classy thing to do really, it isn't the average kiwi's style to be that way.

The way I see it, the England team and management worked their cajones off before the tournament to engage with the public of NZ. It worked, they charmed a lot of locals and from what I read made a great impression. It was as if they were banking on local support in lieu of this effort when le crunch came in a knock out situation.

Then they undid all of that by being a bit stupid. No one was hurt in anyway, just antics that got out of hand. Now, if this was say, Old Harrowians or whoever on a tour, then people would turn a blind eye. However, only six weeks ago one of these blokes decided to marry into the most famous family in the world. The press live to see one of the royals stuff up in some way and they got their man hook line and sinker. This started the negative attitude in the press and England can only blame themselves.

Also, what probably undid some of the hard work they had done earlier was the bland type of Rugby they play. It works sometimes, and sometimes it doesn't. They didn't really fire any shots at all and as a result along with the daily tabloid fodder, the NZ public switched from a position of perhaps supporting England in an impartial match to viewing them as some sort of pantomime villain.

Enough said, they go home but will be a much stronger unit in 2015

I think the pantomine villain point is spot on, i'd criticise the Kiwi media but they're no worse than ours.

The thing about the English is, people like us when we're crap, forgetting that that is generally our default setting.

It's a generous post so good on ya.

samuraidragon wrote:Don't think it was a shock result, frankly. France have much better players. It's as simple as that. They've been underperforming coz of bizarro selection.

By that rationale you'd expect France to beat Wales next weekend as well. There's a lot more to a team's performance than personnel, which is why so many international pundits backed France to lose.

Of course. Just objecting to the phrase "shock result" when France have got better quality across the park and England had not been playing well in this competition. It wouldn't be a shock if they beat Wales or vice versa.

It's hardly a shock for France to win a RWC game.

The thing that has disappointed me a little is the continual talk about "wow, France were so baaaad, they lost to Tonga last week!"

Tonga played very well. They were massively physical and very direct, but fo very poor handling near the line they would have spanked France.

This week, you could see a similar trend with their mid-field defensive weakness, defence on a narrow blind side, and defensive disorganisation in the 9/10 channel. England didn't attack it relentlessly, they kept following a kind of paint-by-numbers play plan, other than tuilagi who kept hitting the same spaces.

It's massively patronising to Tonga to suggest that France had to be so off form to lose to them, that they'd never beat England the following week.

The NZ and Brit media are probably pretty much alike. Praise when its due, ott adulation of players ( see Wilko and Carter.Ashton and MCaw) then quite happy to stick the boot in when it suits them.

Fair play on your post though TGg