RWC 2023
 

Wallabies were shockingly bad this morning, Eddie is a dead man walking.

Our RWC is going about as expected, flimsy game plan that falls apart when the 10 gets rushed.

Bad game against France, not ideal, not end of the world. Either way they knew they would be playing Ireland or SA in the quarters. Its not like topping the pool was going to give them the easier game.

Im still putting my money on ABs getting max points from the last 2 games, ending up on 15.
Italy will battle hard and beat the French, with or without a bonus point.
France will not get the 2 bonus points required if they lose and will be knocked out.

ABs top the pool and will then meet Ireland in the Finals

what

Surely that's a typo and he means France will beat Italy ....

Unless you know something we don't about the French team and we should all be putting big bets on Italy to win? _b

Nah, I just don't want to face Ireland in the QF. I want them to get to the Finals.

And if Italy have any shot of getting through, do you think they would be targeting the win over the ABs or the French

Both the AB's and the Wallabies teams are showing how much they are missing having the Saffas to play against in the Super competition.

Us beating up the Aussie teams week in week out really has us under prepared for the RWC. South Africa exposed our fragility with great ease in London pre RWC.

France never looked like they were going to lose their home opening game.

https://reddit.com/r/rugbyunion/s/8ajlmAkfzE

Some of the smartest commentary on Australian rugby union I've heard in ages. Jones will absolutely be a scapegoat for this (apparently he's already had interviews/meetings with some Japanese clubs in anticipation of being rolled).

According to the SMH Eddie had a secret interview with Japan game day prior to the Wales v Australia game.

If you watch the post match interview Eddie is awkward as heck when asked about it.

Meh. Rugby's a professional sport, he's got a market value. I have no problem with him fielding offers or having meetings.

Except the for narrative of is he even focused on the RWC? does he care or is he focusing on his next move.
And when Au come out and lose, it definitely plays into that.

There is plenty of time after the RWC for him to do that, especially now that he has an extra week available

I think Rugby AU suffers from the same problem as does Rugby NZ. The organisation is a an old boys club of old white dudes acting like it’s still the 20th century and being disconnected from the grassroots community level of the sport. These guys aren’t influenced by junior participation numbers; they’re influenced by what other old white guys say about them in the Qantas Club/Koru Lounge. And they hire and fire the execs who hire and fire the coaches.

Oof, yes, rugby is just like everything else in the world right now.

Just don't say it out loud publicly! Looking at you, Marama.

Australia has a greater issue than us for sure with a lack of depth.

2 fixes I can think of, allowing players from NZ/AU to play across the Tasman teams to ensure that the talent pool is playing stronger opposition. Also obviously allow selection in respective national teams no matter what franchise they play for.

Or go the way of South Africa, and pick the best players wherever in the world they happen to be playing.

Portugal over Fiji!

Wallabies out!

I've been quite impressed at the performance of teams I would previously have written off before the tournament even started this year. Never would have bet on Portugal beating Fiji.

Jesus, getting too old for games like that. My watch6 was reading 132hr.

My Garmin told me to take a breath because I seemed quite stressed :p

What a game!

Indeed, what a game! Edge of the seat stuff.

Hope the boys can bring that intensity again next week!

Wow, another great game this morning. Gotta feel for the French being knocked out at their home WC.

_b

Agreed, as far as games go, these have been cracker quarter finals. Here's hoping next weekend's games are just as good, if not better.

After the ABs/Ireland game, I was worried that the final will be boring full of scrums and penalties.

I had 10 sitting in a TAB account, so decided to go for a 4 way multi for the QFs, and managed to pick them all.

What a boring game of rugby that had about 10 minutes of excitement at the end.

Wanted England to win so we could smash them in the finals. More worried with SA being there unless they play like they played today.
But will they play like that 2 weeks in a row

Thought England did a great job of disrupting the Boks, somewhat of a blueprint of how to frustrate their gameplan.

We're going to have to get a lot better with our kicking game.

Whatever the outcome, it's back to league for me. Where that tackle would of been put on report

lol

Very proud of the boys though. I don't think there's another team that could compete with (& keep scoreless & just about beat) South Africa, with 14 men.

Wow, heres me thinking it was going to be bad because of scrums and penalties.

I didn't account for what impact the TMO could have. I wonder if WR wanted to "make sure we get all the calls right" so people couldn't complain.
Not realising the shit game the created.

I agree. Either "On Report", which is a bit harder than league which is a massive long competition, or at least the 20 min sinbin for red

Not to mention the second(?) kickable penalty* (from which SA scored 3) where the AB asked the ref for clarification on what he did wrong, and Barnes said, "Oh, yeah, sorry, you were ok..." - but the kick went on?

TMO was strangely quiet on that one.

*Unless, of course, the penalty was for something else.

will be interesting to see what they do for the next world cup, that was hard to watch from a spectator pov.

bugger. All I can say. That red card, fuck.

I've seen comments from people that were there, and they had no idea what was going on.
Play being randomly taken back several times. If this keeps happening, there is no point being at a game.

yeah my aunty had some RWC package, she was over in France. haven't talked to her but talking to my cousin she said it was a shambles