Rugby World Cup 2003

[patsh]

Originally posted by TheRealRovers
Is Rugby that "sport" where you use a bat?

Your right, but most people refer to it as their head........

[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??

[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.

[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.

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...

The original Internet rugby union world rankings - doh!

[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.