Edited By Fosse - This thread is for discussion, one-upmanship, crowing, crying and in general berating referees and officials.
It's the Bar after the game so anything goes (within reason)

(Please see Copago's link in the post below for Tipping Competition and join us if you will)

We've been talking about it over here. And you can join the tipping comp too.

Thanks for that Copago - I'll try to think who might be the runners-up!

I'll stick my neck out, and suggest to you Fosse that Australia
will play England in the final. Your lads will give it all they've
got but will run out of puff in the second half in the relatively
high temperature. Then you can all come A'Waltzing Matilda
with me!!

Serendipity - you'll get no sensible argument from me on this one as the engine room of the English team are TIGERS!
I'll concede (I may have to eat my words! ) that it may be Australia in the Final, I haven't seen the others (France, South Africa, New Zealand) produce anything that says they are prepared for the tournament.
And We (TIGERS) have thrashed all the others recently (he says )

I thought you were the LIons??!! (or should that be pussycats?)

Serendipity - The England Team are the Lions (but the Captain and engine room of the team are Tigers (Leicester Tigers))

Good Links - http://www.rugby2003.com.au/ The official Australian Website. http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/RugbyWorldCup/ is the official tournament site.

Game 1 Australia 24 - Argentina 8 , can't say I was impressed by either the Auzzies or the Argies. Even the Australian Captain said they had a poor game with far too many errors.
Lets all hope that David Giffin isn't too badly hurt and will be able to play in the later stages of the competition, providing Australia get that far which on todays performance isn't looking to good

Didn't see the opening Ceremony so I can't comment on that.

Well, I'm looking good in the tipping stakes.
I picked Italy as the dark horse for the 1/4 finals, and they just got thrashed by about 53 points by NZ!

Sorry but you can't call 15 - 13 a thrashing.

The score was NZ 70 - Italy 7, Tazy - perhaps it another game you heard?

Nice to have a Kiwi here! I've no doubt it'll be NZ and England fighting in the final!!

I have no doubt that a certain person in Hong Kong watches
every game in the RU World Cup to see how the players'
shorts compare to those worn by players in the AFL

For the record Tazykat New Zealand beat Italy 70 - 7. I'd call that a thrashing.
No surprises in the first round of matches but I have to admit I thought Scotland were lucky (despite the score-line) they were rubbish. Japan may cause one or to upsets if they play like they did today.
Full marks to Georgia they played right up to the final whistle and didn't give up but they never looked like anything other than a training session for England

I've not seen anything yet that's likely to upset the forecasters, the big four seem to be dominant (OZ, NZ, SA & Eng)

Trying. Not. To. Laugh.

Quote:

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Didn't see the opening Ceremony so I can't comment on that.

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IT was pretty good - especially the first bit with 1200 or so kids making up a player and having him run and score a try. Deeply impressed. I know some others don't agree but I love the World in Union song so it was good seeing that sung - not as good as Bryn Terfel did it at the last World Cup in Wales but it was excellent.

I was refering to the englishman's reference to the England -New Zealand a little while ago

Latest Giffin update that I've heard - no spinal injuries, thank god. The concussion is clearing well and is not concerning the docs. The problem is his shoulder. Seems he's stuffed his AC joint (according to the Sunday Mail) and may be out for the duration. He's going to do some light training but I don't think they're expecting the best.

I went to the France v Fiji match on Saturday night in Brisbane. It was great. The Lang Park (aka Suncorp Stadium) pitch held up beautifully. There was no sign of the beach that was there a couple of months ago. I reckon the French will be a bit touchy, though. The Fijians had the majority of the crowd support.

Edited to add - Copago, in the spirit of trivia, I thought you might like to know that the "World in Union" song is actually an adaptation of a classical piece called "Jupiter" from Gustav Holst's Planet series.

Jim - Great News - no-one wants anyone seriously hurt,especially from freak accidents, lets hope he's back playing very soon.
It's also great to hear the Oz? fans getting behind the underdogs in each game (Noticeable in The England/Georgia Game when every good move from the Georgia side got a cheer and round of applause - shades of Welford Road!)
Now if you could just get them to be quiet when there's a kick at goal! .

Tips for Round 2 are still missing from ASA, Callybub, Marchmadness and Proofreader.

And no talk of England's fine performance against the Springboks?

Can't call the first half a fine performance but whatever they were given in the half time break must have worked!

Keeping my head down - an adequate performance (A team at 75% doing enough to win) I thought they were rubbish!

(But still better THAN ANYTHING ELSE I'VE SEEN SO FAR!)
At least we have actually had a few contested games this weekend and very entertaining they were!

Give some credit to a spirited young Satha's team. They tackled well and showed promise. I thought it was a terrific game and definitely the game of the series so far. The Boks were always going to have trouble scoring 5 pointers and fortunately for England they didn't give too many shots away.

After watching all teams twice now I'd have to say its Australia that seem the most threatening. They have the 2 best flankers in the world and the tight 5 are really performing, strengthened with some personality (mongrel) now Brendon Cannon is a regular at number 2. Losing Giffin's not good, but it's only an AC and they heal fast. Two weeks should see it through, and the Walla’s are hardly lacking adequate tall timber. The backs are also getting it together. With Mortlock getting fitter and Rogers running sweet angles linking the centers to the wing, the speed problem is all but solved. Larkham is also nearly back to his best. Now if we could only find a way to squirt a bit of lemon juice in Wilkinson’s eyes before he kicks at goal…..

Bertho, he'd still kick it over!
Seriously I don't think we've seen the best from any of the "Big Boys". (Apart from Saturdays game) none of them have really been tested yet, and I'm afraid a very poor England performance was just too good for an underperforming Springboks! . Australia are struggling to get some sort of game going and the All Blacks have certainly shown weaknesses (and have injury problems)
Looks good for some interesting 1/4 and Semi's.

SG - I thought the England performance was awful, the handling error count was too high, the Forward play too slow! BUT having said that, none of the other Big Guns are playing that well and England at 50% is enough to win the tournament