Rugby Union World Cup 2011

[Orac Zen]

Higginbotham apparently picked up a back injury at training; he was in the side until that happened. I'm glad Moore's aboard; S. Fainga'a (who IMO isn't even remotely close to being an international-class forward) is ill, and at least Polota-Nau will pick up some desperately needed game time. Horne's a 13 so I'm not sure why he's playing at 12. Barnes should be there; we badly need his defensive solidity, his kicking game and the creativity he brings.

Here's a particularly insightful article from a bloke who should be the SMH's head rugby writer (since unlike the current cretin, he actually knows what he's talking about), discussing the flow-on effect of Cooper's defensive ineptitude. Intriguing and spot-on stuff, IMO.

 

[Jono]

Saw that article over at RH. Hard to argue with anything he's written.

 

[NCC1701]

Israel Dagg has been given the nod for Saturday's All Blacks match against France ahead of Mils Muliaina, meaning he is now Henry's pick as top fullback. Bring on 2007: The Revenge, I say

 

[Jono]

The Wallabies did what they needed to do and won with a bonus point. They also gave their FAA a big boost, which also might be crucial at the end of next week. However, I doubt NZ or RSA will look at that game and be terribly worried. All they really showed was the backs were good if they got ball and space. Set piece was better, but the quality of the US isn't equal with the 3N or 6N sides. I don't remember the forwards putting together a lot of phases either as the ball was funnelled into the backs pretty quickly. It would have been nice to see a bit more rough and tumble up front, though it might mean a few less tries.

Cooper's form is still a bit all over the shop. The first 10 minutes was rubbish and if it was against a side that could counter-attack with skill and power they would be 10 - 0 down instead of the other way around. Barnes looked in good touch and the back line looked quite impressive with him at 10, plus the goalkicking was a lot better. I doubt he'll unseat Cooper, but he should be seriously considered to start at No. 12 next week, though with want has happen there might be no other option.

That said the US didn't offer a lot with too much drop ball, slow play the balls and a bit too one dimensional. Once Cooper went to fullback they should have put up a few more high balls to test him out and might have got a bit more out of it. Also the US put on a very different side from the one that pushed Ireland and beat Russia, so it wasn't their best side.

Injuries went crazy. Horne, Fainga, McCabe, Beale and Palu. We won't know until tomorrow of the next day exactly what the exact count will be, but you'd think with what has been reported that there will be at least a centre replacement called in. I'm an unashamed Giteau fan and I'd like to see him brought in and to take a bench spot against Russia (and into the finals, you could do worse than having him on the bench). Having the Samoa game as potentially his last in the green and gold is not the way he deserves to be sent off regardless of how certain section of the fans or media feel about him.

I'd like to see an open side breakaway called in as well. I'd rather not just hope that Pocock is fit to face RSA or Wales, because if he isn't those two sides will strangle the life out of the Wallabies with hammering, endless forward play and their good goal kickers...though that might happen anyway regardless.

I'm a bit disappointed in France not throwing everything they have at NZ and more or less conceding the top pool position.

 

[Orac Zen]

Unimpressive, overall, but the real concern is the injury toll. I feel sorry for Rob Horne - the bloke's had one injury after another since he came into the Waratah setup and he (evidently) picked up his cheekbone fracture in his first tackle of the match. Yet another knee injury for Palu, too; hopefully it isn't serious, because his grunt (when he gets involved and applies himself, anyway) would be very helpful. I suppose Giteau is the logical replacement for Horne (assuming the injury is as bad as it sounds), but I'm among those who's not a fan - selfishness, poor attitude / sense of entitlement and his inability to run straight are my main issues with him. Barnes surely did enough, even without the ridiculous injury list, and Sharpe must have done his chances some good. Incredibly, Cooper actually made a tackle - there's a first time for everything, I suppose - but he really needs to learn when to put on the flashy crap and when to play the percentages. And to be sacked as goalkicker, an area that will end up costing us if it isn't sorted very soon.

No one's going to be frightened of us based on that effort, though. The US put some good stuff together - 19 or so phases against a major nation, eventually leading to one of the softest tries I've ever seen at any level of this sport, isn't bad for a minnow. Once they ran out of puff the result was inevitable but the first half was pretty decent from them.

 

[Jono]

My second team, Fiji is out of the RWC (as in not going to make it past the pool stages) with their convincing loss to Samoa this afternoon 27 - 7. They haven't looked to be as good as the 2007 side, but still hoping they can give Wales a good run. I'd like to see them win to give Samoa a run at the finals, but they'd need to prevent Wales getting a bonus point and Samoa would likely need to get one from their match against SA, which is going to be a very tough ask, even without their short turn around.

The AB seemed to have copied Australia last night with getting injuries and had to finish off with 14 players on the field. Can't be helping the nerves across the Ditch.

The score line was a bit flattering to France, who never looked like they would challenge. Their second try reminds me of the 2nd Brumbies v Rebels match where AAC scored in a similar fashion. Mortlock was up talking to the ref and Giteau went for the tap from a penalty close to the line and one pass out for AAC to crash through for a try.

 

[NCC1701]

We certainly got revenge for 2007 last night, apart from the first few minutes after kick-off the All Blacks dominated the entire game. Apart from France's second try and the penalty against Kaino I was pretty happy with the refereeing. After the liberal handling errors in our first two pool games it was nice to see the ABs make less errors than the opposition for a change! The local media is acting like we've won the World Cup already. While I'm fairly optimistic about our chances now, we still have a long way to go until the final on 23 October. The next month is going to be very exciting, either way

 

[Neutral Zone]

Watched Argentina vs Scotland this morning. A good tight game, being a Brit I wanted Scotland to win but have admit the Argentinians deserved it, their defence wasawesome at the end. Also as a Brit I hope Scotland do well for the rest of the tournament but seeing as I'm English, well the support for Scotland stops there and I hope we beat them next week.

 

[Angel4576]

Scotland vs Argentina - I sat there wanting them both to lose!

 

[NCC1701]

I watched delayed coverage of Scotland vs Argentina yesterday. Scotland deserved to lose after the dreary kicking game they turned it into, good on Argentina showing the Scots how we play rugby in the Southern Hemisphere

Unless Scotland pulls off a win over England this week, New Zealand will be facing Argentina in the quarter finals, who are a team that we don't face nearly often enough, in my opinion.

 

[Evil Robert]

The tie was a hoot. Especially this close to the AFL grandfinal. Wouldn't that be funny to happy again

 

[Jono]

Unless Scotland pulls off a win over England this week, New Zealand will be facing Argentina in the quarter finals, who are a team that we don't face nearly often enough, in my opinion.

That's about to change since the Tri Nations is turning into the Four Nations with Argentina joining the comp next year.

Japan and Canada played out their second draw in successive tournaments (that probably hasn't happened before). Got a bit of a soft spot for Japan, mainly because they haven't won a RWC match in any of their appearances, so I was hoping they could break that duck.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Italy won over the US, but not as easily as I hoped (27-10). Still, we managed to get 5 points, so now the pressure is on Ireland. We did what we had to: now it's their match to lose, and our to win.

(I suppose I am going to get a few raspberry from our Irish friends after the guys in green mop the floor with the Italian representative... )

 

[NCC1701]

Unless Scotland pulls off a win over England this week, New Zealand will be facing Argentina in the quarter finals, who are a team that we don't face nearly often enough, in my opinion.

That's about to change since the Tri Nations is turning into the Four Nations with Argentina joining the comp next year.

Well, yeah, obviously, but that's still nearly a year away at this point.

As for Italy advancing, I'd be all for it if it didn't mean Australia got to the top of their pool again. As the Wallabies are now, they deserve to get the tar kicked out of them by the Springboks.

As for the other matchups this weekend, I'm looking forward to South Africa vs Samoa on Friday, England vs Scotland on Saturday, and of course All Blacks vs Canada on Sunday, so I'll get my fill of Rugby again this weekend!

 

[Geck]

This has been Canada's best World Cup in a few decades, but we're still only playing well in short ten-minute spurts it seems. Our late comeback to beat Tonga and our late comeback to beat Japan...meanwhile we got off to a really good start against France early but couldn't sustain it. Overall we're still dogged by sloppy play, slow movement, and way too many penalties.

It's pretty clear we don't have a prayer against NZ this weekend, I'm just hoping we don't get completely get blown out like they did to Japan. It would be a sour note to end the tournament on for us, given that it's actually gained a fair bit of interest at home, where a month ago most people didn't even know we had a national team. Definitely proud of our guys (and their beards!) overall though.

The way NZ is playing I can't imagine them losing the Cup, and I think I'd be terrified of what will happen if they don't. It's theirs if they want it.

 

[NCC1701]

South Africa vs Samoa was certainly interesting, Samoa showed us they had what it took to take down the Springboks but couldn't quite commit right at South Africa's tryline multiple times, discipline costing them several tries at least. The cardings of both Williams and Smit were unneccesary in my opinion, but then I'm not a referree.

Still, it shows South Africa aren't the unbeatable killing machine they have been made out to be in the last couple of matches, even with their strongest side finally making a showing in this World Cup.

 

[Jono]

Joined the England got off too lightly bandwagon for their ball switching against Romania. Not that it changed the result and is unlikely to have any bearings on the pool's results, but that shouldn't matter. They should have been fined.

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm an American with no clue about rugby, but I saw a few games on TV when I visited England and I could definitely see myself liking it if I knew what the rules and the point of the game was.

I love football, and rugby seems a lot like it, minus the pads.

 

[iguana_tonante]

I only understand half of the rules myself, but I like it anyway.

I think it's mostly for the beer and the rowdy yet respectful atmosphere (something you don't get in soccer any more, and I say that as someone who loves soccer).

 

[SmoothieX]

I'm your typical American. I want to like soccer, I feel like I should watch soccer (the rest of the world can't be totally wrong about it), I watch the World Cup and enjoy it every 4 years, then it ends and I find myself only looking forward to the type of football that involves throwing the ball.

Rowdy yet respectful is great. I went to the two Patriots-Jets games (big regional NFL rivalry) that were held in the Boston area last year, and the back and forth between the fans of the opposing sides was lot of fun.