Rugby World Cup 2007

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Don't know how many on the board are big Rugby people, I'm playing for Texas in September and I have my dorm room fully decked with my WALES stuff, I for one cannot wait. Anyone else?

[??????????]

Would a real sport please stand up?

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Would a real sport please stand up?

Alright, this is finally enough, Rugby is the most physically brutal sport in the world, youtube it if you don't believe me, we've always agreed States, but this time you're completely ignorant.

[StateBoiler]

Ok.

USA will beat England in September! Suck it Lions!

You might already know this, but actually rugby is pretty big in California. Rugby in CA is kinda like a smaller version of lacrosse in the northeast from what I gather.

I saw on video the USA defeat Uruguay to qualify for the WC and a couple other matches (saw Wales tie the Aussies last year I think) and that's been the extent of my rugby watching. Would consider playing recreationally but I'm not in a large enough city that would have a club team.

[The Man From G.O.P.]

Ok.

USA will beat England in September! Suck it Lions!

You might already know this, but actually rugby is pretty big in California. Rugby in CA is kinda like a smaller version of lacrosse in the northeast from what I gather.

I saw on video the USA defeat Uruguay to qualify for the WC and a couple other matches (saw Wales tie the Aussies last year I think) and that's been the extent of my rugby watching. Would consider playing recreationally but I'm not in a large enough city that would have a club team.

First, England will never lose to the US no matter how many injuries the England side has.

Second, the English aren't the Lions, the combined team of England, Scotland, Wales, and Ireland is known as the British and Irish Lions.

[StateBoiler]

Ok.

USA will beat England in September! Suck it Lions!

You might already know this, but actually rugby is pretty big in California. Rugby in CA is kinda like a smaller version of lacrosse in the northeast from what I gather.

I saw on video the USA defeat Uruguay to qualify for the WC and a couple other matches (saw Wales tie the Aussies last year I think) and that's been the extent of my rugby watching. Would consider playing recreationally but I'm not in a large enough city that would have a club team.

First, England will never lose to the US no matter how many injuries the England side has.

"Sarcasm is strongly associated with irony, stating the opposite of the intended meaning, e.g. using "that's fantastic" to mean "that's awful"

You must be logged in to read this quote.

Aren't the English known as the Three Lions?

[Platypus]

WALES 2007!


Absolutely robbed in the firwst test against Australia. Rugby is a sh**tty sport if you can lose AFTER THE GAME IS OVER!

[The Man From G.O.P.]

WALES 2007!


Absolutely robbed in the firwst test against Australia. Rugby is a sh**tty sport if you can lose AFTER THE GAME IS OVER!

Glad to see someone's paying attention, as to that first game... that's the way it goes, can't let uo, even after its over. Besides, we proved ourselves unworthy in that second game, perhaps they all went to eat at the same restaurant the night before?

[Tetro Kornbluth]

BUMP - It started today.

And how...

France 12-17 Argentina.

Roll on the Frogs, I say. The hosts are screwed.

[Јas]

The hosts are screwed.

Maybe, or maybe Ireland will now be going home after Round 1.

[Jake]

Would a real sport please stand up?

Are you serious here? Rugby is football without the padding (big differance), restarts after each play (again big difference), and downfield passes. All of which make strength and stamina a more important factor.

I wish I could watch some here. The satellite package isn't bad (rugby union/league, AFL, association football, and some Gaelic Games) at $15/month, but that's on top of the $45/month for the regular service. Bit too much for me to do on my own and the folks are partial to cable.

[Јas]

Before tonight's game I would've ranked the likelihood of World Cup victory something like:

1. New Zealand
2. France
<gap>
3. South Africa
4. Australia
<gap>
5. Ireland
with only negligible chances for anyone else.

Now, it's very hard to look past New Zealand overall, and both France and Ireland will be under huge strain to even get out of their group.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Argentina aren't even assured of qualfying.. if we beat and France beat us (For those ignorant, we\us = The MIGHTY IRISH!111) it may still go down to bonus points or even Trys scored or whatever the Tiebreaker is.

We need to make high scores against Namibia and Georgia.

The World Cup would be far nicer if it weren't for New Zealand and Australia stealing all the best pacific players.. Fiji and Samoa (and to a lesser degree, Tonga) would be pretty competitive then.

[Јas]

The World Cup would be far nicer if it weren't for New Zealand and Australia stealing all the best pacific players.. Fiji and Samoa (and to a lesser degree, Tonga) would be pretty competitive then.

Agreed. But also, the World Cup really shouldn't have the utterly hopeless sides which really can't even dream of making an upset against the B or C sides of the better nations. The US, Portugal, Namibia, etc. really have no business being in the competition as it doesn't help them or their competitors.

I also think that Argentina should be brought into the 6 Nations so that they can get regular competitive games at the highest level. Their success despite their isolation is a testament to their efforts.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

To go off on a tangent here, It would make much more sense to put Argentina into the Tri nations, where then we would have at least have two hemisphere-based tournaments both with an even number of countries competing.

In saying all of this, in a strange way I'm looking forward to Portugal - New Zealand.

[Hatman 🍁]

Go Canada!

[Јas]

To go off on a tangent here, It would make much more sense to put Argentina into the Tri nations, where then we would have at least have two hemisphere-based tournaments both with an even number of countries competing.

I can understand that viewpoint.
The reason I suggested they play in Europe instead is simply because just about their entire squad play in the European leagues.

Of the Argentine squad at the World Cup, they are divided by where they play their club rugby as follows:
France: 15
Argentina: 8
England: 6
Ireland: 1

Given that 22 of them are European based, it might make more sense to be in sync with the European schedules for club and international games and be less temultuous as far as individual travel is concerned.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

All the games tomorrow are boring... Though it will be nice to watch England fail to thrash the United States (they'll still of course..) but Australia v Japan and New Zealand v Italy.. bleh.. {Never mind Portugal and the rest - the gap between within the world's top ten between #1 and #10 is huuuuugee. Right now I rate NZ as #1 and Italy as #10 yet it would be a good result for Italy to keep it within 20}

[afleitch]

In an attempt to move on from the all Ireland love in (kidding ) I don't believe Scotland will advance in this tournament. They are doing alot of restructuring, but unfortunately the World Cup will be no more than a testing ground for that. Argentina I was very impressed with. They've beaten England, Ireland twice and lost 27-26 to France before this game. Should be exicting.

[Јas]

Right now I rate NZ as #1 and Italy as #10

Interestingly, the Argentine win will lift them above Ireland in the World Rankings.

Current Top 20 (With Ratings Point):
1 NEW ZEALAND 93.38
2 AUSTRALIA 87.03
3 FRANCE 86.90
4 SOUTH AFRICA 85.40
5 IRELAND 81.12
6 ARGENTINA 81.05
7 ENGLAND 78.89
8 WALES 76.45
9 ITALY 75.37
10 SAMOA 74.97
11 SCOTLAND 74.95
12 FIJI 70.52
13 CANADA 70.06
14 TONGA 67.52
15 USA 67.20
16 ROMANIA 66.79
17 GEORGIA 66.38
18 JAPAN 65.85
19 RUSSIA 64.37
20 URUGUAY 62.66

[StateBoiler]

For those of us in the States, Versus will be showing selected games on 2-day delays.

You must be logged in to read this quote.

[Jake]

You just made my weekend.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

What is with the Six Nations teams and the major suckage so far?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What is with the Six Nations teams and the major suckage so far?

Lack of access to a regular supply of good players from a collection of tiny little islands?

[Јas]

What is with the Six Nations teams and the major suckage so far?

Lack of access to a regular supply of good players from a collection of tiny little islands?

In which case the Aran Islands, Shetlands, Channel Islands and Ynys Môn have a lot of questions to answer.