Planet Rugby Forum

Scrumhead

I didn't catch every game, but from what I saw I'd go for: Poirot Taylor Sinckler Ryan AWJ Leitch Gadzhiev Himeno Nagare Ford Kolbe Lienert-Brown Radrada Matsushima Barrett Mine would be very similar with Scott Barrett instead of AWJ and Horie at hooker. Tough on Lafaele at 13, but not many stand-o...

Scrumhead

Australia would be my pick of opponents. Agreed. My fear of any QF is that we are going in undercooked. I know the arguement about extra rest, etc and I'd even buy into it if we'd played a full match against Argentina. But we've basically had 3 warm up matches and a 2 week rest. The Welsh and Irish...

Scrumhead

Agreed. Japan vs. SA will be huge.

Scrumhead

BlackMac wrote:Horribly one sided game. Japanese are total quality.

True. The Scots need to pray that Japan have a meltdown like England did in the 6 Nations.

Scrumhead

It would be great to see the Churchill Cup (or something similar) back, but I can’t see any appetite for it from clubs. In England where the players are paid for by the clubs with the EPS deal covering their time with England, the Saxons is more or less a non-starter. Even if we limited the senior s...

Scrumhead

What would a combined Pacific Islands team look like right now? I’d go with something like: 1. Fisi’ihoi (Tonga) 2. Matavesi (Fiji) 3. Ala’alatoa (Samoa) 4. Nakarawa (Fiji) 5. Le’aupepe (Samoa) 6. Vui (Samoa) 7. Yato (Fiji) 8. Mata (Fiji) 9. Takulua (Tonga) 10. Volavola (Fiji) 11. Radradra (Fiji) 12...

Scrumhead

Madigan is firmly second choice behind Sheedy I think. Looking at him now, it’s hard to think he was starting for Ireland in their last RWC Quarter Final.

Scrumhead

I wonder if either Eng or Fran have lost any of their games would this game have been cancelled. Of course not, €€€.£££,$$ Anyway it was a lose-lose situation for France mainly if we had won, good outcome for us (as long as huget doesn't play and Vahaamahina doesn't try a 30 meters pass) I think Fr...

Scrumhead

England looking very accurate - going to take a bloody good effort to match them to be frank. Scary You just need to get inside their heads. Once they start panicking, it all unravel. Wouldn't be surprised if they got frustrated against Pocock and Hooper in a QF, let their discipline slip and go ou...

Scrumhead

How about blaming the player, rather than rugby. Lavanini should be outcast, he cost his team any chance of progressing. That is a much better punishment than any fine of ban. His red card was so easily avoidable. England's 7 showed how you can drive players back even when tackling low. Lavanini is...

Scrumhead

Indeed - taste is subjective, although I have to say, there are some abominable things posted in this thread ... My personal preference is medium rare with béarnaise or something like a Roquefort butter. As much as I like fillet, I have had plenty of hanger steak or other cheaper cuts that have a lo...

Scrumhead

Clog50Percent wrote:Stuart Barnes talks so much trash

He does, but he’s not commentating today ...

Scrumhead

A shocker of a tackle by the dirtiest player in the sport. Deserved red. Youngs is killing us, absolute shite. Daly is having a superb game. Manu needs more ball. Billy looks unfit. Agree with all of the above. Poor game so far. No debate on the red but it’s taken the spectacle out of the game. I’m...

Scrumhead

He’s OK. Never going to set the world alight, but solid and hard working. I would have been happy enough to keep him as a squad player.

Scrumhead

Nervous about this. We have no idea where England are in terms of World Cup form as we have shown the square root of f u ck all so far. To win the cup we now need to beat 5 tier one teams in a row (unless Japan get in somewhere by an incredible miracle). Massive ask. IF (and it is definitely an if)...

Scrumhead

If Argentina were to beat England it would be an upset, but it’s still Tier 1 vs. Tier 1.

The real upsets are Tier 2 teams toppling Tier 1 opponents as Japan did yesterday.

I’d say Fiji vs. Wales is probably the best chance of that, but it’s not inconceivable that Samoa could give Scotland a shock.

Scrumhead

Firstly, it’s unedifying to see this from a coach but I think he has a point in some aspects. The officiating around dangerous play seems inconsistent and messy. The elbow into a Patchell was very harsh indeed. Very harsh. Francis getting off is also odd. If it continues, we’re going to get a big c...

Scrumhead

Agreed. As I posted in the ‘Next Upset’ thread, I still think Fiji have one big game in them. Beating Georgia wouldn’t do much to make up for losing to Uruguay, but beating Wales would. Realistically, they know they won’t qualify for the quarters, so they may target the Wales game as their shot at r...

Scrumhead

Fiji to tip Wales over. I don’t think this will happen, but I still think Fiji have one big game in them. Beating Georgia wouldn’t do much to make up for losing to Uruguay, but beating Wales would. Realistically, they know they won’t qualify, so they may target this game as their shot at redemption?

Scrumhead

Thorley would be miles ahead for me but he crocked himself towards the end of last season. Thorley is hugely exciting. If he can build on his form from last season, he’ll surely be in the squad. IMO, he brings the nuggety/hard to tackle qualities of Nowell with a lot more gas, which is potent combi...

Scrumhead

Found the time to watch the whole USA game through, Joe C was a bit shit to be honest. He's saved from a 3/10 by the two tries. What really struck me was how hesitant he is going into contact most of the time. I think this is partly because he is a late uptaker of rugby. It doesn't yet come natural...

Scrumhead

Is Fonotia coming back from injury? I’m surprised he’s not making the starting XV, particularly after Lee-Lo’s suspension.

Scrumhead

Well this morning puts England being undercooked vs Tonga into context To some extent, yes. I think Argentina took their foot off the gas after they had secured the BP, but I also think they underestimated Tonga’s ability to come back in to the game. Ultimately, they got the 5 points they needed, b...

Scrumhead

MASSIVE performance from Japan. Throughly deserved for playing with intensity, accuracy and ambition. Surely they’re odds-on favourites to win the group now? In a weird way, I wonder if NZ are a better opponent for Ireland than SA? They’d obviously need a huge performance, but Ireland know they can ...

Scrumhead

Uruguay have been brilliant and totally deserving of their 24pts so far.

Fiji have been shocking. It’s like they’re asleep.

Scrumhead

Indeed. It seemed like Poite wanted to give a red for the Lee-Lo tackle only for the TMO to insist that there was mitigation. I have no idea how the second one wasn’t a red though.

Scrumhead

Samoa were very lucky to keep 15 on the field.

Surely that will put them under the kind of scrutiny where they can’t afford anything questionable in future games.

They may be a better side than today’s game suggests, but on that evidence they won’t trouble Scotland, Ireland or Japan too much.

Scrumhead

c69 wrote:Ref bottled that

100% - clear yellow card

Scrumhead

Yep. Petti has been quality.

I’m just annoyed I chose to start Nakarawa ahead of him in my fantasy side.

Scrumhead

Wendigo7 wrote:France 20-3 Argentina HT

Where’s Argentina so far??

Indeed. I thought this would be much closer. Full credit to France for some great play, but Argentina have been surprisingly poor.

Scrumhead

France looking good so far!

Scrumhead

I don’t know their squad well enough to judge, but as far as I can tell, the backs are more or less first choice minus Veainu.

I’m surprised not to see Steve Mafi in the forwards, but it doesn’t seem to be a 2nd XV. Mix and match at worst.

Scrumhead

Tonga’s side is out now. Some mean looking dudes in there but few I’m familiar with. Ironically for all of their power, the one player I would have been most wary of is Telusa Veainu and he’s not playing.

Scrumhead

Please can someone explain to me (as a massive fan of his) why Launch is 4th-choice lock? Aside from line-outs, I consider him better at almost all facets of play than Kruis and Lawes, especially tight, defensive work and on the ground and he's a good carrier. He's not as flashy as Lawes in the tac...

Scrumhead

Japan are a good side and will have masses of motivation after an unlucky exit in 2015 and playing at home this time round.

If I’m looking for upsets, it seems more likely than Georgia beating Wales for example.

Scrumhead

OK, but I’ve we’d have taken a 6th prop, it would have been a tighthead anyway, so we would have been in the same situation.

IF Mako is genuinely going to be fit for Argentina and France, I would have done the same.

Scrumhead

Well it’s definitely a bold selection from France. Lots of attacking potential but also looks a little fallible in defence.

How often has Vakatawa played at 12? I’ve only ever seen him at 13 or wing which are both very different to 12 - particularly from a defensive point of view.

Scrumhead

It’s hard to know how much to read into pre-tournament form. I’m not sure if it’s that big of a call, but I’m backing Japan to beat Scotland in the final group game to make the quarters. Townsend has mostly made conservative selections and I think that he’s missed an opportunity by not taking Hutchi...

Scrumhead

Why do people rate Fiji so much? Beating France in the autumn was funny as fudge, but not a meaningful yardstick because it's bloody France and the old cliché is still true. Scotland battered them beforehand and since then the only somewhat meaningful game they've played was against Japan which the...

Scrumhead

Wales aren't going to lose to Fiji, FFS. They might give it a rattle and score some good tries, but Wales are far too controlling and put huge pressure on the opposition. Dude, Fiji are pretty damn good (for second tier standards). I think you're underestimating them. Not that the IRB rankings mean...

Search found 2486 matches