Rugby World Cup general discussion
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I for one will absolutely piss myself if the winner comes from Pools C or D
Actually I'll be ecstatic if it's Wales
All this talk that the draw is lopsided and it's unfair
If that's the case, then if you're good enough to beat SA or France or Ireland or NZ in the Final then you're good enough to beat them earlier in the competition
And if one of those four teams does make the final and plays a team from Pools C or D then they should be rubbing their hands
After all they only have to beat a really shit side to win it all
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@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
All this talk that the draw is lopsided and it's unfair
1st part correct, not sure anyone is saying the 2nd?
At any rate, teams knew what they were in for and have been planning, lets play!
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@taniwharugby said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
All this talk that the draw is lopsided and it's unfair
1st part correct, not sure anyone is saying the 2nd?
At any rate, teams knew what they were in for and have been planning, lets play!
Exactly
And the pools are not lopsided IMHO
The Ire, SA, Scot pool is like the Aus, Wal, Eng pool in 2015
Each WC has a 'Pool of Death'
And even if the QF had been Pool A v Pool C and Pool B v Pool D for example then we'd still likely see
NZ v Aus
Fra v Wal
Ire v Eng
SA v ArgOn paper NZ, Fra, Ire and SA (the top four sides in the world) advancing to the SF
But as many teams have found to their cost the QF are not played on paper and arguably the shit side of the draw could win one or all of those matches
Realistically NZ and Fra should have grins from ear to ear
One tough match in pool play (against each other) which shouldn't make any difference to either team making the QF
The RWC is a war of attrition and these two teams are best placed to have their best players playing at the knockout stages
That's why it's hard not to look past a France v NZ final
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No, they are lopsided, there is a reason the draw chooses one from ranked 1-4, then 5-8, etc for each pool = to make balanced pools. The fact that ranks 1-5 are on the same side of the draw by definition makes it lopsided. Whether tha's fair or whatever is different, but it is
a) lopsided
and
b) stupid due to the early draw. If this is not a problem then don't band the draws just do it randomly -
@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
I for one will absolutely piss myself if the winner comes from Pools C or D
Frankly, aside from being pissed it's not us, I'd be delighted...
If it's Fiji ...
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@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
All this talk that the draw is lopsided and it's unfair
Nobody has said ... well somebody might have but I haven'tseen it ... it's unfair. Just that it's stupid and has not achieved what they wanted to achieve: the best ranked teams meeting at the pointy end.
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@booboo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
All this talk that the draw is lopsided and it's unfair
Nobody has said ... well somebody might have but I haven'tseen it ... it's unfair. Just that it's stupid and has not achieved what they wanted to achieve: the best ranked teams meeting at the pointy end.
If by that you mean 1 v 4 and 2 v 3 (world rankings) meeting in the SF then no
But 2 of those top 4 ranked teams could meet in the Final
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So
Taking today's rankings (the last rankings before the start of RWC) the pools would look like this
Pool A
Ireland (1)
England (8)
Samoa (12)
Portugal (16)
Chile (22)Pool B
New Zealand (4)
Scotland (5)
Australia (9)
Italy (13)
Uruguay (17)Pool C
South Africa (2)
Fiji (7)
Georgia (11)
Tonga (15)
Namibia (21)Pool D
France (3)
Argentina (6)
Wales (10)
Japan (14)
Romania (19)Which would give possible QFs
Ireland v Scotland/Australia
New Zealand v England / SamoaSouth Africa v Argentina / Wales
France v FijiVery contestable QFs depending on which players are available and a 1-4 showing in the SF is not guaranteed
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Maybe someone knows how to resize this image for posting. A useful graphic re: team announcement times.
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Official RWC promo video - spot the caveman -
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@Stargazer Thank you good sir.
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@Machpants said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@taniwharugby said in Rugby World Cup news:
Captain is very staunch, lol, what a twat
I hope they get absolutely smashed to bits at this World Cup.
I don't care who's wins once its not them.
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@Steve said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Machpants said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@taniwharugby said in Rugby World Cup news:
Captain is very staunch, lol, what a twat
I hope they get absolutely smashed to bits at this World Cup.
I don't care who's wins once its not them.
They're not going to win with that colour scheme.
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@Duluth said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Ben Darwin, Parsons & Hall discussing the RWC
Darwin runs an analytics consultancy and their big thing is measuring cohesion. A different angle than what you usually hear from former players, pundits etc
That was brilliant watch, cheers.
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Darwin a classic consultant
Borrows your watch to tell you the time
Premium priced common sense
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@Steve said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Duluth said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Ben Darwin, Parsons & Hall discussing the RWC
Darwin runs an analytics consultancy and their big thing is measuring cohesion. A different angle than what you usually hear from former players, pundits etc
That was brilliant watch, cheers.
42:17
'Those are the two big games of the weekend'Think the SA v Scotland match has bigger implications than the Wales v Fiji match, yet no real discussion
Arguably England v Argentina too
Odd
And the co-host picking Samoa to make the SF
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