blonde poker forum

I don't follow any rugby apart from the six nations and the world cup.

Any experts? I'm told that its almost impossible that New Zealand won't win but they are not a working mans price. Anybody got any ideas for a good tournament long punt or 2?

8-13 is more than fair at home- looks a good thing to me

Only 3 possible winners- NZ, Australia or South Africa. Of the 3 I think Australia are the best value as they have a habit of beating New Zealand in big matches and New Zealand love to mess things up in World cups.

I honestly think messing things up in the past is the reason why they are 8-13 at home- should be nearer to 2-5 imo

I'm assured by the biggest and best punter i know that this is the case. Unfortunately getting married and paying off a big debt has absolutely rinsed my bankroll so i can't really go in heavy myself. Will defintly be on for a relatively big bet though.

Drifted on today's defeat to 7/10- thought they played well in 2nd half and wouldn't worry about that

Gotta be honest, I can't fucking wait for this. Gonna be tough for England to do well but fingers crossed. Will be fun knocking the Scots out though  ;D

Fixture List

Fri 9 Sept
9.30am   Pool A   New Zealand   v   Tonga

Sat 10 Sept
2.00am   Pool B   Scotland   v   Romania
4.30am   Pool D   Fiji           v   Namibia
7.00am   Pool A   France   v   Japan   
9.30am   Pool B   England   v   Argentina

Sun 11 Sept
4.30am   Pool C   Australia   v   Italy
7.00am   Pool C   Ireland   v   USA
9.30am   Pool D   South Africa   v   Wales   

Wed 14 Sept
3.30am   Pool D   Samoa   v   Namibia
6.00am   Pool A   Tonga   v   Canada
8.30am   Pool B   Scotland   v   Georgia

Thurs 15 Sept
8.30am   Pool C   Russia   v   USA

Fri 16 Sept
9.00am   Pool A   New Zealand   v   Japan   

Sat 17 Sept
4.30am   Pool B   Argentina   v   Romania
7.00am   Pool D   South Africa   v   Fiji
9.30am   Pool C   Australia   v   Ireland

Sun 18 Sept
4.30am   Pool D   Wales   v   Samoa
7.00am   Pool B   England   v   Georgia
9.30am   Pool A   France   v   Canada

Tues 20 Sept
8.30am   Pool C   Italy   v   Russia

Wed 21 Sept
8.30am   Pool A   Tonga   v   Japan   

Thurs 22 Sept
9.00am   Pool D   South Africa   v   Namibia

Fri 23 Sept
9.30am   Pool C   Australia   v   USA

Sat 24 Sept
7.00am   Pool B   England           v   Romania
9.30am   Pool A   New Zealand   v   France

Sun 25 Sept
3.30am   Pool D   Fiji           v   Samoa
6.00am   Pool C   Ireland   v   Russia
8.30am   Pool B   Argentina   v   Scotland

Mon 26 Sept
7.30am   Pool D   Wales   v   Namibia

Tues 27 Sept
5.00am   Pool A   Canada   v   Japan
7.30am   Pool C   Italy           v   USA

Wed 28 Sept
7.30am   Pool B   Georgia   v   Romania

Fri 30 Sept
8.30am   Pool D   South Africa   v   Samoa

Sat 1 Oct
3.30am   Pool C   Australia   v   Russia
6.00am   Pool A   France   v   Tonga
8.30am   Pool B   England   v   Scotland

Sun 2 Oct
1.00am   Pool B   Argentina   v   Georgia
3.30am   Pool A   New Zealand   v   Canada
6.00am   Pool D   Wales   v   Fiji
8.30am   Pool C   Ireland   v   Italy

I'm not a fan of Rugga but love Eng WC games, will be watching.

The RWC has a great little app for the I-pad, all the info you could ever need  :)up

Early morning weekend games - result

I like the under 295.5 tries line with Bet365 & Skybet @ 4/5.

Sporting Index make the spread 282-292 and spread firms tend to weight their markets up rather than down expecting more buyers than sellers.

Can probably do some funky hedging as well seeing as the Hills line is 285.5 going 10/11 either side.

Argentina are 4-1 to beat England on Skybet, surely that's value?

Not in my book, sorry. 9/2 on VC, still wouldn't takes those odds.

back the over if your looking to middle it after the first round of games.

Think a working mans bet maybe a south africa australia final at about 12s, aussies nailed on for final with the draw they have and probable s.a new zealand semi which if the kiwis choke makes it a good bet compared to the 13/8 for kiwi, aussie final. Also think steyn for top points scorer at 4s is value against carter who too short in betting as likely to be rested for the earlier group games. good luck, hope im right!

Wilko getting the nod in this first game


England Team to face Argentina
Player   Club
15 Ben Foden   Northampton Saints
14 Chris Ashton   Northampton Saints
13 Manu Tuilagi   Leicester Tigers
12 Mike Tindall (C)   Gloucester Rugby
11 Delon Armitage   London Irish
10 Jonny Wilkinson   RC Toulon
9 Richard Wigglesworth   Saracens
1 Andrew Sheridan   Sale Sharks
2 Steve Thompson   London Wasps
3 Dan Cole   Leicester Tigers
4 Louis Deacon   Leicester Tigers
5 Courtney Lawes   Northampton Saints
6 Tom Croft   Leicester Tigers
7 James Haskell   Ricoh Black Rams
8 Nick Easter   Harlequins

Replacements
Player   Club
16 Dylan Hartley   Northampton Saints
17 Matt Stevens   Saracens
18 Tom Palmer   Stade Francais
19 Tom Wood   Northampton Saints
20 Ben Youngs   Leicester Tigers
21 Toby Flood   Leicester Tigers
22 Matt Banahan   Bath Rugby

Is France to win every game still a ridiculous bet at 66/1?

France could beat anyone on any given day if the right team turns up. Where have you seen that bet?

It's at Boylesports. Paddy's are 50's and BlueSq 33's

New Zealand -57
Let's go

pretty awesome start from the all blacks this first half. there  could be a shit load of tries this world cup due to directives given to the refs about giving advantage to attacking play.

Not watching it but I bet Sonny Bill is tearing it up

Are the group stages of the RWC a bigger waste of time than the group stages of the Cricket World Cup?

Minnows can spring an upset in the CWC due to the short format and the fact that one slogger getting lucky can win a game on his own, but in the RWC they just seem to get pulverised with zero chance of winning.

Sigh if NZ had a 9 they could take the trophy home now. Was it just me or was that an obvious try the video ref just got wrong?

def not a try, his hand was under the ball when he first crossed the line, by the time it had rolled over his hand and contacted the ground his foot was in touch. watched with a kiwi and he agrees

I'd have 100% given it at full speed though

Ball carrying arm touching the ground is fine isn't it? Didn't think ball actually had to touch. At that point his foot was over the line and looked like it was touching but as it played forward you could tell it was still in the air as it then went down and hit the ground and bounced.

Quick google suggests I was wrong. Does anyone remember this ever being a rule/initiative?
I've been reffed like this for as long as I can remember.

Ball has to touch, has always had to.

yeah ball has to be grounded. lot of tries not given for hands/arms/legs under the ball.

always been the rule but at any level of the game without a video ref today's try would've been wrongly given as it def looked fine at full speed

Think that is probably why I've heard the phrase. At grass roots if you dive over or slide over the line then it can be impossible to know if the ball is grounded and the ref can't not give them if he isn't 100% sure it's a try so probably came up with the theory that if the ball carrying arm touches the ground it's a try.

A Welsh mate of mine who's a big rugby fan says Wales not to get out their group is a value bet. Thoughts?

Odds?

Meh just watch the NZ/Tonga game, the Tonga tackling was piss poor in the first half, NZ should have won by a lot more, average start for them imo. SBW was great though.

You can get 3/1, was some 7/2 at one stage, it's a really terrible bet though imo. England to go out in the group at 11/1 might be a little bit of value, had a big bet on England under 195.5 total points at 10/11.

Agree terrible bet, England ain't going out either. Interesting under points bet, don't you fancy them putting on 70-80+ points on each of Georgia and Romania?

I'm working on them scoring around 80-90 over those 2 games, I like a lot of things about this England team but can see them being very/overly conservative at times, will be very interesting to see how they approach the Argentina game.

I hope you mean 80-90 PER game and not for both those games? If not I think your in big trouble mate tbh, sorry.

6/1 now on sporting bet if your still keen?

Fancy Arg +14 evens
Arg-Eng at 7 s
Draw-Eng at 25s

well the good thing is we can't possibly play any worse

weird airflow in that stadium? I've never seen 3 international kickers miss so many attempts in one game. the flags at pitch level were really fluttering

toasty start to the weekend

Missed the last 20 mins, fuck off virgin I-player!  >:(

As Gatso said its only uphill from there  :D

Get out of jail card used!

Yeah ding ding- 6-6 ht would have been the sweets

Nothing to worry about. The aim is to peak for the final.

Been a sweet tourno so far - bookies seem to massively over estimate the difference between the top teams and the "whipping boys". Aussie game was 6th fave in a row to fail to cover the handicap, with Ireland not looking great to cover theirs.

Easy money so far, although SA game looks about right so might swerve that one.

Nooor over slept and didn't get on SA -31 at 8's. Early try would have been just what I wanted.

You got lucky oversleeping here, Wales might well win let alone -31, not giving Hook's kick is ridiculous though and wtf were the commentators talking about watching the replay.

Yeh you're right. Winding up my welsh housemate was the thinking behind it.
At first look the kick looked good. 2nd look it looked good but looked to be going over the post at one point.

G
Nice brag. Welsh well on top at the moment

Wales look great and for the first time ever phenomenally fit, no slip ups against Fiji/Samoa and we can give Australia plenty to worry about in the quarter finals. Never like to whinge about officials and in general I thought Wayne Barnes was excellent, Hook's penalty in the first half very clearly went through the posts though.

Yeah I thought that to but put it down to just having woke up and still drunk, it was pretty much in the Middle of the Posts.
Was the England game not played under the Roof?

I don't think you could really tell at what point it crossed over the post. The ball was just about inside at one point but it may well have already past over the post by then, inconclusive imo.

I do still think it went through but agree on reflection that it's not totally clear cut. It's the first time in years I've got really really excited by a sporting event, possibly allowed that to affect my judgement. Not really sure why but for some reason that game took me back to being a kid when sport was the most important thing in the world,a golden age before women, money, poker and booze started to get in the way.

Yeah even I was rooting for Wales  ;D

Well after an absolute party so far with the under rated "unknown" teams cruising to handicap wins in 10/11 games we have a matchup of two lower ranked teams tomorrow morning.

For me this all points to a USA victory.  For a start they have beaten Russia already earlier this year (although only by one score) but more importantly they put in a great performance against Ireland and confidence will be sky high.  This is Russia's also first game of the tournament so they won't be as sharp.  Obviously there is a bit of added spice for any USA v Russia encounter but I think this one will go to form still.

I'll be backing USA -6pts with Stan James @ 5/6 as it is much better value that the 8-10 supremacy quote offered by Sporting Index.

Ordinarily I'd also fancy the match to be fairly high scoring but it is due to be pissing it down I believe.  The 37.5pts line offered by Ladbrokes looks plenty low enough though (5/6 each side) so will probably have a bit of that as well.  Most other firms have the line around 40 or higher.

Good luck!

What was the 1/11 that was over the Handicap?

Samoa against Namibia

WTF at Andy Robinson and some of the Scotland players saying they thought they played well v Georgia. They actually seem pleased with that scoreline/performance.  :D

Mega-Sigh at the times these matches are on at, I can't get into the schwing of things at all.

Same  :(  Will be watching all once we get to the quarters though.

Fortunately England have three games against minor nations before the knock-out stages.

Nice subtle rub Dan :-)

Good job I had a 9.30 meeting else could have got messy as would have gone overs on the points at half time!  Snuck the main bet anyway.

Time to pile into Japan +57 tomorrow (10/11 with Bodog).

Sell of total points @ 72 on spread looks ok too.

I'll be backing a team to cover the handicap for the first time this World Cup, I thought Japan were the worst team defensively in the first round of games. New Zealand just need to avoid the handling errors France made and they'll be running in tries for fun. New Zealand -53 evs with Ladbrokes.

Didn't think it was all that subtle :D

Kahui hattrick at 4/1 for me. Hoping to avoid 3 losers out of 3

These couple of vids by the England team are worth a watch for anyone that hasn't seen them.

At 7.45 they stop at some randoms house, very funny.  ;D

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWYR95to_20

Japan aren't good enough to make NZ get it to the wingers.

2 in 45mins. Don't take him off please!

Peach of a kick for Sonny Bill. Chip and chase yourself next time! Also had a run at 80mins that I thought he was going to make.

Good shout and thankfully put me off the handicap bet, although still did a few quid on the points unders.

Not looked at tomorrow yet but 3 games so should be something there to get involved in.

FFS I was going to lump on this and forgot  >:(

Australia v Italy was another.

Maybe depended on the bookie but I was on Italy there.

The bookies were spread between 24 and 27 iirc.

Anyone else on Ireland in this? +12 @ evens with Hills lookin ok so far!

Well done Ireland  :)up

Massive result and thoroughly deserved!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee, have just woke up to hear this result, how did Ireland play?

Forwards played amazing.

Australia forwards were awful.
Quade Cooper played to form. So overrated it's beyond belief.

Wasn't overly impressed by Ireland despite their victory but winning is the most important thing at this stage. South Africa should try and throw some games. Ireland followed by Fra or Eng is a nice route to the final. Give NZ as much chance as possible choke before facing them.

Stephen O'Brien on the flank was immense, tore the Aussies apart at breakdown, who missed Pocock massively


NZ, Aus and SA now in the half of draw, right? (assume NZ beat France) Puts a Northern hemispehere team in with a good shout of the final

Haven't looked at the draw, but I wonder if one of the other southern hem teams mights be tempted to lose a game to get away from that half of the draw? Easier route to the final for them if the do  ;whistle;

Really can´t see a thrown game, the only one with any real scope is NZ/France and it just seems too unlikely. I do think certain final combo´s are overpriced after that shock result though and the Wales vs SA final looks good at 60/1, I´ve had a small interest.

Just stick out a B team rather than throw it as such.

Absolutely no way NZ would think of anything other than trying to crush France.

France in the World Cup is a monkey on NZ's backs that they have to get rid of.

Meh, ok win over Georgia. Have gone from terrible last week to OK this week. Hopefully will each keep on improving game or we are going to get found out big time against any of the big teams.

Argentina to beat Scotland at 8/11 looks the best bet of the tornament so far. Also the early signs are that Italy will be overrated on the handicap vs USA, I´m very interested if the USA are getting a start >20 points.

Interested to know what anyone thinks re the Springboks v Namibia in the mornin. With their handling they should beat the -59 @ evens with Hills. I was much more confident when gettin on the All Blacks in their match v Japan, there's a niggling feelin that they may just take their foot off the gas second half....thoughts anyone? Be interested to know what other bets are about...

Not watched Namibia so can't comment really but in this tourny especially the bigger handicaps have struggled to be covered. I think you can get a half time handicap of around 26/27 points if you think that's more likely before they make changes.

Big win! Covered the HT and FT handicaps.

Fell asleep so didn't get on which I don't mind coz I wasn't too happy with the handicap. Woke up just before half time then fell asleep just before the end. They weren't as clinical as they could have been but ran out easy winners when their neighbours tired and started to miss tackles.

The Ozzies -59 at 10/11 looks the Bet tomorrow.
USA have a reserve side out while a very Strong Austrialian side who will be wounded after defeat to Ireland.

lol, Quade Cooper is so bad. Taking a bit of odds against on the Aussies -50 now that they don´t have a clown at outside half.

Pretty sure Nigel Owens has a large wager at -60, gl to you sir, hope it wins for you.

I was on -61 @ evens pre-kickoff, didn't like what I was watchin 1st half (sloppy handling) so backed em again - 49 @ 4/5 just to cover a bit...thankfully they hit a purple patch and sealed it by a point with a conversion! Had visions of it going agonisingly wide like the first two in the first half.

Thankfully, last I heard Anthony Faingaa was 'ok' after that horrible collision in the last minute.

Bit confused here.  f you didn't like what you saw in the first half then why on earth would you top up your bet?

After wathin them a while I was worried they wouldn't win by 61 but was pretty sure they'd win by more than 49 so backed them at that price to cut my loss on the initial bet. They managed to squeeze past the 61 so all was well. I would have been gutted if I hadn't have backed them at -49. Hope that makes sense.

Anyways, on to today. Had Cueto to score anytime at 1/2. England -54.5 @4/5 and got two doubles with England having completed the first leg....have New Zealand at -7 in one and -12 in the other so this is where the wheels come off and the French blow me out of the water!!!

What price did you get on NZ -7? Would be good if you put all selections up pre-game. Always hard to know what to make of after-time winners.

NZ are a clear outright lay for me. They´re so dependent on the ref looking favourably on their marginal tactics at the breakdown and their obstructing runners in broken play. With a ref like Wayne Barnes or Kaplan (obv can´t ref SA) I don´t reckon they´re better than 2/5-4/9 in a semi against SA or Australia so 3/5 outright for me is way too short.

What price did you get on NZ -7? Would be good if you put all selections up pre-game. Always hard to know what to make of after-time winners.
[/quote]

NZ -7 were 1/5 with Hills, had em in a double with England 1st half -20 @ 1/2 (main double)

Other double was:

NZ -12 @ 4/11 and England -54 @ evens (small double)

Will post next bet before the off tho only reason I mentioned the doubles was because they still had one leg to go...Probably avoiding Fiji v Samoa unless I get home in time to have a bleary eyed punt. Lookin like Ireland match atm.

Fiji v Samoa is a tricky one for me so only interest in this is in a small double. I like Samoa but they've messed up a lot of their scoring opportunities with sloppy handling and indiscipline so I'm taking Fiji +10 @ evens with Keith Earls to score anytime @ 1/2 with Hills (pays 2/1).

This looks dead in the water....amateur nite from Fiji

Am on Argentina 8/11 max bet.

Same 4/6 with Hills. Swap? lol

I'd have guessed Scotland would be 1/2 the way ITV are talking them up!

Very happy to go in again at this price, 6/4 at half time.

It's anybody's...ref decision may decide this. Argentina need to quit with the lame drop goal attempts and go wide at pace.

I´d be happier if they´d play for position and keep hammering it with the forwards. No real complaints if this loses, Scotland have just played much better than I expected. Their back row have been exceptional.

Just got some 4/1 on the Argies. Happy with that with 3 in it.

gl need this wind to ease up. Two kicks swirlled wide and one off the post!

So after 70mins they finally get it wide!!

Phew!! Talk about last minute.com

Haven´t had a bet but I will be surprised if Wales cover the -58 handicap here. Not quite strong enough on it to justify having a bet, just a tiny concern that they will absolutely run riot late on.

Fancy Unders in the total points market, u 71.5

gl with that...I'm on Wales -57 @ evens.

Anyone got any views on the Italy vs USA match tomorrow morning?

I think USA getting 22 at even money definitely represents value. It´s my second strongest bet of the group stages. 

In the Italy match I've got Gonzalo Canale to score at anytime @ 6/4.

Slightly confused tbh, was just looking at this.

'Here is the cold maths. Should Scotland defeat England in Auckland on Saturday and deprive the Auld Enemy of any bonus point – ie they have to win by 8 or more points and prevent England from scoring four tries – they could still qualify for the knockout stages. If they score four tries themselves thus earning a bonus point in victory that would do the job'

Does points difference not come into play?

4 points for a win isn't it? So if they win and we don't get a bonus point for being within 7 then we are level and it would go on points difference. It's not likely that they can catch up on points but if they get a bonus point for 4 tries they would move one ahead of us.

So its 4 points for a win right? Say they beat us by 10 say and get 4 points (no extra bonus points), were still miles ahead on points difference so we would still go through right?

Team   P   W   D   L   PF   PA   TF   TA   BP   PTS
England   3   3   0   0   121   22   17   1   2   14
Argentina   3   2   0   1   65   33   7   2   2   10
Scotland   3   2   0   1   61   43   4   3   2   10
Georgia   2   0   0   2   16   56   1   6   0   0
Romania   3   0   0   3   35   144   3   20   0   0

From RWC site:

If at the completion of the pool phase two or more teams are level on match points, then the following criteria shall be used in the following order until one of the Teams can be determined as the higher ranked:

1. The winner of the match in which the two tied teams have played each other shall be the higher ranked;

Wouldn't fret Woodsey Scotland are terrible, team full of guys with very little natural rugby ability, can't see them getting within 20 points of England. (obv if they do win I will be all over this thread  :D )

Yes. Realistically they need to beat us by 8 or more AND score 4 tries.
We would top the group with a losing bonus point unless Argies win by 60 against Georgia I think.

Fook, I hope you don't have a blinder  :-X

No winning by 8 points is enough as we would have same points as you, assuming Argentina take the 5 points from Georgia. We would then go through as we beat you.

Just realised I will be in Nottingham this weekend could be epic if we could actually pull out a performance.  ::)

Ah ok. Without wanting to sound arrogant i'm not too worried to be honest. Scotland and Wales both seem to put in big performances but have trouble seeing out big games so I'd imagine it will be close whichever way the result goes. It's a huge advantage knowing that a bonus point puts us through. In the final stages if we're losing by 3 or 4 we don't have to force it and risk giving away possession.....at least I hope we're smart enough to realise that.

I've been giving all the Jocks some real shit on another forum I go on, gonna have to hide from there for a week if we lose as I'm gonna get it with both barrels  :D

Hate to moan having had such an incred WC from a betting and enjoyment point of view but George Clancy is really really taking the piss here.

Edit: He did balance things up somewhat with a bizarre failure to penalise USA appropriately at the scrum in the second half.

weeeeeeeeeee, the 100% record survives.

SCOTLAND V ENGLAND PERMUTATIONS

If Scotland lose to England without a losing bonus point they are out of the World Cup
If Scotland lose to England with a losing bonus point and Argentina lose against Georgia without a bonus point, Scotland go through
If Scotland draw with England, they need Argentina to lose against Georgia
If Scotland beat England and Argentina fail to beat Georgia, England and Scotland go through
If Scotland and Argentina both win without a bonus point, it will come down to points difference between the three teams, though England are way out in front
If Scotland and Argentina win with bonus points and England do not earn a losing bonus point, England are out

Were you on?

Just wrote a long analysis of tomorrow´s game but deleted it as it sounded a bit too cocky/pretentious. Suffice to say I think they´ve got it wrong again tomorrow, I´m very keen on Georgia covering 8 points.

Yeh I backed USA on the handicap but didn't help much as I backed Japan outright to beat Canada.
I'll follow the Georgia bet. Keep posting your thoughts.

kukushkin Paddy's have priced up the knockout games already. Any thoughts on the handicaps that they have come up with?

Looking forward to this game. On Romania +8 @ 10/11.

I like SA outright against the Aussies, I actually think in a high pressure game with everything on the line and Pocock injured this is a bit of a mismatch. The tri-nations "form" which counts for nothing is the only reason SA are odds against. I wouldn´t be taking 11/10 though, might get 5/4 or 11/8 imo. The other games look about right, I might be interested in Argentina +28 if all their injured players have recovered by then (a big if).

Job done again, they should have won by more really, just a little bit more precision in their handling and they could have really battered them. Romania arguably the worst team in the tournament, lucky to be in a group without a ruthless attacking team.

WP kukushkin
Wasn't a classic but Georgia very keen just to ensure the win.
I agree South Africa was the one I was most interested in.
I thought Ireland with -3 looked ok too.
Will wait for them to be priced up fully though.

The penalty they kicked at the end when Romania were out on their feet and there for the taking was a handicap punters dream, it´s like they precisely knew they were meant to be covering -8. No bet friday they have that one about right I think but I have some fairly strong fancies for the weekend, I will post once I´ve had a more detailed look.

I won´t be betting the Wales/Ireland game, good betting is built on cold dispassionate analysis. I can already feel the adrenaline pumping just thinking about that game. Beating Ireland in rugby is the most important thing to me in all of sport.

 >:(

Rugby Union hater coming on to voice discontent.

This is the second game I've watched, the first was Scotland v Georgia. I am yet to witness a single try in 2 hours of play.

This game is so dull, how can anyone prefer it to Rugby League, the Leeds v Warrington last night was superb from start to finish.

Rant over, c'mon England!

 ;D


so far...

Could be worse I guess, you could like football  :D

nah Football is the best sport on the planet.

Soccer on the other hand is often dull aswell.

When it's played well, union can be great to watch. When it's played like this, blimy it's dull. All in my opinion of course, and I know plenty of union fans who think the same about league.

I much prefer Union to League

This is ridic dull..(though MrsB disagrees as she's stressed beyond belief).

I am surprised that the England team acts the way they seem to during a WC..it's like the players just can't be bothered being professional.

First time in the match they spread the ball out wide to the backs and there's a try. Why wait till the 80th minute to do that?

Yeah but your not English or a Scot, it wasn't dull for us!

Probably true...

Supporting this England or Scotland side in rugby must be what it's like to support...well, England and Scotland in footie.

Excrutiatingly dull unless you're English or Scottish.

I enjoyed it, but I also enjoy League too.

Both have their weaknesses and frustrations to the viewer


As to England today,

Stevens is getting pulped in the scrum, playing out of position. Corbisiero is a unit and a loose head. He's left on the bench for 70 minutes. He comes on, first scrum we shunt them 6 yards back

Haskell is not a number 8. Horrible hands. Easter comes on for him, immediately we have control at the base

Youngs is a talent, but quick decision making not his strength. Wiggy comes on, and immediately the service is crisper

No sooner are these changes made than we take control.


Fortunately for us, France are in grim form too

Looking good for Ireland in our half I think

Thought Tuilagi was immense today.

Also what to do with Wilko ? Cant make my mind up really. Flood did nail that kick from out wide as soon as he came on too.

Yeah youngs had a mare today for sure, I do like Haskell though, he normally carries the ball more than anyone else in the scrum.

In what way? We're very likely to reach our 3rd wc final in a row, can't really see a comparison with the England football team

Whoa, whoa, hold up for a sec, let's not get ahead of ourselves  :)

Wilkinson might be worth a place against top sides who are going to put England under a lot of pressure. Against weaker teams I think he's almost a complete waste of time

Really close to going out today. The points bet is in provided France don´t have a complete melt down. Agree with Tighty about Corbisiero and Easter (Croft, Haskell and Easter in the back row for me), it´s slightly counter intuitive given the way things have gone for England in the tournament but I still think against the decent sides they will need to keep it tight and for that reason Youngs is still the man for me at scrum half.

OK time to get back to making some money after todays fun and games. Really like Italy getting 13 and I like Georgia getting 21. 

Obviously happy at the moment with Wales/SA final at 60/1, shame about the injury to Francois Steyn, more than balanced out by the Carter injury though if it´s as serious as appears likely. Wales need Lydiate and Hook back desperately, if they do come back 100% fit (especially Lydiate) their half is really there for the taking.

get up earlier imo. there were loads of tries this morning

i am a mong did not see this thread never visit this section of the forum.

 

New Zealand fly-half Dan Carter will miss rest of Rugby World Cup because of a groin injury.


big loss, their depth at this position is poor, compared to everywhere else

kiwis I know are abs devved this evening, they're a lot less certain about winning the tournament than they were 3 weeks ago

I´m not sure the market has adjusted appropriately to the Carter news, should be odds against now imo.

Wales to win @25/1 is ridic imo just had 100 to win

Yeah and Newcastle will win next seasons champions league         :D


Lol 100/1 wouldn't tempt me, or is this just for tomorrow's game v Fiji  :)     
that seams a fairer price  :p

forgot to post about this earlier. wtf were the french thinking at the end of their last game? needing 1 point to guarantee a qf spot they were trailing by 10 as the clock hit 80 minutes and were awarded a penalty 5 yards out under the sticks. everyone in the ground and watching on tv can see that france must score on this possession and that a penalty is worth the same as a try in this situation, either score qualifies them and the penalty is a complete gimmee but for some reason they take a bloody scrum? ? ?

didn't matter in the end as they scored a try from it but what an appallingly bad decision that was

Had to get one wrong eventually, I´ll take 6 out of 7 though. Thought NZ, Wales and Ireland were all brillant today. Ferris and Shaun O´Brien are right out of the top drawer as modern day back row power houses, can´t wait for the Quarter Finals. If France and England can find some form it could be an all time great world cup.

Ireland Wales is going to be a corker


In that half of the draw it will come down to injuries, a mistake here and there and a bit of luck. Extremely tight

Would've said Wales, but that second half by Ireland was impressive - I still think whoever wins this game will probably make the final.

Thoughts for the weekend Kuk?

I think Ire Eng SA and NZ go through. I think England can cover the handicap. Looking to back Ireland at a bigger price with a bigger handicap against them. SA just O/R.

Want to hear your thoughts first though (Wales game aside i guess!)

OK time to try and find a bit of value on the QF´s.

Sporting Bet have clearly taken a big stance against France. My girlfriend is from Toulouse and her dad is a big rugby fan, I´ve been chatting to him and he thinks they really are falling apart, massive divisions in the team and between senior players and the coach (obviously things did look pretty bad during and immediately after the Tonga game). However this England side is very limited and I think if France turn up at all it is likely to be a very tight game. They are a team loaded with talent and have an excellent goalkicker in Yachvilli. 2/1 is just too big an overreaction imo.
Recommendation: France 2/1 to beat England.

I expect South Africa´s experience to count for a lot against Australia, World Cup quarter finals are invariably very tight and I have serious misgivings about Quade Cooper in a game this big. I´m taking a bit of an opinion that SA qualified from the strongest group and might be in slightly better form than their bare results suggest. They had to work very hard against Wales and Samoa.
Recommendation: SA 6/5 to beat Australia.

I will be backing the unders points in all the games, they are all <37 at prices ranging between 5/6 and even money, except for the NZ game which is under 51.5 at 5/6. The NZ one looks a particularly good bet if the handicap is about right as Argentina are highly unlikely to get more than 15 points imo.

gl as always to anyone having a punt.

Everything is set up for England to ruin the tournament.

Beat France in a shitty game.

Beat Ireland in a shitty game.

Get their arseholes torn to shreds against NZ in the final in a boring, one-sided, destruction.

LOL, you want England to lose then ? I'm looking forward to the game.

Winning is all that matters I don't give a shit what anyone says, I don't care if we are dull as fk tbh as long as we win as many games as possible.

 >:(

Staying up for the Ireland game , come on you boys in green

Ireland -2

England -5

All Blacks over 48.5

Wales look very good.

Easier than I expected, gave them a bit of a hiding really. Ship the first unders bet too. Split loyalties in the house for this next game, I´ll be supporting France (marginally) but my confidence in the bet is on the slide after Redarmi´s post.

Going to be a great day whatever happens now :-).

Looked pretty special there didn't they, I'm such a mug punter the bookies must love me :D

 ;nana;

 :'(

Started well but was very very scrappy

But the French look very good on the ball

The woeful first half fucked it all  :(

that was disappointing. why does the team play nothing like it did when Johnson was captain?

Solid start to the QF´s 3/3.

WPWP

Lay me for profit :D

WP

Sorry, I cannot share your joy  :'(

Stevens at loose head: why?

Lawes on the bench: why?

Basics of tackling missed all game: why?

Wilko again awful

Foden and Cueto a joke for the first 55 minutes

Pretty appalling performance


Wales on the other hand were super-fit and tackled superbly. Warburton wonderful at the breakdown. Good luck in the semis. Played with more heart than any Englishman today

I assume England are out! Thank god thats over!

Quite possibly the most tedious coverage of any team at any world cup ever! Tabloids desperately trying to make up "rugby Player drinking " stories, and political drivel from Johnson and his cronies about team selection and drinking rugby players!

The media have really lost their way as to what fans want, and the coverage of this event and especially England has summed it up

Summary, average team plays average and gets nowhere!

Now can we find a sports journalist who isn't frightened of Johnson and doesn't feel the need to be SENSATIONAL when there's nothing to be sensational about!

Fair play to Wales, they abs smashed us, too quick, too strong, too good, Jamie Roberts is a beast , incred performance from him.

Its a shame, I thought we could make the final and also its prob gg to O'Driscoll and O'Gara.

First of well done to Triple K.
Always thought this tournament was a transitional WC for England. Our best players are still young and we're missing players in some positions so need to develop some in the next few years.
Ireland made some strange decisions but Wales were really clinical despite what seemed like less possession and territory.
Another early morning tomorrow for SA V AUS. I'll be cheering on the boks.

I don´t see this second half going well for SA, tempted to take a loss on them now. Think I will sit tight for a while and get out if they score next. The way Bryce Lawrence is reffing the breakdown really favours Pocock and the man doesn´t need any help he´s a machine.

lol what was I worried about, letting it ride obviously. Especially now Barnes has come on for McCabe meaning we´ve probably got Cooper helping us out till the end.

Meh, actually very happy with my initial assessment of the game, keep backing 6/5 shots like that and we won´t go far wrong. Quade Cooper is a walking disaster. Ship another unders on the points. Pretty dev´d about blowing the 60/1 SA/Wales final. Also think NZ have an easier semi now. Obviously had an incred tourney up to now but really need NZ to blow it to get the lot.

Lost my head a bit this morning thinking of getting out of the SA bet, in hindsight they were massive at half time, I´ll put it down to the sleep deprivation. Come on the unders in this last one.

Nigel "fanboy" Owens is a big factor in this game. McCaw is getting away with even more murder than usual.

Very much this, they would lose anyway but they should be given an equal chance. Nigel Owens you clown.

Well played Weepu magnificent. Unforgivable officiating I mean wtf, he´s well in touch there.

How are Wales 13/2 to win it all now? Easily the most impressive team in the quarters.

Obviously happy with 5 out of 6 but properly screwed by Bryce Lawrence in terms of winning the world. Still loving the World Cup will be pretty gutted when it finishes.

Come on Wales get me halfway to being paiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiid!!

Wales and NZ -7 GOGOGO!!

I'm on Wales twice but looks like ref has killed it!

Yeah sickening for Wales   >:(

Was probably a yellow but no way red.

It was dangerous. Not sure what the rules say but he points his head towards the ground.
Just because he realises what he's done is dangerous and lets go I don't think you should escape punishment.

tbf, should only be red, if he lands on the point of his head.

http://twitter.com/#!/RugbyRefscom/status/125135994323353600/photo/1/large (http://twitter.com/#!/RugbyRefscom/status/125135994323353600/photo/1/large)

Looks like the decision was spot on from this memo.

Well done Wales, magnificent effort on the pitch and very classy in the post match interviews.

Not quite sure why I backed Australia to win this game, NZ are all over them.

Really takes the piss that Kahui wasn´t sent off there.

Quade Cooper is the joke of world rugby.

Norrrrr we're not going to have this for 4 years for every tackle that is nothing like Warburton's are we?

The only difference I can see (and it´s splitting hairs really) in what was an almost identical offence is that he lifted him very slightly less high. It´s ok, i´m not the type to be bitter :-), I won´t mention it again.

Edit: You´re right, I´m wrong still pretty gutted about yesterday, must be affecting my judgement.

Piri Weepu misses his last kick of the match meaning all losing outright match bets placed at Ladbrokes will be refunded. Who was your bet with Silo?

edit: pretty unbelievable, serious blood injury brings Weepu back on and he nails his first kick, he´s off again now.

Solid enough performance but you need a miracle to win a game when you lose the penalty count 11-4.

Betfair but he came back on and made it, bet that upset a few punters

I need at least 1 try by Dagg in the final for a share of top tryscorer.

Is this as good as it gets for union? 2 tries in two semis? fuking dire stuff when complicated rules / pens dictate games. I so much wanted to believe the hype around this world cup but bar one game i have found them either one sided or boring.

Which was the game you liked? I think you probably have to be a big fan to enjoy modern rugby union. I agree completely that the result is always far too dependent on the ref´s interpretation, in that game just gone you could hear Pocock and Horwill going nuts because they thought the ref screwed them.

I enjoyed Wales vs South Africa, at least we got 3 trys in that game. Most of the games where two decent teams played each other involved 1 maybe 2 trys max, alot none at all. I want free flowing rugby where the skilled players score lots of tries. Soime parts of these games simply involved kicking back and forth to each other for field position without an open run for 10-15mins. I love rugby in general but I wish union could tweak one or two things to simpllfy it all and really encourage try scoring. Make pens 1 point or something.

The way to improve the game would be to make pens 10 points - that ways teams wouldn't give them away.

Bit of a catch 22, most of the pens are given to stop teams spoiling and slowing the game down so they award pens to slow it down instead.

Make a lot of the technical pens punishable with yards only. Award more penalty tries when close and make pens worth more for serious offences

Prob will apply for a job as an ideas man

One of the things grates most is that all the refs say 'Engage' a few miliseconds after the fowards are already in the process, please cut out one of the ridic steps and replace with ready, steady, go.

Union has become more boring because it has become more like League :-)

Phases 1-6 and repeat of recycling the ball, with defences coming up in a line, fanning out etc etc

the problem is the rules are too picky at the breakdown. All a defending team can do is hit hard and try to slow down the ball, this is what they do. They either get pinged for doing so or the ball gets recycled again.

A lot of the really good coaches are defensive coaches and the laws need an overhaul (a bit like what happened in the NFL) to promote attacking play

lol gg

Its a serious point

don't get me wrong, I watch both

often when a league team gets 6 tackles in the oppo 22 its bang away for 5 and kick the sixth (high or grubber) in the hope that the ball will break for them..luck in other words, after the kick is skilfully executed..it goes to the TMO often and we see who touched it down etc etc

the scores in league come form those situations or offloads through the tackle count from further back the pitch..but most scores are from setting up 5 tackles in the 22 then something on sith tackle

Now in Union there's no sixth tackle, you can go through 25 phases of this, ball being slowed down especially if McCaw and Pocock are around. Offloads are pretty tricky when in both codes with defences up so flat, gang tackling etc, but the Union laws which need an overhaul at maul/ruck/breakdown make quick ball more tricky, thus offloads less common

Its not an anti-league ploint I am making merely the defences in Union are so good, the forwards so fit, that the attacking opportunities are fewer.

Nope i know it wasnt an attack but I would pull you up on the forwards being so fit in union! lol.

they are mega fit in both codes...just because body shape of a prop is not Andy Farrell's doesn't mean they aren't fit

and there's no way you are getting through 3-5 of them around the fringe in Union...

Looks like England RU have approached Shaun Edwards to take over at the helm for England. I'm obviously biased as I think he was one of the best rugby players I've ever seen play, but I think he's exactly what England needs and his record as a coach in RU is very impressive.

Discuss.

A tremendously impressive man, player and coach. Easily the best candidate for the job. Would be gutted for Wales to lose him but he is absolutely what England need to get them back on track.

Tilts me beyond belief to be honest.  All these guys from the superior code ending up coaching/playing in the ra-ra's

Agree 100%. Would be awesome if we could get him. Might be good timing too. It won't be an easy decision to leave Wales as he was massively behind the project despite his nationality but with 4 years to go until the next World Cup we might be able to tempt him. If he stays with Wales it'll be 8 years before he has the chance of leading a team of his own at a World Cup and a lot can happen in 8 years.
Fingers crossed.

Money talks.  Reckon one day Edwards might come back and coach Wigan though.

Any thoughts on tomorrow? Was going to have NZ -20 something points but it's moved a couple of points since I first looked.
Think I might just have Kahui try NZ win for interest.

As terrible as France have been they are underrated here, they won´t get hammered, NZ will keep it quite tight imo and I quite like how France match up in the tight, they are seriously hard, committed and experienced up front.

My only bet so far is under 40.5 points. I will be looking to get on France IR if they get circa 10 points behind in the first half, I don´t see NZ even trying to win by more than 2 scores. I was especially encouraged for this bet by how conservative they wanted to be against Australia once they were clear.

You can get -16 at evens, I think NZ will clear that comfortably tbh.

We´ll have to wait and see. I´ll be watching surrounded by French people (brother in law, girlfriend, their brothers/sisters) so I hope they put in a decent performance and I genuinely think they will.

I´m pretty interested about the money making opportunities for the next six nations already. I think Wales and Ireland will be overrated and England/France will be underrated.

Edit: I was talking rubbish on the six nations, Wales might well be a bet but no hurry on that front.

I know it slightly contradicts what I posted not to back this but I´m pretty confident of an even more favourable opportunity coming up in running.

Yeh I didn't really fancy the handicap line because of the reasons you stated. They got far enough ahead against Australia and pretty much closed shop. Can see a similar situation and could be around the 14 point mark. Thought if they were going to let loose and put some points on them at the end of the game when it's won then I'd rather go -26 at longer odds than take the short price on the -16.

LOL hairs on back of neck up after that. BIG bet on NZ -16 (http://i724.photobucket.com/albums/ww249/mikill_thomas/unsure.gif)

Can see Weepu is nervous as fuck  :-X

Missed a load of kicks last week. Think Cruden needs to take them now

or not

Can't believe it but I'm cheering for France bigtime.

Shame on you!  ANYONE but the French ffs!   rotflmfao

My bollocks are toasted whatever now anyway.  :'(

I'm wincing, ugh........

Wow sick, I've never been so happy to lose such a large amount of money, fucking sick lol.  :D

As a rugby fan, could not stomach such a shite team winning.

Has to be the worlds most boring mainstream sport!

I would watch most world cup finals happily, but that was the least tense final 10 minutes of any sport ever

I´m starting to feel sorry for the people who make these points lines. Ship the +16 as well.

Nobody should be in any doubt that France were robbed there. I´ll watch the game again to make a full list but just the failure to penalise 5 blatant high tackles would have been more than enough for France to win. Dallaglio was pretty clear that he thought Joubert was biased but he can only go so far in commentary.

McCaw must be cited as well for the knee on Parra (it may have been accdental but the citing commissioner should obviously look at it.) The NZ penalties at the scrum were really difficult to understand, France were entirely dominant throughout at the scrum.

Reasonably happy for NZ, they are the best team in the world and they seem like genuinely decent guys, they got away with murder today though.

Sick rub  :D

I can't believe how happy I am for NZ to win and for me to lose tbh  ;D

Great help during the tourny Kukushkin. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.

I was talking about the total points. The unders have come in (mostly by a long way) in every game between the top twelve rugby nations, the only 2 exceptions are the 3rd 4th place play off and that was a bit of a freak result with what happened at the end (I didn´t see the game) and the first meeting between NZ and France when France barely turned up for the first hour. Obviously they might have done fine out of the total points market (I doubt it given how much they started delaying even forming the market towards the end of the tournament) but I think it´s clear there was plenty of money to be made on the unders throughout.

Yeh sorry realised that and deleted my post.

Can't help think think this is pretty harsh, what do others think?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/alastaireykyn/2011/11/tindall_pays_for_world_cup_mis.html

Yeh kicking a man on his way out. The other 2 that got fined got a £5k suspended fine I think. That's probably plenty.

I'd suspect he was being ditched anyway so they're trying to make it look as though they're coming down hard to keep others in line. would be amazed if they'd done it if he was in their future plans

Just seems like a really shabby way to treat a guy that's been a good player for the most part over many years.

Agreed but I'm sure he'll get over it when he's sat in his palace wearing his big golden crown

If his actions warranted this bad a punishment they warranted being sent home at the time - ERFU don't look strong from this  - they just look petty.

(And the bastards have me feeling sorry & indignant for an England Captain & an F'in Royal .... so sick!!!)

Edwards signed a new deal earlier this week and now Johnson has gone.
Any guesses who the new man will be?
Jake White at 33's and Dean Ryan at 50's looked interesting to me. Mallinder probably a worth favourite.
Sir Clive's 100/1. Big price for somebody who if he wants it then it's his?

other than tackling what was it he was good at ?

Cba even getting into a discussion about it, but I thought he was reasonably decent for us and a safe pair of hands.

fair enuff will just have to disagree on this one

Decent opportunities are rare in club rugby compared to internationals but I´m very strong on Northampton -12 with Ladbrokes. They should be totally dominant at forward, they need a bonus point win and the Scarlets have a slightly disjointed looking team with illness and players returning for the first time since the World Cup, max bet for me.

Good luck , I've had a bit for interest.

Sorry man, looks like I jinxed you.

haha, I´ll happily put this one on the variance pile, all three tries total freak occurences.

Just for the record I hate East Midland rugby fans (I used to be one) whiney, one eyed, bad losers. I´m off to the pub, wouldn´t even be all that happy if those inept clowns delivered the money from here.

Oh, and I should mention that I´m sorry if you´ve done your money. This thread is my online pride and joy, lol; but everything gets hit by variance eventually.

Lol no need to apologise, like I said it was my jinx money going on it that screwed you not variance.

As for the game I had to switch it off early, the 2nd try with offside and knock ons and the whole lot in it was ridic, and the muppets couldn't string a couple of passes together either, it was v annoying!

FWIW I was on Northampton fairly large tonight too.  Had a couple of other interests I wouldn't mind your view on Kush:

Tolouse -8
Leicester -10
Treviso +9
Saracens +4

Also Backed cardiff -7 tonight.

I´m against Leicester and with Sarries, the other 2 are the actual numbers I had.

After Tony mentioned it earlier, reminded me of this 2011 thread. This was a good RWC thread for forum betting. An epic sequence of getting every game right at odds against or on HC.

I seem to recall it was just printing cash backing the big underdogs on the handicap for the first few weeks as the bookies just assumed everyone except the test nations would get steam rollered.

As you were then.