Rugby World Cup - 2007

[Solitary Wanderer]

The Scotland/NZ match so far has managed to annoy me due to their away kits being practically identical... who let that happen? 

Yeah, that was crazy. The All Blacks wore the grey strip 'cause they thought their usual black would look too similar to the Scots navy blue 

[Solitary Wanderer]

4. Wilkinson means they will score more 3 points - screw people who complain about it. (With as little offense intended to anyone as possible.) If the team isn't in dominant enough form to go for tries every time, it is a tactical option that should be utilised, any team with a brain would

I agree with this. This grind up the middle, wait for the penalty, then kick the three points is effective and England do it very well; It won them the world cup last time. I don't think the same approach will work for them this time but who knows...?

South Africa vs. Tonga. This game was interesting to see SA struggle for the first half when they really should have dominated. It wasn't until SA brought on their first choice players as replacements that SA looked to regain some structure and control. The Tongans did very well, but just couldn't convert opportunities into points; they were very close in the end though.

New Zealand vs. Scotland. NZ were expecting more of a challenge this time and they got it...sort of. The 40-0 winning margin looks good on paper but there were too many unforced handling errors which would be a major worry against a better team. The Scots just didn't seem to have any attacking options.

[Lethevich]

New Zealand vs. Scotland. NZ were expecting more of a challenge this time and they got it...sort of. The 40-0 winning margin looks good on paper but there were too many unforced handling errors which would be a major worry against a better team. The Scots just didn't seem to have any attacking options.

Indeedie, may have been closer if there weren't a few easy tries at the end, presumably due to Scotland being pretty worn out by then (I only caught the last 30 mins)?

I agree, England isn't too exciting to watch - but all those penalties give the extra chance of a ball bouncing off the posts - those are always fun Wow, that's the weakest justification ever

[Lethevich]

England/Tonga: England's best game so far. I don't know who got man of the match (I avoid the post-game crap), but Moody deserved it.

Positives:

1. First game in which they have produced confident and fast play
2. Very good pressure and time in opponent's half
3. Quite good defense
4. No collapse (the most important). Their main issue in the tournament and in general has been that almost always at some point in the match they will tighten up and let themselves get under huge pressure for extended periods of time (sometimes up to 20 minutes+), and everything becomes ragged. I don't have a clue why this happens, but it didn't this time.

Negatives:

1. Low kicked goal success percentage
2. The occasional takedown that a leading team would make is still being missed - eg barges into touch, immediate tackles on a ball carrier when near a try scoring position

[Solitary Wanderer]

Yes, the England vs. Tonga game was a good one.

I saw several others over the weekend including the NZ vs. Romania which was hoplessly one-sided, although I thought the Romanians 'lasted' longer than the other weaker sides NZ have faced thus far.

Things get interesting now! Only seven games left to play with losers heading home.

NZ vs. France will be interesting; NZ will be wearing the silver strip again. I hope NZ aren't too underdone...?

I'd love to see Argentina thrash Scotland; I think the Argentina have played really well and deserve a semi-final spot.

[Lady Chatterley]

I'd love to see Argentina thrash Scotland; I think the Argentina have played really well and deserve a semi-final spot.

I watched Argentina send the Irish nation into mourning,great game!

[Lethevich]

The salty tears of the Irish and Welsh in the same weekend... that was a fun two days.

The Wales/Fiji match was my favourite of the tournament so far, super fun with many (big) twists.

[Lethevich]

An unhelpful and self-indulgent bump. Just to say: yay, it's crunch time now!

Edit: HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Eat your words, Tuqiri!

[sidoze]

Engerland 12 - Australia 10



very tense game. Looked like Australia never got running but credit to England for their physical superiority and doggedness.

[Lethevich]

A very exciting game - and also scary from an England supporter's POV:

While England were playing better than they have been before,* they lacked the ability of the top teams (SA, NZ, AUS) to create tries out of nothing. Fortunately they had everything else, though. But there was always a risk of Australia getting more flash tries like their first.

*Their first "good" game IMO was their last of the group stages vs. Tonga, so they built on that form.

If they improve as much again between the 2nd and 3rd games. Hell yes. IMO a very important factor will be whether France can do the hard work for them by taking NZ out.

[sidoze]

France 20 - NZ 18

hahahaha DUMPED! great game!!!!

bring on the frogs!   

[Lethevich]

They did well, and did all the hard work (England couldn't have beaten NZ, but have a chance against France). Shame South Africa get such a cakewalk.

[Solitary Wanderer]

I had a busy morning watchng the first two quarter finals.

Australia vs. England. Nice upset win for England. Excellent, tight game all round. England had several chances but just couldn't convert them to points, while Australia looked threatening every time they got their back line moving. Somehow England wanted it more than Australia on the day. I think England getting thrashed by SA in the pool game helped them get the right motivation for the knock-out matches.

New Zealand vs. France. Another upset. Once again with France getting stung in their opening game against Argentina, they then had time to sort their attitude out. New Zealand meanwhile cruised through pool play and maybe got over confidant and when the pressure came on they didn't have the mettle. Here in NZ they're already blaming the ref for some poor decisions; sending McAlister off and not calling the forward pass for the second French try. But at the end of the day the French were hungrier than NZ who really lacked composure. Just goes to show that reputations mean nothing on the day.

Looking forward to tomorrows two games. 

[Papy Oli]

NZ-France was a game and a half, wasn't it !!! a real nailbiter ! Sacrebleu ! ....superb defense from Les Bleus, against powerful All Blacks forwards, relentlessly going on inch by inch....Not sure why the Blacks haven't gone wide more, it would have been a different story then.... but hey, i won't complain 

Bring on the rosbeefs !!!  0:)

[Papy Oli]

bring on the frogs!   

hehan hehan ! 

[Lethevich]

Here in NZ they're already blaming the ref for some poor decisions; sending McAlister off and not calling the forward pass for the second French try.

It looked to be forward on the replay, but it was too nearly legal to be a crucial refereeing error IMO. If Michalak was half a meter behind, he'd have still got the ball. The sending off was even less worth contending - a few people have been sent off for (apparently) less so far. Even in the replay it looked ambiguous, so real time must've looked nasty.

I was surprised with how the game went, to be honest. NZ seemed unstoppable when in a ruck near France's try line, not needing to go out wide, just pushing meters forward with each new pickup of the ball, and yet, they only got two tries...

Overall, today was the best day of multiple games that I've seen (my favourite single game is still the previous world cup final, naturally Although that one was no less scary than the final Australian penalty kick in today's game, during which I almost had a heart attack).

Edit: I'm still going back through old news articles like this one and having a bit of a giggle. OK, more than a bit.

[sidoze]

Shame South Africa get such a cakewalk.

it certainly looks that way. I missed the game today--football first in this house Sounded like a good one though. I suppose Argentina could trouble them but looks like they'll be in the final for sure.

Bring on the rosbeefs !!!

[Papy Oli]

"Entente cordiale" included of course 

Yesterday's Powerful Haka with the French getting close and personal...that did set the tone for the evening for sure !!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wqgr4ZyzBno&NR=1

[Lethevich]

Whoo, ideal game ahead IMO. Whenever there is an Eng/Fra match, me and my significant other swap team allegiances (this often means that I am supporting the winning team -_-). We can also be totally juveline and use facepaint again. *cheer*

[sidoze]

We can also be totally juveline and use facepaint again. *cheer*

haha

caught the 2nd half of the Argentina / Scotland game. Seemed to me that Scotland have themselves to blame for defeat: ridiculous amount of turnovers, not taking advantage of tremendously advantageous territory at the end, and letting a diffident-looking South American team off the hook.

Yesterday's Powerful Haka with the French getting close and personal...that did set the tone for the evening for sure !!!!

Thanks for the link. Missed it by 5 minutes last night -- the radio commenator I was listening to at the time talked it up to high heaven and I knew then that it would be a ferocious match