Rugby World Cup 2003

[Shed End John]

Two questions regarding all the action starting at 8a.m. Friday morning:
1. Who's going to win it and take home the William Webb Ellis trophy on November 22nd?; and
2. How far will Ireland go?

I'll say New Zealand to win it, if only to stop England doing it; and though the heart says the semis, I reckon that the quarter-finals will once again be our lot.

[patsh]

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........ ........

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by patsh
ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz........ ........

That would be funny, if it wasn't so idiotic. At least humour me by answering the two questions next time. You might even learn something!!;)

[Schumi]

Unfortunately I think England will win it. Ireland will probably go out in the quarters but will have a good chance of beating France (assuming they win their group) and making the semis. I'd be happier if O'Gara started ahead of Humphreys though.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by Schumi
Unfortunately I think England will win it. Ireland will probably go out in the quarters but will have a good chance of beating France (assuming they win their group) and making the semis. I'd be happier if O'Gara started ahead of Humphreys though.

So would I. Reckon it's just a precaution with his hand injury, though. Everyone knows that Ireland v France is a 'home banker', but, on a neutral venue it's very much 50/50.
IMO, England could find the going harder than they expect. They have, man for man, the oldest team in the tournament by some distance, and all the hard pitches will do them even less favours than everyone else. Plus, with all the hype surrounding them for the last 18 months, teams like NZ and Australia will positively relish knocking England off their pedastal.

[Dodge]

Originally posted by Shed End John
Two questions regarding all the action starting at 8a.m. Friday morning:
1. Who's going to win it and take home the William Webb Ellis trophy on November 22nd?; and
2. How far will Ireland go?

I'll say New Zealand to win it, if only to stop England doing it; and though the heart says the semis, I reckon that the quarter-finals will once again be our lot.
I agree with all of that. I think it depends on how we play against Australia as to whether we'll beat France. If we put up a good show v Oz, I'd fancy us to beat France

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by Dodge
I agree with all of that. I think it depends on how we play against Australia as to whether we'll beat France. If we put up a good show v Oz, I'd fancy us to beat France

Exactly what I think. It happens all the time if a side gets hammered in one game they can't pick themselves up for the next one. Speaking of which, IMO going purely on 1st 15 v 1st 15, us v the Aussies will be a close one.

[Schumi]

Home advantage will make a diference though. It'll be very hard to beat them in Australia.

[Gary]

Wahey, itsa time for the world cup no one cares about.


Egg chasing

:p :rolleyes:

[joeSoap]

I think we're all seriously underestimating the threat of the Argies... They are very strong. We aren't realistically going to beat the Aussies on their home turf, especially as the world rankings were rigged to say that we're a better team than them right now.They are really going to want to do us, and probably will. Argentina is again the banana skin, and I think we'll slip on it again for 4 primary reasons:
1). Brian O'Driscoll is now no longer underestimated as he was three years ago. Teams now stand off him, give him 5 yards and then double up on the tackle. How many yards did he make during this seasons 6 Nations...very few, and World Cup is gonna be even harder.
2). O'Sullivans annoying preference for Humphreys ahead of O'Gara. Ireland are so offensively limited when Humphreys plays its unreal.
3).Travelling to the World Cup without David Wallace is like asking England to not bring Richard Hill. He is easily the best ball carrier we have, never shirks tackles, and has never, ever let Ireland down. But for some unknown reason to me, he insists on bringing Easterby.
4). Bringing insufficient cover (Paddy Wallace, Reggie Corrigan) for injured squad members Dempsey and Hayes. Any of those two get crocked, then you can kiss the world cup goodbye.
Prediction: Knocked out in group stages by Argentina!:( :(

[Dodge]

1) Means Maggs gets more space and and a crash and bang centre, he's as good as they come.

2) Agree but Humphries is better than most give him credit for.

3) Gleeson is better than Wallace. He lost his form and suffered because of it

4) Neither will get a chance and Wallace was brought for experience. If Dempsey gets injured watch for Humphreys to play full back with o'Gara coming in at fly half

[Schumi]

Originally posted by joeSoap
David Wallace ... is easily the best ball carrier we have Victor Costello will more than make up for this, he's been excellent recently. Argentina are a good side but if we play to our potential, we should win.

[NigeSausagepump]

I know very little about rugby, but if I was a fan I'd find it dispiriting that pretty much every single pundit I've read is predicting an England-All Blacks final. Obviously its just speculation, but it hardly suggests an open, unpredictable tournament.

They all hark on about the divide between the rich and poor nations which is limiting the pool of potential winners severely. I know this exists in football too, but I would have thought there was more of a chance of the likes of South Korea, Iran, China etc getting a result against the bigwigs than the likes of Georgia and Japan doing something similar in the rugby.

[patsh]

Originally posted by Shed End John
That would be funny, if it wasn't so idiotic. At least humour me by answering the two questions next time. You might even learn something!!;)
Shock Horror!!!!!!:eek:
Shed End John reckons he has a sense of humour !!!!
BTW, I did answer the 2 questions......... :p

[dcnags]

geordan murphy=huge loss for ireland.

he would have been class, hes been **** hot for a good while now. pity.:(

[sadloserkid]

Originally posted by Shed End John
Two questions regarding all the action starting at 8a.m. Friday morning:
1. Who's going to win it and take home the William Webb Ellis trophy on November 22nd?; and
2. How far will Ireland go?

1. Sadly I suspect England will do it. :(
2. 1/4 finals I'd imagine though i agree with Joe that Argentina can't be underestimated.

[niamh]

1) Depends on how the English approach the matches. If they believe they have a god given right to win, they won't. If they can keep their feet on thed ground, they'll do damage. Saying that the Aussies are at home and New Zealand are near home. Tough call, but I reckon on of the three. Remember

2) As for Ireland, I'd expect them to get out of the group at the very least. After that it depends on the team. Remember the last World when everyone was saying we should have been Argentina if I'm not mistaken??

[pete]

New Zealand to win. England are too cocky. Australia to do well also with home advantage.

Ireland will do well to get out of group in 2nd place. Argentina got unlucky tight schedle which should help Ireland. With Murphy out Ireland be lacking creativity & very short backup quality in the back line.

[joeSoap]

Dunno if anyone saw it, but Australia were far from impressive this morning, and they lost one of their better forwards with a serious injury. Argentina weren't too hot either, so good signs so far:D

[TheRealRovers]

Is Rugby that sport where you use a bat?:D

[patsh]

Originally posted by TheRealRovers
Is Rugby that "sport" where you use a bat? :D
Your right, but most people refer to it as their head........:D

[Cityace]

well its some thick,blunt object anyway.

[Real ale Madrid]

What odds an Ireland v England final?? We have never been in such a good position to do well. The fact that the Argentinians are a good side will focus us and if we beat them we will go into the Aussie game full of confidence - if we can stay clear of serious injury i.e if Stringer Wood Gleeson and God can stay healthy - we can't afford to do without those 4 - we have every chance of getting to the last four and a one off game with the All Blacks? If England play to their potential there is no one who can stop them its the Engalnd press who are cocky - not the management or players - the problem for England is that they will not play a serious game until the semis.

[Schumi]

The Romania game was pretty scrappy but as it was the first game in ages, that's not overly surprising. Argentina were crap against Australia but are likely to be better against us. I'd still say Australia will win the group with us second.

Outside of our group, France looked good, England were strong too, Wales looked better than I expected and I didn't see New Zealand but they seemed to have a good win. Still think England will win it.

[noby]

lads, could someone explain the points scoring system.(win, draw, loss etc.)
i see ireland got a bonus point for scoring 4 tries.
what else do you get points for?

[sadloserkid]

Originally posted by noby
lads, could someone explain the points scoring system.(win, draw, loss etc.)
i see ireland got a bonus point for scoring 4 tries.
what else do you get points for?

4 for a win
2 for a draw
1 for 4 tries
1 for losing by 7 points or less

[joeSoap]

Try= 5 points
Conversion= 2 points
Penalty= 3 points
Drop Goal= 3 points.

Bonus points:
Scoring 4 or more tries= 1 point
losing by 7 or less points=1 point

4 Points for winning
2 points for a draw.

Examples: If Ireland beat Argentina 32-29 and Ireland score 4 tries, Argentina score 4 tries then Ireland will get 5 points, Argentina will get 2 points.
If Ireland beat Argentina 16-7, then Ireland will get 4 points for winning, Argentina will get none because they didn't get 4 tries, and they got beaten by more than 7 points.
Easy, isn't it??:D :D

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by pete
New Zealand to win. England are too cocky. Australia to do well also with home advantage.

Ireland will do well to get out of group in 2nd place. Argentina got unlucky tight schedle which should help Ireland. With Murphy out Ireland be lacking creativity & very short backup quality in the back line.

Dunno about the Aussies who were absolutely pitiful against Argentina. A bit of self belief, a sadly lacking trait in Irish teams, and we might just cause the upset of the tournament when we play them.
Agree about the back row. Even though, as someone else said, Big Vic will partially make up for this shortcoming, we could have been absolutely devastating with Wallace there as well. We only have two genuinely world-class ball carriers in the back row and one of them is sitting at home, why? For Eddie O'Sullivans insane need to 'balance out' the squad selection by including some clearly unnecessary Ulstermen in it.

[joeSoap]

Originally posted by Shed End John
, we could have been absolutely devastating with Wallace there as well. We only have two genuinely world-class ball carriers in the back row and one of them is sitting at home, why? For Eddie O'Sullivans insane need to 'balance out' the squad selection by including some clearly unnecessary Ulstermen in it.
I don't necessarily think it was an insane need to balance out the backrow by bringing Ulstermen, after all, there are no Ulstermen in the back-row. I think that it is just poor judgement, plain and simple. I don't think the man is half the coach people think he is, and he's incredibly blessed to have at his disposal the best ever Irish squad of all time.Warren Gatland built this squad up to what it is today, and got far more out of O'Driscoll than O'Sullivan ever will. Regarding the back-row, I challenge anyone to tell me that there is a better option out there to David Wallace, and if there is to name him. Victor Costelloe will look good against your Romanias, Namibias et al, but mark my words, when the Argies and Aussies come calling, he'll be nowhere to be seen. All during his career he has bottled it in the crunch games, be it for Mary's, Leinster or Ireland. I can't see this being any different. He has never been truly outstanding in a competitive 6 Nations game, or previous World Cup or Friendlies and Heineken Cup games that really matter. On the plus side, John Hayes really looked hungry when he got in, and steadied a really bad scrum. Foley looked off the pace, but it was his first competitive game in a long time, and Hickie looks really potent. Roll on the Argies.

[pete]

Me no expert but i don't think Costello got in ahead of Wallace as they different players. Costello is in as a ball carrier cos Foley more defensive.

Nada cover for fullback got to be a worry also.

Irish interest in the WC be minimal anyways & not gonna see sunshiners getting up at 7am to watch Ireland.

[joeSoap]

Argentina just beat Nmaibia 67-14. Looked to be a little sharper than they were against the aussies, but against Mamibia, you'd have to expect this.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by joeSoap
Argentina just beat Nmaibia 67-14. Looked to be a little sharper than they were against the aussies, but against Mamibia, you'd have to expect this.

Going on the fact, though, that they, like us, were expected to beat them by 70-80 points, this could technically be construed as a below par result for Argentina. Also, the concession of 2 tries (am I right?) has to be a worry for them. We will be a FAR more potent threat, Wallace or no Wallace, and a REALLY big result against Namibia could give us a vital psychgological edge when it comes to Sunday week.

[pete]

Argentina made 14 changes for todays team than one started against Australia.

[Schumi]

Originally posted by pete
Argentina made 14 changes for todays team than one started against Australia. Yeah, you can't read much into Argentina's performance but if they lost by 53 points to a second string Argentina team, Namibia must be really poor.

[pete]

Originally posted by Schumi
Yeah, you can't read much into Argentina's performance but if they lost by 53 points to a second string Argentina team, Namibia must be really poor.

Apparently they are World Ranked 16th which in theory makes them better than Romania.

Then again those rnakings seem as accurate as the FIFA ones. :eek:

[Dodge]

Not really 16th pete...

http://www.irb.com/rankings/index.cfm

[joeSoap]

Originally posted by pete
Apparently they are World Ranked 16th which in theory makes them better than Romania.

Then again those rnakings seem as accurate as the FIFA ones. :eek:
They're currently 25th which is lower than Romania, but those rankings are a pure and utter sham. Ireland were ranked ahead of Australia going in to this tournament, but yesterday dropped below them. They never should have been ahead of them in the first place, but theres those rankings for you....

[pete]

Google no use when don't read the text on the page... (http://www.google.ie/search?q=rugby+%2B+world+rankings&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta=)

The original Internet rugby union world rankings - doh! (http://www.live.com/wrr/)

:(

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by joeSoap
Ireland were ranked ahead of Australia going in to this tournament, but yesterday dropped below them. They never should have been ahead of them in the first place, but theres those rankings for you....

IRB rankings are done on a rolling basis. Given that we WON 15 from 17 games going into the World Cup, and that the Aussies came off the back of a disastrous Tri Nations campaign, the rankings could at least on a short-term basis be justified.
Btw, ye all saw the match yesterday, right? Given the conditions, we looked quite strong. Personally, I would go with Horan and an all-Munster front row seeing as Corrigans injury isn't quite right, and he lacks anything that could remotely be considered mobility. IMO, Argentina haven't sorted the SERIOUS problems they have under game conditions; and if we can recycle and move the ball fast then we're looking good to win by 10-15 points.

[Schumi]

If Horan plays against Argentina, our scrum will be in trouble. Is Corrigan's injury bad? I thought it was just a precaution to leave him out of the Namibia game.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by Schumi
If Horan plays against Argentina, our scrum will be in trouble. Is Corrigan's injury bad? I thought it was just a precaution to leave him out of the Namibia game.

Absolute RUBBISH. Horan has proved himself time and again to be a top class prop. Corrigans shoulder is still keeping him out of contact training it said on RTÉ last night.
Argentina might have the heaviest pack in the WC but, IMO, it's far from the best. Be disgusted if we didn't at least break even with them up front as there's a whole lot of hype, no substance talked about their scrum.

[pete]

Me no expert but Horan ain't up to scrummaging against Argentina. If you can match the Argentina scrum then Ireland halfway to winning.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by Conor74
Has he no ambition greater than holding up mineshafts?

Conor, how're things? Did you not even watch the Namibia game? Horan is an absolute expert at chasing, and occasionally retrieving, lost causes. His work rate is monstrous and the 'fact' that he's not built like 'a prop should be' is an entirely moot point. If people look at front row players in the Southern Hemisphere, very few, if any. of them carry ANY excess weight whatsoever. Horan is built like a Southern Hemisphere front row, and noone has ever expressed any doubts about their ability to perform. I'd pick him for the Argentina game, where I'd put money on it that he'd do a great job as well as adding some much needed mobility to our front row.
Btw, anyone know the scotland-USA result, plus the result of todays game???

[pete]

I know rugby a minority sport 'n all but TV coverage seems at best crap.

RTE basically just cover the irish games plus a few more thrown in & ITVs coverage is woeful for a station coverage basically 4 teams in their country (they get part of Ireland). Will Carling :eek:

[joeSoap]

If you've got Sky Digital, go to channel 189(I think) the Welsh Channel S4C is the best station.....if you can tolerate the Welsh language commentary!:D :D

[Beavis]

Can a world cup where a team wins 143-0 really have any credibility.

I know its Ireland and we should care but I've probably met too many Dublin rugby a r s e h o l e s in my time.(not saying there all knobs but just don't like the whole rugby culture[in Dublin anyway])

[NigeSausagepump]

Originally posted by Beavis

I know its Ireland and we should care but I've probably met too many Dublin rugby a r s e h o l e s in my time.(not saying there all knobs but just don't like the whole rugby culture[in Dublin anyway])

I must say the Paul Howard books on Ross O'Carroll-Kelly take off the south Dublin rugby culture to a tee. Some of those idiots who go around with their collars up, beige chinos and deck shoes could do worse than read them (assuming they can read) and maybe realise how utterly ridiculous they appear.

I like so wouldn't go north of Tara Steet on the Dort, roight, they so wouldn't be able to serve me like bottles of Heino there.

Rock on Ross.

[Shed End John]

Originally posted by Beavis
Can a world cup where a team wins 143-0 really have any credibility.

I know its Ireland and we should care but I've probably met too many Dublin rugby a r s e h o l e s in my time.(not saying there all knobs but just don't like the whole rugby culture[in Dublin anyway])

Which just goes to show, if you want real rugby come to Munster.;) Maybe the Oz-Namibia match was a farce, but, the real business is starting tomorrow morning. Here are my predictions to make the semis:
New Zealand- because they're SO bloody good going forward
Australia- because Scotland are s***e
England- because Wales aren't good enough to beat them
Ireland- because...........don't ask, I just have a good feeling about this one!!

[Schumi]

Originally posted by Shed End John
New Zealand- because they're SO bloody good going forward They'll probably beat SA but Wales really made their defence look poor so I don't think they'll get past Australia in the semi; maybe Ireland v Australia again in the final? :)

[James]

Originally posted by Schumi
maybe Ireland v Australia again in the final? :)

schumi Ireland have NEVER played Australia in the final before
:cool: