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2015 Rugby World Cup Thread

kiwiviktor81

International Debutant
Will England get wiped out in the pool stages in a sport they invented, like the cricket?

Can anyone stop the Kiwi Hate Machine?

Is Ireland massively overrated and looking at yet another quarterfinal exit?

(Answers: yes, no, yes).
 

91Jmay

International Coach
England will win their group (beat Aussies by 7 at least, Wales will be closer), hope anyone but Kiwi's win it. Amazing how opposite their rugby and cricket teams are in likeability.
 

ripper868

International Coach
Aus to top the group. Wales 2nd fiji 3rd England 4th after a close run thing with Uruguay.

Aus champions. RSA runners up. Nz ' shock' quarter final defeat to France
 

91Jmay

International Coach
Aus to top the group. Wales 2nd fiji 3rd England 4th after a close run thing with Uruguay.

Aus champions. RSA runners up. Nz ' shock' quarter final defeat to France
Aus won't make it out of the group. Can't scrummage against England/Wales you're in jail. Have won one of last 5 against England teams much worse than one they will face at WC.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
England will win their group (beat Aussies by 7 at least, Wales will be closer), hope anyone but Kiwi's win it. Amazing how opposite their rugby and cricket teams are in likeability.
Unfortunately, England's rugby team is at least equally unlikeable. In fact, I would personally view them as being much, much more unlikeable, but then I still see the England rugby team as a sign that the class struggle hasn't ended so perhaps my point of view is far from disinterested on the matter.
 

BoyBrumby

Englishman
To be fair we're seeing a lot more working class lads coming through now.

Plus all the second generation Pacific Islanders and sons of league players/league converts.

Only really the captain is properly Hooray from the current side.
 

91Jmay

International Coach
Unfortunately, England's rugby team is at least equally unlikeable. In fact, I would personally view them as being much, much more unlikeable, but then I still see the England rugby team as a sign that the class struggle hasn't ended so perhaps my point of view is far from disinterested on the matter.
Check how many of the current team are posh boys. Robshaw maybe? About it.
 

ripper868

International Coach
Aus won't make it out of the group. Can't scrummage against England/Wales you're in jail. Have won one of last 5 against England teams much worse than one they will face at WC.
Very true. And given Wales' recent dominance of Australia (especially in the last 10 encounters) we have absolutely no chance at all.

Edit: I'm happy to put an Avatar bet on it that Australia do get out of the group if you feel that sure about it :)
 
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Burgey

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Unfortunately, England's rugby team is at least equally unlikeable. In fact, I would personally view them as being much, much more unlikeable, but then I still see the England rugby team as a sign that the class struggle hasn't ended so perhaps my point of view is far from disinterested on the matter.
That's how I see the australian team too.

Think England will win the pool, australia will scrape out of it. NZ or England to win the whole thing imo, though I don't profess to in any way be an expert on the sport.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
To be fair we're seeing a lot more working class lads coming through now.

Plus all the second generation Pacific Islanders and sons of league players/league converts.

Only really the captain is properly Hooray from the current side.
This is kinda true, but there are still a **** load of fans of the England side who conform to the hooray Henry stereotype and do their team a real disservice - also whilst there might be less Eton/Harrow types in the team, there's still an overwhelming feeling of upper-middle class about them (Youngs, Care, Goode, Cipriani, Wigglesworth, Easter, Haskell, Croft) - certainly the majority still come from Grammar or Private school backgrounds. Allied to this is the fact that England have criticised all-and-sundry over the years for 'poaching' of players and they're probably now the greatest exponents of the poach - even though relatively few of the poaches have really paid off.
 

91Jmay

International Coach
Hold on we played a France team with a bloke called Scott Spedding at full back and Rory Kockott at scum half and we are the greatest exponents of the poach? Unless you are talking about League players I don't really see that. Two non English born players in our 23 in last game. Barritt/Hape/Botha only other names I can think of in last 5 years. In French team we played there were 7 players not born in France in their 23.

Yeah those guys are middle class for sure, though I wouldn't say they are massive unrepresentative. Wigglesworth's dad was a farmer, Youngs boys dad a pro rugby player,

Got a guy like Mike Brown who openly talks about being working class and coming from a council estate.

I agree its got a way to go but I think its changing. Courtney Lawes isn't from a privileged back ground, neither is Tom Wood particularly.

Fans I totally agree with though. Looking forward FAR more to the Manchester game than HQ. Hate the place and swing low is so cringe-worthy. Middle class white people (not to put to fine a point on it) singing a song made by African-American Slaves about their need for salvation. Pretty grim.
 
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GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
This is kinda true, but there are still a **** load of fans of the England side who conform to the hooray Henry stereotype and do their team a real disservice - also whilst there might be less Eton/Harrow types in the team, there's still an overwhelming feeling of upper-middle class about them (Youngs, Care, Goode, Cipriani, Wigglesworth, Easter, Haskell, Croft) - certainly the majority still come from Grammar or Private school backgrounds. Allied to this is the fact that England have criticised all-and-sundry over the years for 'poaching' of players and they're probably now the greatest exponents of the poach - even though relatively few of the poaches have really paid off.
Going to a Grammar school doesn't remotely make you a hooray Henry.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Going to a Grammar school doesn't remotely make you a hooray Henry.
I went to a Grammar school and with very few exceptions, the rugby players were typical upper class prigs. The difference being that most of them had been to private prep schools where rugby was the main sport and those that didn't play rugby had gone to generic state primary schools and hadn't played rugby at all.

Anyway, Dulwich College and Oakham School - for example - certainly don't count as the sort of everyman School that was being implied either.
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Hold on we played a France team with a bloke called Scott Spedding at full back and Rory Kockott at scum half and we are the greatest exponents of the poach? Unless you are talking about League players I don't really see that. Two non English born players in our 23 in last game. Barritt/Hape/Botha only other names I can think of in last 5 years. In French team we played there were 7 players not born in France in their 23..
I'll freely admit I was exaggerating about England being the greates exponents of the poach, but they were certainly the most vocal in the past about how NZ had poached from the Pacific. And it's not as if they've done too badly out of the Pacfic either. All Manu Tuilagi's brothers played for Samoa. Dylan Hartley's a Kiwi (you can keep him though) and Thomas Waldrom stepped off a plane and he could play for the red rose.

Pales into insignificance to Ireland's poaching of Jared Payne though. Uck.
 

GIMH

Norwood's on Fire
I went to a Grammar school and with very few exceptions, the rugby players were typical upper class prigs. The difference being that most of them had been to private prep schools where rugby was the main sport and those that didn't play rugby had gone to generic state primary schools and hadn't played rugby at all.

Anyway, Dulwich College and Oakham School - for example - certainly don't count as the sort of everyman School that was being implied either.
Cool I went to a grammar school and most of the rugby players were good at rugby. They were also good at football and cricket. I could count on my hands the people in my school year who had come from a prep primary school
 

HeathDavisSpeed

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Cool I went to a grammar school and most of the rugby players were good at rugby. They were also good at football and cricket. I could count on my hands the people in my school year who had come from a prep primary school
Must be that North/South divide again.
 

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