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Rugby World Cup 2011
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Best match of the tournament so far, and I've just about managed to rise out of my post-match slump (following a long, thoughtful run). There's no credit to Wales to say they played better rugby though, the fact is it was a loss. When needed, SA turned on the abilities and ran in tries. They also defended their own 22 superbly, given the number of times we were in it. Rhys Priestland's drop goal attempt was a good idea, poorly executed, but I would have preferred to see 15mins of grinding it out on the ground holding possession. When you're up with 15mins to play, that's what you need to do. Great play got us up, but dull play was needed to hold it. Territorially SA were very wise, kicking us back down the field forcing us to run it back at them again. They didn't play with ball in hand until they were in our half. Line outs were a surprise. After the first couple of odd ones from both sides they settled pretty well.
But whilst the team couldn't hold it, certain players were amazing. Thoroughly deserved MoM for Sam, and you could see him getting player of the tournament. But surprise package for me was seeing Jamie Roberts back on form. He's been quiet since the Lions' tour. It must be the sight of green shirts suddenly woke him!
Fiji and Samoa won't know who to put their best game in against...
PS. Very odd for a kicker not to know when he's had a hit or a miss. Hook querying Wayne Barnes and asking for a replay was quite telling.
Even in the halcyon days of the 70's, we couldn't beat the All Blacks. We definitely should have beaten them in 1972 and 1978 with the teams we had (Edwards, JPR, Gerald Davies et al) but always seemed to have a mental block that prevented us driving home the advantage when we had them on the rack.
Same again today. Although I think we have one of the best teams in the competition, we couldn't close the game out - England wouldn't have lost from there.
Probably means Australia in the QF's and they look as strong as anybody.
Agree with the other posts: Warburton is a potential superstar.
Looking on the bright side, we did play very well yesterday and if we can come through the group stages without injuries to key players such as Hook, Roberts, Adam Jones and the back row, I reckon we could be a match for anybody.
If I was English, I wouldn't be too bothered by Saturday. "A win is a win" and last time round England were truly horrible at times during the group stages, but still reached the final and lost only narrowly.
Wales were unlucky. PLayed better rugby than SA. SA followed the same gameplan they have for years no - kick the ball away and wait for a mistake.
Aus looking strong - might have peaked to soon ...
Ireland had only one good point from the win over US - Mr Ferris didnt get injured. Bit sad to see once good players playing rubbish. Will be lucky to get out of group on current form.
England were lucky - again. We've seen this before...
So all the teams have played at least once, did we get any real surprises?
I was surprised to see Canada beat Tonga, wish I could have seen more of the match than the highlights on ITV. There were some fantastic beards apart from anything else!
Best game so far has been Wales v. SA even if the result was wrong.
Good to see the "minnows" aren't being squished and that there haven't been any cricket scores yet.
Here's to some more great matches
Wales to beat Samoa, but my big worry is that we lose one of our key players to injury. We don't have much depth in some key positions and can't afford to be without our first 15 when it comes to the knock-out stages.
Australia looked very good in their first game although Ireland often play best against strong opposition.
Scotland have been quietly competent so far and the game with England could be very close.
What's the view on the England players' night "on the lash" last weekend ?
On the one hand, it's part of Rugby tradition and a week before the next game. On the other, it's hard to imagine any other elite sportsmen (athletes, tennis players for example) doing it during the most important tournament in the sport - at least until after it's over.
Good luck Ireland!
I think that rugby players are going to have to get used to the increased press interest. They probably got away with a lot of stuff in the past that isn't going to be acceptable now. They get more money so they're going to have people chucking themselves at them like happens for footballers. There's no problem going out for a few drinks when you have a week between games but it probably wasn't sensible ending up somewhere with "dwarf-tossing" on the menu.
Still so long as England keep winning I suppose people won't mind
Oh yes!
And now I have to go to work
yeo (hug) A loss in the group stages might be just what oz need at the moment to focus them to be the best they can.
Yes!
Glad my forecast proved wrong. Approcahing each game with a pessimistic attitude is the best strategy - experience tells me.
Irish forwards won the game . Great clearing out and rucking as well as set piece. We didnt give them any space. I think that we had strengths to capitalise on the Aus weakness - might have been different if Pocock played.
Hope O'Brien and Ferris stay healthy - injureis likely to be important for some teams. Heaslip at 8 was anonymous which is a bit of a concern. Hope we dont do anything stupid in the reamining two matches.
Also, it is interesting that the penalty kicking continues to be so bad. Which makes it relatively more profitable to infringe esp at the breakdown - less liklihood of giving away points. Be interesting to see if the kicking improves
Pleasantly surprised with how well Ireland played, especially the scrum. I didn't give them much chance before the match because of how badly they played in the warm-ups. But they really outplayed Australia and totally deserved that win. Should top that group now and get an easier QF.
I scared the cat when Tommy Bowe got that intercept
shame he didn't quite have the legs.
Still, the next 2 games should be easier and hopefully we can progress into the QF's (against Ireland ?).
I haven't seen the England game, but the margin of victory seems comfortable enough.
Performance of the weekend has to be Ireland. That was a great result.
Got to say that the standard of rugby so far has been very high all round.
Forgot to set the video, I'll have to catch the highlights later. With the Irish victory it's really opened up the draw for the NH sides. I'm sure everyone on that side of the draw is fancying their chances now.
A good win for France despite the dreadful weather and the scary beards!
Allez les Bleus!
Samoa are a good team and that was the sort of game previous Welsh sides might well have lost, so I'm pretty happy with 2 games down and (on paper at least) 2 easier games to come.
That doesn't seem fair in a sport as extraordinarily physical as international rugby is these days and the schedulers should have given the emerging nations similar time between games to recover and prepare.
It's a difficult choice - spread the pool games over 5 weekends to give everyone the same recovery OR condense it into 4 weekends to stop teams from not releasing international players.
It would have been fairer though if they had made some of the top teams play during the week as well. But that's never going to happen is it?
A lot of people are speculating that both France and NZ will be tring to lose their game on Saturday to get the easier draw. I can't see it myself because NZ are surely out for revenge for 2007 and playing England then Wales/Ireland isn't that much easier than Argentina/Scotland then SA/Austalia? I suspect it's a bit of a toss-up for France - both Argentina and England will be hard for them to get past.
Will be interesting to see how it turns out especially if NZ are trying to let France win but France are just too flaky to manage it
No way NZ would try to lose a game. And if France tried to lose a game they'd still be 50/50 to win it.
Easy solution to the game spread, play all games on weekends, and play them all in the Northern Hemisphere so that the major television audience can watch them at sensible times.
Funny situation with Wales and Samoa now. I rate Samoa to worry SA. And if they win? Three way split in the group, can't go on head to heads, has to go on points (unless it already goes on the bonuses), so Wales have to win big to ensure they're not left out to dry by the vagaries of maths. Now, will SA try to win the group if they have to face Aus? Hmmm....
Ooof! Poor Namibia...