Ireland are looking ominously good.
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Ireland are looking ominously good.
That has to be the understatement of the year Bob.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Didn’t realise ITV were showing a training session on tv last night. The media were going over the top with their praise for Townsends team in the build up to the game. Ireland played well but Scotland were hopeless. A few miles south of the Stade De France their EuroStar was waiting for them at Gare De Nord. The same thing could happen to Ireland next weekend.
Ireland .looked unbeatable for an hour but New Zealand have been getting better and better.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivortheengine
Going to be an interesting match up and a shame that one of them are going home early especially when you see the standard in the other half of the draw.
Absolutely ridiculous format but I guess some of it is there are just so few rugby playing nations you are bound to end up with an uneven draw. They have got to find some way of seeding it closer to the actual tournament or figuring out a way that you don't have 3 of the top 5 teams in the world in a group though. Both quarter finals in that half of the draw will be far more competitive games than any up until the final (which is very likely to be whichever two teams manage to come out of those quarters).
I disagree wholeheartedly that Scotland are crap btw, they looked crap for 60 minutes because they ran into a buzzsaw Irish team but they would beat England and Wales quite handily who will go unbeaten in their groups.
It’s all about opinions. Disagree with you about Scotland. I think Wales England and Scotland are currently on a level par. Any match up between the 3 of them now would all be 50/50 games. Ireland are on another level at the moment and are rightly ranked as no 1 team in the world.Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Bluebird
As you say, Saturdays qtr final between Ireland and the All Blacks, looks mouth watering.
My prediction, is for NZ to beat France in the final.
On current form Wales would beat Scotland and England . Townsend has a lot of thinking to do before the next Six Nations. His assistant Steve Tandy is supposed to be a defence coach.Both are going to be working hard over the next few months. Scotland has the same problems as Wales- poor regional rugby. That’s not going to change anytime soon. The one advantage Wales do have over Scotland, is that they have a better coach.
Good game to see who we’ll play in the Quarterfinals- Argentina 15 Japan 14 with two tries each just before half time,
Argentina 15-14 Japan at half time. Interesting game this, Japan looking devoid of ideas only to score a great second try to go in a point behind
Wales have to fancy their chances against either of these
If Wales has poor regional rugby .......why do Wales have so many talented players ?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivortheengine
England are bottlers , staggering considering the depth of player numbersQuote:
Originally Posted by William Treseder
Argentina deserved winners 39-27, much improved from the shambles they were against England.
'aven't you erd of the fly arf factory butt ?Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Have a look in the 4 regions trophy cabinets for the past 20 years and you will find the answer. The regions don’t have enough decent players to win anything, unlike the Irish regions, who do. Last season Ireland U 20’s won the equivalent of the 6 Nations. Leinster supplied 9 or 10 of the team in each of the games. It’s no wonder Leinster and Ireland are doing well. Munster also won the URC play offs, winning away in South Africa against all the odds.Gatland is able to bring the best out of them collectively when they play international rugby.
It’s no guarantee Wales will beat Argentina next weekend, but they are favourites to reach the semi final.
It's all down to the way the game is structured in Ireland and a huge part of it is the way rugby development is dealt with at public school level and continued through to the professional teams. Sam Warburton said as much when interviewed a few weeks ago. He said there's a lot more money in Dublin than Cardiff, presumably meaning there are many more public schools in Ireland for them to structure their game in a way that would be impossible here in Wales.Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivortheengine
Gonna be an epic game next weekend I feel. Argentina will be happy with the draw, just as Wales are.Quote:
Originally Posted by the other bob wilson
Big battle up front I think. The backlines of both sides have played some great stuff when given an armchair ride by their forward packs. Interesting to see if one pack comes out on top, or which backline can still produce magic with worse ball than they've been used to. I suppose advantage Ireland in that department, as they've beaten South Africa in their biggest test so far while the kiwis went down to the French in their biggest testQuote:
Originally Posted by Majorblue
If the Argies play like they did today , we'll be in trouble.
Our game plan is to kick everything down the middle of the pitch , then defend.
They'll love that with their backs.
Why? Wales have beaten each team in that pool, including battering Australia whilst Fiji side who laboured to victory against Georgia and beat Australia by 7 (Compared to Wales' 32). I wouldn't want to play them and would rather one of Australia or Fiji if I were ArgentinianQuote:
Originally Posted by JamesWales
Fiji playing awful atm.
But you have to play someone in the quarters and I think teams would rather face Wales, Argentina, England or (probably Fiji) than Ireland, France, NZ or South Africa.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
Portugal play some lovely stuff mind.Quote:
Originally Posted by ToTaL ITK
Yeah, but they knew it would have to be one of Wales, Australia or Fiji and I reckon they'd rather play the latter twoQuote:
Originally Posted by JamesWales
Fiji are in a spot of bother here
Yeah, fair point 👍Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
Fantastic scenes as Portugal win by a point, fully deserved
Played with the ball in hand,well done PortugalQuote:
Originally Posted by City123
I enjoyed that, everybody wins with that result. Fiji looked nervous and therefore tight, Portugal never stopped believing and their defence kept them in it.Quote:
Originally Posted by City123
Fiji are the most overrated team in the tournament.
Game management was awful.
England (if they drop Farrell from centre) will grind a result out comfortably.
Fiji were missing a few big hitters last night and it certainly showed . Although that still doesn't explain the crazy amount of knock ons, that absolutely killed them.
I think kurovoli makes them a much better side, Lomanis passing from 9 was absolutely abysmal at times.
Semi should be back for England game aswell I guess
Yeah let’s not forget with a slightly better pass or handling they would have been kicking for the game against Wales too.
Wild card team and maddeningly inconsistent but they are better on paper than Samoa who England were very lucky to beat. On their day they will give them a major scare.
Who knows, Fiji may have been playing with quarter final in mind. They are better than that.
Could well see 4 northern hemisphere teams in the semis - the complete opposite of 2015.
That would be cool and unlikely to ever be repeatedQuote:
Originally Posted by The Bloop
If my auntie had balls...Quote:
Originally Posted by LA Bluebird
Wales were out of sight at 60 minutes and never looked like losing. Made subs and a few brain farts let them back in.
Fijis results in the WC have seen them scrape past opponents (worst Australia team in history and a poor Georgia) or lose. They beat a poor England team drained of energy in the middle of a fitness building campaign in the warm ups and that's their first win against a tier 1 nation since 2018.
Rugby fans desperately want them to be good because its romantic that they play flamboyant offloading, running rugby but ultimately their basics are poor when under pressure. They've improved slightly but revert to type every time.
A northern semisphere. :hide:Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bloop
So , to ask again
Why given England have loads of players to pick from .....the most of any rugby nation .....are they so crap ?
I'd say that the England football team have adapted their game away from what might be called a traditional English approach and are better for it. Despite rugby being more of a power based game than it's ever been, there is still a place for skill (I was very pleasantly surpised by the quality of some of Ireland's tries against Scotland), England don't trust talent or mavericks (how many caps would someone like Campese have won for them?), never have done in my experience and so they tend to be easy to defend against at the top level even if they're dominant up front.Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
They got to the final 4 years ago remember after beating New Zealand in the semis.Quote:
Originally Posted by SLUDGE FACTORY
Eddie Jones though set them back after that. They seem obsessed with picking Owen Farrell when George Ford is a better player, and the don't have a genuine number 8.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Harry Paget Flashman
It won’t be happening. The All Blacks will put a stop to it. Maybe South Africa too. Argentina won’t.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Bloop
My worry is that if Argentina get beat, they’ll take off all the keys on the cans of corned beef in revenge.
You don't keep a spare?Quote:
Originally Posted by Ivortheengine