RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D)
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Holy Shit !!!
Talk about taking your opportunities. Los Teros lived off about 30% possession in that first half, but almost everything they touched turned to gold. The box kicks were great, the scrum mostly held up, the lineout fired pretty well, and when they got just a crack in the door they rammed it open with sheer determination and balls the size of church bells.
On the turnaround issue: Fiji played a team ranked above them on Day 2. They respected that team and tore into them like nobody's business, but ultimately failed in the same places they tend to at 15-man rugby: fitness, and then discipline.
On a short turnaround - having made 12 changes - they played against a team ranked 10 spots below them.
TEN.
A team who had never beaten them.
A team with a sum total of 2 RWC wins against similarly ranked teams (Spain 1999, Georgia 2003 - I was at that game).
In contrast to the first game, Fiji showed a complete lack of respect for Uruguay until it was way too late.
There's "playing your natural game" and then there's "utterly failing to do the basics". They simply couldn't handle the fact that Uruguay were chopping them down in low tackles (all bloody game), and didn't step back to simple phase rugby because they thought eventually the opposition would crack under offload pressure.
Save the fancy bullshit for once you've got the lead.
And in typing that last sentence, i realised I thought exactly the same thing about the Wallabies when Fiji were 21-12 up on a runaway try.
I didn't think Fiji had a 10 who was more ordinary than Volavola, and Josh Matavesi proved me wrong. That team was directionless from the halves out, and now have an uphill battle to qualify. They can still do it thanks to 2 bonus points, but they'll have to beat Wales and Georgia with 4 tries, and neither of those results is guaranteed, based on what I've seen dished up today.
The FoxSports home team were criticising McKee for making so many changes, but he didn't coach them to be shit.
If Fiji had stolen a win at the end if would have been a travesty.
Georgia must be quietly shitting themselves.
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@Kirwan I was originally thinking the same how unfair it is for many of the tier 2 teams given their depth to have such short turn arounds but you have also got to take into account many of the Fijian boys are professional rugby players .
Not entirely sure about the status, amateur or professional of Uruguayan boys
Fiji for their part 20 odd handling errors and running into contact when they should have passed and vice versa and to top it off listening the skipper saying they under estimated their opposition is a bit damming .
So in summing things up, I would give much of the credit to the Uruguayan team..
A bit gutted for Fiji given I have a lot friends in the Fijian community and I know they will be hurting.. -
@Kirwan said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@MiketheSnow well I’m not guessing what the coach was thinking or throwing out cliches like one team wanted it more.
Depth isn’t great in Fijian rugby, I bet if there was a slightly bigger gap between games more of the top team could have played.
Well done for them taking advantage,
but without looking at the draw do Wales or the ABs have four day turnarounds?Edit: Yes they do, good.
If the situation had been reversed and the clearly inferior team had to deal with a 4-day turnaround with the majority of their team not having played against far superior opposition and certainly not under the added pressure of at a WC, and then one - possibly two - game changing decision(s) went against them and they lost the match then I could understand the shouts of 'the WC is biased against Tier 2 Nations'.
This match was not that.
That was yesterday's match, Russia v Samoa.
I went back. You had no problem with it yesterday.
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@Kirwan said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
Not taking away anything away from Uruguay, love a good upset. It’s what makes the WC interesting.
Just want a level playing field.
Everyone has at least one short turnaround in the tournament. Fiji didn’t respect the ball and fell off a lot of tackles.
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The Uru’s really kept their shape on both sides of the ball. They were pretty disciplined defensively* and took their opportunities with the ball through spotting gaps and support play.
*Not to be a downer, but at the ruck I thought the ref gave the Uru’s some lee-way. Lots of warnings when they were have an extra hold on or off their feet. Several I thought they could’ve been penalised.
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
*Not to be a downer, but at the ruck I thought the ref gave the Uru’s some lee-way. Lots of warnings when they were have an extra hold on or off their feet. Several I thought they could’ve been penalised.
I thought the same, while noting only a couple of freebies for the Fijians as well - particularly driving in from the side. The difference for me was Uruguay were first on the ball a lot, and pretty much always from the gate.
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Russia selected exactly the same team after a 4-day turn-around for yesterday's match vs Samoa. No one would accuse them of a lack of effort if they were tired.
Waqaniburotu's post-match comments said it all, a lack of respect for the opposition and the basics of the game.
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@Kirwan said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@MiketheSnow well I’m not guessing what the coach was thinking or throwing out cliches like one team wanted it more.
Depth isn’t great in Fijian rugby, I bet if there was a slightly bigger gap between games more of the top team could have played.
Well done for them taking advantage,
but without looking at the draw do Wales or the ABs have four day turnarounds?Edit: Yes they do, good.
Fiji have obviously targeted wins against either Australia or Wales or both to put them through to the QF stage.
They came up short against Australia last Sunday, so the only route to the QF available to them pre kick-off was beating Uruguay, Georgia and Wales.
If they achieved that then meeting them in the QF would be one of England, France or Argentina.
Teams which would be expected to beat Fiji.
Knowing that, if I had been coaching Fiji I would have started the matches against Uruguay and Georgia with close to my best side.
Attempt to run them off the park, secure the BP, and then make substitutions as early as possible without putting the result in jeopardy.
John McKee selected a team which he felt could beat Uruguay.
The Fijian players either didn't execute the game plan or went off script.
The Uruguayans played better than McKee had anticipated and he didn't have the personnel and/or Plan B to turn the game around and secure the win.
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@Bovidae said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
Russia selected exactly the same team after a 4-day turn-around for yesterday's match vs Samoa. No one would accuse them of a lack of effort if they were tired.
Bingo. And it was Uruguay's first game together at this tournament so do we give them more credit for bringing good cohesion?
I'm as disappointed as any neutral that Fiji are unlikely to make the quarters at this stage. But you can't say they deserve to, based on two performances so far.
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Great win for Uruguay.
Lets hope world rugby & SANZAR can develop the game there by giving them more regular Test matches
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@MiketheSnow said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@Kirwan said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@MiketheSnow well I’m not guessing what the coach was thinking or throwing out cliches like one team wanted it more.
Depth isn’t great in Fijian rugby, I bet if there was a slightly bigger gap between games more of the top team could have played.
Well done for them taking advantage,
but without looking at the draw do Wales or the ABs have four day turnarounds?Edit: Yes they do, good.
If the situation had been reversed and the clearly inferior team had to deal with a 4-day turnaround with the majority of their team not having played against far superior opposition and certainly not under the added pressure of at a WC, and then one - possibly two - game changing decision(s) went against them and they lost the match then I could understand the shouts of 'the WC is biased against Tier 2 Nations'.
This match was not that.
That was yesterday's match, Russia v Samoa.
I went back. You had no problem with it yesterday.
Umm, because of work I’m only catching up with the other games now. I didn’t even watch the Fiji game, hence all my questions.
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@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
The Uru’s really kept their shape on both sides of the ball. They were pretty disciplined defensively* and took their opportunities with the ball through spotting gaps and support play.
*Not to be a downer, but at the ruck I thought the ref gave the Uru’s some lee-way. Lots of warnings when they were have an extra hold on or off their feet. Several I thought they could’ve been penalised.
Yeah, plus looking back at a lot of crucial tackle/ruck turnovers, Uruguay got away with a heck of a lot of Pocock style play. Ref seemed very happy for them to be well off their feet and/or hands in the ruck.
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@Bones said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
The Uru’s really kept their shape on both sides of the ball. They were pretty disciplined defensively* and took their opportunities with the ball through spotting gaps and support play.
*Not to be a downer, but at the ruck I thought the ref gave the Uru’s some lee-way. Lots of warnings when they were have an extra hold on or off their feet. Several I thought they could’ve been penalised.
Yeah, plus looking back at a lot of crucial tackle/ruck turnovers, Uruguay got away with a heck of a lot of Pocock style play. Ref seemed very happy for them to be well off their feet and/or hands in the ruck.
Went both ways.
Fiji had a flopper at nearly every ruck.
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Fiji lost for the same reason South Africa lost to Japan: They didn't respect their opposition.
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@MiketheSnow said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@Bones said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
@ACT-Crusader said in RWC: Fiji v Uruguay (Pool D):
The Uru’s really kept their shape on both sides of the ball. They were pretty disciplined defensively* and took their opportunities with the ball through spotting gaps and support play.
*Not to be a downer, but at the ruck I thought the ref gave the Uru’s some lee-way. Lots of warnings when they were have an extra hold on or off their feet. Several I thought they could’ve been penalised.
Yeah, plus looking back at a lot of crucial tackle/ruck turnovers, Uruguay got away with a heck of a lot of Pocock style play. Ref seemed very happy for them to be well off their feet and/or hands in the ruck.
Went both ways.
Fiji had a flopper at nearly every ruck.
I probably wasn't paying enough attention - I'm only going off all the "game changer" clips they showed after the game of the Uruguay steals. From what I recall early in the game, Fiji looked to be staying well out of the breakdown post tackle, to the point of having absolutely no one in at all many times - guess that changed as they got desperate!
