RUGBY World Cup 2007

[jacobus]

RUGBY World Cup 2007 in France 07 Sept. - 20 Oct

Rugby World Cup 2007

Favorites: All Blacks (New Zealand), Springboks (South Africa), Frogs (France), Wallabies (Australia)

Outsiders: the current champion the 'Poms' (England), Ireland, Wales, Los Pumas (Argentina)

Go The ALL BLACKS

before every game the ALL BLACKS perform the tratidional Maoeri war dance 'HAKA'. take a look the impressive pre-game HAKA performed by the ALL BLACKS:

The new Kapa O Pango HAKA before the game against France

the new HAKA before the game against Australia

the old KA MATE Haka - (adidas ad)

 

[intedomine]

The All Blacks seems unbeatable this year, but don't discount the French on home soil.

I'll be gunning for Wales, and of course any of the many outsiders of the tournament (Portugal) and hoping to see a strong showing from the Pacific Island nations.

 

[cobl04]

Is Namibia playing?

 

[jacobus]

@COBL_04: Namibia is in Pool D together with France, Ireland, Argentina and Georgia

 

[intedomine]

Look out for Georgia

 

[yertle-the-turtle]

Can't wait for this. I first started watching rugby in the last World Cup and while I haven't been following it quite as religiously it's a beautiful game indeed.

I was rooting for England last time round but I don't know who I'll be pulling for this year...Japan definitely, but I doubt we'll do much!

Oh yes, and All Blacks to win.

 

[cobl04]

Cheers jacobus I love them.

Is Johnny Wilkinson playing I hope not I can't stand him and his get-90 degrees-angle-to-the-ground-so-my-ass- pokes-out-massive penalty kick. He sunk us.

And the All Blacks aren't unbeatable we bet them not long ago.

However I'm shattered I won't get to see any more Wendell Sailor line runs.. that's why I loved the first one.

Beautiful game? No. Better than League? Yes. Pales in comparison to AFL? Dear god yes. A bunch of blokes running five metres and then falling on top of each other? Yes.

Still don't mind it though

 

[LJT]

Ireland to hopefully win....honestly I still think we are the best team in the Northern Hemisphere on our day...though France seem to be more consistent and more options.

 

[guill]

The All-Blacks are amazing, they are the greatest, it's not even necessary to start this competition, they are so strong

 

[gav6519]

ireland will never have a better chance than this year! theirs a real belief here that we can do it!

 

[1stepcloser]

The All-Blacks are amazing, they are the greatest, it's not even necessary to start this competition, they are so strong

everyone said that about brazil before the 2006 football world cup...

 

[coolian2]

Portugal must be a dark horse.

 

[toscano]

everyone said that about brazil before the 2006 football world cup...

And the 1982 World Cup

 

[snowbunny00774]

I'll be in Ireland from about the 12th on so hopefully they make it and I can soak up the atmosphere for at least two games. I miss being there for games

 

[GibsonGirl]

 

[Axver]

Well, it's no secret that I'm a passionate All Blacks supporter. We've got one of the best teams we've ever had at the moment and they damn well deserve to win a World Cup, but will they? I'm hesitantly optimistic that we can do well, especially after the loss to Australia. That was the loss we needed to have. We'd been playing like shit prior to that, too much focus on flashy showing off and not enough on basic skills. So I think that loss was a big wake-up call and the All Blacks will head in strong. It helps that we seem to be finishing much stronger than other teams; even if another team piles on the points in the first half, the All Blacks have proven their ability to grind the opposition down and take the game back after 60-70 minutes.

What worries me is that the All Blacks have a piss-easy group. The second best team is fucking SCOTLAND. We might as well play Auckland Grammar's First XV! So with such an easy group, the All Blacks will not have had a considerable challenge prior to the quarter-finals, where they will face either France or Ireland. I hope they're ready for it and there's no nasty surprise.

My picks for semi-finalists: New Zealand, France, South Africa, England. Australia and Ireland will bow out in the quarter-finals. Also, I damn well hope the Argentinians make the quarter-finals.

As for the winner? Well, it's been twenty years since an All Black raised the World Cup. It's about bloody time that the Cup came back home.

 

[cobl04]

Hey Axver, is the name Clive Dunn familiar to you? I work with him and apparently when he was younger he played rugby in Sheep Country, and at one stage got to one level below the All Blacks (provincial I think he called it)?

 

[Axver]

Well, the name rings a bell, but that's probably because there was a Clive Dunn in the British comedy Dad's Army too.

Until the creation of the Super 12 in the 1990s, the highest level below the All Blacks (besides the obvious sub-national teams such as the NZ Maori) were the provincial teams in the National Provincial Cup. Though there were also occasional North Island vs South Island games.

Making a provincial team is pretty damn cool. My own great-grandfather played for Otago and a year for Wellington.

 

[babyman]

I'm confident about Italy, I think we will do a nice one this year, Pierre Berbizier is preparing a good team, the last 6 nations proved it, we won against Scotland (3 tries in 5 minutes ) and wales, and did a fine job even against england. It will be great to play against New Zealand, although it's gonna be a 100-0..............
Just to see the HAKA gives me thrills, hope the title will go to the All Blacks! It must be New Zealand's year this time!

 

[cobl04]

Whatever happened Johnny "right angle" Wilkinson? Is he playing? I haven't heard from him in so long/

 

[Axver]

I think Wilkinson is playing, but my bet is that he won't last two games and the English team will catastrophically implode in his absence.

So why did I predict England will make the semis in my first post on this thread? Wilkinson will be fit for the game that matters: the quarter-final.

 

[U2@NYC]

Go Pumas!!!!

If we can beat, or at least scare, France in the opener, anything can happen...

I hate the fact that the Rugby World Cup here in the U.S. is only on PPV and they make you pay like $10 per game! These Americans are sissies...

 

[Axver]

Pool D is definitely the Group of Death, with France, Ireland, and Argentina all candidates to go through. Considering how well the Pumas have been playing the last couple of years, I wouldn't be shocked if they beat either or both of France and Ireland and reach the quarter-finals. Hell, assuming they don't meet the All Blacks in that quarter-final (which will happen to 2nd place in their group, assuming the All Blacks win Group C), I wouldn't be shocked if they end up in the semi-finals. But if they meet the All Blacks ... well, the Pumas have drawn once and never won, and they've always been thumped in games outside Argentina.

 

[GibsonGirl]

CHRISTMAS HAS COME EARLY

I just noticed that our satellite provider has recently added Setana Sports, with a free preview lasting until 4 September. Holy shit, the warm up between South Africa and Connacht is on tomorrow, live. I can't believe it! For the first time in six years, I'm going to be watching live rugby with my Boks jersey on! Never mind that it's going to be a piss poor match!

IT'S ABOUT BLOODY TIME, CANADA

 

[Axver]

That's fucking awesome news, Steph!

Is that channel or any other covering the actual World Cup?

I'm getting so fucking excited about this already. Three weeks to go!

COME ON ALL BLACKS.

 

[GibsonGirl]

They're covering the whole World Cup, every single match, live! Including all the warm-ups leading up to it! I've been doing some investigating, and apparently they also air Tri Nations, Super 14, Currie Cup, you name it. It's like I've died and gone to heaven. I'm going to have to bunk off the first two months of this upcoming semester so that I can stay at my parents' house and watch World Cup rugby.

BOK BEFOK!

 

[Axver]

Fact: university is a triviality compared to the Rugby World Cup.

I am going to be SO TIRED all through September (thank fuck I get two weeks of holidays in the middle of the Cup) thanks to the timezone difference. But what do I care? Unlike the Cricket World Cup, where everyone without pay TV got screwed over, we're getting decent coverage of this! Free-to-air Channel 10 are covering 20 of the 40 pool games live with the rest on delay, and everything from the quarter-finals onwards will be live.

The Aussie advertising for the World Cup is hysterical. I love how they're trying to hype up the most shithouse Wallabies team since the eighties. And in their glorification of Wallaby achievements, they've forgotten one fact: the most consistent team in World Cup history is actually the All Blacks (nobody else has made the semis every single time).

We have to bring the Cup home this year, damnit. I do wish we had 2005-06's team though. Perhaps I'm just jittery and being overly critical of this year's team, but the 2005-06 squad was easily one of the best teams any country has ever been able to field.

 

[Axver]

OK, anybody watching the RWC warm-up games?

What the FUCK happened in that Ireland vs Italy game? Why on earth did the game not end after Italy scored a try after full time? And how could the referee be so blind as to award that last try to Ireland?

 

[cobl04]

It's gonna be really interesting actually. I'll be watching closely.

Let's hope it's as good as the Cricket World Cup was

 

[Axver]

Given how woeful the Cricket World Cup was (Bob Woolmer's death, dragging on boringly forever, and the final ending in completely humiliating disarray), I damn well hope the Rugby World Cup gives the ICC a few lessons on how to run a successful tournament!