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Argentina gave France a fright but France pulled through.
Routine win for Australia against Fiji.
Pool B is settled after one match.
Routine win for Australia against Fiji.
Pool B is settled after one match.
Argentina gave France a fright but France pulled through.
Routine win for Australia against Fiji.
Pool B is settled after one match.
Expected much more from England given we keep getting told they're a threat to win the tournament.
It's still early in the tournament and you don't want to be playing your best yet
I went to the All Blacks Tonga and Namibia games at the last world cup and they were bloody awful but they built as the tournament went on and won reasonably comfortably
Eh I'm not buying that. We didn't need to play our best Rugby against Tonga a couple of weeks back and look what we did do them. We had a first five on debut for half the game, rookie wingers, guys like Crotty coming back from injury and it was a stroll. Tonga are woeful and England limped their way to a bonus point against them. If they're as good as some make them out to be, they should have given them a comprehensive belting. But they didn't, and even the English media have quickly identified how poor that performance from them was.
Tonga in a warm up game weeks before the world cup even starts and these tier two team in the world cup with all eyes on them are two completely different animals, Japan vs South Africa last world cup jumps to mind about how those teams climb a level
What England does now means absolutely nothing, how there playing in a few weeks time when the quarters start is when the tournament starts getting decided, England will be a very difficult out later in the tournament
Argentina gave France a fright but France pulled through.
Routine win for Australia against Fiji.
Pool B is settled after one match.
The All Blacks are pretty much guaranteed a semi spot. They will most likely play Scotland in the quarters. Whilst South Africa will play Ireland! The All Blacks winning that game against South Africa was huge, as it is a far easier route.
It really isn't that different though. You don't think Tonga elevate for playing against the All Blacks in a crowd full of Tongan's just a short drive from South Auckland lol? of course they do. How many tiers of elevation do you think a poor team like Tonga has? they simply aren't a very good team.
You shouldn't need to be at your best to run over these teams. England are all talk as is the norm. Did you watch the game? Tonga looked gassed super early and England were not good. New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland would have blown them away. They were lucky to even get a bonus point, their ball handling was dreadful. Holding onto the ball, especially against a rubbish team, is something a good team will consistently do, it's a fundamental thing not something that "comes right later in the tournament".
That game meant nothing, do you think the Tongans were going to put your bodies on the line weeks before the world cup against a vastly better team on there home ground? Yeah that's a big no
England won't run teams over like us, that's not how they play and they don't have the players to do that like we do
What they do have is a world class, large pack of forwards, a set piece and inside backs that can keep the ball in front of them and kick goals
You can win like that and whilst we beat South Africa we showed some weaknesses against that type of game and have done over the last 18 months
Yes, have you met a Tongan person? down the road from South Auckland is basically a home ground for them too. Tongan's don't hold back lol, it's body on the line at any opportunity. I've never played with a Tongan in over 30 years of playing who didn't want to hammer someone anytime they took the field.
Except they do have backs capable of running up scores. What stops them doing that is having a horrible, slow, sluggish game where they couldn't hold the ball. Again, did you watch the game because when I asked there was no answer? they have the players that they shouldn't need to wait until the 77th minute for an individual spark to secure a bonus point against a team that is ranked lower than the USA. Did you watch the Six Nations this year? 57 points on Italy, 44 points on France, they can score points.
Their pack of "large" forwards is overrated and ultimately done very little. Feel free to continue to talk them up though, but again I'm not buying it. Poor performance from a team that is meant to be a threat but didn't look it at all and evidently even their own fans and media agree that they weren't good enough.
If we limp through like that and barely get a bonus point against a team ranked that lowly we won't be happy either.
Can you live in New Zealand and not meet a Tongan person? Of course I've meet and played rugby with people of Tongan decent and I also know that them getting there ass handed to them by us before the RWC even starts is in no way any indication of anything
It was a nothing game
Yes I watched England just like I've watched the All Blacks and anybody thinking there not going to be a tough nut to crack is out of there mind
The amount of confidence your displaying is quite frankly astonishing, our set piece looked bloody poor against South Africa and us living off scraps and counterattacking is fine but I've got doubts England will be stupid enough to help us out like the SA did
England is a major threat
I guess there is no such fear in rugby as in soccer that they would make the mistake of expanding the world cup to include more teams. 20 teams is absolutely maximum as half of the matches are blowouts.
Wales started today and expectedly beat Georgia.
I must say Georgia is the strangest country in international rugby. I wonder what the history of introducing the game there is.
Thanks mate. That was awesome!
Samoa beats Russia 34-19. It's a good result. I have a feeling that rugby is a bigger thing in Samoa than it is in Russia.
Samoa beats Russia 34-19. It's a good result. I have a feeling that rugby is a bigger thing in Samoa than it is in Russia.
Absolutely. Pretty tough to see the game still somewhat limping in the Pacific despite how much they love it.34-9.
The recent story of Samoan rugby is very sad.