2011 Rugby World Cup



hendrix said:

Mate I understand you're bitter about losing to Ireland but anyone who watched that game will tell you it was a fantastic game where Ireland showed a lot of courage and where their forwards completely outplayed Australia. That's something to get excited about.

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Oh really? I thought that referee's were instructed to ignore players going down and keep play flowing, not that it happened in that game.

Georgia, oh yeah Georgia on my mind. Good game.

I know most of you don't care, but i have to comment on the ABs lineup for Canada.

15. Mils Muliaina
14. Israel Dagg
13. Conrad Smith
12. Sonny Bill Williams
11. Zac Guildford
10. Dan Carter
9. Jimmy Cowan
8. Kieran Read
7. Richie McCaw (capt)
6. Jerome Kaino
5. Ali Williams
4. Sam Whitelock
3. Owen Franks
2. Andrew Hore
1. Tony Woodcock

reserves
Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Brad Thorn, Anthony Boric, Piri Weepu, Colin Slade, Isaia Toeava

I originally thought this was a second string team, but then i did this exercise:

I've bolded who i think is the number 1 in their position. Piri Weepu and Keven Mealamu get bolded because they are the perfect players to bring on in the second half - both excellent in their position, and Weepu can also play 10 should Carter get injured.

As long as Dagg doesn't get injured, there'll be no room for Muliaina in the 22. Same can be said for Guildford-Kahui and Whitelock-Thorn-Thompson.

So the only thing i would change in this team is:
1. Brad Thorn starting, Thompson on the bench, no Boric.
2. Dagg to fullback, Jane to wing, no Muliaina
3. Sonny Bill to the bench, Ma'a starting, no Slade.
4. Kahui straight swap for Guildford (would prefer Hosea Gear but whatever)

So yeah, only 4 real changes and 2 of those are forced by injury. So very nearly our number 1 team.

What's crucial is Kaino-McCaw-Read. Really hope Read is back to full strength.

BTW COMEON SAMOA! really hoping for a big upset here. Would possibly knock out Wales which would be harsh.

SA are on 14 points after 3 games
Wales on 10
Samoa on 10.

If 2 are tied, the team who won their encounter will go through. 4 points for a win, 1 bonus point for 4 or more tries or coming within 7 points on defeat.

Therefore, even if Samoa still win, SA could still top the group with a bonus point, and Wales will be second if they defeat Fiji.

Samoa win and Wales win with a bonus point, Wales will top, Samoa second.

Samoa and Wales win without a bonus point, I don't know what happens - 3 teams on 14, each having beat one of the other 2. It might be points differential.

The winner of the group will probably play Aus in the quarters

O and this is fucked.

Alesani Tuilagi has been fined $10 000 for wearing a branded mouthguard

This might not seem that much to a professional sportsman, but he is 19 and plays for Samoa. They do not pay very well. His super rugby contract at this stage is probably not very big either.

In comparison, the England rugby team SWAPPED THE BALL DURING CONVERSIONs - something which not only conflicts with the all-too-important branding, but is also ILLEGAL, and they get a little slap on the wrist. ******* ridiculous.



hendrix said:

BTW COMEON SAMOA! really hoping for a big upset here.

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You and me both brother. The Bok's will have to field an A team or else run the risk of what happened to Australia B when they played the Samoans and I still think Italy can beat Ireland.

Mind you the quality of the games has been great this past few weeks and agree with you about the IRB, mob of northern hemisphere wanker's the lot of em.

Samoa is out, that was close for SA. I thought they'd fare better.
Australia vs SA will be interesting to watch.
!luc



Luc-Emmanuel said:

Samoa is out, that was close for SA. I thought they'd fare better.
c

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was really close. Had Samoa's scrum and lineout been better in the first half they would have won. Statistically won almost all aspects of that game, except turnovers. They needed to get more forwards to the breakdown.

Other than that, the only reason SA won as 65m+ penalties. Should be illegal.

Anyway was a great game.

TONGA! what a game!

brilliant.

really sucks that they're not making it through to the quarters. If only they'd beaten Canada!

Yes, brilliant victory for Tonga.
I am ashamed of the pathetic french team. I have been watching rugby for 25 years and this is the worst french squad I have seen playing.
!luc



Luc-Emmanuel said:

Yes, brilliant victory for Tonga.
I am ashamed of the pathetic french team. I have been watching rugby for 25 years and this is the worst french squad I have seen playing.
!luc

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as a New Zealander, it would be silly to say bad things about the French team in a world cup, but they really did play very poorly.

So many good teams missing out on a quarterfinal spot. Samoa were inches away from beating South Africa and Wales. Tonga played brilliantly, Canada were fantastic at times, as were Japan. Now Scotland must be very gutted to miss out. A narrow loss to England in a tough game.

Let's hope the IRB works to promote the developing teams, and the competitiveness continues in the pools. It's great for the game to see these upsets and very tight matches.

Quarterfinals are shaping up. Looks like it'll be:

New Zealand vs Argentina (might''ve been England had they lost to Scotland tonight)
England vs France
South Africa vs Australia
Ireland vs Wales.

so we won't see any Southern-Northern hemisphere clashes until the semis.

Oh **** o god it was everything we had hoped would not happen.

Dan Carter has been ruled out of the RWC

Damn. They will have to have Weepu. Slade is just not good enough. Cruden has been drafted in, and honestly i'd rather have him than Slade.

**** **** **** ****.

**** the poms!

And is that the silence of the lambs I can hear from the land of the long dark cloud?

Viva Italia!



hendrix said:

Oh **** o god it was everything we had hoped would not happen.

Dan Carter has been ruled out of the RWC
Damn. They will have to have Weepu. Slade is just not good enough. Cruden has been drafted in, and honestly i'd rather have him than Slade.
**** **** **** ****.

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If the ABs are a champion team like they gloat and not a team of champions, they'll be fine



jaypee said:

If the ABs are a champion team like they gloat and not a team of champions, they'll be fine

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yeah almost anyone else and i'd be saying the same thing, but the drop between Carter>Slade is huge. Kicking has been crucial in world cups and noone else in the ABs is a good field position kicker. England have Wilkinson and a couple others, just about everyone in the Boks can kick 80m or something ridiculous. If we're not getting the territory and slotting over the goals we'll lose those tight games.

In other news Francois Steyn from the boks (the dude who kicks like 70m penalties) is also out of the world cup. Big blow for them too.

hendrix said:

jaypee said:

If the ABs are a champion team like they gloat and not a team of champions, they'll be fine

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yeah almost anyone else and i'd be saying the same thing, but the drop between Carter>Slade is huge. Kicking has been crucial in world cups and noone else in the ABs is a good field position kicker. England have Wilkinson and a couple others, just about everyone in the Boks can kick 80m or something ridiculous. If we're not getting the territory and slotting over the goals we'll lose those tight games.

In other news Francois Steyn from the boks (the dude who kicks like 70m penalties) is also out of the world cup. Big blow for them too.

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DC is in a class of his own and the options aren't there to replace him. Tragic. And the Foxsports news was saying that Ritchie M is under an injury cloud.

Now that we are business end of the tournament the fun really begins. Just hope that continued injuries don't diminish the quality of the games