Very happy with that.
Favourite moment was Sinkler's try coming so soon after that penalty against him.
Now have to work out the logistics for next weekend.
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I thought England played well, even when Aus got back to 1 point I was totally at ease as the Aussies had blown themselves out to get so close and England still had plenty in the tank. NZ/Ire won't relish playing us that's for sure.
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Very happy with that.
Favourite moment was Sinkler's try coming so soon after that penalty against him.
Now have to work out the logistics for next weekend.
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Already seen enough of the NZ Ire game to see that Ireland are going to get ganked by 20+
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Last edited by ryanb741; 19th October 2019 at 11:41.
Jaysus this is like a week off for New Zealand
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New Zealand are looking the way better team. Handling errors galore from the greens.
If Australia had anything approaching a cutting edge ENGLAND would have lost comfortably. As it is it’s a comfortable passage. As for Ireland well its men v boys I’m afraid. Being taught a lesson in how to play at the breakdown
Looking at the Irish players during the anthems, particularly Rory Best, there seemed an air of resignation in their faces. NZ have been Clinical, controlled and looked after the ball and Ireland haven't. Ireland have made a massive contribution to their own down fall.
Ireland today looks like the same Ireland that England spanked 3 months ago(57-15).
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Ireland winning back a bit of pride in the last 10 minutes.
Irrespective of what happens tomorrow, I feel today we have seen the winner of this years World Cup.
NZ were very good, but it's difficult to say how good simply because of number of errors made and the amount of ball coughed up by Ireland.
Were Irelands errors the direct result of pressure by NZ or was it simply poor rugby. Given their recent performances, (England, Wales, Japan and now NZ), I cannot help thinking it was more than just pressure.
Like Scotland, Ireland needs a new broom.
Last edited by Andyg; 19th October 2019 at 13:24.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
England and NZ are a class apart. The real game is their Semi. The winner of that should win the final by 20+ points.
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Missed both games today, had to drive from West Wales to East Wales to fix a leaking sink, grrrr.
I hope I'm wrong, but I agree that the eventual winning team will be whoever wins the England v NZ semi. If its NZ, well, enough said, and if it's England they will be on a pretty much unstoppable roll.
Nervous about France tomorrow, I fear they could have their usual one off special game.
Good by England today, I hope we don't get complacent and think we can just turn up next week and steamroller the All Blacks. From what I saw in their game against Ireland we shouldn't take New Zealand lightly or we might end up getting a nasty surprise as they definitely have the tools to hurt England.
Ok, who thinks that the TMO in the England vs Australia match will, at the very least, be getting a stern talking to from World Rugby? The whole World could see that it was a forward pass and the referee dismissed him out of hand. Quite shocking.
Don't under estimate South Africa.. Made NZ look fallible... but for 10min and 2 break away tries.. But "but" doesn't win games.. Still don't underestimate the BOKs
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Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Currently ranked 5th, 3 places below Wales, but I am pretty confident they will feature in the final, so will have a better chance than most teams.
They have to get through Japan first. Should be good because Japan will try to run them all over the pitch for 80 minutes.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
No disrespect to Japan, and this is only my opinion but they haven't faced an in form team like SA yet. I don't think it will be pretty.... I'll eat my words if I have to
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SA are a bit Jeckal and Hyde. Last year they won against Argentina, NZ and Australia, but also lost against the same teams. This year they drew against NZ before being beaten by them.
They are a good team, but then so is Japan - who beat Ireland. A Irish team who recently did the double over Wales.
I do however think you are right that it wont be pretty. SA will most likely play through their pack. A blunt instrument. Japan have the skills, but I am not sure they have the firepower.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Agree with you 100% i was watching it from the start and after the anthems the entire irish team hung their heads . They looked defeated before they even started . A sad day for irish rugby and me as an irishman . New zealand were awesome though a joy to watch if it wasnt so crushing for us.
I’m not sure how looking at results from the ‘phoney war’ period in the build up to the World Cup tells us very much.
What we do know is that this is a World Cup, with the associated pressure, and lots can and will happen.
That’s why England might beat NZ next week despite all long term evidence pointing the other way, and it’s why France might beat Wales now.
Any of the top teams can beat any other top team on a given day, and sometimes a team like Japan turns up and rocks the boat too.
That’s why despite the World Cup being a limited competition in a sporting sense, it’s fantastic.
France being, well, French
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My phoney war reference was specific to the pool stages where we have Elite Tier 1 teams playing Tier 2.
Of course anything can happen, however Rugby matches are normally won by the teams with confidence born out of recent pedigree and history. This is known in sporting parlance as FORM, but "giant killing" is not a term you hear very often in Rugby.
Last edited by Andyg; 20th October 2019 at 09:23.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Exciting, but the quality on show is way below what we saw yesterday. I think it's fair to say Australia would have beaten both on them.
France are worth the lead and if they score first in the second half then they should win. If not, then I fancy France to choke and Wales sneak past.
Regarding the yellow card - it should have been red if the WRU want consistency. However more surprising was no Yellow for North when he tackled a man whilst still in the air. Yes I know he was on the way down, but he still had both feet off the ground.
Finally Shane Williams - wonderful player. Shockingly bad pundit.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
I like how France are playing with a man down. Makes me think they will ease home here.
Then just like that they spill an easy catch .
Wales throwing this away.
They need to think about how to use the extra man.
Very lucky Wales. Performance poor but they don’t really deserve this win. Hope they hold on though.
Wales have been given this win by the TMO. France robbed. Wales will get ganked by the Boks in the semis anyway
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Rubbish, TMO made fair calls.
Japan must be rubbing their hands, get through the Boks today and they will be thinking they can run circles around the Welsh. Home final.
Just been told I'm not watching the Japan game in the house. Pub it is. Shame.
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France awful, Wales very slightly less awful.
Fair play to Wales, they managed to beat 14 men (actually 13 because Benoit made zero contribution), with the support of a very iffy TMO try, but a win is a win even if it's ugly.
If Wales want to progress further, then they will have to play much much better. As for France, just like Scotland and Ireland, time for a cleanout and a massive dose of attitude and work ethic needed.
Based upon the last 3 games. England for a Grand Slam irrespective of what happens in the WRC.
Whoever does not know how to hit the nail on the head should be asked not to hit it at all.
Friedrich Nietzsche
It feels like we did everything we could to not win it, but I’ll take a win over a loss any day of the week.
A lot of errors from Wales, they’ll need to be cut out if we’re going to get through the semi final.
I’m still amazed by how much some on here are predicting the future from the past, it’s a knockout competition, France against form nearly won, and it means nothing in the context of the next match.
Onward and forward!
I thought the TMO calls were just about right. France should have been out of sight but managed to make some hilariously bad decisions.
Wales will probably be better next match - they didn’t show any confidence or flair today, but maybe now the pressure is off a bit.
Some of the worst kicking game I’ve ever seen in international rugby this weekend...does it not matter any more?
TMO calls were correct. France the better team save for some poor decisions. 5 points lost from kicks and the red card were key. Some good counter rucking from France.
Wales can, and I hope will, play better. I think we missed Jonathan Davies in midfield.
Cymru am byth
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I think one of the pundits has just nailed it, ‘Wales = poor performance, great result’.
That’s World Cup rugby sometimes...
Yes, you would think that wouldn't you... but that isn't what happened and the rest is now history. Like I said, the only opinion that mattered was that of Jaco Peyper (and the TMO), but I've watched that replay a fair few times and in each of them the ball goes forwards (towards the try line) in which case Tipuric is offside and the try shouldn't have counted.
I agree with the ref and TMO, I don't see the ball going forward, just parallel to the line.
S Africa will destroy japan. The way japan play will play right into the Bok’s hands
They were checking whether the ball went forward off Williams after he ripped it from the French player.
They concluded it didn’t, but I accept I’d have found the decision difficult to live with had the shoe been on the other foot. It’s one of those calls isn’t it and will be interpreted differently depending on what colour shirt you’re wearing.