RWC: AUS v ENG (Twickenham): POOL A; 6am (AEDT) Sunday 4 October

[waiopehu oldboy]

Pools are seeded by rankings, not where you finished at the previous Cup. Obviously England's early departure will see them plummet short-term but a decent 6N & they'll regain at least some of the ground they've just lost.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Eddie jones should be England coach. He'd bring their game into modern era

 

[Cardiffblue]

Pools are seeded by rankings, not where you finished at the previous Cup. Obviously England's early departure will see them plummet short-term but a decent 6N & they'll regain at least some of the ground they've just lost.

It's hard tho with double points and the draw being done so far out. The othe snake to step on is coming fourth

 

[waiopehu oldboy]

True, but exiting at the Pool stage doesn't necessarily mean they'll be in the 9-12 band when the draw is done. Also I suspect World Rugby will look at the absurdity of doing the draw three years out (not because it's England, per se, but because it's unnecessary & the next host being in the 13-16 or 17-20 band it could badly skew the draw).

 

[mxyzptlk]

Eddie jones should be England coach. He'd bring their game into modern era

Heh. Sky Sports had a post-mortem emergency pow wow with Dean Ryan, Stuart Barnes, Neil Back and Will Greenwood. One of the things Barnes said was that none of the Japanese players are better than the English players (debatable, but close), but if those Japanese players were coached by Lancaster, they'd have done nothing in this tournament.

 

[mxyzptlk]

It could be my age or my bias, but I look at that and think that's a back rower doing his job. And doing it well.

I realise it is close to the wind by current laws, but good on him for being alert and getting to where he needed to be.

Don't know your age, but for the past few years -- especially since concussion became a more sincere concern -- they've been cracking down on attacks to the head pretty significantly. Jannie du Plessis was carded yesterday for it, Tomas Lavanini was penalized for a shoulder-to-head tackle against Tonga, and Peter O'Mahoney was carded for a shoulder to the head/neck against Italy.

And that's been a known area of attention not just for months, but for years. I'm sure we've all seen refs penalize players for not using their arms when cleaning out, and scolding the offender for it as well. So unless there's a super-secret part of the game where shoulder charges above the opponent's shoulders are allowed, and some of us just don't know about it, I'm not sure why Hooper's flying shoulder to the head is any different. Had Hooper tried to use his arms and didn't level and aim with just his shoulder, it'd be a different story.

All I'm saying is it was a stupid thing to do, and it particularly stands out because there were at least three other penalties/cards for the same sort of thing in a 24-hour period. Had he at least got his arms up, it could have been a brilliant cleanout.

 

[Bairdy]

It was penalized, though.

 

[mxyzptlk]

This is unfortunate -- NZ Herald article on how the major Australian media outlets aren't covering the World Cup because they didn't like the accreditation agreement.

The tragedy of Australia's stirring Rugby World Cup victory over England is that it has not reaped the headlines and attention it deserved across the Tasman. [.....] Rugby had hoped to have its day in the sun over the next month as the NRL and AFL go into hibernation. A resurgent Wallabies are doing their bit but are still likely to go largely ignored with the major Aussie media companies opting to not send reporters to matches and essentially covering the tournament with bare bones editorial coverage driven off television and by using English-based journalists.

Rugby World Cup: Aussie Media Overlook Wallabies Win

 

[Cardiffblue]

Heh. Sky Sports had a post-mortem emergency pow wow with Dean Ryan, Stuart Barnes, Neil Back and Will Greenwood. One of the things Barnes said was that none of the Japanese players are better than the English players (debatable, but close), but if those Japanese players were coached by Lancaster, they'd have done nothing in this tournament.

Barnes is funny. I played against him as a kid. he went to bassaleg high Nr Newport. Then he became English. He was heading the cheer squad last week

 

[Cardiffblue]

Don't know your age, but for the past few years -- especially since concussion became a more sincere concern -- they've been cracking down on attacks to the head pretty significantly. Jannie du Plessis was carded yesterday for it, Tomas Lavanini was penalized for a shoulder-to-head tackle against Tonga, and Peter O'Mahoney was carded for a shoulder to the head/neck against Italy.

And that's been a known area of attention not just for months, but for years. I'm sure we've all seen refs penalize players for not using their arms when cleaning out, and scolding the offender for it as well. So unless there's a super-secret part of the game where shoulder charges above the opponent's shoulders are allowed, and some of us just don't know about it, I'm not sure why Hooper's flying shoulder to the head is any different. Had Hooper tried to use his arms and didn't level and aim with just his shoulder, it'd be a different story.

All I'm saying is it was a stupid thing to do, and it particularly stands out because there were at least three other penalties/cards for the same sort of thing in a 24-hour period. Had he at least got his arms up, it could have been a brilliant cleanout.

Dunno about the last bit. It was still pretty high even with arms

 

[mxyzptlk]

It was penalized, though.

Yeah, he's lucky it wasn't more, and like some others have said, it was obvious enough that he could still be cited. That's why it was a dumb thing to do.

 

[mxyzptlk]

Barnes is funny. I played against him as a kid. he went to bassaleg high Nr Newport. Then he became English. He was heading the cheer squad last week

You played against him as a kid? Are you giving away your age here?

 

[KOB1987]

Obviously I would prefer if he didn't get cited, but it's not going to be a major disaster if hooper gets a week or two. In fact it could even work in our favour. He gets to freshen up plus it gives McMahon some valuable experience against a top tier side (or 2) should we need him at the real pointy end.

 

[Hawko]

Don't know your age, but for the past few years -- especially since concussion became a more sincere concern -- they've been cracking down on attacks to the head pretty significantly. Jannie du Plessis was carded yesterday for it, Tomas Lavanini was penalized for a shoulder-to-head tackle against Tonga, and Peter O'Mahoney was carded for a shoulder to the head/neck against Italy.

And that's been a known area of attention not just for months, but for years. I'm sure we've all seen refs penalize players for not using their arms when cleaning out, and scolding the offender for it as well. So unless there's a super-secret part of the game where shoulder charges above the opponent's shoulders are allowed, and some of us just don't know about it, I'm not sure why Hooper's flying shoulder to the head is any different. Had Hooper tried to use his arms and didn't level and aim with just his shoulder, it'd be a different story.

All I'm saying is it was a stupid thing to do, and it particularly stands out because there were at least three other penalties/cards for the same sort of thing in a 24-hour period. Had he at least got his arms up, it could have been a brilliant cleanout.

Had he got a YELLOW card there would have been a few whinges but overall the thread would have accepted it. It was only penalized. So lets all agree for the point of the argument it should have been a yellow.

You don't get cited for yellow card infringements. If the citing officer thinks it might be a red then it goes to the judiciary and then at the review the player gets a notional yellow. That only gets into play if Hooper is later cited over a red card worthy incident and he is then found to be a serial offender and gets an extra week or two. So right now this is NOT an issue.

 

[Cardiffblue]

You played against him as a kid? Are you giving away your age here?

Oops. He was a pain in the arse even then. We'd trudge up the touch line in the mud 5 m at a time to their 22 and then with one kick the bastard would knock us back 60-70

 

[Cardiffblue]

One more perhaps before I leave England to their grief
https://fbcdn-sphotos-g-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-AK (Andrew Kellaway)-xta1/v/t1.0-9/12107994_931912863547043_1972271984376457966_n.jpg?oh=ad4af1ac6c7e23c12cd8e5a5b1907a2d&oe=5699A792&__gda__=1452740635_3d7e2fa240a3f4f1b959dd1ebc9e68fb

 

[terry j]

And Dick Thornett also played Water Polo for Australia!!!

well we can assume he knew how to get out of the pool.

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Oops. He was a pain in the arse even then. We'd trudge up the touch line in the mud 5 m at a time to their 22 and then with one kick the bastard would knock us back 60-70

Not Robinson Crusoe there. That is a story that has been repeated time and again since Our Lord was the halfback for Jerusalem Old Boys.

The injustices suffered by all forwards worldwide as the Rugby Players do all the donkey work, only to have one of the Hairdressers make them start it all over again, as foretold in The Book of Job.

We all know a Stuart Barnes from our youth.

 

[Tigs Man]

Eddie Jones saying he might be interested in working with SCW if England we to offer him job.

SCW saying he wouldn't want to be head coach but maybe a director of rugby role (Rob andrew job basically).

If we get Eddie Jones or even Dave Rennie because of this then it might be for the greater good.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Eddie Jones saying he might be interested in working with SCW if England we to offer him job.

SCW saying he wouldn't want to be head coach but maybe a director of rugby role (Rob andrew job basically).

If we get Eddie Jones or even Dave Rennie because of this then it might be for the greater good.

We'll see how this pans out in the coming weeks and months but to be frank, and despite short term pain, potentially it could be the best thing that has happened for english rugby