RWC QF 3 IRE v ARG (Millenium Stadium) 18th Oct 2300 AEDT

[BabyBlueElephant]

Delighted Henderson is starting at 5 the more I think about it. He will give a huge surge of power that noone else can at scrum time behind the tighthead which the team will need.


Perhaps it's work but I'm dreaming of this guys potential. He brings a physicality almost like Thorn to scrums and hitting rucks, all the while having the ball carrying skills of an O'Brien. Hope he has a stormer of a game.

 

[Scotty]

Yeah that's the reason I elected to take the train from Paddington to Cardiff and back for the game last weekend. Couldn't get a room in Cardiff for love nor money.

Bristol and Bath are both nice places to visit and a lot closer to Cardiff than London!

 

[Iñaki Zubizarreta]

This will be won by no more than 7 I reckon. Initially thought Los Pumas would have a good shot at winning this but I think their loss of Bosch will be significant.

Huge loss, indeed.

 

[Iñaki Zubizarreta]

 

[Bardon]

Delighted Henderson is starting at 5 the more I think about it. He will give a huge surge of power that noone else can at scrum time behind the tighthead which the team will need.


Perhaps it's work but I'm dreaming of this guys potential. He brings a physicality almost like Thorn to scrums and hitting rucks, all the while having the ball carrying skills of an O'Brien. Hope he has a stormer of a game.

I too hope Henderson has a big game but without O'Brien we need other forwards to step up and carry ball too. O'Connell carried his fair share of ball too. So we've swapped those two for a Ferris like ball carrier and a fetcher.

We don't want to end up like England where it was give the ball to Vunipola to make the runs. We need plenty of runners to stretch the Argentina defence so they're not wait for when Henderson gets the ball.

Henry should free up Heaslip to carry more so along with Henderson, Best, Murphy and Healy there are some strong carriers there as long as we use them. Also thankfully Toner's carrying has improved immeasuralby over the last season or so.

I'm getting really excited for this game and indeed the other 3 QFs. They're all good match ups if the under dogs turn up on the day. Should be some decent rugby on show either way.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Argentina drew with NZ more recently, in 1985

The only* games Ireland have won in the SH in the last 35 years are the two against Argentina last year

*Edit: at the opposition's venue

The Cardiff they're playing at is not the one near newcastle

 

[Cardiffblue]

Wait, I thought Sexton's injury was long term?

Dunno why he's risking sexton here. Madigan was good. Must be for his kicking game

 

[Cardiffblue]

Argentina will give away too many penalties before they get into the game. Ireland comfortably. But they won't score many/any tries so you ll get plenty of stick in the run up to the sf.

 

[Braveheart81]

Lots of talk of past results here. At this point they mean nothing.

Both teams are playing well and Ireland are missing a few key players. Argentina also have a couple out.

I expect this game will be close. Ireland deserve to be favourites but they will need to play well to advance to their first RWC semi final.

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk

 

[boyo]

Exactly and a very common failing from Ireland and, indeed, the provinces. Every year Munster go into crunch games in Europe off the back of rubbish displays against weaker teams and suddenly perform, just as Ireland did from Italy to France.

It helps to have matches reffed by O'Wens.

 

[boyo]

Yeah, but you guys all sound the same.

But sor, we don't do dat torta ting

 

[the plastic paddy]

It helps to have matches reffed by O'Wens.

Like it helps Wales to have games reffed by Barnes.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Like it helps Wales to have games reffed by Barnes.

I hope this is true plastic. Til you kept saying he's looking after us I'd never noticed it

 

[Mr Doug]

Lots of talk of past results here. At this point they mean nothing.

Both teams are playing well and Ireland are missing a few key players. Argentina also have a couple out.

I expect this game will be close. Ireland deserve to be favourites but they will need to play well to advance to their first RWC semi final.

Sent from my HTC_PN071 using Tapatalk

So true, Braveheart81. The "fair dinkum" section of the 2015 RWC commences when the whistle blows for the start of QF 1!

What happened in the past is totally irrelevant, and deserves no further analysis!!

 

[BDA]

It'll be fascinating to see how this game unfolds.

Ireland are deserved favorites and I expect them to win given their record in big games over the last two years. However I think one thing in Argentina's favor is most people would agree that the Southern Hemisphere teams look to be playing better rugby than the Northern teams so far. Over the last 6 months, Argentina have benefited from having played regularly against what currently look to be the best teams. They wont be overawed.

A lot has been said over the last couple of years about Argentina's ability to compete in the Rugby Championship. I think their progress has been impressive to be honest. That's not to downplay Argentina history before they joined SANZAR, but the Tri-nations (now RC) is surely one of the toughest international tournaments in world sport. They've won games against Oz and SA. They've challenged the All Blacks. They've beaten the Boks in SA! It's not often the wallabies win in SA and I'd wager that Ireland would struggle to pick u a win over there.

I do subscribe to the theory that the higher the quality of your opponent, the quicker you improve. Of course we don't know which way the tournament will go from here, but it's looking like the South Hemisphere teams have the edge.

With all that said, as an Aussie I feel that Argentina is the better match up for us. We are familiar with how they play and we had their number when we played earlier in the year. Nevertheless, the Semi-Final I want to see is Ireland v Australia. From my point of view Ireland deserve to be in the Semi-Final given what they've achieved in recent years. Plus I think thats the game that most people want to see. Let's face it, if the Wallabies are going to win this thing, I want them to take out the Grand Slam on the way to the Finals!

....Of course Argentina v Scotland would be a good game too

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

Seen this posted on planetrugby:

No.1 Team for Clean Breaks : Argentina (46)
No.1 Team for Defenders Beaten : Argentina (139)
No.1 Team for Offloads : Argentina (50)

No.1. Team for Tackle Success : Ireland (92%)
No.1 Team for Lineout Success : Ireland (98.2%)
No.1 Team for carries : Ireland (443)

Obviously the stats may be slightly skewed thanks to minnow teams and other factors but it adds a little more spice to this tie.

 

[qwerty51]

Sexton confirmed out as expected.

 

[BabyBlueElephant]

Huge loss. Advantage Argentina. Even if Sexton did play I could see him being smashed early and being put out of the tournament. If Ireland win they'll have a fresh SOB and Sexton. Probably Irelands biggest game in the professional era awaits.

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

Whoah Nelly, that changes things a bit. With that said, Sexton's replacement did a great job last weekend against France.

 

[Pfitzy]

Just as a little bit of a comparison for you.

Argentina have played 13 tests in the last twelve months. They've won 8 and lost 5. 61% winning record. Looks good on the surface.

However of the wins, 5 have come against tier 2 nations (Namibia, Tonga, Georgia, Paraguay and Uruguay).

That leaves 3 wins out of their 8 tests against tier 1 nations. They have beaten South Africa (who lost all three Rugby Championship game - and then beat Argentina shortly afterwards), France (by 18-13 at home) and to Italy (20-18 at home).

In the same period, Ireland have played 16 Tests. They've won 13 and lost 3. 81% winning record.

3 of those wins have come against Tier 2 nations. The remaining 13 tests have been against Tier One Nations and they have won 10 of those tests. Of the three that they have lost, two were the final warm up games for the World Cup.


My take on all this is that all the fear of Argentina is based on them beating South Africa once.which everyone has done this year. And based on them running the All Blacks close in this tournament and some slick moves against tier two nations.