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Rugby World Cup 2011
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Ruan Pinaar is a scrum playing at 10 today - seemed to do alright actually! 6/6 with the boot
I have real sympathy with the minnows who have had a couple of 3 day turn-arounds which often include moving to a different city meaning they lose another day to travel.
i do understand why it is that way - the IRB increased the WC from 16 teams to 20 to include more smaller teams - the WC is a great occation to showcase / expose smaller nations - how this is put pressure on scheduling and the bigger nations produce the bigger TV audiences which is where the IRB gets 75% of its revenues from..
NZ versus France could be surreal. NZ will either absolutely hammer them or this "experimental" (ah-hem) French team will end up winning.
Hmmm, French coffee shop where I was supposed to get cappuccino and croissant from this morning had no water! I'm taking this as a bad omen. New Zealand to steam-roller France and win by 20.
I'll watch Scotland v. Argentina on Sunday but the rest will have to be highlights only.
I'm off work next week so I could get up at 07:30 to watch Wales...
But I might be tempted to tape it and watch it at a more human hour.
I was up at 4:30 for the last Wales match, so all this talk of lying-in must be coming from non-Welsh keyboards!!
Yes, poor Namibia. And poor Namibia on Monday. I'll have to see a recording of Samoa Fiji on Sunday because that could be an interesting game, and I'm not getting up at 3. 4:30 was bad enough. At least my hangover hadn't kicked in by then!
I'll watch a bit of England tomorrow, but can't watch the end as I have to get off to parkrun. Sorry, England. But you'll win anyway.
Wales only have 6 days rest after Namibia before Fiji! These schedules are terrible...
*bedecks the thread with England flags*
OK, I'm up and currently watching the art of waffle ahead of the match. *drums fingers*
And having drawn Namibia in the sweepstake, the more they get beaten, the higher my chances of the wooden spoon prize. (For once) I'll be hoping Wales run away with it...
Well, that wasn't bad, was it?
That's dedication, Helen Liz!
Only just up in time for NZ v. France
*wibble*
ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!
Uh oh
Can we just stop now and say NZ have won?
Congratulations to England and New Zealand
NZ had that won after about 30 mins and France looked pretty clueless, Parra and Yachvili didn't really work. Sneaky 2nd French try! Slightly worried about Tonga now.
PS: Just realised my pre-match prediction was correct - spooky!
Not so much dedication as being home alone and waking up early. Decided I may as well get up & watch it live as lay there not going back to sleep. Was worth it though!
oops. I set the video for the France match, it should have been a corker, but doesn't sound as if it was tight. Is it not worth watching?
Ooh, sorry for spoiling the result! It was a bit one-sided but there were some good tries, especially if you're a NZ fan
Scotland v. Argentina next for me, will probably be making use of ITV+1 thanks to the suggestion from bos1
Better from England. Although not the toughest opposition, it was good to see some passing and a bit of creativity. Hope they can still do that when in the tough games they'll face from now on.
France started well then went to pieces. Real shame, I would have liked to see them give NZ a good run. Is it just me who thinks that NZ get away with more than everyone else? That's not to deny their brilliance of course, if just seems that some of their "flat" passing isn't that flat and they are still getting away with plenty of blocking. While I'm having a dig at them, isn't it usually the hosting team that plays in their change kit if there is a clash of colours?
It's normally the home team that changes colour in Rugby I think, BDB. I wouldn't mind the white so much if they wore different colour shorts and socks like they used to.
It was an odd game. It was almost as though once they hadn't scored from their early pressure and NZ took the first couple of chances they gave up. I think Traille should have gone off as he was pretty rubbish. Didn't like the "dive" that one of the French players did after an elbow incident either. This isn't football!
So, it's probably going to be England v. France for the QF!
D'oh, just realised I got that completely wrong!
NZ were the hosts so they should have been wearing the different strip
V. odd.
I'll take it back as last time they played each other in the WC in 07 at Cardiff, France wore their home strip and NZ their change so maybe it's done on rotation? Not a biggy really.
Yes, the "dive" was a bit OTT. Lets hope it's not something that creeps in.
It struck me earlier that it's 4 years since I didn't get to meet up with you in Berlin LN for the England/Tonga game
Oh yeah! Can't believe that was 4 years ago
I cheered for the Tongans as everyone else was supporting England and one of their players had a brilliant afro 
Do you know I still haven't managed to run a decent marathon since then and French rugby hasn't been a great deal better
You're so fickle
Berlin should have been my 3:15. I was certainly fit enough but my head wasn't right. Can't really blame that on the rugby. France have managed a grand slam last year so it's not been all bad for you.
Looking forward to the potential of the France/England quarter. That'll be a good one.
Marathons are unpredictable beasts
I'm hoping that France turn up against England for a change. I'd settle for them just playing well for 80 mins at the moment. And there are still a few games to go before we can be sure of the line-up, have to beat Tonga first!
England look to be improving with every game but (assuming they beat Argentina) the Scotland game is going to be very interesting, especially as the loser will probably have to play NZ in the next round. I've been surprised by how efficient Scotland have looked so far.
For Wales, we've got to score as many points as possible against Namibia (helped by the kindly schedulers who have given Namibia only 3 days to recover from a hiding by SA)and pray we don't lose anyone else from the back row as we're already without Lydiate and (probably) Ryan Jones for the potentially tricky Fiji game.
Lydiate is recovering well, and I thought Ryan was playing against Namibia?
Training game for England. Not representative. But glad they actually trained their backs. Didn't see any France NZ, but not surprised. France will have one good game, but when...?
Scotland Argentina will be very interesting. I think I still rate Argentina for that one. I'll have to back age and weight over a lack of imagination and limited ability.
No matter how good it might be, that's one match I'm not getting up for! That's what videos were invented for - and it's set.
Also popped Scotland Argentina on to watch later. I wonder how tight that might be. Can't see it being high scoring - not sure either side has the strike force to breach the line. (you watch, now I've said that it'll turn into a try fest!)
No try fest for Scotland Argentine, and ended up pretty much as many thought. Close, but Argentina took it. And personally, given Scotland's recent years, I don't think they deserve to be in the top eight in the world.
But this morning was a try fest. 12 for Wales and 1 for Namibia. I feel a bit more secure in the group now, as the points difference over Samoa is good, and Wales are confident going into the Fiji match. Without too many bruises, too. Can't really say whether anyone stood out, but I still would have given MoM to Warburton or Williams. du Plessis was chuckling as he got notice of his award, appreciating the irony, I think.
Just the small matter of putting away Fiji,
, and then it's Ireland!! Some juicy quarters starting to appear on the horizon!!