So, this weekend kicks off a long run of international rugby.

What are people's thoughts, and will we win the Aus/NZ/SA/Eng tournament?

NZ first. We haven't played for a while, but they're blooding quite a few new 'uns, so it should be interesting.

THEY WON DAMN THEM!!!!!!!! :cry: :cry: :cry:

Um...didn't England win 31-28? Or have I read the scores the wrong way round?

I was also impressed by Wales, although the Fijians might not be that hard to beat. 58-14 is an amazing scoreline. Also, O'Gara scored ALL points vs. Australia - six kicks, six goals.

I saw Ireland - Australia for a small part of the first half, and England - New Zealand till short after the 31-28 was scored, but apperantly that was the final score as well. It's been the first time I ever watched rugby....and I like it. :D

btw, Ancient Grudge, don't you have Vinnie Jones living in your city?

Excellent Saturday for the northern hemisphere teams with England, France, Ireland and Wales beating repectively New Zealand, South Africa, Australia and Fiji. However, both New Zealand and Australia didn´t come with the best squad, and South Africa can't be as bad as they were in Marseille. Therefor, and with the WC being in Australia in 2003, I still don't think we can say that the northern hemisphere will change the balance of power in their favour. Or do you think England could produce the same result away against the best team the All Blacks have, ie, with Cullen & company? Still, the 5th english victory in 96 years against New Zealand is something worthy of notice. :goodjob:

Originally posted by willemvanoranje
It's been the first time I ever watched rugby....and I like it. :D


It seems rugby is not very popular over there. It was not so long that our lousy team beat yours by 40 points or something. Not to mention football, of course... :p

i wanted new zealand to win so i could shut all my friends up about how good britain are at sports

Originally posted by MCdread
It seems rugby is not very popular over there. It was not so long that our lousy team beat yours by 40 points or something. Not to mention football, of course... :p

oh boy, I really have to take a lot when it comes to football....:(....but just wait till we beat you in the European Championship Finals 2004 on your own territory. We kicked ass in the qualification game in Lisbon anyway.

On topic: it's still not popular at all I think. I couldn't name someone else who likes it...

Man, your post is all messed up :crazyeye:

1- No way you are gonna beat us in 2004.
2- You thought you were kicking asses in the qualification, but in the end... Oh, I can see it all over again: that penalty in the last minute...Goal!!! Everybody jumping in front of that TV:jump:
3- The match was not in Lisbon, it was in Oporto, in the stadium of my glorious team, FC Porto. :king:

But I hope you can qualify, and I can tell you that when I knew about your game with Ireland, I was really sad that you couldn't go to the WC. I think I already expressed my genuine admiration for durth football in another thread. ;)

Back on rugby: it's also not very popular here, but enjoy it very much. Next year is going to be the 4th RWC that I will follow closely. We won't be there, as we lost to Spain in the last minute.:mad: But maybe that's better, the last game against Scotland we lost by 60 points. That would make 150-200 against the mighty tri-nations teams.
However in sevens we challenge any british team but England, and since it looks that rugby sevens is going to be included in the 2008 olympics, we have much better chances to be there.

well, we deserved to win in Oporto (sorry about the mistake). But in the end Portugal deserved to go to the WC more than us anyway. I tipped Portugal as finalist against Argentina for the World Cup....shows how wrong one can be. :( I think Portugal and Holland are the two countries that are very, very good at football and are almost always one of the 'very dangerous outsiders' in the world cup, but haven't actually won the cup.

on-topic: is there in rugby some sort of world-pool thing? Like an A-pool, a B-pool etc, like in basketball and tennis?

Originally posted by Ancient Grudge
i wanted new zealand to win so i could shut all my friends up about how good britain are at sports

But England really are the best in the world at Union. Honest, no tabloid spin imparted at all!

The NZ game was close, but very exciting. We should hold of Aus reasonably comfortably, NZ were the only real threat of the mini-series. We better at least beat SA anyway, I've got complimentary tickets courtesy of my dad's work :D!

Originally posted by mordhiem


But England really are the best in the world at Union. Honest, no tabloid spin imparted at all!

The NZ game was close, but very exciting. We should hold of Aus reasonably comfortably, NZ were the only real threat of the mini-series. We better at least beat SA anyway, I've got complimentary tickets courtesy of my dad's work :D!

I live near Twickenham. Let me come with you, and I'll, er, buy you a beer!

Originally posted by willemvanoranje

on-topic: is there in rugby some sort of world-pool thing? Like an A-pool, a B-pool etc, like in basketball and tennis?

Hmm... There is the 6 nations tournament, which is the best in Europe. The teams that enter are England, France, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and Italy. It is not opened for others, always these 6 (Italy only after 2000, I think), and Italy is allways the last. And then there is the Six nations B, which in theory gathers the next 6 best teams in Europe and The Netherlands are allways last. Still you can use this an evidence to suport the place of your team as the 12th best in Europe (which tells you a lot about international rugby). The others are Russia, Spain, Romania, Georgia and Portugal, and we allways either 5th or 4th. The teams in the B tournament would like to create a league in which the last in the A would be relegated to the B in the following year. Of course the teams in the A tournament don't even want to hear about this.
For the WC, the qualifications are opened to everyone, but I guess that from the 20 teams that took part in the 99 RWC, only 2 or 3 at the most will not qualify to the next one.

Originally posted by mordhiem
But England really are the best in the world at Union. Honest, no tabloid spin imparted at all!


That will be seen in the WC of 2003, and if you want my opinion, that will not be the outcome.

Originally posted by mordhiem


But England really are the best in the world at Union. Honest, no tabloid spin imparted at all!

Wrong :p They were fortunate to beat NZ, and even most of the tabloids realise that. They lack creativity, and their defensive pattern is a bit poor.

And I wouldn't underestimate Australia. They hate losing. ANd their form in the end-of-year tour is completely incomparable to how they will perform next season (look at last years' end-of-season tour c.f. how they played in the tri-nations).


Originally posted by WilliamVanOrange
is there in rugby some sort of world-pool thing? Like an A-pool, a B-pool etc, like in basketball and tennis?

The other one that wasn't mentioned by McDread was the Tri-nations tournament. Its a round-robin home/away tournament played between NZ, Aus and S.A. A lot more even that the 6-Nations tends to be.

And the southern hemisphere also has the "super-12" competition. Sort-of like the champions league, in that the top 12 club teams in the threee countries compete in a round-robin, followed by semi-finals and finals. :)

thanx guys for giving me this information. :) It's a shame that a sport like this isn't more popular, but hell, I wouldn't give up basketball or football for it either. :p If I could combine it that would be ok ;)

Originally posted by Ancient Grudge
i wanted new zealand to win so i could shut all my friends up about how good britain are at sports

Geez, that should be an easy argument to win! ;)

Well, to add to our victory against the All Blacks, we have a 32-31 victory against the Wallabies. :goodjob:

It was a bit tougher than I expected.

Scotland had a good game against SA, too.

Originally posted by Ado


Geez, that should be an easy argument to win! ;)

i know its very easy i just mention football and cricket :D its just too easy somtimes and i like winning :)