The Rugby World Cup thread

[AndrewT]

Wales can only get better...

Losing three tries to nil against Canada - well done boyos.

At least Wales and England are thinking of the viewing public - making sure their games against the nobodies have a bit of interest. None of this Antipodean 'score loads of tries and destroy the opposition' boringness.

[kinboshi]

The Welsh must be breathing a bit more easily now they are managing to overcome the mighty Canadian opposition. 

[KingPoker]

WHILE MISTAKES WERE MADE, IT WAS PROBABLY A TACTICAL DECISION TO WEAR CANADA DOWN AND COME THROUGH AT THE END

(DIDNT MEAN FOR IT TO BE IN CAPITALS BUT DIDNT REALISE TIL I WAS HALFWAY THROUGH AND COULDNT BE ARSED TO START AGAIN)

[Dewi_cool]

The Welsh must be breathing a bit more easily now they are managing to overcome the mighty Canadian opposition. 

remember 1966

[kinboshi]

The Welsh must be breathing a bit more easily now they are managing to overcome the mighty Canadian opposition. 

remember 1966

No, I'm not as old as you.

[Claw75]

I don't normally venture on to this board but just wanted to come over to say - hahahahahahahahaha

edit: that's why I don't come on to the sports board - only just realised Wales didn't actually lose!    It was a reasonable assumption though, I think.

[kinboshi]

England's hopes on Farrell?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/6990581.stm

He certainly won't fail from lack of effort or commitment, but has he enough experience in union to make the difference for England?  I've said it before, he's the best player I've ever seen play rugby league - and he's certainly no mug at union.  But is this a huge gamble, and if it is - is it a necessary one?

[JungleCat03]

lol, moving Farrell, who despite his pedigree in league has been no more than an average performer at international union level into the pivotal spot of the england team, a high pressure position, requiring great tactical appreciation in which he has very little experience.

It is suicidal...

But could be quite amusing.

I'd love to see us beat the boks, but england's biggest beating on a world cup stage is more likely in this game.  Maybe pride will make the score closer than the 40-50 point thrashing it looks like we might take....

[TightEnd]

seems a horrible decision to me

ok we are unlucky to have both JW and OW injured but Farrell is basically a pedestrian centre in Union (obv fantastic in league but tactically thats a simple game..smash them in the mouth for 5 tackles then kick for position or up and under/grubber kick if attacking on the 6th, lets face it RL is a fairly simple game for fairly simple people up North ***) and will be eaten alive by the Bok back row

a Union fly half has to have a far wider range of kicking and playing on the gain line needs to be far speedier in decision making that Farrell has ever shown any signs of being capable of in union.

and then there's him being first choice goalkicker!!! Hasn't kicked a goal in RU for 3 years..no pressure then!!


**** tongue firmly in cheek, still a much less complicated game than union though, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because Union has an impenetrable rule book and a high element of stop-start compared to league. I played both, far preferred Union.

[kinboshi]

They do say union for the player, league for the spectator.

I think Farrell and Catt will be sharing the fly-half duties, and someone had to be given the number 10 shirt.  Ashton has a problem though, he's not got anyone else in the squad who can play there.  Does he wait to see if Wilkinson and/or Barclay are fit to play again before he sends one of them home and gets a replacement?  Is it a gamble either way? 

I actually think Farrell's been left out to dry as a scapegoat.  South Africa are obviously the main competition in our group and we go up against them with many of the team missing, and to compound that he plays Farrell at fly-half, a position he certainly hasn't played for England - and I'm pretty sure he hasn't played there for Saracens either. 

If he manages to do OK there, Ashton will be a genius.  If he fails, Ashton will highlight the depleted squad and the fact that Farrell hasn't performed to his promised level.

As for Farrell himself, he won't shirk at the challenge.  His dead-ball kicking is spot on, I'm not worried there at all.  He can kick penalties from either side of the pitch and I've seen him kick plenty from his own half as well.  Out of hand, it's a little different though.  League is all about running with the ball, the support and offload.  The tactical kick is often used towards the end of the tackle count, and it's a different ball game (intended) to union in terms of the kicking during play.  One positive though is that Farrell is a great passer of the ball and hopefully it'll mean we run with the ball a little more and bring the back line in more than we have been doing recently.

It's a shame the Samoa game wasn't first up. 

[kinboshi]

It's old, but it's still amusing (although it does promote racial stereotypes):

Press Release
International Rugby Board (IRB) Rugby World Cup 2007
Following complaints to the IRB about the All Blacks being allowed to motivate themselves by performing the ‘Haka’ before their games, other nations were asked to suggest pre-match rituals of their own. The IRB Rugby World Cup 2007 Organizing Committee has now agreed to the following pre-match displays:

1) The England team will chat about the weather, wave hankies in the air and attach bells to their ankles before moaning about
how they invented the game and gave it to the world, but no one appreciates them.

2) The Scotland team will chant “You lookin’ at me Jimmy?” before each of them smash a bottle of beer over their opponents’ heads.

3) The Ireland team will split into two, with the Southern half performing a Riverdance, while the Northerners march the Traditional route from their dressing room to the pitch, via their opponents dressing room.

4) Unfortunately the Committee was unable to accept the Welsh proposal to form a choir and sing Tom Jones’ “It’s Not Unusual”.

5) Argentina will unexpectedly invade a small part of opposition territory, claim it as their own “Las In-Goals-Areas” and have to be forcibly removed by the match stewards.

6) Two members of the South African team will claim to be more important than the other 13 whom they will imprison between
the posts. These two will then go about selecting the best parts of the pitch to settle on and claim that they have been there for centuries.

7) The Americans will not attend until almost full time. In future years they will amend the records to show that they were in fact the most important team in the tournament and Hollywood will make a blockbuster fi lm called ‘Saving Flanker Ryan’.

8) Five of the Canadian team will sing La Marseillaise and hold the rest of the team to ransom.

9) The Italian team will arrive in Armani gear, sexually harass the female offi cials and then prepare pasta dishes, which they will flog to the crowd for a fortune.

10) The Japanese will shock fans buy demonstrating how to capture a whale for scientifi c research buy harpooning an opposition prop.

11) The French won’t have a pre-match display and will simply hide in fear in the dressing room for the whole match.

12) The Australians will have a BBQ on their side of the fi eld and invite the opposition over before the game. The food and alcohol will be in abundance and by the start of the game no-one will remember what they came to the stadium for. After some
streaking, the singing of dirty songs and the occasional chunder everyone will go home thoroughly convinced it was a bloody
good night.

13) The Moroccan team will quietly pray during the fi rst half and then launch suicide attacks against the opposition after the break. Unfortunately, this strategy works well for the fi rst game only, after which Morocco is forced to withdraw from the Rugby World Cup due to lack of players.

14) Samoa will prepare a huge feast in the middle of the pitch by digging a large hole and fi lling it with burning embers. They invite the opposition over by saying, “We’d like to have you for dinner”. It’s only when the opposition get to the pit that they realize there is no meat and that they are the dinner!

Hopefully, with these policies now in place, further problems is this area of the game should cease to exists.

Regards,
Syd Miller
IRB Chairman

[kinboshi]

Catt at 10 in 12?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/english/6990581.stm

[CrestOfaWave]

seems a horrible decision to me

ok we are unlucky to have both JW and OW injured but Farrell is basically a pedestrian centre in Union (obv fantastic in league but tactically thats a simple game..smash them in the mouth for 5 tackles then kick for position or up and under/grubber kick if attacking on the 6th, lets face it RL is a fairly simple game for fairly simple people up North ***) and will be eaten alive by the Bok back row

a Union fly half has to have a far wider range of kicking and playing on the gain line needs to be far speedier in decision making that Farrell has ever shown any signs of being capable of in union.

and then there's him being first choice goalkicker!!! Hasn't kicked a goal in RU for 3 years..no pressure then!!


**** tongue firmly in cheek, still a much less complicated game than union though, which isn't necessarily a bad thing because Union has an impenetrable rule book and a high element of stop-start compared to league. I played both, far preferred Union.

Intersting comments. Having come through the NZ school system and seeing Rugby Union and League played it was the school location and headmasters that controlled the games played. We had some excellent league players who were tougher and more skillfull than the Union players who trained as specilaists. It comes down to how the 2 teams playing pair upwhich creates a good spectacle.A one side hammering in either code is not good for the game.

The league guys at school enjoyed playing League more as they touched the ball more in a game and they could show their skill more readily when combining with good support play. I really enjoy watching both forms of the game and live in the League heartland in the M62 corridor. My son is a season ticket holders at St Helens and Saints definitely lead the way in attacking play the past 6-7 years (sorry Kinboshi).

Obviously I support NZ as well but not fanatically like most of NZ. I think NZ need to win just to get rid of the choking tag
as they have been the most consisitent team in the past 20 years. In repect to tonights game vs SA - England need to at least make it close and get through it with few bad injuries. I see SA as being the biggest threat to NZ apart from those bloody Aussies who well .... yep they have the best winning psyche and that counts a lot. If you believe it then you will acheive it.

[Jedwick]

At the start of the week england were evens with a +9.5 point handicap, npw they are evens with a +16.5 handicap and even though i can see us losing i dont think it will be by that much, so i think this bet gives good value!

[kinboshi]

My son is a season ticket holders at St Helens and Saints definitely lead the way in attacking play the past 6-7 years (sorry Kinboshi).

No need to apologise for saying that stains lead the way in attacking play, and have done for the past decade - it's a fact (if a painful one).  You should apologise for your son being a season ticket holder though...

The stains fans used to hate Farrell - in the same way as all rivals hate the top players from other teams.  But speaking to many of them now, many agree that he was the best player they've ever seen play live (although they'd never had admitted that whilst he was in the cherry and white).

Going back to today though and I have a dilemma.  Wigan v stains will most probably be the game shown on Sky, and it's a must-win for Wigan.  That is on at exactly the same time as the England game!  So, it's going to be watching the Wigan game live, and Sky+ing the England game to watch it straight after the League match finishes.  So it'll be computer off and phones off this evening to make sure I don't hear the result before I've seen the game.