Finnegan

Sure just as it is and was wrong to say all Irish republicans are represented by the Provos. But it still happened. There is absolutely no doubt that Hamas can, do and will cause significant damage to sympathies for Palestine globally by undertaking these sorts of atrocities. It makes it extremely easy for Israel to broadly dehumanise the Palestinian population which is exactly what they want an excuse to do.

I mean it definitely helps that Ukrainian soldiers didn't cross the border to shoot up 300 kids at a music festival. The Israeli state is one of the more nefarious regimes on the planet, the Israeli government's treatment of Palestinians and it's handling of the Palestine situation is vile. No question. But what Hamas have done in response is thoroughly grotesque. A lot of the western world is generally fairly sympathetic to Palestine, I do think people who are pro democracy, pro individual freedoms et all want to typically lean the way of supporting the Palestinian people and their right to self governance. But Hamas itself is a fundamentalist Islamic terror organisation with some pretty awful beliefs and practices that routinely responds to Israeli aggression by being equally awful back. There aren't really any good guys with guns down there on either side and any comparison to Ukraine's defence forces is extremely unfair to be honest. Edit to say: What is a fairly tragic reflection of the modern world is that Hamas are the closest thing Palestine has to "good guys" though. The fact nobody else is going to bat for them and can stand up for the Palestinian people because Israel is verging on a puppet state for the military super power that props up NATO is extremely depressing. But there's not really a lot the average Joe can do about that.

Keep em coming lads Narh but in fairness, look I understood why a lot of people were tipping Wales to not get out of the group I just think it was a bit short sighted. Australia's squad just wasn't very good, they left a lot of good players at home and turned up with some rubbish. Eddie and Gats actually tried to do something similar, both have looked to the future and brought a lot of youth in to the side. But Eddie backed it up by leaving hundreds and hundreds of caps worth of veterans at home where as Gats brought them along to create a really good blend. Wales were never going to resemble the Wales of Wayne Pivac and I'm just surprised anyone expected them to. When has a Gatland Wales ever turned up to anything under cooked with the exception of this year's six nations during and after which he explicitly stated that the tournament was a write off because of the ongoing argument between the union and the players and he'd not had enough time to build a team. He said then judge them on the world cup after they've picked a consistent squad and had three months together in camp and here we are. Argentina will be the toughest game we've played so far but I just think our defence is significantly better than theirs and that'll be the difference. I highly doubt they'll run through us like Japan did and, frankly, that's not the Japan of 2019. I love Japan and that was probably game of the tournament so far but Japan have slipped since their own tournament, Argentina would expect to beat them and frankly would have expected to do so more convincingly. As long as the injuries we've suffered aren't too great (and it's very possible we've lost both Anscombe and Biggar so no pressure Sam bach) I'd expect us to do Argentina by about 10 pts in a game the neutrals won't love haha. England to probably kick Fiji to death by about 12.

VAR doesn't interfere with yellow cards. The second challenge didn't meet the threshold of a red card offence in isolation so if wasn't checked.

No, the decision he made was wrong, he obviously made an error. But I think you're smart enough to understand the nuance I'm implying if you just stop looking for an argument for a second.

Yeah but you see it a lot don't you. Refs seem to land on a spectrum, some want to get their cards out every two minutes. Michael Oliver has always been one that's tried to let the game flow and let things slide if he can and that's why he's generally considered one of the better refs.

Over time I've become one of the most paranoid on here about corruption in the Prem but even I think that's a bit over the top. Oliver is nearly always quite decisive like that and the way he took control of it and shut down the protests straight away wasn't the sign of anything dodgy it was just good refereeing, he was being assertive and clear. It's just unfortunate he'd made the wrong decision.

Michael Oliver decent most of the time but that's poor. I get it, he wants to try and keep it 11 vs 11 if possible but Kovacic given him no choice there. Both tackles are "yellow and a half" at minimum and to do the second whilst booked is stupid beyond belief.

We know you don't believe us, we know you don't believe us...

My best mate has been in Nantes for both of these. Unbelievably jealous. He said it felt like 70% Welsh yesterday. He was also pretty drunk mind, there were a lot in the crowd cheering for Georgia (neutrals I'd imagine) and booing the ref giving Wales stuff. I think there's a lot of Argies but still less than they sound because they just make so much noise.

Hmm. I'd back us to beat either on current form. What worries me about Japan is that we still have this habit of dropping a bit to the level when we play lower ranked sides. We made Georgia and Portugal more complicated than they needed to be. If we got drawn in to trading silly rugby broken field play with Japan it could bite us. Our game, now Gats is back, is based on a foundation of solid defence. We've made more tackles than anyone else in this tournament by a country mile. We're the anti Scotland. I think, fingers crossed, we'll have enough to snuff out Argentina and more discipline and self control to outscore them.

Absolutely gutted. I'm an idiot. Thought this was a 2pm kick off. Looks like I've mostly missed a classic.

Vardy, Cannon Mavididi, Wanya Yunus, McAteer Casadei, hopefully Alves? We'll be OK. Edit: just remembered Praet as well, sorry Mark.

Ireland just thought the job was done tbf. I mean it probably is. They've just made it look more competitive than it has been.

Scotland

Think the reason is fairly obvious in this instance.

I'm starting to think it's written in the stars. I can see it now. Ireland, finally, finally, they're going to get to a semi final of the world cup. Mass celebrations. Everywhere. Only to get knocked out by Warren fvcking Gatland.

Bit of a guilty pleasure but I low key quite like Ireland's Call as a song. It's a bit cheesy but it's alright, I remember a version done by Andrew Strong years back that was pretty rousing tbf. It's just unfortunate that it's near enough objectively worse than Amhran na nhFiann. Used to feel bad for guys like Tommy Bowe and Rory Best stood awkward as fvck when the anthems played at home and they can't sing along. Felt it was a bit petty for guys like ROG to refuse to sing Irelands Call like it was the same vibe.

Best move of the half. Had to score.

Bit poor that Winks. Either needed to put Fatawu in early or play a much better ball for Mavididi

@Mark gonna love Mavididi trying to dribble it out from our box

If someone showed you Vestergaards average position today out of context you'd think we were playing the other way.

Rumour has it he was running to point at @Dahnsouff in the crowd

Lovely