Firstly, as a Fiji fan, I’d just like to say that the Fiji v Scotland winner takes all and the right to be beaten by the Wallabies match was one of the most exciting (yet disappointing) matches I’ve seen recently. Fiji had it but their defense let up and Scotland took advantage. Great match.
France vs Ireland - France, by a very, very slim margin.
Australia vs Scotland - Wallabies by 20-25 points
England vs Wales - Have yet to see England play
NZ vs SA - All Blacks by a try.
The last weekend of pool play had some great matches. It’s a shame that theres been no real upsets though, it’s always nice to see a smaller nation make the quarters.
My take on the quarters is pretty much the same as grimpixie’s, although for obvious reasons I’ll be cheering for the All Blacks rather than South Africa.
I haven’t seen anything to really change my original predictions although France has been playing better than I expected and might just do as all a favour and knock England out in the semis…
There’s far too many people in this thread going for an Ireland win for my liking. We always under-perform when we’re expected to do well. Although this team have a bit more metal in them than is usual in Irish sides, I’m guessing that they may have peaked. France have a great record in World Cups, have only ever been beaten by the top teams and have doled out a few beatings to southern hemisphere sides (something that they consistently do between world cups as well). They have a habit of having quiet build-ups, and I’m not sure that our recent record against them will count for much.
Ireland have no hope if they keep it tight - they have forgotten how to play like that. They have to move the ball wide to get into their rhythm and I suspect there could be a lot of broken play. In Magne, Betsen and Harinordoquy, the French have a back row that are more than capable of exploiting the opportunities this will bring about. Ireland’s greatest hope is that the defence has been magnificent so far and that they should score a couple of tries. Although I think Ireland have less of a psychological hurdle to surmount with France than the other top sides and that the match in Lansdowne Road was a tryless encounter, I’m going for a French win in a high scoring game.
I’d give me left nut to be wrong.
Australia and England will win handily enough but I’d give South Africa a squeak against the All Blacks. They are the best side in the world at figuring out a way to beat superior opposition. They will have a few tricks up their sleeve (remember Jannie DeBeer against England in 1999?) and the All Blacks have some serious injury problems. NZ should win but I think this is the tie most likely to bring an upset.
Kiwis to win the tournament, although France haven’t produced their once per tournament beat anyone on the planet performance yet, and until they do they can’t be ruled out.
Ireland play like crap when we’re the favourites, ranking us 3rd was the worst thing the IRFU could have done.
For some reason Ireland work best with everything against them (usually including the elements), so I’m going to say they might beat France despite themselves. Pity we lost Murphy to injury before the tournament (is Hickey out too?) he’d have been a great help.
France has had the easiest group so far, so it’s no wonder they’re playing well, but we beat them in the 6 nations, and we can do it again. Though, to be fair, we probably won’t.
The match on Saturday was the best thing I’ve seen in a long time. Although why the **** didn’t they go for the kick? Stupid.
And Shane Horgan… argh!
(Whoever plays England next should make sure they stay on top of JW…preferably in a way that gets him injured. Don’t have anything against him personally, it’s just annoying to see such an arrogant, unsportsmanlike team do so well beacuse of him.)
Almost any way you look at it, the last four will comprise two from the south and two from the north. Seems about right to me.
I also think anyone trying to predict what happens from the semis onwards isn’t a betting man. Both games will be too tight to call.
And isn’t that a nice thing, a Rugby World Cup where there’s little to choose between the last four - although the football/soccer World Cup has the greater depth, I don’t think even that tournament could see four teams so closely matched.
From a non-betting pov and imho, the England forwards can only lose this tournament; they have the ability to provide the defence, the space, the time and the pressure. Whether they do is another matter.
Ahhh, but L.C. - that in itself is the great hallmark of Rugby - both Union and League. It’s a code which exemplifies more than any other that “You don’t win football games, you lose them…”
In 1999, Australia had only try scored against them in the entire tournament - ironically that try was scored in a pool game by the USA of all people.
Still, it’s very hard to lose your matches when your discipline is good and your defence is watertight. On Saturday night against the Irish, there was a 25 minute period in the 2nd half where the Australians were losing lineouts to the superior Irish lineout, AND they were spilling possession in turnovers - and of course that meant no attacking play at all by the Wallaby back line.
Nonetheless, the Australian defence was very watertight with the exception of Wendell Sailor’s Rugby League background once again forcing him to “dare” an opponent like Brian O’Driscoll to run outside of him on the touchline. He’ll learn from that. But overall the Australian defence was rock solid, and as I pointed out elsewhere, in the last All Black vs Wallaby test, Australia actually outpointed the All Blacks in the 2nd half.
So there in lays the crux - the English team have a magnificent lineout. And with that comes percentage possession. And their forwards are tough, and fit. They play the distance.
The only gripe I have regarding the English (and it’s a very small one) is the line-ball way they do the maul - they really push the limit sometimes regarding the law about obstruction players who aren’t bound to the maul. Apart from that though, a very, very complete and professional team. Deserving favourites I reckon.
The Australians don’t have the same “team click” they had in 1999 - and fair enough - nothing lasts forever. Whatever, a great countdown to the final is in the offing now - that’s for sure.
Glee, having seen the arrogance of the English rugby team in the 6 nations last year, refusing to line up on the left in Lansdowne for the pre match anthems for example.
I’ll let irishgirl comment on her perception of unsportsmanship, because I don’t really watch Rugby that often.
the funniest thing about Ireland’s Call, is that it has been released by “the Celtic Tenors” who are apparently huge in Germany, and their ad’s run on the local TV channel.
As a result of watching this ad entirely too often (it’s unintentionally hillarious) I now expect the Irish rugby team to be surrounded by dry ice and wearing bad leather jackets while they line up at the start.
As the aphorism goes Union is a thugs game played by gentlemen (League being a gentlemans’s game played by thugs). What goes on in the rucks and mauls is typically legal and often unsportsmanlike, and would be likely to see you seriously banged up in chokey if attempted it off the park. You find yourself on the wrong side of a ruck against the Kiwis and neither the laws of rugby nor the good Lord will protect you.
Oppositions have been trying to knock Wilkinson’s block off ever since he started playing. The fact that they rarely get close indicates the ability of the man. Every team England plays will looks to negate their chief scoring weapon. Samoa missed by a couple of centimetres. He’s big enough to look after himself… and he’s got a couple of very likely lads to protect him in any case.
