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Quarter-finals

Furball

Evil Scotsman
Right call, blatant yellow. Scotland ripe to be paddled here.

Laughable that people are saying that's not deliberate. It may be somewhat instinctive but so might be punching someone in the face and you still get in trouble for it.
Why knock on in that situation? He catches it and he's in for a try.
 

hendrix

Hall of Fame Member
Argentina have been very strong this world cup.

The Four Nations competition hasn't taken long to give them a bit more distribution skills. Their backs have always had the strength and speed, it was just a case of adding in the running lines and offloads.

Their fitness seems to have picked up recently as well. Hopefully that continues.
 

Bahnz

Hall of Fame Member
Yeah, the way they've cantered into the semi's is really eye-opening. If Pocock isn't fit for the semi-final then I'd label Argentina favourites.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
I've been saying throughout Argentina have been the team we should fear. Will definitely be a bit nervous if we face them in the final. Would be great for rugby though.
 

straw man

Hall of Fame Member
Still on track for the #SouthernHemisphereWash in the semis.
What do you think the implications would be if this did occur, particularly with the Cup being held in the North?
I don't follow rugby closely enough to know, my post was really just a piece of cheap parochialism :ph34r: (though where else is this appropriate if not sport). Anyway it happened.

My five second thought bubble is that the big NH teams (England and France) were bad and that the smaller NH teams (Wales, Ireland, Scotland) don't really belieeevve* they can beat NZ, Aus or SA when it counts, even though both Wales and Scotland played well enough to be in winning positions against SA and Aus in this tournament.

* 'belief', the classic reason for everything in lazy punditry
 
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Fuller Pilch

Hall of Fame Member
Wales beat SA last November and have consistently taken Australia to the limit for years now.
That test was outside the regular test window so the French clubs didn't release 7 or 8 South African players (Habana, Matfield, du Preez etc) while Wales was at full strength. Wales has only won 2 tests (out of about 30) against South Africa.
 

Athlai

Not Terrible
That test was outside the regular test window so the French clubs didn't release 7 or 8 South African players (Habana, Matfield, du Preez etc) while Wales was at full strength. Wales has only won 2 tests (out of about 30) against South Africa.
Yeah but that doesn't mean Wales still wouldn't back themselves to beat SA or AU. Japan just beat SA, Australia have been wobbly. Wales take themselves pretty seriously. I'm not saying they are likely to win, but they don't go into the game thinking "oh jeez, only conceding X today would be a good effort".
 

Spark

Global Moderator
Great match but pretty poor from wobblies - like a reminder of the bad "old" days in the way we mixed good and bad

Thought Beale was exceptional - he might be a loose cannon off the field but there is little doubt as to his talent
That was proper old school, right down to the mildly questionable scrum.
 

Stapel

International Regular
I've been saying throughout Argentina have been the team we should fear. Will definitely be a bit nervous if we face them in the final. Would be great for rugby though.
I would be lying if I claimed so. But I'm convinced now.

Bad luck Scotland - played well. If Scott SIo isn't right I can't see Australia beating Argentina.
Losing that line-out with 2 minutes on the clock wasn't bad luck......
 

flibbertyjibber

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Wales beat SA last November and have consistently taken Australia to the limit for years now.
Wales fans are resigned to never beating Australia. Gone so close so often and failed it a mental thing now. Don't think they or the players believe against them at present given how many close shaves they have had.
 

ripper868

International Coach
Qas at the game last night decked out in gold and sitting next to my best mate in the uk (a scot!). I didn't want to win like that, he shrugged it off and we went and had beer. Most others in the stadium were fine, dissapointed obviously but fine.

Hope Bernard Foley cops some stick, he was horrendous, twitter/facebook etc would be all over that performance if it was Quade. 2/5 cons. Stone cold drop that led directly to 3 points from the scrum. The charge down try. And about 5 missed tackles. But he kicked the winning goal so therefore he had a good game.
 

Scaly piscine

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Qas at the game last night decked out in gold and sitting next to my best mate in the uk (a scot!). I didn't want to win like that, he shrugged it off and we went and had beer. Most others in the stadium were fine, dissapointed obviously but fine.

Hope Bernard Foley cops some stick, he was horrendous, twitter/facebook etc would be all over that performance if it was Quade. 2/5 cons. Stone cold drop that led directly to 3 points from the scrum. The charge down try. And about 5 missed tackles. But he kicked the winning goal so therefore he had a good game.
Reminds me of Beckham against Greece in the round ball stuff when he completely wasted two dozen dead ball situations, kept giving the ball away but scored a free kick at the death so he was the 'hero'.
 

Niall

International Coach
Losing that line-out with 2 minutes on the clock wasn't bad luck......

Exactly, felt really sorry for Scotland, but all they needed was one good line out and they were in a winnable semi final against Argentina. Who knows when they will get such a chance again.:mellow:
 

Niall

International Coach
I'd say Ireland and Wales definitely back themselves to win against SA/AU.
Ireland beat both last year. Heck Ireland beat Australia in 2011 world cup, but unfortunately for them went into hype overdrive and came crashing down against Wales.

Northern Hemisphere rugby hasn't exactly had a fun few weeks and yes like most their is a lot to learn from Southern Hemisphere, but I am not sure the gap is as monumental as some suggest.


Ireland lost four key players last week and came off a war against France while Argentina got their hardest game out of the way a month ago.

Not suggesting that a full strength Irish side would beat Argentina, but I don't think its disrespectful to Argentina to suggest it would have been much closer than Yesterday if they had at least 3 of those players.

Scotland were one good line out away from beating Australia and a Welsh side with about 2000 players injured ran Australia and South Africa very close.

Heck if North had scored a simple try last week, who knows what would have happened.
 

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