The Rugby World Cup 2015 Thread

[elsiegee40]

I was cheering on England, but to no avail. Very disappointing that England aren't through to the knock out stages.

 

As for Scotland @ButterflyMoon, they were sensible. They were going to lose that match anyway so better to save their better players for later matches.

[SpuffMonkey]

Wales! Wales! I hope they put the B Team in against Oz next week to avoid any more injuries...

[pooley]

We've been playing with our b team all tournament!

[elsiegee40]

I think they're on the C team by now. The Wales v England match was looking like an episode of Casualty at one stage with the stretcher carts whizzing round the pitch.

 

Wales has a decision to make: play their best team, hope to defeat Australia and get Scotland in the quarter final if they manage to win (and it's a a big IF) or play their worst team, lose by lots but stay unhurt and then throw everything into a QF against South Africa. Personally, I'd choose the latter.

[rich_tech]

Interesting night last night, horrible for the general paying supporter with he over-inflated prices, commentary before the game was ridiculous on ITV I thought, it was all England England England, ITV have been really poor on the neutrality stakes with pre-match build up and commentary compared to BBC that we are used to I felt throughout the tournament so far.

 

It was very nervy the game watching it here as a Wales supporter, England were in it until the second half I thought, Australia look like they could go all the way based on last nights performance, I think the second try that came out of nothing was arguably a contender for try of the tournament there, it was very, very clever play and it cut through the England back line before they could react to the switch of direction.

 

I thought England were going to come back into it and finish close (they didn't look like winning it to me) right up until Farrell got binned for the swinging forearm, they were lucky that was not two people binned there with Burgess as well, though Poite was and is an awful international referee I believe and didn't have a good game for both either.

 

I am glad in a way that Joe "45 Degrees" Marler was picked up on his propping, because he's been doing that for a good while now and hasn't been picked up at all on it, where we got nailed a couple of times for him getting away with that all game.

 

Facebook and Twitter have been quite comical in respect of the result too

 

Its an interesting week for us now, I don't know what to make of it, I am not a fan of putting 2nd string sides on and resting players on an international game, but I can understand the logic behind doing it, if Australia play like that again, we are going to have a hard time of it I think as is anyone in the tournament, they have been the most impressive southern hemisphere team so far for me.

[elsiegee40]

I'll be cheering on Ireland to stuff Italy this afternoon. I think they have the best chances of the home nations

 

Did anyone else notice that England has 2 syllables when chanted by rugby fans as opposed to the 3 used by Eng-uh-land football fans?!

Edited October 4, 2015 by elsiegee40

[elsiegee40]

Well that was a bit too close for Ireland's comfort. Still, a win is a win

[featured_spectre]

I caught the game midway through the 2nd half...Did Ireland field a full strength team?

[sonofsanta]

Still can't quite believe we're out. Fair play to Aus, they completely outplayed us and showed us up for what we were; even if we'd got to the quarters, there was no hope of us going all the way.

 

Serious questions to be asked of the coaching team now. I don't know if Lancaster will go, with his six year contract, though he may fall on his sword; but I think Farrell and Rowntree will be out. Our scrum can't be dominated like that by the Wallabies, and our ball lost to turnover so much; and the passing by the backs was sloppy, indecisive, slow.

 

Why were we still playing new centre partnerships for the first time in World Cup games? Lancaster himself said he'd have the squad settled and decided by 2013, ready for this. It doesn't matter how good your players are, if you can't play together as a team you've got no hope (e.g. Scotland the last five years, a problem they're finally overcoming). Whoever was in in 2013 should have been in, line drawn, job done.

 

Oh well... two matches to watch live this week, Canada v Romania tomorrow then the funereal procession that will be England v Uruguay on Saturday night.

[Gibson335]

There's no shame in being beaten by the better team, and England were this weekend. Where they failed in the Pool was in not beating a poor and injury-ravaged Welsh side. We picked up a few injuries of our own in that game, so it made no sense at all that when Wales suffered two more at the same time we then made several unforced changes. England lost all impetus at that point. Then, with basically our third-string hooker on, a man with a reputation for not throwing particularly well, we opt for a lineout rather than take a penalty to level things up. To counter the pressure on the hooker Robshaw opted to go short in the lineout, thereby making it so much easier for Wales to push us into touch.

 

The only issue I took exception to in the Aussie game was seeing Farrell get a card for what was, really, an offence no worse than one that occurred in the first half when Mike Brown was taken out of a ruck by an Aussie who smashed him with his shoulder having run 10 yards to do it. We got the penalty, but no card was shown. Burgess's tackle was possibly the worst of the three, and went unpunished!! What drove me mad was seeing England time and time again playing into Aussie hands by our players running into contact alone and getting turned over - when you know that's the Aussie strength, counter it by having another player go into contact at the same time, don't leave your man to get scavenged. I always thought we might lose this game, but we could and should have beaten Wales, making the games to come very interesting indeed. Oh, well, at least I'm half Irish.

[36Degrees]

@sonofsanta My thoughts exactly. We're still going on Saturday but the OH says a lot of people are trying to sell their tickets. It's still a World Cup game and disrespectful to Uruguay just because we're already out.

[elsiegee40]

@sonofsanta My thoughts exactly. We're still going on Saturday but the OH says a lot of people are trying to sell their tickets. It's still a World Cup game and disrespectful to Uruguay just because we're already out.

 

Tickets for Saturday and those for England's once potential knock out matches appeared for sale yesterday. It's a shame because I am sure they'll be good matches; England needs to redeem itself next week and the knock outs will be good even without the host team.

 

I think questions need to be raised about England's insistence on selecting only players who play club rugby in England. It's like the Yorkshire County Cricket rule where they would only select players born in Yorkshire... a noble idea, but narrows the gene pool too much when nobody else does it.

[jdoyle]

always fearful when Ireland play Italy. Ireland seem to go into a different mode. Some players did well (Zebo, Earle, Bowe, Henderson) but Murray and Sexton were below par for me.

 

Thankful for the win and qualification; hoping for a better performance versus France.

 

England really didn't do it against the Australians. Thought they would fight harder.

 

Nice to see Japan winning against Samoa (though I like Samoa)

[sonofsanta]

The only issue I took exception to in the Aussie game was seeing Farrell get a card for what was, really, an offence no worse than one that occurred in the first half when Mike Brown was taken out of a ruck by an Aussie who smashed him with his shoulder having run 10 yards to do it. We got the penalty, but no card was shown. Burgess's tackle was possibly the worst of the three, and went unpunished!!

 

Burgess has been given an off-field yellow for that tackle now (doesn't mean anything now the game is over, as far as I can tell), and Hooper has been cited for his shoulder tackle on Brown.

 

BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup: Australia's Michael Hooper cited

[pooley]

Burgess has been given an off-field yellow for that tackle now (doesn't mean anything now the game is over, as far as I can tell), and Hooper has been cited for his shoulder tackle on Brown.

 

BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup: Australia's Michael Hooper cited

 

3 yellows and he'd be banned for a game - that's not going to happen with only 1 game left

[Gibson335]

Burgess has been given an off-field yellow for that tackle now (doesn't mean anything now the game is over, as far as I can tell), and Hooper has been cited for his shoulder tackle on Brown.

 

BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup: Australia's Michael Hooper cited

 

Cited after the game doesn't help England during the game. The TMO influenced the Farrell yellow, but if they thought that warranted a card, why didn't they intervene for the attack on Brown? Don't get me wrong, that's not the reason we lost the game, but if one is a card then so is the other, and given all the TMO influence we've seen so far, where was it when it would have favoured us for 10 minutes? Burgess clearly deserved his, so again how was that not given? It's all got a bit messy since they took decision-making away from the three main officials - mainly because it's crept into the game more and more, and not just for try/no try.

[36Degrees]

I think questions need to be raised about England's insistence on selecting only players who play club rugby in England.

 

IMHO there is plenty of English talent playing in English clubs, the trick is choosing the right ones as well as the right coaches to get the best out of them. There also has to be proper investment in the various Academies to nurture the talent and ensure a continuous supply of new players.

 

If they remove the overseas rule then more players will chase the money. Clubs then don't get a return on their academy investment in addition to the big clamour to scrap the salary cap. The cap isn't perfect by any means but without it only a few will survive as there are few rich clubs or few with rich sugar daddies.

[Smee]

Off to watch Canada V Romania today can't decide who to support but looking forward to it anyway. We decided to buy tickets for local matches whoever was playing and these two look fairly evenly matched.

[elsiegee40]

Off to watch Canada V Romania today can't decide who to support but looking forward to it anyway. We decided to buy tickets for local matches whoever was playing and these two look fairly evenly matched.

 

Enjoy!

[sonofsanta]

Off to watch Canada V Romania today can't decide who to support but looking forward to it anyway. We decided to buy tickets for local matches whoever was playing and these two look fairly evenly matched.

 

Who did you pick in the end?

 

I was there with my Dad and a couple of friends, as Leicester is fairly close (as these things go in Lincolnshire...). Decided we'd support the Canadians, which was looking like a great call at 50 minutes in and 15-0 up. Fair play to the Romanians though, that was a hell of a comeback, and they earnt it with graft.

 

Not bad seats either

[Smee]

Hubby went for Canada and I was supporting Romania but to be honest I think we enjoyed the game because the outcome didn't bother us. It was a cracking game, thoroughly enjoyed it and wouldn't mind going down to Exeter to watch Italy V Romania ;p

The crowd was good too, didn't matter who was supporting who; did laugh at having to explain to a row of Americans the rules though, their horror when a player got was a blood replacement, not too sure what they expected lol

[featured_spectre]

I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the Namibia v Georgia game last night...first half of 50 minutes...practically unheard of

[elsiegee40]

Mr gee40 picked up a £20 ticket to South Africa v USA at the Olympic Stadium yesterday and went after work. It was poor in the first half apparently, but he enjoyed Habana's tries in the second half.

[sonofsanta]

So, er, seats for Saturday night at Manchester may not be quite as good as Tuesday's were in Leicester:

 

Why yes, that is about the furthest seat in the stadium.

[6Foot2]

Rugby World Cup Lipreading

 

If you’ve ever wondered what the players and fans are actually saying during the World Cup, then this video won’t help you. But it is for a good cause.

 

 

Link: Rugby World Cup lipreading | The Poke