Rugby World Cup 2007

[Oggie]

Yeah sorry bout that oggie, i was staying in Wexford when i went to Brittas.
I haventactually met Brian yet, but im hoping i will in the future and im hoping one of them turn pro offers is for me!!!
I didn actually no that Andy was with Brian now, but Brian has the Irish pro scene locked so i guess u kinda have to be with him to get exposure.

U see Argentina Georgia last night?
Georgians are BIG!

I'm not sure if Andy Lee is actually promoted by Brian yet, but I know he is working on bringing him over here to bring him up through the ranks in front of his home crowd... he could probably easily sell out any venue he fights in over here, every time.

As for the rugby, I was shocked by how far Georgia pushed Argentina! This has been by far the best rugby world cup yet and all but 2 of the games have been hugely competitive, even though on paper they looked like total 'David vs. Goliath' matches.
Argentina left it until the final whistle to snatch their all important bonus point try, a credit to the Georgian defence! It is easy to see why wrestling is the national sport of Georgia! They were bullying the highly touted Argentinian pack with ease.
Then Tonga had a good match with the USA, winning out 25-15 in the end... I expected more from the USA after their good performance against England, but the Tongan's are frickin' huge and just seemed to overpower them at the rucks. (*Fun Fact* - Did you know that Tongan's are naturally the largest people on earth?)
The match of the tournament so far was Fiji vs. Japan for me! Total excitement and drama as Japan tried their best for 4 minutes into extra time to score a try that would win them the match, but Fiji manged to hold on and won out by 35-31 in the end.
Then there was another surprise as Italy were pushed all the way by a pretty much all amateur Romanian side, in the end only taking victory by 24-18. All of the weaker teams are putting up great showings in this world cup, unlike the last one were they were only really there to make up the numbers. Awesome stuff!

Tomorrow is probably the biggest match of the tournament so far (alongside France vs. Argentina) as many peoples favourites South Africa take on the defending, but weakened champions England. Both teams have been hit by suspensions; England have lost their captain and prop Phil Vickery after he was suspended for 2 matches for tripping American centre Paul Emerick while South Africa have lost star flanker Schalk Burger after he was suspended for 2 matches for a dangerous high hit on Samoan scrum-half Junior Polu.
I reckon South Africa will run away with this one... England are in crisis right now and Olly Barkley has been ruled out with a hip injury. I think Mike Catt will fill in at fly-half, but he is nowhere near good enough to handle that position... the other option is Andy Farrell, but he is so inexperienced... it is a bad situation for them! They are missing Wilkinson big time!
South Africa win by 20+ points for me.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Its gonna b a great weekend of games for sure!
Argentina Georgia was another rough tough battle altho the Georgians appeared gassed after half time. That along with the smaller break between matches should be a good indicator for Ireland. Add Shaggy's return and O'Driscolls msatisfaction with the training and im well optimistic.

As for England i wouldn begrudge them a win, they'll miss Vickery. I think that will further weaken the packs vicious nature, as just having vickery on the field was an inspiration to a lot of players.

And i relation to the perfect bday ye mentioned below, i really love the welsh team and id love em to do well.
Cept for Stephen Jones. Flash Prick.

[Oggie]

Well, South Africa vs. England is not long over now... South Africa destroyed them, even worse than I imagined, 36-0! England looked totally shapeless and Jason Robinson seemed to be the only back actually making an effort... it was real bad then to see him limp off with around 20 minutes left, clutching his hamstring. As of that moment, I knew England would not score!
South Africa looked very, very strong... probably the best performance so far in the tournament. Fourie Du Preez is without doubt the best scrum half in the world right now... he controlled the pack brilliantly, he defended brilliantly, he kicked brilliantly, he created the 3 tries and was basically the boss out there! Amazing player.
The scary thing is, South Africa will have Schalk Burger back too in time for the knockouts. He is another game breaker!

Tomorrow is the time of the mighty All Blacks again, as they face off against probably the lowest ranked team in the tournament, Portugal. Expect the biggest hammering of the tournament so far in that one. New Zealand by 100+ points!
Then we're off to Cardiff for the big match tomorrow, Wales vs. Australia. Wales looked very shakey in their opening match against Canada whilst Australia trounced a hapless Japan 91-3 to get their campaign started. Australia will be favourites no doubt, but with Stephen Larkham an injury doubt and the passionate Cardiff crowd behind the Welsh, who knows what could happen?
I reckon Australia will take it, but it will be closer than people expect... the Wallabies by around 10.
Last match tomorrow is Ireland vs. Georgia in Bordeaux. Ireland looked dreadful in their opening match against Namibia and will have a point to prove. Shane Horgan's return from injury will also boost their confidence. Georgia were gallant and courageous against the strong Argentinian team in their opener, even managing to keep the Argies try-less for the first half... however, in my opinion Ireland will be fired up after their terrible opener and Georgia will still be licking their wounds from their bruising encounter with Argentina... I'm going with Ireland by around 30+ points.

[donnydarkoIRL]

South Africa looked awesome last night. England looked like a pub side.

About ur point on Jason Robinson, he had a run at the end of the second half made him look like the best player in the world.

All blacks will destroy today methinks!
Had a nightmare last night we got beat by Georgia! Also Steve Staunton was appointed new Rugby Manager! Horrible Horrible Dream.

[Dizaster]

Thanks for the sports update Oggie... cc

[Phil]

u guys see Ireland-Georgia? 14-10 to Ireland but very lucky to win this one!
I fear we'll be going out in the group stages, playing like this I can't see us beating either
France or Argentina! Its weird how shit all the 6 nations teams are doing!

[Oggie]

South Africa looked awesome last night. England looked like a pub side.

About ur point on Jason Robinson, he had a run at the end of the second half made him look like the best player in the world.

All blacks will destroy today methinks!
Had a nightmare last night we got beat by Georgia! Also Steve Staunton was appointed new Rugby Manager! Horrible Horrible Dream.

Robinson was quality for England against South Africa... hopefully he can recover to take part in another match or more, because he is retiring after this world cup. It would be very sad to see his career end with a hamstring pull.
Steve Staunton can't even figure out how to get control of a sport he played all his life, let alone one he hasn't.
The FAI are a shower of monkeys who fell out of a tree and landed in Merrion Square... although maybe I'm being too harsh on the monkeys there.

Thanks for the sports update Oggie... cc

No worries man, CC back.

Yesterday, 2 of the 3 matches went exactly like I imagined.
New Zealand ran out easy winners against a brave Portugal side, putting up a 108-13 scoreline. Hard to take anything from a match like that... but again, New Zealand looked very strong as you would expect.
At the Millennium stadium in Cardiff, Australia stormed into an early comfortable lead but had to survive a late onslaught by Wales who were spurred on by the mostly Welsh crowd in Cardiff. Australia took it 32-20 in the end. Chris Latham was awesome at full back like he usually is!
Then, Ireland amazingly SURVIVED against Georgia, who were supposed to be one of the tournament whipping boys. Georgia had over 60% of possession and bombarded the Irish line with their powerful forwards... to Ireland's credit though, they defended well except for the intercept try. But really, if Ireland are to make any kind of impression at the world cup, they should not be making such hard work of teams like Georgia and Namibia... They won 14-10 in the end and there were a lot of relieved faces in Green after the final whistle.

Today, Fiji take on Canada at the Millennium stadium in Cardiff... this is a hard one to call. Canada looked good for a while against Wales before running out of steam, while Fiji took an exciting but sloppy win against Japan... I reckon Canada will win it from 1-8, but the Fiji backs can be lethal if they are on form... I think Fiji will win by around 5, but Canada will have the lions share of possession.
After that, it is the match of the day as the two south Pacific islands go to war for the first time in a world cup, Samoa vs. Tonga.
Expect flair, excitement and some of the hardest tackling you will ever see in any sport. This match will be explosive for sure and the two war dances before the match will be a joy to see. I think Samoa will become more and more dominant as the match goes on though and should win pretty comfortably. Samoa by around 25 points!
The final match is France vs. Namibia... not really much to say. France have a point to prove and will need a big performance to win back the fans faith in the team after the disastrous start they had against Argentina... Namibia could be in for a long night, depending on which France turns up of course. I'll go with an easy France victory, maybe by around 40 points.

[donnydarkoIRL]

Ireland were poor against Georgia, However there is some cause for optimism. The back line was far more organised, they kept in range of the Pack, setting up counter attacks quickly. Handling errors were still evident although not as detrimental as in the namibia game. Hickey vastly improved.
Pack had good moments, but seemed unorganised at times. Theses times resulted in the Georgian pack appearing more organised than they were in actuality. Issac Boss came on and tried a few things Stringer wouldnt, they nearly paid off for him.
For me Flannery better than Best at Hooker. Shane Horgan played a good game. Where's Geordan Murphy?!!!

In summation, i reckon Victor Costello was right, Ireland are playing down to the oppositions level. Will be forced to play harder against the Upper tier teams of their group.