On September 13 2007 14:26 N.sL)_CirCle wrote:
no, close though.

new zealand > all - cept maybe south africa but they are usually only any good at home.

Tonga looks very strong also. US was rather physical already (but bad handling) but the Tongan defense looks unbreakable, very much like the other very strong nations.

RowdierBob

Australia13416 Posts

September 13 2007 06:31 GMT

#62

Tonga are atrocious.

This competition is basically Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.

France and England could maybe win, but really unlikely.

Then you have teams like Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Argetina who make up the numbers in quarter finals.

The other teams are completely useless.

RowdierBob

Australia13416 Posts

September 13 2007 06:42 GMT

#63

In all the World Cups since 1987, only twice has a non "big 5" (SA, Aus, NZ, Fra, Eng) team made the semis (Wales 87 and Scotland 91). You can probably put this down to Apartheid.

So before all the Irish or Argie people get ancy and point me towards their high rankings, face facts - you're going to get knocked out in the Quarters (that's if you even make it out of that group of death

)

trollbone

France1905 Posts

September 13 2007 08:08 GMT

#64

japan was strong against fidji, this was surprising that a country like japan that doesn't know very well rugby was able to stand against fidji, a country that knows rugby for ages

french got potential, maybe, maybe not, hope it gonna be like footbal, we sucked in the groups then we started to make a comeback

Kassios

France1424 Posts

September 13 2007 09:46 GMT

#65

French team have too much pressure on their shoulders, everyone expect them to win the cup, that's why they sux

FirstProbe

1206 Posts

September 13 2007 10:21 GMT

#66

On September 13 2007 18:46 Kassios wrote:
French team have too much pressure on their shoulders, everyone expect them to win the cup, that's why they sux

If by everyone, you mean no-one, then yes!

Kassios

France1424 Posts

September 13 2007 11:48 GMT

#67

I mean everyone in France..

PePe QuiCoSE

Argentina1204 Posts

September 13 2007 14:08 GMT

#68

lol to uncalled national pride. The trend of rugby globally lately is good IMO, tradition doesn't matter as much as it did in the past in determining the strength of a team / victor of a game.
and yes, for what i have seen the media in France is making a huge deal about the world cup, and the defeat in first game.

fbs

United Kingdom2476 Posts

September 13 2007 17:21 GMT

#69

On September 13 2007 15:31 RowdierBob wrote:
Tonga are atrocious.

This competition is basically Australia, New Zealand, South Africa.

France and England could maybe win, but really unlikely.

Then you have teams like Ireland, Wales, Scotland, Argetina who make up the numbers in quarter finals.

The other teams are completely useless.

And yet it is still so much more competitive than the Rugby League 'World Cup'

decafchicken

United States20159 Posts

September 13 2007 23:41 GMT

#70

Who's broadcasting the games in america? Saw some rugby play in the top 10 on espn and realized world cup was going on like 6 days too late T_T_TT_T_T_T

RowdierBob

Australia13416 Posts

September 13 2007 23:57 GMT

#71

On September 14 2007 02:21 fbs wrote:

Show nested quote +

And yet it is still so much more competitive than the Rugby League 'World Cup'

Yeah that's true, but League's strength is in the tribal nature of its club competition. Rugby can't get anywhere close in terms of popularity at a club level that League does (in Australia at least, I'm guessing it's different in the Old Dart).

It's funny that the Rugby teams in Australia are always trying to poach the best league players.

~chut~

France1317 Posts

September 14 2007 09:25 GMT

#72

Well, for years and years, before union became professional, league used to do the same with best union players. It's a matter of trying to get more popular (i'm not sure it works though)

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

September 14 2007 11:03 GMT

#73

South Africa take on England in 5 hours. This is the first big game so far (except maybe for Argentina vs France), so I'm really looking forward to it. Hope SA take another big win!

~chut~

France1317 Posts

September 14 2007 11:16 GMT

#74

England isn't what it used to be, SA should win this game. But i'll watch, it will be interesting to see if SA clearly show they have what it takes to win the world cup again.

DarkYoDA

United States1347 Posts

September 14 2007 20:27 GMT

#75

0-33 now. England is badly raped by South Africa. There goes their world championship. It feels like Europe is taking a beating this WC

zurg

1923 Posts

September 14 2007 20:31 GMT

#76

god damn england T_T
what a ugly game
poor england and poor jason robinsonㅠ_ㅠ

DarkYoDA

United States1347 Posts

September 14 2007 20:47 GMT

#77

Anyone still thinks England can win the world cup? Groups hiccup it maybe but I think they are really just not that good.

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

September 14 2007 21:44 GMT

#78

36 - 0 !

As mentioned earlier, Europe always takes a beating during the world cup, England just had the one year where Wilkinson played incredibly well, and their defense could keep up. At the moment I'm just worried about Argentina (that is, excluding NZ and AUS), they performed well against France.

And no, I never believed England could take the Cup. They toured SA just before the world cup and lost their two tests 58 - 10, and 55 - 22.

After this victory SA has a fairly clear road to the final, facing Tonga, then the US. If SA manages to beat both teams they will face the runners up of group B, which should be Wales (Australia should take that group), and after that they will face either the runners up of Group C (Scotland, NZ will lead the group), or the winning team of group D (France, Argentina, Ireland). So SA effectively avoids AUS and NZ until the finals.

IntoTheWow

is awesome32278 Posts

September 15 2007 01:44 GMT

#79

I don't think Argentina will make it that far.

But it's still cool, I mean Rugby in Argentina is pretty much amateur, except for players who play on other countries...

Players get paid close to nothing for playing in the national team, but you still see them play like there is no tomorrow. I hope they can just get further than last time.