Rugby World Cup 2011

[Alcatraz]

That's the first upset of the tournament. Australia looked terrible

[pink_triangle]

As a Wales fan very happy with our start, I thought today was a potential banana skin and certainly not complacent but we have put ourselves in a position to qualify.

The Ireland result has also opened the draw up. Look like the knockout could split one half with the best of the six nations and one with the best of the rest. If at the start if the tournament you had offered me a win against Ireland then England/France to get to the final, I would have bitten your hand off and an sure the other 3 would say the same. Since the last world cup there hasn't been a dominant European team and all 4 have shown they can beat each other.

[The Nal]

If at the start if the tournament you had offered me a win against Ireland then England/France to get to the final, I would have bitten your hand off and an sure the other 3 would say the same.

[Duffbox]

I'm really liking the minor games, the last two days with Italy vs Russia and Japn vs Tonga have provided some quality entertainment. Good to see Italy able to put some set pieces in to action, shows how much they've improved since they first played in the 6 nations

[pink_triangle]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15041494.stm

I have to admit that I find the maths for this tournament a bit complicated. However isnt there another scenario where scotland beat england by 8 points and argentina win with a bonus point which would put scotland through and england out. I dont expect it to see scotland in the qf but if they did manage it, wouldnt this be the most likely scenario?

[rexclark]

http://news.bbc.co.u...on/15041494.stm

I have to admit that I find the maths for this tournament a bit complicated. However isnt there another scenario where scotland beat england by 8 points and argentina win with a bonus point which would put scotland through and england out. I dont expect it to see scotland in the qf but if they did manage it, wouldnt this be the most likely scenario?

[pink_triangle]

Its also very unfair that the final games of each group are on different days. Its a big advantage for wales going into the last game against fiji knowing the exact score they need because samoa will already have played.

[thegremlin_1999]

The bit about the world cup thats really fucking me off is the simple fact that my club (Leicester) has 12 players out (first teamers for the most part, and one bench player) and yet we still have to play the second best club in the league (saracens, they finished SECOND in the actual league afterall..) who have 2-3 out...

how is that in anyway a level playing field? how does that benefit me and the other 13000 leicester season ticket holders by watching my 2nd and a half team (what with the 7-8 players out long term injured too) get stuffed by sarries first team? indeed how does it benefit the league when the whole thing is skewed towards teams (like sarries) who're just full of mercenary south african thugs instead of producing talent to the home nations... (ok, so we have 2 argentinians, an italian and a samoan out too)

apparently Leicester wanted to play the LV cup during the world cup period (a sensible suggestion i'd say) but were shot down by the other 9 premiership clubs.

it aint just leicester either, saints are really struggling due to actually generating good home nations prospects as opposed to buying in...

ok, rant over, but its a situation thats going to rear its head again come 6 nations time, the clubs like leicester and saints that produce good home nations talent are penalised for producing good home nations talent whereas the likes of the soulless saracens succeed by buying success!

[Snufflebutt]

The bit about the world cup thats really fucking me off is the simple fact that my club (Leicester) has 12 players out (first teamers for the most part, and one bench player) and yet we still have to play the second best club in the league (saracens, they finished SECOND in the actual league afterall..) who have 2-3 out...

how is that in anyway a level playing field? how does that benefit me and the other 13000 leicester season ticket holders by watching my 2nd and a half team (what with the 7-8 players out long term injured too) get stuffed by sarries first team? indeed how does it benefit the league when the whole thing is skewed towards teams (like sarries) who're just full of mercenary south african thugs instead of producing talent to the home nations... (ok, so we have 2 argentinians, an italian and a samoan out too)

apparently Leicester wanted to play the LV cup during the world cup period (a sensible suggestion i'd say) but were shot down by the other 9 premiership clubs.

it aint just leicester either, saints are really struggling due to actually generating good home nations prospects as opposed to buying in...

ok, rant over, but its a situation thats going to rear its head again come 6 nations time, the clubs like leicester and saints that produce good home nations talent are penalised for producing good home nations talent whereas the likes of the soulless saracens succeed by buying success!

[grumpyhack]

Its also very unfair that the final games of each group are on different days. Its a big advantage for wales going into the last game against fiji knowing the exact score they need because samoa will already have played.

[Ed209]

Someone has to go second but knowing the score and actually getting it are still not quite the same - however as a Wales supporter I'm possibly biased. I suppose they do different days to maximise the TV revenue.

[Gre]

I don't know of any other major tournaments that don't play the final group games simultaneously. As you said, its to maxkimise tv revenue, but to the detriment of the tournament as its possible to now get final group games that could be dead rubbers while having meant something if played at the same time as the other games.

[Istari]

I don't see why they don't just play the rugby world cup in the summer. Though I suppose whenever you play it, there will be scheduling clashes depending on what hemisphere you are in. The one clear advantage that playing the tournament in the summer has is that it broadens the number of countries that can host the thing - football stadiums can be used in the summer, which might be of use if the IRB wants to bring the World Cup to other countries to broaden rugby's appeal.

Edited September 27, 2011 by Istari

[Uncle Liam]

In 2015 the tournament is exclusively in England, apart from a few matches at the Millenium Stadium, and using mostly football stadiums.

[thegremlin_1999]

By summer you will be meaning the northern hemisphere summer? Therefore that will clash directly with the Super 15 competion and more importantly the Tri-Nations tournament. If it is the southern hempisphere summer then it would likely clash with the Six Nations. By playing the WC in Sept/Oct it is more of a compromise, coming at the end of the southern hemisphere season and the start of ours.

The use of football stadiums is not an issue in South Africa, Australia na New Zealand, where they have a lot of large, dedicated rugby stadia. Whereas in the UK and France (less so) the club stadia are not large with usually only the national stadiums being of great size. So in 2015 the matches may be palyed in football stadiums or given to other countries like the 1999 RWC that was officially held in Wales but had games in England, Ireland, Scotland and France.

[Istari]

Why can't it be played during super 15? What's the difference to devaluing their domestic competition to ours?

Best thing in my eyes is to do what has been suggested more than once by people and play the season in blocks, this season for instance play LV cup during world cup. Then play first half of prem games the euro groups back to back, then the rest of the prem games and the euro knockouts. Finish in march with the euro final. Scrap the godawful play offs. Then play the 6 nations on back to back weekends April to mid may...

Would that be so difficult? And it will solve all the club vs country arguments and mean teams like Leicester and saints don't get punished for NOT buying foreigners instead of generating young home nations talent...

[thegremlin_1999]

The Super 15 is their version of the Heineken Cup rather than the Premiership. I do agree with the idea of playing in blocks and getting the LV Cup played at the start of the season. None of the teams take it overly serious and if they removed the qualification for the Heineken Cup if an English club wins as an incentive then it will be worthless.

However, its unlikely to change as it largely down to the TV scheduling why the season is so unstructured

[pink_triangle]

The result today in south africa v samoa confirmed my feeling regarding the unfairness of playing the final group games at different times. If wales had played today they would have had to go for the win knowing that the other game was competitive. Now they can play a second string side and take a loss if necesary. It seems a bitt against the spirit of the tournament. Still cant see us beating ireland though, I cant remember us ever winning a knockout in the rugby world cup. If only they had played the tournament in the 70s!

[pink_triangle]

Looking forward to the european side of the draw. There has been very little between the 4 teams since the last world cup with each winning one six nations title each, I checked the tables and in terms of match wins in those 4 tournamnets its france 14, ireland 13, wales 13, england 12, it couldnt be much closer.

As a wales fan Im happy with our form and happy to play ireland, I dont think either team expected to get further than the qf at the start so the pressure is off and if wales lose next weekend then I will throw my support to ireland and hope they win the tournament. As alway Im very worried about England they seem to be able to get results in world cups without playing amazing which is very dangerous. In fact I looked at the last 2 world cups and england have managed to get a 1st and a 2nd scoring only 3 tries in total in knockout games, only 1 more try than wales and we have only played 1 knockout game to englands 6! I dont mean that as a criticism, englands style of play may not always have been to my taste but in terms of winning matches in clearly works.

[Istari]

Carter out of the World Cup and McCaw injured. Will the wheels fall of the All Blacks as they get closer to the final?

England really need to pull their finger out and sort out some sort of tactical ideas as we were bereft of much in the Scotland game and were lucky at the end. Going into the game against France it is impossible to tell who will win

[Istari]

Thank fuck that Johnson has dropped Tindall and gone with Flood at 12 (even if it was injury forced or not). Tindall has done more off the field than on it.. This will give us more options in the backs. Not too sure about Easter in for Haskell and would have probably dropped Stevens for Corbisiero. Interesting going with 5/2 split in the replacements, might end up with Croft playing in the backs if we suffer to many injuries to the backline!

[grumpyhack]

What an excellent start to the day (as a Welsh supporter). My niece is married to a former South African player and I once asked him who he cheered for when South Africa weren't playing and he replied "Whoever is playing England." But following that approach I'll have now to change alliegances. After cheering France, who deserved their win, I'll have to wish them a bit less luck in their next match. I think Wales will have a tough time against them in the semis, particularly with injury problems.

[lharris92]

england were piss poor in the 1st half, deserved to lose tbh - especially with the amount of times flood chucked the ball in the air and france gained possession from it.

hope wales beat france though, would be nice to see a home nation in the final

[Istari]

We haven't done the basics right since kicking off against Argentina. And today it came home in one of the worst 40 minutes I have ever seen England play.

Fair play to France, they played well especially Rougerrie, Dusautoir and Harinordoquy.

[JC-Mo'Fucka]

Fair play to France, they played well especially Rougerrie, Dusautoir and Harinordoquy.