The Official, one and only, Men's IRB Rugby World Cup 2023 thread

[KingBlairhorn]

The thing with the Curry red is that the attacker is also moving out of control into the tacklers. It's highly dynamic partly because he is in the air.

Dallaglio just made the same point in his punditry. It is a shit point

[Slick]

Well let’s hope Scotland can save this dreadful World Cup tomorrow

[_Os_]

That was a huge win from England, they've really announced themselves with that, it was one sided. First game I've called completely wrong, I was expecting England to take a beating.

Pumas just couldn't generate any momentum against the England defence and ground game at the ruck. The Pumas were made to look a lot worse than they are, hard to know where they go from here.

England have something to build on. Whoever won Pool D (I was expecting the Pumas) was always going to have the best route into the semis.

[Torquemada 1420]

IMHO, the calendar is already crowded enough and we've seen many times what the "more isn't more" approach led to in terms of reduction in quality, interest and financial sustainability: Soup, TRC, HEC.

Checking the SuperBru, fuck me I had forgotten your super human ability at making picks!

Well, that aged well.

Over the years there are a few teams who will repeatedly screw me over with their inconsistencies to the extent I loathe making picks for their games (and hence I am happy when the b*st*rds are out of cup comps!). Arg at intl level is one, along with Sco. Gloucester are a nightmare in the Prem and Europe.

[Slick]

That was a huge win from England, they've really announced themselves with that, it was one sided. First game I've called completely wrong, I was expecting England to take a beating.

Pumas just couldn't generate any momentum against the England defence and ground game at the ruck. The Pumas were made to look a lot worse than they are, hard to know where they go from here.

England have something to build on. Whoever won Pool D (I was expecting the Pumas) was always going to have the best route into the semis.

Well, apart from the Australia v Georgia match.

[Muttonbird]

First thing Elliot Smith, the NZ radio caller, said in an interview with Jason Pine was that he worried about the Italy game.

If Italy does everything right with penalty scoreboard pressure, the ABs could be is serious danger of both not getting out of the group, but also taking their first loss to Italy.

With the shift to highly structured rugby, It's that bad right now.

[_Os_]

That was a huge win from England, they've really announced themselves with that, it was one sided. First game I've called completely wrong, I was expecting England to take a beating.

Pumas just couldn't generate any momentum against the England defence and ground game at the ruck. The Pumas were made to look a lot worse than they are, hard to know where they go from here.

England have something to build on. Whoever won Pool D (I was expecting the Pumas) was always going to have the best route into the semis.

Well, apart from the Australia v Georgia match.

Nope, called that one pretty well, went with Wallabies by 12 but thought there was a chance Georgia could do better. Score was 35-15, and one Georgian try was stopped over the line/lost the ball. Took Georgia +24 on the cap so won money too.

Getting that one totally wrong would be thinking the Wallabies are the real deal "because there's never a bad Wallaby side", then going with them winning by 50+. Because that's what an actual contender does to Georgia, they don't head into the final quarter at only 21-8, they don't struggle to get the try bonus by the 70th minute, nor do they concede two tries.

[Slick]

That was a huge win from England, they've really announced themselves with that, it was one sided. First game I've called completely wrong, I was expecting England to take a beating.

Pumas just couldn't generate any momentum against the England defence and ground game at the ruck. The Pumas were made to look a lot worse than they are, hard to know where they go from here.

England have something to build on. Whoever won Pool D (I was expecting the Pumas) was always going to have the best route into the semis.

Well, apart from the Australia v Georgia match.

Nope, called that one pretty well, went with Wallabies by 12 but thought there was a chance Georgia could do better. Score was 35-15, and one Georgian try was stopped over the line/lost the ball. Took Georgia +24 on the cap so won money too.

Getting that one totally wrong would be thinking the Wallabies are the real deal "because there's never a bad Wallaby side", then going with them winning by 50+. Because that's what an actual contender does to Georgia, they don't head into the final quarter at only 21-8, they don't struggle to get the try bonus by the 70th minute, nor do they concede two tries.

Very good odds out there on Georgia winning. It's possible I reckon.

One simple way of looking at it, is Georgia rock up with a pack of beasts from French clubs and eat the Aussie pack alive.

Ahh OK, my mistake

[_Os_]

IMHO, the calendar is already crowded enough and we've seen many times what the "more isn't more" approach led to in terms of reduction in quality, interest and financial sustainability: Soup, TRC, HEC.

Checking the SuperBru, fuck me I had forgotten your super human ability at making picks!

Well, that aged well.

Over the years there are a few teams who will repeatedly screw me over with their inconsistencies to the extent I loathe making picks for their games (and hence I am happy when the b*st*rds are out of cup comps!). Arg at intl level is one, along with Sco. Gloucester are a nightmare in the Prem and Europe.

Checking it now, you're still in the top 10. You've been on the case with the Pumas inconsistencies for awhile, and I've always just rated them on their good performances. We took opposite views on the Pumas, and it has now screwed us both regardless.

Always not a good sign when I call a match completely wrong. Throws the following matches involving those teams into doubt in my mind, which opens the door to more wrong calls. The Samoa matches against both England and the Pumas I'm now not sure on at all. Do the good Pumas or the bad Pumas play Samoa, does England's defence and ground work stop Samoan carrying momentum. Will probably retreat to the safe space of "higher ranked team by 10".

[_Os_]

Well, apart from the Australia v Georgia match.

Nope, called that one pretty well, went with Wallabies by 12 but thought there was a chance Georgia could do better. Score was 35-15, and one Georgian try was stopped over the line/lost the ball. Took Georgia +24 on the cap so won money too.

Getting that one totally wrong would be thinking the Wallabies are the real deal "because there's never a bad Wallaby side", then going with them winning by 50+. Because that's what an actual contender does to Georgia, they don't head into the final quarter at only 21-8, they don't struggle to get the try bonus by the 70th minute, nor do they concede two tries.

Very good odds out there on Georgia winning. It's possible I reckon.

One simple way of looking at it, is Georgia rock up with a pack of beasts from French clubs and eat the Aussie pack alive.

Ahh OK, my mistake

It is your mistake. You're welcome to repost the thread. I even posted if you want to back Georgia, back them on the handicap. And when another poster said he had Georgia @ +20 but wanted them @ +15, I said always take the higher cap that's available in case you get unlucky.

If I had called it wrong, I would be posting "I have called this wrong".

[Slick]

Nope, called that one pretty well, went with Wallabies by 12 but thought there was a chance Georgia could do better. Score was 35-15, and one Georgian try was stopped over the line/lost the ball. Took Georgia +24 on the cap so won money too.

Getting that one totally wrong would be thinking the Wallabies are the real deal "because there's never a bad Wallaby side", then going with them winning by 50+. Because that's what an actual contender does to Georgia, they don't head into the final quarter at only 21-8, they don't struggle to get the try bonus by the 70th minute, nor do they concede two tries.

Very good odds out there on Georgia winning. It's possible I reckon.

One simple way of looking at it, is Georgia rock up with a pack of beasts from French clubs and eat the Aussie pack alive.

Ahh OK, my mistake

It is your mistake. You're welcome to repost the thread. I even posted if you want to back Georgia, back them on the handicap. And when another poster said he had Georgia @ +20 but wanted them @ +15, I said always take the higher cap that's available in case you get unlucky.

If I had called it wrong, I would be posting "I have called this wrong".

You were convinced the Georgian pack could do a number on Oz, I told you they were not what they were and Oz, for once, have a decent pack, and you told me that was wrong. Oz squashed them.

[_Os_]

You were convinced the Georgian pack could do a number on Oz, I told you they were not what they were and Oz, for once, have a decent pack, and you told me that was wrong. Oz squashed them.

The problem is the Aussies don't have a good pack and didn't squash them. If they had their try bonus, in a huge lead, had got all their subs on and had taken their foot off the peddle then fair enough. But that wasn't the situation going into the final 20 minutes. The Wallabies were trying their best the entire match, because Georgia made them work for everything.

Squashing a T2 nation is what Ireland did to Romania. If it's what the Wallabies did to Georgia then there's a lot of squashing going on.

[sturginho]

Fuck these stupid choirs

[C69]

Seems to be loads of organisational issues at the RWC. The anthems are appalling and the entry to stadiums has been a debarkle. The transport sysytems by all accounts are at a standtill in many cities. Keeping people in queues when its 30 degrees is fecking stupid and dangerous.
Cummon France up your game. The Olympics must be better organised or there will be carnage.

[Paddington Bear]

Never got why stadiums have such issues getting people in - it’s a real ‘you have one job’ situation!

France seems particularly poor for this, but Twickenham can also be dismal.

One factor I think is e-ticketing. In principle works well but in practice slows everything down. You see the same at train stations.

[sturginho]

Get in!

[_Os_]

Some facts I've just noticed (they don't call me Ox-bot for nothing), for you Slick.

Five matches in Georgia have scored more points than any losing team so far. Only one losing side has scored as many tries as them (ABs and Georgia both scored twice), no losing side has scored more tries than them. The score line (lost by 20) is more comparable to the T1 v T1 matches (ABs lost by 14, Pumas lost by 17), than the T1 v T2 matches which were blowouts.

Credible argument that Georgia are best losing side so far, I wouldn't make it because they conceded a 4 try bonus point. But so far they've out scored the ABs/Namibia/Romania/Pumas.

[Stranger]

Chile are going for it!

[Oxbow]

I reckon Chile have already made more metres than England did all game.

[Biffer]

Nasty cheap late shot by the Chilean tight head

[TheNatalShark]

Nasty cheap late shot by the Chilean tight head

I can't think of a world in where that gets yellow carded if he had the ball.

Vulnerable position? Making it up as he goes along

[sturginho]

Nasty cheap late shot by the Chilean tight head

Wouldn't be surprised if they upgraded it to red

[tcc_dc]

not upgraded to red...

and the Chile fans are vocal and sound great

[Oxbow]

I am liking the look of the Chile hooker.

[Biffer]

Nasty cheap late shot by the Chilean tight head

I can't think of a world in where that gets yellow carded if he had the ball.

Vulnerable position? Making it up as he goes along

Yellow for the late shot though. The vulnerable position stuff was about whether or not it was upgraded. Bunker agreed with you.

[Simian]

Nasty cheap late shot by the Chilean tight head

I can't think of a world in where that gets yellow carded if he had the ball.

Vulnerable position? Making it up as he goes along

Yellow for the late shot though. The vulnerable position stuff was about whether or not it was upgraded. Bunker agreed with you.

When did you last see a yellow for an otherwise legal late tackle?

[Biffer]

I can't think of a world in where that gets yellow carded if he had the ball.

Vulnerable position? Making it up as he goes along

Yellow for the late shot though. The vulnerable position stuff was about whether or not it was upgraded. Bunker agreed with you.

When did you last see a yellow for an otherwise legal late tackle?

Depends how late it was. I thought that was a yellow in real time.

[TheNatalShark]

Depends how late it was. I thought that was a yellow in real time.

Fair, I can get around to agreeing to a yellow for the cynicism

[shaggy]

On a different tangent, if we need a sticky for the dedicated WC thread during the WC on a forum dedicated to rugby then the sport is doomed.

[Sandstorm]

I am liking the look of the Chile hooker.

Their #9 is mustard too.

Japan are garbage, can’t catch a cold.

[Sandstorm]

Chile score!!! These guys are giving it everything and playing so well.

[Oxbow]

I am liking the look of the Chile hooker.

Their #9 is mustard too.

Japan are garbage, can’t catch a cold.

The 15 isnt bad either. A few of them look like they could possibly play at a higher level.

[Kiwias]

Chile 15 has tits for hands at times but when he can hang on to the ball, he is a beast

[Sandstorm]

I am liking the look of the Chile hooker.

Their #9 is mustard too.

Japan are garbage, can’t catch a cold.

The 15 isnt bad either. A few of them look like they could possibly play at a higher level.

Agreed. A proper Tier 2 tournament W Hemiphere vs E Hemiphere featuring America’s, PIs and European could be great.

[salanya]

Thought Chili were supposed to be rubbish - they look decent so far, whatever the final result will be

[Sandstorm]

Thought Chili were supposed to be rubbish - they look decent so far, whatever the final result will be

110% effort. I don’t think we’ve seen that from many others so far.

[Kiwias]

Leitch is an absolute warhorse. I think this is his 4th WC

[sturginho]

Chile 15 has tits for hands at times but when he can hang on to the ball, he is a beast

He heard you

[BnM]

[Torquemada 1420]

One of the things that endeared Japan as plucky+ underdogs was their desire to play rugby. Not enjoying this Eng MkII stuff.