RWC 2011 - Pool A - NZ, Tonga, France, Japan, Canada

[Lee Grant]

We anticipate that there could be a plethora of threads for the RWC. Therefore, with some exceptions, we suggest that all pool matches be commented on in their pool thread, otherwise we could have nearly 50 threads for matches alone.

There will be separate threads for those games highlighted, and, if events make subsequent matches an exciting prospect then others will be added. There will be separate threads for Quarter-Final games and above, and all Wallabies games.

Use these pool threads to preview and discuss the matches and how the pools are panning out. There will be other threads to discuss other matters.


Pool A [Times are AEST]
Fri Sept 9 - 18.30 - New Zealand v Tonga - Auckland - Eden Park
Sat Sept 10 - 16.00 - France v Japan - North Shore - North Harbour Stadium
Wed Sept 14 - 15.00 - Tonga v Canada - Whangarei - Northland Events Centre
Fri Sept 16 - 18.00 - New Zealand v Japan - Hamilton - Waikato Stadium
Sun Sept 18 - 18.30 - France v Canada - Napier - McLean Park
Wed Sept 21 - 17.30 -Tonga v Japan - Whangarei - Northland Events Centre
Sat Sept 24 - 18.30 - New Zealand v France – Auckland - Eden Park
Tues Sept 27 - 15.00 - Canada v Japan - Napier - McLean Park
Sat October 1 - 16.00 - France v Tonga – Wellington -
Sun October 2 – 13 .30 - New Zealand v Canada - Wellington - Wellington Regional Stadium.

All games are on Fox live. None are on Channel 9 live.
.

 

[Scarfman]

Good decision. Well handled Lee, mods.

One of the more clear-cut pools. Can't see NZ or France much troubled by Tonga.

 

[Penguin]

I think I read somewhere here that New Zealand v Tonga was going to be broadcast on ch9, being the opening game was the reasoning.
Can anyone confirm?

 

[Jets]

It's on delay in Brisbane after the NRL final on Friday night. And they aren't showing the opening ceremony.

 

[tblackadder]

hope japan scores an upset

they a good win record historically (yes i am bored this afternoon) against both canada and tonga....

 

[light]

Would love to see that Tongan's get stuck into the Haka! Crowd support would have to be 60/40 so I'm tipping they will stick with the Kiwi's up until about half time than get run off their feet.

 

[Lee Grant]

France v. Japan

France:
15. C Heymans; 14. V Clerc, 13. A Rougerie, 12. F Estebanez, 11. M Medard; 10. F Trinh-Duc, 9. D Yachvili.

1. F Barcella, 2. W Servat, 3. N Mas, 4. J Pierre, 5. L Nallet, 6. T Dusautoir (capt), 7. I Harinordoquy, 8. R Lakafia.

Replacements: D Szarzewski, J-B Poux, P Pape, J Bonnaire, M Parra, D Skrela, D Marty.

That is probably what Lievremont thinks is his best XV - though I wouldn't take too much notice of Yachvili starting ahead of Parra. 12. Estebanez is starting but Mermoz of Perpignan is injured; so take that with a grain of salt too. Marty, also of Perpignan will probably get a shot at 13 in place of Rougerie later on to see how the club midfield performs in a test match.

A year ago Barcella was probably the best scrummaging LHP in the world but he tore his achilles tendon off the bone. Now he's back. He looked very slow in his trial match, and why wouldn't he; so this could be just an up to speed game for him.

With Mas and Servat, the other front rowers, there won't be a lot of slack at scrum time, but the problem, if any, will be in mobility. Then on the bench they have Poux of Toulouse, one of those rare birds who can play both sides of the scrum with equally facility though you wouldn't want him packing down in too many big test matches at THP as he will be giving away weight.

Look out for young 8. Lakafia, who is a project of Lievremont and ousted Chabal from the France squad. Anybody who can, in effect, cause Bonnaire to sit on the bench in this match bears watching.

 

[tblackadder]

france were OK in the warm ups....solid enough to beat ireland...but ireland are looking like a major disappointment (so thats not saying much)

if us kiwis are getting worried about repeating mistakes of 07 - then try supporting ireland - poor form and injuries to many key players

 

[Lee Grant]

NZ v Tonga

New Zealand:
Israel Dagg, Richard Kahui, Ma'a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams, Isaia Toeava, Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan,

Victor Vito, Richie McCaw (c), Jerome Kaino, Ali Williams, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock

Reserves: Corey Flynn, Ben Franks, Anthony Boric, Sam Whitelock, Piri Weepu, Colin Slade, Cory Jane.

Interesting that Dagg is chosen ahead of Mils though it would have happened in this game or the next one against Japan.

But who will start against France?

 

[MrTimms]

I thought Woodcock was injured slightly... guess not.

 

[Richo]

NZ v Tonga

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/u...-play-in-world-cup-opener-20110907-1jwfy.html

NEW ZEALAND: Israel Dagg; Richard Kahui, Maa's Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams, Isaia Toeava; Dan Carter, Jimmy Cowan; Victor Vito, Richie McCaw, Jerome Kaino; Ali Williams, Brad Thorn; Owen Franks, Andrew Hore, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Corey Flynn, Ben Franks, Anthony Boric, Sam Whitelock, Piri Weepu, Colin Slade, Cory Jane.

I doubt that Smith has been dropped permanently. He and Nonu would surely be the first backs selected after DC. Mulliaina is a different story. Surely if Dagg has another blinder he might be building towards a start v France.

 

[Richo]

LG, you beat me to it!

Their FB question seems to be me to be the only serious one in the back line.

 

[tigerland12]

Lee do you know anything about Fulgence Ouedraogo for France? I thought he was one of their regulars, was expecting him to atleast be in the 22.

 

[tblackadder]

best start to a day i have had for a while was getting up and seeing sbw, nonu.....and dagg in the same team.......finally !!!!!

dagg seems to play well off sbw and then add the threat of nonu ..........

conrad smith is great...but sbw offers something different in attack and is solid in defence as well and plays better when he has more game time ....

it is also good to see hore get a chance to start...that guy is like a second no. 7

boric will get his first game in a while ...look for him to take it to the tongans...just kidding.. he will be invisible....

 

[Lee Grant]

Lee do you know anything about Fulgence Ouedraogo for France? I thought he was one of their regulars, was expecting him to atleast be in the 22.

Yeah "Fufu" as he is known is the Montpellier captain and is famous for being on tranquility's avatar.

But seriously folks - he's an athletic flanker and France used to team him with Dusautoir on the other side of the scrum. The trouble is that Dusautoir is much the same kind of player as he is and is bigger, and if he wasn't bigger he would play bigger. Fufu is more a skills player.

When France play two specialist flankers these days Bonnaire usually gets the nod for the other spot. He is a harder player than Fufu and has points of difference from Dusautour. Then if 8. Picamoles is in form, as he is currently after some patchy periods, the indispensable Harinordoquy gets transferred to flanker. Now coach Lievremont has a project player in 22 y.o. 8. Lakafia, who caused Chabal to be excluded from the RWC squad, and the Hairy Donkey is playing flanker against Japan.

So Fufu is behind all those guys, in effect.

conrad smith is great...but sbw offers something different in attack and is solid in defence as well and plays better when he has more game time ....

Good to see SBW get a run but Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu will be the midfield pairing in the big games. For those matches SBW, who can cover just 12 and 13, will have a problem getting on the bench. He won't be on the bench in a 5/2 split as the scrummie has to be one reserve and Slade the other. They could go with Weepu covering 9 and 10 and forget Slade, but Toeava makes more sense to cover 12 and up.

He'd even have trouble getting on the bench in a 4/3. Slade and Toeava plus a scrummie makes a lot more sense.
.

 

[undercoverkiwi]

conrad smith is great...but sbw offers something different in attack and is solid in defence as well and plays better when he has more game time ....

You realise he's leaving Canterbury next year? So you can drop this ludicrous one-eyed Cantab nonsense now.

 

[Jnor]

I can't decide if I want to see some NZ provincialism or whether it's just the same old shit that comes out here sometimes with different names attached

 

[tblackadder]

You realise he's leaving Canterbury next year? So you can drop this ludicrous one-eyed Cantab nonsense now.

regardless of whether he is leaving canterbury or not....its reasonable for him to get a start.....we know what nonu and smith can do.....sbws form has been ok and his super rugby form was very good ....and im sure the coaches want to see some of that form at abs level......if sbw doesnt work out then we can go back to nonu and smith and safely avoid taking makeshift centre paring to the world cup big games (like previous cups)

sbws form has been better than others in the squad . . . . boric, woodcock, even thompson, flynn, mills....


if you lived in chch then you'd understand his decision to leave....for a young sports star the nightlife sux there at the moment and there is disruption everywhere and there is a plenty of doom and gloom about (which while understandable you cant avoid it) and no quick fixes on the horizon....
im not a fan of him personally and his mercenary attitude but you can argue with his form...

 

[tblackadder]

Yeah "Fufu" as he is known is the Montpellier captain and is famous for being on tranquility's avatar.

But seriously folks - he's an athletic flanker and France used to team him with Dusautoir on the other side of the scrum. The trouble is that Dusautoir is much the same kind of player as he is and is bigger, and if he wasn't bigger he would play bigger. Fufu is more a skills player.

When France play two specialist flankers these days Bonnaire usually gets the nod for the other spot. He is a harder player than Fufu and has points of difference from Dusautour. Then if 8. Picamoles is in form, as he is currently after some patchy periods, the indispensable Harinordoquy gets transferred to flanker. Now coach Lievremont has a project player in 22 y.o. 8. Lakafia, who caused Chabal to be excluded from the RWC squad, and the Hairy Donkey is playing flanker against Japan.

So Fufu is behind all those guys, in effect.



Good to see SBW get a run but Conrad Smith and Ma'a Nonu will be the midfield pairing in the big games. For those matches SBW, who can cover just 12 and 13, will have a problem getting on the bench. He won't be on the bench in a 5/2 split as the scrummie has to be one reserve and Slade the other. They could go with Weepu covering 9 and 10 and forget Slade, but Toeava makes more sense to cover 12 and up.

He'd even have trouble getting on the bench in a 4/3. Slade and Toeava plus a scrummie makes a lot more sense.
.

youre exactly right - putting him on the bench makes no sense and although its hard to see him pushing past smith (who had a good tri nations) as the first pick 13 giving him a shot against tonga will be the best examination of his skills (if you are not going to pick him for the big games). Henry has shown he will drop players if their form is flat and smith can have the odd off game and is not the quickest guy around. So if smiths form dips or he is injured sometime then we would be glad that sbw has had a run against tonga.

 

[whatty]

I see the broadcasters have been given a 90 second advertising or commentary break AFTER the Haka.

Sky in NZ will go to a 30 sec break after the haka! That bound to piss of some die hards.