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Rugby World Cup 2015 |OT|
- Thread starter phisheep
- Start date
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Dr Campino
Member
There it is, sweet relief
LiquidSolid
Member
Phew, normal service has resumed. SBW has been class since he came on. Barrett's been good at fullback too.
LiquidSolid
Member
That's the hope. He didn't get any real time at 10 in the S15 because of Blackadder's idiotic strategy of having three first fives in the backline, but he's been slowly getting into form. If Cruden weren't injured, he'd be sitting in the stands but he's the best of the rest from our next four 10s (DC, Slade, Barrett and Sopoaga).
Man of the Match is Big Bad Brodie Retallick.
Dr Campino
Member
And that's all she wrote. Was a bit scared at first, but the ABs are the ABs and came through.
Entertaining match, in the least.
Entertaining match, in the least.
LiquidSolid
Member
Phew. Yet another poor start to a game but we won, so I'm pretty happy with that, as we never seem to get good contests during the pool stages and turn up to the knockout games undercooked.
I would've given MOTM to Aaron Smith but BBBR is a beast, so that's fine with me. SBW, Cane and Barrett were awesome off the bench.
Biggest question marks for me are our passive defence, which was rubbish for the entire first half, as well as Woodcock and Read. Woody just looks old and slow, while Read looks like a shadow of his former self.
NMS had a poor game, so that'll give Naholo an opportunity to take the 14 jersey off him or give Barrett the opportunity to start at fullback, with Ben Smith moving back to the right wing.
I would've given MOTM to Aaron Smith but BBBR is a beast, so that's fine with me. SBW, Cane and Barrett were awesome off the bench.
Biggest question marks for me are our passive defence, which was rubbish for the entire first half, as well as Woodcock and Read. Woody just looks old and slow, while Read looks like a shadow of his former self.
NMS had a poor game, so that'll give Naholo an opportunity to take the 14 jersey off him or give Barrett the opportunity to start at fullback, with Ben Smith moving back to the right wing.
The fight for All Blacks first five is going to be amazing to produce some amazing rugby next year.
All Blacks missed 3 tries because of stupid handling errors, defence was way too passive and two dumb yellows. Bad start to the World Cup.
Although I wasn't really expecting anything other than a NZ victory, we would have been in a bizarre situation had Argentina actually snagged it. With Ireland playing France in the final match of their group, and the winner playing the second placed team from NZ and Argentina's group, we would have been in a situation where both teams would be better off losing to avoid having to face New Zealand in the quarters. Would have been an interesting match, to say the least.
LiquidSolid
Member
I dunno. Unless he gets injured again, I think Cruden will easily start at 10 next year. He's a better defender than Barrett or Sopoaga and controls the backline far better than Barrett. Number two will be interesting though. I wonder if Barrett might like to try and secure the starting fullback spot, with Sopoaga on the bench covering 10.
I didn't think DC was that bad today though. Sure, his running was poor and he's still sorting that out but his distribution, defence and kicking were good.
None of the big teams have really hit form (apart from australia that we are yet to see) and some of the traditionally smaller teams have predictably threw the kitchen sink into that first match. I really hope the likes of Japan and Argentina can keep it going into the knockout stages and not be exhausted in the first few games.
LiquidSolid
Member
Yeah, calling Argentina a small team like Japan is actually pretty insulting to Argentina. They've beaten every major team except the All Blacks, came third in the 2007 RWC (better than Ireland, Italy or Scotland have ever done) and compete in the Rugby Championship every year, where they finished above South Africa this year. They may have been slow to adapt to the professional era but they've been a very good side for over a decade now and will only get better with the new Super Rugby franchise coming next year and consistent competition against top level teams.
affleck1981
Member
KiwiLannister
Member
I'd like to see a change to penalties. Should be that if you commit a penalty inside your own 22, the other team gets 1 point and retains possession to kick/tap/scrum etc. like normal, with penalty kicks only being worth 2.
The first 20 minutes of the NZ v Arg game was ruined by professional fouling. We got correctly penalized when we did it with the yellows (nothing to argue there) but it's frustrating when there are such blatant penalties over and over on every offensive chance. Didn't matter in the end but I'd like to see moves to discourage giving away penalties. I think they're floating the idea of reducing the points to 2 which will do well to prevent teams relying on penalties to score but will just exacerbate the problem of professional fouling.
I think NZ actually looked really fucking good if you overlook the yellows, NMS dropping a freebee and consider that the first 20 minutes would've been ~20-0 if Arg hadn't committed 7 penalties.
Tournament is very exciting so far though
The first 20 minutes of the NZ v Arg game was ruined by professional fouling. We got correctly penalized when we did it with the yellows (nothing to argue there) but it's frustrating when there are such blatant penalties over and over on every offensive chance. Didn't matter in the end but I'd like to see moves to discourage giving away penalties. I think they're floating the idea of reducing the points to 2 which will do well to prevent teams relying on penalties to score but will just exacerbate the problem of professional fouling.
I think NZ actually looked really fucking good if you overlook the yellows, NMS dropping a freebee and consider that the first 20 minutes would've been ~20-0 if Arg hadn't committed 7 penalties.
Tournament is very exciting so far though
My hope is that our players have been drilled on the tape of the game so as to not take them lightly. South Africa werent exactly at their best either. Our set pieces looked good against Italy in the warm up matches and we actually have backs capable of finishing off moves these days...we'll be fine. Honest. Totally fine. Hopefully.
We're fucked arent we?
KiwiLannister
Member
I would say I'm 70% confident that Japan will beat Scotland. Wonder what the betting odds are?
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Ignore previous comment - I got it the wrong way round. Scotland still 5/1 on favourites.
KiwiLannister
Member
I don't gamble but I checked on the TAB site and Scotland was $1.16 to Japan's $4.50 ish...
Seems like you'd be mad to put money on Scotland at those odds.
I won't. I stopped worrying about Scotland years back and just embraced that we are shit.
Honestly dont think lightning will strike twice. South Africa were shocked for what they thought would be a routine victory. Before Saturday we would have been more focussed on our last 2 matches (Samoa and South Africa) but its pretty clear every match will be tough. I reckon we will still get a bonus point win.
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Add me in NZ if you haven't already
Will do. Only about 80 names to go through now, will try to get up to date today! I think we've definitely got enough for a Rugby OT after the world cup.
KiwiLannister
Member
Yeah but Scotland is pretty shit, I feel like if they can't completely slow the game down then they're screwed.
Ok I know this is changing the topic slightly, but I was with an American friend in Denmark Sundat, who happens to come from Alabama, watching the Somoa v USA game. And she was shocked when she heard the "swing low" song from the crowd. I told her the story of why English fans use that song but I agreed with her that it was inappropriate and she had a long rant (and rightly so) with history of the meaning behind the song and use of it in the south, also why sing an "english" rugby song at a non English match. So did US Gaf hear/notice it? Was it mentioned in US media at all?
I think this is overthought. The game was so boring in some moments that the English crowd started to sing. I don't think it had any relations to the USA team.
SomedayTheFire
Member
I cringe every time they sing that. Doubt most even know it's original context. If they do it's even worse.
Would assume the english fans there just sang it cause they were bored.
Ok.....but did anyone tell the US team and viewers that? How are they really to know unless the research it.
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
It's a song. It has different connotations in different contexts. What it means in English Rugby (i.e. nearly nothing) bears no relation at all to what it means in the American south. "The history of the meaning" is different in each case.
It's an English crowd almost entirely, it's not on them to consider what the song means elsewhere in the world. Americans need to understand what the song means over here rather than the other way round.
Ok but being that it was sung during an American game u can understand why my friend reacted the way she did right? Saying it means something different over here but singing it while Americans playing and the songs American history doesn't really fly. Also the English reason for the song in the first place can also be taken up as racist. But I don't want to get into this much. I was just wondering if US Gaf had the same reacction. Maybe it was muted?
The problem with that argument is that many of the people going to the world cup have never been to a rugby game before, so Swing Low is likely the only rugby song they know.
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Oh sure, I can understand the reaction.
But on the other hand, it's not at all fair to say it "doesn't really fly" in the English context. If it doesn't really fly over in the US then that's just tough. And I'm not at all convinced the English context is at all racist.
Anyhow, this is a Rugby thread, so let's leave it at that shall we?
Ok I'll drop it. Im sorry for derailing phisheep, I was just curious if us media went crazy. I'll focus on the beautiful sport that is rugby and getting to see all these great teams. Sorry again
Well Scotland definitely won't be fielding their second string team after that fine upset. I'm really impressed how far the Japanese team has come. With the increased size of their players now and with more of their players playing in international tournaments and more foreign expertise in their domestic tournament. Eddie Jones and their coaching staff have also done a fantastic job. I'm surprised at their conditioning, normally minnow teams slow down heaps compared to all the top teams by the end of a match.
I'm more interesting in watching their matches than NZ matches at this stage of the tournament. And to think they'll be hosting the next tournament too.
Oh you can put me down for NZ btw
LiquidSolid
Member
If the US team watches any rugby (and they will), they'd know about it, because the English fans have been singing it for at least the last couple of decades. No idea about the viewers but I imagine any dedicated rugby fans know about it while any casual viewers are just as baffled as your friend. It is pretty stupid though, I agree, never made much sense to me why they sing it.
KiwiLannister
Member
If I'm being honest this is my first time hearing that there is any real meaning for that song, I just knew it was a song that got sung every now and then by the English.
I'd probably guess that the vast majority of rugby fans and the people singing it really don't have a clue where it came from.
Put me down for NZ in the OP
I'd probably guess that the vast majority of rugby fans and the people singing it really don't have a clue where it came from.
Put me down for NZ in the OP
affleck1981
Member
Good luck with that! I'm fortunate enough that my uni term only starts at the end of the group stages!
No relation to that at all in my opinion, I was in the stadium for this game and can confirm that it was entirely down to boredom in the crowd at a lacklustre game.
I doubt it would have been noticed on TV but there had been a Mexican wave running round the stadium for a few full circuits prior to Swing Low starting up, and it was only one single chorus of the song and didn't happen again for the rest of the game, although I wont deny feeling it was a bit odd outside of an England game...
Most of the time throughout the game it felt like pretty much everyone would start chanting for whichever team was in possession if they got inside the other team's 22, although there was one guy a section down from me in a grass skirt and straw hat with an inflatable parrot tied to the top of it that seemed to relentlessly chant "Sam-ooooo-a! Sam-ooooo-a!" for pretty much the entire duration of the game.
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