The Rugby Union Thread

crunchman · September 2023

fretmeister said:

Stay classy Boks….

Their attitude is so bad that I'd actually support Scotland against them.

Dr_Necessiter · September 2023

ewal said:

sev112 said:

ewal said:

The lopsided draw looking dafter by the day - two of SA, Ireland, France and NZ going home at quarter finals stage.

Pointless going on about it... hey-ho...

I don’t get this
the draw is such that the winner needs to beat the other big teams, all this draw does is mean they have to beat one of them in the 1/4s rather than the semi.
And if any of that “big 4” can’t beat ENG WAL FIJ ARG then they don’t really deserve to be in the final or even semi.

Because it's also about how far you go in the competition and who you've had to play to get there.

England came in to the competition on poor form, but have had the opportunity to ease themselves in to it nicely against (very much relatively speaking) easier sides. While on other side of the draw, we've already two games that could've been the final.

I'm just a bitter Scot. Our best ever team in the professional era is not going to make it out the group stages, and will probably suffer as a result next time around.

The odds are always stacked the wrong way. Should be used to it by now.

On the plus side, you'll be able to enjoy watching England get buttf@cked in the quarter finals by Fiji.

sev112 · September 2023

That might be less painful than trying to tackle them

koneguitarist · September 2023

With 4 pools and about 4 contenders generally you get one in each pool, now the gap has closed between top and bottom of tier one you are gonna have more good teams in one pool. Happened in 2015 with Wales England and Australia in same pool.

Point is if you have aspirations of winning RWC sooner or later you have to face the big boys.

Scotland could beat Ireland and that will throw that pool wide open.

Whether they will is another matter, but they certainly have the ability to win.

Dr_Necessiter · September 2023

I do wonder whether Ireland have already played their final, rather like England vs. NZ in the semis last time around. I do hope not but I feel that the intensity that Ireland brought to the SA match will be hard for them to match again so soon so there may be a glimmer of hope there for Scotland.

I'd love to see another northern hemisphere team win it, of the two probables, I'd prefer Ireland but would be happy for France to claim it. Another factor is Wales - a win against Argentina and they're in the semis; they shouldn't progress further than that but you never can tell. It's certainly interesting...

Open_G · September 2023

Dr_Necessiter said:

I do wonder whether Ireland have already played their final, rather like England vs. NZ in the semis last time around. I do hope not but I feel that the intensity that Ireland brought to the SA match will be hard for them to match again so soon so there may be a glimmer of hope there for Scotland.

It wouldn’t look too hopeful for me for Scotland. Ireland have been hitting the levels they are at for a few years now. Isolated brilliant performances have become consistent high standards. Their results remind me a little of the England 99-03 side but are probably better. They have multiple 6 nations titles and away series wins in the south. I seriously think they are the side to beat.

digitalscream · September 2023

Open_G said:

It wouldn’t look too hopeful for me for Scotland. Ireland have been hitting the levels they are at for a few years now. Isolated brilliant performances have become consistent high standards. Their results remind me a little of the England 99-03 side but are probably better. They have multiple 6 nations titles and away series wins in the south. I seriously think they are the side to beat.

I dunno...I'm not saying this because I'm English, but I don't get the same sense of complete dominance about the current Irish side as I did with the England's 2003 team. That's not to say that I don't think they'll win, but that's as much to do with the fact that all of the southern hemisphere teams are very weak compared to back then - even SA aren't to be feared so much as they were with the strange vulnerabilities that they've developed.

And, of course, then there's England - who have the irritating habit of getting far further in the WC than they have any right to, and playing Fiji then France/SA...there's actually a chance of getting to the final when it really, really shouldn't be possible with this team, especially if SA pull something out of the bag against France.

Then again, there's an equal chance that we'll get trounced by Fiji. Life in the Borthwick era is weird.

tbm · September 2023

Jaysus, NZ are destroying a decent Italy side. They look like they’re out to prove a point.

ewal · September 2023

They play some lovely stuff. To think some pundits were suggesting an upset was on.

camf · September 2023

NZ were very impressive from top to bottom. Great to watch.

ewal · September 2023

Running rugby at its best. Would be happy see them or France win.

guitars4you · September 2023

Dr_Necessiter said:

I do wonder whether Ireland have already played their final, rather like England vs. NZ in the semis last time around. I do hope not but I feel that the intensity that Ireland brought to the SA match will be hard for them to match again so soon so there may be a glimmer of hope there for Scotland.

I'd love to see another northern hemisphere team win it, of the two probables, I'd prefer Ireland but would be happy for France to claim it. Another factor is Wales - a win against Argentina and they're in the semis; they shouldn't progress further than that but you never can tell. It's certainly interesting...

My thoughts as well

koneguitarist · September 2023

There is still a possibility that last 4 could be from NH, doubt it very much but it’s there. Be nice if it’s a NH final, but I think S.A. will be in it.

sev112 · September 2023

It probably is the most open QFs to final ever at this stage
FRA NZ SAf IRE FIJ WAL ENG - you could see any 2 of that 7 getting to the final when we know that when the pressure comes on big team don’t perform in this tournament when it matter

digitalscream · September 2023

Bloody hell, Georgia have properly shown up today. Absolutely playing out of their skins, and banging penalties over from both sides of the half-way line...wow.

Nitefly · September 2023

... and then ...

ewal · September 2023

sev112 said:

It probably is the most open QFs to final ever at this stage
FRA NZ SAf IRE FIJ WAL ENG - you could see any 2 of that 7 getting to the final when we know that when the pressure comes on big team don’t perform in this tournament when it matter

Are there only seven teams in the quarter finals this tournament? Eng got a bye to the semi or something?

ewal · September 2023

Liked Romania's anthem. Notably in a minor key.

BluesLover · September 2023

Commentator - he opens those long levers....
Me - they're called legs!

ewal · September 2023

Commentators always call Blair's legs long levers...

ewal · September 2023

Main outcome of this evening is Darcy will get the start against Ireland. He probably would've anyway. Hamish Watson did well early on, but can't see him displacing Darge.

Ian McGeechan disagrees... Suppose he knows his rugby.

exocet · October 2023

Portugal are a joy to watch. Skill and attacking intent from 1 - 15. Unfortunately those same skills deserted them on more than one occasion when close to line but even so, mightily impressive.

ewal · October 2023

C'mon pundits I know Ireland are obviously odds on favourites next week, but please stop talking as if the quarter final line-ups have already been finalised...

If only the Ireland team would similarly write off Scotland's chances, but sadly they're too professional for that.

sev112 · October 2023

ewal said:

sev112 said:

It probably is the most open QFs to final ever at this stage
FRA NZ SAf IRE FIJ WAL ENG - you could see any 2 of that 7 getting to the final when we know that when the pressure comes on big team don’t perform in this tournament when it matter

Are there only seven teams in the quarter finals this tournament? Eng got a bye to the semi or something?

No I just didn’t think Japan or ARG are playing well enough to get through to semi, it the others could

sev112 · October 2023

Wow, SAF Tonga ref has completely new Yellow Card protocol - “I don’t think it’s a yellow card” - well, as per all the others, it is head to head, it has nothing to do with whether it is high degre of danger or not. head to head by tackler is yellow card, and then and only then does not hugh degree of danger / mitigation come in for the Red Card consideration

they are astonishingly inconsistent.

sev112 · October 2023

And now Etzebeh, exactky the same as Curry, payer jumps and lends and gets hit in the face head to head, but not even a yellow card, the nonsense goes on

fretmeister · October 2023

Who was the ref?

exocet · October 2023

fretmeister said:

Who was the ref?

Luke Pearce. Personally it felt like a good call at that instant. The offending player was stationary ‘ falling on one knee when the head contact was made. Strictly speaking though - inconsistent decision to have made.

I’ve also grown weary of TMO interventions in this WC and would be happy to see them used only if requested to do so by the ref. In the Portugal v Aus match yesterday, Portugal were never going to win but they appeared to score in 2nd half after a lot of good work to get themselves into a scoring position. A driving maul went over, Australia penalised for infringing (Yellow given) - try awarded to hooker - every neutral fan was happy. The TMO interjected - “ball was clearly dropped before being touched down” - none of the replayed angles clearly showed the ball being dropped…perhaps my eyes are duff but eventually ref reversed decision and to rub salt into the wounds, declared that a penalty try could not be awarded either, because it wasn’t beyond doubt that the carded players actions prevented the score. That felt wrong to me. My views were not at all influenced by the presence of the excellent Portuguese hooker in my fantasy team

.

Pjon · October 2023

Talking of high tackles, did anyone else notice the apparent high tackle by an Ozzie prop, iirc? There was a TMO check, the cameras focussed on the prop, with a quick replay of what looked like an shoulder driven upwards, and then the ref started looking at Kerevi's forearm 'smash'. Because of lack of replays, I'm wondering whether Australia should have had two players sent off simultaneously. (Although, I'm not sure that Kerevi warranted a yellow. It looked like a clumsy attempt at a fend, not an actual forearm smash to me.)

TJT1979 · October 2023

fretmeister said:

TJT1979 said:

Agreed.

I still don’t know why they do the draw so far ahead though. I’d have thought a year would plenty to organise whatever it is that depends on what the groups were.

They’ve changed that for next time. It’s going to be much closer to the event.

Do you have a link to something on that? I’d like to read further. Cheers

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