RWC QF: France v South Africa
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My head says France.
I may chop my head off closer to Sunday. -
I can totally see France winning this then losing against England a week later. That would be normal programming for the Frogs.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel if France win, England (assuming they beat Fiji) will not be stopping them. This isn't the pig headed English team from 2007 with over the hill greats playing a swansong.
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@Rancid-Schnitzel If Fiji win their QF final with England, I hope they beat France as payback for the Paddy O'Brien refereeing tragedy that was the 1999 QF.
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I keep saying this is not the mercurial France of old, but we shall see if I am right. They did seem to panic a little against the ABs in the first half or so... or maybe I was deluding myself.
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@nostrildamus Penaud could have played with the teams of old. Looks like he is playing footy with his mates at times. Languid style. He can't kick for toffee though
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@Bovidae said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:
SA are being slackers in not naming their team by now.
They're too busy reinforcing the bench because it can't support the weight of all their replacement props
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@Bovidae said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:
Referee: Ben O'Keeffe (NZR)
Assistant Referee 1: Paul Williams (NZR)
Assistant Referee 2: James Doleman (NZR)
TMO: Brendon Pickerill (NZR)An all kiwi officiating team.
I can't remember when last I saw the make-up of the officials all being from one country.(Maybe I just haven't been enough attention?)
I will say this upfront BEFORE the game... I do rate O'Keeffe. Hope he has a great game.
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@Billy-Webb These four officiated in the Japan v Argentina game.
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@Bovidae said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:
@Billy-Webb These four officiated in the Japan v Argentina game.
And depending how the dice fall could easily be the officiating team for the Final
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@stodders said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:
South Africa 0/1 with BOK reffing them this World Cup 😬.
Just kidding. He reffed the Ire/SA game well I thought. Kiwi ARs will be kept v busy policing two of the most egregiously offside defensive lines in world rugby 😂
Interesting side fact for you Stodders - the Boks defensive line is aggressively quick and has been for a number of years. This caused some refereeing issues with the Boks feeling they were quite frequently being called offside incorrectly, something opposing fans latched on to - hence your view.
To combat that, the Boks now train to explicitly line up 1 meter behind the offside line before shooting up in defence. And they have been clear in communicating this to the officials. Unsurprisingly, they are being pinged far less often for being offside these days. -
@Billy-Webb Not disputing Boks aggressiveness or line speed when the ball is slow. I can also see at times they start 1m back (Siya in 100m blocks position).
However when ruck speed is 2-3 secs for consecutive phases, any team, even the Boks brilliant rush defence, finds it hard to get their arses back on onside
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@stodders said in RWC QF: France v South Africa:
@Billy-Webb Not disputing Boks aggressiveness or line speed when the ball is slow. I can also see at times they start 1m back (Siya in 100m blocks position).
However when ruck speed is 2-3 secs for consecutive phases, any team, even the Boks brilliant rush defence, finds it hard to get their arses back on onside
Sure. Not claiming they are never offside, just that they are far less so than is the common belief.
As for France - I can't really comment because I haven't paid enough attention. No doubt I will be doing so on Sunday and will repeatedly be telling my television set that the bloomin Frogs are camping offside
