About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

[William Treseder]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.
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.

[Ivortheengine]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.

[the other bob wilson]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Good game to see who we’ll play in the Quarterfinals- Argentina 15 Japan 14 with two tries each just before half time,

[City123]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.

If Wales has poor regional rugby .......why do Wales have so many talented players ?

[SLUDGE FACTORY]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.
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.

England are bottlers , staggering considering the depth of player numbers

[the other bob wilson]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Argentina deserved winners 39-27, much improved from the shambles they were against England.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

If Wales has poor regional rugby .......why do Wales have so many talented players ?

'aven't you erd of the fly arf factory butt ?

[Ivortheengine]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.

[Moodybluebird]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.

[JamesWales]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Argentina deserved winners 39-27, much improved from the shambles they were against England.

Gonna be an epic game next weekend I feel. Argentina will be happy with the draw, just as Wales are.

[chrisp_1927]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Ireland .looked unbeatable for an hour but New Zealand have been getting better and better.

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.

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 test

[kendoddsdadsdogsdead]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

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.

[City123]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Gonna be an epic game next weekend I feel. Argentina will be happy with the draw, just as Wales are.

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 Argentinian

[ToTaL ITK]

Re: About time we had a rugby World Cup thread?

Fiji playing awful atm.