Rugby World Cup ** NZ v Japan **

[vegster]

The come back starts here. Seriously though, the Rugby World Cup is as bad as it's Cricket equivalent for pointless games that the minnows have no chance of winning. In fact it is worse, at least Ireland have beaten England and Pakistan in recent years and the Netherlands have come close. The likes of Japan, Georgia, Romania, Russia and Namibia are never going to beat anyone.

Indeed, its a pointless round or two of slaughter before the real games start.

 

[vegster]

True, but I think the smaller nations are improving by playing the bigger sides. Argentina and USA to name just two who have improved greatly over the last few years.
Besides what are the alternatives ? Sorry you small nations are too crap to play in the world cup ?[/

What we do is organise a two tier system where the likes of Georgia,Solomon Islands, Isle of Wight etc play each other... the ultimate winner gets slipped in with the top 11 nations.

 

[wehatepalace]

True, but I think the smaller nations are improving by playing the bigger sides. Argentina and USA to name just two who have improved greatly over the last few years.
Besides what are the alternatives ? Sorry you small nations are too crap to play in the world cup ?

What we do is organise a two tier system where the likes of Georgia,Solomon Islands, Isle of Wight etc play each other... the ultimate winner gets slipped in with the top 11 nations.

Yeah you could do, but then it's not really a true world cup then, besides I bet if you asked any of the Japenese players what the highlight of this world cup is, they will say playing the All Blacks

 

[Pantani]

True, but I think the smaller nations are improving by playing the bigger sides. Argentina and USA to name just two who have improved greatly over the last few years.
Besides what are the alternatives ? Sorry you small nations are too crap to play in the world cup ?

Yes. They would improve more by playing competitive games against teams at or just above their level rather than getting slaughtered by the top sides. We do not let the terrible teams in the football World Cup. As it stands RWC has four groups of five. Make them four of four then it is suddenly much more competitive. Have a junior competition running along side for the minnows, so they still get the games and a proper competition. Same as they should do for Cricket although logistically Cricket would be a bit more difficult due to the length of the matches.

 

[Simster]

A World Cup in any sport has to strike a balance between showcasing the sport and providing meaningful competition. Football has led the way here, but it really wasn't long ago when that was much the same. In the mid 80s, England battered Turkey 9-0 and 5-0 in qualifying for the World Cup in 86, for example and at the tournament itself, we've seen 10-1 and 8-0 scores since then.

And while 83-7 is a mauling in rugby, Japan lost this fixture 145-17 in the 1987 tournament.

New Zealand play expansive rugby that looks good against teams with a shit front row and no way of containing their backs - but I bet England LABOUR to something like a 15 point win over Georgia.

 

[Gus is god]

Last time England played Georgia we won by 70+ points.

that said there alot better today than they were then, they are very physical now

 

[wehatepalace]

Although they've been well beaten, well done Japan I thought they've put up a good battle today, still competing right at the end

 

[Pantani]

A World Cup in any sport has to strike a balance between showcasing the sport and providing meaningful competition. Football has led the way here, but it really wasn't long ago when that was much the same. In the mid 80s, England battered Turkey 9-0 and 5-0 in qualifying for the World Cup in 86, for example and at the tournament itself, we've seen 10-1 and 8-0 scores since then.

And while 83-7 is a mauling in rugby, Japan lost this fixture 145-17 in the 1987 tournament.

New Zealand play expansive rugby that looks good against teams with a shit front row and no way of containing their backs - but I bet England LABOUR to something like a 15 point win over Georgia.

Qualifying being the important word. Interestingly I have just looked up how Japan qualified for this World Cup. They had to win the Asian Five Nations beating such rugby power houses as Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Arabian Gulf and South Korea with an aggregate points total of 326 for and 30 against. So normally it would be them giving out the tonkings. They really could do with having some proper competitive matches.

 

[vegster]

Yeah you could do, but then it's not really a true world cup then, besides I bet if you asked any of the Japenese players what the highlight of this world cup is, they will say playing the All Blacks

I suppose you are right, this is just a sporting version of " Endurance " for the Japanese, they certainly seem to enjoy being abused and humiliated.

 

[Simster]

Japan host it in 8 years time. A quarter final place might not be beyond them if they could find a decent front row.

Rugby is the second sport in Georgia, and the main sport in some regions. They will be no pushovers and I reckon might get close to England if the English don't give their backs the ball.

 

[strings]

The first 3 teams in each pool qualify automatically for the next world cup. So there is something to play for, even if they do not qualify for the quarters.

 

[Mendoza]

83-7

looks like some of Sussex's batting performances of late

 

[Simster]

Qualifying being the important word. Interestingly I have just looked up how Japan qualified for this World Cup. They had to win the Asian Five Nations beating such rugby power houses as Hong Kong, Kazakhstan, Arabian Gulf and South Korea with an aggregate points total of 326 for and 30 against. So normally it would be them giving out the tonkings. They really could do with having some proper competitive matches.

They do get competitive games - the Pacific Nations Cup:

Pacific Nations Cup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not as high a standard as Tri/4nations or 6 nations, but competitive...

 

[Pantani]

They do get competitive games - the Pacific Nations Cup:

Pacific Nations Cup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Not as high a standard as Tri/4nations or 6 nations, but competitive...

A competition played just once five years ago? Or not, sorry only looked at the five nations bit of it.

 

[Simster]

A competition played just once five years ago?

Erm, no:

2011 IRB Pacific Nations Cup - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Pantani]

See edit above.