Conspiracies and Dry Powder
Sooooo - I'm slowing coming to the realisation that everything is coming up AB's at this RWC. We have all underestimated the genius of the coaching group and the master plan they have put in place to bring the cup home.
Bear with me while we look at the events that have transpired over recent times, and extrapolate to make a couple of predictions:
Rennie gets ditched for Eddie - Foz gets in his ear and sows a few seeds ("mate, start a rumour that Hoops and Quade are a bit toxic, I'll buy you a couple of beers") - see below for importance later
Foz picks Narewa, knowing he wouldn't play - effectively giving him a free option to choose his last guy during the tournament - credit to @Duluth for sniffing this one first
The team make the tough decision to throw the opener against France - it's not an easy call to drop a pool game, but as we all know, history is yesterdays newspaper. Stunning and brave really.
We now face Ireland in the QF after Fozzie does a deal with Rassie to also throw their pool match against Ireland ("bro, if we both drop a game, we can avoid each other until the Final!"....."iz it?!!")
We now plot to take Ireland out in the QF. Sure, not easy, but look what Foz and co have done to maintain maximum powder-dryness - kept Roigard hidden until this week, forced DeGroot to get suspended, made up injuries to Frizell and Jordie, told Rieko to pretend to have the dropsies and miss stand-up tackles, make Jordan smoke a blunt before each game, hardly play DMac, drop Sami completely, and have BB run at 80% pace and kick aimlessly whenever possible. Bone fucking dry.
As for the QF opposition, those Irish bastards have enormous pressure on them. They have QF ghosts, a win streak to protect, and they've just seen a systematic destruction by the (apparently) re-born All Blacks side - aura is back like you wouldn't fucken believe and they're quaking in their boots
So now we get past Ireland, and appear on the other side of the draw as planned, to presumably face a depleted Wallaby side in the SF (see first point) - but wait on, the plan has worked even better than expected, and we now have Wales or Argentina or fucking Japan in the SF - holy smokes! We roll Wales obviously (apologies @MiketheSnow ), and fuck me if we aren't in the RWC Final.
SA await us, we battle to the death, and ultimately prevail in a dogfight. The SA 8-0 bench backfires after they lose Faf to a hair injury early, and Rassie is consigned to history as being somewhat of a flawed visionary.
Fozzie returns home a hero, and Razors contract is torn up. Fozzie signs for 8 more years, and Razor takes up the Wallaby reigns after Eddie signs with Japan at Christmas.
Anyone buying this??!!
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
Totally agree, Fiji is almost overachieving with last-minute coach change and all sorts of (as standard) financial and governance shenanigans at the union. But Samoa and Tonga have pretty much sucked. The same can be said for Japan, I guess Joseph not getting all his players for a year-long camp this time has impacted them
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
The ex internationals have been fairly average across the board, including the ones that get brought up frequently as ones that NZ could do with.
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
Tonga look unfit, and TBH poorly coached.
Samoa don't look as smart as their pro paycheques might indicate. I'm halfway through the Japan game and they're just trying to bash their way to a win. Again: poorly coached.
Or both sides are just ignoring the coach and doing what they want.
@NTA said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
Tonga look unfit, and TBH poorly coached.
Samoa don't look as smart as their pro paycheques might indicate. I'm halfway through the Japan game and they're just trying to bash their way to a win. Again: poorly coached.
Or both sides are just ignoring the coach and doing what they want.
Actually the bashing straight up the guts is what got them back in it
@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@NTA said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
Tonga look unfit, and TBH poorly coached.
Samoa don't look as smart as their pro paycheques might indicate. I'm halfway through the Japan game and they're just trying to bash their way to a win. Again: poorly coached.
Or both sides are just ignoring the coach and doing what they want.
Actually the bashing straight up the guts is what got them back in it
I'm more of the opinion that it was smarter play rather than just bash. Pick n go rather than trying to grunt it up in channel 1 or 2 removed Japan's advantage: speed.
Japan were determined to play line defence and probably let them carry a few too many times from pick n go - most teams can't get more than a couple of those away because eventually they get turned over.
Japan weren't interested in the ruck unless it was one of their back row getting an isolated runner a distance from the previous ruck.
@NTA said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MiketheSnow said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@NTA said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@mariner4life said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Are we allowed to be a bit disappointed in the performance of Samoa and Tonga in this cup?
They have never had greater access to players than they do now. Both teams loaded with pros, including ex-Internationals from higher ranked teams. And they have been pretty ordinary. Each will probably get a soft kill to at least get a win on the board, but they haven't been great.
Tonga look unfit, and TBH poorly coached.
Samoa don't look as smart as their pro paycheques might indicate. I'm halfway through the Japan game and they're just trying to bash their way to a win. Again: poorly coached.
Or both sides are just ignoring the coach and doing what they want.
Actually the bashing straight up the guts is what got them back in it
I'm more of the opinion that it was smarter play rather than just bash. Pick n go rather than trying to grunt it up in channel 1 or 2 removed Japan's advantage: speed.
Japan were determined to play line defence and probably let them carry a few too many times from pick n go - most teams can't get more than a couple of those away because eventually they get turned over.
Japan weren't interested in the ruck unless it was one of their back row getting an isolated runner a distance from the previous ruck.
Absolutely
I simplified it, possibly oversimplified it
There was no advantage to spinning it wide against a fast defence with one extra player
Great in the moment adjustment from Samoa
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Sooooo - I'm slowing coming to the realisation that everything is coming up AB's at this RWC. We have all underestimated the genius of the coaching group and the master plan they have put in place to bring the cup home.
Bear with me while we look at the events that have transpired over recent times, and extrapolate to make a couple of predictions:
Rennie gets ditched for Eddie - Foz gets in his ear and sows a few seeds ("mate, start a rumour that Hoops and Quade are a bit toxic, I'll buy you a couple of beers") - see below for importance later
Foz picks Narewa, knowing he wouldn't play - effectively giving him a free option to choose his last guy during the tournament - credit to @Duluth for sniffing this one first
The team make the tough decision to throw the opener against France - it's not an easy call to drop a pool game, but as we all know, history is yesterdays newspaper. Stunning and brave really.
We now face Ireland in the QF after Fozzie does a deal with Rassie to also throw their pool match against Ireland ("bro, if we both drop a game, we can avoid each other until the Final!"....."iz it?!!")
We now plot to take Ireland out in the QF. Sure, not easy, but look what Foz and co have done to maintain maximum powder-dryness - kept Roigard hidden until this week, forced DeGroot to get suspended, made up injuries to Frizell and Jordie, told Rieko to pretend to have the dropsies and miss stand-up tackles, make Jordan smoke a blunt before each game, hardly play DMac, drop Sami completely, and have BB run at 80% pace and kick aimlessly whenever possible. Bone fucking dry.
As for the QF opposition, those Irish bastards have enormous pressure on them. They have QF ghosts, a win streak to protect, and they've just seen a systematic destruction by the (apparently) re-born All Blacks side - aura is back like you wouldn't fucken believe and they're quaking in their boots
So now we get past Ireland, and appear on the other side of the draw as planned, to presumably face a depleted Wallaby side in the SF (see first point) - but wait on, the plan has worked even better than expected, and we now have Wales or Argentina or fucking Japan in the SF - holy smokes! We roll Wales obviously (apologies @MiketheSnow ), and fuck me if we aren't in the RWC Final.
SA await us, we battle to the death, and ultimately prevail in a dogfight. The SA 8-0 bench backfires after they lose Faf to a hair injury early, and Rassie is consigned to history as being somewhat of a flawed visionary.
Fozzie returns home a hero, and Razors contract is torn up. Fozzie signs for 8 more years, and Razor takes up the Wallaby reigns after Eddie signs with Japan at Christmas.
Anyone buying this??!!
The ultimate irony of losing to Wales in a SF 
Watching the first half of Romania versus Scotland it struck me… The difference between semiprofessional players and full time. It’s hard enough to get the timing right and heights right for tackles for full time pro players. Honestly I can’t believe that it ever going to be intentional. It just looks too fast and too precise. And slow motion is never going to be speed that happens nor the speed that judged at… I just feel bad for Romania because the guys have had a couple of incidents that I don’t think was ever even close to malicious. I’m not saying that they are inept by any stretch. It’s just the difference between full-time players and guys who aren’t playing nearly as much per year….
Worth sharing widely... well at least on the front page. (@Duluth pretty sure I'm not doubling up this time ? )
Conspiracies and Dry Powder
Voodoo explains to all you Sheeple exactly why the All Black Illuminati under Fozzie the Freemason have this World Cup thing in the bag.
What are the outcomes for Pool B ?
I see Scotland are still third behind SA despite having a better points differential. I’m assuming this is cos they lost to them ?
So given SA will trounce Tonga with the four try bonus does that mean Scotland have to beat Ireland AND score four tries to qualify for the quarters ?
( he said with more than a hint of hope and desperation……)
@MN5 If you assume SA trounce Tonga - get the bonus point and end up with the best points difference, then if Scotland finish level on points with Ireland, they will qualify.
If the Scots don't get a four try bonus then they have to stop Ireland getting any bonus points, etc.
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 If you assume SA trounce Tonga - get the bonus point and end up with the best points difference, then if Scotland finish level on points with Ireland, they will qualify.
If the Scots don't get a four try bonus then they have to stop Ireland getting any bonus points, etc.
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
Sensible rules IMO
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 If you assume SA trounce Tonga - get the bonus point and end up with the best points difference, then if Scotland finish level on points with Ireland, they will qualify.
If the Scots don't get a four try bonus then they have to stop Ireland getting any bonus points, etc.
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
Sensible rules IMO
So correct me if I’m wrong but SA are a potential chance to miss out ?
@MN5 said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 If you assume SA trounce Tonga - get the bonus point and end up with the best points difference, then if Scotland finish level on points with Ireland, they will qualify.
If the Scots don't get a four try bonus then they have to stop Ireland getting any bonus points, etc.
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
Sensible rules IMO
So correct me if I’m wrong but SA are a potential chance to miss out ?
That would require them to be in 2nd/3rd with Ireland - ie Scotland come first in the 3-way tie on points , then SA miss out because they lost to Ireland. Not likely.
Or if they lose to / don’t get BPs v Tonga
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
That assumes each team beat another in that trio in an A def B def C def A scenario, yes?
@NTA said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
That assumes each team beat another in that trio in an A def B def C def A scenario, yes?
Yep, assume so
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 If you assume SA trounce Tonga - get the bonus point and end up with the best points difference, then if Scotland finish level on points with Ireland, they will qualify.
If the Scots don't get a four try bonus then they have to stop Ireland getting any bonus points, etc.
Interestingly if three teams end up on the same points then the pool winner is the team with the best points diff, but the runner up is the team that won the match between the other two teams.
Sensible rules IMO
So correct me if I’m wrong but SA are a potential chance to miss out ?
That would require them to be in 2nd/3rd with Ireland - ie Scotland come first in the 3-way tie on points , then SA miss out because they lost to Ireland. Not likely.
Or if they lose to / don’t get BPs v Tonga
Second option is impossible.
The rest is all very hypothetical and dependant on an unlikely victory for the Scots over Ireland.
Scots have a bad habit of shit going wrong at WCs at the last minute….unfortunately the respectable record of never missing the quarters is long gone.
Would be nice if things went their way
@Chris-B said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@MN5 I'd say they're the least likely to miss out.
SA?
I’m confusing myself with a conversation I started. Standard.
@voodoo said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Yes, SA def least likely to miss out. They need to fail against Tonga, or need Scotland to beat Ireland by about 80 points
Jeez, Ben, Vaea, Charles and the others who I don’t know better have the game of their lives then.
Argentina v Chile
Fiji v Georgia
Australia v Portugal
SA v Tonga
What these four matches has shown is the underdogs have legitimately 5-6 scoring opportunities during a match, which if converted puts real pressure on their superior opponents and makes a real game of it
Unfortunately lack of accuracy and quality of finishing means they only convert 2-3 of these opportunities
If the officiating team gets things wrong that further diminishes their chance of scoring
Too many times in these four matches the officiating team got it wrong robbing the minnow of points, scoreboard pressure, and momentum
A real shame
@Catogrande said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Fuck me. What is it with Saffer coaches. Why are they all such mongtards?
It ws put to him that Ire and Sco would do that on purpose, and he is right, that would be match fixing. It was a stupid question from NH press
@Machpants said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Yeah that’s a bit to quick witted, he probably thought of that one in the hotel later
I'm aware I have the luxuryf of hindsight
@Catogrande said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Fuck me. What is it with Saffer coaches. Why are they all such mongtards?
Because it is exactly the sort of thing Rassie might consider??
@Machpants Yeah, you have a point, still a poor response. A bit of a gotcha moment.
@Machpants said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
@Catogrande said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
Fuck me. What is it with Saffer coaches. Why are they all such mongtards?
It ws put to him that Ire and Sco would do that on purpose, and he is right, that would be match fixing. It was a stupid question from NH press
true, he could have answered, "Well, I don't know how they would match fix accidentally!"
The deliberate match fixing is nonsense,
But I guess what is possible, Scotland throw the kitchen sink knowing if they lose they are going home ,
And Ireland go in knowing they have done enough to qualify win, lose or draw
And from those mindsets , stranger things have happened than an upset of these proportions.
Still unlikely though imo
@kiwiinmelb said in Rugby World Cup general discussion:
The deliberate match fixing is nonsense,
But I guess what is possible, Scotland throw the kitchen sink knowing if they lose they are going home ,
And Ireland go in knowing they have done enough to qualify win, lose or draw
And from those mindsets , stranger things have happened than an upset of these proportions.
Still unlikely though imo
5th ranked team vs 1st.
It’s not out of the question for them to knock them over.