Rugby World Cup 2023

[Pavros]

But he can't possibly be tackling with poor technique as he went to tackling school earlier this year after a previous indiscretion.

Bad news for England as he is now available for all World Cup games. Long live the slow ball and kick away possession tactics!

 

[sifty]

And the review of the review is being reviewed...

Probably the right thing to do but what a shambles...

 

[Dyke Busters]

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All welcome come join the fun

 

[user 47834]

And the review of the review is being reviewed...

Probably the right thing to do but what a shambles...

Just looked at the replay again for the push that was used to rescind the red. Shambles of a decision.

It was Farrell being Farrell and he won't get the benefit of the doubt because he's Farrell doing what Farrell does.

 

[sifty]

And another red for England v Ireland. I haven't seen the incident yet, just caught the end of the game. Huge win for the boks against Wales, and just settling in for breakfast with France v Fiji...

 

[pilgrimhudd]

Billy just wants the summer off and with out prospects who can blame him!

 

[sifty]

Fiji might upset some teams. They're up against Wales, Australia, Georgia in their pool. No idea how strong the French team was this morning but Fiji went well against them.
There are some big, fast blokes in their squad...

 

[Covrich]

Certainly wasn't full strenght France.

France and NZ seem to be tied as favourites for WC with Ireland and SA tied for the next two teams.

Wales , not a full strenght side again but seriously blown away.

England tackling, discpline, coaching, game plan and general attitude are absolutley awful. Never want to see your team exit early but I wouldn't be too disappointed to see them knocked out as they are so negative anti rugby.. I would rather spend the rest of the tournament watching teams like Scotland and NZ and France and Ireland play great rugby.

 

[sifty]

With Itoje screaming in lineouts, Farrell's no-arms tackling and players marking other team's mistakes by fist pumping celebrations, they're a hard team to like...

 

[user 47834]

 

[sifty]

Hopefully the card/review silliness is over. Time to move on to some pre WC 'warm-up' matches...

All Blacks v Springboks in a few hrs at Twickenham. Will be watching with my daughter around 6:30am (her first time getting up for a game). Both strong looking sides, will be an interesting game...

Also:
England v Fiji - Twickenham
Scotland v Georgia - Murrayfield
Italy v Japan - Italy
Ireland v Samoa - France
France v Australia - Stade de France

So many iinteresting games, all with the fear of injury. I think trying to take it easy leads to injury, they should just treat it like another match (albeit 2 weeks out from a major tournament). Picking lots of early substitutions, to both protect the crucial players and to give others a crack.

Not sure how much we can take from the results, given tactics will surely be restrained, but so much rugby. Shame it's the middle of the night mostly...

 

[sifty]

12 mins in and it's been all South Africa. Yellow card to NZ for repeated infringements, and Lomax our prop has gone off with a serious looking knee injury.

Oh and another yellow to Sam Cane. 13 players and injury hit. This will be a test....

 

[Covrich]

12 mins in and it's been all South Africa. Yellow card to NZ for repeated infringements, and Lomax our prop has gone off with a serious looking knee injury.

Oh and another yellow to Sam Cane. 13 players and injury hit. This will be a test....

I didn't see it, but he strong was that NZ side? That's one hell of a statement by the boks but as you rightly say, it's difficult to draw any conclusions from these games.

England Fiji later, find it hard to watch this team. Not only do they play awful. But the attitude of a lot of them is painful. Itoje was a great player once. Now he gets on my nerves.

 

[sifty]

Sadly that was as strong a side as we could field given injuries. A record defeat in the end 35-7. Big marker on who to watch in the cup.

Boks play a great power game. The ref though fair was quite pedantic and slowed the game to suit their big men. A more free flowing game would have had them blowing a bit.

A deserved thrashing for the ABs after showing really poor discipline, tactics, set pieces and skills.
It's a stretch, but looking at positives for NZ.

• Great defense under huge pressure early on.
• Played 60+ minutes at least one man down
• Weaknesses were exposed before the tournament
• The new halfback looked keen.
• Yeah can't think of anything else

Interestingly the serious looking knee injury wasn't ligaments, it looked like a huge cut, caused by sharp plastic sprigs on someone's boot. And footage has emerged of a springbok player punching that may be an issue.

I'll keep an eye on the games overnight.
And yeah Itoje was amazing but has become painful to watch with his antics...

 

[sifty]

Fiji beat England. Wow...

 

[Covrich]

Amazing result and I am so pleased for Fiji, that is the sort of thing we need if we want to believe that more than 2 or 3 teams can go into a WC that can win it in the future. I was genuinly happy for them.

Sadly for England they just get worse and worse.

What have they done to Freddie Steward? He had bulked up so much he cannot catch a ball but looks way slower than normal.

 

[Covrich]

Half time Samoa beating Ireland!?

I cannot see them holding on but so far Irelands set peice has been dismantled.

As we said before you cannot read too much into these warm up games but this has got to give Scotland some hope.

 

[sifty]

Looks bad for Cian Healy's knee too.
Samoa playing well, rain, Ireland rattled. Could be another upset but I can see Farrell tuning up Ireland big time during the break...

Update 17-13 to Ireland.
Would have been interesting looking at world rankings if Samoa had won...

 

[sifty]

At least NZ weren't the worst team at Twickenham this weekend...

 

[user 47834]

How Smith isn't the starting 10 for England is beyond me. The only natural footballer in the squad.