Rugby World Cup 2011

[thaddeus6th]

Hmmm.

Not so sure I'd agree entirely, Boneman.

The All Blacks did well to easily beat France, but I'm slightly surprised they didn't score more considering their total domination of the breakdown and France's poor tackling. Good win, but the Kiwis shouldn't get over-excited.

On England: quite hard to say. Pleasing romp to victory against Romania, but apart from a nice spot of exercise you can't read too much into it. I'd rather be playing France than New Zealand, though.

[Leadbelly]

yeah, well I couldn't be happier, a well executed and intelligent game of rugby by the ABs, my heart sunk in the first 10 minutes with France taking 88% of the possession and all in our territory, but they kept their heads and took every advantage when it showed itself.

You could hear the screams of outrage when the ref allowed Trinh-du's touch and go try but they quickly turned to elation when SBW struck back and showed the French how to score an honest try.

I agree that we should have scored more points but the French (as is fairly standard) seemed to hold on to some of their fire and avoid a complete stonking.

[thaddeus6th]

Aye, the ref was a bit rubbish. That decision was appalling, and I'm glad the All Blacks struck back immediately.

Quite a few refs have been rubbish. Ours [I'm English] missed a blatant offside from the Romanians, and the one for the Argentina side was handing out penalties left, right and centre.

[Ursa major]

In the games I've seen, the refereeing has been mediocre at best: blatant things missed coexisting with extreme pickiness. (Though to be fair, no game has been as badly refereed as the 2003 Final, for which we should all be very thankful. So far.)


And speaking as an England supporter who quite likes to see the Welsh team being beaten (revenge, one could say, for all those years when they seemed to be always beating England): I think they they were robbed against the Springboks.

[Foxbat]

Scotland beaten by a deserving Argentina. All in all, a good (brutal) game
topped off by a wonderful Argentinian try.

Perhaps the next time these two meet, the organisers should set up a casualty department nearby. There were some real crunching tackles going in with no quarter asked or given.

[Moonbat]

Yup, I was cheering on Argentina today and really pleased they won. A cracker of a match, not high scoring but tense and hard fought.
Ok, I would support all the home nations (including the Irish) against anyone but the English, but I feel the RWC is so very predictable. There are 8 big teams and they are almost certian to make it through to the QF, it would be great to see one of the other teams emerge to challenge the status quo.
There are only a few teams that can, Italy and Argentina probably the closest, and with Ireland rampaging it's unlikely that Italy will do much.
Very pleased with this result, come on the Puma's.

Scotland aren't out of it yet, but looks like they could be the only one of the big 8 not to make it through.

On another note, the All Blacks' back line running was phenomenal, they cut France to shreds and made it look so easy. I hope it pans out that they have to face the other 2 big Southern hemisphere sides and earn a very respectful route to the final.

[thaddeus6th]

Could be wrong, but I think the All Blacks (assuming they beat England/Argentina/Scotland in the quarters) will then face probably Ireland or Wales in the semis.

[Ursa major]

According to the fixture list that Alchemist put in Post#1, the winner of QF4 (the one the All Blacks will be playing in) meets the winner of QF3 (the one in which South Africa should be playing against Australia) in the second semi-final.

The final is likely to be between a northern hemisphere team and a southern hemisphere team. (So business as usual.)


By the way, Argentina came third in 2007, beating France 34-10 in the "Bronze final".

[alchemist]

If it goes with form, the semi-finals are Eng/Fra v Ire/Wal and SA/Aus v NZ/Arg. The potential fly in the ointment is Scotland beating England or Italy beating Ireland, which are both far from impossible.

[thaddeus6th]

Whoops. I stand corrected.

I'll be rather nervous watching the England game, though we ought to win. I'd be pretty surprised if Ireland lost to Italy.

[Moonbat]

By the way, Argentina came third in 2007, beating France 34-10 in the "Bronze final".

I thought someone might bring up a useful stat to prove me wrong. I didn't know that Argentina got that far before, but good on them. Although if things go the way we expect, I'd be surprised to see them in the semi final again.

Watch Wales beat Namibia this morning, some good rugby, looked easy though. I was pleased to see Namibia score a try.

[Ursa major]

Quite a few of their players are getting a bit long in the tooth to make it that far. But who knows?


I myself had forgotten their exploits in 2007 until someone, trying to excuse England's lacklustre win over the Pumas, pointed out that they had been a really good team four years ago (not only reaching the semis, but beating France and Ireland in the group stage, and beating Scotland in their QF).

[Quokka]

Another good win to Ireland on the weekend, would love to see an All Blacks v Ireland final but of course there's a long way to go yet.

It's a real shame that none of the pacific nations are likely to make it out of the group stages, as close as they'll get to a home world cup I was really hoping Tonga or Fiji could have built on a good 2007 WC.

The fixtures seem a bit drawn out to me though, I know it's a tough game but I'm still not sure they need a week between games for a world cup tournament.

[Ursa major]

Isn't the problem the need to have extra games midweek**? Some of the lesser-favoured nations have had a lot less than a week in which to recover.








** - This seems to be a consequence of having five teams per group, meaning that one team doesn't play when the other four do.

[Rommel]

Originally Posted by Ursa major

And speaking as an England supporter who quite likes to see the Welsh team being beaten (revenge, one could say, for all those years when they seemed to be always beating England): I think they they were robbed against the Springboks.

Eh? and in which manner were Wales robbed against South Africa? You had most possession and what litte SA had was kicked away. You had field advantage. We lost Jean de Villiers and Matfield quite early. ANd we won't mention the tr y by the welsh 8th man being from a blatant forward pass, neither will we comment on the offsides at the ruck.
That Wales were unlucky to lose after a very hard game which they did look good in i will not argue, but robbed? Nope.