Rugby 2023-24 World Cup Year!

I confidently predict that England will kick the butts of South Africa next week.

… Oh, wait – no I don’t

Whoever makes the final deserves to be there.

It does not matter who makes the final so long as they play like today between France vs S. Africa.

Argentina vs NZ, will there be a surprised or a sure win for NZ?

No-one gave them a chance in the semi vs NZ 4 years ago.

“What are you guys on about, didn’t you hear Sir Clive earlier? He said that England wouldn’t be worried about either France or SA”

They should be.

Unless there’s a crooked ref next week, ingurlund will be completely mullered by Saffrika. Again.

Good to see the scores so close, this weekend showing there’s not too.much between the top 8.

Too 4 maybe.  Big gulf after that

Good to see the scores so close, this weekend showing there’s not too.much between the top 8.

Did’nt the top 4 all play one another this weekend, while 6,7,8 and 10 contested the other games

As I see it:

SA, IRELAND, NZ and FRANCE 

SCOTLAND maybe?

WALES ENGLAND ARGENTINA FIJI

Is the current hierarchy. Scotland had a tough group and recent 6N’s put them ahead of Wales and England.

I’d say top 4 can beat each other on any given day. Ditto bottom 4, with Scotland slightly ahead of them. Australia seem to be in free fall.

England are above Scotland in the World rankings.

Ireland were above NZ last night….

Ireland were above NZ last night….

Yes, and I think it could be argued that NZ are the better team, although there’s not much in it.

As I see it:

SA, IRELAND, NZ and FRANCE

SCOTLAND maybe?

WALES ENGLAND ARGENTINA FIJI

Is the current hierarchy. Scotland had a tough group and recent 6N’s put them ahead of Wales and England.

I’d say top 4 can beat each other on any given day. Ditto bottom 4, with Scotland slightly ahead of them. Australia seem to be in free fall.

thats about it.  that was what the rankings said at the beginning of the tournament

top 4 well clear.  Scotland beenchasing them for a while but falling back.  a clear gulf between the top 4 and the rest

@gauss still below  according to World Rugby Rankings if only by a “ba hair”

5th Scotland 83.43

6th England 83.24

While we are on rankings, interesting difference between world rankings and world cup results. Scotland and Ireland don’t have a great world cup record and that has carried on despite their decent recent form. England do seem to be able to step up for world cups. They are definitely a top 4 world cup team historically (albeit 4th 🙂 ) Three of last years semi finalists are back again.

:Last WC scotland were rubbish with a coach and teamat oddsand a coachthat did not know what he was doing.

This WC we get it together and are playing well – the groups put us in with two very good teams with playing styles we find hard to play against

England still have not played a top team.  We have played two

There’s definitely a difference between knock out rugby and a full year of 6N, Rugby Championship/test matches, etc.

However, it’s probably worth remembering that England won by 6 points against a team which is coming off the back of being beaten by Portugal.

Ireland got beaten by NZ who got beaten by France who got beaten by SA who got beaten by Ireland*.

The right teams are going to end up in the final (I think!) but I really don’t think you can compare which stage each team goes out in the competition with how good they are in any meaningful way.  At least not for this particular WC.

*which is crazy for all this to have happened in one tournament.

Caher
Good to see the scores so close, this weekend showing there’s not too.much between the top 8.

I also thought it was great to see such entertaining matches. The last 3 were so good, I’ve completely forgotten what Wales v Argentina was like. I’d also forgotten about Red Bull Rampage when someone asked if I watched it!

At least not for this particular WC.

Well yes, a single result is pretty meaningless. The point wasn’t that it happened this time, the point was that it has happened yet again, despite the form going in.

I also thought it was great to see such entertaining matches

Aye a cracking weekend of Rugby. Even England played a properly entertaining match. Can not remember the last time that happened.

Allez les Blancs!

The gulf between the top 4 teams and the rest is massive.  No other team has a chance of beating them at the moment.  That’s all we can say about form and performances.

Saying that, I’m 90% certain England are going to win the entire thing.

Because the Universe is just cruel like that.

Aye a cracking weekend of Rugby.

Yep, the uneven draw gave us 4 great quarter finals (probably at the expense of the semi finals, but you never know)

Well I was mainly taking about the earlier rounds where scores like 96-0 is not entertaining, especially for the occasional rugby watcher which some of my friends are. This weekend some of the games could have gone either way.

First half against Fiji looked decent, I had that nagging thought that England were undeservedly strengthening during the tournament…what if they built on that, could they give SA/France/NZ a game?

Second half sorted that train of thought out. SA vs France totally erased it.

The universe would have to be particularly sociopathic to allow England to progress further. Even the fans are pathetically scrapping in fancy dress in the stands. Embarrassing.

Saying that, I’m 90% certain England are going to win the entire thing.

Because the Universe is just cruel like that.

It won’t happen, but the biggest pleasure would be the upset it will cause the tedious ABEers.

Who knows what’s going to happen with knockout rugby. SA were not the best team in the 2019 tournament but won it. NZ had beaten SA in the group stages. France should have beaten Wales in the Quarters, Wales should have beaten SA in the Semi’s, England stepped up and beat NZ in the Semi’s, but objectively NZ were the better team.

England are not the best 6N team, but we’re the one left in the competition. I’ve not got too much hope for the SA game, but we’ve been playing better rugby as the tournament has moved forward.

Belief in the team is always the mainstay of what is needed to win, and they will have a lot more now. Although they tailed off in the last 20 England turned over a lot of ball, disrupted a lot of set pieces and generally made a real nuisance of themselves against Fiji as a defence. If they can keep doing that against SA and now also find some attacking form, they have a chance, albeit a small one. It won’t be pretty and it will feature drop goals to keep the score ticking over, but that’s still a way better position than they were in 24 hours ago, so I will take that!

England always stand a punchers chance in knockout rugby as they have a very good pack of forwards. Scotland never win anything of note because theirs isn’t very good.

Scotland never win anything of note because theirs isn’t very good.

Actually, Scotland never win anything because the domestic structure is a mess because of a lack on interest in growing the game beyond the private school network, managing to disengage the the only region of the country where rugby is actually popular, and generally focusing entirely on balancing the books using big games at Murrayfield rather than fostering the next generation of players or growing a week in week out fanbase at the clubs.

Our current high is coming to an end soon and will be unlikely to return until the stars align once again and a key combination of players happen to find themselves playing rugby at the same time.

Does all that make you feel a bit better about the shit situation Wales are in?

AA – so why is our recent record against England so good?  Including ourplaying their pack 🙂

Does all that make you feel a bit better about the shit situation Wales are in?

Not really!!

so why is our recent record against England so good?

Better coaching, the fact that Scotland can’t string together the wins when necessary is because the pack isn’t able to dominate.

If it’s any consolation the Welsh pack is shit and so are our backs 😀

Because you hate the English. And can get up for a game against ‘The Auld Enemy’ in a way that you can’t seem to against the Welsh, or Irish, or……

Harsh to say the Scottish pack isn’t very good. It’s been really solid the last few years and has given the backs a good, front foot platform to play off. They aren’t going to outmuscle teams, but they compete very well at the breakdown

And are quicker and more agile than many packs

Its just AA trolling again

And are quicker and more agile than many packs

And how has that helped you at the top level? The bottom line is unless you have a big strong pack you are not going to compete well at the top level. France, SA, Ireland and NZ all have packs that can dominate v the likes of Scotland. England’s pack is able to compete because they do the basics well.

Is it trolling when it’s true? Fast and agile doesn’t cut it at the top. Scotland failed to fire a meaningful shot v Ireland and SA because your pack is not good enough. Not suggesting Wales are anywhere near the top but look what happened when we went into the quarter final with 2 7’s in our back row… balance is key and if you cannot get balance just get a big **** off pack like England and stay in the fight.

Trolling again

its time to ignore this thread again as once more you wreck it with trolling

OK, the Scottish pack is a raging behemoth to which all other packs tremble in front of!

There nowt so daft as those that refuse to see.

England always stand a punchers chance in knockout rugby as they have a very good pack of forwards. Scotland never win anything of note because theirs isn’t very good.

For England, the forwards over the past 10 yeads have been good  until they come up against a really good set of forwards in the other team, a la France or South Africa at present.  Then they are outgunned up front? Yet don’t have any flair or attacking finesse (especially with Farrell dragging them backwards at 10) to make up for it.

I think the idea you can break down rugby teams to two separate units and judge the merits of each team’s backs and forwards against each other is a bit dated, tbh, and doesn’t really take into account how modern teams operate.

Against the top 4 Scotland struggles from 1 to 15.  Against the top 4 any team struggles from 1 to 15 at the moment.

I think you’re deliberately oversimplifying to get a rise out of TJ, aa.  Very naughty.

theotherjonvFull Member
Because you hate the English

Ah; that must be it! And people suggest the English are arrogant as well….