Rugby World Cup 2003

Who will win the 2003 Rugby World Cup?

  • Argentina

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Australia

    Votes: 12 24.0%
  • Canada

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • England

    Votes: 22 44.0%
  • Fiji

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • France

    Votes: 2 4.0%
  • Georgia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Ireland

    Votes: 3 6.0%
  • Italy

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Japan

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Namibia

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • New Zealand

    Votes: 7 14.0%
  • Romania

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Samoa

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Scotland

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • South Africa

    Votes: 1 2.0%
  • Tonga

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Uruguay

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • USA

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Wales

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    50
Oh Oh. Are we about to witness a typical English sports team (Football. Cricket and Rugby teams of the past) where, as soon as they are favourites to win something, or whenever winning becomes a little too easy, they ease back, feeling sorry for their opponents. And then when the big game comes along, they have lost their momentum.
I have always hoped this Rugby team is different but I am starting to worry they are not.
If they approach the Wales game in the same manner, they will definitely get beaten. Let’s hope the Samoa game will be a kick-up-the-bum they probably need.
 
What's the possible penalty for England's 16th man for ca. 30 seconds against Samoa?
 
Scotland V France was one of the most boring games I have seen all cup. I don't think a full minute went by where no-one kicked for touch or was penalised. Japan and US was an entertaining game tonight though. Pity about the result.
 
Originally posted by Mega Tsunami
Oh Oh. Are we about to witness a typical English sports team (Football. Cricket and Rugby teams of the past) where, as soon as they are favourites to win something, or whenever winning becomes a little too easy, they ease back, feeling sorry for their opponents. And then when the big game comes along, they have lost their momentum.
I have always hoped this Rugby team is different but I am starting to worry they are not.
If they approach the Wales game in the same manner, they will definitely get beaten. Let’s hope the Samoa game will be a kick-up-the-bum they probably need.

ROFL

The Welsh are going to get trashed...there is no fear of that not happening :D
 
I too think the English will win, and I hope they do. My fear is that they will choke in the final. In the 6 nations they have choked in the grand slam decider 3 times out of the last 4.

The Samoa game was definitely a wake up call. for the Samoans it was their cup final and they raised their game admirably.

The only team that look capable of beating the English are the French. If I wasn't an Englishman I'd put a few quid on them.
 
Scotland manage to drag themselves into the Quarter-Finals, something "we've" managed to achieve each World Cup...but, boy it was close!


Why our crap coach kept Townsend on the pitch when he messes up so much of his passing is beyond me...after 5 arsed up passes to the wing you'd have thought they'd drag him off, but oh no.

At least moving Patterson to replace Townsend at fly-half proved well worth doing (and obvious as Townsend though sometimes a stunning player is unreliable) and Scotland were able to play a kicking game and get better distribution of the ball to the backs.


As I said before...Scotland need to still work on their handling, especially if they hope to beat the Australians.
 
Good to see the All Blacks get a scare tonight. Makes me feel better about the Wallabies only beating Ireland by 1 point.
 
Wales 37 NZ 53
One of the best WC games I have watched so far, especially as I was neutral as to who I wanted to win.
NZ have shown they are not invincible and Wales have shown they will be very tricky indeed for England’s next game. England will have to be at their best to beat them.

The real WC starts now

NZ v SA NZ to win (easy)
Aus v Sco Aus to win (very easy)
France v Ireland France to win (probable)
England v Wales England to win (hopefully!)

Ireland might well surprise the French, but the latter are many people’s tip for the title.
 
Agree with you MT on your tips for the Qtr finals. Although the SA won easily over Samoa, they looked far from convincing in defense. Samoa was unlucky not to score a few more tries and make it an interesting game.
The Aussies should win over Scotland, who just got over the line against Fiji.
Ireland could trouble the French if the Australian game is anything to go by.
Engaland still favourites for the cup should win comfortably against the Welsh, though the game against Uruguay is not much of a test leading into the Qtr finals.
 
The NZ - Wales game was great, Wales should give England a tough match if they played like they did last night, both teams played pretty exciting rugby.

As for the finals next week, i wouldnt call South Africa / NZ an easy game, far from it, they will definately give us a tough match, like the last time we played each other.
 
Completely agree - NZ v SA will be a tough game - a very tough game.

NZ lacked in the basics - too many forwards out seagulling in the back line instead of defending around the fringes or supporting the ball carrier - a lot of ball turned-over when it should have been fairly easily recycled, and lots of missed tackles and massive holes in the back-line, especially down Reuban's channel.

Someone needed to stand-up and show a bit of leadership when the pressure came on. Where was Reuban? It was Marshall who started basically doing the captains job.

And what was the farce of putting mcdonald at blind-side to free up brad thorn to 2nd 5/8? Good idea, but in that case you would have though that the aim was for quick ball from teh srum, not a push-over....


Very well played by Wales. They had nothing to lose and really played well. They were unlucky not to come away with a win.

I really hope that Mitchell can get the team focused for next saturday.... it WILL NOT be an easy game, and too many errors will see them on the next plane home.
 
Yeah, if Rueben Thorne is in the team for his captaincy, he'd better start showing it. His tackling and general play was also poor last night. It's a good thing we have McCaw there...

Hopefully, Mitch will do the sensible thing and get MacDonald the hell out of the centres. He's not international quality there and once Umaga gets back it should be a no-brainer.

Hope Collins isn't hurt too badly. I wouldn't be confident starting with So'oialo against the boks
 
Aus V Sco - This game should be for a wooden spoon not for a place in a World Cup Semi-final. Australias superior athleticism should carry them through to the semis. I wonder if there are records for handling errors, if there is expect Scotland to break the single team record and for both teams to smash the record for handling errors in a game by both teams.

Ire V France - Ireland should have won the Australia game comfortably - they managed to suck the entire Aussie defense in on two occassions that I remember but spurned the resultant try scoring opportuinities. Their cause wasn't helped by Paddy O'briens refereeing. France looks good but Scotland makes teams look good. This one is too close to call in my view.

Eng V Wales - Wales are probably in for a flogging. But at least its going to happen in a QF and not in the final in front of a World wide T.V. audience which is the fate waiting for some hapless southern hemisphere team.

NZ V SA - This game is really about finding out if NZ has what it takes to beat England. SA are clearly not World champion material this time around - hopefully NZ underlines that emphatically in this game.
 
I think we are going to beat France. We're certainly not afraid of them. Or Australia.
 
Originally posted by Tathlum
I think we are going to beat France. We're certainly not afraid of them. Or Australia.

You're not afraid of them? Thats good to hear. Like to see you facing those men out on the paddock though.
Does George Gregan remind anyone else here of a whinging school kid? I love the Wallabies but can't stand Gregan.
 
Nah, you're so used to losing you don't even bother whinging as you know it won't get you anywhere.
The term whinging pom is a bit out dated anyway.
 
Well we still love the term “Whinging Pom” and I don’t like the fact that it might be out of date. We will have to try to whinge harder in future.
Surprised you haven’t realised that Gregan is a Pom plant. :mischief:
 
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