2019 Rugby World Cup
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@Rocky-Rockbottom Saying goodbye to England early again would almost be as satisfying as winning the WC.
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@Canes4life No not really Stephen Jones may top himself then we would lose that great journalism then I would have to find some other fluffybunny to hate
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@Canes4life said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Rocky-Rockbottom Saying goodbye to England early again would almost be as satisfying as winning the WC.
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@Chris said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Canes4life No not really Stephen Jones may top himself then we would lose that great journalism then I would have to find some other fluffybunny to hate
You'll be disappointed to hear SJ was a staunch critic of the appointment of Lancaster but not Lancaster the man. So he had a bob each way there. Whereas this time, I think he's the opposite, so once again a bob each way and the ability to grandstand regardless.
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@Canes4life said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Bones you alright pal?
@Bones has been turned
It is a cruel desire but at least those memes of someone struggling to get out of a pool would go around again. If only the CWC would oblige again as well.
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@Crucial said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Canes4life said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Bones you alright pal?
@Bones has been turned
It is a cruel desire but at least those memes of someone struggling to get out of a pool would go around again. If only the CWC would oblige again as well.
Riiiight. You guys are satisfied by England losing in the pools almost as much as if NZ wins the world cup... And I'm the one with the issue? That's just weird.
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@sparky said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Chris-B Great to hear what Ted had say.......
He is wrong on a couple of details.
- The great Wales team of 1971 were the best in the world and better than the current lot.
2 Ted 's 2011 RWC squad only had two first-fives initially. Cruden and then Donald came in after injuries:
All Blacks squad named for 2011 Rugby World Cup
Hookers Corey Flynn Canterbury (14) Andrew Hore Taranaki (54) Keven Mealamu Auckland (85) Props John Afoa Auckland (33) Ben Franks Tasman (11) Owen Franks Canterbury (23) Tony Woodcock North Harbour (75)
Wasnt Slade the surprise pick initially , then Cruden on the skateboard , then donald on the whitebait ?
- The great Wales team of 1971 were the best in the world and better than the current lot.
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@antipodean said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
One of the greatest mistakes the military makes is training to win the previous war. That's what Ted looks like he's doing: "I needed four five-eighths, so you should definitely take three"
I remember when the 2015 squad was picked , ted commented he would have picked Jane and dagg ahead of NMS and Naholo , ( just my opinion he said )
As great as he was ,and i do enjoy listening to him, i think he does get a bit stuck in the past now , and shag is a bit more visionary for the future
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@Bones to wipe that smug look off Eddie Jones's face would be priceless. Of course I'd rather see the All Blacks win the World Cup but the Poms getting knocked out is nearly as satisfying because of their arrogance and media thinking they are the best in the World.
Maybe @Bones has a secret admiration for the blokes from the North.
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@kiwiinmelb said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
As great as he was ,and i do enjoy listening to him, i think he does get a bit stuck in the past now , and shag is a bit more visionary for the future
I love Ted (as the avatar suggests) but unless he has skin in the game I find he talks in platitudes. When he is engaged though he usually has drops good nuggets.
Hansen is the reverse.
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I think this is shaping up as the most (broadly) open world cup since 1995, with I think 5 contenders for the winner: NZ, England, Ireland, Wales, South Africa
In 1995; the 5 contenders were the more traditional post 1990 big 5: NZ, England, Australia, France, South Africa.
I think 1995 was more open.
This time Ireland and Wales don't have the going deep pedigree earned from previous runs, although Wales did go deep in 2011 and the coaching group have that knowledge even if the players have mostly moved on. It may take going deep previously to gain the experience to win it next time. in 1995 the RWC was still so new to bother about pedigree in previous tournaments.
Ireland also have a terrible draw this time to complicate things.
Amazing really that my big 5 doesn't include Australia and France. These 2 plus Argentina and Scotland have the ability to knock most of the above mentioned 5 teams out of the tournament but IMO probably don't have enough in them to go all the way themselves.
9 strong teams. Is a good place for rugby to be. I'll try to remember this silver lining if we have a horror tournament .....
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@Canes4life the smug look he had when they lost to Wales you mean?
Yeah my secret admiration for the men from the North Island isn't so secret, also the ones from the South Island. The ones in black.
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@Rapido said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@sparky said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
2 Ted 's 2011 RWC squad only had two first-fives initially. Cruden and then Donald came in after injuries:
All Blacks squad named for 2011 Rugby World Cup
Hookers Corey Flynn Canterbury (14) Andrew Hore Taranaki (54) Keven Mealamu Auckland (85) Props John Afoa Auckland (33) Ben Franks Tasman (11) Owen Franks Canterbury (23) Tony Woodcock North Harbour (75)
Which is probably why Ted knows that they do actually need three 10s. When in the same situation 8 years ago (the third choice 10 not worthy of selection compared to the e.g. 7th best loose forward etc) that this was a actually hopeless cop-out strategy as they immediately needed to replace the injured 10 from out of the squad, ASAP. Donald would have been in on the Monday after the quarter-final etc, if they knew where he actually was.
Donald was an un-used sub (the only un-used sub) in the 2011 semi. Was that because Ted co thought he was a bit meh? Or because he was so far behind in the homework as he was from outside the squad? And Cruden was needing all the prep-time coaching attention in the leadup to the semi as he was also catching up having been brought in from outside the squad ....
Even though they actually had Weepu as a 3rd choice back in 2011 , People on this thread have been suggesting Crotty for 3rd choice in 2019 ..... imagine that ...
Exactly.
Ted gave the example of what if one of your first fives happens to get injured the day before a knock out match and you've only got two - you're on thin ice. And pointed out that if you go through the likely squad there's no-one who can realistically cover first five at present.
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I thought forwards won matches, back determine by how much?
So if we have our best forwards out there, it shouldnt matter which numpty stands at 10 to catch, kick and pass!
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@taniwharugby Therein lies the issue - it doesn't look like the 2019 RWC AB forward pack will be in the same class as the 2011 or 2015 ABs RWC forward packs.
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@Rapido said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
9 strong teams. Is a good place for rugby to be. I'll try to remember this silver lining if we have a horror tournament .....
9 strong teams suggests there won't be a dud quarter final match-up for the first time. Essentially all four games could go either way.
... unless a Fiji/Japan/Georgia cause an upset in pool play and are pitted against a powerhouse in the quarters.
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@Wurzel said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@Rapido said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
9 strong teams. Is a good place for rugby to be. I'll try to remember this silver lining if we have a horror tournament .....
9 strong teams suggests there won't be a dud quarter final match-up for the first time. Essentially all four games could go either way.
... unless a Fiji/Japan/Georgia cause an upset in pool play and are pitted against a powerhouse in the quarters.
I actually think that happened for the first time in 2015. But, I refused to believe France were as weak as they actually were. Maybe Scotland v Australia was seen as a dud gong into the match?
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@KiwiMurph said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
@taniwharugby Therein lies the issue - it doesn't look like the 2019 RWC AB forward pack will be in the same class as the 2011 or 2015 ABs RWC forward packs.
We might need some dry, dew free evenings, so that we can play to our strengths of slick handling to counter the rush defences.
Forward arm wrestles with lots of territorial kicking and penalty kicking might sink us.
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@Wurzel said in 2019 Rugby World Cup:
9 strong teams suggests there won't be a dud quarter final match-up for the first time. Essentially all four games could go either way.
Hell yeah, I love me some quarterfinal weekend.
One other thing about rugby, is that a group of strong, conditioned and committed people will always always have a starters chance. We really struggled to beat SA in QF2015, despite them losing to Japan a few weeks before. They fronted up and dominated us physically.
What's good is that there is probably no really easy path to the final. 2007 South Africa had to play knock out games against Fiji, Argentina and then England. All Blacks would lick their lips at that. And - even so - England damn near beat SA, despite losing 36-0 to them earlier in the tourney.
