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

Where goats go to escape
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salanya
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Why are teams allowed to go all around the mauls nowadays?
Over the hills and far away........
Oxbow
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ASMO wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:08 pm Youngs utterly fucking trash
This sounds like it would have been the perfect game for Mitchell, instead he's been played in games where he's been asked to kick the leather off the ball.
petej
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salanya wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:13 pm Why are teams allowed to go all around the mauls nowadays?
i thought it might be a peyper tier 1 vs tier 2 thing.
sockwithaticket
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petej wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:14 pm
salanya wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:13 pm Why are teams allowed to go all around the mauls nowadays?
i thought it might be a peyper tier 1 vs tier 2 thing.
That might exacerbate things, but Sal's right, at some point in the recent past refs srarted allowing teams to swim right round mauls and it boils my piss.
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Hal Jordan
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That was nice, whether or not Chile are absolute blown.
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C69
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Henry the fifth...

Fucking hell
petej
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:17 pm Henry the fifth...

Fucking hell
Nice sequence of passes. Not sure Faz, Tuiilagi and Daly would be able to execute it.
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Fonz
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ASMO wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:08 pm Youngs utterly fucking trash
The guys are way too hard on Faz, but Youngs does actually suck as much as you guys think he does.
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Hal Jordan
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Willis is bust wide open!
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Sandstorm
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:17 pm Henry the fifth...

Fucking hell
Almost certainly dropped for the next game.
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salanya
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:16 pm
petej wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:14 pm
salanya wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:13 pm Why are teams allowed to go all around the mauls nowadays?
i thought it might be a peyper tier 1 vs tier 2 thing.
That might exacerbate things, but Sal's right, at some point in the recent past refs srarted allowing teams to swim right round mauls and it boils my piss.
I've seen it a few times now, and it's hugely frustrating. I thought I missed a change in the laws or something.

Teams should be allowed to defend a maul, but you can't just surround it and hang onto the back. Scrumhalves can't even get near the ball that way.
Over the hills and far away........
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BnM
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Come on Chile points on the board pls
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Fonz
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Tempted to say they should take the 3 so they can say they didn't get nilled...
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C69
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England have arrived..
Scoring tries having fun
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Fonz
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Chile does a lot to a relatively high standard, but their lineout is very much still Tier 2
petej
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Fonz wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:19 pm
ASMO wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:08 pm Youngs utterly fucking trash
The guys are way too hard on Faz, but Youngs does actually suck as much as you guys think he does.
4 Years ago Youngs was getting more shit than he deserved but in the intervening years he has fallen off a physical cliff.
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C69
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Majestic Englànd filling their bellies with tries

A feel good performance


Well and done with your biggest win for 20 years
Blackmac
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:25 pm England have arrived..
Scoring tries having fun
Do they ever stop and consider the shite they are talking. Some of the comments are cringeworthy.
petej
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:28 pm Majestic Englànd drilling their bellies with tries

A feel good performance
Hopefully, Wales will be as majestic tomorrow to send Fiji through and Australia home.
tc27
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Yeah I am English but the commentary is full on cringe.
'England have arrived' FFS
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C69
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petej wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:30 pm
C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:28 pm Majestic Englànd drilling their bellies with tries

A feel good performance
Hopefully, Wales will be as majestic tomorrow to send Fiji through and Australia home.
I doubt it. I think Wales will lose
Simian
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tc27 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:32 pm Yeah I am English but the commentary is full on cringe.
'England have arrived' FFS
it's still nowhere near as bad as the one that had greenwood as a pundit / co-commentator
sockwithaticket
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Simian wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:40 pm
tc27 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:32 pm Yeah I am English but the commentary is full on cringe.
'England have arrived' FFS
it's still nowhere near as bad as the one that had greenwood as a pundit / co-commentator
I swear Greenwodd drops MDMA before broadcasting. He's so unrelentingly over-positive.
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BnM
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I didn't think you were allowed to advertise gambling at this time?
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BnM
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Sandstorm wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:19 pm
C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:17 pm Henry the fifth...

Fucking hell
Almost certainly dropped for the next game.
Back to the tried, tested tactics of kicking the ball away whatever the opportunity.Try scores need not apply.

Cynic cap on.
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C69
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Calling for Stewart on the Wing and Smith at FB is fecking madness. Arundell should be starter on the wing no doubt.
But Steward for all his talents is not fast enough for wing, neither is the 2023 Daly tbh.
Slick
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:39 pm Calling for Stewart on the Wing and Smith at FB is fecking madness. Arundell should be starter on the wing no doubt.
But Steward for all his talents is not fast enough for wing, neither is the 2023 Daly tbh.
Agree. It might work against a smaller team and using a very limited game plan, but no chance against anyone decent
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SaintK
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C69 wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 6:39 pm Calling for Stewart on the Wing and Smith at FB is fecking madness. Arundell should be starter on the wing no doubt.
But Steward for all his talents is not fast enough for wing, neither is the 2023 Daly tbh.
“STEWARD”
And yes you’re right he shouldn’t be on the wing.
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clydecloggie
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This RWC is shit. There, I've said it. The only teams trying to play actual beautiful rugby are the no-hopers like Portugal and Chile. Among the contenders, some are completely shit (Wales, Argentina, England, Scotland), others are magnificently not shit but play an awful type of rugby that leads to 80-minute borefests (South Africa, Ireland).

France could redeem the whole thing but have lost their half-back pairing and don't look quite on it. New Zealand have been a non-entity so far.

Australia are defining new levels of shitness. It would be paying them a compliment to simply lump them in with the regular shit category.

And World Rugby are doing everything they can to deny the RWC is even taking place, hunting down everyone who dares share match footage.

Fuck it.
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Paddington Bear
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There’s something endlessly fascinating about rugby fans who seem to not realise test rugby generally is attritional and low scoring.

It’s been a good world cup. Every group (A admittedly a stretch) is in the balance with three plausible quarter finalists. The tier 2 teams have been good value. Uruguay have announced themselves as a proper side, Portugal have fought hard, Chile have entertained. Namibia and Romania are the only duds, we used to have 7/8+ of them.

Meanwhile Japan were within a point of England on the hour, Fiji have a strong case for being the best side in C etc etc

The draw is a joke and I sympathise with Scots who see this RWC as an exercise in futility, but it will make the knockouts pretty wild.

On the cons, the organisation has been a joke from the start and the justifiable effort to improve player welfare has spread the tournament out somewhat.
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
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Tichtheid
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Last night’s game was brilliant, it was in the balance with proper ebb and flow. The atmosphere was worthy of a world cup final.
Even though France let rip the other night in an incredibly one-sided affair, some of the attacking play was jaw dropping. Fiji have been terrific, some of the unfancied teams have really stepped and played good rugby.

I’m really enjoying the world cup, it’s a shame there is so long between flurries of matches rather than games being more spaced out, but hey ho.
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clydecloggie
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EnergiseR2 wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:13 am Anyone who found last night boring is new to rugby
35 years and counting, mate. And I thought last night was incredibly boring. Other than endless collisions, there were about 3 passages of play of any note in 80 minutes.
sockwithaticket
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Every world cup I can remember always has at least a couple of tier 1 teams in pretty crap shape, minnows getting buried and some cagey games. This one is not exceptional in that regard.
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Paddington Bear
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sockwithaticket wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 12:20 pm Every world cup I can remember always has at least a couple of tier 1 teams in pretty crap shape, minnows getting buried and some cagey games. This one is not exceptional in that regard.
And often those teams in the shit do really well, see England 07, France 11. This tournament could take any number of twists from here
Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember with advantages, What feats he did that day
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Uncle fester
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salanya wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:20 pm
sockwithaticket wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:16 pm
petej wrote: Sat Sep 23, 2023 5:14 pm

i thought it might be a peyper tier 1 vs tier 2 thing.
That might exacerbate things, but Sal's right, at some point in the recent past refs srarted allowing teams to swim right round mauls and it boils my piss.
I've seen it a few times now, and it's hugely frustrating. I thought I missed a change in the laws or something.

Teams should be allowed to defend a maul, but you can't just surround it and hang onto the back. Scrumhalves can't even get near the ball that way.
Seems to be a thing now that if a player "doesn't change their bind", they can work their way around the side of the maul. This is nowhere in the laws.
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PCPhil
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Tichtheid wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 10:38 am Last night’s game was brilliant, it was in the balance with proper ebb and flow. The atmosphere was worthy of a world cup final.
Even though France let rip the other night in an incredibly one-sided affair, some of the attacking play was jaw dropping. Fiji have been terrific, some of the unfancied teams have really stepped and played good rugby.

I’m really enjoying the world cup, it’s a shame there is so long between flurries of matches rather than games being more spaced out, but hey ho.
:thumbup:
“It was a pet, not an animal. It had a name, you don't eat things with names, this is horrific!”
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BnM
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I think this is one of the best terms of competitiveness. SH dominance is lower than usual, apart from the Islands who are doing better than usual. We've new minnow nations joining we've got really competitive t2 matches. Stadiums look great with matching atmosphere. Same old argument about the draw though, Scotland at their best in a long time and look what they got.
Slick
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Well, a decent weekend of rugby. Next week looks dull as shit though
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Marylandolorian
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Could Fiji finish in the second spot ?
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Torquemada 1420
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Marylandolorian wrote: Sun Sep 24, 2023 9:01 pm Could Fiji finish in the second spot ?
All but guaranteed now.
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