Rugby world cup

Stuey01 – Member
I was listening to the 5live phone in show in the car on Sunday, they were on the topic of the RWC.
A bloke from Cardiff phones up on………. And all he wanted to talk about was England.
It was so terribly terribly sad.

Probably the first time in the RWC that the media HAVEN’T wanted to talk about England?

Hmm, disappearing post…

It was so terribly terribly sad.

Well, it was only one idiot… so not really that sad.

Why isn’t the latest post showing? Is this the glitch thing people keep mentioning?

Bump

IdleJon – Member

France have named an unchanged side for the weekend. 😯

Has leiveremont lost his mind? No changes?

If the rumours are to be believed I’m not sure how much control Lievremont has over the team anymore. It’s possible the player’s have taken matters completely into their own hands and made the selections themselves.

Stuey01 you should have learnt by now that 5Live is not the place for Rugby – they can’t even do live commentary on the 6 Nations without interrupting critical plays with an update from League 2.

They had Austin “I’m the greatest” Healey presenting. No word on the coat and scarf combo as I didn’t have access to the webcam of the studio.

Wales best performance in a RWC for many years, a genuine chance of reaching the final and daring to dream of winning it, excellent young team who could be the dawn of a new era of Welsh rugby… And all he wanted to talk about was England.
It was so terribly terribly sad.

yeah, but England are shite 😆

Good to hear that lomu has been discharged from hospital.

So, Pinetree’s predicting a Wales v NZ final, I see.

Never rule out the French. Or the Aussis for that matter.

Quick check of the world over a siesta, then back to the beach for some wakbeboarding. And some more Mount Gay. Duw, it’s hard….. 8)

1. Jean-Baptiste Poux v Gethin adv Wales
2. William Servat v Bennett adv France
3. Nicolas Mas v Jones close but adv France
4. Pascal Papé v Charteris adv France
5. Lionel Nallet v AW Jones adv Wales
6. Thierry Dusautoir (c) v Lydiate adv France
7. Julien Bonnaire v Warburton adv France
8. Imanol Harinordoquy v Faletau adv France
9. Dimitri Yachvili v Phillips two totally different players but adv Wales
10. Morgan Parra v Priestland adv Wales
11. Alexis Palisson v Shane Williams adv Wales
12. Maxime Mermoz v Roberts adv Wales
13. Aurélien Rougerie v Jiffy junior adv France
14. Vincent Clerc v North adv France
15. Maxime Médard v 1/2p even

Replacements:

16. Dimitri Szarzewski v Burns huge adv France
17. Fabien Barcella v Jmaes adv France
18. Julien Pierre v Davies adv Wales
19. Louis Picamoles v Ryan Jones evens
20. Francois Trinh-Duc v Hook evens
21. David Marty v Scott Wilimas adv France
22. Cédric Heymans v Lloyd willams cant really judge different positions

so France 11, Wales 7, Even 3, 1 left over

lets pray they dont turn up!
Mind you Gatland > Liverermont

Mind you Gatland > Liverermont

the most accurate part of the above post 😉

morgs, which ones dont you agree with? Lets be fair the French have a lot of very talented players. My biggest worry is that Yachvili is aparently a big injury doubt, that would mean they play Trannie Duc at 10 which will improve them by a lot.

mostly the back 3 in the pack, but also think North, while young, deserves more recognition.

Harry Ordinary is one of the best 8’s in the world a truely exceptional player, Faletau isnt as yet in the same league. Dusatoir is also a quite wonderful player, Lydiate is very good and its close but the Frenchmans experience wins out IMO. North v Clerc is close but I suppose we could match him up against Palison who he is better than. North still seems to have a habit of not being in the right place in defence which worries me. On balance the back 3 as a unit I would rate even.

Most of the Welsh are players who are improving rapidly though, the French players are currently not improving, apart from maybe Medard.

Hopefully Phillips can keep their backrow honest and free up space for Roberst and North to run at Para.

Based upon previous experience, overall player quality over the last few years and wotnot then your post may be vaguely accurate AA. Truth is that it is what happens on the day that matters and Wales have already proved to Ireland that experience and track records only count for so much.

The good thing for Wales is many of the guys that can really disrupt a team like Wales were left to enjoy the world cup from the comfort of their home in France. Poor selections aside the French are dangerous! Plus France are being pretty clever to build themselves (up?) as underdogs, hence trying to put the pressure on Wales… and we know how Wales generally deal with expectations

anyway back to past glories this is superb
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/deadrubber/2011/10/07/muscle-has-a-memory-for-this-ireland-side/

Muscle has a memory for this Ireland side

Liam Toland

In the 29th minute Samoa scored a try against Wales but referee Alain Rolland decreed a double movement and the try was not allowed. Samoa had battered for 17 phases close to the breakdown, going one way and rewinding another, all at will. Each Samoan ball carrier powered into contact refusing to go but one way, forward.

Throughout these 17 phases the much talked about Welsh openside Sam Warburton didn’t get his hand on the ball, in fact he didn’t even contest one of the breakdowns; redundant if you will and but for the dreaded double movement Samoa should have scored.

Thirty five minutes in and Warburton carried into traffic, meekly and held on on the deck. Some irony as it was he who conceded the breakdown penalty. Not until the 36th minute did Warburton contest a breakdown and finally get his penalty. Thirty six minutes later he got his hands on it again and another penalty was won.

In 80 minutes Warburton contested four Samoan rucks and won two penalties. After 14 phases, right on half-time, Anthony Perenise powered over for a try. Again Warburton was nowhere to be seen. Tomorrow’s match will not be won by Warburton and if Ireland approach the clear-out as Samoa did (13 times in that game Samoa created over five phase plays) he will be nullified.

So what was Samoa’s secret? Firstly the ball carrier was immense but the Welsh tended not to over commit to the ruck, expecting Warburton to work miracles. He and any red shirts were absolutely battered by the low-flying Samoans. The first steal he earned was from a terrible Samoan lineout. The second came from a kamikaze counter-attack from fullback Paul Williams. For the other 78 minutes Warburton couldn’t get near it and Samoa should have won the match but for impatience, sloppy play and white-line fever.

Warburton is a class player but he’s a captain with no worldly experience. Way back in the distant memory of 2008 Jerry Flannery looked at Donncha O’Callaghan and O’Callaghan looked back. Neither of them spoke but they both knew what had to happen next. Clermont Auvergne were for some time the best team in Europe and they had a cracking chance to beat Munster in Thomond Park.

Trailing 13 points to 11 Munster were in trouble. That’s when Flannery looked at O’Callaghan. They both knew what to do; there was no need to talk. Munster duly obliged through Marcus Horan and Niall Ronan scoring tries in the last two minutes to win by 23 points to 13. Muscle does have a memory and all the memories of tight battles will go Ireland’s way tomorrow especially as the clock ticks down to 80; Ireland will win.

When the opportunity arose for Wales against the Springboks they blew it. But that is then; we are here in the present where Ireland will win. I watched the Welsh victory over Samoa last night. Samoa should not be at home, neither should Ireland.

Wales have a style and, left unfettered, it can run you ragged as happened to poor Fiji and Romania but Samoa were in no mood to allow Wales any unsupervised rugby. And man, the islanders were physical. Ignoring their offloading game for a moment the Welsh will play one way across the field at all costs. A lineout on the near side will travel all the way across with runner after runner taking it the same way. And when they reach the far touch line they will return.

They do vary their lineout between the short and the traditional, but in the opposition 10-metre area the Welsh will throw to the front with their backrow peeling off at the tail. It’ll be an off-the-top delivery to Mike Phillips who will take two steps before spinning a flat ball. But up will pop George North like a freight train heading to Ronan O’Gara. The backrow are nothing but decoys to fix our tail. Watch out North we’re on to you! Likewise bulky Jamie Roberts runs that hard line from Phillips off the tail, you guessed it, O’Gara bound. Beyond that it’s hard to see any further patterns especially with Jonathan Davies at outside centre.

Here is where Ireland have a massive advantage. Davies must be the most limited outside centre in the RWC 2011. In defence he shoots up in a skewed version of the famed Wasps defence Warren Gatland loves but he lacks the dexterity of footwork and flat out pace of his opposite man, Brian O’Driscoll. He also lacks the symbiotic relationship with his partner Roberts that O’Driscoll has with Gordon D’Arcy. It is his distribution that will affect Wales most. Contrast that to our two in midfield. As the Welsh don’t over commit to the breakdown I expect turnovers. Davies plays rugby by numbers and fails to create any real opportunity for his outside backs.

Let’s contrast the starting outhalves, O’Gara (115 caps) versus Rhys Priestland (eight caps). Not unlike the presidential debate the other night, mostly grey men with no one able to pack a punch. O’Gara will get battered about tomorrow, no doubt but he is no grey man and will step up to the plate no matter how punch drunk. In Priestland, Wales have a grey man. He is neither one thing nor the other and will cost Wales the match tomorrow. Quarter-finals are not the preserve of the grey man and the general must demand total control over the match. You’ll have to prise this one from O’Gara’s dead fingers. Given the opportunity Priestland may land the drop goal. O’Gara will demand the opportunity. O’Gara will squeeze the pitch; Priestland will err on the side of caution.

The Welsh, even in the dry can be victim of their offloading game. They tend to allow their ball carrier into contact and run the hard line of support. When the choke tackle arrives the Welsh can easily become isolated. Muscle has a memory alright and the Welsh can’t help themselves. That very memory can count against them. The Irish defence deep in the Welsh half will prove fruitful as the Welsh back three can’t help themselves but counter and they tend to do it as individuals rather than a coordinated back three. Watch Williams’ side step, he can’t resist bouncing into trouble.

Their attack off the scrum has several classic set-ups, looking to isolate defenders, cause indecision on the structure of defence by stacking one side and standing Shane Williams on the open field side. How successful this is remains a mystery as Wales couldn’t get the settled scrum platform required.

No doubt it’ll be tight but muscle has a memory and so too this Irish team. Warburton does not know what he’s facing tomorrow where his young captaincy will be tested like never before. Ireland win!

AA creative journalism…author should now take his service revolver off to a quiet room 😉 anyone else reckons Priestlands inury doubt could be mind games from Gats?

When the choke tackle arrives the Welsh can easily become isolated.

I wonder how long it will be before this dangerous play is banned?

whytetrash – Member
anyone else reckons Priestlands inury doubt could be mind games from Gats?

That didn’t occur to me.

I was more concerned about the disruption of having Stephen Jones’ fridge returning to the Welsh midfield. Or worse, Hook with his little chips giving possession back to the French backs.

Hopefully it’s just mind games.

with ref to the above…does Hook have a Scottish granny?

From The Times, by Owen Slot.

This is a story about rugby and bad behaviour, celebrity and the media. And while it is 39 years old, it is alive and well, not only because it still bears relevance, but because as rugby scandals go, this is the daddy of them all.

The story comes back to life this week in a play at the Q Theatre in Auckland. But it is unlikely that the hero — or the villain — on whom it is based will be present for opening night. After all, no one has seen him for 21 years. We cannot even be sure if he is alive.

Finding Murdoch is about Keith Murdoch, the former New Zealand prop whose career ended stone dead when he was sent home from the 1972 tour to Great Britain and Ireland after punching a security guard at the Angel hotel in Cardiff.

Murdoch was a quiet, handsome, brooding bull of a man. He epitomised the image of the tough, stoic, self-reliant Kiwi and on that tour he had been marked by the British media as a flashpoint for trouble.

On December 2, Murdoch scored the only try in a 19-16 victory over Wales at Cardiff Arms Park. He did not smile when he scored; that was not his way. The more iconic image of him is at Euston station, on his way out of the country, pursued by press photographers, his eyes fixed ahead, refusing to acknowledge the circus around him.

Murdoch would later board for Auckland. When they stopped over in Singapore, however, he switched to a flight to Darwin. The incident and his subsequent disappearance was such a big deal back home that it was described as “a scar on the psyche of New Zealand rugby”. However, the longer he stayed missing, the more the bad boy became a mythical figure.

In 1976, when a New Zealand journalist tracked him down to a mining town in Western Australia, Murdoch recognised him and told him to “get back on that plane or you’ll be head-down in that oil drum”. The journalist took his advice, and thus did the legend grow.

In 1979 he did return home briefly to work on a farm in Otago. But after a story spread about him saving a young boy from drowning, The Timaru Herald tracked him down and he immediately took off. That was the last time his family saw him.

The only Kiwi known to have seen him since is Margot McRae, the playwright of Finding Murdoch. Back then she was a mother of three and a part-time journalist doing research for an independent TV company and given the assignment of tracking him down.

The play is about her journey, about the former players and the media who said that she would never find him, about the pubs she started ringing in Queensland and the trail that led to a hotel in Tully, a small town 90 miles south of Cairns.

“It felt like I was stalking an endangered species,” McRae said. “One wrong move and he’ll be gone.”

She waited in her car with a camera crew, then left them and waited in the bar. “Suddenly, it was like in a movie, he is walking towards me,” she said. “He was so broad, grey, still had the moustache. It was no question it was him. I went up to him. I knew he’d be a gentleman, I’d done my research. He’d loved his mum. I never thought he’d hurt me.”

Murdoch agreed to talk, although his answers were brief. He told her that he was happy and not bitter. She asked why he would not come home and he said it was because home was too cold.

McRae’s producer said he wanted more. So the next day McRae went to the banana plantation where he was working and was told where she would find him. She said: “I’m going round calling, “Keith, Keith’, and I could hear him working away with a machete. Then suddenly it went quiet and he ran away.

“That was the moment I felt the guilt. He’d been generous, kind and I’d gone a step too far. I was standing in the field listening to him running away.”

So Finding Murdoch is about the man, but also about the quest to find him and the way it was media-driven, the way the media had created this identity for him. “I’d found this legend, this mythical person,” McRae said. “And he was just . . . a man. A simple, itinerant loner.

“A lot of people thought he was a big thug. My opinion is that he was terribly shy. He didn’t want to talk to people because he wasn’t good with words.”

He has been spotted only once since, in 2001, when he appeared as a witness in a murder trial near Alice Springs. The photo of him, white-haired, was immediately reproduced in the New Zealand press. But that was the last.

When the play opens tomorrow, McRae will have Murdoch’s sister staying with her. They have become good friends. The last time his sister spoke to him was in 1990, when she watched McRae’s programme and immediately rang the Tully hotel.

Her wish now is to find him again. But he is 68 and long gone. McRae is convinced he is still alive. His legend certainly lives on.

Priestland out, Hook at 10. Lets hope he can temper his own play and allow Roberts to keep flourishing.

Oh dear, hook is in for priestland with Jones on bench. Cue a few headless chicken moments.

AA too quick at typing for me!

I think I feel happier with Hook’s place kicking so that is a positive (not that Rhys was awful). This could be very important in what is likely to be a close game. It wasn’t long ago that the idea of Hook at 10 was giving Wales new hope… now the idea is making the Welsh slightly nervous!

the idea of Hook at 10 was giving Wales new hope… now the idea is making the Welsh slightly nervous!

Amazing depth in the squad now 🙂

WTF? I can understand the furore surrounding England and the attitude of the team under the direction of Johnson and hopefully they come out of it better, but what’s going on here?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/welsh/15287091.stm
Surely an element of maturity and professionalism should be celebrated and not put Gatland on the back foot, no?

Just a journalist desperate to write something, anything. I’d guess that somebody is just trying to get a reaction just to write more articles.

It’s a non-story, pretty desperate. Who was the journo?

Amazing depth in the squad now

You wouldnt be saying that if Adam Jones or Bennett went down injured or one of the back three

So how do we feel about Hook at 10 then?

As I said I think I feel happier with Hooks’s place kicking so that is potentially a huge positive.

I think Rhys has directed the Welsh attack very well and my only concern is that Hook kicks away the ball too much which will play right into France’s hands. I’m sure the Welsh have thought of that though!

I don’t remember Priestland playing so consistently well for the Scarlets although he has always been exciting whenever he has played. Perhaps it is the difference in players around him? I think it is more likely the Welsh coaching and strategy which has worked well so hopefully this will transfer straight across to Hook…

I guess in summary, strangely uncertain feeling although not long ago we would have taken Hook at 10 without a second thought

anagallis_arvensis – Member
Amazing depth in the squad now

You wouldnt be saying that if Adam Jones or Bennett went down injured or one of the back three
POSTED 10 HOURS AGO # REPORT-POST

A-A’s glass earlier today…..

Cheer up AA, while I realise your joy is muted by the lack of love interest in the team for you (just Gavlite at 10.) You have got to the WC semi by playing the best rugby in the WC, with a team that are on average 23yo.

true duckman, but talking about strength in depth is daft when you consider who Adam Jones’ backup is. Out of intrest did anyone spot what Jones did just before Phillips try against Ireland? The man is a genius.

Problem with Hook is that he has never got the best out of Roberts, due to his desire to look for the break himself. Getting Roberts going has been key to Wales gameplan so far.

while I realise your joy is muted by the lack of love interest in the team for you (just Gavlite at 10

and Sonny Bill only on bench for the All Blacks 🙁

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/tomfordyce/2011/10/the_jackal_at_the_tackle.html

makes some intresting reading, didnt realise how young Pocock was. Englands lack of a real 7 was part of their undoing IMO.

Ok the nerves are knotting my guts again, not as bad as last week but come on boys lets get to the final and then see what happens. Good Luck Wales destiny awaits us 🙂

Wales; Land of my Wife’s fathers….better justification for supporting them than Dai Jeremy. Fair point about Roberts A-A,but I would imagine Gatland will have a pretty clear set of instructions for Hook.After all, if Hook has a good un/avoids the showboating, he could be in the WC final ahead of Priestland,who IMO got the nod because he is a steady hand.Jones is made of Granite,think anything short of say,a bizarre quad biking accident, will stop him playing the next two games for his country?

Battle of the back rows is the bit I am looking forward to tmw, what a contest that will be! We will find out how good the young tyros are, that’s for sure.(pretty special I think)