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Will you be watching?
Who will you be supporting?
Who's gonna win?


First game New Zealand - Tonga 9/9/11 (20.30 NZ TIME)

Supporting Wales, but I think NZ will win the cup.

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Goo new zealand!! Woooh!!

Supporting England, watching when I can (it's got complicated since my marriage went tits up and I moved house) and expecting NZ to dominate the competition. :)

I will be springing with the boks!

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No disrespect to Pool B teams, but I think England have got the easiest route to the next round out of all the Northern Hemisphere sides. I can't see anybody bothering them too much - maybe Scotland will give them a good game - I hope so.

My Predications
1st Round
=========
A NZ, France
B England, Scotland
C Australia, Ireland
D South Africa, Fiji/Samoa/Wales (could go either way!)

QF
==
Aus v Fiji/Samoa/Wales
SA v Ireland
NZ v Scotland
England v France

SF
==
Aus v France
SA v NZ

F
=
Aus v NZ

NZ win. Who cares about 3rd/4th.

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Game results according to expectation so far, although a few scares for England and SA.

New Zealand 41 - 10 Tonga
France 47 - 21 Japan
Scotland 34 - 24 Romania
Argentina 9 - 13 England (squeaky bum time!)
Australia 32 - 6 Italy
Ireland 22 - 10 USA
Fiji 49 - 25 Namibia
South Africa 17 - 16 Wales (almost! Wales deserved to win)

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Well done Ireland! At last a result to upset the form books:
Ire 15 - 6 Aus

Canada also did well against Tonga, Russia gave USA a scare and Scotland must have died of embarrassment against Georgia.

Sorry, I'm not a fan of this sport. I prefer soccer

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So why the hell did you post in this thread? Pointless wasn't it? If you think it's rubbish, say so and state a reason, although that would be off-topic too.

Anyway,
New Zealand 37-17 France

France were rubbish. Shame.

@AndrewDJ Go start a girly soccer thread instead, there are plenty of female members of DaniWeb who I am sure would join you :)

I predicted 'at least 46-3' for the England/Romania game so was happy to see the 67-3 result. Mind you, against that team, anything much less would have been a disaster.

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> anything much less would have been a disaster.

Right there.

Argentina 13 : 12 Scotland

Now that's interesting. If Scotland beat England, it may come down to bonus points.

Argentina should get 5 points from their remaining game against Georgia

If Scotland score 4 tries against England and England fail to come within 7 points, England go home.

However, judging by Scotland's performance thus far, I can't see it happening.

Most likely, Scotland are out, with 1. England, 2. Argentina

Well, I'm not sure that soccer is a girly kind of sport:)
Happygeek, don't be mad with me, I'm newbee after all)

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> Well, I'm not sure that soccer is a girly kind of sport

Well it is. Women play it. Grown men rolling around the floor in mocked agony play it. Toys get thrown out of the pram when a decision goes against them. Managers won't shake hands after the game when they're embarrassed about how their team has played. Face it, it's a woman's game - but that's an insult to women. I apologise ladies. :(

In Spain they say: "boys play soccer, girls play volleyball, and men play rugby".
Can we accept this phrase?

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In Spain they say: "boys play soccer, girls play volleyball, and men play rugby".
Can we accept this phrase?

Yep, sounds about right to me. And remember, this comes from a nation of soccer players. They didn't make the Rugby World Cup. Shame.

Can I just say, GO WALES!!!!!! What a cracking game of rugby, best of RWC 2011 so far.

Oh boy, now *that* was a game of rugby and then some. Wales for RWC2011 anyone?

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Nice one HG! My heart's still going at 200+. That's the best defence I've ever seen from Wales - they've always been good, but the tackle count would have crippled teams of old.
Did you see Adam Jones tuck up Cian Healy? Almost bent him in half in THAT scrum. Cian must have wished that he'd been ploughed a few feet under so that he wouldn't have to show his face. Anyway RWC2011? I think it would be a good bet to make the final, then NZ on the day. Very possible.

Looking forward to the England France game shortly. It will be the first time that I will support England in anything. Purely for the pleasure of meeting (beating) them in the Semis. :)

Anyway, neither England nor France have played v. well so far, so they've both got a massive point to prove. France, being France will either come out and play their game of the decade or self-implode. I think if England keep their heads and play percentage rugby, they'll come through. C'mon England! (chokes on his coffee...)

England v Wales would be a semi-final and a half though, wouldn't it?

Scrap that. England are playing like, erm, England. Do NOT deserve to get through on this form, absolute disgrace.

Looks like Wales into the final at this rate...

16 - 0 at half time and, to be honest, it could easily have been much worse for England. And what was Ashton thinking, dropped two chances in the last couple of minutes and cost us some hope going into the second half.

Not impressed at all. Johnson needs to kick some arse in the changing room, and then some.

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Ballocks. Well, I suppose that's the bad karma you get when a Welshman favours England. :(
France played OK - not brilliant, but England were terrible (sorry). Can Johnson survive this run of rubbish performances? When you consider these stats (no. players):

England - 716505
South Africa - 464477
France - 212059
New Zealand - 141726
Japan - 126124
Ireland - 100974
Australia - 66395
USA - 63254
Italy - 45376
Fiji - 45300
Wales - 42000
Scotland - 24905

He should be taken outside and ...

Anyway, Phil Vickery's commentary must have put the players off. Was he doing a Brian Blessed?

I'm 100% behind Wales for the cup now. Wonder what the odds are for a win? A lot shorter than they were yesterday I imagine :)

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Top Man HG :) I'm really looking forward to next week's game. The French will give us a hell of a game, the result of which is difficult to gauge, but the sheer quiet confidence of the Welsh youngsters (Halfpenny, Warburton, Lydiate, Faletau, Priestland, Jon Davies, North, Roberts - all <=24)gives me a lot of hope. Warburton, although just turned 23, is already set to be a great captain.

I reckon NZ to win comfortably against Argentina tomorrow (20-30 points). I expect South Africa to squeeze Australia up front and starve them of the ball. However, Australia will be embarrassed about the loss against Ireland and will come out like rabid dingoes. Still think a close win for SA.

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OK, Close game SA 9 - 11 Aus (thought it should have gone the other way)
Arg 10 - 33 NZ (my predicted 20-30 pointer, BUT Arg showed NZ not on top form - very vulnerable)

So
Fra v Wal
Aus v NZ

I couldn't have been more wrong with my first prediction:
Aus v Fra
SA v NZ

Go the Wallabies :).

I'm rooting for Wales through to the final and then fingers crossed that NZ are as weak as they were against the Argies.

Can't honestly see AUS upsetting NZ at home, especially after the pretty lacklustre performance against SA.

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I'm a bit ambivalent wrt Aus vs NZ, however, IF Wales win against France, I'd rather play Australia as I think we've got a better chance of winning, but on the other hand, I'd love to see us play NZ, as I think they are the best at the moment, although nowhere near THEIR best. No offence to the Aussies by this though.

France will be a major hurdle. Not counting my coqs yet. :)

The French played well against England but were far from their best I thought, meanwhile Wales played better than I can can recall seeing them do so for many, many years (I'm thinking back to the days of JPR Williams if I'm being honest - seriously, that's the impression it left on me) so if they can keep that momentum going, who knows?

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Momentum is the key word. Both sides know how to hit the self-destruct button unfortunately. France are well known for being temperamental and inconsistent. From what I've heard Lievremont has been pretty much ditched by the players as they've decided to do their own thing. THey may be able to do that as a one-off, but I wonder how they will react to a side that can change their game plan. Unfortunately, England were bereft of ideas, seemingly unable to change tactics. Using those big backs as bludgeons simply played into the French hands. Mixing up the play with high kicks, back row moves, crash ball centre play, expansive 3/4 play - not to mention disruptive tactics of the blitz defence and set piece front row demolition - should pay dividends.
As for the Welsh Golden Era of the 70's - it may be a bit previous for comparisons, but their last eight games have been extremely encouraging (6 wins, 4pt loss to England at Twickers and 1pt loss to SA in RWC). We've had many false dawns, I've learned not to stick my neck out. Squealing with excitement, but I'd never admit to it. :)

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