And we're off...
3-0 to the All Blacks.
I say wrap the competition up now really. No one has a chance.
3-0 to the All Blacks.
I say wrap the competition up now really. No one has a chance.
Rugby Union World Cup 2011
- Thread starter Evil Robert
- Start date
What made it even more pathetic was dear old 7 claiming their coverage was "live". The hell it was. At least Nine isn't quite that stupid (yet).
I can recall 7 missing plenty of stuff (up to and including tries) while bombarding us with ads. They're really no better than each other, IMO, but I'll give Nine the benefit of the doubt. For now.
I don't miss him a bit. I don't miss the hysteria over nothing, the ridiculously trivial anecdotes, the even more ridiculously trivial trivia... He was once a brilliant commentator (back in the days when Aunty had the TV rights), but he's gone so far down the drain he's invisible. IMO, anyway.
It all gets under way tonight. Hoping for the best for us.
29-3. All Blacks playing very conservative.
Well, the ABs lost they way a tad in the 2nd half, final score 41 - 10. I think the ABs sat back a bit and just thought they would add another 30 without much effort.
During the scrum fest 5 m from the ABs line I was screaming for Tonga to quick tap it. They could have scored a few minutes sooner than they did. The ABs were guilty of something that always pisses me off about the Wallabies iin that situation. In defensive scrums the loose forwards don't commit, the number of times I've yelled for Elsom and co to keep their heads in over the last few years...I know why they do it, they risk the penalty and the lesser 3 points to save a try, but when you have repeated scrums it does get annoying.
Those moments reminded me of the 2007 opener when France was camped on the Argentine try line just hitting it up in the forwards endlessly, of course they didn't get any reward in the end unlike Tonga.
SBW got denied close to the line 3 times. I think he had a bit of white line fever because he's worried he might not appear again.
A decent win by the ABs and that was a good hit out. Slowed down at the end, but never looked in trouble. My views on them winning the entire thing hasn't changed, though when Carter was flexing his wrist early in the first half I was starting to have second thoughts.
England vs Argentina tomorrow will be an interesting game. Can Argentina kill a giant like they did in their first game 4 years ago and will England start their campaign with a loss like they did 4 years ago? It should be a bruising encounter.
During the scrum fest 5 m from the ABs line I was screaming for Tonga to quick tap it. They could have scored a few minutes sooner than they did. The ABs were guilty of something that always pisses me off about the Wallabies iin that situation. In defensive scrums the loose forwards don't commit, the number of times I've yelled for Elsom and co to keep their heads in over the last few years...I know why they do it, they risk the penalty and the lesser 3 points to save a try, but when you have repeated scrums it does get annoying.
Those moments reminded me of the 2007 opener when France was camped on the Argentine try line just hitting it up in the forwards endlessly, of course they didn't get any reward in the end unlike Tonga.
SBW got denied close to the line 3 times. I think he had a bit of white line fever because he's worried he might not appear again.
A decent win by the ABs and that was a good hit out. Slowed down at the end, but never looked in trouble. My views on them winning the entire thing hasn't changed, though when Carter was flexing his wrist early in the first half I was starting to have second thoughts.
England vs Argentina tomorrow will be an interesting game. Can Argentina kill a giant like they did in their first game 4 years ago and will England start their campaign with a loss like they did 4 years ago? It should be a bruising encounter.
We had a decent night out last night, went to the Viaduct Harbour in Auckland to watch the amazing fireworks for the opening ceremony for the World Cup, and to watch the game of course! The All Blacks had a good first half, and Tonga a good second half. My only real disappointment was the amount of handling errors by the ABs, which were evident even when they last steamrolled the Wallabies at Eden Park. It appears the coaching staff have their work cut out before we face Japan next Friday, and especially before we go up against France in two weeks time. I was very impressed with the backs' game last night, Dagg, SBW and Kaino were definitely in their element, but it was good to see Kahui be named the man of the match.
Just under an hour to go now until the other match I'm looking forward to this weekend, England vs Argentina. Go the Pumas!
Just under an hour to go now until the other match I'm looking forward to this weekend, England vs Argentina. Go the Pumas!
The Eng v Arg game definitely shows you the value of having a consistent goalkicker. If Argentina had one they might have won that game, though Wilkinson was rather poor as well. It also brought an end to the try fest so far, which isn't surprising given the two teams and their closeness in world rankings. Sometimes I do think that Lawrence has a whistle sponsorship with the number of times he goes to it.
France didn't look great against Japan. It is good to see that Japan didn't get pasted as they did in game 1 in 2007 where they lost 91 - 3 against the Wallabies. That with Tonga keeping it "close" to the ABs it would seem that the Pacific Nations Cup is paying dividends for those second tier teams and has brought them closer to the big boys.
Fiji had a decent win against Nambia and Scotland struggled against Romania in the other games. Tomorrow/today will show how the other 'Big' teams are going with two good match ups, Aust v Italy and SA vs Wales, the later is probably of most interest in terms of the tournament as a whole, not that Italy won't come out and give it all and Australia has struggled to get over Italy until the tail end of games in recent years.
Edit: Like I thought it was close in the first half between Italy and Australia, but the higher quality of our backs broke through in the second stanza for a 4 tries bonus point win.
In the first half the backs were a bit all over the place. Ashley-Cooper was back to his Super rugby form and forgot how to catch a ball. The centres, McCabe and Fainga were invisible and Cooper made poor decisions, coupled with poor passing as well. Picked up in the second half, though McCabe was still pretty invisible.
The set piece was okay. The first Italy scrum destroy our scrum, but after that it looked better until Alexander was subbed off for Slipper. I don't rate Slipper that highly in the scrum, but really there are only 3 international level scrummaging props in Australia, two are the starting props and the third (generally considered Australia's best prop) won't take part due to injury so there aren't many options for Deans. They were very lucky not to leak a try to the Italy scrum towards the end of the game. Lineout was fairly good with a few wins, but Polatu-Nau had a predictable loss of his first throw in off the bench.
Lots of penalties again, 24 in total, 15 from Australia. They were also pinged twice for backchat to the ref. They need to tighten up their discipline because if they do that in the knockout rounds they'll get kicked out of the game.
France didn't look great against Japan. It is good to see that Japan didn't get pasted as they did in game 1 in 2007 where they lost 91 - 3 against the Wallabies. That with Tonga keeping it "close" to the ABs it would seem that the Pacific Nations Cup is paying dividends for those second tier teams and has brought them closer to the big boys.
Fiji had a decent win against Nambia and Scotland struggled against Romania in the other games. Tomorrow/today will show how the other 'Big' teams are going with two good match ups, Aust v Italy and SA vs Wales, the later is probably of most interest in terms of the tournament as a whole, not that Italy won't come out and give it all and Australia has struggled to get over Italy until the tail end of games in recent years.
Edit: Like I thought it was close in the first half between Italy and Australia, but the higher quality of our backs broke through in the second stanza for a 4 tries bonus point win.
In the first half the backs were a bit all over the place. Ashley-Cooper was back to his Super rugby form and forgot how to catch a ball. The centres, McCabe and Fainga were invisible and Cooper made poor decisions, coupled with poor passing as well. Picked up in the second half, though McCabe was still pretty invisible.
The set piece was okay. The first Italy scrum destroy our scrum, but after that it looked better until Alexander was subbed off for Slipper. I don't rate Slipper that highly in the scrum, but really there are only 3 international level scrummaging props in Australia, two are the starting props and the third (generally considered Australia's best prop) won't take part due to injury so there aren't many options for Deans. They were very lucky not to leak a try to the Italy scrum towards the end of the game. Lineout was fairly good with a few wins, but Polatu-Nau had a predictable loss of his first throw in off the bench.
Lots of penalties again, 24 in total, 15 from Australia. They were also pinged twice for backchat to the ref. They need to tighten up their discipline because if they do that in the knockout rounds they'll get kicked out of the game.
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Wilkinson was really under par during that game. The late tackle towards the end almost gave Argentina a penalty try, but it's shocking the ref or the touch judge missed it completely.
Well down Ireland for beating the US.
Well down Ireland for beating the US.
I watched a summary of Australia vs. Italy (the actual match was broadcast in the early morning here). Seems like we did a good first half: the Italian scrum was excellent. Second half was marred by errors and confusion, and Australia steamrollered over the field.
Pretty much as expected: the final result was tough (32-6), but all considered we did a good performance. Next match is against Russia. We will see.
Pretty much as expected: the final result was tough (32-6), but all considered we did a good performance. Next match is against Russia. We will see.
Nothing special from us, but we got the win and that'll do for now. Once the forwards got their act together the rest was somewhat academic; we'd have to go back quite a few years now to find a Wallaby backline as talented as this group. Vickerman seemed needlessly stirred up; he really overdid the aggro and the backchat, and as usual Cooper spent as much of his time showing off as doing anything remotely productive. O'Connor made an immediate impact; hopefully he'll grow up soon, stop dribbling on about his "brand" and continue to develop as a player.
(On a more useless note, the "quality" of rugby journalism in this country is beyond pathetic. As usual, the cretin who writes for the SMH has made it clear he knows almost nothing about rugby, and the cretin who writes for the Australian gushed about his precious Reds as though they're the only people on the field. Both have claimed we've made some sort of definitive statement with this win; I dunno what game they were watching but it wasn't the one I saw. I really have to stop reading their drivel; it's embarrassing.)
It had been a very long week so I didn't stay up to watch the Argentina - England replay. Seems as though the Poms lucked out, which is unfortunate. Seems as though Scotland were pretty fortunate as well, but they were never going to be any genuine threat. I'd love to see Wales beat South Africa; here's hoping.
(On a more useless note, the "quality" of rugby journalism in this country is beyond pathetic. As usual, the cretin who writes for the SMH has made it clear he knows almost nothing about rugby, and the cretin who writes for the Australian gushed about his precious Reds as though they're the only people on the field. Both have claimed we've made some sort of definitive statement with this win; I dunno what game they were watching but it wasn't the one I saw. I really have to stop reading their drivel; it's embarrassing.)
It had been a very long week so I didn't stay up to watch the Argentina - England replay. Seems as though the Poms lucked out, which is unfortunate. Seems as though Scotland were pretty fortunate as well, but they were never going to be any genuine threat. I'd love to see Wales beat South Africa; here's hoping.
SA were very poor.
I'm sure it's just random chance, but every time I see SA they're outplayed but somehow win.
I'd be very surprised if they get anywhere near the final.
Edit: And I'm sorry, but Hook's kick in the first half was clearly over. WTF they didn't go upstairs for that one is anyone's guess.
I'm sure it's just random chance, but every time I see SA they're outplayed but somehow win.
I'd be very surprised if they get anywhere near the final.
Edit: And I'm sorry, but Hook's kick in the first half was clearly over. WTF they didn't go upstairs for that one is anyone's guess.
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^ and yet they did go upstairs for the two obvious tries.
I am livid about our result thanks to that clearly scored penalty. I just hope now we continue to play as well against the other teams in the pool and secure qualification - maybe even a bit of karma will see SA lose to Fiji. The only positive is that I have stomped all over my two fantasy team leagues so far, despite knowing comparatively little about positions and players
As an aside, I'd like to throw in with the terrible commentary comments. ITV's commentary is beyond appalling, so utterly pro-England it's astonishing. Hell, they even refer to anyone kicking a drop-goal as "doing a Jonny Wilkinson'. And today's gem, "the ball is in the what is the final third, in soccer terms'. As opposed to the 22. Rank amateurs. The one positive was that that arsehole Dallagio wasn't in the studio for our game.
Edit: if that penalty costs us qualification...
I am livid about our result thanks to that clearly scored penalty. I just hope now we continue to play as well against the other teams in the pool and secure qualification - maybe even a bit of karma will see SA lose to Fiji. The only positive is that I have stomped all over my two fantasy team leagues so far, despite knowing comparatively little about positions and players
As an aside, I'd like to throw in with the terrible commentary comments. ITV's commentary is beyond appalling, so utterly pro-England it's astonishing. Hell, they even refer to anyone kicking a drop-goal as "doing a Jonny Wilkinson'. And today's gem, "the ball is in the what is the final third, in soccer terms'. As opposed to the 22. Rank amateurs. The one positive was that that arsehole Dallagio wasn't in the studio for our game.
Edit: if that penalty costs us qualification...
^ More Wayne Barnes incompetence, I feel your pain, dude, it's like it's 2007 all over again. Shame to hear about the woeful commentary you guys get over there, all of the matches I've watched on Maori tv so far have had outstanding commentaries here.
So we have our first two day break now, kicking off on Wednesday again with Samoa vs Namibia, although the next match I'm most looking forward to will be Russia vs USA, it should be interesting to say the least!
So we have our first two day break now, kicking off on Wednesday again with Samoa vs Namibia, although the next match I'm most looking forward to will be Russia vs USA, it should be interesting to say the least!
I haven't seen the incident in question, but somehow I'm not the least bit surprised no one had the imagination to double-check whether or not the kick was successful. How pathetic, and how disappointing for Wales.
Speaking of referees, Alain Rolland's...performance in the Australia-Italy must have set some sort of record for ludicrously pedantic refereeing. Even by his standards it was terrible. I hope the event won't be turned into some sort of dreary kickfest by refs who want to uphold the letter of the rules.
Speaking of referees, Alain Rolland's...performance in the Australia-Italy must have set some sort of record for ludicrously pedantic refereeing. Even by his standards it was terrible. I hope the event won't be turned into some sort of dreary kickfest by refs who want to uphold the letter of the rules.
With Ioane's injury Fainga's starting position has probably been saved. Given the defensive structure that relied on Ioane coming in from the wing to cover the 10 channel it would make more sense to keep ACC on the wing to take over that role given his experience defending mid-field compared to say bringing in a more dynamic winger like Mitchell.
Shame our current 10 can't tackle worth a damn. It would make all this much more straightforward.
And on that subject, I'm glad Nick Farr-Jones has spoken up about the complete stupidity of Cooper's puerile baiting of Richie McCaw. Why give the ABs (and Kiwis in general) even more ammo than they have already? Cooper's done nothing of any real note in the Test arena; he's really in no position to play stupid games with anyone, never mind a player of McCaw's stature in the sport. Like O'Connor, he needs to get the hell over himself and just get on with playing football.
And on that subject, I'm glad Nick Farr-Jones has spoken up about the complete stupidity of Cooper's puerile baiting of Richie McCaw. Why give the ABs (and Kiwis in general) even more ammo than they have already? Cooper's done nothing of any real note in the Test arena; he's really in no position to play stupid games with anyone, never mind a player of McCaw's stature in the sport. Like O'Connor, he needs to get the hell over himself and just get on with playing football.
The less I hear about the rivalry the better. It has been pretty overblown by the media. You'd think it was the greatest and most spectacular thing to happen in sporting history. That said, Cooper is a bit of a dick and does need to be less dickish.
Scotland just beat Georgia 15 - 6, all penalty goals...except for a drop goal. With their form in these two opening games it is hard to see them beating either England or Argentina, which they will more than likely need to do to progress.
Big news in the past few days has been the injuries from the opening round: France has lost their fly half, Argentina one of their centres, and England has lost Sheridan for the tournament. Ioane's out for at least a month and Contepomi for around the same, Matfield and de Villiers for around 2 weeks, Habana and Carter for at least a week. Those are some pretty big names, but at least so far most will have an opportunity to come back into their sides.
Scotland just beat Georgia 15 - 6, all penalty goals...except for a drop goal. With their form in these two opening games it is hard to see them beating either England or Argentina, which they will more than likely need to do to progress.
Big news in the past few days has been the injuries from the opening round: France has lost their fly half, Argentina one of their centres, and England has lost Sheridan for the tournament. Ioane's out for at least a month and Contepomi for around the same, Matfield and de Villiers for around 2 weeks, Habana and Carter for at least a week. Those are some pretty big names, but at least so far most will have an opportunity to come back into their sides.
Well, cuffing a bloke in one game and "accidentally" kneeing him in the head in another does tend to attract a certain amount of attention. Yeah, it has been over-dramatised by the media but if Cooper acted like an adult, the attention wouldn't happen.
I was going to mention the injury list. It's already quite extensive. So long as Genia doesn't join the parade, we should be okay.
I was going to mention the injury list. It's already quite extensive. So long as Genia doesn't join the parade, we should be okay.
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