Henry the fifth...
Fucking hell
The Official, one and only, Men's IRB Rugby World Cup 2023 thread
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Hal Jordan
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Willis is bust wide open!
I've seen it a few times now, and it's hugely frustrating. I thought I missed a change in the laws or something.sockwithaticket wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:16 pmThat might exacerbate things, but Sal's right, at some point in the recent past refs srarted allowing teams to swim right round mauls and it boils my piss.
Teams should be allowed to defend a maul, but you can't just surround it and hang onto the back. Scrumhalves can't even get near the ball that way.
Over the hills and far away........
4 Years ago Youngs was getting more shit than he deserved but in the intervening years he has fallen off a physical cliff.
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sockwithaticket
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I swear Greenwodd drops MDMA before broadcasting. He's so unrelentingly over-positive.
Agree. It might work against a smaller team and using a very limited game plan, but no chance against anyone decentC69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:39 pm Calling for Stewart on the Wing and Smith at FB is fecking madness. Arundell should be starter on the wing no doubt.
But Steward for all his talents is not fast enough for wing, neither is the 2023 Daly tbh.
All the money you made will never buy back your soul
“STEWARD”C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:39 pm Calling for Stewart on the Wing and Smith at FB is fecking madness. Arundell should be starter on the wing no doubt.
But Steward for all his talents is not fast enough for wing, neither is the 2023 Daly tbh.
And yes you’re right he shouldn’t be on the wing.
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clydecloggie
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This RWC is shit. There, I've said it. The only teams trying to play actual beautiful rugby are the no-hopers like Portugal and Chile. Among the contenders, some are completely shit (Wales, Argentina, England, Scotland), others are magnificently not shit but play an awful type of rugby that leads to 80-minute borefests (South Africa, Ireland).
France could redeem the whole thing but have lost their half-back pairing and don't look quite on it. New Zealand have been a non-entity so far.
Australia are defining new levels of shitness. It would be paying them a compliment to simply lump them in with the regular shit category.
And World Rugby are doing everything they can to deny the RWC is even taking place, hunting down everyone who dares share match footage.
Fuck it.
France could redeem the whole thing but have lost their half-back pairing and don't look quite on it. New Zealand have been a non-entity so far.
Australia are defining new levels of shitness. It would be paying them a compliment to simply lump them in with the regular shit category.
And World Rugby are doing everything they can to deny the RWC is even taking place, hunting down everyone who dares share match footage.
Fuck it.
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Paddington Bear
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There’s something endlessly fascinating about rugby fans who seem to not realise test rugby generally is attritional and low scoring.
It’s been a good world cup. Every group (A admittedly a stretch) is in the balance with three plausible quarter finalists. The tier 2 teams have been good value. Uruguay have announced themselves as a proper side, Portugal have fought hard, Chile have entertained. Namibia and Romania are the only duds, we used to have 7/8+ of them.
Meanwhile Japan were within a point of England on the hour, Fiji have a strong case for being the best side in C etc etc
The draw is a joke and I sympathise with Scots who see this RWC as an exercise in futility, but it will make the knockouts pretty wild.
On the cons, the organisation has been a joke from the start and the justifiable effort to improve player welfare has spread the tournament out somewhat.
It’s been a good world cup. Every group (A admittedly a stretch) is in the balance with three plausible quarter finalists. The tier 2 teams have been good value. Uruguay have announced themselves as a proper side, Portugal have fought hard, Chile have entertained. Namibia and Romania are the only duds, we used to have 7/8+ of them.
Meanwhile Japan were within a point of England on the hour, Fiji have a strong case for being the best side in C etc etc
The draw is a joke and I sympathise with Scots who see this RWC as an exercise in futility, but it will make the knockouts pretty wild.
On the cons, the organisation has been a joke from the start and the justifiable effort to improve player welfare has spread the tournament out somewhat.
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
Last night’s game was brilliant, it was in the balance with proper ebb and flow. The atmosphere was worthy of a world cup final.
Even though France let rip the other night in an incredibly one-sided affair, some of the attacking play was jaw dropping. Fiji have been terrific, some of the unfancied teams have really stepped and played good rugby.
I’m really enjoying the world cup, it’s a shame there is so long between flurries of matches rather than games being more spaced out, but hey ho.
Even though France let rip the other night in an incredibly one-sided affair, some of the attacking play was jaw dropping. Fiji have been terrific, some of the unfancied teams have really stepped and played good rugby.
I’m really enjoying the world cup, it’s a shame there is so long between flurries of matches rather than games being more spaced out, but hey ho.
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clydecloggie
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35 years and counting, mate. And I thought last night was incredibly boring. Other than endless collisions, there were about 3 passages of play of any note in 80 minutes.
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sockwithaticket
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Every world cup I can remember always has at least a couple of tier 1 teams in pretty crap shape, minnows getting buried and some cagey games. This one is not exceptional in that regard.
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Paddington Bear
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And often those teams in the shit do really well, see England 07, France 11. This tournament could take any number of twists from heresockwithaticket wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 12:20 pm Every world cup I can remember always has at least a couple of tier 1 teams in pretty crap shape, minnows getting buried and some cagey games. This one is not exceptional in that regard.
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
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Uncle fester
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Seems to be a thing now that if a player "doesn't change their bind", they can work their way around the side of the maul. This is nowhere in the laws.salanya wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:20 pmI've seen it a few times now, and it's hugely frustrating. I thought I missed a change in the laws or something.sockwithaticket wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:16 pmThat might exacerbate things, but Sal's right, at some point in the recent past refs srarted allowing teams to swim right round mauls and it boils my piss.
Teams should be allowed to defend a maul, but you can't just surround it and hang onto the back. Scrumhalves can't even get near the ball that way.
Tichtheid wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:38 am Last night’s game was brilliant, it was in the balance with proper ebb and flow. The atmosphere was worthy of a world cup final.
Even though France let rip the other night in an incredibly one-sided affair, some of the attacking play was jaw dropping. Fiji have been terrific, some of the unfancied teams have really stepped and played good rugby.
I’m really enjoying the world cup, it’s a shame there is so long between flurries of matches rather than games being more spaced out, but hey ho.
“It was a pet, not an animal. It had a name, you don't eat things with names, this is horrific!”
I think this is one of the best terms of competitiveness. SH dominance is lower than usual, apart from the Islands who are doing better than usual. We've new minnow nations joining we've got really competitive t2 matches. Stadiums look great with matching atmosphere. Same old argument about the draw though, Scotland at their best in a long time and look what they got.
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Torquemada 1420
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All but guaranteed now.
I am really enjoying it. There have been some great games between T1 sides, a few eyebrow raising results, some good halves from minnow sides, and some good games between T2 sides.
The only pity is that the Pumas have been so poor (so far anyway), which has made Pool D a bit duller than we’d hoped. I guess a couple of years back you’d have hoped to see Samoa and Tonga show up better, but they’re at the level you’d expect from recent performances (so far, anyway).
The only pity is that the Pumas have been so poor (so far anyway), which has made Pool D a bit duller than we’d hoped. I guess a couple of years back you’d have hoped to see Samoa and Tonga show up better, but they’re at the level you’d expect from recent performances (so far, anyway).
Thing is, looking at the draw, the Pumas will play Wales in the QFs (unless they shit the bed against Japan, which I mostly doubt), and though I think the Welsh are underrated, especially by the Welsh, there’s a reasonable chance the Pumas fall ass-backwards into yet another SF appearance.Simian wrote: Mon Sep 25, 2023 1:16 pm The only pity is that the Pumas have been so poor (so far anyway), which has made Pool D a bit duller than we’d hoped. I guess a couple of years back you’d have hoped to see Samoa and Tonga show up better, but they’re at the level you’d expect from recent performances (so far, anyway).
Will say though, in terms of dullness, I do think the Pumas being off form makes their match against Japan somewhat more interesting!
As for Samoa and Tonga — and this is what annoys me about WR bending over backwards to help them out, evidenced by the change in the eligibility rules among other things — I just don’t see how two countries of 218k and 106k, respectively, can be expected to compete into the future as the sport continues to grow.
They’ve always relied heavily on the diaspora, but that’s going to dry up sooner or later as the generations add up, notwithstanding the unfairness of all that anyway for emerging countries that don’t have tons of people who emigrate to rugby superpowers. Can’t imagine there are too many Chilean, Georgian, or Portuguese immigrants in New Zealand. I guess what I’m try to say is their competitiveness is artificial anyway; Fiji is the only PI with a future.