Rugby World Cup 2023

[Elpenor]

Anthony Watson - by far England’s best attacking threat - is ruled out of the World Cup, this is a big loss. Replaced by Jonny May who is a few years past his best

Also apparently there are another four or five other players who are walking wounded, carrying knocks etc, and not fit to play at present.

I’m going to bring my boots to France just in case

 

[Elpenor]

By my maths of England’s currently named 33, 2 are suspended for the first game (Farrell and Vunipola), and 5 have injury concerns (Curry, Martin, Daly, Sinckler, Arundell). There’s also a hooker (Walker) who is yet to play at all having been rehabbing all summer.

So potentially having to pick their squad of 23 players for the first game - against their toughest opponent - from an available pool of 26 players! The squad can be changed up until Monday so perhaps there’ll be some amendments

 

[Petcha]

Just realised the NZ-SA game is currently on at twickenham. The pace..

 

[Elpenor]

Found a stream for it, looks like SA power is good, NZ defence good but discipline poor, Carley is a fussy ref though

 

[Petcha]

It's very messy yes. They both need to tighten up but its fun to watch.

 

[Petcha]

14-0 down but you know the ABs are gonna storm back at win this by 20

 

[Elpenor]

I reckon the NH refereeing style suits SA whose players will be more used to it

 

[Petcha]

I reckon the NH refereeing style suits SA whose players will be more used to it

The ref looks a bit knackered tbf

 

[Elpenor]

I actually like him as a ref, he does a few of the premiership games.

Nika the Georgian is my favourite ref, I can see him doing a WC final in a few years time

 

[Petcha]

De Klerk clearly has a massive wedding ring on. I mean, it wouldnt affect the outcome but when I used to play, even at a very low level, no jewellery was allowed. Given how much of a stickler a ref this is...

 

[Ax^]

omg NZ

 

[Elpenor]

Probably good for New Zealand to lose a game now as they were rated as favourites by the bookies. They just want this game over now without any more injuries

The way South Africa are playing is sort of the way England aspire to play, except they actually have the players to do this. Libbok the fly half is going to set the World Cup on fire

 

[Petcha]

NZ really do not want an English ref methinks as much as possible in the WC - hope they've looked at that for their sake. They appear to have different rulebooks.

 

[Elpenor]

They won’t want NH refs in general, not sure who is reffing their game v France.

 

[Petcha]

I'm sure that Qatar Airways cup will take pride of place for years to come in the treasure chest of these sides

 

[Ax^]

NZ really do not want an English ref methinks as much as possible in the WC - hope they've looked at that for their sake. They appear to have different rulebooks.

england side have 2 red cards in a week in the lead up to the world cup and trying to give a pass to their captain

hmm not sure anyone want the english rule book


tbf if a ref stood up to the all black its a good praise as most rugby officials regardless of country are intimidated by the bastards when they are on form

 

[fucthest8]

They won’t want NH refs in general, not sure who is reffing their game v France.

Fucking Jaco

 

[Petcha]

england side have 2 red cards in a week in the lead up to the world cup and trying to give a pass to their captain

hmm not sure anyone want the english rule book


tbf if a ref stood up to the all black its a good praise as most rugby officials regardless of country are intimidated by the bastards when they are on form

I kinda get where World Rugby or whoever it is is coming from with 'cracking down' on tackling but it's got a lil silly. There's a reason many (including me) prefer rugby over football and that is the physicality. I didn't see any malice in the yellow that led to the AB's red card or the tackle that got the saffa sent to the bin. These guys are playing at massively high speed, and tonight in very wet conditions. I hope we don't see a World Cup of this new bullshit 8 minute seat of doom thing that seems to have come in.

 

[Ax^]

the physicality is one thing but dirty players should not be playing

Rugby players should be able to retire without the prospect of looking down the same lens as Ryan Jones

 

[Petcha]

the physicality is one thing but dirty players should not be playing

Rugby players should be able to retire without the prospect of looking down the same lens as Ryan Jones

I dont think there were was any 'dirty' play tonight. Just unfortunate tackles. I dunno. Where do you stop. It could end up with the players wearing full on armour like in the NFL.

 

[Elpenor]

england side have 2 red cards in a week in the lead up to the world cup and trying to give a pass to their captain

hmm not sure anyone want the english rule book


tbf if a ref stood up to the all black its a good praise as most rugby officials regardless of country are intimidated by the bastards when they are on form

English players weren’t sent off by English refs, by a Georgian and a New Zealander I think. Mistake to conflate the national team with the English refs who are generally pretty good and have a far higher chance of being involved in the knock out stages

The laws are the same, but each referee takes a different approach - French ones tend to say less, English ones tend to coach more, Aussies like the game to flow, Jaco Peyper is just a twat, it really depends

 

[Ax^]

I dont think there were was any 'dirty' play tonight. Just unfortunate tackles. I dunno. Where do you stop. It could end up with the players wearing full on armour like in the NFL.

I talking about more the one game and don't think we are headed to the NFL situation as that causes higher prevalence of cte injuries as you can hit harder with a more compressive force

but the high tackles have need looking at for a while aside from the macho ballocks associated with it


professional rugby players have grown in size in about 4 inches and 25kg at least since the 1990's as the years have gone on

 

[sleaterkinney]

I dont think there were was any 'dirty' play tonight. Just unfortunate tackles. I dunno. Where do you stop. It could end up with the players wearing full on armour like in the NFL.

You kidding me, right?. The second yellow was him launching himself at a prone players head.

 

[sleaterkinney]

In terms of the speed and size of players, the way the game is played with winning the collision, jackaling etc the game is actually a lot more physical than 10, 15 years ago.
The focus on head contact is needed unless we want a load of lawsuits in a few years time.
The bunker thing is rubbish though, the old system for reds was fine.

 

[fucthest8]

You kidding me, right?. The second yellow was him launching himself at a prone players head.

With his arm trailing behind him so it didn't get in the way of his shoulder making contact. Straight red imo

I'm bored of pointing this out but I'll do it again for Petcha there is a world of difference between a physical game and (a) deliberately driving your shoulder into someone's head or (b) sticking your arm out and "unfortunately" straight-arming someone. These are all decisions that players make, that they need to stop making. I don't give a fuck what speed you're playing at, learn to make better decisions. It's not about "malice" it's about respecting the other player's right to not get brain damaged because you're a twat

And yeah, all the things Ax^ said

 

[fucthest8]

...Jaco Peyper is just a twat...

 

[bendeus]

So, the Bokke just beat a pretty much full strength InZid by a record margin. They had a fucking 7/1 forwards to backs split on the bench and just replaced their entire gargantuan dominant pack with another gargantuan dominant pack (most of whom would walk into many top tier nations' starting XVs) to really ram home their advantage. They're looking pretty fucking good atm.

 

[A380]

Lots of empty seats. A319 got tickets through his club for £25 a go. About eight of them have gone.

 

[Elpenor]

England Fiji so far is looking distinctly second prize compared to last night

 

[fucthest8]

...Jaco Peyper is just a twat...

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