SWING LOWWW - The Rugby World Cup Thread

[Woodsey]

Friend of mine has 2 tix for the Scotland v Samoa game at St. James's Park 10th oct, face value of 150 for both. Let me know if anyone wants them.

[Jamier-Host]

I am going to bet the underdog with the handicap in all group games. Very scientific.

Ditto. Worked pretty well last time around. Generally people still just assume the big teams are gonna smash everyone else off the park.

[Rubbish2407]

Cardiff castle.

Click to see full-size image.

[mulhuzz]

I know nothing about rugby but have drawn South Africa in a sweepstake. Realistic chance?

Pulled the second favourite for me. They may start slow with lots of players coming back from injury but because they will piss their group you'll likely have a very fun Quarter Final vs England/Australia/Wales

[TightEnd]

ready for the opening ceremony

[tikay]

If I watch much more of this Opening Ceremony crap, I might just throw up.

My misery will be complete if John Inverdale starts with his condescending waffle.

[tikay]

.....and right on cue, it's John Inverdale.

Guess I deserved that for tempting fate.

[Woodsey]

Midget Jason Robinson stood in between those two monsters 

[tikay]

What a shame, that looked a great try until we saw the slow motion.

Deserved to be a try.

[tikay]

Yes, they get there eventually.

[Woodsey]

Let's hope they can't play that bad again this WC....

[mulhuzz]

Let's hope they can't play that bad again this WC....

Fiji stuck to their plan really well and played incred. 9 turnovers says it all. Play like that next time out and we'll be in trouble. I don't think we will though.

[TheDazzler]

I am going to bet the underdog with the handicap in all group games. Very scientific.

Ditto. Worked pretty well last time around. Generally people still just assume the big teams are gonna smash everyone else off the park.

Yeah my mate reckons that 75% of games went to the handicap dog last time in group matches.
1 for 1 so far

[tikay]

I only watch Six Nations generally, but I'm keen to watch as much of the RWC as possible.

Two comments from last night.

The dialogue between the TMO (Televised Match Official) & the Referee was clearly intended to be heard by viewers, but it seemed very quiet. Presumably just a one-off glitch, which they will fix for today onwards, or is it always that bad?

More importantly, whilst I love the idea of in-game technology being widely used - football with get there eventually, at present they just have goal-line thing - I thought it slowed the natural pace & tempo of the game down terribly last night. The first half ran 25% longer than it should - 10 minutes.

It all seemed a bit odd, too. The referee, in full view of 80,000, & hundreds of thousands of viewers, stood there like a little boy in class who had been naughty, awaiting the decision from the technology van & TMO.  Made him look pretty silly, I thought, & undermined his authority somewhat.

My main concern though was how it seemed to take the flow & tempo out of the game. If it is going to be like that for every game, that's a big negative. 



See also......


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/international/england/11876172/Twitter-rages-as-the-TMO-hampers-Rugby-World-Cup-opener.html

Click to see full-size image.

[rinswun]

The number of TMO referrals was a joke yesterda, sure fire way to turn off casual fans. Should only be allowed for tries in my opinion and even then, only if the ref really isn't sure. I thought the decision to overturn the Fiji score in the corner - though clearly correct - was a joke. Once the decision has been made, it should be final. Questionable as to whether they would have showed the same angle pre-conversion if it wasn't the host nation.