Rugby Union World Cup 2011

[Shaytan]

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.

No one understand really the rules of rugby. I even think that the reason why the referee is so respected in rugby (in comparison with (if it's not "with", Deckerd will kill me) football), it's because he is the only one on the field who knows the rules.

 

[Orac Zen]

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.

Something more should have happened, certainly; the fact they were playing a minnow shouldn't be a factor, but probably was. It's a peculiar (and apparently world cup specific) rule, but it's there and England clearly violated it in search of some sort of advantage. I wonder how they'd have reacted if it had happened to them?

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.

The point's pretty clear - score more points than the opposition. As for the rules...well, rugby has far too many of them and some of them are absolutely ridiculous, and I'd wager even most referees don't know a lot of them. So I wouldn't be too concerned about that part.

 

[NCC1701]

^ Yeah, add me as another Rugby fan who isn't too clued up on the finer rules of the game

Richie McCaw is out for tomorrow's match against Canada because of a foot injury. Apparently Dan Carter will be taking his place as All Blacks captain, which will be a first for him.

 

[Jono]

Big win against Russia means the Wallabies will make the quarters regardless of the result and that if Italy wins, even Ireland getting 2 bonus points would still see Australia end up top of the pool due to ffa...

I've said this after every game so far...Cooper just has to throw an intercept pass. I just about got up and throttled the TV when it happened. It was telegraphed that it was going to be a long floating pass, so it deserved to be nicked.

That bench was always going to be a concern, you can't have 2 hookers and your only back replacements been halfbacks and hope that everything goes fine, especially with the attrition rate the Wallabies have suffered so far. Even before Mitchell went down the Wallabies were losing the plot, but after he did I think Slacky was right, the backs pulled their heads in worried that the injury curse would hit them next.

Pocock looked good and after the end of the first half I was hoping he would go off. He's too important to risk at this point. Moore, as well. Burgess was good starting and Ma'afu was decent off the bench. Simmons was neither here nor there really. Phibbs had to go to the wing and the third try was scored through him, but he is the smallest player on the pitch and on the line he'll be vulnerable. Samo didn't help by jumping in and opening the gap like he did. Fainga was okay, one bad throw in, but nothing much else.

Good on Russia getting 3 tries. First two were opportunistic off an intercept and split ball. That first try could have been called back as AAC was tackled/shoulder charged off the ball and prevented from going for the man with the ball, but after the hard graft the Russians put in before Burgess stole the ball they did deserve a few points.

Mitchell is very unlucky. In 2007 he was the form winger but was overlooked for an out of form Tuqiri for the bulk of the tournament. Come 2011 he misses most of the super 15s with an injury, and gets another injury in the last pool game of the RWC. I normally don't feel much pity for anyone outside the Brumbies ranks, but Mitchell I have to say I feel sorry for.

The replacements will be coming in for Palu and Mitchell. It might be a good idea to go for two backs at this point, an outside and inside back given the lack of fit backs. Still leaves the Wallabies exposed at open side breakaway, but they aren't going to go anywhere if they need to rely on Samo on the wing and the bench been two halfbacks.

Edit: Well, well, well, Tonga has beaten France. They'll be happy with that, but they needed tries to put the pressure on France for the quarters spot. Could the impossible happen and Canada win against the ABs with a bonus point and by about 50 points to bundle the French out before the quarters? I'd love to see it happen just to hear what the French media say...they would go ballistic. Hopefully the French coach adds some choice words in the post Tonga match press conference to his already distinguished collection.

Carter is out for the game against Canada and in an injury cloud for the rest of the tournament. If McCaw doesn't recover and Carter does bow out I'd be a bit nervous about the ABs getting bundled out in the semis by one of their tri-nations nemeses.

 

[Orac Zen]

Geez, what crap luck for Mitchell. All the effort he put into getting over that horrible leg injury looks to have gone down the drain. The fact he was playing so well just makes it suck even more. Poor bloke.

Pocock's indispensability was clearly demonstrated after half time, when we basically fell in a heap. Why the frell was no backup openside chosen?? Fainga'a yet again proved he isn't of international standard, so hopefully nothing happens to Moore or Polota-Nau. I'll refrain from my usual Cooper bashing at this point; it probably bores people, and there are only so many ways I can express my disdain for his complete inability to learn and stop doing damned stupid things.

Full credit to Russia, who took full advantage of our pathetic second half. If the IRB would get off their arses and support the minnow sides instead of continually fawning over the so-called "home" nations, the game would be a lot better for it. In that vein, it's particularly disappointing that Samoa didn't defeat South Africa yesterday. That might have helped that particular cause even more.

So France lost. How unsurprising that the Pakistan of international rugby has stuffed up. Maybe all the talk of all the ructions in the French camp has some basis in fact after all.

I'd imagine every Kiwi would be desperate for Carter's injury to turn out to be minor. He's essential to their chances, IMO; none of the others the All Blacks have tried in recent years even come close to him.

Here's hoping Scotland can give it to England. As I type, the TV ref has just confirmed a penalty attempt was successful; looks like sense has prevailed in that area, at least.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Here's hoping Scotland can give it to England. As I type, the TV ref has just confirmed a penalty attempt was successful; looks like sense has prevailed in that area, at least.

Alas, they didn't, thanks to a late try from England's Chris Ashton, having trailed Scotland for the whole of the match. Wilko was below average today, while Scotland, who knew what they had to do, played well especially in the first half, and made the England side work hard.

Still, the bottom line is that it's a win and a QF for England, and Scotland are all but on that long-haul flight.

 

[NCC1701]

And Dan Carter is now ruled out for the rest of the tournament, Slade being his replacement. Not good news to say the least. Hopefully Weepu will be taking over kicking duties so Slade can focus on the rest of the game this afternoon.

Edit: There was never any doubt, 79-15 to the All Blacks against Canada, handling errors creeping in again. Still, well done the boys in black, Argentina next weekend!

 

[Orac Zen]

It's not particularly realistic to describe any All Black as indispensable, IMO, but Carter and McCaw are about as close as it gets. Now Carter's out, and McCaw continues to battle injury. They'll work around this but it's certainly not good news for them.

Pity Scotland couldn't hold on that bit longer, but such is life.

Turner and Hodgson are our reinforcements. Predictable choices.

 

[Jono]

A What if? for Scotland. If they didn't murder that try part way through the 2nd half they probably would have ridden the emotions to hold off England.

Ireland won the last pool game of the tournament, they go on to face Wales and Australia to face SA.

Looking forwards: Ireland v Wales should be a cracker, they have looked the best 6N sides in the RWC.

SA v Aust, both teams have injuries to key personnel and comparisons to 1999 are inevitable, but neither side has been as dominate as 12 years ago.

NZ vs Argentina, will McCaw be back? If not, will the jitters scuttle them? It shouldn't, they are a significantly better team than Argentina, but anything can happen.

France vs England, France have looked ordinary. England not much better. They can't afford to keep giving away a good start in the first half as they have done against the tougher oppositions so far.

 

[HappyDayRiot]

Can't wait for our game with Ireland! Strange to think of how disappointing our loss to SA was in the opening round, yet now it's a godsend because we would have finished top of the group and found ourselves in the 'southern' half of the draw.

And this is the stage of the tournament where NZ might start choking, which is always entertaining

 

[NCC1701]

^ Lame troll is lame.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Well, we lost our match against Ireland which, despite my hopes, was utterly unsurprising. I can't really complaint, they were clearly the better team and they mopped the floor with our guys. Kudos to them.

We managed to hold on for the first half, and maybe the story would have been different if we scored that try in the final minutes of the first half. But alas, it was not meant to be. The injury to Castrogiovanni, the real pillar of the team, sealed our fate for this World Cup.

Looking forward to the Six Nations next year!

 

[NCC1701]

Israel Dagg, Zac Guildford and Richard Kahui are out for this weekend's semifinal, meaning Mils Muliana, Sonny Bill Williams and Cory Jane will be in the starting 15. While I'm not worried about the All Blacks' ability to get past the quarter finals, the amount of injured players just seems to keep piling up. I never thought I'd say this, especially after 2007, but thank fuck for the rotation policy!

 

[Jono]

Deans has put out the team for Sunday and its one step forward, one back. AAC is in the centres where he should be, but his partner is McCabe with Barnes on the bench. Also heard Barnes is a bit ill and that might have played. Ioane is back on the wing and pretty much this is back to the tri-nations team, with the exception that Sharpe isn't starting with Vickerman in the team and Sharpe on the bench. It also sees Higginbotham dropped with a 4 - 3 split on the bench.

McCabe back in will be a source of contention given he's completely one dimensional and that means the misfiring Cooper is the only option in attack again. However, it won't matter if the forwards don't stand up for 80 mins against the Boks, as we've seen far too often in the past all the flashy back in the world won't save the Wallabies when the forwards are back-pedalling faster than the Labor government.

Off topic: I wonder what Jack White will do with McCabe next year...

 

[Orac Zen]

I read some stats earlier that indicated Vickerman (along with Kepu) has conceded more penalties so far than any other Wallaby. He'll really need to get over himself for this game, given that goalkicking is an area in which SA's potential vastly exceeds ours.

Can't believe McCabe's in ahead of Barnes. The illness thing is the only rational explanation for such a choice.

Completely agree that our forwards need to stand up for the whole 80 minutes. I don't have a good feeling about this game; our recent record against SA is decent but that counts for absolutely nothing. I'm hopeful more than confident.

On paper, this Test and Wales - Ireland should be the pick of the quarter finals. NZ should blitz Argentina, even with their own injury dramas, and depending on which version of France shows up England shouldn't have much trouble, either.

I wonder what stupidity the IRB will come up with next? Between fining people for wearing non-approved mouthguards but taking no action over England's blatant cheating attempt, claiming "everyone is replaceable" - including NZ - at the World Cup and banning players from writing biblical verses on wristbands unless previously IRB-approved (they're worried about ambush marketing from the Bible?? ), they've demonstrated their total ineptitude on an almost FIFA- or ICC-like scale in recent weeks. It would be funny if it wasn't so completely pathetic.

 

[Jono]

Wales is the first through to the semis. Ireland paid for not converting pressure into points. Why they didn't go for the 3 points in the first half of the first half I don't know. They really should have gone into half time with 6 - 12 points in the bag. That said good to see a match in those conditions go to the side that scored tries because it could easily have just been a penalty shootout.

Wales has looked the best NH side of the tournament and getting through to the semi is well deserved.

 

[Orac Zen]

Great game. If the northern hemisphere sides played that kind of rugby more often...eh, how likely is that?

Ireland left a lot of points out there, both from penalty shots not taken and from errors at crucial times. Wales were fantastic in attack and defence and fully deserved the win. Hopefully they'll pound whichever side they face in the semis.

 

[Shaytan]

Oh !

 

[Orac Zen]

Leave it to France to go from horrendous to...well, pretty decent in the space of a week or so.

Not a vintage performance but enough to eliminate what's been a pretty ordinary England side. Both today's results have gone as I'd hoped they would; now I'd like a repeat tomorrow.

 

[Jono]

A result a lot like 2007 for France. They were ordinary in the pools, had the indignity of losing their opening match at home, but came out in the quarters and turned it around somewhat. I said that England couldn't afford to give out a start, you do it often enough it will come back to bite you on the backside. I did think that France shut up shop a bit early in the second half and thought for a second England might reign them back in, but in the end they didn't. I doubt there will be many sorry to see England go after their conduct in the pool stages on and off the field.

Very nervous about tomorrow, hoping for the Wallabies to take a leaf out of Wales and France's book, otherwise the media (ours and especially the English for how it is an art form) will enjoy sharing the savaging that England is sure to receive.