The Rugby Thread

[Irishnev]

Nah I reckon Farrell has plenty of choices available to pad out the squad. Not sure a couple of Munster junior cup medals from more than 30 years ago would sway him



Am now firmly on the anyone but South Africa bandwagon for the rest of the WC.

Argentina, massive gap, NZ, SA and Eng in that order for me

[Zapater]

Nah I reckon Farrell has plenty of choices available to pad out the squad. Not sure a couple of Munster junior cup medals from more than 30 years ago would sway him



Am now firmly on the anyone but South Africa bandwagon for the rest of the WC.

Sure you're Irish?

Gleich und Gleich gesellt sich gern.

[Doc_Piptorious]

Argentina, massive gap, NZ, SA and Eng in that order for me

For me it is easy. England beat SA and then they lose in the final.

If SA beat England then SA lose in the final.


Once Ireland went out I would have rooted for France but that went out the window yesterday.


The dream at the start of the WC for me was an Ireland vs France final as I think that would have been a great game to watch (Ireland winning of course)


My list for winning the world cup outright would be the exact same as your one though.

[Zapater]

So after this, when I say that random people who aren't our traditional rivals have an inexplicable bias against South Africa, expats and our sports teams I get told that I'm wrong yet in every small sample like the above, everyone is wanting us not to win without justification.

[Zapater]

On the game, it was epic. I don't know how much BMT played a part in that, I wouldn't have had any complaints if they won, it was one of those but to win that in the lions den is so satisfying. Regardless of what happens in the remainder of the competition winning that game will remain truly special.

Not sure if that type of atmosphere and pressure will be quite replicated by a home team with such quality for some time. Scoring 4 tries in that cauldron is almost unthinkable. You could see the quality of their bench players let them down a bit along with their fitness possibly. If they didn't have the injuries and had the likes of Ntamack and Willemse in their team it could've given them the extra boost they needed.

Lastly respect to Jesse Kriel, the guy was incredible. Strong in defence and attacked well too, the kick for Kolbe in particular. I've always been critical of him but he proved his worth today, fair play.

Always hate playing England and this time is no different. Need to smash them so the refs don't get the chance to collaborate a way to get their favourite Northern Hemisphere team into the final.

[Irishnev]

So after this, when I say that random people who aren't our traditional rivals have an inexplicable bias against South Africa, expats and our sports teams I get told that I'm wrong yet in every small sample like the above, everyone is wanting us not to win without justification.

I think “neutrals” are fed up with SA and NZ winning all the time, that’s why France or Ireland have a novelty about them. I love SA rugby, I worked in De Beers for years and travelled there often and mainly to the Loftus when I could. Absolute power and now with the skills of the back 3 and Libock. You mention Kriel who played well but DeAllende was immense, go forward all the time, stopped Danty where others bounced off him.

Your coaching ticket don’t help and your nation’s (ahem) humility don’t always go down well with others Ezebeth typifies everything I live to hate about SA rugby - what a game he had last night

[Buzzo]

On the game, it was epic. I don't know how much BMT played a part in that, I wouldn't have had any complaints if they won, it was one of those but to win that in the lions den is so satisfying. Regardless of what happens in the remainder of the competition winning that game will remain truly special.

Not sure if that type of atmosphere and pressure will be quite replicated by a home team with such quality for some time. Scoring 4 tries in that cauldron is almost unthinkable. You could see the quality of their bench players let them down a bit along with their fitness possibly. If they didn't have the injuries and had the likes of Ntamack and Willemse in their team it could've given them the extra boost they needed.

Lastly respect to Jesse Kriel, the guy was incredible. Strong in defence and attacked well too, the kick for Kolbe in particular. I've always been critical of him but he proved his worth today, fair play.

Always hate playing England and this time is no different. Need to smash them so the refs don't get the chance to collaborate a way to get their favourite Northern Hemisphere team into the final.

You guys should be ok for additional support in the semi final

My, previously mentioned, mate who is an England supporter absolutely hates SA supporters (and Welsh) he is forever arguing with them online.

For me it is about what is earned. South Africa and NZ have absolutely earned their respective places in the semi finals in defeating 2 incredible teams in 2 of the best games I have ever witnessed. We could easily be sat here discussing France and Ireland being in the semi finals, the games were that close.

I think the strength of your bench saw you home, along with a few monster performances Kolbe, Etzebeth and Mbonambi were amazing.

It was a war.

I dont see how England can match up to you if you play like that. A great England team could do it for sure, but there is no evidence that this is one of those.

As you also say, for both SA and NZ to play like that in front of such partizan crowds only adds to it, and last night was a cauldron. I wonder how many French will keep their semi final tickets to cheer on the boks

The final when it comes cannot live up to that game last night for me. It was prefect. The first half was 2 heavy weights going toe to toe and slugging it out, the second half was the darker arts, the power game and the tactics. When France took three points with ten to go it made sense, but in retrospect... and the the SA discipline over those last phases was again amazing, with one mistake going to cost the tournament.

[Cormack74]

.



Always hate playing England and this time is no different. Need to smash them so the refs don't get the chance to collaborate a way to get their favourite Northern Hemisphere team into the final.

Presumably you're trolling but I'll humour you. That or you're wearing an even bigger potato on your shoulder than usual.

I don't see it like that; it generally seems to me that we get the arse end of things by and large. I've watched lots of matches where England get penalised for stuff that the other team don't.

I think this has been partly our fault at times, because we've been ill disciplined over several consecutive games in recent years, so refs have looked at us with more scrutiny, but that shouldn't mean we get pinged when we don't deserve to.

Anyway, thank **** we won't have an SA referee in the next game. Never a hope of getting any sort of favourable decision from them, going back to the 2003 final where that bloke had clearly bet on the Ausssies to win.

The only person I dread officiating us more than a Saffer is Andrew Brace and in fairness he was quite reasonable when we had him a couple of weeks back.

[Cormack74]

And on the subject of 'getting decisions' . . .

Antoine Dupont said that referee Ben O’Keeffe was “not up to the challenge” of officiating France’s defeat in the quarter-finals of the Rugby World Cup.

Speaking after the hosts’ one-point defeat to South Africa, Dupont, the France captain, responded candidly to a question about O’Keeffe’s refereeing.

“There is a lot of disappointment, frustration. We can’t wait to see the replays again, even if they should frustrate us even more. There are clear and obvious things that have not been whistled. I don’t know if the match is lost in these moments,” Dupont said.

[Zapater]

Presumably you're trolling but I'll humour you. That or you're wearing an even bigger potato on your shoulder than usual.

I don't see it like that; it generally seems to me that we get the arse end of things by and large. I've watched lots of matches where England get penalised for stuff that the other team don't.

I think this has been partly our fault at times, because we've been ill disciplined over several consecutive games in recent years, so refs have looked at us with more scrutiny, but that shouldn't mean we get pinged when we don't deserve to.

Anyway, thank **** we won't have an SA referee in the next game. Never a hope of getting any sort of favourable decision from them, going back to the 2003 final where that bloke had clearly bet on the Ausssies to win.

The only person I dread officiating us more than a Saffer is Andrew Brace and in fairness he was quite reasonable when we had him a couple of weeks back.

Lost all credibility here unfortunately but if that's the case, I'm glad. We operate under rules which encourage other nations to pinch our players, unfair sanctions (e.g. Arendse's long ban vs DuPont's for similar incidents), rule changes when we're good at things (Brüssow derailing the Lions) and our director or rugby being labelled public enemy number one. Glad someone's levelling the playing field.

[Zapater]

For the record, not wound up by preferring France or another team as their second, third or fourth team. More so "anyone but South African bandwagon". I would think we'd be more relatable as we're the best of the mere mortals with the All Blacks beating us most of the time even now with a comparably "weaker" team. The guys willing to take it to the pace setters and surprise them through hard work and guts.

Social media can be negative, I don't use it much personally. For example, I have huge love for Ireland, how could I not, so much of my life has been fuelled by Guinness, Jameson and the Dubliners. However, reading the Johnnie come lately arrogance online by some supporters, who probably don't represent the majority turned me off of these guys a little.

I hate all England sports teams because of the media, fans and as a fallout of the Empire (despite being of mainly English stock myself). I thought it would be similar for many other people from many countries but I'm probably in the minority that see it that way. The four Nothern teams in the semis talk was so stupid. We hear this each year and there's nothing to back it up. They buy our mercenaries and it still makes no difference.

Most South Africans i know BTW were very respectful of the French and have admitted we could easily have lost on another day. Probably doesn't fit the arrogant complainer narrative. I heard some radio hosts talking **** about them and absolutely cringed. These are the kind of things go viral online and we're judged for.

Oh and for the record before we lose a game and I get accused of blaming the ref. I don't think I've really complained about a ref since either the Australia or France game last year. In the time we've been battered by NZ and lost the knife-edge game with Ireland along with potential others I can't remember.

On Duponts comments, they're natural. Any losing team would say that. No doubt we'd have questions if it went the other way in a tight game like that. We maybe got lucky with one pen but they got away with several too. I don't put much stock behind that nor feel there were generous gifts on offer.

[Irishnev]

For the record, not wound up by preferring France or another team as their second, third or fourth team. More so "anyone but South African bandwagon". I would think we'd be more relatable as we're the best of the mere mortals with the All Blacks beating us most of the time even now with a comparably "weaker" team. The guys willing to take it to the pace setters and surprise them through hard work and guts.

Social media can be negative, I don't use it much personally. For example, I have huge love for Ireland, how could I not, so much of my life has been fuelled by Guinness, Jameson and the Dubliners. However, reading the Johnnie come lately arrogance online by some supporters, who probably don't represent the majority turned me off of these guys a little.

I hate all England sports teams because of the media, fans and as a fallout of the Empire (despite being of mainly English stock myself). I thought it would be similar for many other people from many countries but I'm probably in the minority that see it that way. The four Nothern teams in the semis talk was so stupid. We hear this each year and there's nothing to back it up. They buy our mercenaries and it still makes no difference.

Most South Africans i know BTW were very respectful of the French and have admitted we could easily have lost on another day. Probably doesn't fit the arrogant complainer narrative. I heard some radio hosts talking **** about them and absolutely cringed. These are the kind of things go viral online and we're judged for.

Oh and for the record before we lose a game and I get accused of blaming the ref. I don't think I've really complained about a ref since either the Australia or France game last year. In the time we've been battered by NZ and lost the knife-edge game with Ireland along with potential others I can't remember.

On Duponts comments, they're natural. Any losing team would say that. No doubt we'd have questions if it went the other way in a tight game like that. We maybe got lucky with one pen but they got away with several too. I don't put much stock behind that nor feel there were generous gifts on offer.

On the Irish stuff, every team gets bandwagon jumpers and they typically are arseholes. The Irish rugby fans that I know, long term fans were hugely wary of NZ and felt it we played well we could win but equally so could NZ

Most people i listen to backed SA to win it because they have the mix of power and skill, plus unbelievable depth. I told you I’ve spent a lot of time in SA and around proper Boers….. outside of Kiwis I’ve not met a more condescending bunch of fans. It’s part of the reason why both sides are do good - they believe it’s their right to win

Banter is fine, if you give it then you need to be able to take it. I remember going to see the Bulls once in a Munster jersey and I was getting jeered more than the Brumbies who they were playing

[RichC]

Eddie Jones has announced he's staying with the Aussies. Bet the fans will be over the moon!

[Buzzo]

Eddie Jones has announced he's staying with the Aussies. Bet the fans will be over the moon!

I wonder how long he can continue, he has totally tanked them. Dave Rennie must be wondering what the **** is going on.

[Buzzo]

On the Irish stuff, every team gets bandwagon jumpers and they typically are arseholes. The Irish rugby fans that I know, long term fans were hugely wary of NZ and felt it we played well we could win but equally so could NZ

Most people i listen to backed SA to win it because they have the mix of power and skill, plus unbelievable depth. I told you I’ve spent a lot of time in SA and around proper Boers….. outside of Kiwis I’ve not met a more condescending bunch of fans. It’s part of the reason why both sides are do good - they believe it’s their right to win

Banter is fine, if you give it then you need to be able to take it. I remember going to see the Bulls once in a Munster jersey and I was getting jeered more than the Brumbies who they were playing

There is loads of band wagon jumping in a WC year

The thing I find frustrating is that your level of opinion validity can be tied to the team you support. I've had conversations with people (typically England supporters, but a few Welsh) who think they understand the game better because their team is better. Being a Scotland supporter across numerous sports it has been something I have got quite used to, and with Rugby it has only really been the last few years where we are being taken seriously, but that hasnt meant we lack a serious opinion previously.

For me this is where people struggle with England. Because when England progress, as they invariably do, the bandwagon gets uncontrollable. It is great on here (and it does happen in real life) where the England supporters are decent knowledgeable and see the game accurately. Rugby is a game where the in match passion both on and off the pitch tend to be parked immediately. The rivalries are deep, but the passion never subsides into aggression, and I have had to front out way more humiliating defeats than most.

In terms of what happened at the weekend, with the score being so tight everyone is likely to look back on the one or two decisions that could have swayed it. I think the results were about right - the better two teams won through, and I say that having watched the French in particular thinking at times they are the ultimate Rugby team. The fact SA stopped them, makes the result all the more impressive.

On paper I think SA destroy England, but in terms of the effort taken to get to the semis the SA have had the far tougher path - does that work for or against England - I guess we will find out soon. But for me England have had about as easy a route to a semi final as you could ever get, and will receive their first elite test at the weekend.

We are a decent team, nothing that happened over the WC changes my mind on that, and we got destroyed twice. But do England have that tournament pedigree? Possibly yes - again we find out on Saturday.