pplocal
County: Tyrone
Posts: 3943

1041037 I enjoyed this as well

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0gV-Wbg04s
_______________________
Sweet!

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 25/09/2011 13:46:23    1041747

25/09/2011 13:34:09
stranmillis29
County: Antrim
Posts: 695

1041742 Hi Ormond, would tend to agree with your analysis there alright, O Brien had a stormer of a game and he is a great asset to the team. Thought Paddy Wallace had a good game too and broke the gain line a lot, would have been nice for him to pick up a try. Overall the result and number of tries scored was very good - some sloppy handling but it didnt really matter and the conditions didnt help. Will be a much different team for Italy which will be a cracker, cant wait! That was some try by the Argentinian in the Scotland game, think thy might play NZ in the quarters, though Id love to see the Scots beat England which would throw that group wide open!

Will be a full strength team v the italians and we will win if SOB plays like that again,
have to watch irish game again as i was half asleep the first time and missed 20-25 minutes of the game
In group B england still have to play scotland and if england win it will be england and argentina into the 1/4s, if scotland win it will depend on if england get a bonus point or not as to who will go through

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 25/09/2011 13:47:26    1041748

Just trying to guage opinions here but does anyone else think that they should do away with the drop goal? I find it a very unsatisfactory way to win a game, as well as to lose one for that matter. Whats peoples thoughts on this?

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 25/09/2011 13:56:44    1041752

25/09/2011 13:56:44
brendtheredhand
County: Tyrone
Posts: 4391

1041752 Just trying to guage opinions here but does anyone else think that they should do away with the drop goal? I find it a very unsatisfactory way to win a game, as well as to lose one for that matter. Whats peoples thoughts on this?

No, keep it. It is a method of scoring that stops some games from becoming borefests
If there was no drop goals, teams could keep the ball and have to keep going for trys until either the opposition gives away a penalty or a try is scored.
Generally DGs are scored after several phases of rucks, or a maul has been brought down or if a player sees a try is not likely to be scored and points are needed
A team losing to a drop goal would have been winning by a point or 2 before the DG, so should be prepared for the opposition taking a shot at goal.
Tough luck if you lose to the opposition taking a drop goal but you should be prepared for the opposition taking a shot at goal

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 25/09/2011 14:08:21    1041760

Thought it was a good and professional performance.

Bonus point wrapped up before half time and a few lads put there hands up for places. Healy and O'Brien were again superb. They have brought the team on 10 fold since there introduction after injury.

Trimble played well, as did Earls. O'Gara had a good game, but Sexton will start next Saturday i think. There were a few lads putting there hands up, but i'd say the 22 for Italy nearly picks itself at this stage.

As for the other groups, New Zealand looked frightening. There tore a decent french team asunder in 2/3rd gear. When they hit there straps properly fireworks will fly. Saffers and Samoa could be a tasty one next week with Samoa having to win to put them within a shot of going through.

Englands group could still go to the wire, although it's highly unlikely. The Scots have to win, with a bonus point to get ahead of England. But a Scots victory by more than 7 points (more than possible) and a bonus point win for the Argies will land England in 2nd place and a game against the All Blacks. Could be an intriguing finish to that group.

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 26/09/2011 09:08:27    1042058

Very happy with the result but lets be honest here Russia were absolutely awful. What I'm more pleased about though is performances of Trimble and O'Gara, these two men are no longer first team players under Kidney and look at how well they're doing, I think it would be very harsh if these two lads don't make the starting 15 next week (which they probably won't). I have to say aswell that even though I'm a big fan of Sexton and I didn't complain when O'Gara lost his place to him, O'Gara really has to start playing from the off. In a world cup where a lot of big gun place kickers are struggling with the new ball O'Gara is absolutely invaluable to us because he's nailing almost every kick.

Htaem (Meath) - Posts: 8657 - 26/09/2011 11:09:29    1042127

With the RWC, it could be an idea to expand it to 24 teams with two phases. The top 8 teams would automatically join phase 2. The first phase would involve 4 groups of 4. The top two in each group then would join phase 2 having 4 groups of 4 as well. It would help a bit to avoid complete mismatches while also having more nations involved in the RWC just as the IRB wants for the promotion of the game.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9006 - 26/09/2011 15:23:43    1042353

26/09/2011 15:23:43
legendzxix
County: Kerry
Posts: 1398

1042353 With the RWC, it could be an idea to expand it to 24 teams with two phases. The top 8 teams would automatically join phase 2. The first phase would involve 4 groups of 4. The top two in each group then would join phase 2 having 4 groups of 4 as well. It would help a bit to avoid complete mismatches while also having more nations involved in the RWC just as the IRB wants for the promotion of the game.

Not enough teams strong enough yet for an expansion to 24 even in the format you suggest. Say the top 8 is Eng, NZ, Ire, SA, Aus, Fra, Sco, Wal,
Argentina and Italy would beat comfortably any new teams that would join the tournament as would fiji, tonga, samoa
20 teams is the ideal number at the moment
That format also drags out the tournament and very little tv money would come in for the first group stage and tv money is vital for the competition to make a decent profit

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 26/09/2011 15:44:18    1042367

I guess. At the very least they should at least at one extra week for the RWC. It is very tough and unfair for teams to play games in such a short time. It's been ok for the top nations but unfair on the rest.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9006 - 26/09/2011 16:59:30    1042438

I agree with that, Tonga were very unfortunate with the number of games they had to play in such a short period of time and if it wasn't for that they could have been looking at a quarter final

pplocal (Tyrone) - Posts: 5878 - 26/09/2011 17:11:04    1042448

roysh goys i must say this is really raffer spiffing. The reggae really is fan-dab-u-licious.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 26/09/2011 19:53:37    1042540

CheFinny
County: UK
Posts: 1212

1042540 roysh goys i must say this is really raffer spiffing. The reggae really is fan-dab-u-licious

What age are you?? You seem to have a pathetic belief that every person who enjoys playing or watchs rugby in this country comes out of a Ross O Carrol Kelly novel
You seem totally prejudiced against rugby because it is very popular in a certain area of south dublin
Why bother post on the topic at all if all you are going to do is try drag the sport down.

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 26/09/2011 20:03:00    1042553

Italy beat USA 27-10 getting a bonus point in the process.
Didn't see the game but it sounded like Italy got a tough run out.

It was pretty much their first choice team and now they only have a 5 day turnaround for the crunch game against us

To finish top we need at least 2 points from the game on sunday, if we lose with only 1 bonus point we are out
Win and we obv are through

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 27/09/2011 11:07:27    1042736

Don't know why but i'm more worried about the Italy game than i was the Australia game.

I shouldn't be because on paper we are much the better team, with much the better players. 2 decent goal kickers, tries that can come from anywhere. A decent pack, good backs.

But being heavy favourites never sits well with us.........

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 27/09/2011 12:03:03    1042771

I'm with you on this one tribeinbrum.

Down to the fact we could come back from a defeat against Australia and still qualify, defeat against Italy however... not worth thinking about.

We will have too much in the tank for the Italians, they have had the harder of the 3rd round of games and we rested the majority of our first 15 so will be well rested.

spyboy (Antrim) - Posts: 343 - 27/09/2011 12:25:54    1042791

Watched the Italy game this morning and like they did with ourselves in the first game, USA made them work hard for their win. The plan had been to take Castro and Parisse off around the hour mark but with the bonus point still not secured at that stage, they stayed on. Think Castro went off with just a few mins remaining.

As expected, Italy destroyed the USA scrum, and it remains one of their biggest strengths. Their backline play wasn't up to much though, and defence was suspect for the USA try.

Ireland have more than enough to win on Sunday. They have to play with near the same intensity they did against the Aussies though.

scruff (UK) - Posts: 467 - 27/09/2011 12:45:14    1042808

Ireland really will have to be up for this game. I too am more worried about this one that the Australian games. I actually was confident we'd beat the Australians. I think we'll do enough at the weekend but it won't be our best game. I think we've a big games in us and hopefully one we'll get to see in the latter stages.

legendzxix (Kerry) - Posts: 9006 - 27/09/2011 19:47:33    1043073

roysh goys i'm super duper confident we'll put these to bed and then smash-a-rash some of the dudes from the colonies en route to a home nations final with big Mortin Johnson and the goys.

CheFinny (UK) - Posts: 1358 - 28/09/2011 21:28:02    1043659

28/09/2011 21:28:02
CheFinny
County: UK
Posts: 1214

1043659 roysh goys i'm super duper confident we'll put these to bed and then smash-a-rash some of the dudes from the colonies en route to a home nations final with big Mortin Johnson and the goys.

Who talks like that???
Whats your problem with rugby, if you only have comments like that to make why bother at all...

ormondbannerman (Clare) - Posts: 13473 - 29/09/2011 08:50:51    1043697

Don't rise to him Ormond.

There are plenty of people who are interested and take pride in how are country are doing in one of the sports we are quite decent at. Unfortunately though some people will just never get rugby.

Maybe it's popularity is getting a bit too much???

tribeinbrum (Galway) - Posts: 4155 - 29/09/2011 09:08:14    1043706