Rugby World Cup 2003 - Crunch Time!

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Andydog
Heh. The best England did in the 6 Nations was beat Italy 40-5 at Twickenham, so the ABs did pretty good to put 70 past them.

Andydog, Andydog... we all know this kind of stats does not mean anything.

[finbar]

Vive la France!

[LDiCesare]

Heh. The best England did in the 6 Nations was beat Italy 40-5 at Twickenham, so the ABs did pretty good to put 70 past them.

Yes, but then this team wasn't Italy's best team. Kirwan was very explicit about it: Since they had no chance to win, he wouldn't risk hurting his best team.

France 61 - 18 Fiji

A good game for the French, marred by a few errors in handling and defensive organisation.
Magne also had a brainfade once, when he kicked the ball into the hands of a Fijian player. He looks like he's going to have one such brainfade every match. Last time it was a chistera, now a kick. What next?
There was a little fight that erupted following a neck_high tackle by Fijians over a French player. If I saw well, they tackled the head after the ref had whistled. This resulted in 2 yellow cards and a jaw injury for Magne, thanks to a punch from Caucau. It's sad that the winger lost his temper, he's a great player, scored a 80 meter try all by himself.
I have found Dominici to play very well in this game. I really like it when small players like him manage to get the better of bigger guys.

[finbar]

Cacucau missed with his first attempted punch, so he came back and had another go with an elbow which connected. He will be suspended for it. Possibly even for the rest of the tournament. It was not only unnecessary, it was disgraceful. And a bit of a surprise. I've seen quite a bit of him in S12 and never seen him lose it like that before. Pity, because he's an extraordinary winger. His try will probably end up the try of the tournament.

Great performance from the French. Sure there were some glitches, but there was great method and exceptional handling. And you have a wonderful pair of centres. The Fijians' lack of discipline - and I don't just mean Caucau's elbow - let them down as it always does.

Ireland? I thought they were competent. Havak's friend thought they'd fancy playing the Wallabies? I think the Wallabies might fancy taking on the Irish after their effort today. I thought the Romanians put up a mighty fine effort.

Now I have to wait for the Springboks -v- Uruguay. Four matches in one day! Bliss!

[finbar]

Originally posted by Andydog
In fairness to Carlos, he took a very big hit that saw him limping for the rest of the game. Before that hit, he'd only had one conversion, a moderately straight forward one which he just missed.

He missed them all to the right. As he always does. I don't think the hit made a whole lot of difference to his kicking. It certainly didn't stop his flat out involvement in a couple of tries.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Tamerlin
Something unusual in the SH, Mr Roland is penalizing the Fidjian scrum under pressure... better late than never!

Last night you were complaining the ref was over-penalising the scrum! Make up your mind!

Oh, and Mrs finbar thinks Les Grenouilles are the cutest team she's seen so far. She likes their Gallic looks and tight blue shirts. Though she thought the replacement from Toulouse - Labit? - was too old to have blonde tips in his hair!

[academia]

Expected Irish victory but Romanians behaved better than most expected. Hickie on the Irish wing showed a lot of class, as usual.

Damn... the game against Romania won´t be that easy fo the pumas

France 61 - 18 Fiji

I expected a closer game...
Will the fijians ever learn how to play defense????

There was a little fight that erupted following a neck_high tackle by Fijians over a French player. If I saw well, they tackled the head after the ref had whistled. This resulted in 2 yellow cards and a jaw injury for Magne, thanks to a punch from Caucau. It's sad that the winger lost his temper, he's a great player, scored a 80 meter try all by himself.

The best moment of the game



Well... i´d love to see a welsh defeat today... GO CANADA!!!
It will be too easy for Scotland and England...

[Tamerlin]

Topic raised by finbar
Something unusual in the SH, Mr Roland is penalizing the Fidjian scrum under pressure... better late than never!

I am now complaining this is not often enough!

Oh, and Mrs finbar thinks Les Grenouilles are the cutest team she's seen so far. She likes their Gallic looks...

An educated man can only live with a woman that has a good taste.

Though she thought the replacement from Toulouse - Labit? - was too old to have blonde tips in his hair!

Not Labit but... Mister Labit please!

About this afternoon game, I must admit that for the first time since one year I have had some pleasure to watch at the French team. Though the French players have made some handling errors the runners have at last demonstrated some skill.

Dominici has played surprisingly well, Fabien Galthié, Frédéric Michalack, Jauzion and many others have made a good game. Moreover, the team has played cleverly (that which it was not able to do since at least one year) doing things in the right order:
Mauls and spontaneous scrums to tighten the defence and then ball sent to the wings (and to the right one) with players able to come back towards the centre of the field when it is necessary to play again with the forwards.

Another encouraging thing is that the French players have managed to play like this for almost 80 minutes. I know that they were opposed to a minor country but they were unable to play consistently against Romania a few weeks ago (the second half was a real nightmare).

Very surprising and... pleasant!



Mr Roland... though you are sometimes lenient you can come back when you want!

On the bad side, there are still too many handling errors, I have not found Nicolas Brusque very good and Olivier Magne... well, hmmm... has been... well... equal to himself. He is able to be one of the best players of the world but he is sometimes experiencing severe brain failures. He seems to forget he is a forward or/and that he is playing a game called Rugby.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by academia
I expected a closer game...

I feared a closer game.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
His try will probably end up the try of the tournament.

I don't agree with you, though his try is a great individual performance (after a French fumble) there is nothing more beautiful to my eyes than a well designed try scored after many players have touched the ball and have used varied tactics (example: scrum, half-scrum opens close side to tighten the defence, maul or spontaneous scrum and then the halves open the other side to overflow the last defenders, classic but beautiful... when it works).

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
Hey, Tamerlin, I just bought two tins of Graisse de Canard! Now I can get on with making you-know-what!

Tell me what you think about it...

[finbar]

Originally posted by academia

Damn... the game against Romania won´t be that easy fo the pumas

You're right. The Pumas are going to have to get their act together. They seemed completely bereft of options beyond their forwards.

Will the fijians ever learn how to play defense????

Probably not. Their real strength is 7s rugby, where it's all about speed. Their problems have always been tactics and discipline.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Tamerlin


I am now complaining this is not often enough!

Tapdanced your way out of that one, didn't you!

An educated man can only live with a woman that has a good taste.

She asked me if you were as cute as some of Les Grenouilles. I said it was highly unlikely! Even with those blonde tips in your hair!

Not Labit but... Mister Labit please!

Listen, Mister Tamerlin, I only use the term Mister for people I respect! With those blonde tips, at his age, Labit looks like one of those guys who hangs around pedestrian crossings outside girls' schools waiting for a strong gust of wind!

Dominici has played surprisingly well, Fabien Galthié, Frédéric Michalack, Jauzion and many others have made a good game. Moreover, the team has played cleverly (that which it was not able to do since at least one year) doing things in the right order:
Mauls and spontaneous scrums to tighten the defence and then ball sent to the wings (and to the right one) with players able to come back towards the centre of the field when it is necessary to play again with the forwards.

Absolutely right. They went out there with a method. There was some scintillating handling. That impeccably bred grenouille, M'sieur Marais, made a wonderful comeback.

Another encouraging thing is that the French players have managed to play like this for almost 80 minutes. I know that they were opposed to a minor country but they were unable to play consistently against Romania a few weeks ago (the second half was a real nightmare).

Yes, this is the problem in these pool matches - putting performances against lesser teams into perspective. It's so hard to know what it all really means. Of the matches thus far, I thought the French the most impressive. They never really lost concentration. The ABs did. So did the Wallabies, on top of their appalling handling. I watched quite a bit of the Springboks -v- Uruguay last night, and even though the Boks racked up a lot of points, they did it the hard way.

Mr Roland... though you are sometimes lenient you can come back when you want!

What's his background? Irish, but seemingly comfortable speaking French?

On the bad side, there are still too many handling errors, I have not found Nicolas Brusque very good

Is he the #14? He made a big mistake early, though credit has to be given to the Fijian chasers who arrived very quickly to put pressure on him. Other than that, I was impressed.

[finbar]

Originally posted by Tamerlin


I don't agree with you, though his try is a great individual performance (after a French fumble) there is nothing more beautiful to my eyes than a well designed try scored after many players have touched the ball and have used varied tactics (example: scrum, half-scrum opens close side to tighten the defence, maul or spontaneous scrum and then the halves open the other side to overflow the last defenders, classic but beautiful... when it works).

True. But it's usually the spectacular solo efforts that win the gong.

[finbar]

Sounds like bad news for the ABs this morning. They're reporting that Umaga's knee will keep him out of the tournament, and Rokocoko's hamstring isn't looking good either. Hopefully the reports are wrong.

Edit. Now confirmed that Umaga's tournament is over. Rokocoko's hammy apparently not so serious.