Rugby World Cup 2011

[Tank Engine]

Mike Phillips again. Yes. Come on lads.

 

[ramjambunath]

Tryyyyyy Phillips. Brilliant fight from Wales. Lousy defence from France

 

[Havetts]

Exciting match .

 

[Havetts]

Penalty for Wales!

 

[ramjambunath]

Wasn't a penalty that. But I think Wales deserve their bit of luck. France have been clueless, not trying to run the Welsh and force them to make tackles. A Wales win would be much deserved.

Edit: England would have found a way to be offside by now.

France win.

 

[Havetts]

Bah France, pretty undeserving regarding how the team played..

 

[Tank Engine]

**** **** ****. the French so do not deserve to win. 60 minutes against 14 men and we're the only guys to score a try.

 

[ramjambunath]

Putting the Welsh under pressure? What crap is that.
126 tackles France made to the Welsh 56, they played ****. Warburton's red could have been a sin bin instead. At first, I thought he dropped Clerc on his head it was risky but considering he did somehow manage to drop him flat sin bin would've been better.

Wales have to be the unluckiest team in tournament, played better than the Springboks. Drew the other most impressive team in the quarters and then today the Adam Jones, the red card, Halfpenny's penalty just missed and the conversion as well.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Aus v all blacks winner will win this world cup

 

[thrawn]

Feel sorry for Wales. That didn't warrant a send off.

 

[sublimit]

I'm gutted - and I'm English.. France have to be the worst finalists in history and will get taken to the cleaners by I suspect the all blacks.

I hope NZ do to France what the lowlife French agents did to the Rainbow Warrior., IE blast them into oblivion.

 

[Tank Engine]

Wasn't a penalty that. But I think Wales deserve their bit of luck. France have been clueless, not trying to run the Welsh and force them to make tackles. A Wales win would be much deserved.

Edit: England would have found a way to be offside by now.

France win.

Definitely not a penalty. But it would have been poetic justice if that had been the winning kick. France had one extra man for an hour. Played against a very much weakened Welsh scrum, dominated in the lineouts and for what: to kick the ball into the corner, score three penalties and hold out for a one point win. Parra kicking the ball out at half time when France weren't in a defensive position with an extra man just sums up the way they played.

If they don't get skinned alive by some guys from down under next week, I'll be so at what could have been.

Proud of the lads. They had a great tournament. Faletau my man of the match today. Gutted that Sam got sent off especially in that way (my favourite player and he's been playing very solidly). Bilbo's last match in Wales' colours next week . Going to be an anticlimax though now

 

[ramjambunath]

Got to hate 3rd place play off matches.

France today just wanted to kick and was one of the worst performances I have seen even worse than the Australians' against the Boks.

Some of their kicking into touch was very good, I thought, if only they had intent. If I recall correctly, in the whole match the French found an opening in the defence only once.

Shane Williams has been a fantastic servant for Wales and I remember the try against France to win the Grand Slam (back in the days when I could see the 6 Nations Premiership and Super rugby), a fantastic achievement for a fantastic player.

His try, from a fan in the stadium

Overall though, the future for Wales looks very bright. I expected Tuilagi to be the best running at the defence player at the start of the tournament but was happily proven wrong by George North (their styles are similar though one's a centre while the other is a winger) .

 

[Tank Engine]

Shane Williams has been a fantastic servant for Wales and I remember the try against France to win the Grand Slam (back in the days when I could see the 6 Nations Premiership and Super rugby), a fantastic achievement for a fantastic player.

His try, from a fan in the stadium

Overall though, the future for Wales looks very bright. I expected Tuilagi to be the best running at the defence player at the start of the tournament but was happily proven wrong by George North (their styles are similar though one's a centre while the other is a winger) .

True. The younger players were at the forefront of the team . Looking forward to the 6 nations.

That 2008 grand slam match was great. 60 minutes of the French running into brick walls all over the park and the Williams brothers scoring tries in the last 20 minutes. The Welsh pack pushing the French scrum off the ball in front of our own posts was just perfect. Chin up.

 

[The Hitch]

That red card was so soft.

Shows how tough Rugby is. If a footballer was on the receiving end of that they would retire and sue the offendor for millions.

But here its not even a red.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

I'm gutted - and I'm English.. France have to be the worst finalists in history and will get taken to the cleaners by I suspect the all blacks.

I hope NZ do to France what the lowlife French agents did to the Rainbow Warrior., IE blast them into oblivion.

echoed.

England were lambasted for being weak finalists last time but at least they could make a case for being one of the best 3 or 4 teams in the world. I'd struggle to make a case for saying France are top ten.

An absolute travesty of a match which the victors came out of with no credit.
However what the hell were Wales doing playing so slowly at the end? Pick, drive, wait a minute for the defence to reorganise, repeat. Brainless. It was a repeat of the South Africa finale with an identical result.

So what have we got to look forward to? A completely one-sided final against the Kiwis or a more even contest against the Aussies but it would be between two sides who have done little to deserve being there.

 

[palmerq]

shame france are so bad just now I really like their rugby team for some reason and usually hope for them to win the world cup(scotland are usually not contendors which is a shame too:S). I don't think they will be any match for whoever makes it to the final, I think australia might do it, but whoever it is I can see it being a very one sided match. I still hope france win though.

 

[ramjambunath]

echoed.

England were lambasted for being weak finalists last time but at least they could make a case for being one of the best 3 or 4 teams in the world. I'd struggle to make a case for saying France are top ten.

An absolute travesty of a match which the victors came out of with no credit.
However what the hell were Wales doing playing so slowly at the end? Pick, drive, wait a minute for the defence to reorganise, repeat. Brainless. It was a repeat of the South Africa finale with an identical result.

So what have we got to look forward to? A completely one-sided final against the Kiwis or a more even contest against the Aussies but it would be between two sides who have done little to deserve being there.

I think Wales did all that they could. They lacked a man in the scrum and in the last few minutes France didn't contest any of the rucks and hence always had enough men to nip an attack in the bud. The only other thing the Welsh could have done was kick and that would've been even more stupid considering they were dominated in the lineouts and the French field kicking was pretty good. Also fatigue would have played its part after playing 3/4s of the game with 14 men.

I wouldn't write off France in the final just yet, today they got their tactics wrong and went for field position rather than pressuring the opposition. There was a spell of about 5 to 10 minutes in the second half when they did play with intent and that was the period where they found an opening and also I think the 3rd Parra penalty.

 

[ramjambunath]

Kurtley Beale to miss semi final

 

[King Of The Wolds]

The Welsh only have themselves to blame. Brainless behaviour from an international captain, whether you think it warranted red or not.

 

[craig1985]

New Zealand v France in the final, as was the case 24 years ago.

 

[palmerq]

they spin this out a bit dont they :S a week till the final now :S I think there has been too much of a gap between games..

 

[elapid]

New Zealand v France in the final, as was the case 24 years ago.

And Australia v Wales in the playoff for third, same as 24 years ago.

I was 0/2 with my picks for the semis, but pretty comfortable in picking the All Blacks for next weekend. The All Blacks have been the most consistent and threatening team all tournament and deserve to win the RWC. France have been their nemesis in past RWC tournaments, but I just cannot see this French team mounting any challenge this time around.

The Australia-Wales match will actually be quite interesting. Both teams have something to prove, especially Wales.

 

[lancaster]

The All Blacks were really very good this morning.

NZ v France final i reckon.

my predictions are rarely correct but i'll remind you all of this gem made after NZ beat France in the group.

 

[sublimit]

I get the feeling any future Lions team will have plenty of Welsh players, like virtually the whole team plus Tuilagi from England plus maybe O'Driscoll and a Scottish forward who's name escapes me at the moment.

Its kind of sad how bad England are at the moment- a total shambles and worse than 4 years ago when they were pretty awful but made the final.