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'Immense' - How Twitter reacted to England's memorable victory over the All Blacks
By Online Editors
Jonny Wilkinson described England’s 19-7 victory over New Zealand as “immense” as the sporting world took to social media after a memorable World Cup semi-final.
England put in one of their best-ever performances to down the All Blacks and reach the final in Japan, and World Cup winner Wilkinson was one of the first to pay tribute.
Wilkinson, who guided England to success in the 2003 final against host nation Australia, posted on Twitter: “Immense!!
“Individually and together as a team….immense! On to next week’s final. Can’t wait!”
Ben Cohen, who also played in the 2003 decider, tweeted: “@EnglandRugby were simply incredible today!! #Worlds2019”
Another 2003 hero, Jason Robinson, simply said: “Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeesssssssssss!!!!!! @rugbyworldcup final here we come!!!!! #ENGvNZL”
Ex-England star Austin Healey had even more reason to celebrate, posting: “The greatest 41st birthday ever … Manu, Maro, Ford, Underhill, Curry … everyone amazing.”
Just over three months have passed since England edged out New Zealand in the Cricket World Cup final at Lord’s, and plenty of mischievous social media users have drawn comparisons.
England’s Barmy Army, a supporters club, posted a photoshopped picture of England rugby head coach Eddie Jones running out New Zealand counterpart Steve Hansen.
Jimmy Neesham, who played for the Black Caps in the dramatic super-over defeat in July, said he had muted the words ‘England’, ‘World Cup’ and ‘2019’ forever on his phone.
Former England footballer Gary Lineker put his spin on proceedings, saying: “I’m already an expert on this rugby malarchy, and confidently predict that England will beat the Germans in the final. Come On England.”
The official England football account said: “Congratulations on reaching the @rugbyworldcup final, @EnglandRugby!”
Four-time Olympic sailing champion Ben Ainslie was also full of praise, tweeting: “Well@done @EnglandRugby just brilliant!”
Plenty others praised the performance and Eddie Jones.
WATCH: World Rugby's match highlights as England beat New Zealand in Yokohama
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Latest Comments
Reiko should be the dual winger guy as he should be used to playing either side given he's had to do both at 13 (pass and step left/right).
Maybe he has such a bad preference that that's why he's not a good center?
Go to commentsAgreed. And I don't have much more to say on it, but I had been having one thought that sprang to mind at the tail of this discussion, and that is that it's not all about Razor.
It's not about any coach being "right". I think a lot of selections can become defense and while it doesn't really apply here I really enjoyed that Andy Farrell just gave into the public demands and changed out his team for the change that had been asked for. Like why not? This is the countries team, keep them engaged. The whole reason i've only just finished watching the game was because I wasn't interested in watching any of the selected players against a team like Italy (still actually enjoyed the first half with the contest Italy made of it).
Faz leap frogs a younger half back into start. He hands the golden child the game over July's golden child. He gives an old winger a go, a new flanker and hooker. None of them really did any good, certainly not enough to suggest they should have been promoted above others, but who cares? You won, and you gave the country what they wanted, that's all that matters after all. It's for the country, not the one in charge who thinks they have to have their own pied piper tune playing.
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