Rugby World Cup 2023

[Nalis]

3 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Does a Figi loss mean the aussies go through and end up beating England in the quarters? 

 

Great. 

If Fiji lose by 7 or less then Fiji go through.

[Tommy Fresh]

3 minutes ago, RowlattsFox said:

Does a Figi loss mean the aussies go through and end up beating England in the quarters? 

 

Great. 

I think in theory they could still earn two bonus points and finish above them

[Tommy Fresh]

Just now, Nalis said:

If Fiji lose by 7 or less then Fiji go through.

Even better

[PhillippaT]

Portugal!  Well done!

Edited 8 October 2023 by PhillippaT

[Nalis]

Perfect result

[RowlattsFox]

Great scenes to be fair, sheer joy at winning at a world cup. 

 

 

[RonnieTodger]

Incredible last day after a pretty dull round 4. 
 

I’d take losing to Fiji over Wales or Ireland tbf. 

[Super_horns]

Impressive from Portugal again .

Couldn’t quite save the Aussies .

Shame that eh ?

[Lionator]

Fiji have been rubbish in their last two games. I’m not sure what’s gone wrong but they’d need to be 100x better next week even against England. They’re really missing the fly half who got injured before the tournament. England have had the jammiest draw I’ve ever known. A half decent performance against a cold Argentina has seen them with one foot in a semi. 
 

@Finnegan I owe you an apology for earlier in the thread. I thought wales were done for but Gats has done it again. Love seeing Tommy Reffell get man of the match yesterday. Argentina will be a tough test as they looked very good in parts yesterday. 

Edited 9 October 2023 by Lionator

[Finnegan]

On 07/10/2023 at 20:23, leicsmac said:

Yeah @Finnegan I'll sort out the donation ASAP, Scotland have played out pretty much exactly as you predicted.

 

1 hour ago, Lionator said:

 

@Finnegan I owe you an apology for earlier in the thread. I thought wales were done for but Gats has done it again. Love seeing Tommy Reffell get man of the match yesterday. Argentina will be a tough test as they looked very good in parts yesterday. 

 

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.

 

[BKLFox]

DuPont cleared to resume training, all seems a little rushed to get him back v SA.

It only happened on the 21st Sep and the SA game is 15th Oct that’s 23/24 days to recover from a fractured cheek, I’d imagine it’s not been long since swelling has gone down and he’s been able to see through both eyes properly.

He has obviously said he’s fit but he would say that, something could seriously happen to him if & when he gets crushed by SA & we know the up roar that will follow if it does.

For all the player welfare chat Rugby is setting themselves up for an own goal here.

[Finnegan]

1 hour ago, BKLFox said:

DuPont cleared to resume training, all seems a little rushed to get him back v SA.

It only happened on the 21st Sep and the SA game is 15th Oct that’s 23/24 days to recover from a fractured cheek, I’d imagine it’s not been long since swelling has gone down and he’s been able to see through both eyes properly.

He has obviously said he’s fit but he would say that, something could seriously happen to him if & when he gets crushed by SA & we know the up roar that will follow if it does.

For all the player welfare chat Rugby is setting themselves up for an own goal here.

 

Eh. 

 

He's obviously passed all the relevant head injury protocols and has been cleared to play, it's just an impact injury to an area of his body that should theoretically he safe anyway (whether or not you back some hefty Saffa not to test it I leave to your cynicism.)

 

I'm pretty big on player welfare but if he's comfortable to play, he's comfortable to play. It's one of the most important games of his career. 

 

[SpacedX]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

 

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.

 

As you mentioned - the return of Gats has solidified the defence with Wales leading the tournament in tackles by a substantial margin, and in addition to that, reasserted the scrum. Given the calibre of Argentina's pack, (who also have a great line out defence and a very strong scrum too) this will be a bruising contest no doubt, although this tournament they have been better on paper than the pitch. Wales go into this with a very respectable 19 points out of 20, for the bulk of the games against Fiji and the 'Wannabes' they were both impressive and in control. They will employ the same successful tactics against Argentina, who for all the force and flair are prone to error. Cheika has wasted no time pitching his side as the supposed underdogs, but whoever wins will be the underdog against either Ireland or the All Blacks in the semis. 

 

I originally predicted a comfortable win for Wales, perhaps I should have said an uncomfortable one? It will be close and brutal - I just hope that they don't incur any further injuries. 

[leicsmac]

...all NH semifinals anyone?

[Finnegan]

6 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

...all NH semifinals anyone?

 

Low key think it might actually be the hosts that could struggle the most actually. 

[leicsmac]

1 minute ago, Finnegan said:

 

Low key think it might actually be the hosts that could struggle the most actually. 

Saffers will give Francais a hard time, that's for sure.

 

In fact I can see all the matches being within a score or two, but the NH nations on the right side of the ledger in all of them.

[BKLFox]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

Eh. 

 

He's obviously passed all the relevant head injury protocols and has been cleared to play, it's just an impact injury to an area of his body that should theoretically he safe anyway (whether or not you back some hefty Saffa not to test it I leave to your cynicism.)

 

I'm pretty big on player welfare but if he's comfortable to play, he's comfortable to play. It's one of the most important games of his career. 

 

Just saying he will tell any medical examiner what ever he thinks they want to hear, how are they going to test the rigidness of the fractured cheek without smacking him in the chops, that area will be weaker than it was 21 days ago. 

 

Whilst yes his head shoudn't be in the firing line I bet most of them get some sort of accidental head contact during the course of a game.

Anyway good luck to him & fingers crossed he doesn't get a hit to the face which triggers a weakened part to splinter off & go through the back of his eye.

[fuchsntf]

I would love to know…why with the quarter finals and whole draw is considered a farce..

Some big teams were always going to clash swords early..

2nd/ 3rd tier teams were always going to suffer,no matter how it was going to pan out..

Edited 10 October 2023 by fuchsntf

[STEVIE B]

On 09/10/2023 at 17:43, leicsmac said:

...all NH semifinals anyone?

I’m not that confident that England beat Fiji tbh. 

[leicsmac]

2 minutes ago, STEVIE B said:

I’m not that confident that England beat Fiji tbh. 

Depends on which England and Fiji turn up tbh given the form of both teams, but for me "bad day" England lose to "good day" Fiji and every other combination of "good and bad day" England win.

[Lionator]

On 09/10/2023 at 17:53, leicsmac said:

Saffers will give Francais a hard time, that's for sure.

 

In fact I can see all the matches being within a score or two, but the NH nations on the right side of the ledger in all of them.

France will be too much for the Springboks. SA scored 26 points in their two games against Scotland and Ireland, they’re probably going to need 30+ to beat France, I just can’t see it. 

[Finnegan]

Absolute madness writing South Africa off to that extent tbh. 

[STEVIE B]

12 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Depends on which England and Fiji turn up tbh given the form of both teams, but for me "bad day" England lose to "good day" Fiji and every other combination of "good and bad day" England win.

Probably true. However, England have had lots of bad days lately & have been far from convincing. 

A repeat Fijian performance of the the ones against Wales or Australia gives them a great chance.

We will see.

Edited 11 October 2023 by STEVIE B

[Finnegan]

I think you'll beat Fiji more comfortably than you imagine. I certainly think it's in your own hands, in the sense that if you turn up and play a good game then it shouldn't really matter what Fiji throw at you. 

 

I just think England will have too much in the forwards and the set piece for Fiji to have enough of the game. 

 

Everyone makes a big deal of the fact they "came within a last minute dropped pass" against us and overlooks the fact we were 20 odd points ahead comfortably out in front and just got complacent in a way you don't do in a world cup quarter final. We let them back in by getting sloppy. 

 

Their other results were a decent win of a catastrophically bad Australia, an extremely narrow win against an awful Georgia and a loss to a Portugal side 50% full of amateurs. 

 

Their attack is great fun, they're super to watch and they've definitely improved significantly round the rest of the pitch in to an all round solid, professional side. But if you put in the kind of performance you did against Argentina then you'll probably just smother and kick them to death tactically. 

 

[Lionator]

2 hours ago, Finnegan said:

Absolute madness writing South Africa off to that extent tbh. 

Oh I’m not writing them off, but they need to be a lot better in attack. I think everyone suspects that Rassie has something up his sleeve.