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I sort of agree. Manipulating the qualification system to ensure the best teams qualify makes sense from a rugby perspective, just it feels a little low. If FIFA did, the World Cup would basically be CONSAR v UEFA, with maybe 8 or so teams between Asia, Africa, Oceania and CONCACAF, whereas I...

There'll be some voodoo involved. I think it's a little bit unfortunate for teams like Russia, and to a lesser extent, the other asian sides, why should their regional spots be taken away because their region is successful and another one isn't? But it's very easy to imagine the shoe had been...

The Top14 is the French league, the Japanese league is just the Top League, and has 16 sides. Horie left his Rebels contract due to a neck injury that ruled him out for the Super Season, the Rebels signed Kieta Inagaki, the loosehead prop, instead for 2015. With Siliva Siliva and Hanson joining...

To be fair to Burgess, it hit shoulder first. But he'd have been binned if Farrell hadn't been.

You can get away with no 3rd halfback though. Gits played some time there at Provincial level, Foley at Sevens, there's enough to get away with a 1 game injury to one of 2 players. Issue with the 3rd hooker was that it just required 2 players of 7 to be injured, and you wouldn't be up to scratch.

This time around, if the pots had been dictated by rankings, they would have been the same regardless of whether it occurred immediately after African Qualification (roughly 7th of July) or after the repechage tournament (Roughly 14th October). Seeds NZ SA Australia England Pot 2 Ireland...

TQ has landed in Glasgow to start fulfilling his contract too.

Hunt still shouldn't have dropped the ball.

1st in pool A is Scotland/Japan and then Argies/Winner of France/Ireland pool match en route to the final. 2nd is Bokke then Blecks.

The difference between that and JdP is that on the latters replay, you see Jannie line up the ball carrier who's neck is exposed by the primary tackler, makimg it a cynical and deliberate infringement. Whereas Hooper was just fairly reckless. Doesn't excuse him from any judicial aspects though...

Stupid stuff as well. Hoggy's dive was literally idiotic, I'd wouldn't be against him being banned for a week.

You sure about that? Prett sure pool B is: Bokke 11 Scots 10 Japan 9 Samoa 4 States 0* Can't see a way for the Japanese to get ahead of the Bokke without an Eagles upset. *Game in hand.

Disapointing, maybe if one or two things were different early on, if Hoggys passes didn't go forward, if the try was correctly adjudicated, De Jager given a telling after the shot on Cowan. Saffas were the better side, I simultaneously think the scoreline flattered them, but were equally unlucky...

Think it's Patterson on the ITV coverage.

Sure, design flaw. Just like it's a design flaw that far weaker Football teams can park the bus and grind out wins against better sides. Or how negative tennis players like Djokovich and Murray can even come close to the beauty of Roger Federer. And how sides can bat for session after session...

That's not likely to exacerbate a bureaucratic mess is it? Forcing players to shift away from places they're playing good rugby to potentially pay them less, under a seemingly shambolic organisation, with so many weird factors coming out the wazzoo. Plus I don't know the make up of the Top...

Even more unlikely than Georgia joining the 6 Nations, and that's got a snowballs chance of happening.

That is either the biggest UKIP idiot I've ever seen, or the worst UKIP parody I've seen.

French have got 1, maybe 2 big matches in them. If they beat Ireland, they get the Argies in the Quarters, then if they luck out, they could get us or the Welsh in the Semis, leaving them with a nice run to what would probably be a replay of 2011. With most teams still to play 2 pool games...

Weir starts at 10, Scott at 12, Horne covers 10 from bench. Russell and Hardie given the extra week to recover, Bennett and Ford given time off after 150 minutes in the first 2 games. It's a side which could potentially cause the Bokke some problems, but with 3 of the above 4, plus Maitland...