Rugby World Cup

[Noggin]

Wales/Fiji was a good match (to me!) - seriously hard tackles and a tough game.

But -

would it be too difficult to get the refs/rules to be consistent?? If an accidental head contact causes a red card for one player then surely it should be the same for everyone?

and if you have a head impact that creates a penalty/yellow/red, WTF aren't the players sent off for an HIA straight away (only one I've seen taken off for that after a penalty/card was yesterday and that wasn't when he was wandering around being dazed/playing up that he was dazed, it was a couple of minutes later FFS)


The ref was very chatty but didn't always explain things that well (that I could hear), luckily last night I watched in english so the commentators helped (mostly! sometimes they were as confused as me!). And some of his decisions seemed a bit odd


But, I hadn't expected to stay awake for that one cos I'm no fan of Wales and don't really remember seeing Fiji play!! But I did stay awake all the way through!

[Druid]

Right, I've had a day to calm down after that.

Wales lucky not to have had another yellow card in the last 10 minutes, and Fiji's errors cost them the game. Must have been a good game to watch for a neutral but it didn't do my blood pressure any favours. Wales have perfected the art of doing really stupid things and snatching defeat from the jaws of victory - North's attempt to run out of our 22 at the end of the first half is a typical example, and he's one of our most experienced players. Like Mr LB I was shouting at him to kick it out, I thought Biggar was quite restrained, certainly was compared to what I was saying. The lack of experience and leadership really showed after Biggar was subbed

Awful refereeing, but he was poor to both sides. As noted above Wales given lots of warnings for penalties in the red zone but no yellow. He had no clue what was going on in the scrum, Fiji constantly sealing off at the breakdown and living offside in defense

[Bowman]

Looks like Wales did just enough in the game.
The best result for us tomorrow would be an Australian win with no bonus points for either side.
I'd love to see Fiji win but it wouldn't be good for Wales in the table.

[Demannu]

Was it just me, or should it have been a Fijian throw in?

[KungFooBob]

Was it just me, or should it have been a Fijian throw in?

The ref is defo on the the side of the Aussies.

[Noggin]

Was it just me, or should it have been a Fijian throw in?

The ref is defo on the the side of the Aussies.

If the Aussies are playing with 16, it doesn't seem to be helping them???

[KungFooBob]

Was it just me, or should it have been a Fijian throw in?

The ref is defo on the the side of the Aussies.

If the Aussies are playing with 16, it doesn't seem to be helping them???

They'd be more than 11 points behind

[Noggin]

The ref is defo on the the side of the Aussies.

If the Aussies are playing with 16, it doesn't seem to be helping them???

They'd be more than 11 points behind

Fair point! I haven't really watched until a few minutes ago and was a smidge surprised to see the score!!

[Mr Moofo]

Why are the Aussies playing in Orange and Green - rather than Gold and Green?

[Demannu]

Bula bula fiji

[Mr. Dazzle]

Why are the Aussies playing in Orange and Green - rather than Gold and Green?

It's the old "gold" from when they last won the cup I think. Presumably dye technology wasn't as good back then.

I overhead the same question between the public school / South African / Kiwi crowd in the canteen

[Cousin Jack]

Anyone watching Japan v England?

I despair! Japan deserve the win even if they don't make it.

[KungFooBob]

They're both making lots of mistakes. Neither of them deserve the win.

[Cousin Jack]

Well England won again, and the score looked good. The rugby however was poor, England need to ditch the old guard, ie most of the squad, and choose people who play open, entetaing rugby.

Given a choice between watching England, or say Portugal v Japan I know which woulx get my money, and it is not patriotic.

[MrLongbeard]

I was mostly cheering for Japan, shame they lost, but in the years since the last world cup they seem to have transitioned from little plucky buggers with speed on their side to a more traditional heavy rugby team which isn't as enjoyable to watch.

The score certainly flattered the England squad far more than they deserved.

And whoever designed this new ball needs a kick in theirs.

[Noggin]

I really only properly watched two matches - France and Ireland. Those results were good enough for me

The NZ match I was listening to and even though I didn't see the injury, the reaction of the teams and the commentators was enough to know the injury was horrific.

I'm really not bothered now if England win or not but I'll listen/watch anyway - but damn they did NOT play well I fell asleep ten minutes before the end but pretty sure I didn't miss anything!!


Was a bit sad for Romania as it was a pretty good guess that it would be a whitewash, but I do hate seeing those type of matches - although they seemed to keep trying, so that's a bit positive!


Very surprised that Australia lost, but Fiji are better (and probably heavier!) than I expected!!


I'll watch Wednesday because I really want Italy to do well, they have improved so much in the 6 Nations that it would be nice if they could do quite well in the RWC

Hopefully the bar across the way will be open for the French match, it's so much better watching with other people Sadly I'll be watching SA v Ire on my own at home, but that'll be a good one I suspect - crossing everything for Ireland

[Demannu]

So I guess we'll find out who the second best scrum half in France is now!
And what have we learned today children?
That's right, save your best players for the difficult games, not the cricket scores.
Every frenchie i talk to about the rugby have the same question, pourquoi!

[Noggin]

Damn, that was good!! Made it to my brother's in time to watch the match. His' (Irish) wife is incapable of watching TV without having a conversation about something else as well! But for hte last ten mins he did say, please, just concentrate, this is awesome!!

[Demannu]

Well that was a surprising read this morning!
Considering I didnt think we would make it out of the group stage, ending up with the 'easiest' route to the semis possibly!

[Druid]

Well, what a weekend of rugby. Ireland v SA was a thoroughly engrossing match even for a (almost) neutral. SA's lack of a goal kicker cost them dearly I think, and I wouldn't be surprised if these two meet again in the final.

England v Chile was predictably one sided. England have not really been tested so far and I can't see the remaining match against Samoa in two weeks being a problem. The QF against (probably) Fiji should be a fun watch...

Scotland v Tonga was a comfortable win for the Jocks but I don't think they will get close to Ireland in their last match and yet again will fail to make it out of their pool.

Wales v Australia was the match of the weekend, but I'm not entirely unbiased. Yes Aus were poor, probably the worst Aussie team I've seen but Wales were very good. Controlled the match well, took the points when they were offered and built up a solid lead. Remember that 12 months ago Australia came from 34-13 down to win 34-38 in Cardiff, and Fiji almost nicked a victory from 32-14 at 65 minutes so it wasn't until the last 10 minutes that I could start to relax a bit. Unlike in previous matches Wales didn't ease off and allow the opposition to get back in the game, just kept the pressure on until the end. I don't know where this leaves Australian rugby though, 2025 might be the first Lions tour to a Tier 2 nation

Well England won again, and the score looked good. The rugby however was poor, England need to ditch the old guard, ie most of the squad, and choose people who play open, entetaing rugby.

Given a choice between watching England, or say Portugal v Japan I know which woulx get my money, and it is not patriotic.

Georgia v Portugal was a good match between the tier 2 countries, really entertaining and a draw provided Portugal with their first ever world cup points. Remember Georgia beat Wales in Cardiff last year too