France vs Italy should see the French win, but who the hell knows with that team?
HEY!!!!
Aww, who am I kidding? 
Nippon! *clap clap clap*
Game was spoiled for me by a friend on Twitter. Still planning on watching the game, though...and drinking a cup of MrDeVil's tears!
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South Africa beats Italy after a stuttery performance
I just wish our players would take 'weaker' teams more seriously. We should dominate a side like Italy. And FFS, take god damned kicks at goal!
And our arrogance when facing 'weak' teams costs us at the worst possible time.
All credit to Japan. They played out of their boots, and dominated the areas we should have. When they went for the rolling maul my first reactions was 'that's cute.' Then 'oh, that went well for them.' Then I swore.
We did gift them the second try when our freaking captain left his man unmarked. A piss poor performance and total failure of leadership on and off the field.
Me 10 months ago wrote:.
South Africa beats Italy after a stuttery performance
I just wish our players would take 'weaker' teams more seriously. We should dominate a side like Italy. And FFS, take god damned kicks at goal!
And our arrogance when facing 'weak' teams costs us at the worst possible time.
All credit to Japan. They played out of their boots, and dominated the areas we should have. When they went for the rolling maul my first reactions was 'that's cute.' Then 'oh, that went well for them.' Then I swore.
We did gift them the second try when our freaking captain left his man unmarked. A piss poor performance and total failure of leadership on and off the field.
I completely agree with you on us underestimating supposedly weaker teams. I drives me up, over and through every wall!
Now I know how New Zealand felt in 1995.
Sonny Bill Williams - a beast of a player no matter the code he is playing.
Meanwhile in League - the race for top spot in Super League goes down to the final game with just 1 point between 1st-4th. Oh and James Roby made 61 tackles in one game against Wigan, to put that into prospective, the whole England team made 77 against Fiji.
Oh and the England Uruguay game in Manchester is on the same day as The Grand Final. So Manchester is going to be full of fans from both codes that day. Oh and I'm in no doubt that the RFU have done it for petty reasons since Old Trafford turned them down.
So the final weekend of the normal season came to an end tonight and WOW.
St Helens were out of the runing after getting beat on Thursday so it came down to two games, my team, Leeds away to Huddersfield and Wigan at home to Castleford.
If Leeds won- we finished top
If Huddersfield won, they would finish above Leeds and finish top if Wigan also lost
If Wigan won, they would finish top if Leeds lost.
Basically we needed to win to finish top going into the playoffs, a draw would see us finish at least second and get a home game in the semis.
Wigan won 47-12
Meanwhile at Huddersfield - Huddersfield were 16-8 up with 7 mins to go when Leeds got a try back to make it 16-14 after the touchline conversion.
Then with 3 to go we got a kickable pen, clearly deciding that home field advantage was more important than finishing top, we went for 2 and leveled things up.
We would get one last set of 6 though as the game kicked off with 1 min to go, then with 10 seconds left and 60 metres out, McGuire put in a shallow chip kick that was picked up by Ryan Hall who went the distance and we only bloody well won the game and took the shield from Wigan! Unbelieveable scenes
What a day, what a lovely day! Woke up this morning to find out Wales beat England.
Oh, and the Boks hammered Samoa. So that's good too.
I only saw part of the end of Wales versus England (the eldest wouldn't go to bed until 1am, a nightmare), but it was quite a match. Wales earned every bit of that win, and England, wouldn't settle for a draw, so they kicked their penalty to the corner instead of getting three points and ending up with 28-28. Wish I could've seen the whole thing.
Not much suspense in today's matches. I predict Australia will win against Uruguay, Scotland against the US, and Ireland against Romania. Can't wait for Octobre 1st, of course, Wales versus Fidji and France versus Canada.
I could watch that all day!
That is a great kick.
That is a FRAGGIN' AWESOME kick.
FTFY 
Just need an Aussie win and it's pretty much a perfect rugby day.
Oh my that was enjoyable.
Doctor Who was on late tonight #BlameBurgess
All of a sudden that decision to play in Manchester on the same day as the Super League Grand Final isn't looking so good now is it RFU? Karma is a Female Doggo
Oh wow. England out of its own World Cup. That's... just wow. The French - English rivalry is well known, but I'm kinda sad for the English.
Between English sports teams and English sports media I love to see them do badly. Which is a pity because my glee pisses off the English people who I know, most of whom I like. Sorry guys.
Still pleased about the Boks performance last night, but they really need to learn to play a full 80 minutes. Australia and NZ have demonstrated already this year that playing 60 minutes against a top team isn't good enough.
Holy CRAP! The NRL Grand Final may be the most epic game of Rugby League I will ever see.
Just ...
Wow...
Holy CRAP! The NRL Grand Final may be the most epic game of Rugby League I will ever see.
Just ...
Wow...
Just got home from work and caught up with the action - wow just wow. Greatest sport in the world
I have to hand it to them, the Italians really fought well. They gave it their very best until the very last second. What a world cup we're having!!
Looks like the Japenese Super Rugby team has been named the Sun Wolves.
Hah, that's pretty cool.
I'm really happy with the inclusion of Japan and Argentina, but I wish it could have come along with a decrease in teams for SA, Aus and NZ. And we got an extra one for no good reason too. The competition is completely bloated.:/
Sam Burgess dropped by England, man I hope ae turns up to the Grand Final on Saturday and takes to the pitch at half time to announce his return home with a banner saying job done. (Serously though rumours doing the rounds he is coming to Leeds, although I doubt it be amazing if it was)
I'm really happy with the inclusion of Japan and Argentina, but I wish it could have come along with a decrease in teams for SA, Aus and NZ. And we got an extra one for no good reason too. The competition is completely bloated.:/
I'm not really sure which team you could remove for New Zealand though.
MrDeVil909 wrote:I'm really happy with the inclusion of Japan and Argentina, but I wish it could have come along with a decrease in teams for SA, Aus and NZ. And we got an extra one for no good reason too. The competition is completely bloated.:/
I'm not really sure which team you could remove for New Zealand though.
No, especially after this year when the Highlanders and Hurricanes both did so well. A couple of years ago you could have made the case for either of them. This year the Blues were pretty rancid.
Anyway, back to the World Cup. Holy crap. I was quietly confident about a fairly comfortable win over the USA, but I did not expect something like that. It was getting a bit embarrassing by the end.
The US made the mistake of playing too hard in the first half, the same with their 74-6 lose to the All Blacks last year. But like I have been telling people for the last few years, keep an eye on America and Japan.
So fairy tales are real! Kevin Sinfield, Jamie Peacock and Kylie Leuluai all retire together from Leeds Rhinos by winning the treble - greatest season ever.
Are there teams other than Leeds and Wiggan in the Super League? They seem to dominate. Although now I think about it I do remember St Helens in the world challenge finals a couple of times.
I haven't paid much attention to 6 nations lately. Is Italy not making it out of the pool causing any angst?
Okay, quarter final time. Time to make some predictions.
All the teams that have made it through have the potential to win on the day. None seems to be the complete package at the moment and a bit of weakness can see that team on the plane home.
Quarter final 1. Wales has beaten South Africa recently and is a team with heart and talent, but they have been hit hard by injuries. They also have a generally poor record against the Boks and are unlikely to be able to step up physically.
South Africa to win.
Quarter final 2. France has had some good results, but lost to Ireland the only real competition in their pool. They can bring a lot of physicality to their play, but they are playing against New Freaking Zealand. The ABs haven't fired on all cylinders, but, well, they're New Zealand. They always respect their opposition, but they really rise to the occasion against strong opposition.
New Zealand to win.
Quarter final 3. Argentina are a team that has seen major improvement, and they are the team I'd like to see progress, but the Irish have looked like the best of the Northern Hemisphere teams and I don't see them going down.
Ireland to win.
Quarter final 4. Australia have looked good, really, really good. Still not quite the complete package, but they suddenly know how to scrum and don't look like they'd rather be playing League. Scotland, well, I don't like to be mean, but they are probably the weakest team this round. The Aussies can't be complacent, but a win should be theirs.
Australia to win
Semifinal 1. Sigh, this is where heart meets head. If South Africa can play with intent and physicality for a full 80 minutes, and not butcher the opportunities they get they can win. But logic has to bet on the All Blacks. They can front up physically, and have skill and killer instinct that South Africa can lack.
Semifinal 2. This should be a pretty close one, both the Aussies and Irish are wrong teams in good form, but I'd back the Aussies to get through.
Final. New Zealand vs Australia is the most likely scenario in which case the All Blacks to take it, but it should be close.
If the Boks manage to beat New Zealand in the semi I'd tip South Africa to beat Australia, although it will be a tough match.
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