Rugby world cup Japan 2019 Discussion Thread

ITALY V NAMIBIBA

CURRENT SCORE: ITALY 21 NAMIBIA 7 H/T) Any hope of a first real upset might might have gone but Namibia are more than match for Italy

update & Final Score : Italy 47 Namibia 15
I think given the conditions the tempo of the game remained the same. Namibia gave a good account of themselves but I think Italy have to tighten their defence to avoid heavy defeats to both SA & NZ. Namibia's performance was a gutsy one and kept going and like I said, I think they will give the other
teams something to think about for sure, and Namibia's best hope of a win could lie with their game against Canada given their ranking positions

After this it's the big one IRELAND V SCOTLAND!!

Predictions guys? I'm going Ireland 25 - 20 Scotland

Ireland open scoring

Christ Scotland have been poor today get the ball and more likely to drop it or give it back to ireland

Very disappointing Scotland are just not in it!! They have a talented team capable of doing far better than this and have been making tooo many handling and penalty errors

At 27 - 3 to Ireland, Scotland have to raise their game massively against the rest of the teams in this group to progress

If I was Scotland's coach, that dressing room door would be locked for half an hour and I'd be going full stream at them for that performance on rugby's biggest stage..

Now it is England's turn.. for me on paper, England should be dominating Tonga but a margin of victory of less than 20 pts would be seen as a disappointment, but I think Tonga should give England a hard fought game

I thought too, that Scotland were very poor! .......abject in fact! The usual helter - skelter approach, with little structure, and even when they tightened up 2nd half, they didn't really threaten much! Very one dimensional - if chaos theory doesn't work, they have nothing!! Townsend on borrowed time??, and are Scotland now being hampered by the very domestic structure set - up (almost exclusively) to assist them??

Comfortable for England against Tonga, although those that expected a 'cricket' score were sadly mistaken. This shows - yes England were not at their best - that 2nd Tier teams are continuing to improve, hence the need for structural change as discussed earlier!

One issue I have is the try England scored from the scrum after the ball was 'held - up'. This law is outdated, and unfair to defences that show the ability to scramble after being fractured initially! Surely a new law to create a turnover - effectively a defence penalty - should be the outcome??

After lauding Barnes as a ref, I thought, today, he took pedantic to a whole new level! Specifically the scrum where, for reasons only he can explain (certainly didn't appear to have great rugby logic behind them), he demanded slow - very slow commands 'crouch.bind.set! It seemed that this was for no other reason than he decided that is how it would be on this day! This means that timing is almost impossible, and stop/start more likely?? Nigel Owens (again) got it right - even paced, and determined on the teams response to each one! Is that not a better way?? Ball in/out and away?? #9's need to 'feed the ball' much quicker too I think!

(22-09-2019 12:56 )hornball Wrote:  I thought too, that Scotland were very poor! .......abject in fact! The usual helter - skelter approach, with little structure, and even when they tightened up 2nd half, they didn't really threaten much! Very one dimensional - if chaos theory doesn't work, they have nothing!! Townsend on borrowed time??, and are Scotland now being hampered by the very domestic structure set - up (almost exclusively) to assist them??

Comfortable for England against Tonga, although those that expected a 'cricket' score were sadly mistaken. This shows - yes England were not at their best - that 2nd Tier teams are continuing to improve, hence the need for structural change as discussed earlier!

One issue I have is the try England scored from the scrum after the ball was 'held - up'. This law is outdated, and unfair to defences that show the ability to scramble after being fractured initially! Surely a new law to create a turnover - effectively a defence penalty - should be the outcome??

effectively a defence penalty - should be the outcome??
I would agree, but would it be better if Union followed League's game play and limit offence possession to six tackles? teams on offence take too many 'phases' to get up field at times and was wondering if a offense possession limit probably might help speed up play?

(22-09-2019 12:56 )hornball Wrote:  I thought too, that Scotland were very poor! .......abject in fact! The usual helter - skelter approach, with little structure, and even when they tightened up 2nd half, they didn't really threaten much! Very one dimensional - if chaos theory doesn't work, they have nothing!! Townsend on borrowed time??, and are Scotland now being hampered by the very domestic structure set - up (almost exclusively) to assist them??

Comfortable for England against Tonga, although those that expected a 'cricket' score were sadly mistaken. This shows - yes England were not at their best - that 2nd Tier teams are continuing to improve, hence the need for structural change as discussed earlier!

One issue I have is the try England scored from the scrum after the ball was 'held - up'. This law is outdated, and unfair to defences that show the ability to scramble after being fractured initially! Surely a new law to create a turnover - effectively a defence penalty - should be the outcome??

Those who thought Townsend could take Scotland forward have to be thinking the same way now - he has to be on borrowed time. I don't know who would be suitable to replace him, but I would have thought Gavin Hastings would be a good choice replacement, unless they go head hunting in New Zealand or Australia. Whatever roasting he gave that team after that result, must have been hotter than Fergie's hairdryer!!

Do any Scottish forum members have any better suggestions for a replacement to Townsend?

Comfortable for England against Tonga, although those that expected a 'cricket' score were sadly mistaken.

Probably we'll get one when NZ next play