Rugby world cup 2015

[AZOffaly]

I noticed that myself against Romania. Nice for nationalists in the north to have two flags. Ye love yer flegs up there

I thought the IRFU had an Irish flag for Rugby, similar to the one the Cricket lads have? I thought they only flew the Tricolour at Lansdowne and the other flag everywhere else.

[dferg]

South Africa,  who were beaten by Japan look a good bit better than the rest?  Interesting.

France lost to Tonga four years ago and only missed out on winning the whole thing because of a dodgy referee.

The Boks are improving and very much still a threat in this tournament.

dferg (who insists there's only 3 southern hemisphere teams in the RWC) reckons the Springboks look a good bit better than the rest. I'm in no shape or form discounting them,  but getting beat by Japan and beating current wooden spoon holders Scotland doesn't really back up his claim at this juncture of the tournament

Everyone knows there is more than 3 Southern Hemisphere teams, you are just being pedantic!

I have no idea why they lost to Japan but as someone else says France also lost against Tonga in 2011.  They beat Scotland comfortably who beat Japan 45-10.  I think they will be hard to beat in the knock-out round.

[finbar o tool]

call me an optimist but i think yesterdays result is excellent.
it gives us the kick up the arse we need heading into the most crucial game of our world cup. also, Italy was always a potential banana skin and the players would have known that. these games that we should win handy but might be up against it for 60 minutes etc, that affects the mentality of the players going into a game like that.
Henshaw showed flashes of what he can do and i think he needed that game under his belt before the france game. Henderson is a beast! Peter O'Mahony was also very good apart from, as someone else put it so well, that "brain fart"! 
we will be refocused and ready for the french now after 2 handy first games and the Italian job!
plus, its great that a few papers are writing us off now all of a sudden. stick that shit on the dressing room wall, always a great motivator!

[dferg]

call me an optimist but i think yesterdays result is excellent.
it gives us the kick up the arse we need heading into the most crucial game of our world cup. also, Italy was always a potential banana skin and the players would have known that. these games that we should win handy but might be up against it for 60 minutes etc, that affects the mentality of the players going into a game like that.
Henshaw showed flashes of what he can do and i think he needed that game under his belt before the france game. Henderson is a beast! Peter O'Mahony was also very good apart from, as someone else put it so well, that "brain fart"! 
we will be refocused and ready for the french now after 2 handy first games and the Italian job!
plus, its great that a few papers are writing us off now all of a sudden. stick that shit on the dressing room wall, always a great motivator!

Yeah you could be right.  A lot depends on them beating France.  If they lose against France they will get New Zealand in the quarter final.  Which would mean 3 big games in a row to win it.  If they win the group they will get Argentina.  Win that they will have a crowd of 80000 mostly supporting Ireland in the semi final, that must be worth a few points.  If it's p1ssing down the Up en Under/Box Kick tactic might not be as bad as it looked yesterday.

[seafoid]

call me an optimist but i think yesterdays result is excellent.
it gives us the kick up the arse we need heading into the most crucial game of our world cup. also, Italy was always a potential banana skin and the players would have known that. these games that we should win handy but might be up against it for 60 minutes etc, that affects the mentality of the players going into a game like that.
Henshaw showed flashes of what he can do and i think he needed that game under his belt before the france game. Henderson is a beast! Peter O'Mahony was also very good apart from, as someone else put it so well, that "brain fart"! 
we will be refocused and ready for the french now after 2 handy first games and the Italian job!
plus, its great that a few papers are writing us off now all of a sudden. stick that shit on the dressing room wall, always a great motivator!

The decision to kick for the corner rather than take the 3 points was interesting. The Italian pack were well on top and zero points ensued.

[seafoid]

I don't think Earls is an international centre, in the new version of the game. He is just not a strong enough tackler in the days when you see the likes of Bastaraud running at you like a train. If Earls is going to play the bigger games, it has to be on the wing, and I'm not sure he's one of the best two wings Ireland have. He's got a knack for tries alright, but it does seem slightly wrong that Earls has more tries than B O'D at world cups, and is the Irish record world cup try scorer.

I thought O'Mahoney was excellent until his brain fart. I thought Heaslip was average. Henderson was great, O'Connell mixed the good with the bad. The Murray/Sexton axis will be grand, but Ireland still box kick too often for my liking. I'm not sure they'll get the return on investment from those kicks against the top teams.

Earls was lucky but BOD will always be remembered for what he did.
Hopefully he'll get some more at the weekend.

[oisinog]

So far at this world cup all the contenders have had a bad game. Just look at the all blacks against Georgia the other evening.

We will beat France and then have a tough 3 games ahead of us

[screenexile]

So far at this world cup all the contenders have had a bad game. Just look at the all blacks against Georgia the other evening.

We will beat France and then have a tough 3 games ahead of us

Exactly ... both England and Australia struggled for long periods against the Fijians and now Aus are beginning to look like favourites!!

[Captain Obvious]

England panel all set for the quarter finals.

[Main Street]

If you watch Alain Roland's documentary on Setanta, he refers to it. Pat Lam was suspended or fined for comments he made about a ref last year.

That would be the Alain Rolland who was utterly slandered for making the correct decision in sending Sam Warburton off in the 2011 World Cup semi-final. It seems acceptable in rugby circles to make accusations that would make Jose Mourinho blush, e.g. Rolland was biased in favour of France because his dad is French.

I'd say in rugby, re dissent on the pitch,  the bar of tolerance is relatively low.
When O'Connell had that lengthy explanatory discussion with the ref  while the clock was ticking  away after the last penalty was awarded to Ireland, was he doing so on the one minute  time allotted for the penalty? 

[seafoid]

The tournament is very open this year. No outstanding team and some great performances from the Tier 2 nations

[finbar o tool]

Warren Gatland made a very good point after Englands early exit, i dont have the exact quote but he basically said there should have been no group of hell, it wouldnt happen in football. And hes right. He also said the draw for the pools was made 3 years ago! That surely needs to be looked at for the next world cup. It doesnt make sense to have teams like England, Wales and Australia in the same group, even 3 years ago it made no sense!
The football set up isnt exactly perfect either but it makes more sense than that!

[lenny]

The tournament is very open this year. No outstanding team and some great performances from the Tier 2 nations

New zealand, australia and south africa and a n other will be the 4 semi finalists so not really that open. The southern hemisphere teams are moving up a gear at this stage.

[JoG2]

The tournament is very open this year. No outstanding team and some great performances from the Tier 2 nations

New zealand, australia and south africa and a n other will be the 4 semi finalists so not really that open. The southern hemisphere teams are moving up a gear at this stage.

If NZ,  Australia and the Springboks all get to the semi final stage,  it will only be the 2nd time this has happened in World Cup history.  They'll be a big upset or 2 before then I reckon .

[tiempo]

Warren Gatland made a very good point after Englands early exit, i dont have the exact quote but he basically said there should have been no group of hell, it wouldnt happen in football. And hes right. He also said the draw for the pools was made 3 years ago! That surely needs to be looked at for the next world cup. It doesnt make sense to have teams like England, Wales and Australia in the same group, even 3 years ago it made no sense!
The football set up isnt exactly perfect either but it makes more sense than that!

So be it that there's a group of hell, its a World Cup what do people expect?

Or would you prefer something like the Rugby League World Cup, two good games in the whole competition with the groups a complete joke.

As a neutral the group of hell is a great thing, I would rather watch this high end high stakes sport than Aus v the likes of Canada or whoever on Saturday night, in fact I wouldn't even tune into that.