Rugby World Cup 2011

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Comments

  • RatzerRatzer ✭✭✭

    I'm at the Millenium Stadium.

    Well, honestly, where else did you expect me to be?  (NZ wasn't an option.)

    bos1, try chewing gum after breakfast.  Apparently it contains blubber from Wales.

  • Have a great time Ratzer image

    I promise if Wales win that I'll support them in the final but it may take a few days to be able to get back to the thread without ranting image

    See you all on the other side! Time for one last

    ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!! image

  • fat buddha wrote (see)
     as for England - woeful tournament both on and off field. I won't cry for them
    image Have to agree. lack of disapline and lack of leadership on the field. Some of the players need to take stock and think about how they can inprove before they next wear the national shirt.
    Little Nemo - No more marathons! wrote (see)

    *coughWhereHaveAllTheEnglishPostersGone?cough*

    I'm surprised ML isn't starting some of his bigger players, Palisson looks tiny compared to some of the Welsh players.

    So are all you Irish, English and Scottish fans backing Wales now? Can I tempt any of you to support France? image

    image sorry kiddo personall excuse is been a bit buzy with stuff on this week. Belated very well done.image France and Wales you won't get a better change to lift the trophy than this. All you have to do is win at the weekend and then win ever NZ or oz. Sounds hard but thing about it you only have to beat one of them. image

    Prediction for the weekend NZ and Wales win's.

  • @ratzer
    Due to the quantity of coffee I need of a morning I shall be taking several leaks.  I trust this will meet the requirements as regard the involvement of Wales in my morning repast.
  • prediction

    Wales
    Aus

    I suspect France may well play better and could pull a shock, but it would be a shock.

    Aus/NZ - Pocock and the Aus backs break a nations heart ...

  • I'm still disappointed but England didn't deserve to continue.  France, having already been beaten twice in the tournament, really don't deserve to be there either. 

    I'll be shouting for Wales in the morning.  They really have set the standard the rest of the home nations need to get to.  Should be a cracking game.

    Good luck to Wales (sorry Nemo).

  • I know you never beat Wales, only score more points than them, but at half-time it looks like Alain Rolland has ruined a bloody close, exciting match

    bah!

  • Yup, going for a run now instead of after the match. I'd rather not risk seeing the French run riot.
  • Never a red; I doubt anyone could've quibbled about a yellow, but that's ruined the game.
  • i normally dislike Phillips - but right now he's a beauty!!
  • Little Nemo - No more marathons! wrote (see)

    Have a great time Ratzer image

    I promise if Wales win that I'll support them in the final but it may take a few days to be able to get back to the thread without ranting

    LN  Things are never that Bad !
  • What a horrible game! image

    I don't understand how France came so close to losing this match. It was a bad tackle and made the game v. strange. France showed no adventure and I fear they're going to be squished in the final whoever they're playing. On the plus side though they haven't played their one big game yet so maybe they're saving it for last huzzah.

    Bad luck Wales you did deserve to win this one image

  • Yep, unlucky, Wales; thrashed no tries to one is a bit harsh (though if you think Alain Rolland is crap, you should watch David Rose); with players of that calibre, you should be very well placed in 4 years' time; I'm still tipping a Wales Australia final in 2015.
  • Oh don't boo Dusatoir you cretinous crowd! Nice show of class image

    Unless it's the French unhappy at how weirdly they played image

  • Why on earth didn't Wales try the drop goal when they had the opportunity?

    Say what you like about England, but they wouldn't have missed that chance

  • God the ITV coverage is awful!

    yeo wrote (see)

    Why on earth didn't Wales try the drop goal when they had the opportunity?

    Say what you like about England, but they wouldn't have missed that chance

    Yes that was strange, Yeo. And I couldn't physically watch the last 2 minutes when the Welsh had the ball. Was so sure France would give away a penalty.

  • Gutted.

    Clearly the sending-off was wrong. At worst, it was a "yellow card" but I didn't think there was any malice and it's hard to see what else Warburton could have done once he committed to the tackle.

    The loss of Adam Jones was a huge blow and our scrum never recovered. He is one of the unsung heroes of the Welsh side and it was asking a lot for Paul James (who is a loose-head in any case) to replace him.

    Having said that, the game was still there for the taking. Our line-out went to pieces and we missed several penalties and a conversion that should really have been kicked. Not Halfpenny's effort; that was a great kick and came oh so close. To be fair, it shouldn't have been a penalty to Wales anyway.


    I agree that we should have set up the drop goal attempt at the end. There was nothing to lose and with all Stephen Jones's experience I am really surprised it wasn't called.

    I thought Faletau and Halfpenny were outstanding, but on the other hand I think the argument for Hook or Priestland at outside half "going forward" is now settled - it has to be Priestland.
  • Well the best team didn't win. 

    Just listened to BBC radio - Rob jones and ian Robertson talking. It is clear that the referee made the right decision. Rolland didnt ruin the match. Warburton did. 

    My first reaction was that a yellow card would be right (despite that rediculous ITV commentary which couldnt even see anything wrong). But Rolland is a referee and has to apply the law. He did apply the law.  While it mght be nice to think he has the leeway to make the call we would like to see - he doesnt.  It might be hard to accept but the ref did the job he was put out on that pitch to do.

  • Granted, it's a "fine line".

    The spear tackle on Brian O'Driscoll on the Lions tour of NZ was absolutely appalling and could easily have broken his neck and the authorities are right to do everything to eradicate those sort of tackles from the game.

    However, I still think a straight red was a harsh call in this case.

  • RatzerRatzer ✭✭✭

    Yes, illegal tackle and red card deserved according to the commission board of the IRB which has presented the referees with explicit instructions on these tackles.  Regardless of the fact there was no drive into the ground, Clerc was lifted beyond the horizontal and the tackling player made no attempt to safely bring him to ground.

    Doesn't matter.  The game was destroyed by a mistake with no malicious intent.  That Wales managed to play so well even though their set pieces were destroyed, with France capitalising on the scrum and line-out deficits, speaks volumes for the players who remained.  14 men can't beat 15 when all else is equal.  7.5 men can't beat 8 in the scrum.  A reduced line-out invites the opposition to challenge your limited options.  Still S Jones should have converted the try, and Halfpenny was agonisingly short on the penalty.  But had either of those gone over surely the French would have thrown everything and the évier into the last few minutes.  As it was they held the Welsh at the 10yard line making a drop impossible and their discipline was superb.  And the extra man really told.

    We'll never know what would have happened.  All we can be sure of is that the trophy is staying in the Southern hemisphere.  Still, I will be supporting the French.  I just don't see them having any chance at all.  None at all.

  • Problem being is that there have been about five other spear/dump tackles in the World cup and none of them have resulted in a red card......yet again we end up talking about consistancy of refereeing.
  • But nearly all of them have gone before the citing commission and received bans of 3 weeks plus presumably because they should have been red cards in the first place.

    I think it was dangerous even if it wasn't done with malice or intent. Vincent Clerc ended up landing on the back of his neck.

    But it did ruin the match and I think Wales would have won if Warburton hadn't been sent off.

    I forgot I'm doing a 10 mile tomorrow so I'll miss NZ v. Aus. I wonder if I can avoid the result before I get to watch the recording?

  • To give France credit, their overall record at World Cups is excellent and I don't think any other team could recover from 2 losses in the pool stages and still reach the final. Their pack also played very well and dominated the game in the tight.

    What was disappointing was that unlike so many French teams of the past, they had very little to offer behind the scrum even with a 1 man advantage.

    Particularly sad for Shane Williams, Adam Jones and Gethin Jenkins (maybe Mike Phillips too ?). All have been outstanding servants of Welsh rugby in good days and bad and will certainly/probably not be around in 4 years time.

    The loss of Adam Jones again showed how absolutely crucial he is to the team. Last week he "murdered" a very fine prop in Cian Healey and after he left the field today the Welsh scrum was all over the place.

    Let's hope the team and the coaches can lift themselves for the 3rd place play-off and go out on a deserved high.
  • D'oh - completely forgot to set up the recording and overheard the result anyway from a car radio!

    Just seen the highlights and NZ looked scarily good so I guess we're heading for a repeat of the first World Cup final. Hope that France come good and put up a decent performance, I'd hate to see a massacre image

    At least the ITV commentary team have calmed down a bit and are no longer calling France the worst team ever image

    Good luck to Wales for Friday! image

  • My predictions were 100% wrong this weekend...

    ...so i predict NZ will win ...

    hope that does the trick

  • Strange how 1987 seems to have repeated itself. NZ vs France in the final (albeit that French side had been immensely more impressive in their previous matches) and Wales vs Australia in the 3rd place play-off.

    I think the game on Friday is very important for Wales. If we play really well and win, that will give us a lot of momentum going into 2012 and we really need to start beating the SH teams ( and believing that we can).

    Bit harsh on France that they're not being given a chance. "Winning ugly" is a hugely important attribute in any sport and when all is said and done they're in the final and if they can rediscover the form of 2 years ago it still could be a contest.
  • I think I've calmed down now

    I can only agree with what's been said - the sending off ruined what could have been a corker of a game. it was extremely harsh but the ref applied the laws correctly - "The lifted player is dropped to the ground from a height with no regard to the player's safety (red card offence)".

    but irrespective of that we lost the game, the French didn't win it. we missed important kicks at goal - simple as. France has few opportunities to score but Parras took them.

    the All Blacks looked good but not over dominant against Oz - they still had to work the win. McCaw had an awesome game - that tackle and turnover in the last few minutes is the stuff of coaching videos. Dagg was outstanding too running seeming impossible lines.

    I can't see France beating NZ but the way France have got to the final who knows? NZ could choke and France might rediscover what they are good at - running rugby.

    somehow I think the fizz has gone out of the Welsh bottle now and I don't see us winning against Oz sadly. great shame but we now have a team to be proud of and a team for the future.



  • I thought it was still a cracking game, tense right up until the final seconds, lots of close calls - like the kick from half way, should Wales have gone for the drop goal etc.

    I do agree that the rule hasn't been consistently applied though.

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