Rugby - The Game They Play In Heaven II

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Japan and France were hugely entertaining. But why play the game exactly the way Japan wanted it to be played? France were always going to win, they were always going to produce some more lovely rugby as Japan tired, but it was tactically dumb and no effort seemed to be made to change or vary tactics. Yachvili? No thank you. Parra, even at 10, looked so much better. Italy played Japan in a warm-up match and quickly learned their lesson - playing Japan at their game only handed them opportunities and they can be deadly. Italy finished up scrumming and mauling them off the park. I would have preferred to see some more French nouse, but that's probably asking too much.

Dire England effort. The midfield permanently loaded with forwards, plodding and predictable Wigglesworth, Wilko running sideways, abysmal discipline. Only when Youngs appeared did any inspiration appear. And Lawes needs to be very very careful. Sliding into the oppo on the ground with his knees is cheap, dangerous stuff.

Scotland -v- Romania was too early even for me. Sounds like Scotland were lucky. Fiji -v- Namibia was very entertaining. Big Namibian effort, though the Fijians helped them out with terrible discipline and concentration.

[LDiCesare]

Regarding Yachvili and Parra, many people would agree.
Here's for instance what Alain Penaud (former France 10) says:

A la mêlée, personnellement, je préférerais voir Morgan Parra d'entrée. Le Clermontois met plus de jeu, plus de dynamisme. Dimitri Yachvili a pour lui la science du jeu, l'expérience, il sait gérer la pression et est performant dans l'occupation du terrain. Et la saison qu'il vient d'effectuer est rassurante. S'il y avait un jeu plus ambitieux, Parra serait aligné mais dans l'état actuel des choses, Yachvili est l'homme de la situation

Translated: At scrum, personally, I'd rather have Morgan Parra immediately. He produces more game, more dynamism. Dimitri Yachvili's qualities are the science of the game, experience, he can manage stress and is good for territory advantage. And he made a reassuring season. If there was a more ambitious game plan, Parra would be selected but in the current state of things, Yachvili is the man of the situation.
Otherwise said, Lièvremont selects players who won't take initiative. Yachvili is good, but he never adapted his game to the situation. Against NZ, that simply won't work.

[kittenOFchaos]

All the big teams have failed to put together a full 80 minutes.

NZ may have beaten Tonga, but by less than on ANY previous occasion.

France didn't well against Japan - come on, it is Japan, a team with a puny pack!

Fiji didn't do that well given they were playing Namibia - come on, it is Namibia, a team with no defense.

England and Argentina - England weren't agggressive at the breakdown and so anyone taking contact resulted in VERY slow ball or a penalty for hanging on. It was a really boring game to watch until the close. Hell, I had money on Banahan to score the first try (abit of a mistake, but given he has a great record for scoring against Argentina, I thought he would be played - been working too hard this week clearly!) and once I saw the team list I realised that this may be optimistic. However, given the lack of tries all I needed was the big lump to have been brought on.

I had been clammering for anyone but Wigglesworth from about 20 minutes in. The scrum half dictates pace and gives the forwards a kick up the backside if they need it and the English pack were too passive.

So...it that context Scotland didn't do too badly

[Havak]

I beg to differ - the Scots were very poor. You must rememember who they were playing and how many tries they conceded. How many times were the Scottish pack pushed over their own try line? Yes they crafted some nice scores but the bigger sides won't fall off tackles like the Romanians did.

England were crying out for an injection of pace and more commitment to the breakdown. It was screamingly obvious from the first ten mins but it only changed when he finally brought Youngs on. Jonno said he aged twenty years during the game. I'll raise him five on that. Care reckoned 'Wiggs' was outstanding defensively but I have no time for scrummies who fail to boss their forwards as he did. 9 is a real problem for us - I pray Ben stays fit.

I had also forgotten how **** ITV rugby coverage is. Four mins of highlights of the Scots after an hour of Pienaar, Care and Dayglo trotting out tired old clichés post the England game. No highlights at all of France! And Steve Rider? What the hell does he know about rugby? And the final insult - ITV are messing up the freeview tags so my PVRs aren't getting the coverage recorded properly or in the case of France at all. The England game ran on to record the Coronation street omnibus - wtf?

Now good luck Italy!

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I couldn't fathom where HRH and Manu were actually playing. The fat useless forwards were in the centres most of the game, so where were HRH and Manu? 12A and 13A? And yet again Easter was AWOL when the going was tough except to give away penalties. Cripes, he's soft for such a big man.

[kittenOFchaos]

I beg to differ - the Scots were very poor. You must rememember who they were playing and how many tries they conceded. How many times were the Scottish pack pushed over their own try line? Yes they crafted some nice scores but the bigger sides won't fall off tackles like the Romanians did.

England were crying out for an injection of pace and more commitment to the breakdown. It was screamingly obvious from the first ten mins but it only changed when he finally brought Youngs on. Jonno said he aged twenty years during the game. I'll raise him five on that. Care reckoned 'Wiggs' was outstanding defensively but I have no time for scrummies who fail to boss their forwards as he did. 9 is a real problem for us - I pray Ben stays fit.

I had also forgotten how **** ITV rugby coverage is. Four mins of highlights of the Scots after an hour of Pienaar, Care and Dayglo trotting out tired old clichés post the England game. No highlights at all of France! And Steve Rider? What the hell does he know about rugby? And the final insult - ITV are messing up the freeview tags so my PVRs aren't getting the coverage recorded properly or in the case of France at all. The England game ran on to record the Coronation street omnibus - wtf?

Now good luck Italy!

I guess you managed to watch the full Scotland Vs Romania game? I made do with the highlights provided by ITV after the game. As for Scotland and Romania, I was clearly playing 'Devil's Advocate'. It'll be very interesting to see how Romania's forwards match up against Georgia, Argentina and England to give us a proper appreciation of their actual value.

Where do people now stand on the Wilkinson Vs Flood debate?

[kittenOFchaos]

Some other comments...

ITV 'musical theme' for the RWC sounds South African...

The Black England strip was rubbish and the players were losing their numbers here there and everywhere.

Just how many people do you think Lawes will crock this WC?

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Where do people now stand on the Wilkinson Vs Flood debate?

My humble opinion: Flood isn't a natural-born 10, naturally gifted, doesn't have great "vision", doesn't conjure game plans. He's at his best outside Youngs when Youngs has front foot ball as per the early 6N matches this season. He's got an eye for a gap himself, he can put players into gaps. He's also developed into a reliable goal kicker if not an always reliable kicker from hand. But the key to Toby - and Youngs - is front foot ball. Without it, both are at sea as the later 6N matches revealed. And the key to that is the England forwards. And the forwards coach, who, from what I can see, coaches mediocrity.

Wilko will always be Wilko - tough, courageous, an old-fashioned 10 whose skills aren't what they were. That said, he'd probably be a whole lot better with Youngs inside him - with front foot ball - than Wigglesworth, who could be Wilko's twin in terms of generational rugby.

[kittenOFchaos]

I had also forgotten how **** ITV rugby coverage is. Four mins of highlights of the Scots after an hour of Pienaar, Care and Dayglo trotting out tired old clichés post the England game. No highlights at all of France! !

You can get highlights on the RWC site and the ITV player allows you to watch the full thing.

BBC would be better as there would be no adverts...

16 minutes into the France Vs Japan game - really entertaining.

[kittenOFchaos]

I'm backing Wales for the win. I've just got a feeling.

Wales have a wealth of talented players, they seem to be taking things more seriously than usual, I think they can surprise.

[kittenOFchaos]

As I've £5 on SA to win the first half and Wales to win at 14-1 it is so far so good.

The game hasn't really got of second gear however. I'm surprised Hook isn't at 10 and that the Welsh attack has been generally through the forwards.

Jean De Villiers going off is a real plus for Wales - I rate that man so highly.

[LDiCesare]

So far (half time) they haven't been able to cut through the Boks' defense. They commit too many players to the breakdown to keep the ball and don't put enough movement behind, except for a few times when Shane Williams managed to impulse something. Maybe with the wind for them and if they manage to play in the Boks' 22 long enough they can find an opening, but it seems unlikely.
I thought Italy was unlucky not to score a try. Australia played a totally stupid first half before realising they should send the ball wide. I'm unsure whether the Australian dive to prevent the Italian scrum from scoring a try was legal. He should have staid bound to the scrum until the ball was released, and had no reason to be bound to an Italian player at that time. The referee was on the other side, but I'm unsure it was legal.

[kittenOFchaos]

So far (half time) they haven't been able to cut through the Boks' defense. They commit too many players to the breakdown to keep the ball and don't put enough movement behind, except for a few times when Shane Williams managed to impulse something. Maybe with the wind for them and if they manage to play in the Boks' 22 long enough they can find an opening, but it seems unlikely.

What? Yay for Wales!!!! 16 - 10 55 minutes in

SA totally wasted having the wind in the first half and it is fierce, could see that from the flags at the start of the game.

[kittenOFchaos]

Seriously, if Wales **** this up...

[kittenOFchaos]

Grr!!!!! Phillips is to blame. About 8 minutes to go and taking forever at the rucks organising forwards rather than getting the ball out. Result turn-over.

Wales had SA and let them off. So frustrating, plus £100 in total bets squandered (winnings) for the want of one kick...a wasted drop-goal and penalty kick...

A VERY entertaining game however and Wales looking good in many respects for later games, but what a wasted opportunity!!!