Rugby World Cup France 2023

[Knee Capper]

Some of my mates think Ireland will win. England haven't been performing well. It's between New Zealand and France,

 

[LEWIS540]

These groupings are fucking suspect. Ireland gets SA, France gets NZ while England plays the sisters of the poor all the way to the semis?

WTF?

Oh ya, go eire!

They bizarrely do the draw ridiculously early for the RWC…..think this was literally done in 2020. Obviously a lot can happen in 3 years.

I remember in 2015 similar thing happened with England, Australia and Wales all getting drawn together, and when the tournament came around all 3 were ranked top 5 in the world.

If you look at SA wins in 2007 and 2019 they benefited from the draw immensely, especially come the KO stage.

 

[650lb Sumo]

Let's go Wales! This will be a tough one!

 

[650lb Sumo]

Strong performance from Wales!


Day Three Roundup

Results:

Japan 42 - 12 Chile
South Africa 18 - 3 Scotland
Wales 32 - 26 Fiji

Pools:

A

B

C

D

Matches start again on Thursday!

 

[therealdope]

That Ireland - SA game on the 23rd is going to be huge.

 

[TankAbbott4Eva]

I should really start watching this. For context most think all Aussies are into rugby, it's only really if you're from NSW or Queensland, I'm in Victoria and it's all about Aussie Rules here, rugby is very niche here.

 

[Meatspin]

Watched Australia win live on Saturday. Awesome.

 

[Zaraf]

Wales/Fiji has been the most entertaining match so far. Fiji really missed Muntz, though. For once they get a good kicker, and more than decent playmaker, he got injured at the worst possible time..

 

[Zaraf]

Some of my mates think Ireland will win. England haven't been performing well. It's between New Zealand and France,

Most likely it will be between Ireland, SA, New Zealand and France. Not much between those teams, the quater-finals will be huge.

 

[LEWIS540]

Age old problem with the RWC......not really a single interesting game in the second round of matches. Australia/Fiji maybe......

The gap between the top teams and the weak teams is far too great. Hell, even the middling teams like Scotland and Fiji, who are both in good form, tend to be in the situation where getting to the QF would be an excellent result.

 

[LEWIS540]

Most likely it will be between Ireland, SA, New Zealand and France. Not much between those teams, the quater-finals will be huge.

Like it's 95% gonna be one of those 4.

Even traditional HWs Australia and England winning would be a pretty massive shock.

 

[therealdope]

Like it's 95% gonna be one of those 4.

Even traditional HWs Australia and England winning would be a pretty massive shock.

Right, but aren't those HWs all on the same side and gonna kick the shit out of each other? Aus and ENG have relatively easy paths and could easily win on the basis of avoiding wars until the semis.

Maybe I have it wrong, but that is my understanding.

 

[LEWIS540]

Right, but aren't those HWs all on the same side and gonna kick the shit out of each other? Aus and ENG have relatively easy paths and could easily win on the basis of avoiding wars until the semis.

Maybe I have it wrong, but that is my understanding.

Definitely a factor that'll help. They'd still have to beat two of the "big 4" at least, back to back.

Hell say the QF are England/Wales and Australia/Argentina both are close games, imo......both underdogs have wins as recently as July/August.

 

[therealdope]

Definitely a factor that'll help. They'd still have to beat two of the "big 4" at least, back to back.

Hell say the QF are England/Wales and Australia/Argentina both are close games, imo......both underdogs have wins as recently as July/August.

Would you rather go through ARG or Wales, or the insane gauntlet of: SA (current champs), NZ (multi-time champs), Ireland (currently #1) and France (home team).

 

[KOQ24]

Age old problem with the RWC......not really a single interesting game in the second round of matches. Australia/Fiji maybe......

The gap between the top teams and the weak teams is far too great. Hell, even the middling teams like Scotland and Fiji, who are both in good form, tend to be in the situation where getting to the QF would be an excellent result.

Problem with Rugby is that a difference in quality of play or size is immediately noticeable.
Bad Football teams can mask that by playing defensive, worse Rugby teams will get overwhelmed sooner or later and bad technique/lack of size is gonna get you killed in the scrum,ruck or lineout.

 

[LEWIS540]

Would you rather go through ARG or Wales, or the insane gauntlet of: SA (current champs), NZ (multi-time champs), Ireland (currently #1) and France (home team).

Point is, they're not getting a walk over in the QFs.......for example, at this point Wales have got more of a chance of upsetting England than England have of upsetting, say, NZ.

 

[LEWIS540]

Problem with Rugby is that a difference in quality of play or size is immediately noticeable.
Bad Football teams can mask that by playing defensive, worse Rugby teams will get overwhelmed sooner or later and bad technique/lack of size is gonna get you killed in the scrum,ruck or lineout.

Yup.

Outside of Japan recently (eg beating SA in 2015), can't really remember any of the minnows ever beating (or even coming close to beating) any of the big guns.

Occasionally one of the Paciffic Island teams might get a good win too.

 

[therealdope]

Point is, they're not getting a walk over in the QFs.......for example, at this point Wales have got more of a chance of upsetting England than England have of upsetting, say, NZ.

So yould rather go through ARG and Wales as opposed to France, SA, Ireland and NZ.

 

[LEWIS540]

So yould rather go through ARG and Wales as opposed to France, SA, Ireland and NZ.

Jesus Christ, what the fuck are you talking about?

You obviously know what you are talking about so bet the mortgage on Australia and England then.

 

[Zaraf]

Yup.

Outside of Japan recently (eg beating SA in 2015), can't really remember any of the minnows ever beating (or even coming close to beating) any of the big guns.

Occasionally one of the Paciffic Island teams might get a good win too.

There has been a few upsets the past couple of years. Italy beating Australia and Georgia beating Wales and Italy last year, Fiji winning against England last month.