Japan 2019

[ri Alban]

Starts this Friday. I had been looking forward to this for a while, until GT ruined all VC work.

 

Who's gonnae win it?

 

I think it's between NZ, Ireland and England. I'll go England.

 

 

Anyway C'mon Scotland!!!

 

 

If anyone wants to start a better thread, wire in.  👍

Edited September 17 by ri Alban

[Mikey1874]

Fixtures here

 

Basically AM times 

 

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/matches

[Mikey1874]

Scotland games

Ireland Sun 22 Sept 8.45am
Samoa Mon 30 Sept 11.15am
Russia Wed 9 Oct 8.15am
Japan Sun 13 Oct 11.45am

 

Quarters Sat 19 Oct, Sun 20 8.15, 11.15am

Semis Sat 26 Oct / Sun 27 9am

Final Sat 2 Nov 9am

[Boof]

50 minutes ago, Mikey1874 said:

Scotland games

Ireland Sun 22 Sept 8.45am
Samoa Mon 30 Sept 11.15am
Russia Wed 9 Oct 8.15am
Japan Sun 13 Oct 11.45am

 

Quarters Sat 19 Oct, Sun 20 8.15, 11.15am

Semis Sat 26 Oct / Sun 27 9am

Final Sat 2 Nov 9am

 

All Scotland games?

 

Optimistic...but I hope you're right. 

[DETTY29]

Result of All Blacks and Springboks may determine how hard we go out for victory against Ireland.

 

South Africa are on form too, but we just cannot perform or if close to New Zealand, get over the line.

 

Not that we would be favourites against Ireland or be guaranteed to beat Samoa or Japan.

Edited September 17 by DETTY29

[Jeff]

Argentina France should be a tight one

[Seymour M Hersh]

How I'd love to be there. Japan is a country I've wanted to visit for a long time. 

[Barack]

Robert Howley sent home to "assist" in an investigation into betting breaches.

 

Stephen Jones sent out as his replacement. Chuckle, chuckle. Howler is a joke in the game, both inside Wales & outwith.

 

Hope it's true.

[Mikey1874]

6 minutes ago, Barack said:

Robert Howley sent home to "assist" in an investigation into betting breaches.

 

Stephen Jones sent out as his replacement. Chuckle, chuckle. Howler is a joke in the game, both inside Wales & outwith.

 

Hope it's true.

 

Welsh backs will be fine 

[Mikey1874]

1 hour ago, Jeff said:

Argentina France should be a tight one

 

Saturday has that game at 8.15am followed by South Africa v New Zealand at 10.45am.

 

Great start. 

[Barack]

Just now, Mikey1874 said:

 

Welsh backs will be fine 

They always were. Howley has made a fine career, of being the assistant coach from Chewin' The Fat.

[Thommo414]

Will probably be New Zealand again but can see Ireland or Wales being up for causing an upset. 

 

As for Scotland

We'll pump Russia, think we'll get past Samoa, get horsed by Ireland 15+ points. Japan is a tricky one imo, they remain our record victory but I keep thinking about their win over SA in 2015. Second in the group if we take Japan, knocked out comfortably by NZ in the quarters. 

 

Looking forward to a good tournament though, or what I can catch on my days off anyway 

[Roxy Hearts]

Watched Wales a few times and how they win games is beyond annoying as they're dreadful to watch and Gatland is an arrogant p&#@%. Just grind out wins without many tries. Wish we could do that! 

[BudgeUp]

https://i.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/rugby-world-cup/rwc-2019-japan/115243847/rugby-world-cup-how-the-top-eight-sides-number-up-over-the-last-four-years

 

What these stats don't show though is this is arguably le Townsends first tournament with a full squad. Most 6 nations there are usually swathes of injuries as it happens a bit into the season. Not far enough in that the body is accustomed to the knocks. 

 

I reckon Scotland will have a fine tournament but Glasgow and Edinburgh will both suffer in the pro 14 due to having most of their squad away for the first rounds of games then injury concerns.

 

I also think Russell has improved immensely since going to Racing and Hogg will be one of the standouts this year as long as he doesn't get injured the first game... 

[I P Knightley]

22 hours ago, Roxy Hearts said:

Watched Wales a few times and how they win games is beyond annoying as they're dreadful to watch and Gatland is an arrogant p&#@%. Just grind out wins without many tries. Wish we could do that! 

I've not looked at the draw to see when Wales would be scheduled to meet the ABs but I'd have Wales as my outsiders after NZ to win the thing. 

 

If Scotland come up against the Springboks in the QF, I give them a chance. No chance should it be the ABs, though - I think the mental hurdle is too great. 

[AlphonseCapone]

Rugby is for twats....

[Roxy Hearts]

6 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

I've not looked at the draw to see when Wales would be scheduled to meet the ABs but I'd have Wales as my outsiders after NZ to win the thing. 

 

If Scotland come up against the Springboks in the QF, I give them a chance. No chance should it be the ABs, though - I think the mental hurdle is too great. 

It's a fairly open WC with many teams much the same but the AB's will be hard to beat as they're the real stand outs. 

[DETTY29]

8 hours ago, I P Knightley said:

I've not looked at the draw to see when Wales would be scheduled to meet the ABs but I'd have Wales as my outsiders after NZ to win the thing. 

 

If Scotland come up against the Springboks in the QF, I give them a chance. No chance should it be the ABs, though - I think the mental hurdle is too great. 

Cant play each other until semi finals.

 

Ireland or Scotland v. New Zeakand or South Africa.

 

England or France v Wales or Australia.

 

I'll need to check on seeding v. workd ranking and the draw.

[DETTY29]

Current world rankings but change continuously

 

1. Ireland (Pool A)

2. New Zealand (Pool B  )

3. England (Pool C)

4. South Africa (Pool B  )

5. Wales (Pool D)

6. Australia (Pool D)

7. Scotland (Pool A)

8. France (Pool C)

 

Quarter finals

 

Q1 - Winner Pool C v. Runner Up Pool D

England v. Australia

 

Q2 - Winner Pool B v. Runner Up Pool A

New Zealand v. Scotland

 

Q3 - Winner Pool D v. Runner Up Pool C

Wales v. France

 

Q4 - Winner Pool A v. Runner Up B

Ireland v. South Africa

 

Semi Finals

 

Semi Final 1

Winners Q1 v Q2

New Zealand v. England

 

Semi Final 2

Winners Q3 v. Q4

Wales v. Ireland

 

Final

Winners S1 v. Winners S2

New Zeland v. Ireland

 

WRC Champions

Ireland

 

When the draw was made, Australia were seeded above Wales so you could swap around.

 

Ireland never get past quarter finals, Scotland may struggle to make quarter finals, France too, but France are equally capable of being the big surprise and make semi final at least.

 

If the new tackle laws are rigourously invoked England (and Farrell) may be a surprise qf casualty.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 18 by DETTY29

[shaun.lawson]

I've been to-ing and fro-ing constantly over the last few months. Not in who I think will win it - I'm confident about that - but in all the rest of it. Absolutely anything could happen in Groups A and C; the NZ-SA game this weekend is way too close to call; who wins Group D is too close to call as well. It's far and away the hardest RWC to predict that I've ever known - but me being me, here goes. Lawson jinx be damned!

 

Group A

 

1. Ireland

2. Japan

3. Scotland

4. Samoa

5. Russia

 

Group B

 

1. New Zealand

2. South Africa

3. Italy

4. Canada

5. Namibia

 

Group C

 

1. England

2. Argentina

3. France

4. Tonga 

5. USA

 

Group D

 

1. Australia

2. Wales

3. Fiji

4. Georgia

5. Uruguay

 

Quarter-Finals

 

England v Wales

New Zealand v Japan

Australia v Argentina

Ireland v South Africa

 

Semi-Finals

 

England v New Zealand

Australia v South Africa

 

Third Place Final

 

New Zealand v Australia

 

Final

 

England v South Africa

 

World Champions

 

South Africa

 

 

A few quick sidelights:

 

1. Am I confident Scotland will be knocked out in the first round? Am I bollocks. I even think Ireland are in danger in that group. I expect an inspired host nation and pure chaos, in which Samoa could play their part too. This is Scotland's best World Cup side since 1995; I just suspect it's gonna end up very unlucky.

 

2. As you can see, I have the Boks winning it despite losing their first match. The first time that'll have ever happened if so. But even if the final ends up being a rematch with the All Blacks, I still think they'll do it. Which brings me to...

 

3. For me, England are third favourites, about half a level below the sport's historic superpowers. If we end up facing Australia in the last eight, even reaching the final will almost certainly be too much - because a knockout draw of AUS/NZ/RSA is impossible. If we avoid the Wallabies and get past a very tough, very dangerous, everything to lose and nothing to gain Welsh test, the pressure would be off and maybe, just maybe, Eddie Jones could mastermind a major upset. He's done it before against New Zealand in the semis, after all.

 

Trouble is, if that happens, the media will go berserk, react as though we're World Champions already, and we'll collapse in a heap against the Springboks: for whom the 12-year rule says they're due. 1995. 2007. 2019? 

Edited September 19 by shaun.lawson

[Mikey1874]

Wallcharts in the newspapers today.

[The Old Tolbooth]

I fancy Scotland to make the knock out stages, but that's as far as they'll get as they'll come up against either the All Blacks or S Africa, and they're not good enough to topple either of those. England always seem to hit form before every RWC, and they've worryingly hit form again at the right time for them, however if they meet Wales in the quarters, then they'll underestimate them at their peril, the Welsh know how to play them and are a thorn in their side. 

 

I don't think Ireland are as strong as they have been in past years, but they're still capable of turning in a big performance and can beat anyone on their day, not quite sure how they're ranked No1 on the planet, but there you go.   

 

The All Blacks to win it for me, they just look a shade too strong for everyone else. 

Edited September 19 by The Old Tolbooth

[milky_26]

i fancy south africa to win it

[Captain Sausage]

Big match for us up first. I can’t see past an Ireland win, which puts pressure on us to beat Russia (not worried), Samoa (slightly worried) and Japan (very worried). 

 

If if we do scrape past those games, it’s New Zealand likely in the quarters. We’ve pushed them close recently in Edinburgh, but would need all of our players playing at absolute 100% to have a chance. 

 

We have a near full strength roster to pick from, I think only Ritchie missing for Ireland. 

 

Big decisions for Townsend are flankers, scrum half and centres. Rest of the team effectively picks itself. 

[Mikey1874]

 

[Mikey1874]

[John Findlay]

Hogg stays injury free. We may just surprise a few.

[Mikey1874]

 

Edited September 20 by Mikey1874

[DETTY29]

Japan nerves, over-rated or Russia better than expected?

 

Is the Japanese crowd very politely exicitable and cheering on both teams?

[DETTY29]

And booing now....

[jumpship]

Scotland shouldn't have a problem against either Russia or Japan.  

 

Watching the build up to the first game.. In the studio we have ex-players from England, Wales and Ireland. Touch-line we have welsh and south Africa. 

 

Like watching foreign TV... 

 

 

[Mikey1874]

5 minutes ago, jumpship said:

Scotland shouldn't have a problem against either Russia or Japan.  

 

Watching the build up to the first game.. In the studio we have ex-players from England, Wales and Ireland. Touch-line we have welsh and south Africa. 

 

Like watching foreign TV... 

 

 

 

Andy Nicol was on the radio (with Matt Dawson) this morning before the game.

 

But I have noticed every news clip talks about England. 

[ri Alban]

Fiji just fell apart.

[Ibrahim Tall]

10 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

Fiji just fell apart.

Aye.

 

Was looking good for a while.

[Roxy Hearts]

17 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

Fiji just fell apart.

Good at running with the ball and some physicality but not much else. 

[ri Alban]

Fancy a France annihilation of Argentina.

[Mikey1874]

Pundits on tv writing off France and Argentina's chances of beating England. Saying this is a decider. 

[neilnunb]

Enjoying this France v Argentina game. Argentina right back into the match.

[FWJ]

Fair enjoying this France v Argentina match.

[neilnunb]

Oh Argies miss a last min kick to win it. 😲

[FWJ]

Handbags at the end!

[neilnunb]

Fight, fight, fight! 😁

[shaun.lawson]

Completely the wrong team won that. Argentina missed 5 easy points even before the late missed kick. But the ref was absolutely disgraceful. I lost count of how many penalties France conceded in their own 22, and he did nothing. Even gave them two warnings after their penalty count had gone into double figures. A joke. A nonsense. Victory for cheating. 

[ri Alban]

11 minutes ago, shaun.lawson said:

Completely the wrong team won that. Argentina missed 5 easy points even before the late missed kick. But the ref was absolutely disgraceful. I lost count of how many penalties France conceded in their own 22, and he did nothing. Even gave them two warnings after their penalty count had gone into double figures. A joke. A nonsense. Victory for cheating. 

   Vive la France!!!

[shaun.lawson]

5 minutes ago, ri Alban said:

   Vive la France!!!

 

They were shite. Hopefully they won't be around long.

[Diadora Van Basten]

Enjoyed the end of the France v Argentina game. I watched first half then stopped watching as I thought it was all over.

 

I used to play rugby and was the goal kicker and thought the player needed to put a bit of fade on the last penalty to keep it straight but he hooked it.

[milky_26]

i think this is the worst i have ever seen new zealand play

[Roxy Hearts]

1 minute ago, milky_26 said:

i think this is the worst i have ever seen new zealand play

That's because of SA pressure. 

[milky_26]

i felt that was good by the ref, the scrum collapsed looked 50/50 but SA were just releasing it so he let play go on. kept the game flowing

[milky_26]

1 minute ago, Roxy Hearts said:

That's because of SA pressure. 

agree, that is why i have tipped SA to win the trophy. it is strange as even under pressure NZ normally find a way through

 

 

 

oooft off the post

Edited September 21 by milky_26