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No rugby world cup thread.


gautrek

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I wouldn't say it was a good game from Ireland. They managed to negate some of the Australian tactics but they weren't that brilliant themselves. They never looked close to scoring a try. It was just the Wallabies were dreadful. A team at that level should be able to adapt to losing players at short notice and they obviously couldn't get over it.

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What's clear is that the pool games are no longer the formalities they used to be. France did it tough there against a Canada who were probably playing the game of their lives. And both the tries for the main part of the game were pretty much the rugby league style bomb kick and hope the other team makes an error.

There is still the possibility that the Italians could beat Ireland. The last time they played (Feb 2011) the Irish only scraped home by a last minute drop goal.

The Fiji v Samoa game should be a cracker and the ARG v SCO match will be do or die for the group of death.

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Trust an Aussie to make it all about how they played and not about ethopposition!! ;)

I've been enjoying the games with the "minnows" - for me USA vs Russia, Canada vs Tonga have been highlights & I'm looking forward to other 2nd tier matches.

Sure their rugby isn't as good as the top grade (duh!), but they are enthusiastic, motivated, physical - when was the last time before yesterday you saw a try from an up-and-under landing near the line?? (Canada vs France) Little flashes of brilliance like that on top of their commitment & character are great to see.

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I fear that Australian rugby will only dwindle from here. Either that or the whole team will continue to be made up of Polynesian imports. It's lost the battle to AFL and the bubble wrap generation here are all in intensive soccer coaching clinics.

We're currently running at about 2/3 of the number of registered players as NZ. South Africa even has less than us and I suspect that our numbers have been swelled by immigration from there as it is.

Both my kids play, though my daughter will have to stop soon under the rules (and I think it will get too tough for her anyway). It's really nice at our club. Like the Tri-Nations plus the Six Nations. But here in Victoria I would say that about 80 - 90% of players are Maori / Poly and some clubs exclusively so (though they always need halfbacks :-) )

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In the early Seventies I was on a rugby tour of Scotland which coincided with the game celebrating the centenary of the SRU. Must have been Scotland v Rest of the World or something. We were just an insignificant little club from the Monmouthshire valleys but while we were out boozing one night on Princes Street we ran into some of the Rest of the World squad. Amongst them were All Black Alastair Scown and the Australian fullback Russell Fairfax. Scown was great and mixed well with us but I particularly remember Fairfax because he was so competely unpretentious and down to earth and I remember thinking there wouldn't be many British International rugby players who would have deigned to party with us while it seemed that to Fairfax we were just some more young rugby players out on the town and he stayed out with us through the night. I have always since had an affection for Australian rugby.

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The IRB website lists about 138,000 registered players in NZ, 87,000 in Aus, and 632,000 in South Africa!

Ooops! Misread a zero! I read 63,200 for SA when I checked the IRB site.

Note that the picture I painted as far as the rugby being dominated by Polynesians is much more exagerrated here in Victoria where rugby has always been a minor sport yet there is also a high rate of immigration from NZ.

As the father of a girl who plays rugby it's interesting that on the IRB site, the ARU lists us as having zero young female players. I guess because there is no official comp for that so all registered players are effectively genderless.

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I understand 7's is very popular in the US, since inclusion in hte Olympics & the US tournament has been going - I have a sister living in LA who goes along to that every year (so far - was easier for her when it was in LA!) & also to local college games.

god help the status quo if the USA does ever take it up "full time" in any sense of the word - all that money will "speak"!

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Seems reasonable - as JonS pointed out, the Wallabies have taken lessons from the AB's, and so it's only fair that kiwi fans take lessons from these Aussie fans and these Aussie fans and these Aussie fans and these Aussie test cricketers, and might even have read the Aussi guide to sledging :cool:

And these English fans too:rolleyes:

People have commented that we're 20 years out of date over here - so you can't complain when we catch up!! :P

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I was just fishing around in my Excel RWC sheet and putting in some hypothetical scores. Seems the main beneficiary of the Australian loss to Ireland is going to be England, who are likely to face France and Ireland on their route to the final instead of Australia in the quarters).

The Ireland-Italy game is going to be crucial since so many permutations hang on the result and bonus points. Plus it's the last game of the pools so everything will go down to the wire. Also important is how many points Australia and Ireland can smash onto Russia, since there is the possibility if Ireland loses to Italy, that points for and against will decide who goes through of those two.

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I was just fishing around in my Excel RWC sheet and putting in some hypothetical scores. Seems the main beneficiary of the Australian loss to Ireland is going to be England, who are likely to face France and Ireland on their route to the final instead of Australia in the quarters).

Disclosure: I support England.

The problem there, Aff, is that to become beneficiaries, England will have to beat France. On their performances so far, that isn't looking likely. They seem to have taken a few large steps back from their Six Nations form and the French may well tear a pedestrian team performance to pieces. Though you never know with the French, and the boys in white (or black :) ) have been occasionally known to play out of their skins, within the rules (for the most part) and actually look like a professional outfit rather than a buch of highly conditioned schoolboy players.

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Seems reasonable - as JonS pointed out' date=' the Wallabies have taken lessons from the AB's, and so it's only fair that kiwi fans take lessons from these Aussie fans and these Aussie fans and these Aussie fans and these Aussie test cricketers, and might even have read the Aussi guide to sledging :cool:

And these English fans too:rolleyes:

People have commented that we're 20 years out of date over here - so you can't complain when we catch up!! :P

Of which not one of those examples you've linked to relate to Australian Rugby fans. I could have sworn this was a thread all about the Rugby World Cup.

Regards

KR

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I think the difference between the cases as well though is that the ones SO highlights are retarded rednecks abusing players. (Or players abusing each other.)

The issue with the AB supporters I linked to was involving abuse of fellow fans, including those with children. It reflects my own experiences watching rugby in Auckland.

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