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Sacre bleu! C'est Le Rugby World Cup.

Started by actwithoutwords, September 07, 2007, 03:08:04 PM

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actwithoutwords

Come on you rugby-hating cunts. We have a world cup on our hands. A French team that is typically both talented and combustible with a home crowd likely to get on their back if things start to go wrong. Defending champions that are desperate to salvage some self-respect from the last 4 years. Huge favourites New Zealand whose choke-filled World Cup history makes the Spanish football team look like tournament specialists. An Irish team feted as possible World Cup winners with an incredibly exciting back line but a suspect temperament when it comes to crossing the winning line. Dark horses in Italy and Argentina that would put the proverbial among the pigeons should they get to the quarter finals. And Wales and Scotland...

6 weeks of teams throwing their physical and psychological all at each other in a giant thrilling glorious mess.
I can't fucking wait til this evening.

There is no way Portugal should be playing New Zealand.  I cannot see what good that is going to do for Portoguese rugby.  They're going to get smashed.  Still too many mismatches really, I think they're going to reduce the tournament to 16 teams next time round and with good reason.

There is no possible way England can defend this title, their preparation has been awful (not to mention the potential loss of Wilkinson).  If England aren't going to win I hope France can do it, or failing that, South Africa.  Australia winning would be tedious and I just don't like New Zealand due to their sheer arrogance and plundering of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga for players.

I am excited too.

drberbatov

I worry for England, it can either go one of two ways. A miraculous heroic effort to make the semi's or limping out at the group stage after a shock defeat to Samoa. The run up to this World Cup has been nothing short of a shambles. After this tournament we must get rid of the dead wood and build a team with the next World Cup in mind

Its a three horse race for me NZ, France or South Africa. Out of the three I will pick South Africa


buttgammon

As a Welshman I am deeply upset at the mention of rugby given how crap my country is doing in it at the moment. You English twats! But at least there will be no repeat of last time. England haven't got much of a chance of reaching the final.

As for the winners, I suspect South Africa may well win probably beating France in the final if the draw for the tournament permits that. After Wales' inevitable early exit I'll be supporting Les Bleus as they're the team from the Northern Hemisphere with the best chance of winning but I reckon the trophy will go to the Southern half of the planet.

the hum

I love international rugby, although it still has a long way to go in terms of being competitve world-wide, unlike football.  Which is why, when the World Cup comes round, brilliant entertainment though it is, you can pretty much predict who'll be there and who won't come the semi-finals.  There are several tiers; at the top, Australia and New Zealand; England, France and South Africa, whose brilliance seems to run in cycles; the Celtic nations plus Argentina, capable but never really reaching world-beating status; Italy, sort of out on their own at the moment as an emerging nation; Samoa, Fiji and Canada, entertaining, but with a tendency to get whipped (apart from Fiji in the sevens tournaments); then a big gap to everyone else.

So you end up with some enormous mis-matches.  New Zealand v Portugal is akin to San Marino qualifying for the football world cup and facing Brazil.

quadraspazzed

Quote from: actwithoutwords on September 07, 2007, 03:08:04 PM
Come on you rugby-hating cunts.

You called??? (Actually I'll probably end up watching most of this out of sheer boredom).

QuoteAn Irish team feted as possible World Cup winners

Ahahahahaha! Sorry.

Quote from: buttgammonYou English twats!

actwithoutwords is of course an Irisher like myself, though he may have been Oxfordified!

buttgammon

Quote from: quadraspazzed on September 07, 2007, 06:07:01 PM
actwithoutwords is of course an Irisher like myself, though he may have been Oxfordified!

It wasn't directed at him - I meant it generally.|

Uncle TechTip

What I want to know is why the thing's six weeks long, didn't they learn anything from the cricket World Cup? If England don't progress no-one will give a shit. And quite rightly too. Modern obsession with team sports be damned.

Borboski


SOTS

I really don't like rugby but that doesn't stem from the actual game but more the fact that rugby is more popular than football in the Scottish Borders and my school is filled to the brim with "rugby cunts."

To give an example of a celebrity rugby cunt, i'd say Matt Dawson.

actwithoutwords

Quote from: quadraspazzed on September 07, 2007, 06:07:01 PM
You called??? (Actually I'll probably end up watching most of this out of sheer boredom).

Ahahahahaha! Sorry.

actwithoutwords is of course an Irisher like myself, though he may have been Oxfordified!

Fucking potato-munching jackeen.
Oxfordified me hole.

In fairness I can see why it's disliked as a sport, I'm not sure if I would be too into it if I was English. But it's a much more democratic a sport in Ireland (outside South Dublin anyway). I never really discovered a rugger bugger mentality until I got to college. Plus, the fact that when we beat the English you can guarantee 90% of the team are irredeemable cunts is a big attraction. (This is not to say we don't have a fair share of twats on ours, but in the main, and the Munster lads in particular, they seem like fair sorts).

I pretty much watch any sport, apart from horse racing, but having followed union since I was 7 or something, I genuinely think it has evolved into an incredibly exciting sport, at its best. Early nineties 5 Nations were fairly fucking turgid stuff, but after a load of rule changes and the switch to professionalism, the game has become a lot more watchable. It does definitely suffer from a lack of serious contenders internationally. And games can be a bit stop start, but the sight of incredible physical specimens going full tilt at each other can be absolutely thrilling. The sheer intensity of the high level matches is fantastic.
As for the number of teams competing, less deadwood would increase the proportion of real good matches for our benefit, but I do think the smaller teams being allowed to compete can only be a good thing for them. Look at Ireland or Kenya in recent cricket world cups for example.

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien


actwithoutwords

Well that has blown things open completely.

Fucking Contempomi failing to deny France a bonus point though, that could well be absolutely crucial.

Pythov

Well, It definitely wasn't Cricket.  That was very exciting.

CaledonianGonzo

A bit scrappy, but still a turn up for the books.  Just got a text from my mate in Buenos Aires who's a happy young gaucho and no mistake...

Dusty Gozongas

Quote from: drberbatov on September 07, 2007, 03:51:17 PM
I worry for England, it can either go one of two ways.

Lose every game, or a very crafty international betting syndicate. Yes indeed.

niat

That was a cracker. Great start to the World Cup.

I'll be flicking between the England-USA match and the football tomorrow, but hopefully it'll just be to see how many points England have racked up (in the rugby, not the football which we will probably lose.)

wheatgod

FUCKING GREAT!

6 weeks of this, yes please.

Dusty Gozongas

My mate taped that. I might watch it while every England game is on.

micanio

Well being Scottish, I'll sit back and watch us go out in the 2nd round as per usual as we have NO decent players  (Maybe Chris Patterson at a push). Scottish rugby has gone the way of Scottish football a la the Vogts years. And we have New Zealand in our group. Oh and the last time we played Italy, we were 21-0 after about 3 mins.

Can't wait.

And I hope England go out in the first round. I hate the England rugby team so much. I don't mind the football team, and I follow the cricket team. But the rugby team I cannot stand. It's all Will Carlings fault...

mikeyg27

ahem: rugby UNION

To be honest I wasn't all that surprised by today's result. Argentina were like the first team to beat France in Marseilles a few years ago and they've proved over the last few years that they're a match for anyone. Admittedly I thought they looked a little overwhelmed during the anthems but in hindsight it appears that they were just uber-pumped. I think Ireland should definitely be worried.

My favourites would be New Zealand, but I can easily see them fucking up as they do every time. I personally love to see the matches with the smaller nations, especially the ones where they do well (my favourite matche of the last tournament was the France-Fiji match, with Rupeni Caucanibuca at his prime).

rjd2

Quote from: micanio on September 08, 2007, 01:49:18 AM
Well being Scottish, I'll sit back and watch us go out in the 2nd round as per usual as we have NO decent players  (Maybe Chris Patterson at a push). Scottish rugby has gone the way of Scottish football a la the Vogts years. And we have New Zealand in our group. Oh and the last time we played Italy, we were 21-0 after about 3 mins.

Can't wait.

Sean Lamont is a fine player as are Nathan Hines and Hugo Southwell.

Pogue Mahone

What a ridiculously big fucker that Chabal is.



Allegedly, he only started playing rugby at the age of 17.

Shoulders?-Stomach!

Hah! I've been quietly tipping Argentina to get quite far. They're well organized and have the tools to beat anyone apart from New Zealand. France are always going to be mercurial with their squad of player and the crowd simply put them under too much pressure, a bit like us.

Pogue Mahone

#24
Quote from: actwithoutwords on September 07, 2007, 08:16:42 PM
In fairness I can see why it's disliked as a sport, I'm not sure if I would be too into it if I was English. But it's a much more democratic a sport in Ireland (outside South Dublin anyway). I never really discovered a rugger bugger mentality until I got to college. Plus, the fact that when we beat the English you can guarantee 90% of the team are irredeemable cunts is a big attraction. (This is not to say we don't have a fair share of twats on ours, but in the main, and the Munster lads in particular, they seem like fair sorts).

What exactly do you mean by referring to the game as being "much more democratic" outside of south Dublin? Mentioning south Dublin, I get the feeling you're bringing the various Irish social groupings into this. I assume you're talking about the popularity of the sport within the more affluent, middle-class areas, such as Dublin 4, whilst alluding to the class-divide which exists within the sport in Dublin, which would render it very unlikely to see a working-class north-sider play the game as he might feel unwilling or uncomfortable to do so due to his background or for fear of being labelled a snob, and arguing that this class-divide does not exist to such a great extent throughout the remainder of the island. I don't know for sure, but I have a feeling that the sport is broadly popular amongst all backgrounds in Munster and especially in Limerick. (Is this what you mean by "democratic"?) Regardless, I don't think your assertion rings universally true. In the North, for example, rugby carries a lot of socio-political baggage. The sport is widely perceived by nationalists, much like cricket, as a British game and a game for middle-class Protestants or unionists. In Derry, for example, the school best known for its rugby success is the only non-Catholic grammar school in the city, Foyle and Londonderry College, a non-denominational school with a largely middle-class Protestant student-body.

At my own school, whilst his class were doing rugby for a few weeks during PE, a lad I know (quite a staunch Sinn Féin supporter) actually had his mother write a note to the teacher on his behalf explaining his refusal to play rugby as it was a British game and he had a problem with this. I assume he had trouble with surrendering to play what he viewed as an expression of old British cultural imperialism. He never had any problem with playing football, mind you. I found that rather confusing, but it certainly gave the impression that nationalists, historically an under-class in the North, found it much easier to associate themselves with football because it was seen as a working-class sport, in spite of it being British in origin, as any anti-British sentiment within that community was directed largely towards the upper classes who held power, rather than the lower classes who, like them, were also subservient to these classes. It's just a theory, but maybe they felt more of a bond, however slight, with the British working-class than the British middle-class and were consequently more willing to welcome football into their lives than "elitist" rugby.

Edit to add: As it happens, I despise the whole rugby social scene in Ireland (not for any political reason, but simply after having experienced what you term the "rugger-bugger mentality" first-hand). However, I think the game is one of the most entertaining sports to watch, along with a competitively balanced game of hurling. What sets it apart from football is that you don't have long periods of boring, going-nowhere play which might see one side pass the ball around their defence and midfield. The rugby code forces the side with possession to attack constantly, so games often develop into 80-minutes of intense end-to-end play. Of course, the egg-shaped ball also adds an exciting sense of uncertainty.

buttgammon

Quote from: Shoulders?-Stomach! on September 08, 2007, 02:42:28 AM
Hah! I've been quietly tipping Argentina to get quite far. They're well organized and have the tools to beat anyone apart from New Zealand. France are always going to be mercurial with their squad of player and the crowd simply put them under too much pressure, a bit like us.

They certainly are a good side. I think the way Argentina have been playing lately is an argument for them either being included in the Tri-Nations or whatever the tournament between South Africa, Australia and New Zealand is called or the Six Nations (presumably playing their home games in a European country because of the huge distance between South America and Europe).

That game last night was well scrappy.  If France play like that against Ireland they'll be eliminated at the group stage, make no mistake.  I don't think I've seen so many errors made by a "top tier" rugby side, knock ons, intercepted passes and turnover ball were happening all over the shop.

Laporte's selection of Heymans at full back was puzzling to say the least.  He can't kick that well, takes too many risks (he got sacked a couple of times yesterday) and he is woeful under the high ball.  Argentina spotted the final trait and were just smacking loads of garryowens up the park, knowing they'd have at least a 50:50 chance of getting the ball further up the pitch.  Damien Traille's blood injury looked to be crucial too, Michalak is not a centre and he just couldn't bring Jauzion into the game.  Rougerie was the only French back who really showed up yesterday, a couple of piercing runs through Argentina's heart, but he was let down by the sheer shitness of his compatriots.

This is to take nothing from Argentina though.  Their forwards really fronted up brilliantly, offered the French a real physical match.  When Chabal came off the bench he was blunted instantly.  Apart from missed kicks by Michalak and Skrela (which would have changed the score to 18-17) France didn't offer that much of a threat.  Argentina's defence with their backs against the wall was absolutely magnificent, really fucking ballsy.  There was a period in the second half when they defended their try line for about two minutes and were able to deal with everything France threw at them.  That period of play decided the match really, if the French had scored then it would have changed the complexion of the whole match.

I'm still very excited

rudi

Australia just scraping through there...

Al Tha Funkee Homosapien

Phew, tell me about it. It was touch and go there for a while in the second half. Japan looked like they were just about to claw back the 90 points they were behind. The Aussies should try and play more like our brave English lions who valiantly fought and crushed the mighty Yanqui Eagles by a whopping 18 points. Makes ya proud dun it.

Twibbie

Quote from: Al Tha Funkee HomosapienThe Aussies should try and play more like our brave English lions who valiantly fought and crushed the mighty Yanqui Eagles by a whopping 18 points. Makes ya proud dun it.
Amazingly, on the ITV local news this evening (The West Tonight or somesuch), the newsreader told  of England's "excellent" performance in their "thrashing" of the United States. "Thrashing" was actually the word used.

I was very pleased with the American performance. It's true to say England were nowhere near good enough, but the United States' defence was very dogged and determined, and ours can't have been the only household in England that cheered when they got over the English try-line.