Rugby World Cup 2003 - Crunch Time!

[finbar]

And, after England bombs out in the QFs, he'll be pitching the whole lot out anyway.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
The Lions have no Home Union of course – they rely on the hosting Unions and sponsors. Even so I am sure it proved to be exceptional value? Even the SMH, whilst at times assuming we were all Austin devotees and sub-humans in need of instant deporting, acknowledged that the presence of Lions plus fans was a cash cow wherever they went.

The ARU made a very tidy profit. O'Neill said they netted $1.5 million through the gate at the Melbourne match and netted around $5 million through the gate at Stadium Australia (or whatever the thing's called now).

I’m too tight Caligastia – at nearly £60 before shipping it’s too rich for my blood. There may be some Celt in me after all.

Presumably Mrs Havak has to make do with plastic roses on her birthday.

[finbar]

Weather forecast for tonight at the stadium - 17C, strong westerly winds, and showers.



OTOH, it will be very warm in Perth.

[finbar]

FoxSports have had a marathon replay of the '99 WRC. I forgot to videotape England's QF against the 'Boks to send to Havak!

Edit. Forgot to mention. I'm now watching the final. Want to bet on the French, Tamerlin?



Oh, and Les Grenouilles have decoy runners charging all over the place!

[Havak]

No great need for a new one then.

Particularly not one with the new skin tight cut of the cloth.

And, after England bombs out in the QFs, he'll be pitching the whole lot out anyway.

Thought I had covered this – Ireland or France in the semi is our banana skin – it’s only Wales or NZ in the QF – no sweat.

But lets turn the Kiwi’s attention where it belongs – Australia. On the ITV cup preview we have Campo, Farr-Jones and Budda all saying they are sure they can see off the Kiwis in the semi and there’s no way the Poms would want to face them in a final yet again…yes really Finbar – it was glorious high farce, at least Budda had the style to wink as he said it.

(or whatever the thing's called now).

Lets not dignify the crass commercialisation of the place by naming the sponsor.

We did our bit for your economy – we certainly were not the anti Aussie demons some parties tried to paint us as. Indeed as I have often said I enjoyed the country and the people greatly – as long as we didn’t talk sport. It’s truly astounding how the instant sport is raised the average Aussies eyes glaze over and you can hear the background hum of ‘Advance Australia…’

I would imagine Perth is a happy place for Aussies right now – ignore the fact they are stuffing the equivalent of a second division English county side. Fair play to the lad setting the record though – you can only play what they put in front of you.

Presumably Mrs Havak has to make do with plastic roses on her birthday.

There is a picture of roses on the card sometimes. Is that wrong?

FoxSports have had a marathon replay of the '99 WRC. I forgot to videotape England's QF against the 'Boks to send to Havak!

It’s a remarkable match – a strong Bok pack being shoved all over the park and a one off freak performance from Jannie De Beer that lined his pension until people sussed that he would never get close to being good ever again. Five drop goals – one form the half way line nearly. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

Edit. Forgot to mention. I'm now watching the final. Want to bet on the French, Tamerlin?

That’s just cruel.

And France don’t use decoys – only SH teams do that. The players you saw were all over the place only because they learnt to drive in France.

Lets praise Australia once again for 99. Playing no one of a decent standard until the final they conceded only one try (to the USA). It’s a remarkable achievement that we must accept – but boring as hell with it. Let’s hope this tournament is not quite so defence dominated.

I’m actually going to be in a very tedious meeting as the game kicks off – so enjoy Finbar – I hope the boys surprise you and the rest of the world as Eddie’s master plan is finally revealed.

[Havak]

Caligastia said he would be avoiding the thread for a while right - so we can talk about the game when the final whistle has gone??

*edit* Finbar, forgetting the score for now, a friend phoned me to say the injury to Giffen looked very serious indeed - and that he hasn't regained consciousness.

I hope this is wrong - and my thoughts are with his family if it is.

This can be a dangerous game - and necks are not designed for landing on.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
I would imagine Perth is a happy place for Aussies right now – ignore the fact they are stuffing the equivalent of a second division English county side. Fair play to the lad setting the record though – you can only play what they put in front of you.

The series is a bit of a joke, unfortunately. But it was scheduled. India follow them later in the season.

There is a picture of roses on the card sometimes. Is that wrong?

Not at all. And at least there's a card. Even if bought at the last minute in a mad rush.

Five drop goals – one form the half way line nearly. I’ve never seen anything like it since.

And France don’t use decoys – only SH teams do that. The players you saw were all over the place only because they learnt to drive in France.

Yes, but Tamerlin has a very astute defence to all this. He says they do it, but he disapproves.

I’m actually going to be in a very tedious meeting as the game kicks off – so enjoy Finbar – I hope the boys surprise you and the rest of the world as Eddie’s master plan is finally revealed.

It was, and it wasn't.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
Caligastia said he would be avoiding the thread for a while right - so we can talk about the game when the final whistle has gone??

Abso-bloody-lutely!

*edit* Finbar, forgetting the score for now a friend phoned me to say the injury to Giffen looked very serious indeed - and that he hasn;t regained consciousness.

I hope this is wrong - and my thoughts are with his family if it is.

This can be a dangerous game - and necks are not desinged for landing on.

Landed on the side of his head and his shoulder. He was unconscious on the field. Didn't even twitch. The first diagnosis - after he'd left the field - was severe concussion. I haven't heard any more.

Wallabies 24 -d- Argentina 8

Mmmm. Talk about a curate's egg of a performance. The very good things:

1. Larkham absolutely back to doing what he does best. Ghosting, slipping through gaps that don't seem to be there, setting up the backline;
2. David Lyons' powerhouse effort at #8, making tons of ground with the ball, taking a couple of tacklers with him each time. Quieter in the second half, but finished the game strongly;
3. Al Baxter's first start at tighthead was terrific against very big, strong opposition. I think we've found ourselves a tighthead with a real future;
4. The forwards, over all, performed well against big, strong opposition. Even won one against the feed;
5. The backline finally got seriously involved - Rogers, Sailor, Roff, and even Matt Burke finally looked threatening.

The bad things:

1. Sixteen handling errors! A lot of them in attacking positions with tries beckoning;
2. A lacklustre first 30 minutes of the second half, in which the Wallabies seemed to coast. They ended the first half with a massive possession and territory advantage, and let the Pumas even up the stats with 10 minutes to go. They were patently obviously superior, but seemed incapable of putting their stamp on the game. They got away with it tonight, they won't against the better teams.

For the most part, the Pumas, unfortunately, verged on incompetent. Their hooker was pinged at least half a dozen times for crooked throws to the lineout, they showed absolutely no rhythm or coordination, and their kicker missed (from memory) 5 out of 6. Ireland must be giggling up their sleeves.

If the Wallabies improve on this effort - their handling, and the lacklustre first 30 minutes of the second half - I'll be happy.

[Havak]

The BBC are confusing the issue as they report he was inconscious in hospital with his parent by his bedside - and in the same piece say the Aussie team manager is saying he will be fine!

As for Ireland - in the same phonecall my friend (he who owes you a beer from way back) suggested the Irish will now fancy their chances against both sides?

[finbar]

Originally posted by Havak
The BBC are confusing the issue as they report he was inconscious in hospital with his parent by his bedside - and in the same piece say the Aussie team manager is saying he will be fine!

I've since heard another report that it's concussion. Haven't heard anything about him unconscious in hospital. The problem was that his lifters were front and back, he was knocked sideways by one of the Pumas, and he fell sideways. From a great height. There was no way of catching him.

As for Ireland - in the same phonecall my friend (he who owes you a beer from way back) suggested the Irish will now fancy their chances against both sides?

Him? Mmmm. Well, we know all about his judgement. The Irish will clean up the Pumas on tonight's effort. They were truly incompetent. We should have put at least three more tries on them. If we can improve our handling - and it was really rusty stuff, a lot of them unforced errors - I don't have the slightest problem taking on Ireland. OTOH, if the Wallabies drift into the same lacklustre stuff they did in the second half tonight, they will deserve to lose.

[Havak]

The best case for him then is an automatic three week lay off with concussion.

I shall watch the Irish opening game with great interest - I felt they had been bereft of their best hope with the Murphy injury but if Keith works his magic the Ire-Aus clash may be even more of a must see than it already was.

The NZ game is on a little early for me tomorrow but I'll tape it and the Ireland game, then watch the French and Bok games live followed by the taped matches. Then all three games live on Sunday.

Were I married by Monday I could have been divorced.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
Edit. Forgot to mention. I'm now watching the final. Want to bet on the French, Tamerlin?

YES! No need to ask the question.

Unfortunately, I am never learning anything from my mistakes...

Oh, and Les Grenouilles have decoy runners charging all over the place!

Absolutely impossible! :disdain:

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
Yes, but Tamerlin has a very astute defence to all this. He says they do it, but he disapproves.

You are wrong, I highly disapprove. :disdain:

[academia]

HORRIBLE, HORRIBLE GAME!!!

One of the worst i´ve ever seen in the past years of The Pumas
What the hell happened???? did they chicken out???
Come on!! they are profesional players!!! no more amateurs! no excuses for the errors in the lineout!!!
no coordination, no surprise in the offensive!!!

And Felipe Contemponi... oh my god!!
Loffreda: do you really want to go on opting for his tackle efficency over Quesada´s kicking accuracy????
Dude!! he was the top scorer of the last world cup!!

I don´t know much about rugby... i´m not an expert... but i think that is A FACT that you MUST have a guy who can make the penalties and conversions!!!!!!! PLEASE!!!


Thanx god the Wallabies sucked too!
I can´t believe the quantity of handling erros
Generally in attacking positions... mmm....
Good game of the forwards
I liked the performance of Lyons and Sailor


In my opinion, both teams MUST improve... otherwise, the Wallabies won´t beat "top" teams; and the Pumas won´t pass the first round

i´m very dissapointed with my national team performacne

[LDiCesare]

The good thing with matches at 12h30 French time is I can take a 2 hour pause to watch them.
(well, not too often).
Although the Australian tighthead did a good match, your loose prop was err... well, not up to the task.

In Argentina, Ledesma has been abysmal. Next thursday, when I miss a throw, I will be able to say that I haven't played worse than him.

I think the Australian match was quite poor. I finally saw Wendell Sailor and believe this man is really good. He handles the ball quite well. I am not sure Pat Rogers is very trustworthy, however. The centers were also not up to the task. Considering the excellent performance of the pack (nice mauls and charges from Lyons in particular), the backs should have done better.
I know it's typical for a forward to say that les filles have messed, but here, I think it's obvious. If Australia doesn't play better against players like O'Driscoll and Humphreys, they will have problems.

Argentina has really been pitiful overall. Totally uninspired except for their full back and Contepomi, who managed to waste all his efforts by missing systematically every kick but one.

I seriously think that Australians have to find their marks soon, or they could lose to Ireland.

Now, I can't wait to see NZ - Italy.