Thought to dedicate a thread to the Rugby World Cup... mods, if need be, feel free to merge this with the all-inclusive rugby thread. Australia and Argentina are about to kick off the entire tournament from Telstra Stadium in Sydney (the venue that was the Olympic Stadium in 2000). The opening game starts in a few minutes, live here on the Seven Network...
Halftime, at Telstra Stadium... Australia 14 Argentina 3 Michael Flatley has three penalty goals, including one at the break, and Wendell Sailor has scored the first try of the tournament. Yeah, Wallabies! Go, you good things!!
Full time in Sydney... The reigning world champions are off to a winning start. Australia 24 Argentina 8 Tries from Sailor and Joe Roff, and four penalty goals and a conversion by Flatley pace the Wallabies' opening-game win. Corleto had the Argentines' lone try on the night.
Mods - please keep this thread separate from the other rugby one, a World Cup deserves its own thread. Aussie bloke got a nasty neck/head injury. Hope he's ok. As for the game, I thought Australia scored a good try in the first half and did well to seal it with a second try after Argentina scored, and Wendell Sailor is a great player, but I still don't think they look like they're on the same level as New Zealand or England. Their forwards have skill but are too light and the backs are very good but not quite brilliant enough to compensate against top teams. I expect them to win the pool and the 1/4 but then get edged out by NZ in the semi. Argentina had the weight in the pack, but couldn't take as much advantage as their efforts deserved, the lineout and the kicking was very poor which let the rest of the team down. They really could have pushed it all the way if the kicker would have done justice to his team. But their defending, handling of high balls and aggression was very good indeed, the try was excellently taken and they can take a lot of pride from really making a game of it. They don't have the resources or popularity of the sport like the Aussies, but that certainly didn't show. Kudos.
One thing I've learned from watching Rugby (Union or League) is this, never write off the Aussies in World Cup time. They can play badly against the big sides and still win.
So, does anyone have any links that I can use to follow the Cup? I found the USA Rugby site, but their updates are, uhh, nonexistent. I've been a critic of the USSF in the past, but thank Yahweh for their ability to overload you with more than you need to know about US soccer.
Try the tournament's official site... www.rugbyworldcup.com Has some audio, video, and some useful matchtrackers as well, in addition to all the usual and expected bells and whistles.
They could do that in the past, because they had the quality. That's the problem with this Australia team, it's not that they're playing badly, they just don't have it in the tank to turn it on.
Tape delayed several days, on Fox Sports World. From their online schedule (all times Eastern), here's a partial list: 10/13/03: Opening ceremony, 7 PM Aussies v. Argies, 8 PM 10/14/03: Seth Effrica v. Uruguay, 5 PM All Blacks v. Italy, 8 PM Frenchies v. Fiji, 11 PM 10/15/03: Ireland v. Romania, 2 AM Wales v. America, Jr., 3 PM England v. Georgia, 5 PM Scotland v. Japan, 11 PM blah, blah. For the whole schedule, go to FSW's web site and click the Rugby tab. Unlike last time, doesn't seem like every game is on live TV (or same-day tape) or PPV. The only upcoming live PPV from RWC03 is Sunday morning's England v. Georgia match.
Rugby World Cup 2003 (R) Ok, so the the first game has come and gone, and still no-one has said anything about it. Mods: If you want this tucked away in the 'all inclusive rugby' thread then so be it - however I thought it deserved it's own thread, it being the biggest sporting event of the year. Anyway.... I did what all self-respecting sports fans do - I missed the opening ceremony. First match: Australia V Argentina. Aussies win 24-8. Not an entirely glorious victory by Australia. Made a lot of hardwork over it, though Argentina aren't total pushovers. Report David Giffin (Aus) badly injured jumping for a ball. Fears were that his neck might be broken - as it turns out it wasn't - but under the laws of the game he will be out for 3-weeks. And I do hope the replay thing doesn't get stupid in this WC. It's all very well having the replay for suspicious tries - but they just took the piss after that Argentine try in the second half. Everyone at home, on the field and watching from the stands knew it was a try but for some reason the people with all the technology took 5 minutes deciding that fact. Good job technology makes life easier Tomorrow's matches: 0530: New Zealand v Italy (Pool D) Melbourne 0800: Ireland v Romania (Pool A) Gosford 1030: France v Fiji (Pool B) Brisbane 1300: South Africa v Uruguay (Pool C) Perth (times are GMT) Winners are usually easy to predict in rugby, especially at this early stage. 1)NZ 2)Ireland 3)France 4)SA No surprises there, others can pontificate on the scores, but I'll wait 'til we get the cricket scores out of the way.
Ok, so I noticed some one had actually started a RWC thread. ...It's been a long day. Mods: You can merge this, or bin it - I've tried to bin it but it won't let me.
I don't watch Rugby, but I usually catch a bit of the World Cup tournament. How does the US stack-up? No hopers, or can we win a game or two?
If we can win one game from the four pool matches, I think they'd take some comfort in that. Didn't they fail to win a game in '99 in Wales? That's what I'm assuming, but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong...
Thanks, bt01. New Zealand lock forward Brad Thorn, left, is congratulated by prop Dave Hewett after scoring a try, during the Rugby World Cup game New Zealand vs. Italy in Melbourne, Saturday, Oct. 11, 2003. (AP Photo/Tony Feder)
No worries, TC. Much appreciated. In the second match of the tournament, Australia's cross-Tasman near-neighbours New Zealand have started their run in the tournament in grand fashion, blitzing Italy 70-7 at the TelstraDome in Melbourne on Saturday afternoon. http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/RugbyWorldCup/EN/Top+Story/kb1110+NZLvITA+report.htm
Other Saturday results... Ireland defeated Romania 45-17, at Central Coast Stadium in Gosford. http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/RugbyWorldCup/EN/Tournament/Matches/Match+3/News/sk1110+ire+v+rom.htm And in progress at Suncorp Stadium in Brisbane, France are leading Fiji 24-8 (halftime, I believe). http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/RugbyWorldCup/EN/Top+Story/md1110FraFijimatch.htm
France 61 - Fiji 18. This was a fantastic game. Great tries, a few fights, hard tackles, lots of slick passing and a competitive first half followed by a dominant second half from France. Well I have to hand it to France. I had them written off before this World Cup but I thought they looked very impressive indeed today, the return of Tony Marsh gave them a big lift and I think they're a shoein for the semi and will give England a tough game. Did anyone see the Fiji player biting the French players neck when he was on the ground during the big fight which got two people sin binned? I'm sure he was biting him, and there seemed to be quite a bit of blood afterwards. I'll be interested to see if he is cited for that and what the punishment will be.
Awww, isn't that nice. I'm not used to such niceties. Anyway...RWC. That France - Fiji match was a good'un. Didn't see the biting incident but there were more than a few wayward elbows and forearms around. Then of course there were the straight-forward punches. All good fun. And no padding...well not much. In my mind the French do give a good game. I've always been a fan of the team over the years. Speed, flair and occasional bouts of violence - all the makings of a decent squad. And my rant for the day is....get rid of those bloody stupid gloves some of the players are wearing. And a big WOW goes to NZ for their demolition of Italy. Yes, we know Italy aren't going to win the cup but they do compete in the 6-Nations and have had a few decent results in that. I knew NZ would win, but didn't realise Italy would bend over quite so much for them. I do hope this is just the Italians being crap, otherwise NZ are looking like the deserved favourites. Which aint great news for England - who despite having the best side we've had in a while - won't win it. Watch us lose Wilkinson in the first match and slowly crumble. Current match - Uruguay v SA. SA should win rather capably. I know they say SA aren't the force they were a few years ago - but Uruguay aren't great. Half-time, SA-36 Uruguay-6. Tomorrow's Matches 0900: Wales v Canada (D) Melbourne 1100: Scotland v Japan (B) Townsville 1300: England v Georgia (C) Perth (GMT) We'd better get that bonus point against Georgia.
$25 just to listen to the audio. Why do these people insist of charging money for for people who love the game?