[Coops_13]

Agree on the above. I really enjoyed seeing the Fijians batter the Aussies though... wish they’d been able to hold out

[SA Chris]

Anyone making the Aussies look bad is a win in my book.

[fatneck]

Unbelievable scenes in Japan!!!!

[Coops_13]

Unbelievable scenes in Japan!!!!

it’ll be mega if they qualify!

[crzylgs]

Unbelievable scenes in Japan!!!!

it’ll be mega if they qualify!

Love watching Japan play. Their pace and intensity is amazing!

[tomtom]

Wales good at HT too!

Just got to wrestle the TV away from Octonauts now....

[gme]

Really turning into a good world Cup. Wales game today was a classic and seeing the hosts turn over Ireland yesterday has made for an entertaining weekend.
Looking like England have a hard route to the final with aus and the all blacks to get past.
I am heading out for the final week,  on tour with 21 U16s from Alnwick three matches organised for then and tickets to the bronze/losers final so hoping England are still in it.

[Wood FT]

Agreed, it has been a great weekend of Rugby. Japan and their fans were ecstatic yesterday and the Welsh game this morning got more and more exciting.

[fatneck]

Wales good at HT too!

You've changed your tune!!!

May 24, 2016, 05:48:26 pm - Egg chasing rubbish

 

[SA Chris]

All quiet?

Much as I hate to say it, England look hard to beat!

[Coops_13]

What an absolute stonker of a game. The media responses have been great from both Eng and NZ papers

[fatneck]

Shame Wales weren't good enough on the day - I fancy our chances against SA though!

[SA Chris]

I've never seen the ABs look so outclassed against anyone.

Much as I hate to admit it, SA pulling it out the bag and winning against England will be an injustice.

[SA Chris]

All went quite here?

Injustice was served? Actually thought SA dominated the game start to finish and deserved the win. I think England gave everything against AB, nothing left for the final.

[Coops_13]

V poor game from the English. All the talk about not having a plan B correct. The Welsh know how to undo us, as do the Saffers.

Also losing Sinkler in the 3rd minute and having a French ref didn’t help...

[galpinos]

All went quite here?

Injustice was served? Actually thought SA dominated the game start to finish and deserved the win. I think England gave everything against AB, nothing left for the final.

It was a shame to lose as an England fan but I couldn't be disappointed when we were outclassed like that. SA did to us what we did to NZ.

[SA Chris]

having a French ref didn’t help...

Really? I don't recall any decisions that didn't seem sound.

[tomtom]

having a French ref didn’t help...

Really? I don't recall any decisions that didn't seem sound.

I think maybe ‘having that particular ref’ would be more appropriate... I don’t think he was biased - but he certainly seemed to have a different view of what to let ride (or not) with the scrums - and was not at all trigger happy with the TMO replays (were there any?). Maybe that reflects the type of game - but there did seem to be quite large differences in the rule interpretation between refs.

Of course we’ll done to SA for reading that/playing by his rules...

And England choked. Esp in the first 15 min... lots of errors (so it seemed to me).

[tomtom]

That doesn’t really say the right team won - which it did - and well done!

(Footballs better anyway... 😄)

[nai]

(Footballs better anyway... 😄)

Have you watched it lately, complete varce

[Coops_13]

having a French ref didn’t help...

Really? I don't recall any decisions that didn't seem sound.

I think maybe ‘having that particular ref’ would be more appropriate... I don’t think he was biased - but he certainly seemed to have a different view of what to let ride (or not) with the scrums - and was not at all trigger happy with the TMO replays (were there any?). Maybe that reflects the type of game - but there did seem to be quite large differences in the rule interpretation between refs.

Of course we’ll done to SA for reading that/playing by his rules...

And England choked. Esp in the first 15 min... lots of errors (so it seemed to me).

I thought in the first half he was v quick to penalise holding on to the ball after tackle. Normally there's a few seconds grace but Jerome was straight in there with the blow of his whistle after no time at all...

[sdm]

Garces is always pretty quick on holding on/not rolling away (I thought he gave one of these the wrong way on the day). A bigger factor was that he is also minded to award more penalties to the dominant side on the scrum.

Referees in rugby have a certain amount of leeway as to how they interpret some rules. Sometimes these will favour one side. The differences between refs is smaller than it used to be though. Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere refs used to appear to referee entirely different sports.

The teams are all aware of how each ref interprets things so his performance won't have been a surprise to either side.

[Coops_13]

Garces is always pretty quick on holding on/not rolling away (I thought he gave one of these the wrong way on the day). A bigger factor was that he is also minded to award more penalties to the dominant side on the scrum.

Referees in rugby have a certain amount of leeway as to how they interpret some rules. Sometimes these will favour one side. The differences between refs is smaller than it used to be though. Northern hemisphere and Southern hemisphere refs used to appear to referee entirely different sports.

The teams are all aware of how each ref interprets things so his performance won't have been a surprise to either side.

Fair enough, we'll just have to come back stronger. At least Six Nations will be at a more convenient viewing time for me :D

[gme]

I was lucky enough to be out there. Saw the bronze final and final. South Africa just had a plan that they stuck to and it didn’t let us even get started. We were under pressure from the whistle, on our back foot and never got off it. Pretty much what we did to the All Blacks.
It was a disappointing end but didn’t sour what was an amazing week. I was out there with 21 kids from Alnwick’s U16s on tour and the Japanese could not have been more welcoming. They don’t have much rugby at our kids age so we had to play up 2 years We played 5 high school teams and the standard of U18s rugby is equal if not better than I have seen in UK. Two of the schools were special rugby schools where the game comes first and lessons 2nd. Think they will be up there with the best in 10-15 years.
We had an amazing trip and suggest the olympics will be pretty special as well.
Highlights other than watching the games was spending a morning with the England team training and Shibuya crossing on Halloween which was utterly mental.
Just need to let my liver recover now. And if anyone ever thinks about getting drunk on a local drink called Hoppy don’t. Never had a hangover like it in my life.

[Coops_13]

Sounds like a great trip gme! Jealous!