Rugby World Cup 18 Sep - 31 Oct 2015

God I hate it when Cheika does inventive things with the team.

I see Australia is third in the betting odds behind NZ & England. Probably about right.

Bradman wrote:God I hate it when Cheika does inventive things with the team.

Better that than having Lancaster and Farrell calling the shots.

Reports today suggest that George Ford is going to be replaced by Owen Farrell for the Wales game and that the injured Joseph is to be replaced by Sam Burgess.

So, if the reports are accurate then at the first sign of Ford not producing a dazzling attacking display Lancaster loses his nerve and he gets canned.

Never mind the fact that he was playing behind a pack that was being schooled by the Fijians in the tight, that no forward was delivering any go-forward ball or offering up an effective running option and that he had to deal with the clodhopper that is Brad Barritt outside him. It's all George's fault apparently.

Farrell came on in the Fiji game once Fiji had begun to run out of juice and Launchbury, Brookes and the Vunipolas had come on to add some much needed dynamism to a hitherto anaemic pack. Even then he hardly set the game alight. As the saying goes 'it's not what you know, it's who you know', so having daddy as Lancaster's no.2 surely helps him in selection discussions.

Get ready for some seriously dull rugby on Saturday as both sides just try to smash into each other until one of them breaks. NZ (and Aus too) must be laughing at how retrograde our coaches are.

Rumours coming out the SA camp that Bismarck, Jean de Villiers and Matfield had a bust up. Bismarck out of the 22 for the Samoa match.

Race 4 at Tauanga

Scotland showing South Africa how it's done.

Not a phrase one often says.

vilkrang wrote:Scotland showing South Africa how it's done.

Not a phrase one often says.

Heehee. Nice one.

To be fair, Japan were in it for about 50 mins, then a combo of Scotland getting going and Japan's energy levels waning (no doubt due to the herculean eorts against SA) saw the Sweaties run out comfortable winners.

Eddie Jones is a wily old bugger as coach though - Japan could be a team to be reckoned with by the time they host the next tournament in 2019. Probably not ready to be considered as contenders - but certainly capable of reaching the knockout phase.

Anyway, let's see how Aus fare against Fiji. Reckon they'll take care of them far more efficiently than England did.

Pulling that Fiji maul down ought to have been a yellow or maybe even a penalty try. They were cruising to the line.

embee wrote:Race 4 at Tauanga

Very old joke.

Very scratchy start to the WC by the Wobblies with a 28-13 win over Fiji.
Japans day in the (rising) sun didn't last long with a 45-10 thumping by Scotland.

Lindsay no.2 wrote:

Bradman wrote:God I hate it when Cheika does inventive things with the team.

Better that than having Lancaster and Farrell calling the shots.

Reports today suggest that George Ford is going to be replaced by Owen Farrell for the Wales game and that the injured Joseph is to be replaced by Sam Burgess.

So, if the reports are accurate then at the first sign of Ford not producing a dazzling attacking display Lancaster loses his nerve and he gets canned.

Never mind the fact that he was playing behind a pack that was being schooled by the Fijians in the tight, that no forward was delivering any go-forward ball or offering up an effective running option and that he had to deal with the clodhopper that is Brad Barritt outside him. It's all George's fault apparently.

Farrell came on in the Fiji game once Fiji had begun to run out of juice and Launchbury, Brookes and the Vunipolas had come on to add some much needed dynamism to a hitherto anaemic pack. Even then he hardly set the game alight. As the saying goes 'it's not what you know, it's who you know', so having daddy as Lancaster's no.2 surely helps him in selection discussions.

Get ready for some seriously dull rugby on Saturday as both sides just try to smash into each other until one of them breaks. NZ (and Aus too) must be laughing at how retrograde our coaches are.

Not sure "being dropped" is such a big deal as it used to be though, is it? Even if Ford feels it that way, as a kick in the wotsits. There are so many player changes during a match, would be surprising if he didn't get a decent stint in the second half (or earlier if Farrell gets knocked rotten, of course )

Quite a school of thought has emerged among pundits - Gavin Hastings one to the fore - that (with "raw brawn" Burgess on to start as well) Wales will be laughing all the way to Twickenham. Since England are clearly "panicking and scared of Wales", emasculating their attacking spirit, and intent only on tackling, neutralisation, defence.

Again, that seems a bit falsetto drama-queen to me. I presume Lancaster's thinking is to draw the sting of Wales early heft (Roberts in particular) and after starting - he hopes - solid, to move on from there: probably introducing Ford and Slade as the game develops.

Whether it works out that way, time and the game will tell.

Personally, I might have started with Ford and Slade. But as I've said, I think it's a mistake to see Farrell as just some sort of unimaginative blocker - and Ford has been pretty much devoid of that supposed attacking or strategic entelechy in the last 3 games or so.

In any case, one as "mercurial genius", the other as "negative option" is a pretty tendentious contrast.

Lindsay no.2 wrote:

Bradman wrote:God I hate it when Cheika does inventive things with the team.

Better that than having Lancaster and Farrell calling the shots.

Reports today suggest that George Ford is going to be replaced by Owen Farrell for the Wales game and that the injured Joseph is to be replaced by Sam Burgess.

So, if the reports are accurate then at the first sign of Ford not producing a dazzling attacking display Lancaster loses his nerve and he gets canned.

Never mind the fact that he was playing behind a pack that was being schooled by the Fijians in the tight, that no forward was delivering any go-forward ball or offering up an effective running option and that he had to deal with the clodhopper that is Brad Barritt outside him. It's all George's fault apparently.

Farrell came on in the Fiji game once Fiji had begun to run out of juice and Launchbury, Brookes and the Vunipolas had come on to add some much needed dynamism to a hitherto anaemic pack. Even then he hardly set the game alight. As the saying goes 'it's not what you know, it's who you know', so having daddy as Lancaster's no.2 surely helps him in selection discussions.

Get ready for some seriously dull rugby on Saturday as both sides just try to smash into each other until one of them breaks. NZ (and Aus too) must be laughing at how retrograde our coaches are.

Come on L2, tell me you're not serious. If that's really the case, then it could be said that George only got called up for the 6 nations (ahead of Cipriani) when Farrell got injured because his father Mike happens to be head coach at Bath, and is a long-standing mate of Andy Farrell.

Of course it's not true. DC was unlucky not to make the final 31 IMHO, but Owen Farrell certainly isn't there due to nepotism. Anyhow, even if he is, considering that  (I didn't realise this until somebody else told me) he's 4th on Englands all-time point scoring list, he's hardly been a passenger has he ?

In what's quite likely to be a tight game, Lancaster has understandably opted for the better defender and goal kicker. Farrell has better range, and I'd back him over George from the touchline too. Whilst it's true enough that the subs came on against tiring Fijiians, Mike Browns second try came purely from Owen Farrell offloading a pass in the tackle, which I think did set the game alight for the final 10 minutes, with us ultimately getting the bonus point.

Big Dog wrote:Very scratchy start to the WC by the Wobblies with a 28-13 win over Fiji.
Japans day in the (rising) sun didn't last long with a 45-10 thumping by Scotland.

They did the job swiftly and capably for the most part, though they did encounter an unexpected late surge (unexpected bearing in mind the Fijians had seemed progressively to be wilting for about 60 mins). In fact, Oz looked a more efficient force than England had - though it is true that Fiji may well still have been fatigued until they found a reserve tank of energy for that late surge.

I didn't see the Scotland-Japan match, but the scoring pattern (if that is any guide) might suggest L#2's reading is about right. The drooping, falling blossoms.



Obviously, 20 more matches (!) would make the thing (even more?) unworkable, and one would have to face a few more likely pitiful meaningless hammerings - but to one extent at least, it's a pity there weren't 24 teams in these finals. Five in a group makes for a very lopsided schedule, and probably some iniquities of unequal rest times. Six a group would be preferable at least in that sense: five rounds of three days would minimise such rest/play differences between teams.

Or four a group. Then you move back towards that "exclusive club" problem, I suppose. And an appreciably shorter tournament, for better or worse. 32 instead of 48 matches.

It's the 4th time this format has been used.

Actually the inequitable rest times had me confused too. Not so confused to described them as sinful, wicked and evil, but enough to think they may have had a bearing on at least any judgement of the Wallabies game.

Still a win's a win and he at least knows what might need tuning.

So, no cakewalk for the All-Blacks (Second XV v S Africa Fifth XV - jk).

Namibia played gallantly, with fight, and with occasional flashes of high skill. The Black Power&Running Machine mowed them down over time, pretty much inevitably.

The ball seemed to be a bit slippery - there'd been yet more rain in London during the day, a lot of it recently.  Which interfered with some of the handling of both sides, especially in the usual stress situations (iffy passes, high balls).

That said, even if they didn't seem to "turn it on" consistently, or perhaps have an out-and-out desire to, New Zealand showed some weaknesses that may be a worry. For one, they need Carter as their goal-kicker, it seems. His second-string was so-so. For another, their #11 (Savea), brace of tries maybe, but his handling looked  suspect. Knocked on at least three times, when it mattered. Bar of soap?

On the other hand, I bloody love the All-Blacks when they are in "full swarm". SB Williams, Milner-Skudder, Barrett, Ben Smith and Nonu (when he came on) - such guys demonstrate not just the usual famed fitness levels, but the burst, the ingenuity and awareness too. The alert offloads that make the difference.

As I said further up, I certainly wouldn't bet against NZ winning the cup. But even if they bomb out (and they're  never invincible, if their opponents have a good enough plan, are fast enough and can hit hard enough to disrupt their flow, basically), they are always one of the teams I most like to see. Inspiring stuff, comprehensive rugby.

But congrats again to Namibia. I wonder if they can perhaps defeat Tonga?

Weren't they tipped to win by 100+?

Not quite the conflagration we'd been led to expect, brothers.

NOBODY expects the spangling immolation.

Well, our coach has now announced we are in a better position than we were before losing to Japan.

Last Friday we had to win 7 matches to win the WC. Now we only have to win 6.

Probably old ...but I liked it

Better performance by the Boks today despite the poor refereeing.

And now we have a French referee farking up the England Wales game.

taipan wrote:And now we have a French referee farking up the England Wales game.

Yes, there has been a few 'liberal' interpretations of the rules. Still a close game although it looks like it might be a case of the team with the fewer injuries that might prevail.

I just can't take a player called Wigglesworth seriously.

Great Try by Wales. Scores even.