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The [RUGBY] World Cup is on yet we have no thread
Alistair Hutton
DrEdinburghRegistered User regular
DrEdinburghRegistered User regular
OMG! The Rugby World Cup started yesterday yet I've been so slack I didn't create a thread.
UNTIL NOW!
We've just had day 2 and three cracking matches today along with Japan's nervy victory yesterday.
So what shall we expect to come? Who Knows? This is the most open World Cup ever (TM).
And that's because every contender has problems
New Zealand (back to back winners of the previous World Cups) have got a weird desire to win in a certain way which is exposing them to completely unnecessary risk.
Australia have been absolutely grim over the last two years but ironically by losing their best fullback they've fixed some of their personnel problems in the backline
England would be favourites to win the Worlds Cup if Rugby was a 40 minute match but unfortunately for them it's an 80 minute game and their player blow up in the second half every time. Also their back three is a defensive nightmare.
Wales would win every game if it conforms to a very specific schedule of a grim 80 minute dog fight of smothering defence where they constantly keep their noses in front but if the opponents can open up Wales don't have an answer.
Ireland have the world's most boring yet effective possession based game plan that makes Wales look exciting but they rely on a defensive structure that can be exploited out wide and a breakdown structure the relies on sympathetic reffing and they only have a single competent fullback in the ageing Kearny.
South Africa, probably actually the team with the best all round chance, good bunch of thuggish mobile forwards, electricity in the backline, pragmatic grim coach. My tip for the Cup.
Quick Reminder - The Rest of the World has caught up with me and understands that Leone Nakawara is liquid rugby. Lets watch some highlights of Leone Nakawara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QhElIF72MY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dju0OJDVa8A
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsTs-Kgtm40
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFPJyxEGA54
UNTIL NOW!
We've just had day 2 and three cracking matches today along with Japan's nervy victory yesterday.
So what shall we expect to come? Who Knows? This is the most open World Cup ever (TM).
And that's because every contender has problems
New Zealand (back to back winners of the previous World Cups) have got a weird desire to win in a certain way which is exposing them to completely unnecessary risk.
Australia have been absolutely grim over the last two years but ironically by losing their best fullback they've fixed some of their personnel problems in the backline
England would be favourites to win the Worlds Cup if Rugby was a 40 minute match but unfortunately for them it's an 80 minute game and their player blow up in the second half every time. Also their back three is a defensive nightmare.
Wales would win every game if it conforms to a very specific schedule of a grim 80 minute dog fight of smothering defence where they constantly keep their noses in front but if the opponents can open up Wales don't have an answer.
Ireland have the world's most boring yet effective possession based game plan that makes Wales look exciting but they rely on a defensive structure that can be exploited out wide and a breakdown structure the relies on sympathetic reffing and they only have a single competent fullback in the ageing Kearny.
South Africa, probably actually the team with the best all round chance, good bunch of thuggish mobile forwards, electricity in the backline, pragmatic grim coach. My tip for the Cup.
Quick Reminder - The Rest of the World has caught up with me and understands that Leone Nakawara is liquid rugby. Lets watch some highlights of Leone Nakawara
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QhElIF72MYhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dju0OJDVa8Ahttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dsTs-Kgtm40https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFPJyxEGA54 I have a thoughtful and infrequently updated blog about games http://whatithinkaboutwhenithinkaboutgames.wordpress.com/
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
+3
Posts
Before the matches started I would have picked South Africa to take the whole thing and don't think too much has changed that opinion after seeing them play yesterday despite the loss. They just look fierce this year.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
An example.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
He's been cited for it.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
England looked good in theory but so many simple knock ons.
Also I have noticed a few of these floating around the web and they are just beautiful to watch the game from these angles even if they are heavily virtualised.
More of them can be found here and they are just awesome.
https://global.canon/en/event/rwc2019/special/viewpoint.html
And, of course, Ireland off to a fine start is something I'll gladly take. I predict we'll go all the way to the quarter finals, before getting bounced out.
Such is our lot in life.
Would you mind explaining this more fully? I love rugby, but I would like to understand it much better than I do.
New Zealand have always had, often in a very low key manner, a pack of brutal, violent, scrotum ripping forwards.
Their incredible ball playing skills hid the fact that they could also tear you limb from limb, and frequently did.
New Zealand have always had the ability to punish mistakes, no side is better on capitalising on seizing on a loose ball and turning it into a try. nO side has been better at standing off ruck after ruck in defence and then piling in on that one key ruck to win the turnover. They win that turnover with the limb ripping ability.
Over the last 4 years Hansen has forgotten that New Zealand is based around murderous forward play. Instead he wants to win the game with sublime wide ball play. New Zealand has been at the fore front of sophisticated pod play from Graham Henry onwards. Hansen has developed an extremely wide pod structure that allows New Zealand to play the widest game possible. But it makes them predictable. And it robs them of the ability to just pick and go up the field, brutalising the opposition.
They are in effect a caricature of what an unsophisticated viewer would think New Zealand play like. When it works they look unstoppable, when it fails they look impotent.
They don't look after the ball any more, they don't value evil forwards. Kaino won the world cup in 2011 and 2015. He wasn't in the side for his sublime ball playing ability. More for his ability to murder.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
aka a quite honestly fascinating sport I would never in a million years have even considered trying out even back when I was young and dumb.
it is enjoyable to watch and not in a NFL see big hits all the time kind of way but still in a way that makes me wonder how a person would do that to himself. For quite an extended period of time for a game and I suspect many many years before.
It also seems mostly good-natured and, quite honestly, amicable and regulated which I did not expect.
Incredibly unpopular in Germany. Like I would struggle to find a less popular sport over here.
I'd add to this that it leaves the All Blacks really succeptible to pressure. When things turn against their desired flow of play they have started to really struggle to bring the game under their control for the last two years. They are still a class team but not nearly as unbeatable as before.
I can see a team like England shutting them down in short order. They remind me a lot of early 2000s Australia. Eddie Jones will do that though.
In my experience the hits can leave you a little sore but generally it's fine. Players get drilled at the early club level to bring down opponents efficiently as it gives you the best opportunity to keep going in defence (the game keeps going after the tackle is made instead of having a reset of the play) and is least likely to hurt you as the tackler. And it turns out the most efficient way to stop someone running is to make sure they can't use their legs. So hitting around the hips with your head to there side/butt works wonders if you can do it. Trying to stop someone from above that means you have to be either much stronger then them or have a lot of momentum and has a higher risk of injuries to both players. The most common bad injury you see at international level in my experience is two guys hitting at full height and smashing their heads together.
Having said all that the hits at international level are gonna be a lot harder then your average club.
Cricket and Baseball?
a cursory google reasearch reveals people in Germany being members of the national association of:
Cricket: 6000
Rugby: 15311
Baseball: 22500
So yeah, Cricket. Also, surprisingly Curling with less than 800 members.
Cracking match so far
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Epic.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
As a Scotland fan I instinctively understood what was going on. The heavy favourites playing in white who arrogantly took the field thinking they deserved to win were ambushed by the plucky under dog playing in blue who gave it their all.
I had to restrain myself from reflexively shouting "Have some of that you arrogant English bastards" at one point after a great Uruguayan tackle.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
So glad I avoided the result until I had a chance to watch this tonight. What a great result for Uruguay.
*narrators voice* And that's how a company wide ban on watching rugby during work hours was added to the employee handbook.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
I'm not saying I'm a genius but I'm a genius.
POM and Stander were taken out of the game.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Choose Your Own Chat 1 Choose Your Own Chat 2 Choose Your Own Chat 3
Dominated Ireland for 60 minutes. Perfect rugby apart from their out of hand kicking which was crap.
I made a game, it has penguins in it. It's pay what you like on Gumroad.
Currently Ebaying Nothing at all but I might do in the future.
Let's not get silly here.
Just wow so awesome.