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Lionator

Rugby World Cup 2023

By Lionator, in General Football and Sport

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Zear0

Zear0

Posted
Posted
1 minute ago, Lionator said:

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. 

Hopefully not another 20 minute video...

  • Haha 1
Finnegan

Finnegan

Posted
Posted
45 minutes ago, Lionator said:

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. 

 

I mean, they only need to score more than the opposition. 

 

It's alright saying they didn't score much vs Ireland and Scotland but they shut a vibrant Scotland attack completely down and kept them to 3pts. 

 

And did you watch their game against Ireland? It was absolutely, absurdly close. 

 

They ran in 50pts against Tonga and 70pts against Romania, they're capable of cutting loose but winning with defence first is just their thing and they're terrifyingly good at it. 

 

Nalis

Nalis

Posted
Posted

Happy with our starting XV, looks like we've gone for versatility over ability with Jimmy O'Brien picked as 23 ahead of McCloskey, got to trust Farrell of course.

UniFox21

UniFox21

Posted
Posted
2 minutes ago, st albans fox said:

Ford and steward dropped 

 

is the judgment that Fiji are unlikely to kick many high balls?  I’d be more concerned about Marcus smith at full back with their enormous players running at him! 

Given the physicality of the Fijians, it seems odd to drop Steward.

  • Like 1
st albans fox

st albans fox

Posted
Posted
Just now, UniFox21 said:

Given the physicality of the Fijians, it seems odd to drop Steward.

I think the only way england win is ultra strong disciplined defence and even stronger tactical strategy. No room for throwing it around.  Smith is surely not the player for that?  An expansive game simply plays into Fiji’s hands 

Finnegan

Finnegan

Posted
Posted
37 minutes ago, UniFox21 said:

Given the physicality of the Fijians, it seems odd to drop Steward.

 

Fiji like to kick it in field to keep it live, the idea is to have Smith to counter. 

 

And tbf if you find yourself in a position where your full back is having to last ditch it then Fiji have probably already scored. They do a lot of their damage through the centre channels. 

  • Thanks 1
Guest worth_the_wait

Guest worth_the_wait

Posted
Posted

5 weeks into the competition before it gets to the knockout stage.      zzzzzzzzzzzzz

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, worth_the_wait said:

5 weeks into the competition before it gets to the knockout stage.      zzzzzzzzzzzzz

Other than reducing the number of teams in the competition (which isn't really fair onthe Tier 2 teams and pretty much creates a closed shop that doesn't allow them to improve), I'm not sure what can be done about that tbh.

SpacedX

SpacedX

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, worth_the_wait said:

5 weeks into the competition before it gets to the knockout stage.      zzzzzzzzzzzzz

It'll be worth the wait. 

Guest worth_the_wait

Guest worth_the_wait

Posted
Posted
2 hours ago, leicsmac said:

Other than reducing the number of teams in the competition (which isn't really fair onthe Tier 2 teams and pretty much creates a closed shop that doesn't allow them to improve), I'm not sure what can be done about that tbh.

Well, make them play more often.   It's not like Rugby Union players do much in the 80 minutes.   Most of the time they're standing around at line-outs and scrums, or waiting for penalties to be kicked!   

(compared to Rugby League which is much more full on for most of the 80 minutes.)

 

Seriously though, the last World Cup in Japan took a week less for the Group stage with the same number of teams (20).   So I would've thought they could've speeded it up a bit?

 

leicsmac

leicsmac

Posted
Posted
22 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

Well, make them play more often.   It's not like Rugby Union players do much in the 80 minutes.   Most of the time they're standing around at line-outs and scrums, or waiting for penalties to be kicked!   

(compared to Rugby League which is much more full on for most of the 80 minutes.)

 

Seriously though, the last World Cup in Japan took a week less for the Group stage with the same number of teams (20).   So I would've thought they could've speeded it up a bit?

 

Fair point on the last WC, though I'm guessing there are fitness/injury concerns due to the high intensity of the games that means they can't play as often as, say, football players.

Nalis

Nalis

Posted
Posted
32 minutes ago, worth_the_wait said:

Well, make them play more often.   It's not like Rugby Union players do much in the 80 minutes.   Most of the time they're standing around at line-outs and scrums, or waiting for penalties to be kicked!   

(compared to Rugby League which is much more full on for most of the 80 minutes.)

 

Seriously though, the last World Cup in Japan took a week less for the Group stage with the same number of teams (20).   So I would've thought they could've speeded it up a bit?

 

The way the fixtures lay ended up being unfair on the Tier 2 nations. NZ can get away with playing an entirely different XV against say, Romania and France in the same week whereas Tier 2 teams kind of have to play their best teams against everyone in order to compete.

Nalis

Nalis

Posted
Posted

Prediction time:

 

Wales by 2

Ireland by 8

England by 9

South Africa by 6

 

Usually pessimistic when it comes to us in world cups but we are a different team now compared to the previous teams, especially our defence, and its probably the best chance we'll ever get at beating NZ in the world cup. 

 

Beauty for the neutrals is that all 4 quarters could go either way and they wouldnt be shocks.

Nalis

Nalis

Posted
Posted
11 minutes ago, purpleronnie said:

Is it just me thast thinks the all blacks will beat Ireland?

 

That pretty much guarentee's an Ireland win.

Its a fair call, the only match we have to gauge them in this world cup is the opening game a month ago which didnt even matter anyway. I'd go as far as saying its that unpredictable that if the all blacks or Ireland won by 20+ points it wouldnt be a shock either way.

Super_horns

Super_horns

Posted
Posted
15 minutes ago, leicsmac said:

I'd make both Ireland-AB's and France-Saffers pretty close to coin flips tbh. Should be great watching for the neutral either way.

If they were football games you’d be talking about potentially extra time and penalties.

 

I guess the former is still likely .

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