Thread: 2011 Rugby World Cup

The argentinian tv streaming, now the IRE-AUS game: Rojadirecta.me - fanaticosrugby

Great victory o Ireland against the aussies, it's impossible to win a game without overtaking the scrum

What a game! A great performance from Ireland to overcome Australia. Was on the edge of my seat!

This must surely signal the end for Australia - now likely to face South Africa in the semi finals.

You see this is ireland, make us the favourites and we play like narcoleptic snails, make us the under dogs with nothing to lose and we can stand with the best teams in the world on the other teams good days. We love drama.. Put us in the lead from the beginning, and we crap out in the second half, have us up against in the first half and we come out of nowhere in the second half.

This game was good though, nice consistent play for a change

I missed it, but it sounds like I didn't want to see it anyway! I think it is best in these situations to look at things rationally and logically. Rationally, Ireland is a good team. Logically, they will play well and beat other good teams. Bastards!!

As for signalling the end for Australia, I am not sure exactly what that means. The first two teams in each pool go through, and in very recent times Australia beat both South Africa and New Zealand to win the Tri Nations, immediately after a rather humiliating defeat by Fiji, if I recall correctly. So, based on that form Australia will go on to win the World Cup, using this defeat as the catalyst.

James.

I just caught a replay of the Australian and Ireland game. You are right. We are screwed. Oh well, perhaps we can rebuild and be ready for the next World Cup. Four years is a long time, after all...

James.

Ha how uncharacteristic! Even a Kiwi knows not to write Australia off (just quietly) - Though my last post would elicit wobbleboards at dawn not agreement :-)

I only got to see RSA v Fiji live this weekend (and the tail end of Argentina v Romania, but that didn't count). Started out pretty hopeful for Fiji (I root for them since a lot of my current and past teammates and friends are Fijian), really hopeful in fact. My fiancee noticed right off the bat that this was a different breed of rugby than what we had seen the weekend before. But, as we all know, it didn't last, and it ended up being pretty darn embarrassing. Tough, tough loss for Fiji.

Unfortunately they had the same issue I see with a lot of the Polynesian teams around here (including mine from time to time) - great individual skill but the teamwork has a tendency to break down. When they started off, they were playing as a team and firing on all cylinders. Then fatigue sets in, people lose focus, and you see these 3-on-1 overlaps at the wings that are just inexcusable and teams like RSA will make you pay for that every time. I hope Fiji can pull it together but... I don't know. This sort of thing is really fundamental and it's hard to get that back mid-tournament.

Originally Posted by Jimbo

Rationally, Ireland is a good team. Logically, they will play well and beat other good teams.

This maybe true but ireland are not, unfortunately, a rational team

Originally Posted by EisenFaust

Ha how uncharacteristic! Even a Kiwi knows not to write Australia off (just quietly) - Though my last post would elicit wobbleboards at dawn not agreement :-)

Well, I am a realist. I have not written off the Wallabies, but if the kind of play they exhibited in the Ireland match is indicative of their mindset in this tournament it is hard to see them getting too close to the finals. Ireland played well, I do not mean to imply that they didn't deserve to win, but they really did show up what I consider to be some fundamental flaws in the Australian's game.

Originally Posted by tekbow

This maybe true but ireland are not, unfortunately, a rational team

lol! Well, they were rational enough when it counted.

James.