Pool C - New Zealand, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Scotland

[Stefano]

Power to Italy and long live Romania, respectively.

The sentiment applies only to the rugby union teams.

Forza Italia does not mean Power to Italy. It means "Come on Italy". Italian is my first language. .

[Samuel_Vimes]

Forza Italia does not mean Power to Italy. It means "Come on Italy". Italian is my first language. .

Sorry! Good to be corrected. Just thought the word Forza meant "power"

[Stefano]

Forza also means force or power. But not in this context.

[PhoenixFire]

Forza Italia does not mean Power to Italy. It means "Come on Italy". Italian is my first language. .

You gave a triple rolleyes, that was dire


Added the smiley incase anyone misunderstood it.

[Piper]

Come on dudes! Don't start..

This is how I think the table will look by the end of it:
NZ
Italy
Scotland
Romania
Portugal

[Craig]

Forza also means force or power. But not in this context.

Hate words that have three different meanings tbh.

[ohtani's jacket]

yeah, worst AB coach ever. His treatment of some of our great players like Cullens and Mehrtens was disgraceful imo

I don't think he was the worst coach ever. He had an 82% winning ratio.

It was time for those players to be dropped & many of our current players were selected under Mitchell, some of them with little or no Super 12 experience.

He was better than Laurie Mains at any rate.

[Perm]

Mains and Mitchell are/were both good coaches. I find it ridiculous how often Mitchell gets slagged off, considering he had one of the best records and worked better with the majority of the players than any other coach.

[atisha_ro]

I hope Romania can get two wins, Scotland didn't look so well in the Six Nations and Portugal is pretty accesible. The NZ game will be holiday - last game in the group at 2pm.
And with Italy... who knows...?
Tbh our rugby fell down a lot, only the Bucharest team has put out some good matches in the European Shield.

[Fiery]

Mains and Mitchell are/were both good coaches. I find it ridiculous how often Mitchell gets slagged off, considering he had one of the best records and worked better with the majority of the players than any other coach.

Mitchell was a nightmare...awful with the media, made appalling decisions at the WC which cost us the thing. Robbie Deans basically had him on a string and brought in a ton of average Canterbury players. His treatment of players, especially some great ones and man-management was shocking. Worst coach ever by far imo...I stand by that.

[ohtani's jacket]

I still say Mains was worse. The All Blacks were so bad under Mains that people were willing the French to beat them in '94. There were so many selection debacles & yet he somehow managed to hold onto the job heading into the '95 World Cup.

[Fiery]

I still say Mains was worse. The All Blacks were so bad under Mains that people were willing the French to beat them in '94. There were so many selection debacles & yet he somehow managed to hold onto the job heading into the '95 World Cup.

If we hadn't been poisoned in '95 he would go down as one of the very good coaches. I've always respected Laurie Mains actually...can't say the same for Mitchell, and I'm from the Waikato

[Jamee999]

Hate words that have three different meanings tbh.

Yeah, me two

[BoyBrumby]

I hope Romania can get two wins, Scotland didn't look so well in the Six Nations and Portugal is pretty accesible. The NZ game will be holiday - last game in the group at 2pm.
And with Italy... who knows...?
Tbh our rugby fell down a lot, only the Bucharest team has put out some good matches in the European Shield.

How's Rugby doing over in Romania now atisha? The received wisdom over here is that it's been on the downward slope in terms of popularity since the end of communism. Results seem to back this up too, in the 80s you beat France & Wales, but when we (England) last played you we won 134-0.

[atisha_ro]

now - as now - we had two games in the IRB Nations Cup which we host: lost 7-61 to Emerging Springboks and won 14-8 to Italy A. The domestic league ain't so bad, but there is no big stadium for rugby. And not many young lads want to take up the hardships of a rugby career - they're all blinded with the glamour of famous footballers, of whom the media will never cease to talk.
Football dominates the stage too much, I'm getting fed up of it. I'd rather watch the African Nations Cup than the European Champions League which is so agressively marketed here.
So yes, there was a decline in rugby, but the Bucharest XV pulled up some wins against French sides, and this is a good sign. We'll see how we fare in this "minnow" tournament and then in the World Cup.
You can compare Romania in rugby with Zimbabwe in cricket, if you wish. We have a fame, we struggle to get up there again.