Rugby World Cup

PrestonHammer

The way the talking yesterday, New Zealand had one foot out of the competition. Hahaha

ValiantIron

It's mad that Ireland go into the match tonight with a 100% record and Scotland could potentially knock them out.

Dodger58

Highly unlikely at present!

ValiantIron

Dodger58 said:

Highly unlikely at present!

I agree the real world possibility of that outcome lasted about two minutes, but I was surprised it was mathematically possible. Alternatively England staggered their way to a similar three wins and still would have won their group if they'd lost their last match.

I know it's down to who has already played who, but I found it interesting.

buffybegood

A bit of a turn up in the first of the quarter-finals as Argentina beat Wales to set up a semi-final against either Ireland or New Zealand.

It's a bit of a shame that the groups were drawn so far in advance of the competition and have resulted in 2 quarter-finals with the current best 4 teams in them; Argentina and either England or Fiji could well present an easier match in the semis than the winners of the Ireland/New Zealand and France/South Africa matches have had at the quarter-final stage.

EXETERHAMMER

I do agree that the way things have turned out has led to 4 weaker teams drawing each other, and the 4 strongest teams drawing each other in the quarters.
England are a bit of a mess and have got lucky with the draw.
Fiji are my favourite to watch.
New Zealand to win tonight I hope.
South Africa to win the tournament.

buffybegood

"The seeding system from previous Rugby World Cups was retained with the 12 automatic qualifiers from 2019 being allocated to their respective bands based on their World Rugby Rankings on 1 January 2020"

So for a competition to be played at the end of 2023, they've used the rankings from the start of 2020, it is very poor imo.

buffybegood

A very good game sees Ireland just come up short as New Zealand win 28-24.

Slacker

I watched the rugby last night.
1. I know very little about rugby
2. I don’t understand most of what’s happening on the pitch.
3. The laws are a complete mystery to me
4. I know sporting drama when I see it.
5. It was FANTASTIC!

Dodger58

Glad you enjoyed it Slacker, when you get good match-ups rugby is often fantastic, whereas I'm often disappointed with the so called big matches in football.

Tonights match between France and South Africa could match it, whilst the England v Fiji match may be a disappointment - although I expect England to win I have more faith in the 'Waistcoat' than I do in Borthwick.

buffybegood

England's 14 point lead has disappeared in the matter of a few minutes, all square with 10 minutes left 🙈🙈🙈.

buffybegood

England hang on to beat Fiji, we'll be facing France or South Africa in a semi-final next weekend.

IronHerb

South Africa were my pre tournament pick, but I’ll take an England win. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

PrestonHammer

I can't see England beating either of these two.

buffybegood

PrestonHammer said:

I can't see England beating either of these two.

Me either, we've got very little chance imo. Cracking first half of attacking rugby though.

buffybegood

It's amazing the difference one player makes, I don't mind South Africa tonight (I suppose it helps that they're playing France) but I really dislike them when the poison dwarf (aka Faf de Klerk) is playing.

buffybegood

buffybegood said:

It's amazing the difference one player makes, I don't mind South Africa tonight (I suppose it helps that they're playing France) but I really dislike them when the poison dwarf (aka Faf de Klerk) is playing.

Damn, he's just come on, I'm Natalie Umbruglia now.

PrestonHammer

I just got it hahaha

buffybegood

France are out, overall I think that's my preferred result 🤔🤔🤔

thornburyiron

Brilliant game. The batterings these guys take for 80-90 minutes and not a squeak. Footballers get a light brush up against them and roll around screaming like banshees.
A refreshing side of sport

buffybegood

World Cup double header against South Africa on Saturday, a group game in cricket and then a semi-final in the rugby in the evening.

PrestonHammer

England are doing alot better than I thought they would, 12-6 up at half time.

buffybegood

So frustrating to have led for so long. At least we put in a decent performance.

The forwards were immense, both in the set-piece and the loose, for the first 50 minutes, but the South African forwards dominated the last half an hour and that proved decisive.

thornburyiron

They strengthened their scrum and we weakened ours by the subs and they knew they could force us to give away scrum penalties. After the first couple we should have made the decision to not contest the scrums knowing that Pollard can kick from anywhere. They did it with lineouts.

BubblesNeverDies

So people, who will you be supporting tomorrow? After the racial slur from the SA hooker, which surprisingly (not) was waived off, I'll be rooting for NZ - something I thought I'd never say.

PrestonHammer

I don't like either of them. The Haka before the start of the game gets right on my nerves but South African head coach gets on my nerves even more. So I'll mute the sound at the beginning of the game and cheer on New Zealand.

IronHerb

I predicted SA from the beginning and see no reason to change now.

BubblesNeverDies

IH, I asked who will you be supporting.

buffybegood

PrestonHammer said:

I don't like either of them. The Haka before the start of the game gets right on my nerves but South African head coach gets on my nerves even more. So I'll mute the sound at the beginning of the game and cheer on New Zealand.

Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't get the fuss over the Haka, it's a load on nonsense (in terms of a rugby match) imo, especially as most of the team aren't Maori anyway.

Definitely prefer New Zealand to win though.

IronHerb

BubblesNeverDies said:

IH, I asked who will you be supporting.

SA