Rugby World Cup

[warspite1]

The Rugby Union World Cup starts tonight.

Unlike in Football - and pretty much everything else - for some reason, Rugby is not a sport I can, hand on heart, wish well to my Scots, Welsh and Irish brethren (well unless they are up against the French... or the Aussies...or the South Africans) [:)].

So come on England!!!

And if not - then I hope the Kiwi's win it [:)] - but anyone except the French and the Aussies.. [:)]

[pepita17]

Same here ,but the opposite.
Come on France . If not anyone except england .

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: monjoie

Same here ,but the opposite.
Come on France . If not anyone except england .

warspite1

How dare you sir! Get off my thread!!!



[;)]

[british exil]

Glad to see that I can watch the games live here in Germany.

I really thought Fiji were going to sneak a draw or a win.

England did not look so strong, maybe nerves. A lot of mistakes were made on both sides.

Looking forward to the rest of the tournament.

BTW, are the French allowed to post on here? [:D]



Mat

[warspite1]

ORIGINAL: british exil

Glad to see that I can watch the games live here in Germany.

I really thought Fiji were going to sneak a draw or a win.

England did not look so strong, maybe nerves. A lot of mistakes were made on both sides.

Looking forward to the rest of the tournament.

BTW, are the French allowed to post on here? [:D]



Mat

warspite1

I have e-mailed Erik to get the bounder removed from the forum. Honestly, Frenchmen posting on the Matrix Forum [X(]... whatever next? [:-]



[;)]

[british exil]

I have really thought about my comment about letting the French on this thread.

I feel that they do have a right to post here.
We should make an exception.





Especially when they come to congratulate the English team on winning.[:D]

Mat

[warspite1]

More importantly - and puzzling - is why does the England Rugby shirt sparkle??

That is the weirdest thing I have seen in a long time....

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

More importantly - and puzzling - is why does the England Rugby shirt sparkle??

That is the weirdest thing I have seen in a long time....

Because they want something to sparkle...?

[Neilster]

I remember when the 2003 World Cup was on in Australia, Namibia and Romania played in Tasmania (at York Park, in Launceston). They're not what you call big drawing teams and they expected three blokes and a dog to be there but as it was the only game in Tasmania, the locals really decided to support it.

Even numbered houses were instructed to support one team and odd numbered houses the other. The Namibians and Romanians couldn't believe it when over 15,000 people turned up, all in their respective colours [:D] For the record, it was Romania 37-7.

As usual, the All Blacks will be tough to beat but their record in World Cups isn't stellar. England look strong; as are Seth Efrica. If Australia gets their act together they could be dangerous. Ireland, France, Wales? Who knows? The others look to be a boy on a man's errand.

Cheers, Neilster

[warspite1]

Japan!!!!!!!

[british exil]

ORIGINAL: warspite1

More importantly - and puzzling - is why does the England Rugby shirt sparkle??

That is the weirdest thing I have seen in a long time....

Not sure if this is a real question or a trick one.

Isn't because they have some kind of rubber grip surface on their shirts to get a better grip of the ball when they catch it?
I remember the shirt they brought out last year I think, with little Victoria crosses on them. A few people thought it was a bad thing, others thought it was good to remember those who had received the real Victoria Cross, most posthumous.

Mat

[Plodder]

Woke up this morning, checked the results and had to do a double take. Japan beating the Boks? Madness!! I caught the highlights and what a game. The last two Japanese tries were straight from the top drawer and their ball retention in the last few minutes was like watching the All Blacks.

[AndyG1]

What a retarded game this is. Technicality after technicality, doing reviews after having made decisions and seeing the potential error of the ref on the public big screen and having it reviewed and changed (England game)! Seriously, screwed up rubbish.

Rugby League beats this hands down. Faster, harder, more athletic and skillful. Rugby Union is pathetic! And you don't waste 10 minutes setting a scrum with the ref telling you to get engaged before issuing another random technicallity and offering 3 points for a penalty kick. Where on earth is the "rugby" aspect?

...........

There you go boys and Frenchies, just telling it as it is from your ever so friendly Yorkshireman living in Aus:).

Ps, I'll still be cheering on England:)

[Plodder]

ORIGINAL: AndyG1

What a retarded game this is. Technicality after technicality, doing reviews after having made decisions and seeing the potential error of the ref on the public big screen and having it reviewed and changed (England game)! Seriously, screwed up rubbish.

If the TMO is used that way then yes, it slows the games down, but did you watch the Japan v SA game? End to end stuff with brilliant attack and brilliant defence.

Rugby League beats this hands down. Faster, harder, more athletic and skillful. Rugby Union is pathetic! And you don't waste 10 minutes setting a scrum with the ref telling you to get engaged before issuing another random technicallity and offering 3 points for a penalty kick. Where on earth is the "rugby" aspect?

A game of RL: run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle,kick.Once you get near the opposition's line:run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle,run,tackle, grubber kick, try/no try. Rinse, repeat for 80 mins. [:'(]

Seriously though, RL has it merits but it's only a major sport in 2 countries (even then, only in certain regions) and the international game is almost non-existent.The RL world cup is a joke, most of the teams are made up of either ex-pat Australians or Australians playing for their ethnic background (Lebanon?!) and they even had NZ Maori as one of the teams once.

[Eambar]

Japan's win was great for rugby and will have all of the Tier 1 nations taking the "minnows" more seriously - note Australia's full strength team vs Fiji.

The other good thing about Japan's win was that it was not a fluke - such as the result of an intercept, charge-down or some other piece of "lucky" play. They played hard, well structured rugby and their second try in particular was top-shelf - a back-line move off set-piece that was executed to precision. They also never gave up, even when conceding the lead on numerous times. Good stuff.

Other talking points for me from the first weekend:

- England looked very ordinary and they were lucky Fiji were just as ordinary. Plenty of talk about "getting the job done" and all that, but if they play like that against Australia or Wales there will be no job done (and I hope they do!)
- Good to see Georgia get a win - they too were underdogs against Tonga but showed passion and commitment. You could see at the end how much it meant to them.
- Wales picked up some injuries against Uraguay and at the 25 min mark only lead 14-9. I couldn't see another Japan-like upset happening but it was certainly closer than Wales would have liked.
- Argentina had the All Blacks measure in the first half - the AB's looked flat and at one stage, with about 220 caps in the sin-bin, looked rattled. Half-time couldn't come quick enough. Unfortunately for Argentina, the ABs found their way in the second half and didn't give the Pumas a sniff. I thought Argentina kicked away what little possession they had too often in the second half. They showed though, that the ABs can be put under some pressure. We're unlikely to see that now for them until the semi-finals.

Overall a very interesting weekend of rugby!

Cheers,

[warspite1]

Well done Wales - England threw that away, but Wales still needed to make them pay, and they did that.

[Eambar]

It will be interesting tomorrow to see how England can handle the pressure - they cracked last week in the final quarter of the game, this time there are no second chances. I just don't think they have enough experience, and this is an experienced and settled Australian team who know how they want to play - they won't be over-awed by the occasion.

The game can't come soon enough!

Cheers,

[Plodder]

England V Australia is always an odd one for me as I don't know who to support, I dislike both teams equally!![:D] Should be a cracking match though.

[Orm]

ORIGINAL: The Plodder

England V Australia is always an odd one for me as I don't know who to support, I dislike both teams equally!![:D] Should be a cracking match though.

I suggest that you cheer for the team that you want beaten by your own team. [:D]

[JamesM]

Farewell England!