JonS Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 not if they win this year...and since recent form is apparently no great indication of who actually wins the cup you'd have to say that on Sunday's form they should be hot favourites! Sure, and if the Irish win this year, that'd be a first too (two firsts, actually ... maybe three) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Well if we want to go for recent form we can say that the last time we played the AB's we won! I'm not sure if that cancels out the other defeats though! I was fairly confident of beating the Boks because of (a) recent form and ( I think they are consistently over-rated, especially when playing away from SA. I never expected it to be so close though. I'm not sure that the going through the whole thing undefeated is so relevant any more. Partly because it's a no-brainer after the pools. But also when you look back at the relative discrepancies between the top four teams and the also rans in years like 87 and 91, things are a bit more even now. In the eraly RWCs you also had only 3 pool games, which made recovering from a loss more difficult. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 Some other stats to muck around with from our discussion earlier about the penchant for 3 pointers: South Africa has won 2 RWCs. But they have never scored a try in either of those finals. In fact in both their finals no tries were scored by either team. England reached the semis in 2007 but only scored 12 tries throughout the competiton, less than even Scotland or Fiji. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 11, 2011 Share Posted October 11, 2011 For a while on Sunday it looked like the ABs were going to beat the Bargies purely with kicked points. It's a while since I've seen them do that - or need to do that - to anyone. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 All Blacks cheating again 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 It's what we do. Besides, is it really cheating? Swapping the balls in the middle of a game - that's probably cheating. But this? Even the Aust media aren't calling it cheating - in fact, the only person being called a cheat there is Pocock. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 12, 2011 Share Posted October 12, 2011 All Blacks cheating again so not actually cheating at all - does that make you a liar as well as a cry baby?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 It's what we do. I guess. It's a bit like having a news story along the lines of "Dog eats meat" or "Politician obfuscates the truth". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Magpie_Oz Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Does seem a bit odd to have a strict rule regarding bringing replacements but not apply it to all of the teams in the comp. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Since he's not a replacement for anyone the rule doesn't apply - what is it with you aussies making up stories already - why can't you wait until after you're beaten like the rest of us?? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted October 13, 2011 Share Posted October 13, 2011 Makes me wonder who the other teams use for their opposed practice, though. I don't think there were a couple of dozen Saxons players in NZ for England to use as tackle dummies, for example. Does everyone else have to train within their official squad? Is that not an advantage for the home team, if there are no restrictions on who can be involved in training sessions? Not that I think it matters much, but they've made rules about delays in getting replacements to stop the locals getting an advantage over the ones from half a world away. Seems 'of a class' to me and I wonder if it'll be regulated for next time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Did the other teams have any opposed sessions? Did you check to see if they'd bothered?? If not perhaps then perhaps they just weren't clever enough to realise they have always been allowed - not the AB's fault if not 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Given that a RWC squad is 30 men, this allows for plenty of opposed sessions. As the story states, the gripe was about a New Zealander NOT in their official squad being allowed to train with the team and especially in this case it was the use of a player (at the time) thought likely to be brought into the squad at short notice, a luxury that would not be available to other teams and allowing NZ to keep their options open, effectively creating for them a 31-man squad. It's a bit of a loophole and really more of a case of "having your cake and eating it too". 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stalins Organ Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Except he's not "training with the team" - he's training against the team!! He's not taking part in their drills, participating in their briefings, staying with them, OR GOING TO PLAY!! And in other words you do not actually know what he tules are, or whether anyone else has used them, and you're all hissy-fitting because you do not know any better. ...:cool: 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 What they did is questionable, at best. I wouldn't be surprised if the IRB - in their oh so infinite wisdom - produce a halfarsed rule for the next tournament that does little more han piss everybody off by preventing teams interacting with anybody or anything at all during training sessions (ring-ins, media, fans, coaches, other team members, the grass, etc) Prediction time! Jones&Jones 18 vs 12 LesBâtardsBleu GirtBySea 18 vs 25 ABs 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce90 Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 JonS.Looking at your previous predictions I am now an extremely worried Welsh supporter. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Oi! No, wait ... yeah, you probably should be (just quietly, I'm a mildly worried NZ supporter) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Well we have a worried French supporter in my house. Guess I will be supporting France as well, given as I never really found much to like about Welsh people. The NZ-AUS game should be a good match-up, but I fear that it could also be a dour one, with neither side willing to take any risks. I'm betting that the winning points will come from something like an intercept or some other sort of handling error that will be against the run of play. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 14, 2011 Share Posted October 14, 2011 Except he's not "training with the team" - he's training against the team!! He's not taking part in their drills, participating in their briefings, staying with them, OR GOING TO PLAY!! And in other words you do not actually know what he tules are, or whether anyone else has used them, and you're all hissy-fitting because you do not know any better. ...:cool: God. I wish I had as much luck with my ocean fishing as I do with my lures here. BTW, can I go on the record and say "ABs, please go back to the old Hakka. The new versions are dull. Original is best." 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Gold. padding 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Affentitten Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Gold. padding Yeah but you gotta love the Kiwis commenting underneath bringing up Ireland. Still talking about it long after the Paddies are back at home in their tartan rugs. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 well, damn. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bodkin Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Halftime Wales 3 France 6 My money is on the Welsh even with losing Jones and their captain. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonS Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 Yeah but you gotta love the Kiwis commenting underneath bringing up Ireland. Still talking about it long after the Paddies are back at home in their tartan rugs. Yep. Unfortunately that standard of comments from the mongs is pretty common on Stuff. About the only thing that cheers me up after reading them is reading the comments on something like Youtube. Also, there were quite a few positive comments about Fitzies piece, so it's not a total loss. Gutted for Wales. France are going to get SMASHED next week if they try that again. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
womble Posted October 15, 2011 Share Posted October 15, 2011 So close for our cuddly celtic neighbours. Allain Roland is a good ref. But that was an execrable decision. A yellow would have been harsh. I can't remember the last time I saw a red card in an international game, and I've seen fights and deliberate, malicious foul play go unpunished even by a yellow. Such a shame that the best team on the day suffered such a handicap for no fault of their own. Still, the French haven't had to use up their 'one big game per WC' yet, so there's a chance another N. hemisphere team might take the Webb Ellis home with them. My head says otherwise though. Whichever of Aus or NZ gets through tomorrow, they'll be too much for the French. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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