RWC QF2: England v France (W Pool B v RU Pool A)

[Hugh Jarse]

RWC 2011 - QF2: England v France (W Pool B v RU Pool A)

After today's matches and performances hard to say who will win this one, but both teams were unimpressive.

The Soap Dodgers were the least unimpressive, and showed their ability to grind out a Tournament victory.

Wilko came off with an injury, and Flood made a big difference when he came on.

Tonga and Scotland showed how to unsettle these two teams today.
Potential SF opponents will have taken notes.

 

[tigerland12]

Two sides who probably wouldn't be there if they were in a different pool.

England should win this one though.

 

[cyclopath]

After today's matches and performances hard to say who will win this one, but both teams were unimpressive.

The Soap Dodgers were the least unimpressive, and showed their ability to grind out a Tournament victory.

Wilko came off with an injury, and Flood made a big difference when he came on.

Tonga and Scotland showed how to unsettle these two teams today.
Potential SF opponents will have taken notes.

Potential SF / final opponents have concerns of their own, I would venture. NZ without Carter, and maybe McCaw are vulnerable, no matter what anyone tries to say to the contrary. Even missing just Carter is a problem. SA looked dire when pressured - no idea how to attack, and now have a couple of injuries too. The Wallabies are just poor at the moment, struggling to put a decent team on the park, even if we call for replacements.
I still think NZ and SA look the most likely, partly on paper and partly on experience. As much as it pains me to say it, although England showed they can be rattled, especially when their much-vaunted scrum is pressured, you have to beat them up front first. The Wallabies can't do that, at the moment, I believe. I don't think Ireland or Wales will either.

 

[John the baptist]

I agree with most of that but suggest thats its not a prerequisite to beat the English up front. You must however have parity. Any Australian side that could establish parity in forward play with the English will beat them out the gate given the gulf in class of the backlines.

I get a sense that this of the draw potentially has four inherently flawed teams. However what is making this competition interesting is that the "four nations" on the other side seem to be heading down to the level of their possible six nations opponents.

Interesting times.

 

[disco]

Not a good time to be playing the French after such a bad loss but the English team just know how to win the tight games. Can't see the French turning it around like teams of old but stranger things have happened.

England by 5

 

[Ruggo]

Never barricked for the French in my life but man I hope they pound the cheating Poms and send them packing.

 

[light]

Potential SF / final opponents have concerns of their own, I would venture. NZ without Carter, and maybe McCaw are vulnerable, no matter what anyone tries to say to the contrary. Even missing just Carter is a problem. SA looked dire when pressured - no idea how to attack, and now have a couple of injuries too. The Wallabies are just poor at the moment, struggling to put a decent team on the park, even if we call for replacements.
I still think NZ and SA look the most likely, partly on paper and partly on experience. As much as it pains me to say it, although England showed they can be rattled, especially when their much-vaunted scrum is pressured, you have to beat them up front first. The Wallabies can't do that, at the moment, I believe. I don't think Ireland or Wales will either.

I thought the Scottish absolutely killed the English forwards on the weekend and they are one of the weaker 6N packs. Ireland would have to fancy their chances against the Poms in a forward tussle and with the type of rugby the Welsh are playing right now they could beat anyone on their day.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Absolutely agree. But if you wouldn't mind not mentioning us that would be good. Optimism meter is going off the dial

 

[light]

Warburton is a menace and probably the form 7 in the world,
Roberts is having a blinder of a tournament and would be in the top 3 13's in the world,
North and Scott Williams can't not score and would have to be two of the best finishers in the world,
Faletau looked dynamic against SA and could easily destroy most opposition number 8's on his day,
AW Jones has been outstanding at blindside and is proving incredibly difficult to handle,
Priestland is arguably the form 10 of the tournament, he looks steady and has the ability to control the backline well..

Mate take it as a compliment, there are a lot of reasons to be talking about Wales right now.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Lydiate is back for QF too! Our Back row is shit hot with him in it.

Bollocks! Did it again!!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Armitage out for one game
http://nz.sports.yahoo.com/rugby/world-cup/news/article/-/10388895/englands-armitage-gets-world-cup-ban/

England winger Delon Armitage will miss this weekend's quarter-final with France after receiving a one match suspension from the Rugby World Cup tribunal on Monday.

Armitage was cited for making a dangerous tackle in England's 16-12 Pool B match against Scotland at Auckland's Eden Park last Saturday.

RWC Independent Judicial Officer Bruce Squire QC (Quade Cooper) deemed Armitage's offence to be at the lower end of offending which has an entry point of two weeks.

The Judicial Officer took into consideration mitigating factors and the absence of aggravating factors in suspending Armitage for one match.

Armitage's suspension takes effect immediately and will include Saturday's quarter-final against France at Eden Park.

The player has 48 hours in which to appeal the judiciary's decision.

English management should have seen this coming and dispensed their own Ballgate style justice to prevent the IRB judiciary ruling on it.

Following previous Ballgate punishment precedent, he could have been sentenced to miss out on pudding one night this week.

 

[Cardiffblue]

Why only one game? Minimum is supposed to be 2, max 10.

Tindall apparently forgot that where he was that night.

three other idiots harrass a hotel worker, wanting to film her giving a blow job

This must be the most unlikeable bunch ever to represent England - and there are plenty of precedents!

 

[Hugh Jarse]

Why only one game? Minimum is supposed to be 2, max 10.

Tindall apparently forgot that where he was that night.

three other idiots harrass a hotel worker, wanting to film her giving a blow job

This must be the most unlikeable bunch ever to represent England - and there are plenty of precedents!

And here are some of my favourites. Imagine the hue and cry if this was the Saffers, or the Azzuri?

Are you surprised the Soap Dodgers get away with this?

The cheating Poms should not of advanced. They should of been striped of all points they got out of the game they got caught cheating. Somoa and Scotland can be their own worst enimies at times but they played the game fair and in the spirit it was intended.

England coaches suspended over 'ballgate'

AUCKLAND: England today suspended two staff members for this weekend's World Cup game against Scotland after they controversially swapped balls used for conversions by ace kicker Jonny Wilkinson.

Kicking coach Dave Alred and strength and conditioning staffer Paul Stridgeon were reprimanded and barred from Auckland's Eden Park stadium for Saturday's game following the incident during England's game against Romania.

The two admitted using different balls for conversions than the one used to score the tries, which is against rugby rules, during England's 67-3 win at Stadium Otago. They were warned twice by referee Romain Poite.
Advertisement: Story continues below

"Two members of the team management, David Alred and Paul Stridgeon, mistakenly thought that there was an issue with some of the match balls," said a statement from England's Rugby Football Union (RFU).

"Those team management members took it upon themselves to substitute balls during the match in contravention of both the laws of the game and the spirit of the game.

"The RFU fully accepts that the action of those team management members was incorrect and detrimental to the image of the tournament, the game and to English rugby."

World Cup organisers welcomed the "decisive and timely" move and said no further punishment would be handed out.

The incident followed an uncharacteristically wobbly start to the tournament by the usually reliable Wilkinson, who has landed just 38 percent of his penalties so far.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/rugby-world-cup/england-coaches-suspended-over-ballgate-20110929-1kywn.html

How does this work?

A Samoan gets $10000 fine for wearing the wrong mouthguard.
Our Ladies Team gets fined $10000 for advancing on the NZWRT haka.
The English players and team officials conspire to cheat and only two of the three are not allowed to watch a game. The other who MUST have been involved gets of untarnished. I can not believe that Wilko was an innocent party. He would at least have had the power to tell the other two to stuff off with their proposed cheating.

I'm sorry but I was not watching the RWC to see what mouthguards the players were using. For that matter, I am not trying to find out what sort of undies Morne Steyn is wearing in the hope that wearing them may improve my kicking game.

I was not watching the ladies world cup haka. How did the Wallaroos actions damage the IRB brand?

I did see the actions on Fox of the English Cheats. The rest of us at the Club could not believe what we saw. Talk about Melbourne Storm Salary Cap rorts, or Sydney Uni and Randwick imports. That was nothing compared to this happening with the Rugby world's microscope focused on activities in NZ?

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/rugby-world-cup-2011/news/article.cfm?c_id=522&objectid=10755799

....And in breaking News from the RWC,

IRB Spokesperson Doris ffopington-Smythe has announced that Valentin Calafeteanu from the Romanian Oaks had been fined $4500 for breaching the Rugby World Cup advertising guidelines following an exhaustive investigation into a complaint laid by Sportswear giant Nike who have exclusive sponsorship rights for the Rugby World Cup.

Calafeteanu, a 26 year old Carpenter from Bacau in Northern Romania, was reported to be upset with a workmate, who had posted a digitally altered photograph of one of his tattoos on his facebook page and claimed that local tattoo artist Ionel Romentascu had secretly woven the Asics logo into one of Calafeteanu's forearm tattoos. The facebook page claimed that Romentascu had allegedly not charged Calafeteanu for the work.

ffopington-Smythe said "The fine is necessary to ensure that our Sponsors are investments and partnership with the IRB are not undermined by deceptive tactics from commercial entities outside the IRB family".

Romanian Rugby Union President, Ianau Nicolaeske was reported to be irate with this treatment, and would be wearing Calvin Klein underpants at the next IRB meeting in London in protest. Zimmerli of Switzerland are the official underwear supplier to the IRB Directors. He acknowledged that the facebook photographs, which were magnified 15 times and rotated 75 degrees and had been further photoshopped to remove all red and yellow ink, clearly showed an Asics logo in the centre of the dragons back. At last count, the facebook page had received some 30 hits, with 22 of them being from Dennis Denuto of Denuto Davies Castle, the IRB contracted Intellectual Property Legal advisors.

Meanwhile Pumas veteran Rodrigo Roncero has received an official caution from the IRB for wearing unapproved shoelaces to the Queenstown nightclub "Altitude", and not ironing his shirt with a Kenwood iron before leaving the team hotel on a recent day off.

I just can't rationalise the IRB decision making.

Samoan commercial cheating = 10k fine.
Pommie actual game day cheating = stay away for 1 game.

Which act brought the game into greater disrepute?

 

[Cardiffblue]

A poll of most hateful English player is usually a good ice-breaker at parties

This one (one of the three in hotelgate) is high on the list
http://jameshaskell.co.uk/gallery1.htm

or

http://jameshaskell.com/

If a bright spark at ARU ever suggests a wallaby produce a site like this please ensure that he is sacked!

 

[Cardiffblue]

gotta love the french. their news conferences could never be called boring, if a little bizarre. Am sure at one point Lievremont informs the world that his wife is sulking cos he isn't sleeping with her.

 

[Gnostic]

I am hoping the French have their one "on" day this weekend. Nobody can get close to them when they are "on" but it only happens every four years or so, when was their last one?

 

[Hugh Jarse]

You mean since 2nd half RWC 2007 Cardiff?

Gasping for air.... cough cough.... gasp

 

[thedubs]

England should win well. France look disastrous in terms of team chemistry. Looks like more than Predictable france.

 

[dobduff11]

England have been pretty active whilst in NZ to say the least and it seems to have reinforced the stereotype that we are a bit of a twatty nation .

Im hoping we win this because the calls for MJ's head will spread about if they dont, they will never sack him though and it will just turn English rugby into a mess for the next 3 years.

France are in a mess atm so it shouldn't be as much of a challenge as usual but then again it is france...

 

[the plastic paddy]

Why only one game? Minimum is supposed to be 2, max 10.

Tindall apparently forgot that where he was that night.

three other idiots harrass a hotel worker, wanting to film her giving a blow job

This must be the most unlikeable bunch ever to represent England - and there are plenty of precedents!

You might want to be a bit careful CB or the subject of golf Buggies might come up, not to mention an antipdean hostelry in Shepherds bush, or Mike Philips little ruck or....Bradley Davies; that said, agree that Haskell, 'spit or swallow', Armitage, Hartley, Lawes etc are as charmless a bunch of c you next tuesdays you would be likely to meet. Hows the overwhelming favourites tag working for you Welsh Boys BTW!?!