Better....
Crackin'👍
Fiji now above England in the world rankings!
Very good second half.
Anyone else notice Finn on the exercise bike after being subbed off? Big bag of sweeties and a big grin. Is that how toonie has got him back on side? tempt him with jelly babies?
I might do a TJ and turn Scottish 🙁
Im not expert but the body language in the post match interview between Lawes and Borthwick was awful. Lawes didn’t even look at him. Player revolt?
🙂
Folk are being too negative! It shows how the game is growing when 56000(apparently!) turn up at Twickenham on a rainy day to watch a couple of tier 2 teams play. Plucky England didn’t quite have enough to beat the team above them in the world rankings, but another time; just maybe!
Samoa looking decent v Ireland......
Cian Healey isn't what you would call one of my favourite players but still sad to see him get injured.
Glad Wales are not playing this week on a number of levels.
Fiji look more athletic than the Samoans but the Samoans have proper mad eyes, some of the hits are epic.
One thing - Scotland came thru the game with no cards, citings or injuries Phew
Shame, rooting for Samoa there.
I hate rolling mauls.
Rhys Webb tested positive for HGH. I am more shocked a French team is random testing to be honest.
France were stunningly good this afternoon. Really enjoyable to see such good rugby played.
They looked bloody good!
Only watched the England game this pm but it wasn't pretty.a few petted lips on show.
Interesting that Fiji played with a smile and helped folk off the ground whereas tier 1 teams tend to be much more churlish.
Also, on only 1 view, smiths try had a pass that was more forward than the disallowed Fijian one.
Interesting that Fiji played with a smile and helped folk off the ground whereas tier 1 teams tend to be much more churlish.
Scotland are Tier 2 hence not seeded for world cup!
England were so bad even Itoje couldn't find anything to clap about 😱😱😱
Men's Full Rankings
1 Ireland
91.82
2 New Zealand
90.77
3 South Africa
89.37
4 France
89.22
5 Scotland
84.01
6 England
81.53
7 Argentina
80.86
8 Australia
79.87
9 Fiji
78.70
10 Wales
78.26
edit - I am not sure those rankings are up to date - otherplaces seem to be saying England are lower thanthat
Those figures are up to date, they are recalculated every Monday morning.
https://www.world.rugby/tournaments/rankings/mru
Sat behind the posts and watched all but one try play out in front of me. Post match, the Fiji team were great with the crowds. An excellent birthday day out! And history in the making
Men’s Full Rankings
Pah, the world cup seedings don't lie 😆😆
Actually I thought Fiji had gone above Aus now. I am sure I read somewhere Fiji were top ranked in the group now
We know world rugby fixed the draw to give England and Wales an easy time 'cos they all hate Scotland 😉
cos they all hate Scotland
Understandable
Bastid!
😀
The best site for rankings is World Rugby Rankings Calculator - it even allows you to input your predictions for upcoming games and will calculate the effect.
Top 16 for interest:
# Team Points
1 Ireland 91.82
2 (↑3) South Africa 91.08 (+1.71)
3 (↑4) France 89.22
4 (↓2) New Zealand 89.06 (-1.71)
5 Scotland 84.01
6 (↑7) Argentina 80.86
7 (↑9) Fiji 80.28 (+1.58)
8 (↓6) England 79.95 (-1.58)
9 (↓8) Australia 79.87
10 Wales 78.26
11 Georgia 76.23
12 Samoa 76.19
13 Italy 75.63 (+1.00)
14 Japan 73.29 (-1.00)
15 Tonga 70.29
16 Portugal 68.61
Pool C has teams currently placed
7th, 9th, 10th,11th and 16th
Try accurately predicting those games 😃
I watched the England Fiji games yesterday on catch up. Amazed that the whole top tier of “twickers” was empty. Seems crazy that nobody wanted to see that game. Have the Home Counties finally given up on England rugby? I’ve seen Wales through some tough times but I don’t think I ever saw a 2/3 full stadium.
I found this an interesting watch - certainly the stuff about structures in the game
bits in there but .... he bemoans (rightly) the end of promotion and relegation from the Premiership and then lauds Saracens, the leading voice in that argument. England rugby system is a mess and the English team are a mess but the latter is more a reflection on the coaching at the national level than the likelihood of the talent being available IMO.
Rugby and cricket are both suffering from being corrupted by new money (football has been corrupted by money for far longer) as established old administrative regimes try and adjust to stronger commercial competition.
Just seen the 2024 6Nations fixtures - the schedule looks nice and favourable to Scotland to my eyes!
Why? Who are they playing?
TJ, only had chance to watch half of that vid so far. Will watch rest later.
What is interesting is that the problems Wales have been facing are now being felt by England. Biggest games being played with the best players absent etc.
We need a framework for international rugby that fits in with domestic rugby, I do wonder if Englands prem would be better combining with the rest of the British Isles teams in a 2 conference league and play of system or whatever with internationals played at a different time within the season. Who knows.
Ireland have worked with what they have very very well and played development by them is awesome but they always had a province system whereas English and Welsh clubs have tradition and fans and rivals who are not well catered for.
Scotland too have ditched the trad clubs and have two good teams but two teams isn't really a domestic game. Can't help think Scotland's current success (I hope they do well at world cup) is built on sand and they rely too much on French league and English prem for players so development is stuffed. A couple of generational talents and some good poaches are not much to build on.
Who knows...
May type more when I watch the rest later.
AA - the first half is the best bit
No doubt Scotland made a complete stuff up of the move to professionalism - however now they have a stable structure living within their budgets and like Ireland everything is geared to the national team
A lot of the Scots players are developed here. Duhan is a case in point. He says he would not have become the player he is without Edinburgh and Scotland
Why oh why does it have to be national team above all else.
Club before country.
(the French seem to be able to do it without going to soulless franchises or showing their club league that the celts show theirs, then wonder why only 27 people + a corgie turn up to watch)
A lot of the Scots players are developed here. Duhan is a case in point. He says he would not have become the player he is without Edinburgh and Scotland
But there are only two teams to play for, how many players fall through the cracks? Only 2 of each position can be getting top flight experience, also just because Duhan says it's true doesn't mean it is. Ireland's provinces have a massive number of players channeling into them and the pathways are well defined. Scotland lose too many good players to England's prem and France and the games are generally not well attended compared to the Irish teams.
Scots attendances are up year on year. Scotston is already too small and sells out constantly. Little murryfeild looks like going the same way
If youwant your national team to do well then it needs to be that way. Look at the top international sides?
Just watched Aus Vs France. Aus looking fragile, don't think Jones have helped them. Tackle height an issue, lucky to not have bigger head contacts. Also surprised that there wasn't a yellow for cumulative penalties.
I have now listened to about 50 hours of rugby podcasts and watched countless World Cup previews on YouTube - the excitement is getting too much ( and to think it could be as good as over come Sunday night 😭).
I just watched a whole hour of Sky Sports NZ 😳. It is worth a watch if you're an Ireland or Scotland fan. It had Been Darwin (an ex Aussie prop apparently) who is part of a rugby analytics company. Lots of theory about the importance of consistency. He was quite confident that both Ireland and Scotland would get out of their group and that Ireland will win the tournament.
Also, interestingly was saying that teams perform considerably worse in their second kit.
Oops was going to post a link:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dH7WGZNQ31Q
20 years since that morning we won the World Cup, passed my driving test during it and watched the end in the test centre
where did 20 years go?
