Rugby World Cup 2012

[mmarsh]

I don't think you understand just how apprehensive New Zealand was over that match, there was a huge collective national sigh of relief when the full time whistle went but I wouldn't judge the French rugby team from that performance they are a phenomenal team and when it counts will perform better however tonight they met a New Zealand team that was not going to give them an inch.

Trust me as a Kiwi we have learnt how dangerous France are if you let them get on the front foot and if I am prepared to bet that a sizeable proportion of the country would choose France to win this thing if we can't.

So were the French! The Front Page of "Le Monde" on Friday was "Le Mer Noire" (the Black Sea, a good analogy) referring to all the All Blacks. Of all the teams playing, it was the All Blacks the French were dreading the most.

The All Blacks played spectacularly, once they got up a full head of steam they were like a Tsunami against the French Defense...simply overwhelming and unstoppable (like the sea). You guys have the right to be proud of your team, it was truly a wonderful display.

In French Rugby (and Football), the focus on always a very strong Defense, it is always key to victory for French teams. France can only win if the Defense can completely shut down the opposing offense. Unfortunately for "Les Bleues" ever since the tournament started the defense has simply been asleep. The narrow victory against Japan got everyone worried about how off the defense was.

The offense played as expected, but there was no hope to win against a offense minded team like the Blacks unless the defense was there...which it wasn't.

They will probably still qualify for the quarterfinals, but they had better get their defense in better shape otherwise the tournament is going to be over quickly.

As for the Blacks, if they don't win it all this year, I don't know what else to say. They've got both the team, and home-field advantage.

This is their year.

 

[MontyB]

I think this tournament can be won by one of 4 teams, Australia, France, New Zealand or South Africa and any one of them can win it, for South Africa and Australia these are not really "away" games they play in New Zealand as often as the All Blacks do so they know the grounds, they know he environment and they both beat the All Blacks at regular times.

France are always the unknown for us as shown by the last series against them where they came here and won only to go home and be hammered by the All Blacks I would love to see a repeat of the 1987 final All Blacks v France and I wouldn't care who won (even though I would be supporting New Zealand of course).

There are always the possibilities which are England, Ireland and Wales but an England win on New Zealand soil would just be depressing as no one wants to see the kicking game become dominant, Ireland would get a lot of support and Wales probably not so much as most Kiwi's are sick to death of the cheap shots the likes of Warren Gatland keep taking every year where he pumps up the team in the media complains about the opposition and then they go down in a screaming heap, my belief at this point is that any of these 3 teams winning is a long shot as they simply do not play the game with enough pace to match the previous 4 teams.

 

[bulldogg]

I particularly liked the nasty play the Italians put in at the end of the match with Ireland... talk about losing the plot.

My bio-father was from stock around Tiger Bay in Wales (Watrus) so I'd like to see the Welsh in the final with the All-Blacks. Wouldn't it be nice if the perpetual favourites finally stop choking after twenty odd years??

 

[MontyB]

I particularly liked the nasty play the Italians put in at the end of the match with Ireland... talk about losing the plot.

My bio-father was from stock around Tiger Bay in Wales (Watrus) so I'd like to see the Welsh in the final with the All-Blacks. Wouldn't it be nice if the perpetual favourites finally stop choking after twenty odd years??

I would like to point out that for the All Blacks to choke they would actually have to be considered the best team there and to be honest there is only one occasion where that was the case 1995 in South Africa and had the team not come down with food poisoning on the day of the final they would have won it (hard to play rugby when half the team are throwing up under the posts and they still only lost by 3 points) outside that the RWC has been an outstanding triumph for Southern Hemisphere teams.

As for Wales well they have a real shot at it they are playing some good rugby, England are still as boring as ever and Ireland aren't really a whole lot better, France have been incredibly disappointing because on form they are an awesome team to watch but I am still betting that the cup will stay in the Southern Hemisphere and probably go to Australia due to New Zealand having way to many walking wounded at this stage.

 

[Del Boy]

Congratulations to France. England left their attrition on the bench and gave them a free shot - and Flood threw 3 tries away with blind passes thrown back over his shoulder.

I'm with Wales now, of course. Bring it on.

Best game of Rugby so far - Wales v. Ireland.

Re favourites - France were brushed aside by Tonga - Australia by Ireland.

 

[bulldogg]

Wales V Ireland was a cracker of a match eh?! Ireland spent a full 15 minutes inside their 22 and the bloody irish couldn't get a try against the youngsters. I agree DelBoy, match of the tournament so far.

England looked flat in their's and France out hit the Lions. There were some blazing hard tackles in that one. Does France still crack open a bottle of red before their big games to 'get the juices flowing'? Looked to me as if they did this time out.

 

[MontyB]

Wales V Ireland was a cracker of a match eh?! Ireland spent a full 15 minutes inside their 22 and the bloody irish couldn't get a try against the youngsters. I agree DelBoy, match of the tournament so far.

England looked flat in their's and France out hit the Lions. There were some blazing hard tackles in that one. Does France still crack open a bottle of red before their big games to 'get the juices flowing'? Looked to me as if they did this time out.

Really I think the match of the tournament was Tonga v France as far as the Ireland v Wales match went I don't agree that it was a good game, Ireland were conned into playing a style they are not good at yet at almost every occasion they managed to run through the Welsh centres and had they made the effort to go wide more often rather than this continuous running back into traffic plan (a sign of a forward orientated team) they would have done a lot better.

England v France well now the English know what happens when you let France get on the front foot, to quote a favourite English saying it seems England choked.

As for today's matches if Australia beat South Africa then I can honestly say I don't care who wins the World cup because all of the boring teams are gone and the RWC will go to a team that embraces the spirit of the game in other words entertaining rugby.

That being said a France v New Zealand final would be a bit of a flash back but I am still backing Australia to win this thing.



Now for some fun statistics...

France v Wales
Games played: 88
Games won by France:42
Games won by Wales:43
Games drawn:3
Points for France: 1275
Points for Wales: 1277

Pick a winner...

 

[bulldogg]

Bloody hell... how the fark did Aus hold on to beat the Saffas? Oi, they earned it just for taking the abuse they did. Hard to see them healthy enough for the next match after 130+ tackles. 76% of the time in the Wallabies half... damn.

 

[MontyB]

Bah they have a week off they will get over it.

Sadly I wasn't that impressed with the game, it looked like two sides with no real game plan but at least I am still in with a shot of winning the office sweepstakes with Australia.

 

[Warwick]

Too bad to the Boks they played a great game I thought. Quade Cooper better lift his friggn' game though.... too many mistakes!
The current match is going well between the Argies and NZ.Some great plays by both sides. Picked against the popular team and have some money on the Argentinians.

 

[MontyB]

Too bad to the Boks they played a great game I thought. Quade Cooper better lift his friggn' game though.... too many mistakes!
The current match is going well between the Argies and NZ.Some great plays by both sides. Picked against the popular team and have some money on the Argentinians.

Yeah all I can say is thank the stars Quade Cooper plays for you guys.

See I don't have a lot of sympathy for the Boks, if you cant score tries you shouldn't win tests.

The Argentinian match was an interesting one, Argentina played like Ireland, slow the ball up and when in trouble give away penalties.

 

[BritinBritain]

Well played Aussie

 

[bulldogg]

Going to be some good rugby in the semi's.

 

[MontyB]

Going to be some good rugby in the semi's.

Sadly I am not sure it will be all that good for NZ, we are down to our 5th choice first five and our 3rd choice full back, we are now pulling in people who haven't played rugby in 2 months to play in a semi-final but I guess that is the nature of the game we will just have to go back to being the number 1 ranked team for the next 4 years.

I am hoping the French will get up for their semi as they are my second team in this competition but there is an old adage that says "France has one good game in them at every world cup " and I suspect they used that against England.

 

[Warwick]

Ahhhh its going to be a boring final if its the same old teams playing!
Commisserations to those knocked out.

 

[MontyB]

Ahhhh its going to be a boring final if its the same old teams playing!
Commisserations to those knocked out.

I think the smart money would be on an Australia v Wales final at this point, I seriously doubt we have 15 fit players left in the country at this point so I wouldn't be surprised if we go down by 15-20 points in the semi.

Wales have been playing well though but I think their weakness is in the centers, when the Irish actually ran at them instead of into the biggest pile of forwards they could find they ran over top of the Welsh every time.

On the brighter side Wales have never made a final so at least it wont be the same old teams playing.



Fortunately for me England are not going to win it as that would be the most depressing outcome possible, the four remaining teams are entertaining teams and that is what rugby needs to show case itself for future growth, not these "its all about winning even if we have to wake the spectators after the game" teams.

 

[mmarsh]

I think the smart money would be on an Australia v Wales final at this point, I seriously doubt we have 15 fit players left in the country at this point so I wouldn't be surprised if we go down by 15-20 points in the semi.

Wales have been playing well though but I think their weakness is in the centers, when the Irish actually ran at them instead of into the biggest pile of forwards they could find they ran over top of the Welsh every time.

On the brighter side Wales have never made a final so at least it wont be the same old teams playing.



Fortunately for me England are not going to win it as that would be the most depressing outcome possible, the four remaining teams are entertaining teams and that is what rugby needs to show case itself for future growth, not these "its all about winning even if we have to wake the spectators after the game" teams.

You might be right, but something tells me NZ will beat Australia. Home field advantage will fire-up the Blacks against the Wallabies. As a France supporter I would much rather face the Wallbies than the All-Blacks (who already beat us). That's assuming France can get by Wales...

 

[Warwick]

I agree with mmarsh, we'll get complacent and a bunch of kiwi kids will smash us from one end of the paddock to the other!!!!
Be interesting if France gets up there though.

 

[bulldogg]

For those reading this and not sure who to root for I offer the following.

Support Wales and you support the planet. They are the ecological choice. Being the smallest country in both size and population still left in the running if they win the celebrations will consume the least amount of natural resources. Its simple logic, if you love the planet and want to make a change then you cheer on the Welsh.

*The preceding message was brought to you by the Welsh Rugby World Cup Save the Planet Foundation*

 

[MontyB]

I agree with mmarsh, we'll get complacent and a bunch of kiwi kids will smash us from one end of the paddock to the other!!!!
Be interesting if France gets up there though.

Hmm lets see...

- Our current first five (4th choice) has just got back from injury and hasn't played a test in 12 months, the back up hasn't played in 12 months also and hasn't been in training for the last 3 months.

- Our fullback has just returned from a serious foot injury, played 3 games and limped off in all 3 after about 50-60 mins, the back up broke his shoulder in last weeks game and his back up hasn't played any rugby in 3 months also.

- The Captain has his foot screwed together so he could take part in this tournament has missed 2 games through injury and has only been playing 2/3rds of the matches he has started in.

- On the wings we have a guy returning from a leg injury, and a guy that left the field with a hamstring injury last week that prior to that was out with the same injury.

- One loose forward is playing his 2nd game after being out with a serious injury that sidelined him for most of the year.

- The other loose forward is on form but suffers from reoccurring leg injuries where for which he had 3 stoppages in the last game.


Basically this team is in bad shape and does not have the time to bring replacements up to speed so I think it would be a brave man to pick New Zealand over Australia in this match unless the Aussies play a shocker which is unlikely given that they did that last week.