Rugby World Cup 2015

More injury problems for Wales then, If this continues I wonder if they would be able to put out a fully fit squad.....
But also there was an interesting discussion on 5 live last night and one thing they did discuss was the players being fatigued and how it could be solved one thing they mentioned was the size of the pitch.

Wales still have a dangerous back division regardless.
They also have an embarrassment of riches in the back row department.
With all these injuries it makes one think that the self appointed genius that is Warren Gatland might be making them work to hard in training.

(21-09-2015 01:32 )setter1000 Wrote:  Learnt a few things about the all blacks today
1 when they are not allowed to pass the ball forward they look average
2 when you tackle them as soon as they get the ball they look average
3 when they are not allowed to play the ball on the ground they look average.
4 when they are not allowed to break the rules they look average.
5 When they are forced to play by the rules and are tackled as soon as they get the ball, without the opposition being penalised for no obvious reason, they look average. Strange that .
In short whn they get a ref that makes them play by the same rules as everyone else they are no where near the force they seem to be.

That's true.Wayne Barnes who is marmite when it comes to Rugby fans reffed the game exceptionally well.He was in constant touch with the TMO but did not hold the game up as a result and we got a free flowing game which didn't turn into a two hour marathon as some of the previous games had.

The All Blacks are still on paper at least the best team in the world with the canniest operator of them all Richie McCaw who is the best player of the modern era.But they can be beaten in World Cups (often by the French,who memorably beat them in '99 by realising that Lomu going forward was unstoppable but going backwards was not)

This World Cup is refreshingly open and I think there are more shocks to come.

Could not agree more in respect of Wayne Barnes. I have never been a fan of his officiating, but he was excellent in the all blacks game. He also communicated with the players in terms of why he penalised them so they knew what they would get away with and what they would get penalised for. I'm vey much in the 'better the ref the less you notice him' school of thought, and notice Wayne to much for my liking but he was near flawless in his last game. I suppose refs have good games and bad games like the players.

That's the problem with the all blacks. They are always most dangerous after a poor performance than after a good one. Seen them to often get a very lucky win in one game and than playing like the best team that ever played the game the next one. I remember when they had a test series against Ireland. They were extremely lucky to get a 2 point win against them in the first match, next week they put 60 points on them.

It's incredible what has happened to South Africa. It looked like it would be Scotland and Samoa fighting for the second spot now it could be any of four teams not just with a chance of qualifying from that group but actually winning it.
No doubt about it the world cup has been superb so far.

Could be a good afternoon for Rugby. The teams seem well balanced and the results could go either way.
Certainly in two of the matches

Thought of the two earlier matches the Canada Italy game was the more enjoyable, but Samoa still gave SA something to think about despite Samoa losing
England 16 - 9 half- time if England lose this many will again criticise Lancaster's selection, but it still yet may match Canada Italy's game for excitement. If we do lose I think it is likely to be
by only 5pts or less - I hope

wow, what a result! and what a great game.

that leaves us now having to beat the Australians to even have a chance....

We will never end hearing about this result

Not making the knock out stage of our own world cup would be a disaster.