Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 18, 2015 10:05:06 GMT
Immense game between Wales and South Africa, unfortunately Wales just don't have enough depth in their squad to cope with the injuries they experienced.
Brilliant play by South Africa to score their try and uitimately to win it.
As for New Zealand and France, what a shocking performance by France, felt sorry for their supporters who had turned up in large numbers.
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Oct 18, 2015 14:56:17 GMT
I've just finished watching Ireland v Argentina, and thoroughly enjoyed it as well. Even with a depleted team/squad Ireland hung-on in there, and it did look at one time as though they might overtake Argentina's score, but it wasn't to be. Argentina had an outstanding first 20 minutes, then weathered the storm (particularly in the second half), but as tiredness kicked-in for Ireland they came back again. Lovely to see our old Bristol RFC player Gus Pichot sitting in the stands, and seeming to thoroughly enjoy the game. It really couldn't happen to a nicer fellow.
Next up is Australia versus Scotland, which should see Australia win comfortably.
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Oct 18, 2015 17:51:25 GMT
I felt so sorry for Scotland - they gave absolutely everything and I thought they deserved to win for sheer guts and refusal to lie down. Every time the Aussies threatened to run away with it the Scots hit back. Mighty impressive (and pretty unexpected) performance and gutting to lose to what looks like an extremely marginal, and potentially incorrect, call at the end. What a wonderful game - best of the tournament by far. Australia suddenly didn't look half the team they did against England and Wales. They will be mighty relieved to get through that and the future looks brighter for Scotland than it has in many, many years and that is a good thing for the 6 Nations which could do with a better Scottish challenge than we've seen in the last decade or so.
Wales gave it their best shot against South Africa but I think in the end they wound up playing too much of the 2nd half camped in their own half and the pressure told in the end. In the first half I really thought South Africa looked absolutely there for the taking but they upped their game impressively in the 2nd half and the Welsh clung on doggedly but couldn't really find anything in response. The 1 bit of inspiration in the game deserved to win the match for SA.
New Zealand exposed the emperor's new clothes of the current French side. They are not 'typically French', 'enigmatic' or 'unpredictable'. They're just not really very good and haven't been for quite a long time. The temptation would be to say that New Zealand should beat South Africa based on performances up to this point but I'm not so sure about that - I don't think New Zealand's really been tested yet and that might count against them if the going suddenly gets tough v Springboks.
Shame for Ireland - they just lost 3 players they couldn't afford to lose and the Argentinians are a very efficient team who took care of business. Australia are going to need to up their game to beat them. We were 2 minutes away from guaranteeing either Argentina or Scotland being in the World Cup Final - the Rugby World Cup really is a fantastic tournament! |
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 18, 2015 18:42:05 GMT
Loved every quarter final game.
Brilliant performance by the Argentinians, who thoroughly deserved their semi final place.As Brizzle said above it was great to see ex 'Bristolians' Gus Pichot in attendance as of course Pablo Lemoine coaching the team.
I think Australia deserved to win in the end having created 5 tries, Scotland were hanging on and were I thought mostly outplayed but two errors by the Aussies gifted them two tries.
Strange how the last penalty wasn't referred to the TMO as it looked as if the last touch back was from the Aussie scrum half not off a Scotland player ?
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Rex
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Post by Rex on Oct 19, 2015 11:53:11 GMT
I was at the Scotland game yesterday, and it certainly wasn't the game anyone was expecting. Heart-breaking for the Scots, and quite why Joubert didn't go to the TMO for such a pivotal decision is beyond me.
There was an incredible atmosphere inside the stadium yesterday, especially when you consider there were an awful lot of neutrals there (mainly English who presumably were expecting England to be there).
What odds would you have got on an all southern hemisphere last 4?
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Oct 19, 2015 12:32:44 GMT
Going into the Australia versus Scotland game I was expecting a comfortable 20-odd points win for the Aussies, but in the event it went right down to the wire in a fairly high-scoring game. To be leading so close to the end of the 80 minutes, and then have it snatched away like that must have been gut wrenching for the Scots. I feel that Australia may well have played their ''Get Out Of Jail'' card, and they will have to raise themselves (and their game) for the semi's. I'm wondering if their efforts in the pool games have left them a bit physically and mentally flat? I see that Craig Joubert is getting a bit of stick too, on a couple of fronts. He may have wanted to use the toilet, apparently.  |
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Post by Nobbygas on Oct 20, 2015 7:24:17 GMT
Rugby still shoots itself in the foot though. The Scots had a player sin binned for a 'deliberate' knock-on, which was very doubtful, yet a minute before the wrong penalty call at the end, the Scots had a kicker (Hogg?) taken out long after he had kicked the ball, yet the ref (and the TMO) didn't even look at it. What is worse, a doubtful knock on, or a deliberate late tackle?
and today, the RFU have admitted the ref got the call wrong with the penalty.
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Oct 20, 2015 12:02:38 GMT
I'm a little surprised that the RFU should put anything into the public domain, which is critical of a match official. It's a bit of a slippery slope really, because most matches have moments of controversy in them, and if you comment on one incident then logically you should comment on them all . . . and where on earth would that leave us?
On a different subject, did anyone else hear about the Australian supporter who placed a £50,000 bet on Australia to beat Scotland on Sunday? He must have been quite confident, and stood to win over £56,000 if they did so, so I guess his heart was in his mouth near the end of the game. Three cheers for Craig Joubert says that man.
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Oct 20, 2015 17:15:53 GMT
I'm a little surprised that the RFU should put anything into the public domain, which is critical of a match official. It's a bit of a slippery slope really, because most matches have moments of controversy in them, and if you comment on one incident then logically you should comment on them all . . . and where on earth would that leave us? On a different subject, did anyone else hear about the Australian supporter who placed a £50,000 bet on Australia to beat Scotland on Sunday? He must have been quite confident, and stood to win over £56,000 if they did so, so I guess his heart was in his mouth near the end of the game. Three cheers for Craig Joubert says that man. Maybe Joubert was running off to claim his share of the winnings then! (joke, obviously....). I thought it was ridiculous to be honest. They have thrown the referee under the bus for what amounts to an incorrect decision on a very marginal call, an issue of rather strange restrictions on use of the TMO and a breach of protocol. Pretty tough on the guy I think and the IRB/RFU (not quite sure who actually runs the game these days) should be ashamed of themselves for scapegoating him when the problem is clearly more to do with the fact that he was limited by what he could do with the TMO which is their fault (especially as the TMO messed up earlier as well). I actually think Vern Cotter and the Scottish players came out with a lot of credit in the aftermath. They largely followed the Rugby tradition of holding your tongue and being respectful to the referee which given the heartbreak they'd just suffered must have been pretty tough to do. I think there was a dignity there that was not matched by some of the OTT comments of ex-players and pundits around the game. I thought back to the kerfuffle in the Champions League knockout game at Chelsea a few years ago where equally aggreived Chelsea players and staff mobbed the ref for about 10 minutes after the game. The ref got it wrong but it was an incredibly difficult call which he was not allowed to send upstairs so I'm not sure he really deserves the abuse he is getting. Running off at the end was poor - but in the grand scheme of life there are worse offenses. I think a lot of people wanted an outlet for their emotion and he provided one. The way people are banging on about it makes it sound like one of the worst sporting injustices ever - not even close. Who's to say the Aussies wouldn't have marmalised the vulnerable Scottish scrum and won a penalty anyway? In any case, as was pointed out the Scots had their fair share of luck within that game and within the tournament. Samoa could have a claim that the Scots robbed them on a dodgy call and the Aussies granted them 2 christmas presents to keep them in the game. I feel for the Scottish players and supporters because they gave everything they had and the Australians clearly didn't and for that I felt they deserved to go through and it's tough they went on a marginal (rather like Wales in the semi-final in 2011 except that call was probably strictly correct). But, just like Wales in 2011, they were far from robbed. |
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 20, 2015 20:30:29 GMT
I'm surprised the Scots didn't blame Wayne Barnes for the decision actually after all the whinging from Barry Johns over his handling of the Wales v South Africa game....honestly talk about whinging Poms !
Some of the ex players really do need to look at themselves trying to sensationalise everything every time their team loses and that goes for the English ones too !
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 21, 2015 21:57:38 GMT
So who do you think will make the final, I'm predicting the All Blacks v The Puma's  |
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Oct 22, 2015 2:03:29 GMT
So who do you think will make the final, I'm predicting the All Blacks v The Puma's Be nice if someone different made it but I think Aussies had an off week and will recover to beat Argentina and then play New Zealand (though I don't think it will be a walkover -SA offer a completely different level of physical challenge to anything the All Blacks have faced so far). Amazingly New Zealand and Australia have never played each other in the World Cup Final so it's probably due and would be quite fun. |
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Oct 22, 2015 12:57:44 GMT
For me it's a New Zealand versus Australia final. But then again I did confidently predict that Australia would comfortably beat Scotland in their Quarter Final game, so I wouldn't take too much notice of anything that I forecast.  { This is me practising my technique. |
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brizzle
Lindsay Parsons
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Post by brizzle on Oct 24, 2015 19:14:16 GMT
One semi-final down, and one to go . . . and an excellent game it was this afternoon too. I hope that tomorrow's game lives up to this one.
It was a very tense game from start to finish, and although I'd tipped New Zealand to win before the game started, I was secretly rooting for a South Africa win. One more score was all that it would have taken, and they did come close too.
C'est la vie.
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 24, 2015 20:26:48 GMT
One semi-final down, and one to go . . . and an excellent game it was this afternoon too. I hope that tomorrow's game lives up to this one. It was a very tense game from start to finish, and although I'd tipped New Zealand to win before the game started, I was secretly rooting for a South Africa win. One more score was all that it would have taken, and they did come close too. C'est la vie. New Zealand played the last 4 minutes of the game in the right half of the pitch, South Africa never got a sniff of getting any score during that time, the All Blacks played out the game brilliantly. |
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Oct 25, 2015 13:48:27 GMT
One semi-final down, and one to go . . . and an excellent game it was this afternoon too. I hope that tomorrow's game lives up to this one. It was a very tense game from start to finish, and although I'd tipped New Zealand to win before the game started, I was secretly rooting for a South Africa win. One more score was all that it would have taken, and they did come close too. C'est la vie. New Zealand played the last 4 minutes of the game in the right half of the pitch, South Africa never got a sniff of getting any score during that time, the All Blacks played out the game brilliantly. I think to some extent New Zealand beat South Africa at their own game in the end. I think South Africa would have been very, very pleased with how the game played out in the most part - that was the game they wanted to play. It was narrow, tight and physical and they stopped New Zeland opening it up a bit. I felt SA dictated the shape of the game very well but New Zealand narrowly got the better of them within that context. You have to say that's a mark of Champions - to win on someone elses terms. Really though that isn't quite true the game turned on the 10 minutes are half time which I felt was the only time New Zealand were able to properly open the game up. Then they closed it out masterfully.
Aus looked a bit shot v Scotland be interesting to see if that was just a function of having come through back to back brutal encounter v Wales and England or they genuinely are struggling a bit. If they are Argentina could take advantage - they made it look pretty easy v Ireland.
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Bridgeman
Alfie Biggs
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Post by Bridgeman on Oct 26, 2015 0:22:15 GMT
Well we have the final that most were expecting although maybe not hoping for.
After gifting the Aussies two tries, Argentina never really got back on terms no matter what they tried and some of the key breaks through the Aussie defence never brought about a score.
The All Blacks pack must be licking their lips after seeing the Aussie scrum destroyed by the Puma's.
Brilliant support for the Argentine team, I just wish the camera wouldn't keep focusing on an ex footballer in the crowd.
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irishrover
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Post by irishrover on Oct 27, 2015 13:48:19 GMT
Well we have the final that most were expecting although maybe not hoping for. After gifting the Aussies two tries, Argentina never really got back on terms no matter what they tried and some of the key breaks through the Aussie defence never brought about a score. The All Blacks pack must be licking their lips after seeing the Aussie scrum destroyed by the Puma's. Brilliant support for the Argentine team, I just wish the camera wouldn't keep focusing on an ex footballer in the crowd. I think the long term story of this World Cup could well be the emergence of Argentina as a major force in the game. It's never clear exactly how well supported or played it is in Argentina because the numbers are somewhat hazy and it famously was a game largely limited to rich communities in Buenos Aires but if it generates genuine national enthusiasm that's a big potential population to draw on. |
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{ This is me practising my technique.