Nobody thought England were going to win this year. England have been in free fall from the day after winning the last world cup... at first beating the reigning world champions was an achievement and then they just kept losing and losing until it reached the stage where not beating England was a poor performance. They were absolutely shit yesterday! GO TONGA!

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

September 15 2007 15:03 GMT

#82

Australia vs. Wales. Firstly, that referee always referees in SA, and he is bloody awful. He made some horrendous decisions, going both ways though.

Other than that, it was a fairly good game. Discipline was bad, but what can you expect from a game with a weak referee. Wales played decently well, they had a few strong moments, but also a few moments where they just looked like they had no game plan. I missed the first half, so I didn't see Australia score (except for that one try that didn't really say anything), but they played fairly undisciplined in the second half.

It's disappointing that there have been so few equally matched games so far. I guess this is just preparation for the quarter finals.

DarkYoDA

United States1347 Posts

September 15 2007 20:07 GMT

#83

The All-Blacks against Portugal game continue to impress. They are really strong but like someone mentioned, it is very possible for them to screw up the latter stages ridiculously many times as in the past.

Australia was very close to Wales which I didnt' really expect I thought they would run out on them badly but it's still close. Let's see if they can all live up to expectations.

Unforgiven_ve

Venezuela1232 Posts

September 15 2007 20:58 GMT

#84

NZL 108-13 POR
poor portugal ;D

warding

Portugal2394 Posts

September 15 2007 22:16 GMT

#85

Not bad for an amateur team though. Everyone's very proud of the Lobos over here.

fbs

United Kingdom2476 Posts

September 15 2007 22:45 GMT

#86

Yea not bad, the handicap was about 110 points so they managed to beat that comfortably

RowdierBob

Australia13007 Posts

September 16 2007 15:28 GMT

#87

Ha, yeah Portugal did well. Sportstab (sports betting agency) were giving them 115 headstart, so they beat the spread!

Australia did it easy vs Wales. 25-3 up at half-time sealed it, and we just cruised through the second half trying to avoid injuries.

This tournament is always so boring till the quarter finals where the semi-interesting games begin.

DarkYoDA

United States1347 Posts

September 16 2007 15:37 GMT

#88

Samoa losing to Tonga now... 19-16... Another upset.. but well they are all pacific based. Tonga is really not bad, this would be a big win for them

[edit] Nice to see France win big at home their second game...

sc2Owns

Germany13 Posts

September 17 2007 11:56 GMT

#89

I must admit Tonga did impress me as well from the way they held on and took the game to Samoa. Waiting eagerly for the South Africa/Tonga game and the England/Samoa game. They will be very interesting indeed.

Daigomi

South Africa4316 Posts

September 17 2007 13:02 GMT

#90

As far as I know, SA are fielding their second team against Tonga. The match will be very physical, and I think they are trying to minimize the injuries. As i mentioned earlier, if SA plays decently well they should have a clear road to the finals (avoiding NZ, AUS, England and probably France as well). If we manage to get there, the having a well rested team could be a big advantage.

That said, I watched the first 20 minutes of the Tonga/Samoa game, and it was quite bad. I heard it became much better, but both teams gave away about 5 penalties in the first 20 minutes. I'm impressed that Tonga won though.

~chut~

France1317 Posts

September 17 2007 15:16 GMT

#91

Ireland looks so bad this WC... Argentina will probably finish group phase 1st with France 2nd

Then we'll have something like:
France - NZ in Cardiff ( we're fucked lol)
Australia - England (England missing the quarters because Tonga or Samoa beat them would be... i just can't believe it and i want Australia - England to happen)
Argentina - Scotland or Italy (my bet is Italy but anyway, argentina should go through)
SA - Wales or Fidji for the upset, anyway, easy for SA

Then
NZ - Australia
SA - Argentina
(Europe is fucked)

And NZ > SA, most probably

Blacks gets the stacked side of the draw though

~chut~

France1317 Posts

September 21 2007 22:26 GMT

#92

France won against Ireland. I'm looking for SA-Tonga tomorrow

PePe QuiCoSE

Argentina1204 Posts

September 21 2007 23:50 GMT

#93

yup, and no bonus point for either of them. If Argentina manages to get first in the group it will be huge for use. Thought we still have to beat Namibia (with bonus point if possible) and Ireland. Even if we lose to Ireland we might still get first place if we can get enough bonus points.

DarkYoDA

United States1347 Posts

September 23 2007 17:07 GMT

#94

New Zealand is very strong, they are trashing the second placed scotland. But hope they don't disappoint at group

PePe QuiCoSE

Argentina1204 Posts

September 23 2007 19:30 GMT

#95

next week has the best matches for the RWC, since it will be seen who pass in second place in each group.

England - Tonga: SA needed it's A team to beat Tonga 30-25, serious threat to leave England out of the cup if they don't put up a better game
Scotland - Italy: winner goes through, should be Scotland for their performance in the WC so far.
Argentina - Ireland: both have a history in WC matches but this time, Ireland is the one against the odds.
Wales - Fiji: guess wales should take this one down.

RowdierBob

Australia13007 Posts

September 24 2007 03:40 GMT

#96

Ireland have been atrocious.

I hope the Argies win. I think they would do much better in the Quarters.

~chut~

France1317 Posts

September 24 2007 08:32 GMT

#97

I'm quite sure Argentina will beat Ireland now. I'm really surprised (in a good way) by Tonga!
We had some good matches this week, more than expected. It's good for rugby that the group phase isn't only big names slaughtering amateurs!

oHInsane

France727 Posts

September 24 2007 10:13 GMT

#98

Well, i watch this world cup here and then and not with a very deep insight view. Anyway, I am inclined to think that NZ won't win this World Cup. It's not that is dislike them, they are the strongest team in many ways but they will fail in quarter or after like they did so many times before.

Concerning the little surprising country like Tonga , i must add that you have to know that most of the NZ team is made up with people who are born in those little pacific islans like TONGA or SAMOA. So thoses islands are trully a huge tank for the NZ team. I don't have the time to do that but I think you can esaily make a TOP 3 world team with all the players born in Tonga and/or Samoa.

This leads me to the fact that i wouldn't like to see a 16team world cup in the future with only the big rosters. I mean it is the goal of the World Cup to promote the Rugby and to let teams from different levels face each other. It adds some drama, and sometimes some upsets which is good for the sport. And i don't even mention that it is important for "small" countries to take part of it. It is good for them, for us and for the rugby in general.

I am also really scared for France, even if i will naturally root for them, I wuold just love to see theam beating NZ in an epic game. At least I would like a strong show up versus NZ. But i am not already convinced by my team, even after the match vs Ireland. In my book, they played one good game (vs IRELAND) and one bad game (vs ARGENTINA), so i am doubting and i will wait and see.