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Rugby: Building up to Japan


ljkeane

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Good win for Wales today. Unlike Australia against Fiji they killed the game off early and didn't let a potentially dangerous side into the game. Their defence was solid, as usual, but their attacking play was very good as well, they'd clearly identified some weaknesses in the Georgian defensive system given how often they were effective off first phase ball.

On the other hand Georgia will be pretty disappointed. They'd have backed themselves to at least make it very difficult for Wales but the game was over after 20 minutes. They actually had a decent enough second half but the horse had bolted by then.

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10 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Good win for Wales today.

Yeah, I'm looking forward to the Australia vs Wales match after seeing the Wales performance here. It should be a pretty lively game.

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Great win for Uruguay but I do feel a bit sorry for Fiji. They were really good against Australia and they would have wanted to go into the Wales game still in with a chance to progress but playing Saturday Wednesday is a big hurdle. Having said that they really did shoot themselves in the foot today, they had more than enough talent in the side they put out to win comfortably. 

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13 hours ago, ljkeane said:

Great win for Uruguay but I do feel a bit sorry for Fiji. They were really good against Australia and they would have wanted to go into the Wales game still in with a chance to progress but playing Saturday Wednesday is a big hurdle. Having said that they really did shoot themselves in the foot today, they had more than enough talent in the side they put out to win comfortably. 

I feel less sorry for Fiji given that the coach had made 12 changes to the starting lineup. It was clear that they took the Uruguay game for granted and suffered for their hubris. They had been tipped as a chance to get to the quarters, especially after the Australia showing, but that's now virtually impossible unless Wales make a similar slip-up.

Uruguay on the other hand were brilliant. For a tournament with a long group stage you often wonder what the goal is for the teams that can't realistically qualify, and pulling off a win like this must be the aim. Probably only second to the Japan/Springbok upset.

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2 hours ago, Jeor said:

I feel less sorry for Fiji given that the coach had made 12 changes to the starting lineup. 

I think that was because they only had 3 days of rest and recovery after a tough game against Australia though. That’s not really enough time to be ready to play again.

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Good win for England today. They secured the bonus point early which meant there was less tension towards the end of the game. That's job done against the two weaker sides in the group, now it's the big games against Argentina and France.

The game also featured the first red card of the World Cup. It was a pretty stonewall red card so not much controversy there. Ugo Monye made the point on commentary that while Reece Hodge might have deserved a red against Fiji under the laws you'd feel sorry for him because there was no malice in it. Quill's shoulder charge today was just a bit unpleasant and I don't think you'll see many people upset with that being a red.

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Didn't see the match but just watched the highlights on YouTube, including the shoulder charge. That's about as clear-cut as you can get for a red - he dropped the shoulder in and got direct contact with the head.

Good fixture list for England to get their matches in roughly increasing order of difficulty.

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Enthralling first half between Ireland & Japan. Fitness should not be an issue for Japan. Still think Ireland will pull away, but if Japan's structure holds and they persist with the ball, and stay in touch, we could be in with a close one.

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Wow!. What an upset. It may be a bigger upset than the Japan v South Africa game four years ago as it could dramatically change the match ups in the knock out phase. 

Ireland didn't play poorly. Japan just tackled ferociously on defence and recycled the ball well on attack. Well deserved victory for them. 

 

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Have Japan got the best national style in the game?

 

They obviously love playing against green shirts too, let's hope they can do the same against blue (sorry neighbours, but it really is good for the sport).

 

Look more deserving of a 6N/QN spot than Italy/Argentina, let alone Georgia/Romania

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I’m a bit late to the party because I was too lazy to get up this morning but what a couple of cracking games.

Absolutely terrible start from Tonga this morning and they really gifted Argentina the bonus point. After the first half an hour or so they were well in the game though and they really should have had a penalty try at the end of the first half to make it closer.

Even better game between Japan and Ireland and that win for Japan has really thrown the cat amongst the pigeons. Japan are always great to watch but I didn’t think their style of play would suit getting a win against Ireland, great effort to pull it off though. They have to be favourites to win the group now.

 

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