Outside of their scrum I don't think Italy has what it takes to take down Ireland, but I won't lie, I would like to see Italy take it, simply for the ripple effect.
What is it about French teams come tournament time? It seems like something in their psyche that desires chaos.
I thought Ireland played really well. Conservative 1st half and opened it up nicely in the second. Strong attack, good defence close in, exactly what it takes to win tournaments.
I hear New Zealand has lost Carter, that's a major blow to their campaign.
As for France, my observation about them is they aren't stung by pride like other nations are. Don't get me wrong, the French are as patriotic as the next man but they don't apply it in a blind fashion. That is alien to Irish and South Africans, for example, for obvious reasons but the French just seem so completely secure in who they are that you really can't rely on a degree of blind faith that you might see elsewhere. So when you have a dolt like Lievremont acting up, the players do see themselves as bound by some loyalty to the nation to put up with his idiocy.
By the by, this isn't exclusive to France either. A lot of European countries have gone this way. I suspect its a by product of fascism and extreme nationalism that plagued the continent during the last century. This has resulted in uncritical nationalism being viewed very suspiciously but you could argue that it veers into disharmony from time to time. Look at the Dutch in football, for example. Must find the clip from Catch-22 that sums up this viewpoint in a funny way.
French players 'bound by some loyalty to the nation'. Oh aye, like in the last world cup, where they refused to get off the bus. And got eliminated in such a spineless fashion that there were parliamentary debates about it.
Dutch disharmony is perhaps more directly related to the different backgrounds of the players involved, rather than any pluses or minuses of 'Dutchness'.
And the Italians are the opposite of the French, one of our local talking heads observed after the game that the Italian players get too emotional and forget to play the actual game. If they tamed the emotion a bit they could probably be a bigger threat.
After the Irish game today I'm pretty happy we're facing Australia and not them in the quarters. I'm more confident we can out muscle the Wallabies.
*edit*
One thing from the Ireland/Italy game that blew me away was the penalty try not being awarded. Meaningless in the greater scheme, but wow.
The scheduling of this tournament is almost as bad as the ICC runs theirs.
Weekends of back to back to back matches, then nothing for days at a time. It's going to take another 3 weeks to play the remaining 8 matches.
It's a long wait between games now, but I think it makes sense to play all the knockout games on the weekend. Especially considering the timezones.
Except that it is pretty much ruining the domestic seasons of the Northern Hemisphere teams.
It's the World Cup, it comes along every 4 years, I think domestic competitions can take a back seat every now and then.
It's actually made ours more interesting, there are some seriously talented youngsters getting game time now. It's good to see. Especially with most of the Sprinbok team retiring after the World Cup.
Okay, quarter finals kick off at sparrow fart tomorrow morning. Time for some predictions.
QF1 Ireland vs Wales
Wales have a talented young team, but I don't think they have what it takes to take down the Irish in what is going to be a tough, physical game. Experience and cunning will win out.
Ireland by 7+ points
QF2 England vs France
The French team is far too fractured to be a serious threat to the English team, as long as the English don't hand out too many penalties with their apparent inability to play legally.
England by 10+
QF3 South Africa vs Australia
The Australian team tends to blow hot and cold and are fond of the mythical 'total rugby' which means they can be manhandled by an old fashioned forward assault. But they are in good form and are a serious threat to the Saffers. South Africa can take it, but they need to be at their peak for the full 80 and shut down the half backs.
South Africa by 5+
QF4 New Zealand vs Argentina
Argentina have done well to get this far, but the All Blacks are a bridge too far for their aging squad, unless the Kiwis implode. Doubt it though, they are looking strong and confident.
New Zealand by 15
Oh man, I could not have been more wrong with my first two predictions if I tried! Wales were awesome, and they kept it up for 80 minutes, and the French team played really well in the first half, nearly to allow it to slip away by conceding too many penalties in the second.
Wales were really good defensively and I thought their centres were both excellent. They also made the better of the conditions. I hope they can back it up.
Who knows what the Wobblies will serve up today. Fingers crossed.
Piss poor display. Sloppy bit of defence handed out a try and we blew two good chances with forward passes.
An entire nation (well the bits that care about rugby) are asking themselves "how the hell did we get away with that?"
147 tackles!! 44% possession? 28% territory!!?? A minnow getting smashed by the #1 side would be unhappy with those numbers and yet.....
3 out 4 of the pool winners went out. Just a crazy weekend.
More than one nation is asking that question.
I think ultimately the Aussies were the hungrier team. They took the one gift try we gave them and we failed to take our chances.
Much is being made here of the one-eyed reffing, but I'm not blaming the result on Laurence. It was up to our 836 cap team to deal with it, and they blew it.
We are blaming him here as well. Kiki seems to run in random mode a lot of the time.
I'm hoping we see more of the guy that did the IRE v WAL game.
Craig Joubert, iirc? He's doing the Aus/NZ semi. Rolland the Wales/France.
The two stand out refs of the tournament IMO.
One thing that's frustrating about our being knocked out so softly is that the tournament really is up for grabs. NZ was pushed by Argentina and have a crisis in a few positions, and we have good records against Wales and France.
I am disappoint.
I think if the Wallabies puts up as poor a performance against the All Blacks as they did against the Springboks they will going home after this weekend. I'd love to see Wales make it into the final but that is rather unlikley.
I quite like to see us win a World Cup for a change, the last time we won was the year I was born (1987).
Lot of wailing and chest beating going on here. Frankly I think the tackle deserved the straight red.
Takes a lot of balls to make a call like that in the first half of a semi-final when the easier call is a yellow card - you'd really have to be 100% sure in your own mind before you drew the red card from your pocket.
I'm mainly hoping that the Aussies do NZ tomorrow, for two reasons.
1. I can't stand the French. And they've got no chance vs NZ.
2. You know, and I know, that NZ will get every disputed call in the final.
So, difficult as it might be for me to type....go Aussies !
I'm off for a shower now.
Just to get the last word in before kick off! Go All Blacks
If you gave me an under of 2 converted tries I wouldn't put money on France next weekend. The French created nothing against a team playing with 14 men for an hour, so lord knows how they'll go on against 16.
I am wondering if Quade Cooper is the Manchurian Fly Half.
What an utterly putrid performance on Sunday. I'm glad I was playing yahtzee with Prozac.
Pages