Oh yes, I’d forgotten that - I was a few beers down by then so must have not realised the second lineout was actually their ball as well.
I saw Shane Williams (or whoever ghost-writes for him) in today’s Metro basically agrees, for what it’s worth.
Fiji gave Wales a fair old scare yesterday. Good game. The Fijian try was one of the best of the tournament so far. ( and George North nearly scored the best try).
Can’t see NZ having too many problems against Georgia other than potential injuries (Georgia looked fairly fierce in earlier games) but the Saturday/Sunday fixtures all look really interesting.
Eng V Aus - We need to win this or we are out and we certainly have a chance as we haven’t been terrible but…If we didn’t want to be the big name going out from this group then a real step-up is needed and we only seen solid play in fits and starts. The potential has been there for the some time (witness the last two six nations) but 80 minutes consistency is in short supply. On the balance so far, Australia will win it by an odd score.
Samoa v Japan - Looking forward to seeing Japan in action again, well rested and up for a third place or even…should they win their last two games, a QF spot? unlikely but you can bet that the crowd will be roaring them on and I reckon they can take it
SA v Scotland - I’ve said it before but Scotland were my dark horse and I fancy them to take SA
Argentina v Tonga - Could be physical if not scoreboard carnage. Not one for the timid or the purists but I fancy a solid and physical Argentina will grind it out.
Ireland v Italy - Potential banana-skin for Ireland but if they score decent points early I fancy Italy will crumble as all hope departs
You get the feeling that there are a few more interesting twists yet to come.
I’d like to think so but:
-
We’re not playing our strongest team, partly through to injury (a nation’s prayers are with Finn Russell) and partly to save the big guns for blowing away Samoa. Our strategy before the group stage started was always going to be to accept a loss to SA and make sure we beat everyone else. Japan’s heroics notwithstanding that’s still the smart if unromantic route to the knock-out stages so we’re not putting our best players on the line for this.
-
We lost the first half of the USA game. SA won’t tire after 60 minutes and they will punish errors.
-
This is a must-win game for SA but not for us, so…
That said, I’m taking my son to watch this in the pub so that he can learn, as all Scotland rugby fans learn, that the world is a cruel, merciless place and hope is just the harbinger of despair. (He wept when the All Blacks beat us in the last ten minutes in the autumn internationals last year, so he’s well on the way.)
You sir, are a fine father. I forced my little lad to watch the end of the Wales games for just the same reason.
Some say child cruelty, I say character building.
A further thought on Scotland/South Africa - if they don’t score 4 tries and we keep it within 7 points, we’ll still be top of the group. That I do think we can achieve.
Hahahah what did I JUST SAY?!
Thanks for preemptively ruining my Saturday afternoon in the pub :mad:
Georgia keeping New Zealand honest at half time.
Tomorrow will be awesome.
I take my 4 year old daughter to afternoon Hawke’s Bay games. But she gets a bit over it at half time.
So nervous. I think we will see the same mess of indiscipline and England will give up a ton of penalties and go home ( stay home?)
The Pumas are looking good, but not a done deal to go through, Tonga will be tough so another nervous day in the mollusc house tomorrow .
Good luck Scotland
Yeah, sorry about that. I shall atone by jamming my typing fingers in a blender directly I get home.
Son’s verdict: it’s like a buffalo against an ant.
Bit harsh.
England gone! Australia looking very impressive.
I couldn’t bring myself to watch the post-match analysis after the England game. There’s only so much schadenfreude I can handle.
Scotland were well tonked earlier, but hey, nobody really expected that that was a key match.
I don’t want to look at Facebook .
And Japan down Samoa 26 - 5 in another dominant show; they’re still looking good for the quarter-finals.
But fair
Yeah, England not good enough often enough.
The games against Wales could easily have gone England’s way, they were the better team for 60 minutes. Not so against the Aussies. You can’t argue with the scoreline last night.
Always felt it would be a 50:50 proposition to get out of that group and disappointed we’re out, but, I’m still excited for the remaining games. Has definitely been an excellent world cup so far and with the Aussies and SA starting to ramp it up and NZ not looking invincible we could be in for some more epic clashes.
Yup, England going to finish where they deserve after those performances. It is a disappointment but not unexpected, I think. I really hope Lancaster doesn’t resign - not sure about Robshaw having seen very little of the recent games but I don’t think either of them have done much wrong. People saying those two are not good enough are overlooking the fact that we are simply lacking enough world-class players at the moment to stand a chance. If they are allowed to build a team for the next tournament they could be competitive.
And the Pumas should be through, close first half against Tonga, then they ran away with it in the second.
Italy putting in a good defense. Not a great game, but they are still in touch , could be an upset.