The 2015 rugby union thread

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OK I am getting totally excited about the Rugby World Cup beginning mid-September. Nobody in Melbourne gets it, I swear to god. Honestly though that's possibly a good thing. Being an All Blacks fan at a Queensland high school during the 2003 Cup wasn't the best experience of my life.

But oh fuck me how am I going to manage all these early mornings? Between World Cup games and covering U2 shows in Europe I'm going to die. Fucking timezones.

CARN THE ALL BLACKS.
 
I'll be looking forward to this. The rugby WCs are always exciting. Still have memories of being an 8 year old and despairing at the sight of Jonny Wilkinson shaping to take a kick.
 
Thank god Jonny Wilkinson and his pokey-arse goalkicking saved us from a Wallabies WC victory in 2003.
 
That Mortlock intercept try in the semi(?) against NZ was the best though.
 
New Zealand lost the quarter final to France (the only time we haven't made it to at least the semis). We lost by two points after the referee missed a forward pass and awarded a try to France.

But that's not what aggravates me the most. It was our own fault we lost. We were so confident of making the semis that we did not select our absolute best team. It's a fucking sudden death game! You can't rest a single first-choice player! I am sure that had the selectors not been such cocky, self-assured idiots, we would've scored sufficient points to neutralise the ref's shocking call.
 
I recall the 03 World Cup being huge. Everyone was into it. I still remember watching Australia play Argentina at a mate's place and staying over.

But aside from that I have zero memories of union. Hopefully this WC picks things up again. I do generally enjoy it more than league.
 
You're both just bitter because my country flogs the shit out of both of yours at rugby.
 
There's a good article on the Guardian about the All Blacks and rugby in New Zealand: The making of an All Black: how New Zealand sustains its rugby dynasty | Sport | The Guardian

But I post because it linked to this unbelievable video. I didn't watch this game live (on account of being well and truly asleep!) and thank god I did not. I can barely watch this video even though I know the final outcome, I'm on the edge of my fucking seat. I don't think I would've coped live. Keep in mind we had (spoiler: have) never lost to Ireland and we were aiming to be the first team in the professional era to go through a season undefeated:

 
Come on people, get into this thread, it's World Cup time! And watch that awesome video in my last post.

I didn't stay up to watch the first game, but it sounds like the scoreline flattered the Poms in the end, with Fiji missing a heap of kicks. England are going to need to turn it on in more than just fits and starts if they want to ensure they get out of the group of death, but picking up a bonus point is going to be immensely valuable.

I really am frustrated by the timing of some of these games. Fortunately most All Blacks games are at 5-6am Aussie time, but the most significant of our pool games - against Argentina in a couple of days - is at bloody 1:45am. In general there are a whole bunch of games I'm not that fussed about at 5-6am and all the big ones I want to see are at around 2am. Ugh. These tournaments are meant to be scheduled around my needs, damnit. Me, Bender!
 
Free to air coverage isn't too bad. All of the finals will be on Gem, plus Australia's group games and a selection of other significant group games like New Zealand vs Argentina, England vs Wales, and South Africa vs Samoa: Rugby World Cup 2015 TV guide | The Roar
 
Nice, the quarter past 1am matches probably the best bet for me aside from Australia's 8.30pm ACDT match.
 
Tonga vs Georgia first game I get to see. Sure it's a battle of the minnows but I really want to see the Georgians do well. If they keep improving they may have a case for admission to the Six Nations somewhere down the track. And they lead at half-time. :up:
 
Georgia are a bit of a random rugby union side, you'd never would have guessed they'd have a presence in the WC. Much like Romania. Hell, I swear Russia were in a WC or two.
 
Georgia are a bit of a random rugby union side, you'd never would have guessed they'd have a presence in the WC. Much like Romania. Hell, I swear Russia were in a WC or two.

Ceaucescu loved rugby and funnelled money into it. The Romanian team of the eighties and early nineties were on the brink of greatness - they even held the All Blacks to a draw in Bucharest! Georgia in the last couple of decades have been really building. Second try tonight was a thriller; thought they'd blown it and then they suddenly found space.

As for Russia, they ought to have been there this year. Uruguay pulled off a miracle in the final qualifying game to knock them out.
 
A bit of a poke around on Wikipedia reveals that there's a traditional Georgian sport called lelo that's fairly similar to rugby - to the point that a rugby try in Georgia is known as a lelo. So that would explain its considerable popularity there.

They've got this eighteen year old kid, Vasil Lobzhanidze, the youngest person to play in an RWC, and he's having a quality game today. Hell, the Georgian defence has been really solid. Tonga's kept trying and trying and they just cannot get through.
 
That's pretty cool. I've always found the greatly varying sport obsessions in different European countries (and their origins) to be very intriguing. Shame about the scant FTA coverage, I swear it's been far superior in past WCs.
 
Tonga finally break the Georgian defence! Seven minutes left now and just a converted try in it. Georgian cause not helped by having a player sin-binned.

Something really needs to be done for Georgia on the international stage. They're not yet good enough to match it with the Six Nations - probably not even Italy - but they're too good for the rest of Europe and keep beating up on all their opponents, even now Romania are slipping beneath them.
 
Canada blew the first chance to score in their game against Ireland, and now the Irish are all over them. This is getting ugly.
 
Georgia have done it! Wonderful scenes as one%

What the fuck happened to this post?

It was a couple of paragraphs about how great the Georgian celebrations were, including Gorgodze talking about how for the rest of the tournament Georgia will "do our maximum ... and enjoy it against New Zealand".

Oh well.

Ian! :wave:
 
Oh geez, barely half an hour gone in this game and Ireland already have a bonus point in the bag.
 
Canada finally get points on the board with a great intercept try! I felt so bad for them after the TMO denied them a try on half-time - it was the right call, but they deserved something for their efforts.

Bit late here now. Hope this doesn't become too much of a blowout.
 
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