Rugby World Cup 2003 - Crunch Time!

[LDiCesare]

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

Yes but Tamerlin is right.
For instance, the Welsh just scored a try which is IMO a thousand times more beautiful than the Fijians'. At least a dozen passes, including a pass on one foot from a prop, rucks, relays... wonderful.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by finbar
Tapdanced your way out of that one, didn't you!

Yep!

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!

I can't say I have the same size as the French players, I would qualify as more slender...

And I don't have blonde tips in my hairs...

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!

You would call him mister if you had seen him playing with the Stade Toulousain, believe me!

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.

Though this is very encouraging I think it is still too early to speak about a comeback, we all know the French players are able to make an excellent game and then play like donkeys the next one... wait and see!

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.

The question is: will it last?

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

As far as I remember he is Irish but his father was a man of taste as his mother was French.

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.

No, the number 15 is Nicolas Brusque, the number 14 is Aurélien Rougerie, the later one can be credited of a good game in spite of the fumbled kick that lead to the first Fidjian try.

[Tamerlin]

Fumbled post.

[LDiCesare]

Wales 41 - 10 Canada

Good welsh performance, but mostly a poor canadian performance. The Welsh won by a lot, but should be careful in the next matches because they were penalised a lot.
Wales scored some very beautiful tries, thanks to their center Harris in particular. If their opponent can stifle this man, however, the backline is not very imaginative. Their second center always runs towards the touchline, and the winger has to come back inside. The fly half has been countered or had difficulty kicking many times.
Canada started well, but they really lack in terms of backs. They always kicked, and to no avail. The forwards showed a few good mauls. It should make for a nice opposition of styles against Tonga (forwards/backs).

[LDiCesare]

Scotland 32 - 11 Japan
A good game from the Japanese. A poor Scot performance. The final score is generous for Scotland.
Japan has good attacking backs, but their physique wasn't up to the task. Scots struggled a lot, losing several balls and committing many mistakes around rucks.
If they don't play better than this, Scotland will be lucky to get out of the pool, particularly against the Fijians. The only thing they seemed to be able to do was to bump into their direct opponent. Against Japan, they would gain 3 meters on the impact, but against Fijians or French, they'd better find another solution.

[Tamerlin]

I agree with you and your two posts, the scottish have not played well against surprising and pleasant Japanese. I found the Canada - Wales game rather poor with far too many useless kicks.

[finbar]

I thought Wales better than Scotland, but they - Ireland - look very limited. They will still struggle against better opposition. Scotland were very ordinary, playing with no imagination. Although their #8 looks like he has some ability. Gee, the Japanese played well. They tackle like buzzsaws. It's a pity they're a bit limited by their size.

[finbar]

Originally posted by LDiCesare

Yes but Tamerlin is right.

[Andydog]

Well. I just saw the England game and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed.

The forwards didn’t look special at all. Fatso Thompson couldn’t hold onto the ball and the pack struggled to roll Georgia back. The scrum was good, sure, but it’s Georgia for farks sakes. There was a failure to create space out wide, and the backs only started to fire toward the end. Coen was good, but Robinson struggled to break the line, in fact no tries at all from the backline in the first half. Lewsey was alright I suppose.

Sure there were a lot of tries in the end, but it’s Georgia for farks sakes, England should’ve won by well over 100. The tries they did get looked pretty ordinary to me, and mostly came in the second half as Georgia slowly ran out of steam.

I suppose to be fair you could say that the forwards made some intelligent runs round the fringes rather than clogging up the mid-field. Vickery wasn't bad while he was on; nothing massively impressive from anyone else though.

I think they’ll definitely have to fire up if they want to beat France, assuming France carry on playing like they did yesterday.

[Andydog]

Originally posted by Tamerlin
Andydog, Andydog... we all know this kind of stats does not mean anything.

were those kind of stats as meaningless as these kind of stats?

Originally posted by Tamerlin
remember you faced Italia, a team that has only won two 6 nations tournmanent games at home against Wales and Scotland

[Andydog]

It doesn’t look good for Umaga. Robbie Deans doesn’t seem to hold much hope, and a ruptured cruciate ligament is the last thing you want. Charlie Hodgson (England's second best fly-half) injured his cruciate ligaments by falling awkwardly in the 6N game against Italy in March this year, and he hasn't kicked a ball in anger since. It takes at least six months to get yourself back and often a full recovery isn't made – usually you lose pace and power.

Umaga may have played his last test for NZ. If that's the case it is a really sad way to go out for a great warrior, I really feel for him. Fingers crossed the diagnosis is less serious than first appears.

[finbar]

This morning, for whatever reason, the AB camp is suddenly playing cagey on Umaga. There is an implication that the injury might not be as bad as first thought, and they're waiting for a specialist's report before making any statements.

England, I thought, were fairly lumbering. The trouble with matches against some minnows is that they can actually make you look less than you are. When a minnow is physically strong, and 100% committed to defence and spoiling, they can make life difficult. Until they tire. Which, I think, was pretty much what happened.

The only thing that has come out of the match is a problem for Clive with the halfback position. Bracken strained his back in the warm up, Dawson left the field injured, as did Gormasal. I don't think any of the injuries are serious, but I fear that V.D. might be dusting off his passport and taking his tongue to Pilates to get it into shape.

[Frozzy]

IRT -> Umaga:

Ruptured Cruciated Ligaments = End of Career.

[Tamerlin]

Originally posted by Frozzy
IRT -> Umaga:

Ruptured Cruciated Ligaments = End of Career.

Very sad news...

[Havak]

There’s a familiar tune playing here – “Let’s bash England”

Well. I just saw the England game and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed.

Really? Because I saw NZ and thought they were fairly good. But should I say “it’s only Italy for Fark’s sake”.

Lardy Thompson by the way was one of the few consistently punching holes through those huge forwards – I reckon you just don’t like him.

think they’ll definitely have to fire up if they want to beat France, assuming France carry on playing like they did yesterday.

Wow – you really have got this one staggeringly wrong. Of the two England looked far the stronger – although some of what France were doing later in the second half was quite nice.

England, I thought, were fairly lumbering

You too Finbar? They controlled the game totally, and you are being unfair to Georgia who were artless but very industrious. We used it as a nice training run without giving away anything to the Boks for next week. What would you rather we did?

Name another team for me that would have prospered more on that wet (and very poor) surface (thanks to your witch doctor)? Is Subiaco an Aussie rules pitch? The turf looked awful.

I don't think any of the injuries are serious, but I fear that V.D. might be dusting off his passport and taking his tongue to Pilates to get it into shape.

He was called but he suffered a Hamstring strain before the truly desperate loss to Glaws on Saturday so you are safe.

Cue Finbar’s

I was by the way extremely sorry to see Umaga’s injury – he’s been a truly great player for the ABs and I was looking forward to seeing him should we manage to meet the ABs again.

*edit* Finbar it's a monday morning for me, and I am tired after yesterday, but did I read you have been buying tins of duck fat??

*edit* I see Clive is out to win Aussie hearts and minds again by pointing out Burke's blatant obstruction on the defender for Roff's try.