Rugby World Cup - Opening Game
 

My worst fears have been realised. The refereeing is going to be the deciding factor in these games. This guy from New Zealand that ref'd the Argentina vs Australia game is absolutely clueless. Top level referee that doesn't know the difference between a ruck and a maul. That's fucking fantastic. Paul Honiss should be dragged from the field and shot.

They should stick with Paddy O'Brien, André Watson, Nigel Williams and fuck off the rest. I'm sick to death of seeing games ruined by an idiot who loves the sound of his own whistle.

Rugby is a great game. Americans should watch the games this year.

Wasn't overly impressed with Australia in todays game. They will win the group but not convinced they will get much further when they meet the big guns.

Indeed. The win wasn't very convincing at all. Far too many handling errors. Gregan's passing is awful and he's slow at gettin' the ball away from the ruck. This game was touted as an oppurtunity to build confidence, and i think they've failed miserably. They're really just lucky that the Argentinian kicker was having an awful game, or that would have been a verrrry diferrent game. Roff and Larkham played excellent.

Griffin landed on his head pretty damn hard. I read that it was a severe concussion. I hope it's nothing worse than that, though.

glad that the injury wasn't as bad as it first looked

Did anyone see the All Blacks? How were they? I saw a bit of France and they looked pretty handy... one of the top 3 sides in the cup IMHO.

Yeah. Tell me about it. It looked as though it may have been a spinal or neck injury. Was a very awkward fall.

I only saw a little bit. The score was 70-7. Not really a fair representation of the game, 'caues Italy were actually playing some pretty impressive rugby. New Zealand's defence was nothing short of incredible.

I just watched South Africa versus Uraguay. Good to see Joost van der Westhuizen back in form. He scored 3 tries, and his passes were very much on target tonight. But he wasn't under very much pressure. But at least things are looking good for South Africa. When he plays well, the rest of the team tends to rise to the occassion. Louis Koen's kicking was off. I hope he is in form for next week against England. That's going to be the best game in the pool matches, for sure.

France were excellent. Really ran away with it in the second half when Fiji started to lose their discipline. Their kicker is on fire.

I'm also looking forward to Ireland vs Australia. Ireland played fantastic against Romania. Very few mistakes, and they got the basics done very well.

In my opinion, the top teams are going to be New Zealand, South Africa, England and France. I can't see Australia accomplishing much at all this year, unless they suddenly start playing a <i>lot</i> better.

Cmon ROMANIA!
Lets not lose 134-0 to England if we get through :P

I love rugby
Played left wing for years in school.

ive got bling$ on england to beat georgia by 84.5 +
game starts in about 15 minutes i think. will be good to watch a try scoring feast.

It'll be a massive score, no doubt. Their first world cup game, i believe, against one of the top 3 teams in the world. It'll be slaughter. I'm only watching to see if Wilkinson is in form or not.

Oh I better switch on for that on :P

10 minutes in and Georgia is puttin up a good fight

I'm quite surprised by the Georgians' performance already. They seem to be a physically strong team. Great tackling so far. Their defence is good. England will win, of course, but i don't think it's going to be anything like South Africa vs Uraguay or New Zealand vs Italy. Georgia will defend well in the first half, but the conditioning of the English players will show in the second half and they'll blitz them. Expect a fair few trys in the last 25 minutes or so. :2 cents:

53-3 with 25 mins to go!

South Africa vs England. My :2 cents:

Ahhh, so dissapointed in the South Africans! They were playing so well in the first half. Koen was the big let down tonight. 4 missed penalties in a row. Granted, a couple of them were rather difficult, but he should have been subbed the fuck off before he could cause any more damage. They didn't take him off at half-time, and they paid for it when he took his time and basically gave england a try (although, you've got to give them credit for an excellent chargedown on that kick).

Bogart should have been on at half time. Even when he's kicking at his worst, he would be kicking better than Koen was all through that game. They waited way too long to get him out there. The South African defence was excellent in the first half, and the first 20 minutes or so of the second half, but they were quite clearly demotivated towards the end of the game. A couple of trys went begging where the wrong option was chosen, but i'd place the majority of the blame for this loss on Koen.

Wilkinson was excellent, as always. 100% record and 2 dropkicks. That man is a genius with the boot, but he did seem to have a bit of trouble finding touch and also put a few out on the full from outside his 22. Still played a great game.

South Africa are most definitley going to be facing New Zealand in the quarter finals now. As long as Koen isn't in the starting lineup, they have a very good chance if their defence is as good as it was against England. Bogart for life!

Jonny was excellent today.

I thought the referee was a wanker in the Eng v SA game.

The South African forwards played a great game at the breakdowns.

Shame about their place kicking :1orglaugh

There was always going to be one winner though. :glugglug