Against France, Fiji and Scotland? Best bet will be against Fiji (or maybe Scotland heh) but that's a heck of a shot. IMO 'no-hopers', and furthermore 'whipping boys'. Can't wait for France - USA. I just wish all the 'freedom fries' brigade could/would watch. Not gloating (well....ok I am) but.... ALL matches. FREE. LIVE. Hardy-har-har.
Heh, now what is funny. Where at? I went to the officical site and it said I had to sign up for Plus and it was $25. I was just wanting to listen to the last 20 minutes of the Sa fopr crying out loud. Then again I am a poor college student and I'm just being cheap.
Odds to win (Ladbrokes) New Zealand 5/4 England 11/8 Australia 5/1 France 10/1 South Africa 20/1 Ireland 33/1 Argentina 100/1 Scotland 200/1 Wales 250/1 Samoa 500/1 Canada 1000/1 Fiji 1000/1 Italy 1000/1 USA 1000/1 Japan 2000/1 Tonga 2000/1 Georgia 5000/1 Namibia 5000/1 Romania 5000/1 Uruguay 5000/1
Ooopps, may have heightened your expectations unnecessarily. I'm in the UK, it's on TV here. (terrestrial too, none of that SKY crap) Sorry. You're not cheap - well you might be for all I know - but not in this respect. $25 just to hear it? Never used Radio 5live online but they're covering the games for the BBC on the radio.(ITV own the pictures). Try here http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/rugby_world_cup/bbc_coverage/3085152.stm Gives you listings, but the rest you'll have to do yourself. I'm guessing it'll be available online.
Don't forget, Japan is in the USA's group as well. That'll likely be the battle to not finish bottom of the group.
Yep - sorry I forgot. And indeed, the US' best chance. Although having said that, in retrospect maybe I've been a little harsh on the US team. I haven't seen them in action so I'm just going off gut feeling. I'll wait until after their first match to pass further judgement. Who knows, maybe they'll pull something out of the bag.
Three games today... Pool B -- Scotland v Japan, at Dairy Farmers Stadium, Townsville Pool C -- England v Georgia, at Subiaco Oval, Perth Pool D -- Wales v Canada, at Telstra Dome, Melbourne Entire schedule: http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/RugbyWorldCup/EN/Tournament/Matches
England match just finished. England 84 - 6 Georgia. Match Report As expected really. A rather lacklustre performance by Scotland as they stagger past Japan. Scotland 32 - 11 Japan Match Report Don't know whether that result says more about Japan than it does Scotland. If it's just the Scots being crap, then maybe the US team does have a chance after all.
Japan looked really good in the backs, some great pace there. They also did well to be competitive in the scrum and lineout. They pushed Scotland, although the Scots are very mediocre.
It's always been their (only?) strength - the speed of the backs. Have to confess I didn't see the match - Sundays are meant for lying in. Did anyone catch what the relative pack sizes were in that match?
Re: Re: (R) Some are out with injuries. One player skipped the tourney to care for his ill daughter. Another was left behind because Rugby Canada couldn't afford the insurance bond demanded by his club side (Dan Baugh, Cardiff).
And who did Canada just play? Hmmm....suspicious. Damn Welsh. Tomorrow's Match 1030: Argentina v Namibia (A) Argentina will win. Though it'll be interesting how well the third tier or teams match up against a decent second tier side.
I thought it was interesting, one report I saw that said Italy basically played their second string against New Zealand. The logic being they can't win that match anyway, and may as well rest them in order to try and win the rest of their pool matches, come in second in the group and make the quarters.
Makes sense really. Not in the spirit of things though, but then that's how things are nowadays. The NZ score against Italy did surprise me, we all knew NZ would win and probably handsomely so, but not by quite that much.
What about when Italy and New Zealand faced off in '99? Italy, even with a 2nd string side, showed improvement it seems.
4 points are given for a win. An additional point is given to teams that score at least 4 try's a game.
As expected, Argentina beat Namibia. Argentina 67 - 14 Namibia Didn't see that much of the match - but did see one of Namibia's tries. Match report Tomorrow's Matches 0800: Fiji v USA (B) Brisbane 1030: Italy v Tonga (D) Canberra 1300: Samoa v Uruguay (C) Perth Fiji v USA Preview
Just like I thought. USA hoping for a win. Will be interesting to see ow they do. I can see Fiji creating problems for France and Wales.
Fiji 19 USA 18 The Eagles fall due to a missed conversion. Although I think bad Fijian play, plus some unusual calls by the ref, played a bigger role in this game being close.