RWC 2019

[neill_m]

Top 3 in each pool in this RWC will qualify for 2023 (unless they change the rules), a win for Uruguay v Georgia could put them in great shape to get to France 2023. Uruguay played some lovely rugby, Fiji did have a 4 day turnaround from the Australia game, but did make 12 changes to their starting XV to be fair.

[neiliog93]

Uruguay were extremely brave and aggressive in defence. Massively outgunned by a fully professional Fiji in terms of size and skill. The magic Fijian offloads just weren't sticking due to a combination of Uruguayan aggression and Fijian complacency, and Uruguay capitalised on Fijian mistakes and took their chances brilliantly. Having said, an even semi-competent Fijian goalkicker would have seen them win anyway today.

[sunshiner1]

Aren't bunch of those Uruguayans are now playing in the MLR in the U.S.? If so it shows that the MLR could be a serious source for bringing up the level in the USA, Canadian and South American teams. It's giving a bunch of these guys an outlet to play rugby professionally at a decent level and world rugby will reap the benefits. Feel sorry for the Fijians but the Islander teams have being dreck in this world cup so far.

[wixfjord]

Having said, an even semi-competent Fijian goalkicker would have seen them win anyway today.

Yeah Volavola was the great white hope in this respect but really hasn't pushed on.

[Dave Cahill]

I don't think he was

[blockhead]

Having said, an even semi-competent Fijian goalkicker would have seen them win anyway today.

Yeah Volavola was the great white hope in this respect but really hasn't pushed on.

Now if Ron Atkinson said that, he'ed be fired! Again.

[Ruckedtobits]

Aren't bunch of those Uruguayans are now playing in the MLR in the U.S.? If so it shows that the MLR could be a serious source for bringing up the level in the USA, Canadian and South American teams. It's giving a bunch of these guys an outlet to play rugby professionally at a decent level and world rugby will reap the benefits. Feel sorry for the Fijians but the Islander teams have being dreck in this world cup so far.

A number of them played Pro D2 last season with Clubs like Brive (good scouting by Davidson) & Oyannax. A couple have been recruited for MRL but AFAIK haven't yet played a full Season with them yet.

The Fijian performance was really indicative of what happens in a Squad who invest huge emotional energy in a game but come up short. The deficit in the immediate aftermath is horrendous (ask any of the Irish 2007 Squad about the psychological explanations they got after those displays). If that theory is proven and the impact is replicated, and despite the contrasting turn-around time, keep an end out for Scotland's next performance.

On a broader canvass, this was proof of the value of World Rugby's investment of top-quality Coaches into Tier 2 Nations for short-term appointments to improve skills and organisation. Despite the huge gap in professional rugby experience between the Squads, Uruguay played a style of rugby that suited their skill sets and physiques. Equally, their defensive alignment and quality tackling prevented Fiji from imposing their superior skills on the game.

Well done Uruguay who went down last November to a weakened Ulster team but have improved a lot since then.

[neill_m]

Some result for Uruguay, given it was 68-7 to Fiji when they played each other last November.

Fiji's goalkicking stats were grim 1/6?

[Oldschool]

Top 3 in each pool in this RWC will qualify for 2023 (unless they change the rules), a win for Uruguay v Georgia could put them in great shape to get to France 2023. Uruguay played some lovely rugby, Fiji did have a 4 day turnaround from the Australia game, but did make 12 changes to their starting XV to be fair.

Thanks, didn't realize that.
Thanks also for the continued TV programme updates.

[Ruckedtobits]

Well done Conor O'Shea. Italy now qualified for RWC 2023 regardless of remaining games. They looked good going forward but Canada could have had at least three more tries if they had any calm in their players. Probably we will not see Parisse again. Today's back-row were far more effective and influential in the game.

[johng]

Parrise stuck on the same caps as drico

[blockhead]

Well done Conor O'Shea. Italy now qualified for RWC 2023 regardless of remaining games. They looked good going forward but Canada could have had at least three more tries if they had any calm in their players. Probably we will not see Parisse again. Today's back-row were far more effective and influential in the game.

Not quite, but it would take a least 2 earth shattering results to deprive them. Fiji gonna struggle to make it to France 2023. Access to top players wont be easy for the qualifiers.

[neill_m]

John Quill handed a 3 game ban for his hit on Owen Farrell.

[neill_m]

Well done Conor O'Shea. Italy now qualified for RWC 2023 regardless of remaining games. They looked good going forward but Canada could have had at least three more tries if they had any calm in their players. Probably we will not see Parisse again. Today's back-row were far more effective and influential in the game.

Not quite, but it would take a least 2 earth shattering results to deprive them. Fiji gonna struggle to make it to France 2023. Access to top players wont be easy for the qualifiers.

For this RWC - Fiji, Samoa and Tonga had a regional qualifer with Fiji and Tonga taking the slots. Samoa qualified via a backdoor playoff v Germany.

[Fan with smartphone]

Watching Argentina and I’m wondering...are England in a spot of bother in this pool? If Argentina happen to beat England (possibly more possible than people think) then Argentina will have a bonus from losing to France and potentially a more healthy points difference. France will be in trouble if Argentina do beat England as they don’t have a bonus from their win, but if they can level up the bonus point somewhere, then they’ll play weaker teams with a fair idea of how much they need to win by.

Simple solution for England is beat Argentina, but we know just how tough that can be. Tonga just scored here too, so Argentina’s points difference might not be as healthy as I was thinking it was gonna be.

[Ruckedtobits]

John Quill handed a 3 game ban for his hit on Owen Farrell.

There's many who think that a reasonable trade-off.

[Fan with smartphone]

Well that post aged badly

[Ruckedtobits]

A Welsh drop goal at the beginning of each half was the difference in their 29-25 win over Australia. A game that Oz should have won based on their second half performance. From my couch, Poite was the MOTM with an excellent display in a game with lots of TMO intervention which he handled well and at the same time ensuring that slowing down ruck ball and offsides were well policed. Can we have him for our Samoa game please?

[FLIP]

A Welsh drop goal at the beginning of each half was the difference in their 29-25 win over Australia. A game that Oz should have won based on their second half performance. From my couch, Poite was the MOTM with an excellent display in a game with lots of TMO intervention which he handled well and at the same time ensuring that slowing down ruck ball and offsides were well policed. Can we have him for our Samoa game please?

Plenty missed in that match with plenty of citings to come. Wales offside at most phases in defence.

[LeRouxIsPHat]

A Welsh drop goal at the beginning of each half was the difference in their 29-25 win over Australia. A game that Oz should have won based on their second half performance. From my couch, Poite was the MOTM with an excellent display in a game with lots of TMO intervention which he handled well and at the same time ensuring that slowing down ruck ball and offsides were well policed. Can we have him for our Samoa game please?

I thought Australia made a big mistake when it went to 25-26. They had been running Wales ragged by keeping the tempo up but then let them off the hook a bit by box kicking off the restart. Wales gathered it, Kepu went offside from a ruck that followed, and that was the game IMO.

Great game, Gareth Davies was phenomenal and Wales did really well to find a way to get through it given that Biggar was off and they endured such a strong comeback.

Australia will be kicking themselves though, it was their own fault that Wales built such a lead. It was a bizarre call to start Foley given how Cheika has tried to move on from him recently and he had a nightmare.