Fiki must feel they have a good chance of getting to the next round!
We got stung pretty bad back in the day after Graham Henry started picking the imports.
Interestingly (or not), my own personal experience was playing against a Fijian (I think) who was playing for Pyle. I later found out they were a feeder club for Bridgend before the regions became a thing.
That was a hard day at the office. I was playing centre, I am not a centre. He was 5ā 10ā in all directions except for below the knees. I thought I could get hold of him there. That plan didnāt work either.
He got away with one in an earlier match, ball was clearly not yet kicked when the clock hit zero, but it was close enough so no call. Doesnāt show particularly good coaching that he would make the same mistake again.
Somebody has to beā¦England? Wales?
Biggest problem with the sport is a terribly shallow pool of credible sides, combined with a competitive structure that makes it very difficult for teams outside the top group to get the competition they need to improve.
Isnāt there a massive count down clock in the stadium?
Farrel: āWhats a count down?ā
Iām quite positive about the state of the game to be honest.
We currently have 2 northern hemisphere sides in the top 4 teams. Unspeakable a few years ago.
Other sideās such as Fiji are clearly progressing but Iād also add that the minor sides in the tournament are playing some really good stuff. They donāt like like a complete rabble that existed at the end of the amatuer era where certain sides were clearly āprofessionalā while rest were all over the place and the bottom sides looked clueless.
Yes there have been some complete trouncing scorelines but the basics and skill levels of the players are there. Fitness levels too.
Still a massive challenge to grow the game where the clear success path are those nations that have solid college type youth foundations that provide an excellent route to the upper levels. Rugby also needs to compete against other better televised sports. I also see the current head injury issues as a real concern going forward.
I think Fiji is a real bellwether case. Sides in that next group down from the top tier that arenāt in competitions like Six Nations or the Rugby Championship are starved of the fixtures they really need to progress. Fiji has shown an ability to compete in that mix for now, but structurally they are at a massive disadvantage to a country like Italy. You can put Uruguay, Chile, Samoa, Romania, Georgia, USA, etc in that same group, and you used to be able to put Canada in that group too.
Unfortunately, rugby has been dominated by a very closed-shop mentality, which to Canadaās shame we have participated in. Rugby Canada gets disproportionate funding from World Rugby, more or less in exchange for voting against interests of Tier 2&3 (including our own). Even within World Rugby, they have to be questioning the return on that investment.
Ok, so predictions for the weekend. Is anyone going for a NH clean sweep?
Too difficult to predict, all 4 matches are about 50/50 for me. Refereeing could be the game changer.
I suppose France with home advantage hence ābetterā legs have a slight advantage.
Wales, NZ, England and France (only because of home advantage).
NZ v France final.
Hope Iām wrong though.
Thatās the way Im leaning as well. I keep trying to explain to my US friends why Irelandās #1 ranking is both compeltely deserved and even more irrelevant in predicting the outcome this weekend.
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Very brave!
Nope, try as I might I canāt disagree with a single word of that. Youāre dead right.
Kind of makes the progress Iām seeing all the more impressive, so much so that they really should not be āignoredā at the international level for much longer.
Not sure Iād go full hog and go promotion /relegation from the 6 nationās for example but Georgia, for example certainly need more top tier games somehow.
Iāve gone for an Ireland France final in the work sweep so Iāll stick with that.
Letās just say I hope to be watching the England Fiji game very very closely.
Does anyone understand the Smith/Stewart selection for England? Finding a way to get Smith in the side to make up for the lack of creativity you get with Farrell at the 10 kind of makes sense, but at the expense of one of the best performing players? And why is that a problem not solved by simply not having Farrell at 10?
It seems they dont trust Smith at 10 against a team with Fijiās running power and so are going for Farrell there, over both Smith and Ford, to add an extra big tackler in the 10-13 spots. Which kind of makes sense in your approaching Fiji reactively. But still seems like the wrong solution if it means dropping Stewart.
US coverage - No build up, no anthems just waiting until the very last second before KO to remove their ācoverage will being shortlyā screen.
Play your best side. No square pegs in round holes, just know you have to double in the 10-13 slots.
Walesā shirts are a shambles. Not even 10 mins in and the numbers are hanging off half the players
Some of the forwards have no numbers!
Davies lost his within the first 5 mins.