Rugby: Building up to Japan

[Jeor]

1 hour ago, ljkeane said:

I think the winner of pool B is probably going to have a significantly easier route to the final than the runner up so it’s still a big game.

Hmm, true (assuming Ireland top Pool A). I like the match because it might tell us whether South Africa are the real deal, and whether New Zealand really are a bit weaker than usual this tournament (or whether the Australians just got lucky in that first Bledisloe match).

[ithanos]

12 hours ago, Jeor said:

Hmm, true (assuming Ireland top Pool A). I like the match because it might tell us whether South Africa are the real deal, and whether New Zealand really are a bit weaker than usual this tournament (or whether the Australians just got lucky in that first Bledisloe match).

Australia deserved that 1st Bledisloe win wholeheartedly. I'm happy they lost the 2nd Bledisloe - but was disappointed they didn't bring that same cohesion to make it a closer match. Still, any All Blacks coaching appointment has one metric they must achieve annually, even in WC year - and that's to secure the Bledisloe Cup. There have now been entire squads of Wallaby players who have started and ended their careers without ever savouring a Bledisloe Cup victory, which as a trophy has to be one of the best drinking vessels to play for in World Rugby   

Good start for Japan, though a lot of errors. Russian defence was solid for long periods there.

Looking forward most to the Aus vs Fiji game. Will watch it with some Fiji born friends so we're hoping for an entertaining match. Might have to break out some kava for the occasion. Fiji are currently the best of the Pacific nations at this juncture (read, least corrupt union) but my head thinks Australia should have the wood on them today. 

Then France vs Argentina. Honestly can't pick this one. I know the Argentinian game from The Rugby Championship but have not seen much of France. Perhaps someone Northern Hemisphere side may provide some insight there.

NZ vs SA - The way these two have gone at each other these past 2 years shows both coaching teams know how to adjust from a loss to then win their next encounter. Given their last match was a draw, today's game is a toss up. Whoever wins might well spur the other side on to a rematch later in the tournament (which could only be the final if it comes to that).  For me it wouldn't be a bad thing if NZ put in a decent showing and lost without incurring any player injuries, though I can't remember if any of the past RWC winners had ever dropped a pool match in their winning campaign. 

[ljkeane]

2 hours ago, ithanos said:

Then France vs Argentina. Honestly can't pick this one. I know the Argentinian game from The Rugby Championship but have not seen much of France. Perhaps someone Northern Hemisphere side may provide some insight there.

France are pretty similar to how they’ve been for most of the time recently, they have talent but they’ve rarely been able to put it together as a team. Argentina should have a lot of team cohesion given most of the play for the Jaguares but I suspect how bad their scrum has been is going to be a problem.

Australia Fiji is the only game I can watch today so hopefully it’ll be good. The non tier 1 sides tend to be better at a World Cup with more time together and Fiji don’t lack for talent.

ETA: Wow, hell of a start from Fiji.

[Which Tyler]

I wasn't intending to get up for this (was going to watch as-live, in time to catch France art match more-or-less live).
But my brain disagreed and got me up at 4.30!

What a start!

[ljkeane]

Great first half for Fiji but they’re starting to struggle to number up right in defence. The Wallabies need to hold onto the ball more and go through the phases.

[Which Tyler]

Seen a replay of Hodge on Yato... Faz would have been proud, and that's a yellow all day every day, with careful TMO reviews to see if red given the official clampdown.

Fair few other tackles from both sides that really should have been given a review if WR are being true to their word.

Citing officer is going to have a field day, and ought to, otherwise this RWC is going to be a terrible advert for rugby safety

[Which Tyler]

ALLEZ LES BLEUS

Come on France - this is more like it - amazing what you can do when you actually get to train together for more than 1 session!

This is why I've always loved them.
They can brutalise you up front, and they can turn you inside out with an offload or sit your on your arse with a side step.
A confident, drilled France, is just a joy to behold. If only they had the chance for train together for more than 3 days at a time more often (especially with competent coaching).

 

Of course, they can also go from having their foot on your throat, to putting it against their own with a moment of pure, unadalterated idiocy.

[Which Tyler]

Oh look - they do have TMO at this RWC.
They even found one who knows what his job is.

[Which Tyler]

What a cracker!

[Jeor]

I'm calling a South African win here.

The Springboks are a settled team whereas there are still a few questions about the All Blacks.

Apparently some stat said that the last four games between them have been decided by 2 points or less - crazy.

I know NZ generally raise their levels for these World Cups but South Africa have some pretty good history at these tournaments too.

[Which Tyler]

No score drawn on the anthems.

Even the Aussies were more into it than that

[Jeor]

Well, so much for my prediction there.

South Africa started well but a few missed tackles have really cost them with the All Blacks pouncing with a couple of tries. In a close match I would have backed South Africa but now that they've got to fight back by playing more openly, I can see NZ running away with it.

[ithanos]

Hmm. this is an All Blacks team selected for pace. It looks like they want to run SA around the ground.

The France v Argentina game was a cracker alright. I fear the French in any RWC.

[Jeor]

Springboks did well to get back into the game and at one point it was a 17-13 lead with them getting into some dangerous territory, but in the end it was just a bit too much of a comeback to mount against NZ. You can't afford to spot them a couple of loose tries.

[Which Tyler]

First half just epitomises whatnot can be like to play the ABs.

After 20 minutes, SA had them really rattled, and were comfortably in top. They takes 2 seconds to check the score board and see that their 3-0 up.

Taking that 2 seconds means a pass goes to ground, and suddenly they're 3-17 down and looking at receiving a hiding.

[dooog]

Actually kind of fearing for Ireland against Scotland. They beat them well in Murrayfield earlier this year but there were a few key moments that had they gone Scotlands way it may have been quite different. Also Earls and Kearney absent is pretty big.

Still think Ireland will squeak the win. England to win by 35+ points and Italy to beat Namibia.

[Jeor]

I too thought that the Scotland/Ireland game would be close but this time I kept my mouth shut rather than posting about it and being a fool the second time in a row....!

Strong display from the Irish. Scotland surprisingly generated nothing going forward, and as the game went on the Irish dominated the set pieces, particularly the scrum. And this was achieved with Sexton only playing about half the game and a relatively inexperienced team, so just about as good as the Irish could have hoped for.

[Iskaral Pust]

Ireland/Scotland wasn’t broadcast here (but England/Tonga was), so I’m relying on match reports and my brother’s longnseries of messages over WhatsApp.

Nice for the Irish to establish their power game so well, even with some starters missing.  Now they can manage the squad through the next pool games to hopefully maximize the starting line-up for the knock-outs. 

[Jeor]

42 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Now they can manage the squad through the next pool games to hopefully maximize the starting line-up for the knock-outs. 

Yeah, the Irish will be a dangerous sleeper side in the knockouts, with banana peel potential for whichever one of the All-Blacks and South Africa meet them in the quarters.

[ljkeane]

I've finally had the chance to catch up with some of the rest of the games.

Good win for Ireland this morning. After having a fairly poor 2019 a really convincing win to start the World Cup is a real boost for them. A bit of a disaster for Scotland though. They had a good World Cup last time and they would have been hoping to repeat that but it went wrong in pretty much every department against Ireland, on top of that you'd think Hamish Watson has to be out of the rest of the World Cup.

England weren't overly convincing against Tonga but ultimately they got the win and the bonus point they needed from the game.

The New Zealand South Africa game yesterday was interesting. In many ways it followed the pattern of a lot of their recent games with South Africa on top for large periods but the difference was they made to many errors that the All Blacks capitalised on and once New Zealand were 14 points ahead it was unlikely the Springboks were going to haul them in. So overall I wouldn't look at the game and say there's not chance of New Zealand losing if they do meet again they've certainly given themselves a big boost with a win against one of the other favourites and likely put themselves into the easier side of the draw.