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Rugby World Cup 2015


Gardian
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Last night was horrible, but all is not lost. We'll see.

Just wanted to say that the Jocks are surpassing expectations! Two good wins, bonus points & a really positive pts+ .

Doubt that they'll win vs RSA next Sat, but that may not matter. Hope they do enough in their final match to qualify.

There, I've said it. It was hard, but came from the heart. Probably as a result of the brief interlude I had with a young lovely from Forfar fifty years ago!
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Not at all Gardian.

They have set a new World record.

They are the very first home nation team in the rugby World Cup to get knocked out in the pool stage and that ain't not to be sneezed at!! It took a lot of real effort for such a task

[:$][:(][:'(][8-)]

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Scant consolation I am sure.

The real problem was having the draw 3 years before the tournament. Teams relative strengths have altered a lot since then and the seedings in the groups does not reflect current form.

Hopefully lessons will be learnt before the next RWC in Japan.
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No excuses. All of the other 'home' nations have qualified & France will too. England stuffed.

Beginning to think that Australia could turn out to be a big threat to my tournament favourites - RSA.

BTW! when I say 'favourites' its not because I like them - they're just hard to beat. But then the Aussies are too.
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Agreed, but I wouldn't write off the chances of Argentine vs Ireland.

Some dodgy injuries for the Irish + a possible citing / ban.

The French were dire yet again this afternoon - good for the first 15 mins, then ................ To be fair, that was probably more about the Irish play from there onwards.
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This is all becoming absurd.

There are now 3 players facing bans having been cited for dodgy play after the weekend's matches - O'Brien (Ire), Ford & Gray (Sc).

None of us can condone foul play, but where's the justice in an act committed during a match which wasn't spotted, but if it had been would have earned a penalty + maybe a binning, then subsequently getting a week or two's ban? BTW, the same observation applies to Hooper vs England.
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The Irish players behaviour if seen by the officials would have been an instant red card. Also it's not before time that thuggery is being dealt with, and this is technology at it's best. The message now must go out to all players that foul play will not be tolerated, especially to youngsters. I have a special interest in this as I have a very young Grandson who is looking like a very good prospect, good enough that a professional club are already watching him, and I would like him to play the game in the correct manner, not like a thug. It's hard enough to convince parents and particularly mothers that little Johnny should play rugby these days, without this element being shown on TV. So the sooner players realise this the better the game will be

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I support NickP's point. There is no place for thuggery or clearly dangerous play. It might be better if the TMO could alert the referee to these incidents when they occur so they could be dealt with at the time and not afterwards. But they clearly must be dealt with so IMO better late than never but even better if they can handled straight away.
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Having played for 28 years, refereed for 10 and coached for 15 I must say I am getting rather disillusioned and bored with the game, as of late.

There seems no flair in the game anymore. Players are coached to go through the phases and not play what's in front of them. Pick, go, ruck- Pick, go, ruck- Pick, go, ruck-, may as well play rugby league.

As for feeding at the scrums, again why not have rugby league uncontested scrums and reduce the number of penalties.

I was at Manchester on Saturday, to watch England, and on several occasions the back line was full of forwards. Was this a ploy to batter down the Uruguayans to tire them and score trys later in the match or is it because Farrell is a rugby league backs coach.

Just saying

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[quote user="Gardian"]Having read both of your comments, on reflection, you're both right.

Better to put the message out & stop foul play. Thanks for putting me right.[/quote]

I don't think that your comment was entirely wrong Gardian, and I wholeheartedly agree that it would be better if dealt with on the spot; at the time. What I don't understand though is that in a couple of games I've seen; the Television monitor referee tells the on field ref, that something has gone on behind the play. As the incident on the Irish game was mentioned by the commentator, why didn't the TMO see/mention it. Still justice was done in the end as the perpetrator is banned for the next game, which is a pity for his team.

 The big problem now in rugby is that players are much larger; fitter, faster and the hits are getting huge and the results of big hits are starting to get worrisome . My son in law is a rugby referee in junior rugby, apparently they are starting to talk about banning tackles in the chest region to try to eliminate the "wobble" affect which can lead to whip lash type injuries, which of course is why tackling when not using the arms, a la American football style blocking is so dangerous.

A wonderful game that while we mustn't take the controlled aggression out, it must be made safe so that parents allow their kids to participate without fear of thuggery. [B][B]

As an aside I played ice hockey in Canada in the days when helmets and face masks were unknown, in fact I played as a net minder for two years without a mask; but everyone did, the  goal tender of the Montreal Canadians was the first player in the early fifties to wear a face mask and everyone said  "he's puck shy".  Mind you; when my Dad had to keep paying out for my stitches, he used to say " your not supposed to stop the puck with your face you know". Now all hockey players wear face masks and helmets, which has helped of course in keeping down injuries when the fights start. [:D]

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I came across this tonight in Yahoo sport news.

According to French outlet L'obs Sport, the France players are planning to coach themselves for this weekend’s meeting with the defending world champions.

The

report claims that a source close to the squad has said that the

players ‘no longer believe in Saint-Andre’, who is ‘not a leader of men’

and ‘lacks charisma’.        [:D]

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Exciting, good game between Wales and SA.  Shame Wales didn't win but as the "very astute" commentator noted, someone's going to win and someone's going to go home (I think that was accurate).............who picks and pays these commentators??? 

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[quote user="Gardian"]The Appeal Committee found that the tackles were not dangerous & therefore did not constitute foul play.[/quote]Interestingly the Scottish appeal was against the length of the ban rather than whether an offence had been committed.

There was an interesting article yesterday in the Daily Telegraph showing that teams rated in the top 8 received shorter bans than teams ranked below them even if the offences were similar.

The Irish player banned for 1 game for punching an opponent was given credit for his charity work

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The All Blacks were superb - Carter, strangely underrated in the NH, was pure class. The French wanted it to be all over after 50 mins.

The NH teams poor performance should really be no surprise to us. If you were selecting a 'World XV' and had 3 nominations for each position (assuming availabilty), how many would there be from the NH?

England probably none. France 1, possibly 2 (Dusatoir & Picamoles). Wales 2 or 3. Ireland 3 or 4. Scotland none.

How many might actually make the XV? For me, just Halfpenny & O'Connell.

IMO, that says it all.

Ireland vs Argentina is by no means a foegone conclusion for the Irish. Hope they do it though & that the Scots put up an honourable performance
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