Rugby world cup 2011

This thread is for all those follwoing the action Down Under.
All your predictions, q/finals lineups can be posted here as well as your comments on the tournament so far.

England could have done better agianst the Pumas, 13-9, but I give the Pumas credit for pushing England hard. Best game so far?
France v Japan. I expected a bigger margin of victory for the French but Japan certainly showed that they had other ideas. If there's going to be surprise team is this tournament it could be the
Japanese and France would certainly have to raise their game to beat the hosts.

phew!!!!! england started poorly but showed great character to hang in there and were able to score a late try and a late penalty to win, englands substitutes especially ben youngs turned the game in england's favour. thought ben foden had some great attacking moments and it was him being fouled that set up the try for england

(10-09-2011 10:24 )babelover48 Wrote:  England could have done better agianst the Pumas

A master of understatement. England were dreadful for an hour. Aimless, no coherent plan, poor tactical kicking, no discipline and sadly Jonny couldn't rescue us either. Although Wigglesworth didn't do too much wrong, Youngs is one of the very very few world class players England now have and the urgency and pace he injected was fortunately enough to see off a tiring Argentina.
Yet again it was England's complete lack of talent at the breakdown which nearly cost us. Far too often we end up with one or two backs trying to secure a ruck against four opponents, it's all very well having a huge pack but when they can't support the ball carrier for more than two or three phases you have to look in another direction. Having squeaked through this one we now have a pretty straightforward route to the quarters where we will probably face the French. That'll be a question of which ordinary side can raise their game on the day but I don't see either making the Final.
Australia to win it all.

I have always enjoyed watching Rugby,
i have no understanding of the rules,i
was watching Japan v France and one
of Japans players was obviously not
Japanese,James Arlidge.How can he play
for Japan.

I couldn't understand some of the refereeing

He send Cole to the sin bin for 10 mins for obstuction in a ruck, but no Argentinian was simularly punished for their numerous dangerous tackles.

(10-09-2011 11:34 )bombshell Wrote:  ,James Arlidge.How can he play
for Japan.

He qualifies under residency rules. Pretty much every team there has players born in other countries, it's the way of the modern sporting world.

As for the reffing, well he is a nob but I thought he got the sin-binnings right. England had been warned about repeat offending at the breakdown and neither of the Argentinian tackles warranted a yellow for me.That said there's an argument that he should have warned Argentina for their penalty count earleir. Still, at least he's not Steve Walsh.

Thanks for your replies guys right let's hsve yuour Q/F predictions!!

Well at least England won, I know you're not supposed to peak in major tournaments too soon but that was a totally dreadful performance.

Thankfully the Argentinian kicker(s) had an off day otherwise England would have been in even more trouble with all those penalties conceded in the first half in particular. (Oddly Wilkinson was also dreadful with the boot- not sure you can blame the conditions as the 'roof' was closed)

Argentina seemed to lose thier way in the latter stages ( key injuries probably didn't help) which allowed England to creep home.

Btw The World Cup is in New Zealnd so who had the bright idea to select an all black strip as Englands second kit Or is it part of a cunning plan to piss off the All Blacks/New Zealand crowd.
Also someone needs to stitch the numbers on the shirts better

maybe wearing all black and we started to choke ;-D

actually closing the roof would have changed kicking conditions if they had practiced with the roof open would taken account of the breeze when the roof was closed the breeze is gone so would take some getting used to. wilkinson wasnt missing by inches but feet

hopefully next few games england build some momentum i reckon should get to quarters maybe semi's if we get the aussies

Who's performed the best of the home nations so far?

My Q/f predictions;-
Australia or Ireland V Wales
England V France
South Africa V Italy or ireland
New Zealand V Scotland

Outsider(s) :- Japan, Fiji, or USA