RWC Draw
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Has anyone looked at England's draw closely? They are truly screwed imo and if they can win it with such a tough draw, then they will definitely be deserved winners. They have two of their toughest opponents in their pool in France and Argentina in the last two rounds of pool play. Basically in order to win the tournament, they have to get through five Tier 1 teams over five consecutive weekends. Most teams can peak for two, maybe three games in a row. Five might be a bridge too far.
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Has anyone looked at England's draw closely? They are truly screwed imo and if they can win it with such a tough draw, then they will definitely be deserved winners. They have two of their toughest opponents in their pool in France and Argentina in the last two rounds of pool play. Basically in order to win the tournament, they have to get through five Tier 1 teams over five consecutive weekends. Most teams can peak for two, maybe three games in a row. Five might be a bridge too far.
Yeah - I originally thought they had it good, being able to "warm up" into the Finals... but listening to the 1014 guys talk about it, figured it was more as you say... 4/5 weeks in a row of top-tier competition - difficult.
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@akan004 Although apparently Eddie disagrees:
“If you were doing the ideal world and you wanted to set it up, that's how you want it, so we have no excuses.”
Lol. I guess he has to say the right things to the press. Can't see how anyone would be happy with a draw like that. I agree with the 1014 boys, had England as 2nd favourites and have now written them off almost completely.
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England could be in a position to punt the final pool game against France, they could get Fiji in the quarters - there are plenty of ways that it quickly turns into the ideal schedule.
New Zealand's has a good draw only providing they beat the Boks, otherwise they likely face Ireland in the quarter final.
Similarly, if Scotland upset Ireland as they did in their last outing then we get rewarded with a Chicago rematch in the QF despite beating SA.
Hard to cry too many tears for England as there isn't a true title contender in Pool D - so in that respect I think I would rather 100% chance of either Aus or Wales than a 50% chance of getting Ireland.
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@kruse I said the exact same about Australia at RWC 2015, who finished up pool play with games against England and Wales immediately before the knockout round.
Mind you, they were flat against Wales and god only knows how they beat Scotland in the QF.
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@rotated Not likely. If England drops the game against France, they will play the winner of Pool D in the quarters, which will more than likely be Australia. You are right however in stating that dropping the game against France might give them the best chance of winning the thing as it allows their first choice players a bit of a rest leading up to the quarters.
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@akan004 although history says if you drop a game, you are done...but then history told us we couldn't go back to back nor could we win in the NH, shows what history knew!
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@taniwharugby said in RWC Draw:
@akan004 although history says if you drop a game, you are done...but then history told us we couldn't go back to back nor could we win in the NH, shows what history knew!
Mind you France '11 and England '07 gave that idea a tickle.
The hierarchy of rugby has flattened out a lot more since '03 - especially between #3-12 in the world. So now qualifying second in your pool and getting a one seed in the QF isn't the death sentence it once was. If you looked at the 12 quarter finals between '95 -> '03 only one was remotely close - the Australia v England game in '95. Since then every QF aside from that beautiful fixture against the French last tournament has been legitimately competitive at the 60 minute mark, usually within a try.
Hopefully we about 2 more cups from getting to the point where people don't even bother predicting QF opponents and are more worried about getting out of the pool like in the FIFA World Cup!
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Spain tear Germany apart in front of 15,000 crowd
Spain are one win away from a place at Rugby World Cup 2019 after recording a comprehensive 84-10 win over Germany in front of King Felipe VI of Spain and the Webb Ellis Cup in Madrid on Sunday. With Romania having scored a bonus-point win over Belgium, Spain are now three points behind The Oaks in European qualification with a game in hand, and a win against Belgium in Brussels next weekend will see them qualify for the first time since 1999. The team that finishes top in the Rugby Europe Championship standings over 2017-18 (other than Georgia) will qualify into Pool A alongside Ireland, Scotland, hosts Japan and the Play-Off winner. The runner-up will play Portugal in a play-off with the winner progressing to play Samoa home and away. The winner on aggregate will qualify in Pool A, while the loser will face the four-team Repechage in November. -
@taniwharugby said in RWC Draw:
@akan004 although history says if you drop a game, you are done...but then history told us we couldn't go back to back nor could we win in the NH, shows what history knew!
Mind you France '11 and England '07 gave that idea a tickle.
England '91
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@stargazer said in RWC Draw:
Potentially a very dodgy result...in a match in which a Spanish loss would send Romania through...all the match officials were apparently Romanian. Penalty count was I think 22-3 in favour of Belgium - and no, in case anyone was wondering, Wayne Barnes is not half-Romanian.
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WR finds another way to shoot themselves in the foot.
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@billy-tell said in RWC Draw:
@stargazer said in RWC Draw:
Potentially a very dodgy result...in a match in which a Spanish loss would send Romania through...all the match officials were apparently Romanian. Penalty count was I think 22-3 in favour of Belgium - and no, in case anyone was wondering, Wayne Barnes is not half-Romanian.
Oh, wow.
But, in some guiltyish way, I'm a little bit proud that RWC has reached a level of FIFA like intrigue ...... it's like ARG 5 PERU 0 in 1978 .....
Although I would have liked Spain to qualify, someone new.
