I watched the late matches in Greece last weekend, and I’ve watched quite a few of the second round games.

After France served up roasted Kiwi for the hors d’oeuvres (enjoyed that) I definitely think it’s between them, Ireland and South Africa.

England are poor; yes, they scored a bonus point win last night but they lacked decision and incisiveness and ball retention was very poor. They will almost certainly get out of the group, and will play one of Australia, Wales and Fiji in the quarter. They might stand a chance against one of those teams, but if they do scrape into the semi they will be clattered.

Similar story with Wales; they have a good chance to win the group and possibly progress to a semi, but I think that’s about it. Wales and England are both quite fortunate to be in the two objectively weakest groups.

Scotland, on the other hand, are really unlucky to be in the group of death; they have already lost to South Africa and I can’t see them matching Ireland, so that should be it. Decent team, horrendous draw.

The opening game was a highlight for me, and watching Fiji beat Australia yesterday was definitely the best thing so far!

It's been an interesting tournament, rather than a good one so far. I understand the benefits of kicking possession away but it rarely makes for an interesting match, especially when it's executed poorly, ahem... England.

It has been good to see the smaller teams play adventurous rugby and occasionally push the tier 1 nations - a strong set of tier 2 nations is absolutely necessary for the future of the game.

I'm fortunate enough to be over in Paris for both the semi-finals and I'd be very surprised to see England or Wales in either of them. Ireland and France are my two favourites, but both of them will come under huge pressure of expectation as the tournament gets towards its denouement.

I've watched quite a bit of the World Cup, too. Fiji v Aus was thrilling. I was delighted for Fiji, their rugby was enthralling. it was like watching sevens rugby played by fifteen. In truth I'd like to see them progress in to the knock out rounds. England managed an inventive and determined win in their opener, but looked very poor to me last night. I abandoned the match after the first half, and subsequently learned they managed four tries. England look very average to me, and I say that as an Englishman living in Ireland. Ireland, my adopted home, look sharp and well honed to a man. All aspects of their game look finely tuned, the Springboks have their work cut out for them. I see Ireland out finessing them in the first half of their tie, then the boks will revert to type and come on heavy with the muscle and aggression really pushing the fair play parameters.

Des

I was at the England v Japan game last night. It was a last minute ticket after watching Wales v Portugal on Saturday in the same stadium, and I ended up sitting amongst lots of Japanese fans. They were great fun!

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 8:38 am
Scotland, on the other hand, are really unlucky to be in the group of death; they have already lost to South Africa and I can’t see them matching Ireland, so that should be it. Decent team, horrendous draw.

Yes Scotland got the worst possible draw, in with the number 1 and 2 ranked teams in the world, both of whom are looking pretty impressive.

I'm going to the Scotland v Tonga match in Nice on Sunday, hoping we can get a win and at least take it to the final pool match against Ireland, but we will certainly be underdogs in that match

^^^ The problem is that the draw was made in December 2020, when Ireland were ranked fifth and France seventh. They were therefore in band two of the top tier nations. Band one consisted of South Africa, New Zealand, England and Wales. Having the draw so early has drawn some criticism, naturally.

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote: ↑Mon Sep 18, 2023 2:29 pm ^^^ The problem is that the draw was made in December 2020, when Ireland were ranked fifth and France seventh. They were therefore in band two of the top tier nations. Band one consisted of South Africa, New Zealand, England and Wales. Having the draw so early has drawn some criticism, naturally.

and I believe we were ranked 9th and hence outside the top two tiers, our current ranking of 5th irrelevant.

@Thegreyman And what seems bizarre is that, barring upsets of course, two from England, Argentina, Japan, Wales, Fiji and Australia will be in the semi-finals, and two from South Africa, Ireland, New Zealand and France will be going out in the quarter-final. Bonkers!

Thegreyman wrote:I'm going to the Scotland v Tonga match in Nice on Sunday, hoping we can get a win and at least take it to the final pool match against Ireland, but we will certainly be underdogs in that match

Nice Stadium is a cracking venue, as is Nice itself. You'll love it, Patrick!

Sent from my SM-X800 using Tapatalk

welshlad wrote:

Thegreyman wrote:I'm going to the Scotland v Tonga match in Nice on Sunday, hoping we can get a win and at least take it to the final pool match against Ireland, but we will certainly be underdogs in that match

Nice Stadium is a cracking venue, as is Nice itself. You'll love it, Patrick!

Sent from my SM-X800 using Tapatalk

Thanks Steve, I’ve been to Nice quite a few times (one of our favourite places) but never to the stadium, only driven past it before.

Hope you have enjoyed your RWC experiences.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

What a huge Irish win against South Africa. The physicality of that game was something else. The shift that Sexton put in at 37yrs of age was utterly inspiring. Just so many stand out performances. What a contest.

Des

^^^ I agree, it was an epic game of rugby between two top-quality and evenly-matched sides. Congratulations to Ireland.

One word description; pulsating.

Guy

Sent from my XPERIA 5 III using Tapatalk

An absolutely terrific game. It could yet be the final. And you know which country is W3-L0 in RWC finals?

If all results go to form Ireland are likely to play NZ and SA to play France. The sad irony being that two of those teams are going home after that. The effect of seeding done three years ago.

England have to beat Samoa to secure the group, and their likely opponents are Wales or Australia (tonight’s big game). With Argentina likely to go through, that means two “lesser” teams will make the semifinals. You can read very little into England’s win yesterday. No team they could face from now on will let them do that.

And in the “playing for pride“ department, what a great draw between Portugal and Georgia.

I was feeling a bit lethargic yesterday after Saturday’s Covid jab, so it was great to sprawl on the sofa and watch plenty of rugby.

Great results all round for the British Isles teams. OK, the opposition was poor, but Wales and Scotland both played outstandingly.