Just the one game tonight - Italy v Russia. One for the forward packs I think with Italy to win 35-11.
Not bad, actual result was 53-17. Next up is Tonga vs Japan, which ought to be a lot closer.
I think Tonga, smarting after losing a game they were expected to win against Canada, will give Japan a bit of a hiding tonight. My guess: 42-17 to Tonga.
Nope, closer than that - three tries apiece, but Tonga slotted enough penalties and conversions for a comfortable cushion.
I wasn’t too far out though - final score 31-18; especially considering Japan had won the last 5 times these two teams had met.
Tonight we see how much South Africa B can beat South Africa C by as the Springboks field their reserves against Namibia. I’ll go for 50+ with a final score something like 67-13.
Whitewash - 87-0 with Bryan Habana scoring his record-breaking 39th try. Didn’t watch the game, so can’t comment on the performance itself, but I wouldn’t read too much into it…
Grim
I may have been too charitable to Namibia, from now on I think I’ll call them South Africa Z.
Some good games coming up this weekend:
Friday sees Australia v USA. I fear the poor old Americans will feel the brunt of hte AUssie backlash after their loss to Ireland, and go down 47-5.
On Saturday we start with England v Romania. I think England will comfortably win, but not comfortably enough for their press, say 37-18.
Then it’s France v New Zealand. The talk here is of revenge for the 2007 quarterfinal but it seems to me that France see this as just another pool game. New Zealand to win 35-21.
Sunday has two cracking games and one less so.
Ireland v Russia shouldn’t be competitive, the only interest being in whether Ireland get their bonus point. I think they will and win 49-8.
Argentina v Scotland is a crucial game for both sides, with the winner looking fairly assured to progress. I’ll go for Argentina to win in a close match 17-12 leaving both teams on 10 points.
Fiji v Samoa promises to be the game of the round in my opinion. Samoa were bitterly disappointed in their loss to Wales and Fiji were humbled by South Africa last time out. It’s make or break for both sides with a win to either keeping them alive in the competition. I think Samoa will win this in a surprisingly tight game 23-17. This would make the pool standings South Africa 14, Samoa 10, Wales 10 (after their almost certain 5 points against South Africa Z on Monday) and Fiji 6, setting things up nicely for two epic final pool games next weekend between South Africa v Samoa and Wales v Fiji.
I think the French have all the aces in terms of tactics - it is widely held that the loser of that game will end up with the easier draw, so not only can the French play their second string to avoid injuries, but NZ will not be able to do the same (at least to the same extent) as to lose is not an option, regardless of how the draw looks. France will not care a jot about the psychology of losing that game if they then get an easier draw and accelerate through to the final unscathed.
Now, being the French, that is unlikely to happen, but I’d be quite pleased if I were their coach.
Well the Wallabies and the English were angrier than I thought, turning in nearly identical scorelines of 67-5 and 67-3. I was pretty close in my All Blacks v France prediction though.
Looking forward to two much closer games today, and one hiding for Russia.
I was at Eden Park yesterday. What an incredible atmosphere, a packed house! Our seats weren’t that great, at the SW corner of the park, but lucky the ABs were playing towards us during the first half.
Good for you - I’m going to two games this week, Canada v Japan on Tuesday and All Blacks Canada on Sunday. Sadly no knockout games though.
Well Sunday’s games went largely as I guessed, although Fiji crucially missed out on a losing bonus point. Pools A&C are pretty much decided (barring Tonga pulling off the upset of the century and beating France by a bonus point to knock them out of the cup). Pools B&D are still very much alive though, with Argentina’s one point win setting up the possibility of the three way tie in Pool B I’ve been hoping for.
In pool D Wales play Namibia tonight and will surely get a four-try victory to go to 10 points, level with Samoa. Everything comes down to the last two games in the pool with all sorts of potential outcomes.
Let’s have a quick look at the tie break rules:
England and South Africa’s enormous points differentials will see them safe in any three way ties. Wales and Argentina have beaten their likely tied teams (Samoa and Scotland) and therefore will be safe if they tie with them. So the probable outcomes will be England then Argentina in pool B and South Africa then Wales in Pool D. Scotland and Samoa’s only hope is to win and win big against their higher ranked opponents. Should make for some exciting games next weekend.
Two games tonight, Canada v Japan then Italy v USA.
I think Canada will out bustle Japan in a close contest - 27-22.
USA might come close to Italy but will eventually lose by about 21-17.
If only Canada’s kicker could have scored those 2 conversions/penalty kicks, your prediction would have been so much more accurate! Ending in a draw isn’t too bad; it seems it puts them one point up on Tonga, which means that unless there’s a massive upset by Tonga over the French (or Canada over the All Blacks!) Canada ends in third in the pool which gives them an automatic participation in the next World Cup. I think. Which is pretty cool, eh? 
Question: Why did Munro have to take over all the kicking? I thought Pritchard came back to the game, but he didn’t take any more kicks… is there some sort of rule there? Did I miss him leaving again (possible; I was tired and doing other things while watching the game).
Observation: Teams wearing white shorts end up with players with grass/mud stains that make them look like they’ve shit themselves.
Yes it was a great game, which I thoroughly enjoyed on the bank at McLean Park. I thought Canada should have gone for the try rather than take the tieing penalty with a few minutes to go. If Japan’s drop goal attempt had succeeded Canada would have looked pretty foolish.
I didn’t notice Canada’s change of kicker. I don’t think there’s a rule preventing a returning player (which is a pretty unusual occurrence - normally substituted players can’t return to the field) from taking kicks. I guess they just thought Munro had a better chance of making the kicks than Pritchard. Perhaps Pritchard was a bit injured (you can come back on if you left the field to receive treatment) and so wasn’t up to the kicking role?
Italy beat the USA last night to make group C a bit more interesting. If Italy can beat Ireland there’s a chance that Ireland are overtaken by both Italy and Australia (who must surely beat Russia) and be dumped out of the cup despite beating one of the favourites.
Just the one game tonight - Georgia v Romania. If you want to see two monster forward packs grind up and down the field this is the game for you. I’ll pick Georgia to win 31-23.
Hey lisiate, if you’re still in Napier, you’re welcome to come over for coffee or dinner (pizza).
Turn on your PM’s for contact details.
Done, message sent.
Yay!
Regrettably, the Rugby World Cup isn’t getting much airtime here in Australia at the moment - primarily because our two major national football codes are also engaged in their annual play off series at the moment, with both their respective “Superbowls” this weekend.
The lack of coverage is quite a shame, given that New Zealand has built some fantastic stadiums this past 10 years or so. From what I’ve seen thus far, the Kiwis should be very proud of the tournament they’ve been able to present to the world.
If the New Zealand side were to somehow (perish the thought) stumble and get knocked out in the sudden death games I can’t imagine the national depression which would ensue.
My personal wish would be to see New Zealand play England in the final and thump them 50+ to 3. Let the Poms be children and let 'em think they’re being smarty pants by wearing any jersey they feel like. From what I saw of the New Zealanders against France last week, well, that’s a side just dripping with tinkerbell dust at the moment.
Yeah - because it’s massively disrespectful to the host nation, which is why Wales have had loads of shit for having a black change kit on numerous previous occasions - and now. Oh wait. No, they haven’t.
And it’s hugely disrespectful when Chris Ashton swallow dives over the line - but, of course, no one mentions just how disrespectful Shane Williams and Derek Hougaard are when they do the same thing.
With the exception of a short period at the start of the century, NZ, Aus and SA have always been better than us at Rugby and are currently better than us. One of these nations is going to win the World Cup - probably NZ - and England still have a small but not unrealistic chance of going home before the QFs have even happened. I think hoping England get stuffed in the final is a bit previous - at the minute, we’d all just be happy to get into the knockout stages and start worrying about the QF then.
I understand that we’re the pantomime villain for the whole of the Commonwealth but a bit of balance wouldn’t go amiss. Frankly, if you want to have a go at England, you should probably be concentrating on our inability to string together coherent phases of play, the general ineptitude of our forwards to provide quick ball, our pretty proven “anti-rugby” style of play or the fact that, it appears, our whole squad are monumentally thick to the point of constantly giving away needless penalties. When the guy who has the most chance of stringing together a coherent sentence is the one who jacked school in at 17 to play pro rugby league with Wigan, it’s not saying an awful lot for the public schools of England and the education that they provide.
I’ve stayed clear of this thread for much of the tournament thus far because, frankly, the war up until this point has been phony, with the exception of Ire-Aus and Arg-Sco (and possibly Eng-Arg). A large number of the games this weekend actually mean something (all the home unions could still technically be knocked out) and, as such, the interesting part of the tournament begins now. Should be really good from here on. Quick word for the Tier 2 nations though - they served up some pretty good stuff and I can only hope that some of the clubs in the NH are scouting and willing to offer contracts to some of the guys that don’t play pro now. The IRB should tell Tew (NZRFU) and O’Neill (ARU) to shut the fuck up and continue to insist that the RWC profits get split through the world, not disproportionately to the bigger nations. The investment is appearing to be paying dividends. If it results in some of these nations making the jump to Tier 1, more is the better.
Given I grew up basically on the English-Scottish border (before being exiled to London for work), this weekend’s game is huge and I’m not all that happy about it. The weather in NZ has been terrible and, frankly, the times when Scotland beat us at the minute tend to be when we’re a) not at home and b) the weather is awful. I have a sneaking suspicion that this game is going to be super tight and I would not be surprised if England lose. Hopefully we can turn the Scots over - no one likes losing to the neighbours.
The All Blacks are normally favourites and (clinically) have a dismal record of winning for what have been very good teams.
Personally, I’d love to see an Australia versus New Zealand final. With Australia winning by one point after a bad referees call in the last 30 seconds.
Whinge about underarm now you bastards!