Gav80 Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 Forget what you may have heard about the silly games last year (that would be football (soccer) for those who didn't get the reference), the realworld cup is just about to start - in about an hour... And for those who didn't get that reference, that would be the rugby world cup. France take on Argentina tonight, and then it really gets going tomorrow when, among other matches, England (as defending champions - although unlikely to retain their crown IMO) take on the rugby-playing might (lmao) of the USA... Anyone interested?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZJJ Posted September 7, 2007 Share Posted September 7, 2007 I would watch the matches if I had nothing to do like you do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted September 8, 2007 Author Share Posted September 8, 2007 I have plenty to do, it's simply a question of priorities - and motorsport and rugby internationals feature pretty high up that list! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted September 14, 2007 Share Posted September 14, 2007 (edited) Here i just can watch France ones till the Quarterfinals start when i will be able to watch all the games. I have Tv5 (French channel) on my TV cable. I watched the Pumas' victory over France in the opening match. It was really great, so much heart in this sport. I really like it. I was able to watch also some Heineken cup matches during the season on Spanish television. I played football and futsal till this year and even when u can imagine i like a lot i guess i prefer to watch a rugby match (between the best teams/national teams, cause i watched Spanish league and bah, wasn't good enough) before most of the football ones. Looking forward for more games. I want NZ to win or Ireland, but i guess it could be one of the quarterfinal matches. I guess you support England?. They don't look strong enough this year, i watched few pre-world cup matches and they had big defeats. How do you see them? Edited September 14, 2007 by Big Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted September 19, 2007 Author Share Posted September 19, 2007 Not being English, no, I don't support England. I'm Scottish, so I have my own team in the competition to be interested in. Since you ask, I'd agree England are looking pretty weak this time round. They haven't got a chance of defending their title. Their 29-10 win over the USA for their opening match was frankly embarrassing (for England, not for America), and the 36-0 defeat to South Africa was a humiliation - although at least South Africa are a good team. I'd expected England to lose that one, but it should have been a lot closer than that. They should beat Tonga and Samoa in their remaining two pool games (although they'll have to play better than they have been to manage it), and would therefore go through to the quarter-finals as runners up in pool A... but that would put them up against the winners of pool B, which will be Australia, and there's no way they'll win that. New Zealand and Ireland could be a quarter-final game, yeah, if Ireland finish second in their group. Personally though I think Ireland might well win their group (although they had a scare against Georgia the other day), which should give them a quarter-final match against Scotland, who are likely to finish runners up in their group behind New Zealand. Then it'll fall to France and Argentina to squabble for the runner up spot and a quarter-final match with New Zealand. I think the quarter-finals will be: South Africa v Wales England v Australia Scotland v Ireland New Zealand v France/Argentina (if France beat Ireland on Friday, I reckon they'll get this spot; if they lose to Ireland, I think Argentina might nick it) That should see South Africa, Australia, New Zealand and then either Scotland or Ireland through to the final four. Normally I'd've said that Ireland would probably beat Scotland, but Ireland haven't looked that great in the world cup so far, and they lost 31-21 to Scotland in a friendly before the tournament too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted September 19, 2007 Share Posted September 19, 2007 Ah, sorry for the English thing , i saw UK and made a mistake with it. I watched another France match (vs Namibia), if u can call it a match (u need two teams for that ). This Friday, I'll go to a friend's house to watch France-Ireland, i hope it's a good game. We are gonna show a rugby match to a friend who never watched one before, and we told him it was the "purest sport". For the rest i can't comment so much, i guess all goes as expected with some "surprises". I talk about the scorings, cause the results are like u say the ones u could expect (as the England-USA, England-SA, Ireland-Georgia, ...). About the Ireland, France and Argentina pool, puff not sure who gonna make it into the quarter-finals. This Friday will tell us if France still can make it . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted September 19, 2007 Author Share Posted September 19, 2007 Things get a lot more clear-cut after the pool stages anyway. We'll really see how things stand once we get to the quarter-finals. That's when things get more interesting too, because the decent teams start playing each other - that doesn't happen too often in the group stages. Friday should be a good game though. I wouldn't like to try to call a winner of it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted September 23, 2007 Share Posted September 23, 2007 Well, France crushed Ireland. I was a bit disappointed with the Irish, I thought they would do it better and now they will have to fight with Los Pumas to get into the quarter-finals. This looks like a NZ-France in the quarters , looking forward to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted September 26, 2007 Author Share Posted September 26, 2007 Yeah, Ireland were really disappointing. Trying to work out Pool D now is getting tricky, but I think on current form Argentina will take Ireland apart, meaning they'll win the group, Ireland'll be going home, and France will go through as runners-up to play the All Blacks in quarter-finals. But if Ireland manage to beat Argentina, then France will probably win the group (as they have more bonus points than Ireland or Argentina atm) and it'll be a toss-up for second place in the group... I think I'd rather Ireland lost, cuz I think Scotland have a better chance against Argentina than France for a quarter-final match. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted September 26, 2007 Share Posted September 26, 2007 Yes, I'm with you there. Scotland vs France?, can't see them making it. So maybe vs Argentina they will have something to say. The Irish have to clearly beat Argentina, but they showed themselves so strong to concede few Tries. Let's wait and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted October 8, 2007 Share Posted October 8, 2007 Well, we have the semis: England-France and Arg-SA. I wanna comment the "great" English referee in the France-NZ match. It was a shame what he did. Not only the avant in the 2nd try for France, which i don't understand how they didn't see it but in the 2nd half France made 0 penalties. Advantages that mysteriously disappeared, lots of offsides, hands in the rucks, ... Simply he decided the result. Great matches, and closer than i thought in all of them. I guess France has this title in the pocket. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 Did anyone mention England beat Australia recently? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 (edited) Actually, I thought only one of the QF matches was much good (RSA v Fiji). The others were certainly tense, but I didn't think they were particularly good games. Too many mistakes by referees and sub-par performances from the teams playing. About the only side that looked to be playing to their full potential in their match was Fiji. Smart money is on South Africa to win it now, I think... I just can't decide whether they'll beat France or England in the final... probably France, cuz I can't see England knocking France out of their own world cup in Paris. I don't quite know how they managed to pull off a shock win against Australia, but I doubt that form will be repeated. Edited October 9, 2007 by Gav80 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 You are right, not great rugby but at least they were tied games. Australia didn't play well and the English first line (sp?) played a great match. Agree with you about Fiji. About SA winning it, i will say i would like . My likes would be Arg, SA, England, France in this order. But with the luck i have I'm sure France will win. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 Well, England made it I couldn't watch it cause i was watching football Denmark vs. Spain, but I'm happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted October 13, 2007 Share Posted October 13, 2007 DEFENDING champion England upset local favourites France 14-9 on Saturday night in Paris to reach the final of the Rugby World Cup. England will face the South Africa-Argentina semi-final winner next Saturday for the title. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted October 15, 2007 Author Share Posted October 15, 2007 I'm very surprised England have made it so far, having struggled even to get out of their group... France actually played the better rugby in their match and I think they'd have been more worthy winners of the game, but it's the scoreline that counts. Can't believe how off-form Jonny Wilkinson is with his kicking - and I know he complains about the match balls, but that sounds a bit stupid when you remember that Chris Patterson kicked 17 out of 17 for Scotland... The balls can't be that bad. Now England have to take on South Africa again though, and I'm sure no English fans need reminding of the result of the Eng v RSA pool game earlier on in the tounament... I think we'll be seeing a Springbok win in the final. The third-place game will be good too - a repeat of the opening match, and I'm sure France will be wanting to avenge their shock defeat from that night... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 World Cup Final in 30 Minutes! Good Luck England Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 World Cup Final in 30 Minutes! Good Luck England Com'on South Africa Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tinker Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 South Africa have been crowned champions after beating England in the Rugby World Cup Final. RESULTS Congrats SA Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hammer Posted October 20, 2007 Share Posted October 20, 2007 ahah the South Africans have been made honoury Welshman to night Bad luck England Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Big Posted October 21, 2007 Share Posted October 21, 2007 Just watched the 2nd half, England did it fine, that "no try" was an inflexion point. Congrats to SA, was the best team in my opinion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gav80 Posted October 22, 2007 Author Share Posted October 22, 2007 It has to be said that was actually a better game than I was expecting... World cup finals are normally very cagey with neither team wanting to risk anything - which means a lot of kicking and very little running of the ball, which is what the game is supposed to be about. Although neither team actually got a try, I was pleased to see both sides trying to run and play attacking rugby instead of just settling for a tactical kicking-fest. I have to admit I thought that's how England would play (as they did for every other match in the tournament), and it was a pleasure to be proved wrong! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.