Originally Posted by vaughan6477:
“I've never seen Brian Moore as a wind up merchant to be honest , one of the few commentators I enjoy listening to for his honesty. If we take the high tackle out of the equation then Carter was a good choice for MOTM. Richie Mcaw would've pushed him close and it's dissapointing our players couldn't match or surpass those two on the day.
I think we do have a mental block when playing New Zealand and South Africa too but that's not all about the preparation beforehand. It's how they manage the game that is to be admired. They are that much quicker , more aggressive and bend the laws of the tackle area as far as they can. It's something the whole of the NH teams need to learn a lot from. We can match these guys for gym and training work nowadays but they still have the greater rugby brains out on the pitch. Apart from a couple of years under Woodward for England , NH teams have been handed lessons by their Southern counterparts for most of my rugby playing and watching life.”
I fully accept what you say about Brian Moore. I have a great respect for him as a commentator and as a writer. He had obviously picked Carter as MoM before the high tackle and stuck to his guns.
Moore has constructive criticism for the England set up, which is more than be said for others. I would hate the day when RU pundits copied ther counterparts on football and said we were the greatest nation on earth and had the greatest players.
England, and all the Home Nations, are up against very strong teams every time they play. Contrast this to football where we play one of the top teams in the world in a competitive game once every four years and always lose.