So, who's been watching/following and who are you supporting? I've been watching everyone and been ecstatic with Canada's upset over Tonga, also keeping my eye on England, France, Wales and Ireland but I'm hoping good old Johnny Wilkinson will get another World cup before he retires. The man is an absolute legend.
Australia is somewhat divided. WA, Vic, SA, Tas are all mad AFL fans, nobody even knows the difference between rugby league and union. NSW, ACT and QLD are all mad rugby fans that don't care much for AFL. I am in SA, thus until now I didn't even know the rugby world cup was on since all attention is on AFL finals! However, I did live in Tonga for a few years so I have a soft spot for them and I hope they do well.
Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie! Oi Oi Oi! Shame they took the Wallabies instead of the Reds Queenslander! I just hope the Irish lose a pool match the Aussies aren't screwed
@strewart Tonga are in the worst pool, along with Canada and Japan. None of them will get through as New Zealand and France are in there. So all it comes down to is have a good showing and try to get a couple tries against two of the best teams in the world. @krox I was honestly surprised by Irelands victory. Australia were really strong at the end of the Tri-Nations and aside from that blip in the friendly game against Samoa I thought they were Top of the World material. As for Ireland losing a match, don't count on it they seem to be on form at the moment. @CJS Try not to beat Canada too heavily, and let us get at least one try. lol.
Been watching as much as I can I was really happy with Ireland's win over Australia, Ireland haven't really been playing that well in their warm up matches but they've always been a great and extremely dangerous team if they manage to get it all flowing and they did against Oz. They can definitely be a world class team. I'm actually an England fan, having learned to play the game there, but am still a little disappointed with their performance so far. I'm confident however that they'll kick into a higher gear when it's needed. Somehow England rarely live up to expectations but more often than not come away with the win. Though I'd love to see them play more fluidly. As for the others.. well who doesn't love watching the All Blacks? I love watching Nonu play
Yeah, England seem to have this habit in Rugby of not playing particularly great but scrounging through for the win. I put most of that down to the fly halfs mostly. Johnny is an ace player who never has a bad game, he is a person who can win the matches on his own thanks to his impeccable kicking talent. Toby Flood is also looking to be developed into that type of player as well. Part of this World Cups problem for them is the group they are in. England, Scotland, Argentina, Georgia, and Romania. Of those the first three are all able to make it to the knock out stages and the later two can both be spoilers. It is an extremely physical group and each team can really apply the pressure to the others. It's definitely the hardest of the groups to really guess what will happen. Also, I'm getting really tired these past weeks, getting up at 4 am to watch the games and all that . . . . . lol.
So the knockout stages are upon us and the line ups are as follows: Ireland v Wales . . . . Wow! What a match this one will be. England v France . . . . . . . Ditto the above statement. New Zealand v Argentina . . . . well Argentina had a good run and will be a good test for the New Zealand defense. Argentina have a chance (slim) of killing the giants as Dan Carter is out for the rest of the Cup. South Africa v Australia . . . . . Another Cracking match. My predictions. Wales pip Ireland England beat France New Zealand beat Argentina Australia pip South Africa Next round. England beat Wales Australia pip New Zealand Final England beat Australia. You heard it hear first folks, England win the World Cup.
With the bull*** that England has pulled at this world cup, they deserve to go out to France (<-- lol at losing to Tonga). Seriously, their team manager should be sacked and shot. Tindall, you are slime. Get out of my world cup, now!
Some of the England players definitely should be booted from the tourney, I heartily agree with that and Johnson did no favours to himself in the press conference. But Johnny Wilkinson is such a fantastic player for England against France (and over all, an incredible player that man) that there can be no chance of them not getting through to the semis, especially when the France team has had such a shock in losing to Tonga and lacking in confidence. In the semis they will face either a fairly weak Wales team (they are definitely not at their best these past couple years) or an Irish side that blows either hot or cold.
Yeah, not a Johnny fan (I'm from the southern hemisphere - shock!). And he certainly hasn't been at his best this tournament. I am so god damn excited about every quarter-final, though. Except maybe the Argentina - NZ game; that should be a cake walk. Will be an interesting first look at how they do without Carter.
Indeed, a NZ without Carter is a NZ without the Hakka. Also, write Argentina off at your own peril, they are spoilers, never gonna win the tourney but gonna screw some potential winner over big time. It is a big test for NZ, especially without such an influential player like Carter.
Well, I was right about Wales beating Ireland, but France were a team transformed while England were even more prone to mistakes and rather quite pathetic . Wales v France in the Semis, and my prediction for that is a France victory.