Rugby 2019

BornBlue76 · July 27, 2019

World Cup Ruggers coming soon... getting interesting to see who’s in the running..

My Springboks just drew with NZ in New Zealand after thumping Aussies last week with virtually half first and second team as many players went early to NZ to acclimate.

Might actually have a better shot than I have ya credit for!

Main threat surely England and NZ... not sure who else is looking good this year.. all of a sudden taking the Boks seriously!

Eggs · July 27, 2019

...didn’t realise, something to look forward to. I think Wales won the Grand Slam last year, so imagine teams will want to avoid them.

Paris · July 27, 2019

BornBlue76 said:
World Cup Ruggers coming soon... getting interesting to see who’s in the running..

My Springboks just drew with NZ in New Zealand after thumping Aussies last week with virtually half first and second team as many players went early to NZ to acclimate.

Might actually have a better shot than I have ya credit for!

Main threat surely England and NZ... not sure who else is looking good this year.. all of a sudden taking the Boks seriously!

Beth am gaead Cymru

BornBlue76 · July 27, 2019

Eggs said:
...didn’t realise, something to look forward to. I think Wales won the Grand Slam last year, so imagine teams will want to avoid them.

Yeah I think there are a bunch of teams to prey about and 5 or 6 that can beat each other on the day .. plus NZ who are (in spite of today) way out in front still

Alanbileysfeathercut · July 27, 2019

Wales is the benchmark for northern hemisphere teams just now
Steer clear of them and maybe.
Always NZ for me.

zzr45 · July 27, 2019

Alanbileysfeathercut said:
Wales is the benchmark for northern hemisphere teams just now
Steer clear of them and maybe.
Always NZ for me.

No. Wales won one of the worst 6Ns in decades. They aren’t that impressive as a team.

There will be a few shocks this year - NZ look odd and can’t play a full game at all.

Paris · July 27, 2019

My prediction is England won't go deep. Probably knocked out in the quarter finals, if not the group stage.

Alanbileysfeathercut · July 27, 2019

zzr45 said:
No. Wales won one of the worst 6Ns in decades. They aren’t that impressive as a team.

There will be a few shocks this year - NZ look odd and can’t play a full game at all.

Maybe
But disjointed teams often find a good balance in time for tournaments.
And as sportsmanship goes after the cricket world cup, I'm in the kiwis corner.

The binman chronicles · July 27, 2019

zzr45 said:
No. Wales won one of the worst 6Ns in decades. They aren’t that impressive as a team.

There will be a few shocks this year - NZ look odd and can’t play a full game at all.

That is a bit much. 14 matches unbeaten, stretching over a year and beating all top tier sides bar from NZ points to another answer.

What I will say in your favour is that there are a few other teams that if they play at their absolute best probably have more than Wales. Wales also might have some injuries to cope with as somehow they have decided to play England and Ireland home and away during the Summer. They could well lose two or more of those matches and an important player or two and then with lost momentum won't be the best placed European side going into the WC.

zzr45 · July 27, 2019

The binman chronicles said:
That is a bit much. 14 matches unbeaten, stretching over a year and beating all top tier sides bar from NZ points to another answer.

What I will say in your favour is that there are a few other teams that if they play at their absolute best probably have more than Wales. Wales also might have some injuries to cope with as somehow they have decided to play England and Ireland home and away during the Summer. They could well lose two or more of those matches and an important player or two and then with lost momentum won't be the best placed European side going into the WC.

They’re a bit like the kopites in that they have come off with some really spawny wins in the past 12 months. Arguably only really the Italy & Ireland games that they had comfortable rides with in the 6N.

Even games like Australia last year sorted of demonstrated that they are a bit off the pace - a 9-6 victory over one of the worst Aussie sides in a good while shouldn’t be too much of a shock (as an aside I reckon a Fiji win over the Aussies might be on the cards, though they did lose to Japan today..)

Those warm up games will be a good indicator. I think there’s a lot in the Irish tank quietly- there was a lot of experimentation for them in the 6N.

Chris O'Connor · July 27, 2019

Tbh I wouldn't look too far beyond NZ obviously but also South Africa for the likely winners.

RSA showed today that they can compete in drawing with a strong All Blacks side away from home.

The All Blacks were in preparation mode in that they were giving some players a chance to impress and force their way into the reckoning, Sonny-Bill Williams notably, resulting in Beauden Barrett playing at 15 rather than 10.

The European challenge is real with Wales, England and Ireland but I can't see it being successful.

toffeejack · August 10, 2019

Wales provisionally no. 1 in the world rankings, albeit not officially unless we avoid defeat tomorrow, which we don't do obviously ha

Silly ranking system.

zzr45 · August 11, 2019

Rugby Unions Kopites take a fall then.

Whether that’s Wales or NZ - you decide!

NZ made a lot of changes. Red card fully justified and the refs being told to up their game might come at the wrong time for them.

Wales undone by what was essentially an England B team with a few players getting back to fitness. Picking of Heinz looked justified by Jones - offers something different at 9. Wales unable to change their game from monopaced phase rugby.

Walken · August 11, 2019

Impressive at times from england but i can't believe anyone rates ford higher than cipriani. On another note i love watching lawes play when he's on it.

The most open world cup in history about to take place, cant wait

Chris O'Connor · August 11, 2019

Can't read too much into these games but for such an experimental 'squad' XV to win so comfortably against a far more experienced and almost full strength Wales is massively encouraging and shows our strength in depth.

Best of all is we didn't capitulate and completely hand back a big lead with that 60 minute wobble but simplified it and got back to the basic fundamentals to close it out properly.

England again likely to field a largely 'B' team in next weeks return, even if some are first choices like Billy Vunipola, but should be at full strength for the Ireland warm up as Eddie tests combinations in these warm up games.

Forget rankings, they're largely irrelevant. NZ look on the wain as number one which puts any number of countries in with a great chance imo.

England, Wales, Ireland plus South Africa and Australia will all pose a serious threat to the all blacks.