http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/
So the Rugby World Cup starts on the 7th, with France hosting although there will be matches played in Murrayfield(Scotland) and the Millenium Stadium(Wales). Scotland to win :P
WR = World Ranking
Pool A:
England WR:7
South Africa WR:4
Samoa WR:10
USA WR:15
Tonga WR:14
Pool B:
Australia WR:2
Wales WR:8
Fiji WR:12
Canada WR:13
Japan WR:18
Pool C:
New Zealand WR:1
Scotland WR:11
Italy WR:9
Romania WR:16
Portugal WR:22
Pool D;
France WR:3
Ireland WR:5
Argentina WR:6
Georgia WR:17
Namibia WR:24
Woo! Speculation!
Pool Winners:
Pool A, No idea, South Africa?
Pool B, Wales to dominate.
Pool C, New Zealand should rape, although it will be interesting who comes second, Italy or Scotland.
Pool D, It's between France and Ireland, but I think Ireland have the edge.
Fixtures(Click)
Woo! Huge, ugly men, jumping on each other.
Rugby players are the ugliest of the ugly.
Let us discuss this fucking awesome game.
Also someone tell the British media to stop going on about Johnny Wilkinson, there is more than one fucking player in the England team.
If you know nothing about rugby:
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This is our only chance to win anything seeing as we've lost the secret of winning the eurovision
We can't even fucking win a Baseball cup. Unless it's little league, then we'd have an offbeat chance.
Soccer had a SHOT here with Beckham, but now he's hurt and won't be heard from all year and Americans stopped caring.
i kinda wish it got more air play in US tv stations, because it seems like an interesting sport. I think some dudes get tossed in the air, then they get smashed, then they all feel each other up, then someone kicks the rugby. Also, there's a hooker on the field. I don't know.
Hockey, there really aren't that many talented US born players. They're pretty much all Canadian or European.
Pretty much anything that can actively involve drinking.
Samoa AND Tonga?
Man the US is going to get fucked up something fierce.
We're always good at skiing.
Because most dudes who would probably be awesome at Rugby play football in the hopes of making millions. Basically, the only dudes who play rugby in the US are rich white dudes in frats.
Because the two games are almost nothing alike maybe? Like at all. The ball, the rules, the roles and responsibilities of positions, the scoring system.
Nothing except tackling and a lopsided ball.
Also, most American athletes aren't used to drinking on the sidelines.
I think the BBC will be broadcasting matches on the net, they did with the 6 Nations, so I don't see why they won't now.
they are closer cousins than most other sports i can think of
This is considerably less extreme but have you ever seen baseball players try to play fast-pitch softball? The adjustment required is incredible. The bats are different, the gloves have much wider netting, and hitting is way different. Softballs have an entirely different trajectory than baseballs (requiring a different style of swing) and difference in distance between the pitcher and batter makes things very different too.
Though the games may be similar what is expected from the player athletically is totally different. The same is true among rugby and football.
Pool B: Japan (YAY!) to come on top. I don't know how well they do, but I am rooting for them. Wales, and Fiji to come out second and third. From my views Canada shouldn't perform well.
Pool C: Scotland on top because like England they are good. Italy and New Zealand to come second and third.
Pool France to come on top. Argentina and Ireland to come second and third.
I hope the final will be Japan vs England. That would be awesome.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_BCKZqDLUM
Pool A: No way England are coming out top, they don't have the same World Cup team they did last time and are on poor form.
Pool B: Japan, I don't reckon they will come out on top with Wales and Australia in there
Pool C: The fucking ALL BLACKS, Scotland are highly unlikely to beat them, Scotland just got their ass handed to them from South Africa, but they did come out on top with Ireland.
Pool D; France are in with a chance like I said, but i reckon Ireland will be top, France second, Argentina close behind
I sat on a plane going to scotland with a school's rugby team. Man was the coach strong and huge. I think he said most of the boys have futures in the Scotish Nation team. Looking at them, I tend to agree.
Rugby is a huuuuge thing in Scotland. Being from Edinburgh (Murrayfield, home of Scottish Rugby) you tend to meet a lot of the players who end up in the teams.
My uncles lives in Kircaldy.
Yeah, I guess. But those kids were something else. I wonder if I could notice them if I saw them?
Rugby players tend to all look verrry similar. Huge hulking mass with sqaure shoulders and a square jaw.
and a nose 90 degrees from the norm.
Also Kirkcaldy.
Covered in vomit and spilled beer.
At least that's my experience.
The haka is the fucking oddest thing to do before a game but hell it would probably scare any team that hadn't played the ABs before. Its just comical watching some of the white farmer boys doing it though. Anyone who is a Pacific Islander or who has a beard would scare me if I saw it in person.
the "new" haka that the ABs do occassionally
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http://youtube.com/watch?v=Nmy6OaZEAhE
To change the topic somewhat, I think Chris Paterson is a fantastic kicker and highly underrated, in my opinion he's better than Johnny Wilkinson.
The media really need to shut the fuck up about him, stupid bastard pundits, he's not going to be playing alone fucking taking on the world by himself and winning, there is more than him on the team, injury prone over hyped fucker.
Awesome I didn't know the Wilkinson hate extended outside NZ.
I think most people over here hated him because everyone saw him at first as bringing a gridiron style of play to the game by being good at kicking and fuckall else, getting his head kicked in if he tried to make a run. Guys like Dan Carter in the ABs may suffer a bit from being overhyped too but fuck at least they can take a tackle and not crack like an eggshell.
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I can't say I know much about teams outside the UK, Scotland weren't all that great a while back, they reverted back to basic plays and tactics and have been improving since.
England haven't been playing up to scratch since their World Cup win and I can't help thinking it'll turn out like like the 1966 Football World Cup win, constantly hoping to match it, but falling short.
Ireland seem to be strong, I missed the friendly Scotland played against them the other day, but saw the score, despite that loss, I think they'll do well.
Wales I haven't seen play since the last 6 nations, but they were playing decently, some really basic screw ups though, fucking up line ups quite often though.
WOO! Speculation and sounding like I know what I'm talking about!
It's obvious that New Zealand is going to win. They always do.
Actually I think they've only won the World Cup once.
I was actually being sarcastic.
New Zealand is good, but they always fuck up in the Semi's.
Ah, sorry. Internet, sarcasm, you know how it is.
Winners:
1987 New Zealand
1991 Australia
1995 South Africa
1999 Australia
2003 England
2007 .....
Edit: I hate you and your text based sarcasm.
My bad, I should have added some italics in there somewhere.