-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Rugby World Cup 2015 |OT|
- Thread starter phisheep
- Start date
- Status
SomedayTheFire
Member
Sean O'Brien will surely be cited. Will miss the quarters if so.
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
you can stream in hd from rtl website, costs 4 euro for the whole thing and you get the english commentary.
uses silverlight though which is shitty, no chrome and cant cast it to telly.
Couldn't he just use a simple proxy like Hola extension and set it to the UK and watch through ITV.Player?
D
Deleted member 1235
Unconfirmed Member
not sure quite likely yeah is it all free to air on itv?
no matter, quarters on is fully covered in NL
just saw no 7 ireland punch the french dude. hahaha duuude
No change he gets away with it. Clear as day.
That is quite the trap game against the french. France usually underperforms in the group stage and they will play their best game at this world cup against the ABs. The path to the Championship is now quite difficult, France, South Africa and then Australia. If the ABs win it, they surely deserve it.
Delighted with that performance. O'Brien the deserved man of the match but will also get a deserved ban. Apart from that we were immense. Madigan was crying after that game, not only because we won but because his temperament and ability to contract l a game has been questioned for years. He was brilliant today too. To a man all our players were excellent.
That being said, I'm not sure how we'll cope with Argentina. They're just as physical as France but are so much better in attack. The French have some talented backs but can't string any sort of meaningful attack together. With our injuries the Argentinians may just be too much for us. But after today's game anything much seem possible for the Ireland squad. Just brilliant.
That being said, I'm not sure how we'll cope with Argentina. They're just as physical as France but are so much better in attack. The French have some talented backs but can't string any sort of meaningful attack together. With our injuries the Argentinians may just be too much for us. But after today's game anything much seem possible for the Ireland squad. Just brilliant.
Especially since one of our (Scotland) best players is Dutch. Tim Visser has maybe been a bit quieter recently but i still think our team is much stronger when he is in it.
Id rather play France than Ireland atm, was always gonna be a tough quarter final. If your gonna win the world cup you have to beat the best teams.
Judging by this performance the French have nothing in their armoury to bother New Zealand. They're a big, nasty pack but all they have is physical strength. Ireland dismantled them at set piece and got the better of the breakdown. They have no real attacking set plays other than using the forwards to bash it and then using Bastereud to either bash it as well or as a decoy. In fact Bastereud was mostly anonymous today. We were quick up in a defensive line whenever he got the ball and he didn't have enough time to get up a head of steam so he was nullified.
France's strategy seems to be cripple the important players early and take advantage in the confusion. They said they were going to target Sexton for the match and they did. Once Sexton was gone it was like "What do we do now?"
Ireland did a great job to power through and the players stepped up.
I wonder if France will try the strategy again with All Blacks.
Ireland did a great job to power through and the players stepped up.
I wonder if France will try the strategy again with All Blacks.
It will be a miracle if France manages to play at the level of AB. They played quite poorly overall at this World Cup.
I like the quarters, I have a clear personal favourite for all of them. I will cheer for AB, Wales, Argentina (I liked Ireland, but I like Argentina playing style more) and Scotland (although they don't stand a chance).
I like the quarters, I have a clear personal favourite for all of them. I will cheer for AB, Wales, Argentina (I liked Ireland, but I like Argentina playing style more) and Scotland (although they don't stand a chance).
It was just friendly banter during the game.
And I didn't get the second part of your post.
Honestly too many players were injured but I didn't see any dirty tactics. So I don't know how you can say that it was a strategy to cripple irish players. You're being really unfair here.
The French had told the press before the game that they were going to target Sexton. No dirty tackles, for sure, but they said what they said.
phisheep
NeoGAF's Chief Barrister
Loving this Japan v USA. Not a single TMO call so far and awesome the way the Japanese attack the ruck like angry hornets.
Thank you. Mind, I might have overdone things a bit today with 6 hours work, and four rugby matches and two episodes of Doctor Who!
---
Just going through my notes to find my games of the tournament so far. Rather to my surprise Canada featured in three of the shortlist of nine (against Italy, France and Romania) - which probably makes them my team of the pool stages.
Thank you. Mind, I might have overdone things a bit today with 6 hours work, and four rugby matches and two episodes of Doctor Who!
---
Just going through my notes to find my games of the tournament so far. Rather to my surprise Canada featured in three of the shortlist of nine (against Italy, France and Romania) - which probably makes them my team of the pool stages.
They said they needed to throw him off his game because he was ireland's best asset. I don't see anything wrong in what they said or did during the game so don't say that french players intentionally crippled your players. That's just disengenuous.
Anyway hope Ireland wins vs argentina. They have a good team this year and I like their spirit.
I think NZ is going to beat us pretty easily but you never know what might happen. We have a great record against them in the playoffs.
I'd have to respectfully disagree with you on that. I agree that they didn't do anything dirty on the pitch toward Sexton, but the rhetoric beforehand paints a big target on him. You can call
simply a case of sabre-rattling if you like, but after the result, I don't agree that it's disingenuous to posit that they may have been actively attempting to take him out, even with legal means.
Frankly, I'm not bothered by it that much. The French have always said they will target the kicker in our games. I recall many instances with it happening with O'Gara before Sexton. The French are a rough side, and we often get a lot of injuries out of it. Not frequently to this extent, though. Certainly O'Connell's injury is simply showing his age -- he is retiring after the tournament anyway.
Psycho Echidna
Member
He must go - unacceptable gesture. He was key during the game so good for Ireland.
However I wonder why the British TV director decided to not show this live during the game so referees can act on it...
LiquidSolid
Member
Just caught up on the last couple of days of posts. Congrats Ireland and Irish fans, I hope whoever wins your quarter smashes the Aussies, who I think have looked better than they are by a poor English team and an injury ravaged Welsh team. Argentina and Ireland are my second and third teams respectively, so even if we're knocked out at some point, it'd help soften the blow if either of you won the cup.
Gutted Japan missed out. The Scots should be kissing the feet of whoever came up with the draw because it really did screw Japan over. If a tier 1 team had to play two other tier 1 teams with only a 3 day break between them, the complaining would've been epic (and understandable).
I'm confident heading into the quarter next week but far from expecting the win. I just look back at the perfect storm in 2007 (rookie ref, rookie captain, both first fives getting injured, arrogant tactics and arrogant selection) and can't see that happening again, not with this team who have proven they can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat over and over again, no matter how poorly they play (vs Ireland in 2013 and vs SA and Aus a number of times over the last few years). I have no doubt it'll be a tough game but if our forwards front up, our backs and bench should have enough class to secure the win.
Gutted Japan missed out. The Scots should be kissing the feet of whoever came up with the draw because it really did screw Japan over. If a tier 1 team had to play two other tier 1 teams with only a 3 day break between them, the complaining would've been epic (and understandable).
I'm confident heading into the quarter next week but far from expecting the win. I just look back at the perfect storm in 2007 (rookie ref, rookie captain, both first fives getting injured, arrogant tactics and arrogant selection) and can't see that happening again, not with this team who have proven they can snatch victory from the jaws of defeat over and over again, no matter how poorly they play (vs Ireland in 2013 and vs SA and Aus a number of times over the last few years). I have no doubt it'll be a tough game but if our forwards front up, our backs and bench should have enough class to secure the win.
Disagree with this. Wales played England and Fiji in the same situation and won both without too much complaining. And their team was full of injuries to boot.
Plus, you have to bear in mind Scotland were third seeds when the draw was made.
Well I agree with everything you said but I still don't see how you leap from that to " French players were out there to cripple irish players ".
Why would you single out french players when the only player who should be criticized ITT is O'brien http://www.leparisien.fr/coupe-du-m...on-de-o-brien-sur-pape-11-10-2015-5176169.php (video at the link). Except from two or three posts saying that he'll probably get suspended, I've seen 0 outrage. And yet apparently it's french players who are the devil.
You know we've had our fair share of injuries during the previous games, right ? And it's not because we're the rougher team, it's because the game in general has gotten way too rough.
French player says they were out to target Sexton --> Sexton was injured. That's just what happened. They did nothing illegal during the game, but I consider such rhetoric to be unsportsmanlike and, if they really did try and injure Sexton using legal means, immoral as well.
I don't know what kind of outrage you're expecting towards O'Brien. The Irish commentary I was watching spent a good five minutes post-match saying how out of line O'Brien was there, and that it'd be a deserved 1-3 match ban. He will be punished for his stupid move. Outrage need only come if he isn't. As far as I'm concerned, O'Brien's getting the amount of coverage such a foul deserves.
All the teams that have gotten to the quarters are bloody now. I don't see what France's prior injuries have to do with anything we're talking about.
Macadinho94
Member
I'm glad my two teams (Ireland and South Africa) are on the other side of the draw. My South African born mother would have made the house rather uncomfortable the week of the match. Anyway here's to a South Africa-Ireland final!
LiquidSolid
Member
Fiji are a tier 2 country, Wales got an extra day and even then it was still a very close game. Scotland may be on the lower end of the tier 1 teams but I don't think you can compare the two situations.
I think in RWC 2019 they need to extend the tournament another week and give every team 6-8 days rest between games plus a week bye when they're the odd one out, instead of just trying to fit them into mid-week games. Either that or make it an even 24 teams. It'd be a positive move with the minnows doing so well in this tournament (and hopefully even better next time) and would also give them an easy way to make sure Fiji, Tonga and Samoa all make it into the cup. With the current regional qualifiers, those three teams will be fighting for only one spot.
CelticKnight
Member
Feel for Japan. Apparently they're the first RWC team to win 3 games in the groups and still not qualify. Hope they build on this and be the next team to "step up" like Argentina and Italy have done before.
affleck1981
Member
Do feel for Japan, but as a Scot I'm a little bit bored of people seeming to suggest the only reason we won was due to the 4 day break. We beat USA by 23 points after they had a week rest, Scotland had 4 days.
Japan beat them by 10 points last night after USA had 4 days off after playing South Africa, whilst Japan had 7.
Obviously the 4 days helped Scotland but the claim that it was the only reason bugs me - Scotland played well that day.
Japan beat them by 10 points last night after USA had 4 days off after playing South Africa, whilst Japan had 7.
Obviously the 4 days helped Scotland but the claim that it was the only reason bugs me - Scotland played well that day.
AnotherDayAnotherDollar
Banned
It's really tough and frustrating being a rugby fan in the US. We won't be able to be competitive for at least another 20 years. And that's assuming we start a good professional league and grassroots program in the next couple of years. :/
Glad I travelled trans-atlantic for that one. One of the best Irish matches I've been to. Atmosphere was unbelievable - the Millenium stadium is phenomenal from that point of view. We didn't even care about the injuries at all last night; the parties in Cardiff were great. This morning we're all going to have a massive comedown as we take stock. I reckon Argentina are favourites in the QF now if we lose 4 of our best players. Almost a pyrrhic victory. Might have been better off (from a point of view of winning the whole thing) playing the ABs at full strength. (Odds are you have to beat them eventually anyway.)
I've scored tickets for the IRE-ARG and NZ-FRA quarters next weekend, then back to work. Can't wait for it.
I've scored tickets for the IRE-ARG and NZ-FRA quarters next weekend, then back to work. Can't wait for it.
LiquidSolid
Member
Well if we're going to just decide possible results based on other results, how about we use each teams respective games against South Africa or Samoa instead? Or don't they count?
You don't need to do any of that though, you can just look at the game they played against each other. It was a close game up until the second half, when Japan's fitness levels collapsed and Scotland ran away with it.
Edit: Also, if your argument is that Japan should have the same kind of depth and recoverability as Scotland then I think you're missing the point. They're still a tier 2 country.
Considering Scotlands players all play professionally at a high level our fitness levels would have been higher even without the 4 day break.
Do I think the 4 day break contributed? Absolutely. Would the result have been any different? Probably not.
Quarters? His world cup is over
It's hilarious to see what was the rhetoric on this topic yesterday and that the actual dirty play was actually from an Irish. They should have played at 14 basically all the match. I suppose it's a good revenge for Thierry Henry's hand lol.
France sucked yesterday btw
LiquidSolid
Member
Japan's players are all professional too, two of their players even play in the Super 15 (one of them in the same team as your brand new Scot, John Hardie) and are awesome players.
I don't think they're unfit, the SA game clearly proved they're up to it, I just think that unlike tier 1 teams, they don't have the depth to rest half the squad without risking a loss and aren't used to playing high intensity international rugby as often.
It's bound to look like Scotland got lucky because Japan played them right after the game of the tournament so far and Scotland were playing their first game. The set up of the tournament with five teams in a group is always going to be unfair. It isn't unfathomable that Scotland could have had it much harder is the orders of the games were different and Japan is incredibly unlucky to miss out on such fine margins.
I don't think you can attribute that solely to recovery, given that Scotland have been better in the second half of every match we've played by a mile.
USA - behind at half time, won comfortably.
South Africa - miles behind at half time, scoring was fairly even in the second half and we played a lot better.
Samoa - behind at half time, won the game and had near total control of territory and possession in the second half.
affleck1981
Member
But surely that's what everyone who points out that Scotland only won because Japan had a 4 day rest are doing - looking at another result to try and gauge what they think 'should' have happened when Scotland played Japan. All I'm saying is that it's a lot more complex than just the 4 day rest period - there are so many other factors at play - South Africa being complacent, Japan playing the game of their lives - that even though the 4 day rest was a factor, it's not the only one.
Also, when New Zealand win, a lot of commentators talk about how they keep going and tire the opposition out - this is seen as good game management. When Scotland do the same - using the vagaries of the match day draws to their advantage, they're seen as somehow being just lucky. For example, Scotland made 192 tackles - I think a commentator mentioned that around 120 tackles of those were in the first half when Japan were at their fittest, but they only got over the try line once, which seems to suggest we knew how to defend their game plan.
I'm really not saying that we would have definitely beaten Japan if both had been fully rested - I'm just saying that a lot of people think that is the only deciding factor in our win. It's not, but we'll never be able to know that!
SomedayTheFire
Member
France went in hard and fair I'd say most Irish realise that. Just unfortunate it injured some of our guys. Targeting a player is different from going out to injure someone and I don't think they went out to injure Jonny. We all see differently when a game is on and the adrenaline is high.
The punch wasn't shown on television so none of us would have known at the time.
SomedayTheFire
Member
Agreed, should be something to look into. As an Irishman I hope they're lenient in that it didn't look like a closed fist and he wasn't looking at Pape. He deserves a ban but I hope he escapes it.
LiquidSolid
Member
Sure, I'm not saying Japan definitely would've won if they'd been given another 2-3 days rest, I'm saying they weren't even given a chance thanks to the draw. You and CCS aren't disagreeing that, are you?
As for NZs fitness, well that's been a key weapon in our arsenal for well over 30 years at this point, so it's something everyone knows about. A lot of the NH teams have only relatively recently started focusing on that aspect, partly because half the teams at the RWC seem to be coached by NZers!
- Status