Rugby World Cup 2007

[terry j]

Just caught the fiji-japan game, very exciting. I hope that the new guys to the game catch that one, it's worth watching. The game went about four minutes overtime, I can only imagine that there is no siren at the ground as fiji had at least two opportunities to kick the ball dead but didn't, allowing japan to keep attacking for the elusive last try. When the ball finally went dead there was a very 'amusing' shot of the players...looked like at least ten were laying flat on the ground totally exhausted.

The SA England game is 5 am over here, but I do suspect I'll make the effort and watch it, though to be honest I don't see England making much of a show with it. I really don't think you're going out on a limb though Fin!

[Fincave]

Yes! Only half time and so should not get too carried away but SA are leading England 20-0. England do look out of sorts and SA are not doing too much wrong at the moment, apart from the three missed drop goal attempts.

[terry j]

I reckon England did rather well, the score should have been even greater than it was. At least England where in the game for the first..umm, three minutes.

Why on earth did SA take the shot's on goal for all the penalties in the 2nd half? I suppose in the end they won't need any bonus points to get through, but go for the try man!

[Fincave]

Needless to say I am absolutely thrilled with the scoreline. The defending champions, England were completely outclassed, in every department and failed to even get on to the scorecard. I must admit that I was expecting a closer game but am happy with this result. England are obviously missing some players through injury and suspension but that may not be enough to explain this evening's result, they have a lot of work to do and still face a very tough game against a hard tackling side like Samoa. The possibilty does exist that Eng may not even make it to the next round though I doubt it.

Sorry if this seems a bit biased.

[Fincave]

Not a surprise that the Kiwis won or even that they won as easily, they are the best team in the world at the moment and were palying against amateurs.

I am already waiting for the quarter finals to start, though there are a good few games to go. It will be interseting to see who makes it through, especially the group containing France, Argentina and Ireland, would not like to bet on that one.

Just noticed that the Wallabies are currently 25-10 up against the Welsh, unfortunately am unable to watch the game and have to follow it on the rugby tracker on the IRB's site.

[Fincave]

Another game without any real surprises, maybe the victory margin could of been greater? Australia are now almost sure to top their group and will then face the runner up of SA's group which should be England or, at an outside chance, Samoa.

Did notice that a certain Sonny Parker plays for Wales, who would of thought, a Welsh hillbilly?

Next game up is Ireland vs Georgia, Ireland to win by at least fifteen points?

[terry j]

like you, now looking forward to the business end, mind you some of the 'lesser' and hence more evenly matched games are very exciting..as proved by japan vs fiji (was it?, forget already)

Once again the difference between hemispheres is shown...would be good if argentina could be included in an expanded tri nations down here, would boost them no end.

At this stage, does it matter who Aust meets in the quarters??, they'll surely get to the semis, where there scrum could prove (as most suspect) to be the weak link.

Barnes did very well in my opinion.

From what we've seen, only three teams in it. Funny how most commentators seem to 'overlook' Aust and concentrate on SA and NZ. Recent results (don't know if you caught them Fin) showed that Aust can certainly mix it with them, we almost knocked off SA in SA (except for two very long range field goals by the up and coming future SA star..forget his name now which just got them home) and we came so close to toppling NZ in Auckland...a horrendous refereeing decision late in the game put paid to that one.

I do hope that NZ put on their famous RWC choke though....we need it ha ha.

[Fincave]

Well, there went my prediction of the Irish winning by fifteen points, they did not even score that many points. Pool D is going to be close, would not really want to place a bet as to who will go through.

The knockout stages will be coming up and should prove very interesting, here is a quick run down of how things work.

QF1: runner up Pool A vs winner Pool B (Eng/Samoa vs Australia)

QF2: runner up Pool D vs winner Pool C (Fra/Ire/Arg vs New Zealand)

QF3: runner up Pool B vs winner Pool A (Wales vs SA)

QF4: runner up Pool C vs winner Pool D (Scotland vs Fra/Ire/Arg)

Moving on to the semis:


QF1 vs QF2

and

QF3 vs QF4

Please note that these are my predictions as to who will win and finish runner up in their respective groups.

Australia will in most likelihood have to beat NZ to get to the finals where they would play .....? I am quite happy that it looks as though SA will avoid both NZ and Australia in the quarters and semis, they are without a doubt the teams to beat.

[terry j]

ouch....looks like SA is a shoe in for the final, and whilst we have beaten NZ this year and came close a second time, it would be a brave act to bet against the all blacks.

[Fincave]

terry j wrote:

ouch....looks like SA is a shoe in for the final, and whilst we have beaten NZ this year and came close a second time, it would be a brave act to bet against the all blacks.

Have to admit that SA definitely do have a much easy run in. Whoever wins in the end though will be able to say they have beaten the best!

Yesterdays results:

Fiji 29-16 Canada
Samoa 15-19 Tonga
France 87-10 Namibia

I did fancy Samoa to win but the result does make the pool interesting, expected wins for both France and Fiji.

Only one game today, Scotland vs Romania, should be a comfortable win for the Scots.

[Fincave]

Scotland were always going to win this game, still a good result for them though keeping Romania off the scoresheet. Scotland are pretty assured of going through, still need to play NZ though, even if they lose they should go through and will then meet the winner from Pool D.

Italy play Portugal today, Wales play Japan on Thursday and Friday sees a big game in Pool D, France take on Ireland in what should be a very good game.

[Fincave]

I seem to be falling a bit behind with updating the scores, sorry.

Italy 31-5 Portugal
Wales 72-18 Fiji
France 25-3 Ireland

The first two results were pretty expected. France beating Ireland was a very good result for the home nation and does make it quite difficult for Ireland to go through, Ireland need to beat Argentina, score at least four tries in the game to earn a bonus point, they also need to win by more than seven points, not going to be easy.

Today sees three games being played and I doubt that there will be any surprises, SA play Tonga, England vs Samoa and Argentina play Namibia, SA, ENG and ARG should all win their games. Tomorrow sees Australia play Fiji and Scotland take on the All Blacks, not hard to guess who will win those games! Apparently Scotland will be using quite a few new faces in their line up and are fielding a weakened side, they may well be on the receiving end of a severe thumping.

[terry j]

woohoo nearly the boilover of the competition!

Do SA look the goods just yet?? not on tonights performance, though now the 'one bad show' is out of the way they can get back on track.

the AB's would have crushed them tonight, and so would australia methinks.

[Fincave]

terry j wrote:

woohoo nearly the boilover of the competition!

Do SA look the goods just yet?? not on tonights performance, though now the 'one bad show' is out of the way they can get back on track.

the AB's would have crushed them tonight, and so would australia methinks.

I did not get to see the game but got a bit of a shock at the scoreline, even though we fielded a second string side it is no excuse! SA should win those games comfortably, hopefully that was the one bad performance.

SA 30-25 Tonga
Eng-44-22 Samoa
Argentina 63-3 Namibia
Australia 55-12 Fiji
Scotland 0-40 New Zealand

No real surprises with the above results though would have thought that Scotland could at least have gotten onto the scorecard. The pools are looking quite interesting, Tonga and England have to play each other with the winner taking second spot and going through, Ireland need to beat Argentina and score the bonus point which I do not honestly see them doing. SA, NZ and AUS have won their respective groups as per expectation. Roll on the next round where things get a little bit more serious!

[Fincave]

Canada 12-12 Japan
Romania 14-10 Portugal

The group phase is winding down, three teams are through to the next round and a further ten can still make it. Here is some text that is copied from the IRB site giving a run down of the various groups, some interesting games coming up but the real stuff starts 6 October.

PARIS, 24 September - Five nations will see their dreams of an IRB Rugby World Cup quarter-final dashed over the weekend as the pool stages draw to a close.

South Africa, Australia and New Zealand are already assured of quarter-final berths as the winners of Pool A, B and C respectively, but 10 nations still have a chance of joining them.

Pool A:

Tonga are guaranteed to finish as runners-up behind South Africa with a win or draw against England at Parc des Princes in Paris on Friday.
Defending champions England will finish as runners-up if they beat Tonga.
The runner-up will play Australia in the first quarter-final in Marseille on 6 October.

Pool B:

Wales will finish as runners-up behind Australia if they avoid defeat against Fiji in Nantes on Saturday as in the event of a draw they have a far superior points difference.
Fiji need to beat Wales to be guaranteed a quarter-final place as runners-up.
The runner-up will play South Africa in the third quarter-final in Marseille on 7 October.

Pool C:

Scotland are guaranteed to finish as runners-up behind New Zealand with a win or draw against Italy in Saint-Etienne on Sunday.
Italy need to beat Scotland if they are to reach their first RWC quarter-final.
The runner-up will play the Pool D winner in the fourth quarter-final in Saint-Denis on 7 October.

Pool D:

France need a win against Georgia to guarantee them a spot in the quarter-finals.
Argentina with a win or draw against Ireland are guaranteed to win the Pool.
Ireland are guaranteed to qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Argentina with a bonus point for scoring four tries and deny the Pumas a bonus point.
Theoretically Georgia can still make the quarter-finals, but would need to beat both Namibia and France to stand a chance.
Whoever finishes as Pool D runner-up will play New Zealand in the second quarter-final in Cardiff on 6 October.

[Fincave]

Georgia 30-0 Namibia
Samoa 25-21 USA

Only the two games played yesterday, Georgia recording their first ever RWC win and Samoa edging the USA. The US were 22-3 down at HT so quite a comback from them. Namibia are now left carrying the so called 'wooden spoon' ie finishing bottom of their group, the same fate awaits USA and most probably Canada, Portugal are also carrying the proverbial spoon.

Tomorrow sees an interesting high stakes game being played, England take on Tonga with the winner finishing up second in the group, the 'prize' for this distinction being a semi-final berth against Australia.

[terry j]

I for one appreciate your efforts here Fin! thanks.

[Fincave]

terry j wrote:

I for one appreciate your efforts here Fin! thanks.

Thank you! Nice to know that someone is reading/following this thread, am a bit surprised at the lack of posters. I realise that rugby is not big in the States but they are in the competition, there are also a lot of Aussie and British members here.

Any predicitions as to how the QF and SF will pan out, eventual winners? Not sure who I would pick between the All Blacks and the Wallabies, going to be one very tough game, I have not seen enough of either side to really state with any confidence as to the likely winner. No team will have the luxury of having a bad day as they will quickly find themselves on the plane back home (apart from France as they are at home ) Will admit to wanting Tonga to beat England, the underdog and all that, plus there is an Englishman who is our kitchen manager at work, still think England will do it but will come up short against the Aussies, revenge for the previous final perhaps?

[JCD]

I think the problem over here is that we don't really get to see many of the games -- that and it's really a game that doesn't hit the radar over here. Soccer BARELY get's mentioned.. forget about rugby.

That being said, I've been disappointed, but not surprised by the American's in the tournament. It'd be nice if they could build on this for the future.

I do appreciate you keeping up the scores for us.. it's not easy to find in the States.

JCD

[terry j]

I would guess not much 'foreign' games get a run in the US at all. Think the Americans tend toward the insular side, I couldn't imagine that being any different for sport.

They did not do badly in the overall scheme of things by the way.

Good game this morning, the first of the sudden deaths if you will. England in the end came away comfortably, but the Tongans were in no way disgraced.

C'mon England, when you get up the other try and score a try?? Get's a bit boring watching the old standby..out to Wilkinson and over for (yet another) field goal.

Couple of easy games tonight, NZ and Aus will get comfortable victories, then later another crunch game for quite a few concerned (not just the teams playing) Argentina and Ireland.

I'll let Fin do the permutations, he's the cap'n of this 'ere ship.

[Fincave]

Another game that I did not get to see as was at work. Current holders England passed their first proper test in this cup and earned themselves a quarter final match against Australia. I think Australia will be looking forward to that game and may view it as an oppurtunity to exact revenge for the 2003 final loss against England in which Johnny Wilkinson scored a last gasp drop goal. I may be slightly biased but I do not see England beating Australia, not on current form anyway although rugby can be a funny game some times.

Today sees four games being played, New Zealand play Romania, Australia play Canada, Wales play Fiji and in the final game Scotland take on Italy. NZ will win, irrespective of what side they actually field for the match they will win comfortably, no disrespect to Romania but they are not in the same league at all. Australia will also win though apparently Canada have always won at least one game every RWC, their record will end today. Wales vs Fiji is a big game for both teams, anything less than a win for Fiji will see them remain in third in the group and thus not progress. Tough predicting a winner and the prize for the winner is a quarter final berth against South-Africa. Scotland vs Italy is another winner takes all match, Scotland should do it but the last time the two teams met Italy won so it should be a close game. The winner of the game will finish as runner up in the group and will face the winner of group D which is still undecided, Argentina, France and Ireland could all still win the group and all play their final group games tomorrow.

After tomorrows games the quarter final teams will be known and all the teams will have some time to rest, practice before the knock out phase starts.

[Fincave]

Yesterdays results:

New Zealand 85-8 Romania
Australia 37-6 Canada
Wales 34-38 Fiji
Scotland 18-16 Italy