The Rugby World Cup 2015 Thread

[elsiegee40]

Gutted for Scotland. Kept it alive to the very end

[ButterflyMoon]

That was nail biting AND I scared the dog by shouting at the telly..........

[elsiegee40]

It goes against grain, but I may have to support Argentina next weekend

[featured_spectre]

With how they played today, and how Australia played today...I wouldn't be surprised to see Argentina in the final.

 

South Africa v New Zealand is too close to call IMO.

[elsiegee40]

My money's on NZ. Their rugby yesterday was in a different league to the Springboks

[superatticman]

I'm disappointed but not surprised that Lancaster hasn't fallen on his sword yet. The English have sadly become rather inept when it comes to the noble art of resigning with dignity. The case against him is overwhelming. Scotland earlier proved that even with relatively small resources, you can produce a team that is organised and full of belief.

 

Sadly the England rugby team is in danger of going the same way as the football team. The ridiculous pre tournament hype may not be the players fault, but from what I can see, huge sums of cash have come into the English game in the past ten or so years. Yet the final product is simply not good enough. Getting tired of hearing "we're building, we're learning" etc. Sooner or later you have to become a finished article to be judged on results (especially at major tournaments) alone.

[elsiegee40]

I think that's a bit unfair on Lancaster. I am sure he will go, but the right time to do so is once the tournament is over in my opinion.

[featured_spectre]

My money's on NZ. Their rugby yesterday was in a different league to the Springboks

 

France didn't show up. They were undisciplined, and lacklustre. New Zealand took full advantage.

 

South Africa, bar 1 blip against Japan, have been amazing.

[featured_spectre]

As for Lancaster going...needs to be after the tournament. The team has had huge injections of cash, but they're looking at the same places every time for players and grass roots keep getting glossed over.

[elsiegee40]

France didn't show up. They were undisciplined, and lacklustre. New Zealand took full advantage.

 

South Africa, bar 1 blip against Japan, have been amazing.

 

The All Blacks played superb rugby yesterday. They put in as much effort as they needed to in the group stages and then went for it when it mattered. South Africa are playing much better than they did against Japan, but the quality and speed doesn't match NZ. It won't be the walkover of the French match, but my money's still on a Kiwi win.

[featured_spectre]

I agree it will be a new Zealand win, but the question is, how many points.

 

My guess is less than 5.

[sonofsanta]

I am absolutely heartbroken for the Scottish

 

Craig Joubert should be ashamed. It was never a yellow for deliberate knock on, it shouldn't have been a penalty at the end, and he should have had the guts to stand up to his mistakes and shakes the players' hands instead of sprinting off the pitch with his shame chasing him.

 

The Welsh gave it their everything, the Argentinians came from nowhere (was honestly expecting Ireland in the semis), and the Kiwis were incredible. When even props are finding gaps, you're more or less unstoppable.

 

These quarters have shown just how far off the mark English rugby is. We are miles behind where the other home nations teams are in how we play. Six Nations is going to be painful to watch in a white jersey!

 

I can see a Kiwi v Wallabies final. I think the Aussies were shaken badly by yesterday, but they played much better in the group stage than the Kiwis did.

[pcstru]

Gutted for Scotland. Kept it alive to the very end

And were then cheated of victory by a veritable string of poor decision making. Unbelievable.

[elsiegee40]

It would appear the southern hemisphere is playing much faster rugby than the north and the Argentinians, being used to make up numbers by the 3 leaders, are getting excellent tuition in that style of game.

 

I think the national teams of the north should be actively encouraging their players to spend some time with clubs in Australia, South Africa or NZ to learn a speed and technique that they're not getting back home. The English travel ban could well be suffocating their game.

[Vasriel]

The Scotland squad played a great game and should be proud of themselves. I'm from Scotland and most Scots knew we were going into this the underdog as Australia are a great team and there was no way we were going to win. The guys went for it and took their chance and played an amazing game.

 

They where robbed at the end by Craig Joubert who made a terrible decision, didn't use the TMO and then at the end ran off the pitch without shaking anyone's hand.

 

If he had actually stayed at the end and apologised to the Scotland rugby players for his poor decision, there probably would not be as much controversy as there is. Instead he chose to run away and confirm that he knew he made the wrong decision.

 

On the positive side of things, Scotland can go away knowing they've played great in this tournament compared to the Six Nations earlier this year. They know now they can be a good team.

[jdoyle]

well that was a roller coaster weekend of effort and emotion. Some really great rugby.

 

I underestimated the Argentinians and Scots big time.

[36Degrees]

Yet again there is inconsistency with the TMO. Intervenes for the deliberate knock on but not for Stuart Hogg being taken out after the kick and then no request for clarification for the knock on.

 

It will be interesting to see who they pick to referee the 2 semi finals and the final. IMHO it should be Nigel Owens and Wayne Barnes for this weekend and Owens for the final.

[elsiegee40]

"A five-man review panel will be led by RFU chief executive Ian Ritchie.

It also includes former Football Association chief executive and current England Rugby 2015 board member Ian Watmore and Professional Game Board chairman Ian Metcalfe.

No date has been set for the completion of the review. The next RFU board meeting will take place on 17 November."

 

BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup 2015: RFU names England review panel

[elsiegee40]

"Referee Craig Joubert's run from the pitch at the end of Scotland's defeat by Australia may have been prompted by crowd "hostility", says World Rugby chief executive Brett Gosper."

 

According to a friend at the match the crowd (well everyone except the Australian fans) started booing when Joubert ran from the pitch not before. He ran because he knew he had mucked up.

 

BBC Sport - Craig Joubert: World Rugby chief defends Scotland referee

Edited October 19, 2015 by elsiegee40

[superatticman]

Whilst the referee was extremely culpable, Scotland made a balls up of the line out didn't they? However, unlike England, the Scots can hold their heads up having played to their full potential.

[elsiegee40]

The bottom line is that had the Australian fly half had a better day kicking at goal (he missed 3 penalties and a conversion) Scotland would have been nowhere near. It's all ifs and buts. Scotland did themselves proud and the result cannot be changed.

[rich_tech]

That was one of the best weekends of rugby thats been on the television in years now I thought,

 

We were horribly unlucky against SA and it was heartbreaking when they scored at the death (its not worth the agro people gave Wayne Barnes I thought, though he did have a couple of questionable calls in the beginning, you have to get passed that - though I do think the IRB leave themselves open to some neutrality questions at times)

 

I think NZ showed their class against France who never got out of first gear and suffered badly with the loss of Michalak in the opening minutes.

 

Ireland were outgunned by Argentina in their match who were really surprising in their win to me and I like an outsider, I think injuries to their key players cost them too dearly - O'Connell was a talisman for the team to focus and we can now see the effect that the 4 nations has had on bringing that team along professionally, its been hugely beneficial for them.

 

Scotland - Horribly unlucky to get that treatment and its worse now that its been acknowledged as a wrong call on his part, though that was by far Scotlands best game in 5 years to put 30 points on Australia was no mean feat, we couldn't do that in our pool game.

 

I think NZ will edge it for the rest of the tournament on what I have seen.

 

I think next years 6 nations is going to be the most exciting it has been in years too based on the form of the teams in this tournament.

[elsiegee40]

More BBC news

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/rugby-union/34576756

 

Referee Craig Joubert was wrong to award a crucial 78th-minute penalty against Scotland in Sunday's World Cup quarter-final defeat by Australia, says World Rugby.

 

The governing body said that, because Australia's Nick Phipps touched the ball, "the appropriate decision should have been a scrum to Australia for the original knock-on".

 

The statement added that Joubert "could not refer to the television match official (TMO) in this case and therefore had to rely on what he saw in real time Rugby.

 

The governing body said that, because Australia's Nick Phipps touched the ball, "the appropriate decision should have been a scrum to Australia for the original knock-on".

Scotland lost 35-34 after Bernard Foley kicked the penalty.

 

The statement added that Joubert "could not refer to the television match official (TMO) in this case and therefore had to rely on what he saw in real time

 

World Rugby regulations only permit the TMO to rule on foul play or whether tries or kicks at goal are legitimate."

 

And for the semi finals:

Joubert has not been selected to officiate in this weekend's semi-finals with Frenchman Jerome Garces refereeing South Africa versus New Zealand on Saturday. England's Wayne Barnes will oversee Australia against Argentina on Sunday. "

 

I'm reading the above as Nigel Owens has the final

[sonofsanta]

And for the semi finals:

Joubert has not been selected to officiate in this weekend's semi-finals with Frenchman Jerome Garces refereeing South Africa versus New Zealand on Saturday. England's Wayne Barnes will oversee Australia against Argentina on Sunday. "

 

I'm reading the above as Nigel Owens has the final

 

That works for me.

 

All this talk about the TMO couldn't intervene in the knock-on/offside debacle... no, but he could intervene in the case of foul play, i.e. the massively late "tackle" (pronounced "shoulder barge") on Stuart Hogg just before that line out, couldn't he? He also made the wrong call on Maitland's yellow card. Joubert had a bad day, but the TMO's was terrible.

[rich_tech]

we can live in hope, Wayne Barnes was axed before by the IRB in 2012, they do like to shake it up a bit, can't see how Joubert can carry on after that either, they downplayed Rolland as well after a while too