Have we ever had a World Cup before where the three big Southern Hemisphere sides all lost a game to a 6/5 nations side?
Fuckering battering 
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No as the opening match is the first time NZ have lost in a WC group match.
Also, this surely has to be the end for Eddie Jones as an international coach, who the hell would take him on after the last 12 month of England and now this shite
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Oooff Oz got hammered by the Welsh lads!!
This was a jog in the park for Wales.
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For about 25 minutes in the first half, Australia was really dictating play - at one point gains were 340 meters to 90 meters or so in their favour. Yet they had nothing to show for it, Wales kept the scoreboard ticking over, and you could almost feel the desperation building.
Great Welsh performance equalled with an appalling Australian one.
That has to be the most controlled game Iāve ever seen from a Welsh side, based purely on defensive organisation and playing in the right areas of the pitch. Nothing fancy. But wow, how those young Australians fell off a cliff.
Iām grinning at the possibility of last night setting up a Fiji Vs England quarter final. Iāve put a reminder on my phone to take the fishing rod and some bait into work.
Interesting comment, because it runs almost directly against something I said in the second half. This Wales team reminds me of his 2012-2013 team, except with not as many box kicks. Just tough defence, especially in the last 30 meters or so, grinding positional play, and efficient conversion of territory into points on the board.
Wales thinks of itself as a purveyors of pure, aesthetically pleasing running rugby. There has long been a preference for and even self-identification with players like Shane Williams than George North, and that has long been one of tensions of the Gatland era, where the game plan was often a lot more straight forward and confrontational. One of the ways weāve often done damage to ourselves is to try to play our way of difficult situations when its not on, thinking we have a team full of Prime Saint Andres and Blancos. Weāll often respond to a great defensive stand by trying to do too much too quickly once we win the ball back and invariably turning it over either too quickly or in bad situations. We saw glimpses of that against Fiji, think Bigger going ballistic and North on the stroke of half time for trying to run the ball out from under our posts after time had already expired. Yesterday that first 20 mins was building towards one of those games, but they avoided the temptation. It was a really nice mix of good running with responsible decision making in terms of not forcing the ball and taking the kicks when they were available.
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Not sure about that. Yes, based on the final score, but this Ireland team seem to find a way to win. If they were chasing the game for last 20 they could still have found a way.
That said, if we were to meet SA in the final Iāve no idea who would win. Itās a 50:50 match up
As it was though, it was South Africa that was chasing their game and were compelled to move out of their comfort zone in the last 10 minutes.
That said, and to your comment, the South Africans may be frustrated that they were able to control play to the extent they did and come away losing anyway. They were really able to prevent Ireland from getting into much of a rhythm for most of the match. But that is a half-empty glass for them. It is very difficult to make a team as good as Ireland play on someone elseās terms for two matches in a row. In their position, I would be very leery of a rematch.
We still have to get past Scotland, and if/then I will be very worried about facing the All Blacks, especially as theyāll be seen as underdogs. Dangerous!
Shows the shambles of the draw that the semi final (if we make it) will be an easier game than the 3 games before it
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[quote=āArminius, post:604, topic:492, full:trueā]
Yes the defensive strength now appears to be developing but to add to @Limiescouse 's comments (which are bang on point but he forgot to mention Barry John) this is honestly the first time I can remember us playing the percentages in possession, defense, kicking, points and territory so completely consistently for what was about 60 minutes.
Efficient is the word Iām looking for. I will need to see our points per visit into the opposition 22 metric for that game and compare it over previous seasons. Could be revealing.
It also loosely coincided with Biggarās departure in the game which is potentially a fascinating thing to explore.
I think the Oz reaction is somewhat overblown. It was understood that Australian rugby was a bit of a mess, and four years ago it was really uncertain whom they would be fielding. A year ago, there was cause for a little more optimism, still clearly in a down cycle, but some younger talent coming on. I think there is an element of regression to the mean in this WC showing, but overall, I think they are still better than where they expected to be.
That said, I think they were foolish to ditch their coach, and more so to bring in Jones. Whatever your take on Jones is, he is not a figure you want leading a young, potentially fragile team through growing pains - especially not on a short-term arrangement mere months before a World Cup. I think the powers that be in Australian rugby became momentarily overconfident and fixated on short-term success.
Ruthlessly efficient demolition of Italy last night by the All Blacks. Thereās something about them when they play like this. Their accuracy, decision making and ability is simply on another level.
The quarter final games featuring France, SA, Ireland and NZ are going to be incredible.
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Wow, just realised that the 2 weakest teams in the RWC are the 1st to have played all 4 of their qualifying games. Must have been really gruelling for them.
The fact that the gap between #4 and #11 is 80 points is not at all a healthy sign for the sport.
Hmm fair point. Although I do think Italy are better than that. Their tactics kind of played into New Zealandās hands a bit or they were at least very ready for them.
To also add, itās been that way for a long long time too.
England are properly awful
Farrell just had a kick in front of the posts to bring the game back to 3 points and let the kick clock expire. I dont think i have EVER seen that