C’mon toys……

I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Fiji and Aus qualify. Fiji have been playing some cracking rugby this year and were actually putting away most of their penalties too.

I don’t agree. As good a player as he is, if Williams is fit he’s a better counter-attacking 15, and Biggar is a consistently good kicker.

Webb has been a stand out player for Wales lately.

The real problem is lack of depth, as usual.

The reliability of 1/2ps kicking is fundamental to the way Wales have set themselves up. Biggar may be good but psychologically losing a guy that can pretty reliably kick 3 points from anywhere in the oppositions half will be hard to take. I like Williams and if he was fit it might not be too bad but he’s not and now he’ll be rushed in with not enough game time. If Williams becomes fit it’d have been much better to have him replace Cuthbert on the wing.

Webb has been standout but has only recently replaced Philips (who the rest of the team understand how he plays), and there’s a bit more depth in the squad there.

A very poorly cast nymph……the fish swims serenely past

At least England haven’t got to the point where they lose to a very second rate side and sack the coach before he even gets on the plane home. There’s time for that, yet.

(I am enjoying the fact that England are doing exactly what Wales (and Scotland iirc) did between about 1995 and 2005. They have now reached the stage of raiding RL because they must be good, yes? Did someone pick up a Welsh coaching manual in the Oxfam bookshop and assume it was gospel? Is there a redeemer on the way?)

😀

To be fair, if scotland continue on the cruve they’re on – they’ll be a handful for a lot of sides. They also seem to be SA’s bogey team and SA are not in brilliant form at present.
I wouldn’t be at all surprised by an upset in that group.

England will top the group winning all their games, beat Scotland or Somoa in the QF and the semi final against NZ will be a very tense affair, too hard to call now

I finally found a video of h/p’s injury and either he was hiding something from the coaching staff or they knowingly played him when not fit. He went down untouched, was not moving at any great pace and the adjustment of direction he was making was small. I will imagine Toulon will not be at all impressed.

You’d be lucky 😆

Few points 😀 First, when a player is fit to play how fit do you think they realistically are? At this level almost all are carrying knocks and managing issues. Evident by the massive strapping of the affected leg in HP’s case, but he’s no different to anyone else on the pitch. Second, soft tissue injuries are very complex and what might look like a small force can actually be very large when you consider the combination of movements a shift of weight on the “small change of direction”, weakness in other areas around the joint, etc, etc.

It’s unusual to do your ACL like that as a “fit” pro yes, but not that odd when you consider what these guys (and gals!) put their bodies through day in day out and how everything accumulates. None of them should be damaging their Achilles either but don’t tell that to Priestland or Lee

Sounds like Scottish rugby is struggling more than most of us realise. I guess it has got to a stage that will be hard to turn around again???

That sounds a lot like an ACL rupture I saw in pro AFL player… while walking in a lab… taking part in an ACL study as a healthy control participant!

The hip dislocation sounds hard to top though- nasty!

Not sure which is sadder another nymph or news in paper that stadia will be ramping up music after tries to make rugby more appealing. Teams will be playing in silly colours next and other marketing BS.

Music “stings” apparently

Webb Ellis will be turning in his grave!

@duckman that’s lost on me

The thing is NMB, they are not, the local community centre is rammed, and all the online stuff the kids I teach do is instant, eg Facebook/Twitter etc. I wonder if there is a sea change in participation that is more noticeable where there are fewer numbers participating. Eg local u18 rugby team needs 25 players to function. 20% wastage over 10 years equals no team at all. Certainly I have seen a survey at some point to say that if you didn’t play sport there is a significant reduction in the likelyhood of your kids doing so.
Jambalaya; it’s a play on the Anyone But England phrase…

Since 2010, Samoa have played just 39 test matches, compared to NZ playing 73 in the same period. It means they come into this World Cup with their most experienced players with under 40 caps but at their 3rd tournament. Teams like Samoa need more games and more exposure. World rugby would be a poorer place without them

http://youtu.be/pGn9v35FAoE

Never a try, but entertaining rugby.

Oof! Ali Willaims hoofs England in the slats 😀

All Black legend Williams: big teams all hate England | The Sunday Times
http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/public/share/uuid/93c68e80-596a-11e5-9863-4142321c7470
Bearing in mind he will have played against them during the “Mike Tindall’s stag” period,at least ONE part of that article is unfair.

I think it’s probably part of the contract for doing an interview with l’equipe