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Amazing result. Perhaps the coming of age for rugby as a truly global sport. Pool B is going to be a great scrap. Even the USA are a bit of a threat to these teams.

I think they probably kicked more than they would have otherwise because it was wet. Nevertheless I agree they kicked way too much. I also think that Matavesi would have been able to execute a lot better than Volavola did.

Not scared at all by England either. I think we'll at least match them in tight and that our back row will have an absolute field day. Just gotta hope our 9/10 don't mess it up!

The most crucial moment for Fiji was with 15 minutes to go missing that kick for touch when they had the penalty while down just 7 points. Brown made a break on the return, England got a penalty, pushed it to a 10 point gap and Fiji were then rubbish and desperate for the final 10 minutes. If...

Illegal maul defense to an illegal maul! Unbelievably one-sided refereeing in that 40 minutes. Should be a lot closer. Fiji still in it but need a good start to the 2nd half. Oh well, whatever happens England will never live down the fact they lost a tighthead scrum to Fiji!

Well the threat of rain has seemingly disappeared, which is good news for the good guys. Fiji by 12 with a bonus point. Nadolo hat-trick! Burgess yellow carded. C'mon!

Looks like rain is predicted for Friday night in London. You'd think that will give England a chance.

Yeah big surprise to me as Matavesi has played really well in their lead up games at 10 and is a lot more experienced at higher levels. Guess he can make an impact off the bench. That said Volavola has plenty of ability and has obviously impressed a lot in training. The Crusaders have signed...

I don't think it'd happen in rugby because of the cards for repeated infringements or obviously cynical infringements. In rugby league that doesn't happen. But giving away a lot of penalties is not a winning strategy even in rugby league (giving teams repeated sets on your own line is a recipe...

But those exclusions happen very regularly and often result in goals. Missing 1 in 6 (field) players is a much harder thing to deal with than missing 1 in 15. In the NRC you don't see many cards given out at scrum time. Conceding a scrum penalty means you lose possession and 20 metres or so...

Remember the Wales vs France semi final in 2011. France certainly didn't find it easy scoring tries with a one man advantage for most of the match. It is possible to defend with 14 players, especially for just 10 minutes. I think I saw a stat somewhere that the average deficit during a yellow...

They might be easier to score but they are still not necessarily easy to score. Certainly no where near as easy as a goal kick. And they are within the ability of the opposition to stop. Unlike a penalty kick which is not contested. Cards are given for obvious professional fouls, dangerous...

The difference is that penalty goals are much easier to convert, thus the referee almost awards the points - at least if it's an easy kick. Under the new rules teams still need to score the tries. And I don't think Hoffman butchered that game. He was arguably harsh but every card he gave was...

They just competed in the Pacific Nations Cup with similar turn arounds and were fine. Playing the first 2 games 5 days apart isn't some crazy risk for players, especially as a one off. They just have to focus solely on recovery and prehab. They'll only really need to rotate players who don't...

But in this scenario (where they beat England) if they then beat Australia they're in the box seat to win the pool. Winning the pool means a much greater chance of making the semi finals. Surely the goal is to go as far as possible. And if they beat England then they'd clearly be a chance of...

But they have 8 days between Australia and Wales. So even if their best team face Australia they should still be relatively fresh for Wales. And Wales only have 5 days between England and Fiji. Fiji have another 5 day turnaround before their final match with Uruguay and they'll surely play a...

The bonus point system is different in the NRC though. You have to score 3 more tries than your opponents to get the attacking BP. I think it's better - you can't just get the 4 tries and take the foot off the gas. It's the same as what's used in France for the Top 14.

You'll get great games under any point system - especially if NZ teams are involved. But what it does is eliminate the types of games where the ball stays almost entirely between the 22's, there's close to 0 try scoring opportunities and there's 12 attempts at penalty goal in the match taking up...

There's like 9 tries a game on average. It's not that crazy. In higher levels of rugby you'd maybe have something like 6. I think you'll still have more tries at any level under this points system than you do under the current one. But the tries aren't really the point, the point is to see...

Yeah I know - what I mean is that the 'it's going to turn into rugby league' thing is rubbish. It's the classic argument people have against any sort of change to the laws.