The All Blacks romp home against Romania

The All Blacks have stomped all over the Romanians, 85 - 8. Dan didn't play as he has a calf strain. He's saving himself for the French :-)

England defeat Tonga and line themselves up against a Wallaby team ready for revenge :-)

The Tongans played very well against the English to go down 36 - 20. The Poms secured their place in the Quarter-Finals with some room to spare, but the Tongans were not disgraced and were praised by their opposition for their strong play and natural ability.

The Australians now have the chance to avenge their defeat against the English in the 2003 World Cup Final. It will be a close game, especially with Jonny "I'm a pain' Wilkinson finding kicking form. Zut alors!

The All Blacks line up against the Romanians shortly, with the Australians versus the Canadians a couple of hours later. By tomorrow morning the 8 teams to play the Quarters will be decided and then the really tough stuff begins :-)

Go Australia!

Looking into a crystal ball … who will play in the RWC Final?

Chic Rugby has been trying to predict who will play in the RWC Final. Here’s how things stand with the upcoming knock-out rounds:

Australia will play either Tonga or England in QF 1 – I’d like it to be Tonga but I think it will be England.

New Zealand will probably play France in QF 2 (unless the Argentineans lose against the Irish this weekend).

South Africa will play Wales or Fiji in QF 3 – will probably be Wales (go Fiji!).

Argentina (unless they lose against the Irish) will play Scotland or Italy (most likely Scotland?) in QF 4.

When we get to this level it’s a little harder to pick winners than it is in the pool rounds. However, based on how they’ve played to date I’m predicting that the Irishmen and the Italians will lose in their matches this weekend, leaving us with 4 Southern Hemisphere teams playing 4 Northern Hemisphere teams (gee I’d love the Tongans and the Fijians to win – make it 6 Southern Hemisphere teams in the Quarters …).

Now, should things go the way they seemingly ought, Semi-Final 2 will be played between South Africa and Argentina. If the Wallabies win against England/Tonga this will pitch us against the All Blacks in Semi-Final 1. This will mean a Southern Hemisphere Semi-Final round and a Southern Hemisphere Final.

Now, we’ve been in this place before. Many times Australia and NZ end up clashing in the Semis … the smart money seems to be on the All Blacks to keep it together this time and not bottle out as they’re wont to do. So, should they win against the Australians, they’ll play South Africa in the Final …. except I’d love it if it were Argentina :-)

And, then it’s obvious for whom one should barrack. As an Australian I will cheer for our ANZAC buddies the All Blacks over the South Africans … can’t stand the Springboks and I love Dan Carter. Easy!

Go the Wallabies (and Tonga)!

A mixed bag of results ... and Chic Rugby is coming 2nd in her tipping group - still.

Who'd have thought the Canadians would tie with the Japanese?

Not Chic Rugby and hence her performance in her Facebook tipping competition isn't so hot this week. I'm 6 points behind my pal Reece, because I didn't pick a 12-all tie between the Canucks and the Cherry Blossoms. Grrr.

In other games the Samoans beat the USA for their first win of the RWC, the Georgians thrashed Namibia 30 nil and the Romanians just beat the Portuguese (picked that one - phew!).

The next match of interest will be the Poms against the Tongans. I've picked the English to win but not by much (less than 12 points). We'll see.

Not much longer now - 7 matches - til the knock-out rounds begin. Australia will most likely play England in the Quarters, unless the Tongans beat them, and then we'll play the Tongans instead!

Go Tonga!

The ANZACs clean up, and the Tongans give South Africa a scare.

Australia and New Zealand have virtually secured their berths in the RWC quarterfinals with good wins over Fiji and Scotland.

The All Blacks (wearing a nice grey jersey this match – the All Greys doesn’t have the same ring though) held the Scots to a scoreless result for the boys in blue, beating them 40 nil. The Wallabies met more resistance from the Fijians, who always play with heart and flair, but held on to win 55 – 12.

The Fijians meet Wales in their final pool match – let’s barrack for them so they come second in our group. Then they can play the South Africans and scare them like the Tongans did in their 30 – 25 game in Lens. There’s a lesson to be learnt here for coaches – resting star players is great for preventing injuries leading into the knockout rounds; however, you risk losing your pool game and finishing second in your group! The South Africans held on to win; however, the Tongans revealed some chinks in the Springboks armour. Don’t expect them to make that mistake again

As for Chic Rugby’s tipping results … she’s back to coming second in her group of fellow tipsters. Her friend Reece is pipping her by three points, and he’s a soccer player! Some score-lines are easier to pick than others.

Oh, and the English beat the Samoans, but only because JW is a girly kicker of the rugby ball - 2 drop goals ... huh, I ask you! Score a try, Jonny! I dare you :-) Eng 44 - Sam 22

Go the Wallabies/Fijians/Cherry Blossoms!

Wales and France victorious, and the poor Irish and Japanese vanquished.

The men in green went down to the French 25 - 3 in Saint-Denis. Apparently the Irish played a dispirited and disjointed game and conceded 11 penalties, 5 of which the French successfully converted into points. Les Bleus will be relieved and their passage now through to the quarters is assured with their last match to be against the Georgians on the 26th.

The Welsh crushed my minnow faves the Cherry Blossoms 72 -18. The Dragons enjoyed the home-ground advantage playing in Cardiff; however, the Japanese made an impressive 138 tackles, so they didn't go down without a fight. In fact, at half-time, they only trailed 29 - 11. I love the Cherry Blossoms - they know they're not in the big leagues but they play with heart and passion. They're cute too :-)

Their match against Canada will be the last chance we'll have to see them play in the Cup. Go Japan!

This will be me when I get to Paris again next year ...

From the German website i-delicious.de

Here's a cute rugby-related fashion item!

Zadig et Voltaire is a very cool chain of shops in Europe. I love this rugby supporters long-sleeve tee. It is available in women's and men's. This is the back view - the front is plain with a v-neck. 65 euros - a snap!

Australia wins, the French find form again, and the English look like their days are numbered ...

Lots has happened at the RWC since ChicRugby's last post. Apologies to readers but CR's been busy at work.

The Australians defeated the Welsh in a spirited game. Alas, I only caught the highlights (I fell asleep ... damn this time difference), but from what I saw the Australians played well with scope for further improvement. Stephen Larkham thinks he'll be fit to play in the semis, so let's hope the quarters are kind to the Wallabies so we can enjoy him back on the pitch. Berrick Barnes, the baby of the Australians, played a fantastic game, with a lightening fast pass to Matt Giteau to score under the goal-posts. He also nicely emulated Jonny Wilkinson by kicking a field-goal. I'd love it if we met them in the quarters and he did the same thing to win. Karma can be sweet!

Australia 32 - Wales 20

The English met the Springboks and quivered in their presence. By some accounts, even though JW looks set to return for their match against Samoa, the English are all over the place. It will be a tough game for the English as the Samoans are very physical players. Expect to see more Poms taken off on stretchers.

Other results in games are:

Fiji 29 - Can 16 in Cardiff
Samoa 15 - Tonga 19 in Montpellier
France 87 - Namibia 10 in Toulouse (thanks for coming Namibia - ouch!)
Scotland 42 - Romania 0 in Edinburgh (another poor little minnow)

The French seem to have found form again, this time against Namibia. Easy beats but very physical. The French next play Ireland in what will be a fantastic game. The Irish played very well in the 6 Nations - however, they have been known to bottle when they play away from Lansdowne Road in Dublin. Nevertheless, I'm barracking for the men in green.

So much rugby! So little time to read and watch and report on it all.

Gotta do some work now.

South Africa dominate the English ... and Australia really needs to beat Wales!

The Springboks have kept the English from scoring in a match that saw the World Cup champions lose several key players through injury. I've not seen the 'Boks play as well in quite a while; their defences were rock solid and their attack formidable.

The English were without Mr 'I can kick field goals' Wilkinson as he is still injured. It's unlikely we'll see him now until the quarters, as they're unlikely to play him in the matches against the Tongans or the Samoans. Those islander bros are very physical players and the last thing he needs is to get belted and taken off!

The pressure is now on the Australians and the Welsh as neither will want to play South Africa in the quarters. The Welsh will have the hometown advantage in Cardiff; all those locals singing their hearts out in one of the most atmospheric stadiums rugby can provide.

With uncertainty now surrounding Stephen Larkham and his knee, our boys have a job ahead of them.

Oh, go Australia!

RSA 36 - Eng 0

Love this article from IHT's Peter Berlin

Here are some snippets - read the full article here.

While "small" teams fight hard in 2007 World Cup, contenders were counting their wounded and missing By Peter Berlin
Thursday, September 13, 2007

PARIS - While the supporting cast enlivened the World Cup with a series of hard-fought midweek encounters, the tournament contenders were counting their wounded and missing as they prepared to return to action.

Indeed, in the two heavyweight clashes of the weekend, winning might not be as important as avoiding further casualties.

South Africa and England, which will meet Friday in Saint-Denis, both started the tournament with injury problems. After one match, both have lost one player to injury and another to suspension.

Australia, which faces Wales in Cardiff on Saturday, has lost one back, Mark Gerrard, who ruptured a knee ligament in the opening game. Even one such injury per match represents a rate of attrition that would cripple any team over the length of the World Cup. But Australia may also be without Adam Ashley-Cooper on Saturday after the winger damaged a toe against Japan.

...

All four will make the last eight if they beat the less established but potentially dangerous teams in their groups. That is why they need to avoid too many more injuries. For Wales ... and Australia that means Fiji. For England ... it is the two other Polynesian teams, Tonga and, particularly, Samoa. For the Springboks ... that is only Tonga.

If they all advance, this quartet of seeds will face each other in the last eight, so all they are doing this weekend is sorting out who plays whom.

The Welsh would probably prefer to win the group and play their quarterfinal in Cardiff. The Wallabies would doubtless like to avoid the Springboks while the English would probably prefer to avoid the Australians. The Springboks are probably indifferent. What makes the equation more complicated for Australia is that if it wins the group it would be seeded to meet New Zealand in the semifinals.

These are ancient adversaries ...

...

England's injuries, meanwhile, seem only to highlight its lack of depth at key positions. Both its specialist flyhalves, Jonny Wilkinson and now Olly Barkley, one of the few successes in the opening game, have suffered training injuries.

...

The weekend schedule does allow other contenders to rest players.

New Zealand, the great black whale, has changed almost its whole team for its encounter with the World Cup plankton, Portugal. France has opted to do the same, even though, after its opening defeat, it desperately needs an emphatic victory over Namibia on Sunday night.

The robust Namibians gave Ireland a torrid time in the opening game. That game was followed by the now traditional stories that Brian O'Driscoll ... had suffered yet another injury. This has been going on so long that there are those who believe that O'Driscoll's first injury came when he pulled a muscle rowing St. Patrick's coracle over from Wales.

The Irish can expect another tough test against the Georgians, whom Marcelo Loffreda, the Argentine coach, repeatedly praised for their hardness after the Pumas beat them on Tuesday.

Georgia and Namibia are both hulking teams and both exploit that fact. They play with the ostentatious disregard for their own well-being that is one of the minnow's few weapons against far better teams. For the leading nations, the collective desire to win can be clouded by individual fears of missing the later rounds injured.

Yet the smaller teams also have an eye on strategic objectives of their own. The Georgians have made it plain that their chief objective this time is to finally win a World Cup game. They are quite open about which one it is: the meeting with Namibia on Sept. 26. That rather begs the question of whether it is wise for Namibians and Georgians to be prepared to leave their limbs strewn all over the field as they lose to France and Ireland.

For all the teams in action this weekend, the injury tally could be as significant as the score.

No big surprises in the latest matches at the RWC.

The Tongans, Fijians and Italians all defeated their oppositions in the latest games in the RWC.

The Fijians faced an especially tough and spirited Japan in their match. A good game for these two minnow nations.

Gotta love the hair on this Tongan player!

	USA	15-25	TGA		Montpellier
	JPN	31-35	FJI		Toulouse
	ITA	24-18	ROM		Marseille

Argentina ... the surprise package at the RWC.

Argentina have won their second match on the trot, defeating the Georgians 33 - 3. They're sitting at the top of Pool D.

I love dark horses - it's one of the reasons the RWC is so interesting. Given the French are in this pool one would have thought they'd have a clear run through the round stage. It appears this may be the case for the South Americans instead. They've to play Ireland yet, but they'll easily defeat Namibia when it's their turn.

So, is it feasible the Argentinians will make it through to the semis? If they win their pool they'll play the 2nd-placer from Pool C in the quarter-finals, which could well be the Scots. The Scots are a good team. The Argentinians are passionate, physical players. It could be anyone's game, but I think the South Americans will do it. They've an impressive record in internationals this season, winning 7 out of 8 they've played.

Wouldn't it be great to see another Southern Hemisphere team make it to the final rounds of the Cup! Sure makes their case for inclusion in the Trinations even stronger.

Ole!

Hmmm ... ChicRugby is doing okay, tipping-wise.

Results from last night's matches:

	WAL	42-17	CAN		Nantes
	RSA	59-7	SAM		Paris
	SCO	56-10	POR		St-Etienne
	IRE	32-17	NAM		Bordeaux

Off to Facebook to see how I went in my tipping competition, but I think I did okay.

Playing today ...

There are four matches to be played overnight Sydney-time:

WAL v - CAN in Nantes
RSA - SAM in Paris
SCO - POR in St-Etienne
IRE - NAM in Bordeaux

My Facebook tipping is doing okay so far - I tipped the scorelines (sort of) for 2 out of the 4 games played to date. Got the France v Argentina result completely wrong, but guess I'm not alone. I also thought the English wouldn't do as well as they did. Bah!

This time my mystic sources are telling me there will be some walkovers tonight. I reckon our celtic friends and the boys from the veldt will do well over their opposition.

But it's just as well I don't put money down on these tipping thingies ... one has to be far more precise. I'm such a bad gambler I'd have no money left for shoes, the hairdressers and luxury travel ;-)

And they're far more important!

Big wins to the Wallabies and the All Blacks!

ChicRugby and ChicRugby's friend Cat stayed up last night to watch the Wallabies v Japanese and the All Blacks v Italians.

Actually we drank champagne and chatted during the All Blacks game. I could see Dan kicking away, with my peripheral vision, but we had other things to talk about and we got distracted ...

No matter. The upshot is that this morning both the Australians and the All Blacks are sitting nicely at the tops of their pools with cricket scores against their names - excellent. I pity the poor Cherry Blossoms; they got hammered. They continued attacking as best they could but tiredness and the superior fitness of the Wallabies wore them down in the second half. Rocky Elsom played very well and scored the fastest hat-trick by a forward in the Cup's history. The Wallabies scored 13 tries!

The All Black match just seemed to feature Dan kicking a lot. The New Zealanders scored 11 tries.

Very tired this morning (I fell asleep on Cat's sofa) and am thinking that coffee will be my best friend until the 20 October.

Oh, and the English won as well - but we don't care about them.

A personal connection to the Fijian RWC team

I had a surprise email from someone from my past this week and he's currently in France working as an assistant coach with the Fijian RWC team.

Can't see you in this picture GJM - but that's a perk of coaching not playing. You don't have to do hills anymore - you get to tell other people to do hills.

Good luck Fiji ! :-D

RWC opener - France defeated by Argentina!

The Argentinians have defeated France, 17 - 12, in the opening match of the World Cup, played at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis.

This loss has created uncertainty for the French camp. The Irish are playing well and should the French come second in Group D they may well meet the All Blacks in the quarter-finals.

By all reports the Argentinians took it to the French, playing with a sense of desperation. The Argie Bargies (or more formally known as the Pumas) are a very physical team and what they lack in French flair they more than make up for in determination and strength.

The result must tear at the heartstrings of the French supporters.

FRA 12 ARG 17

Portraits vidéo des joueurs de rugby (that's French for video interviews with rugby players)!

TV5 Monde is a French TV channel. For interviews of some players in the RWC click here!

Wallabies in France

So the Wallabies have arrived in Montpellier, after a day-trip to Villers Bretonneux and the WWI cemetery containing the graves of several hundred young Australian soldiers.

The Wallabies play their first match against the Japanese in Lyon on the 8th. It should be a nice warm-up match for them; however, the Japanese are a spirited team and will give the men in green and gold an entertaining, if not overtaxing, game.

Eddie Jones - the former Wallabies' coach - has criticised the Australian forward pack, just in time for the first match. We remember what his coaching record was like with the Wallabies. Let's hope he takes the same approach in his job with the South Africans.

Gosh he annoys me.

The All Blacks are firming as favourites to win the Cup. It's usual for the All Blacks to head into the RWC as favourites - they've done so every Cup - but history has shown that the New Zealanders reach a peak, and then crash just when it matters most. They lost to the Wallabies in the 1991 semi-final, choked in the 1995 final against South Africa, went out to France in '99 semi-final and to Australia in the 2003 semi-final. To win the All Blacks will need to keep their form until late in the competition if they're to stand on the winners' podium (rugby trivia: the All Blacks have won the World Cup once - the first one in 1987 - whilst we've won it twice and been in the finals three times).

I'd like to think the Wallabies could rise above recent poor form and slog it out to win for a third time. With inspiration from those young men buried in the fields of France, they can take it to their opposition and get the job done.

Time, and the sometimes unpredictable game of rugby, will tell. Roll on the Rugby World Cup!