All is not lost, time to keep the faith.

[the plastic paddy]

I predict this team will beat the Boks and the AllBlacks before getting over confident and choking against England in the Final.

To be honest I would prefer we got dropped in the group stages than lost to England again. That would be the end of me.

Have you been watching england, you fellas will fecking obliterate them but they won't make it past france in the QFs that is if they don't lose to scots and wind up playing NZ who will tear them a new one. BTW, the bogeyman Sheridan has gone home and is probably finished so their LH side is nearly as bad as...

 

[Dan54]

I'm still not convinced Wallabies won't win the pool. If Ities beat Irish, it's all on.

 

[the plastic paddy]

I'm still not convinced Wallabies won't win the pool. If Ities beat Irish, it's all on.

You could well be right. Italians will be targeting 2 october every bit as much as we targeted you boys on 17 september. Things that work in our favour are Russians this weakend so can rest players after last weekend, complacent I know but the Munster second team could deal with the ruskies tbh but more importantly, The Italians will have a very tough game against US ( the yanks target game) on tuesday which is only five days turn around, not fair on them but there you go. Italians are a strong well organised outfit as you fellas saw in the first half of your first game but if we can't beat them we don't deserve to be in the QFs.

 

[AngrySeahorse]

I'm convinced we'll finish second in our pool then have the challenge of all challenges getting to the final. My second favourite team Ireland (made the pain of defeat a little easier to deal with, although I stress 'little') I believe will get the better of Italy. I'd be really surprised if Italy beat Ireland. From there I believe Ireland would have a pretty favourable draw from that point? (I forget who potentially stacks up against who). I did agree with someone earlier that the Aus game would be the only one Ireland would win from here onward but on reflection the prospect of finishing on top of the pool & having a better run to the final - that in itself has got to give the Irish some more motivation to pull out another good performance.

 

[waratahjesus]

quarters at the moment would be,

ireland v samoa/wales

england v france

other side of draw would be,

south africa v australia

new zealand v scotland/argentina

 

[rsea]

I don't think we've got the team to take on and beat SA, NZ & Poms in consecutive weeks.
I do like that we've now got two light weeks before taking on SA and I think the commitment will be better going into the SA match

Also, it doesn't help that our players are dropping like flies at the moment either.
What's the latest count? Horwill, O'Connor, TPN, Diggers?

 

[mark_s]

I was thinking about it this morning. The loss to the Irish is likely to result in the teams to ever beat the Wallabies in RWC’s (France, England, Wales, Ireland) all concentrated on the opposite side of the draw. Conversely, we will end up on the side of a draw with teams that have never beaten us in world cup rugby. As such, the possibility of us meeting a team that had the wood on us (at RWC level) prior to the final is now zero. It’s a cunning plan from Dingo and Horwill and its taken me a while to uncover it.

Disclaimer: Optimism is best when its blind.

 

[Braveheart81]

To paraphrase Paul Keating, it was the loss we had to have.

There is no way the Wallabies could have won 9 matches in a row. Now we only need to win 5 in a row and only 3 in a row against top quality opposition.

 

[Athilnaur]

Boks against Namibia was hard to judge, looked a little disjointed, but their game vs Fiji was a clear warning. We're in the crap and no mistake.

If we do manage to beat Boks, it will be a good step up for our toughest game.

In the miraculous event we beat Boks and ABs, we will go in as favourites, with the Poms putting a lot of pressure on themselves. Our desire to give England a beating, and some crowd support should see us well.

Who knows maybe Italy and France will win and it will be 2007 all over again.

Or France beats England, which I can see. I think they can make the final.

The prospect of a Aus-Fra final is mouth watering. In the more likely event we don't get that far, Fra-NZ would be great to see.

England NZ meh, never say never, but I'd back the Kiwis to utterly dismantle the Poms.

 

[Mal M Fike]

I'm confident we will get to the semi-finals but I'm not sure of the route we will take getting there.

Surely there will be more than the one big upset in this RWC. I don't want us to be the only victims!

I think there are only three games left that could provide a giant-killer result:

Scotland V England
Italy V Ireland
Samoa V South Africa

We will make the semi's with or without 'outside' help. The boys can do it, they just have this nasty habit of going missing in action when it is least expected.

 

[Joe Mac]

Don't be surprised if South Africa drop the game against Samoa to put them on the other side of the draw.

De-Villiers has shown no shame by claiming injury in the 3n's of his top 22 players; this would not be ut of left field from him.

Reasons for him doing this;
Samoa V SA is the last fixture, so they will know all of the possible outcomes before playing their B team.
South Africa would much rather grind out Northern Hemishpere style games against Ireland/England than try to beat NZ at home and the Wallabies anywhere (after beating them 5 times in a row).


Seems like a very smart option...

 

[GC]

I don't think we've got the team to take on and beat SA, NZ & Poms in consecutive weeks.
I do like that we've now got two light weeks before taking on SA and I think the commitment will be better going into the SA match

Also, it doesn't help that our players are dropping like flies at the moment either.
What's the latest count? Horwill, O'Connor, TPN, Diggers?

Higgers and S Fainga'a out too.

 

[jay-c]

the idea of a team taking a dive to get on the other side of the draw is almost impossible to believe> but when you factor in the p divvy/saffa variable it becomes a possibility
note this is different to what france is doin> as whichever team they put out they are gunna get hmmered so they may as well preserve their better players

 

[EVERYFWDTHINKTHEYREA6OR7]

We just need to stop getting bloody penalised all the time. We are the most penalised team in the tournament.

Only team i believe not to conceed a try also.

Faith is fucking there.

 

[Joe Mac]

We just need to stop getting bloody penalised all the time. We are the most penalised team in the tournament.

Only team i believe not to conceed a try also.

Faith is fucking there.

I think you will find England are by far the most penalised team in the tournament

 

[rugbysmartarse]

we wouldn't be the most penalised team had we played under refs who could control a scrum/ruck.

 

[Athilnaur]

Only team i believe not to conceed a try also.

.

Now there is a reassuring positivity thought!

 

[Dan54]

we wouldn't be the most penalised team had we played under refs who could control a scrum/ruck.

Or alternately the props learnt to bind properly.

 

[Dan54]

I'm confident we will get to the semi-finals but I'm not sure of the route we will take getting there.

Surely there will be more than the one big upset in this RWC. I don't want us to be the only victims!

I think there are only three games left that could provide a giant-killer result:

Scotland V England
Italy V Ireland
Samoa V South Africa------

Perhaps Argos-Scotland, though that wouldn't come in as a giant killer. I think Argos will do it.

We will make the semi's with or without 'outside' help. The boys can do it, they just have this nasty habit of going missing in action when it is least expected.

 

[the plastic paddy]

I was thinking about it this morning. The loss to the Irish is likely to result in the teams to ever beat the Wallabies in RWC’s (France, England, Wales, Ireland) all concentrated on the opposite side of the draw. Conversely, we will end up on the side of a draw with teams that have never beaten us in world cup rugby. As such, the possibility of us meeting a team that had the wood on us (at RWC level) prior to the final is now zero. It’s a cunning plan from Dingo and Horwill and its taken me a while to uncover it.

Disclaimer: Optimism is best when its blind.

Have you fellas really never lost to the saffers/ NZ in RWCs, that is an unbelieveable stat. P.s. Cannot see England making final, Sheridan is a massive loss for them although they don't appreciate it yet, they will do after Euan Murray tears Corbisiero apart next sunday.