RWC 2011

[Ray de Galles]

RWC 2011

Is it significant that I read in this morning's Guardian that Ben Foden dreams of scoring a drop goal to win World Cup for England rather than a try?

[Brandenburger Toro]

RWC 2011

Flynnie wrote:

jefe wrote:

NBC announced the broadcast schedule. USA-Ireland, New Zealand-Canada, and the Final are on NBC itself.

That's so dumb. Why the hell is anybody going to watch Ireland steamroll the USA? The ratings are going to fall through the floor after 10 minutes. Much better to show USA-Russia, a game the US might actually win and is an easy, easy sell to any American over the age of 25 that can remember communism.

Most of the viewership is actually going to be Irish - many students still there for the summer.

[jefe]

RWC 2011

USA 7-27 Canada in Colorado. Lovely.

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

Harry Truscott wrote:

Is it significant that I read in this morning's Guardian that Ben Foden dreams of scoring a drop goal to win World Cup for England rather than a try?

I suspect he's finally had the creativity and heads up rugby beaten out of him at last. Another triumph for the England coaching team!

Rumour is that Danny Care is out with a foot injury for the whole shebang.

Edit: Rumour confirmed, toe injury. Shit. Out options are now the worryingly out of form Youngs, the worringly average Wigglesworth and Joe Simpson, who is a baldy winger masquerading as a scrum half.

[linus]

RWC 2011

jefe wrote:

Canada 28-22 USA in Toronto last Saturday. From the bits and pieces I saw, we weren't bad, but we weren't any good either.

NBC announced the broadcast schedule. USA-Ireland, New Zealand-Canada, and the Final are on NBC itself.

That's a big step for rugby in the US...

[tee rex]

RWC 2011

There have been many contenders over the years for the coveted title of "Worst Ever TV Commercial Featuring Former Sports Star."

But this one, featuring the All Blacks' Sean Fitzpatrick, just might be the winner ...

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/5463929/All-Black-abstinence-ads-ditched

(or it would have been, if the ad hadn't been hastily dumped, thanks to the mass public vomit that greeted it in New Zealand)

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

RWC 2011

Eggchaser wrote:

Harry Truscott wrote:

Is it significant that I read in this morning's Guardian that Ben Foden dreams of scoring a drop goal to win World Cup for England rather than a try?

I suspect he's finally had the creativity and heads up rugby beaten out of him at last. Another triumph for the England coaching team!

Rumour is that Danny Care is out with a foot injury for the whole shebang.

Edit: Rumour confirmed, toe injury. Shit. Out options are now the worryingly out of form Youngs, the worringly average Wigglesworth and Joe Simpson, who is a baldy winger masquerading as a scrum half.

Foden could play there, couldn't he?

[Seven Saxon Kings]

RWC 2011

Why do teams play warm-up games in a sport where injuries are so common and inevitable? Wouldn't we be better off keeping our players fit?

[Tony C]

RWC 2011

Unbelievable that Australia should omit Matt Giteau from their WC squad because he and the coach Roobie Deans don't get on. Either a bold or a ridiculous move from Deans, this.

Johan Cryuff would have had about five caps for Holland and never gone to a major tournament if the Dutch football coaches of the 1970's had put this criteria in place.

Sometimes you have to look at the bigger picture.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

RWC 2011

Giteau is probably paying the penalty for being dogshit against Samoa. I agree, I think it's a poor decision. He's incredibly versatile, which comes in handy at a World Cup. He hasn't played well for a while, though.

[Flynnie]

RWC 2011

Seven Saxon Kings wrote:

Why do teams play warm-up games in a sport where injuries are so common and inevitable? Wouldn't we be better off keeping our players fit?

Because rugby administrators are whores to money.

[Brandenburger Toro]

RWC 2011

He's also a much more reliable goalkicker than Cooper or Bieber.

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

No he's not, he chokes the pressure kicks hugely. And his play of late has been terrible.

Bieber's gone and got himself suspended from the Bledisloe Cup match for not turning up to some team functions. The youth of today...

Vicarious, Foden couldn't play scrum half, he's not done it for ages and his major performances there were based on his pace and running threat as opposed to passing, marshalling a pack, decision making and being a yappy little twonk.

World Cup squads announced today.

Ireland

Rory Best
Isaac Boss
Tommy Bowe
Tony Buckley
Tom Court
Sean Cronin
Leo Cullen
Gordon D'Arcy
Keith Earls
Stephen Ferris
Jerry Flannery
Cian Healy
Jamie Heaslip
Rob Kearney
Denis Leamy
Fergus McFadden
Geordan Murphy
Conor Murray
Sean O'Brien
Donncha O'Callaghan
Paul O'Connell
Brian O'Driscoll
Ronan O'Gara
Eoin Reddan
Mike Ross
Donnacha Ryan
Jonathan Sexton
Andrew Trimble
Paddy Wallace
David Wallace

TOL gets the chop for his absymal showings of late (capped by his performance against France). Turnstyles Murphy benefits from Felix Jones getting crocked.

Scotland

Forwards:

John Barclay
Kelly Brown
Geoff Cross
Al Dickinson
Ross Ford
Richie Gray
Dougie Hall
Jim Hamilton
Nathan Hines
Alan Jacobsen
Al Kellock (captain)
Scott Lawson
Moray Low
Euan Murray
Ross Rennie
Al Strokosch
Richie Vernon

Backs:

Joe Ansbro
Mike Blair
Chris Cusiter
Simon Danielli
Nick de Luca
Max Evans
Ruaridh Jackson
Rory Lamont
Sean Lamont
Rory Lawson
Graeme Morrison
Dan Parks
Chris Paterson

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

France

Props: Luc Ducalcon, Fabien Barcella, Jean-Baptiste Poux, Nicolas Mas
Hookers: William Servat, Dimitri Szarzewski, Guilhem Guirado
Locks: Lionel Nallet, Pascal Pape, Romain Millo-Chluski, Julien Pierre
Back Row: Thierry Dusautoir (captain), Julien Bonnaire, Imanol Harinordoquy, Louis Picamoles, Fulgence Ouedraogo, Raphael Lakafia
SH: Morgan Parra, Dimitri Yachvili
FH: David Skrela, Francois Trinh-Duc
Centres: Maxime Mermoz, David Marty, Aurelien Rougerie, Patrice Estebanez
Back 3: Vincent Clerc, Cedric Heymans, Maxime Medard, Alexis Palisson
Jack of all trades: Damien Traille

Notable ommissions: Chabal, Jauzion, Marconnet, Domingo, Bastareaud, Michalak, Poitrenaud, Malzieu

Wales

WALES 2011 RUGBY WORLD CUP SQUAD

Forwards:

Gethin Jenkins (Blues), Lloyd Burns (Dragons), Huw Bennett, Ryan Bevington, Adam Jones, Paul James (Ospreys), Ken Owens (Scarlets), Craig Mitchell (Exeter), Bradley Davies, Sam Warburton (Blues, capt), Luke Charteris, Danny Lydiate, Toby Faletau (Dragons), Ryan Jones, Alun Wyn Jones (Ospreys), Andy Powell (Sale Sharks).

Backs:

Michael Phillips (Bayonne), Lloyd Williams (Blues), Tavis Knoyle (Scarlets), Jamie Roberts (Blues), James Hook (Perpignan), Jonathan Davies, Stephen Jones, Rhys Priestland, Scott Williams (Scarlets), Leigh Halfpenny (Blues), Lee Byrne (Clermont Auvergne), Aled Brew (Dragons), Shane Williams (Ospreys), George North (Scarlets)

I'm not sure anyone saw Aled Brew at a World Cup.

[Ray de Galles]

RWC 2011

Every time his name pops up in a squad I do a mental double take and assume it's another new Brew brother before I realise it really is Aled.

I have long loved Warburton but he doesn't convince me as a captain, I'm not sure he leads the team or works the refs as well as Ryan Jones (though obviously he's guaranteed a starting place and is our outstanding performer).

[Antepli Ejderha]

RWC 2011

A 16 14 split for Wales and no place for Martyn Williams, with no back up openside is Warburton going to have to play all of the three big pool games?

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

Andy Powell can bring his unique brand of football expertise to the shirt if needs be.

England have selected a midfield of

12 Tindall
13 Tuilagi

for the Ireland warm up match. I hope Tuilagi proves more robust than Simpson-Daniel who was broken by half time being forced to run dummy lines for Tindall the last time he was picked at inside centre. Mind you, he is lining up against Keeturls so there's hope yet.

[Tony C]

RWC 2011

Sale will be unhappy that Powell's late run of form got him on the plane to NZ - they were banking on him being available for league games where they feel they will need to pick up points against weakened sides while the WC is on.

At least Peel and Fourie didn't make their squads.

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

Gareth Delve can feel justifiably pissed off about Powell's inclusion given his form for the Melbourne Rebels in the Super Ugby, although I suppose the argument is that Powell covers 6 and 8 whereas Delve is just an 8, but when you cover 6 and 8 equally badly, what's the point? (the Worlsey gambit)

[Antepli Ejderha]

RWC 2011

Have the stand by players been announced yet?

Delve is certainly on stand by and I know Wales have tried to see if they can get the others to Australia to make it easier for them to join up with the squad.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

RWC 2011

This is worth bumping, it begins on Friday.

The Sunday Times surpassed even their usual ineptitude for internal consistency about this kind of thing, in their "bumper preview pullout" which I bought today, in which their chief Rugby correspondent, and two of the three ex-players on their supposed "expert panel", all predicted France to beat England in their expected quarter-final (only Lawrence Dallaglio could find a reason why not), yet the main introduction to the "England" and "France" sections in the magazine confidently predicted (on behalf of the ST) that England would make the last four while France would go out in the last eight.

Either the nameless people who put the main sections of the magazine together don't read the comments of the pundits who are interviewed just over the page, or they do and disagree with them, or they do, agree with them, but wilfully ignore what they've said. Any way around, it makes for a very shoddy publication.

[Tony C]

RWC 2011

If Stephen Jones is still chief rugby correspondant at the ST (I don't read it) then this comes as no surprise; he's a useless twat, as well as being a small-minded bigot.

[G-Man]

RWC 2011

all predicted France to beat England in their expected quarter-final

Are Argentina that hopeless?

[Eggchaser]

RWC 2011

Tony C wrote:

If Stephen Jones is still chief rugby correspondant at the ST (I don't read it) then this comes as no surprise; he's a useless twat, as well as being a small-minded bigot.

Yep, The Walrus is still there, loving England, loving Tindall.

I see Moody's crocked, great idea taking him along. Been nice to catch ITV 4's "Dallaglio's World Cup" series - France tonight.

As for the Argentines, they aren't the team they were in 2007 and England have had the measure of them of late, especially if Matt Bananahan plays.

[Tony C]

RWC 2011

Like most of the WC reviews I've seen, the Dalaglio show tended to go easy on the appalling NZ record in the competition.

Most pundits still cheerfully cite the All Blacks as the benchmark for excellence in the world game despite only one win in 24 years. It's not unlike regarding England as the premier football nation in the world despite similar evidence to the contrary.

Deep down, I'm convinced they'll find another way to blow it again this time round.