So far, so predictable, so dull.
Anyone excited? Or, do we have to wait for the quarter finals before things get interestingly?
Rugby Union World Cup
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I’, excited – but it’s $200 to get TV coverage and I can’t justify that
It’s on ITV over here. Is that available on the Internet?
You can get it (and other Brit channels) for an hour a day free, or unlimited for small fee, at tvmucho.com.
It is if you use a VPN to pretend you are in the UK
I’m excited.
Whilst the results may have been as expected, we have had a couple of really good matches – the Fra v Arg could have gone either way and the NZ v SA was a good entertaining game.
I think it’s only going to get better – there a a couple of really close groups that could lead to an upset of one of the big guys missing out on the quarter finals.
I too enjoyed NZ v SA.
The Australia v Fiji was entertaining for a while. It would have been even more interesting if the ref had followed the laws and sent the Australian player off for the dangerous challenge.
Six bloody weeks of wall to wall egg chasing. Oh joy…
You say that as though it’s a good thing!
Not my idea of a good thing, I’m afraid. I can watch for about 10 minutes before boredom seeps in.
I was semi-interested in seeing how Scotland get on but that is no longer the case.
Yes, enjoying it so far. Fiji good in first half against Aus. NZ vs SA brute force against best broken field team in the world. Scots look bereft of ideas and Ireland have recovered fully from their tonking at Twickenham, although I don’t think they are contenders this time round (that may come back to haunt me). And England beating Tonga convincingly without getting out of second gear. No real shocks except maybe margin of Ireland victory and some of refereeing decisions both on field and TMO.
I do wonder why folk not interested in rugby come on and moan about it. FFS the games are all in the morning and shouldn’t interfere with Corrie or whatever it is that floats their boats.
Don’t like it? Don’t watch it. Simples 🤫
While Ireland may have recovered since their English encounter, Johnny Sexton’s fitness must be a worry for them. Leaving the kicks to Connor Murray may be expedient in the short term, in the longer term and the given the intensity of the programme, the state of his groin muscles, tendons and ligaments will be a massive concern for them.
I wouldn’t have said Scotland were bereft of ideas, it seemed more that they were incapable of finishing any move given the number of handling errors.
It’s not that I don’t like Rugby Union. It’s just I don’t feel this World Cup has got off to a good start. One decent match, I’d say.
As for Ireland. I think they are more than capable of grinding out wins against anyone but it won’t be pretty.
Look at the fixtures. What did you expect? In a couple of groups there will be a battle for qualification at least and getting first place in group will be important.
Aus v Wales should be a cracker, maybe Eng v France too. Scotland v Japan could also be very interesting.
“It’s not that I don’t like Rugby Union”….. As opposed to League, then? This and the line about tripe in the other post has me seeing you in a whole different light, more Formby than Clooney, dare I say it, driving gloves or no driving gloves. 😉
Rugby League is inbred in me. I was brought up in St. Helens.
Time difference is challenging in Canada, but plan to get up at 6am to see mighty Wales take on the tricky Georgians. Have watched several games on catch up. Not sure why anyone could really find it particularly dull. Some excellent games so far and it is early days.
Only about 3 of the first games were between teams that are about the same level. Arg v France could have gone either way, NZ v SA was excellent, only Ire v Sco was really disappointing being so one sided.
Going to be way more exciting games than in a rugby league World Cup which has only 3 decent teams 😉
Watched the England v. Tonga match yesterday.
Crikey … some of those Tongan guys are pretty beefy ….
England seem to be getting a bit of negative press for thumping the Tongans..,why exactly?
Because the All Blacks beat them 92-7?
Because we kept dropping the ball and giving away penalties. It was a performance that would have resulted in defeat against at least half a dozen sides.
Ah ok. Early days though.
It’s like all the world cups from any sporting code, only a few games are the crackers we want to see.
Go the All Blacks!
You know …. I enjoy watching rugby union, but if I’m honest, there are a few finer points of the rules that I’m still a bit hazy about. When the ref blows the whistle for an infringement, I often have no idea what the offence was until the commentator informs me. I feel rather stupid. I can never see that the player was …. erm … “not letting go of the ball in a rolling maul” or whatever. It must be a nightmare being a rugby referee. How on earth do they do it?
Those mauls hide a multitude of sins.
Well, I played a number of years before I started refereeing. A lot of it is just experience.
Don’t forget that the ref has to two Assistant Referees, who are mic’ed up and can call in any offence.
There’s also a lot of guessing going on, I’d say, particularly around the scrum.
Apparently a minor classic today with a shock result (Fiji v Uruguay), missed it because I was sleeping, I struggle with the local time 3am kick offs.
After the Japan v Ireland game just now, are you still saying it’s dull and predictable ?
Amazing game (and not just because of the result)
Yes. And Wales v Australia today wasn’t too bad either 🙂
Yes. Things have heated up really nicely. Much more exciting than the Athletics where the good people of Doha can’t even be bothered watched the blue riband men’s 100m final. The enthusiasm of the Japanese puts them to shame.
England did enough today. Not worried about the goal kicking. Farrell will adjust his sights. But, still too many handling errors.
Well played Japan. Are they everybody’s second favourite team?
Wow! Wales v Fiji is feisty.
Welsh discipline should save the day.
Looks like it will. It’s a shame that Fiji’s flair garners so little reward.
And on behalf of Dan Biggar I’d just like to say – “Ouch”.
2 bangs in the head for Biggar in this tournament. He will be rested for next game (Uruguay), but hope he is ok for France (or England!) in Q-final. Met him a few weeks ago, nice chap.
And kicks with pinpoint accuracy. That crossfield kick for the winger to score Wales’s first try was phenomenal.
England 0 France 0
New Zealand 0 Italy 0
Cancelled because of incoming typhoon. What a shame. And why organise the biggest tournament in the sport during the typhoon season? No plans in place for this eventuality.
Suppose the main thing is that the destruction is not as bad as they fear it might be.
Yeah. The fact that qualification to the next round can be decided by the weather is just unforgivable.
And France/England get extra week rest before Q finals compared to Wales/Australia
Because it has always been played at this time of the year.
The 1987 World Cup (in NZ/Aus) was played in May/June, as was the 1995 version in South Africa. Others have started later than the current one.
Just shows how much attention I actually pay. I thought it was always played in October – but then your examples are in the last century, and my egg-chasing attention span certainly isn’t that long!
The organisers have failed to take on board the havoc these decisions will wreak on office sweep adminstrators. Drawn matches are rare in rugby so someone picking a drawn result out of pure ignorance will find themselves at the top of the league.
“It’s a draw – fair and square”
“But they didn’t play the game!”
“Look at the official result! A draw!”
“But…but…”
Absolutely sensational from Japan. Could they go all the way to the final? Some mouthwatering Q-final match ups.
I agree. Japan were playing rugby league!
I saw this in updates and imagined Harry Gratian giving an excited commentary as David Sylvian and Mick Karn square up to Hull Kingston Rovers.
Gentlemen Take Drop Kicks
No there were lineouts, real scrums, fast ball, brilliant, apparently spontaneous moves. Not rugby league.
Did you not see the Grand Final? Saints scored three brilliant tries & no waste-of-time lineouts or scrums. Only team ball games involving sticks are faster than rugby league.
Trouble is, it’s played by oiks…
Yeah. People with weird Northern accents.
Or, worse, Russell Crowe.
Like a Perpignan accent…
No I didn’t. My city will soon have a team though (Ottawa).
Yes! Rugby League is breaking through in Canada. Go Wolfpack!
Japan to beat S Africa? Naaah.
But wait — that’s what they did last time!
How about these semi finalists?
England
Ireland
Wales
Japan
It could happen.
Any tips for Aust v Eng? I’m hopeful of a narrow Aussie win so long as Stuart Broad doesn’t come on 😏
Australia have started really well. Your boys love to run, don’t they. And the scrum looks tasty.
Oops! Johnny May has just scored two tries and Farrell seems to have cured his yips.
We just lack that spark. England look to have it in hand. Great coaching !
Convincing win.
Well done.
England send Australia home from a World Cup, again. Didn’t need Broady after all. 😏
England far superior.
Looking forward to the All Blacks v Ireland. ABs should win but their recent record against Ireland is 2-1 to Ireland.
Loving this rugby feast I have to say!
Doing ok so far.
Goodness me, New Zealand are awesome. I can’t see anyone beating them.
Oooh! Are we on for an England Wales final?
No it will be NZ v SA
Duh!
England played well against Aus but I don’t think NZ are going to make the mistakes that Australia did. I think two of the England tries were as a result of a stray Australian pass.
I think the last time England played NZ in the World Cup was in 1995 when Mr Lomu introduced himself.
England made over 170 tackles to Australia’s c. 80 odd.
If you give THAT much possession to NZ, it will be bad. They’ll make better use of the ball than Australia did.
And it looks like that was exactly England’s game plan Si. No RU expert here, but if you don’t have the ball you can’t do much with it. Strange too, that on the rare occasions when NZ did have possession they kept kicking for territory gains instead of running with it.
R.I.P. Jonah. When you’re 18 stone and can do 100m in 10 seconds there’s not much your opponents can do. He also had skill, humility, and knew exactly when to pass. I remember a young girl at the time saying, quite innocently, something like “I heard rugby was a 15 man game. So the other 14 should just pass the ball to Jonah”
She was spot on! I think I have heard coaches say that this was basically their game plan when they had him in the team.
Wow! Just WOW!
England completely bossed the game. Incredible defensively and dynamic in attack. Personally, I’d have given the second disqualified try as well.
Wales to look forward to in the final!
Come on Wales! Cymru am byth!
England were great. Had kiwis panicking. Always been good at the kicking and mauls. Can run a bit now too.
Be barracking for Boks but either way the Cup is England’s to lose.
Except they have lost twice to Wales this year. They may also already think they have played their final …
(Just need to beat SA)
Still rather stunned by it. As you’d expect, kiwis here very gracious and generous in defeat.
Well done England. Absolutely the better team on the day. Pretty impossible ask for the ABs to win 3 World Cups in a row.
See you all in France in 2023. I’ll be looking towards my 70th birthday and grandson Otis will be starting school
And I hope we are all still here
I hope so, too.
High class comment from Steve Hansen: “Sometimes sport’s not fair but tonight it was. We got beaten by a better team tonight.”
Absolutely. The All Blacks have always played hard and they are more than capable of pushing the rules to the limit but they are true sportsmen who know how to win and how to lose with dignity.
Sometimes.
https://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/new-zealand-boss-invites-journalist-20729682
I don’t see anything wrong there. I saw the clip on the TV and it doesn’t come across as the nasty threat The Daily Mirror makes it out to be.
Good luck tomorrow, Dai. I feel you are going to need the ball to bounce your way.
Cheers. Like the last World Cup we are struggling with injuries. Will have at least 5 first choice players missing tomorrow. That time we held on against same opposition until about the 75th minute (in Q final), but a similarly afflicted side did beat England 😉
Even so, fingers crossed for an England Wales final.
Uncross your fingers Tigger -ain’t gonna happen. Not a great game and apart from that try after not going for the points Wales were pretty uninspiring. All about stopping the Saffirs. Pity coz they may have had a better shot at beating England due to sheer rivalry.
I know. It was a shame.
I kept shouting, “Tackle lower!!!” Everybody seems obsessed in preventing the offload. If you are twelve stone, your only chance against a twenty stoner is to cut their legs off and get them on the floor.
Underhill seems to have it sorted out. He simply bisects them.
We got behind them on a couple of occasions and marginal forward passes cost us. We didn’t play much rugby but more than SA.
With 10 mins to go and us camped in their half at 16-16 I thought we were going to win. Two quick decisions against us and we lose. So disappointed. Losing another two players to injury didn’t help.
So missing at end were Navidi, Williams,Cory Hill, North and Francis. Two half fit centres (if that) on the field, and Anscombe and Faletau left at home. About half our first team. And we still came very very close.
And closer than my mob too
Not a classic game by any means. SA were just physically stronger it seems. They didn’t play all that well and made lots of handling errors. Would have to play way better to have any chance against England.
Imagine how great and utterly bonkers a France-Japan semi-final would have been?
Anything could have happened.
Can’t say I’m saddened that the Welsh lost.
Indeed, Wales losing the rugby, Tottenham and Cardiff both losing, and Arsenal drawing 2-2 at home v. Palace after being 2-0 up … beers all round!
Just for you I hope England get stuffed in the final 😉
Are we excited now?
Not with this kind of boring play! Four penalties to two at half time in a WC final? FFS. A bloody kickfest.
Yeah but still intense. Reckon it might open up in second half.
Poms on the back foot
If it opens up, that will play into England’s hands. SA will keep it tight and continue to dominate the set piece.
Seen fewer kicks at an Aussie rules game.
Oh well.
SA carried out their game plan brilliantly. England made too many mistakes and were overpowered.
Well done to South Africa.
Wow! I knew SA were in with a chance, but didn’t think they would outplay England so comprehensively. It seemed for a while that SA were going to win on pure brute strength, but those two late tries were just magic. And to think they only just squeaked past Wales to make the final.
And got thrashed by the All Blacks in their opening pool game!
Beaten not thrashed, 2 pieces of brilliance by All Blacks in a very even game otherwise.
The pundits were right, the real final was played last week. South Africa v Wales 😉
Is it bad of me to be slightly relieved because the more flag-waving political persuasions would have capitalised on an England win for the election campaign?
No it’s not bad at all. Boris would have celebrated an England win
Will he celebrate a Lewis Hamilton Formula One World Championship with the same vigour instead?
Think of the bright side. Betty gets a break with fewer knighthoods to bestow.
…and they’re less likely to turn up on Strictly, so that’s a few marriages that stand a better chance.