[Archived] Rugby

[philipl]

I was reading that perhaps as many as 200,000 English people could hit Paris next week-end.

[RoyRover]

I really enjoyed that game last night, it was thoroughly entertaining and there were some great tries. South Africa will probably start favourites for the final and rightly so. But England have defied the odds right through the tournament and could win it. The fact that they are there at all is an achievement, given how poorly they were playing up until and during the tournament. But the forward effort has been unreal and I can only commend them on beating teams like Australia and France, where the odds were stacked firmly against them

Personally I think South Africa will win because their forwards have the ability to match up against England's and compete at the breakdown, where England have been dominating recently and their back line is awesome and given a chance (which they were given several of last night) they punish teams. Obviously other people will see it differently, but I just believe that South Africa are the full package with world class forwards and devastating backs. England's pack and has driven them this far and if a team is even able to get close to this effort, I don't think that England have the backs, apart from Robinson, that can really open teams up.

Then again, anything can happen on the day and either team could win it.

[Eddie]

I was reading that perhaps as many as 200,000 English people could hit Paris next week-end.

Where are they going to stay?

[Blueboy Downunder]

might be a chance to get some of them spending the night at the moulin rouge eddie...in celebration of course

[philipl]

Where are they going to stay?

Last year, an astonishing 76 million people visited Paris making it by a huge distance the World's most popular tourism destination. The whole of the UK only attracted 25 million visitors.

I guess they all fit in somewhere.

[Eddie]

might be a chance to get some of them spending the night at the moulin rouge eddie...in celebration of course

You're right philipl, there are always tourists here, but that's the problem. This would be 200,000 more than there normally would be at this time of the year and I'm not sure there is the hotel space. Already there are still other World Cup fans around, plus this is the time of year when asian tourists come, so it will be a bit packed. Great time to own a hotel though.

[Bazzanotsogreat]

I really enjoyed that game last night, it was thoroughly entertaining and there were some great tries. South Africa will probably start favourites for the final and rightly so. But England have defied the odds right through the tournament and could win it. The fact that they are there at all is an achievement, given how poorly they were playing up until and during the tournament. But the forward effort has been unreal and I can only commend them on beating teams like Australia and France, where the odds were stacked firmly against them

Personally I think South Africa will win because their forwards have the ability to match up against England's and compete at the breakdown, where England have been dominating recently and their back line is awesome and given a chance (which they were given several of last night) they punish teams. Obviously other people will see it differently, but I just believe that South Africa are the full package with world class forwards and devastating backs. England's pack and has driven them this far and if a team is even able to get close to this effort, I don't think that England have the backs, apart from Robinson, that can really open teams up.

Then again, anything can happen on the day and either team could win it.

Not in the Scrum, the argies got the better of the Saffers in the Scrum and at the breakdown last night. If anything England have a better scrum than Argies overall there form is better. I fully expect the English front 5 to get on top of there opponents next weekend, but whether that dominance will be enough is questionable. With S Africa possessing an excellent back row and a cutting back line.

[Flopsy]

That Habana's a bit of a plodder isnt he?

Dear god the boy's quick

[Hughesy]

They reckoned around 75000 were there on saturday. 40,000 made it into the ground!!

Tickets on ebay are going for £9,999 for a pair, with flights included!

Where are they going to stay?

[Eddie]

Well if I get my hands on a ticket I'll certainly sell it at that price.

[Mc Love]

Another really good weekend of rugger! Even though England won. And South Africa judged on last nights match they will punish england when they make mistakes.

[RevidgeBlue]

It's a magnificent achievement to reach a second successive world cup final. And I admire the rugger lads as superb athletes and real hard men who don't roll about like they've been shot when they're tackled.

However the game itself leaves me absolutely cold. Just don't get it. Never have done.

I tuned in briefly at random at three separate points during the England v Australia game just to find out the score. It went as follows.

1) Ball put into scrum. Scrum collapsed. Scrum reconvened. Ball put into scrum again, scrum collapsed. Scrum reconvened. Ball put into scrum again, scrum collapsed. Penalty awarded in a non dangerous position. Ball hoofed out of play.

2) Throw in taken. Due to some minor infringement which wasn't obvious to my untrained eye, it was deemed a foul and a scrum ensued. Cue more of 1) above.

3) The ball reached Jason Robinson in a defensive position and he promptly hoofed the ball out of play to gain a few yards up the field. Cue more of 2) and no doubt 1) above.

Good luck at the weekend lads, unfortunately I won't be watching.

[Flopsy]

rev, you need to watch the game with someone who knows whats going on, I did that about 10 years ago and my eyes were opened to a wonderful game

[Eddie]

Agreed. Like virtually any sport it is difficult to appreciate all of the rules and tactics unless you have someone explaining it to you as you watch.

[jim mk2]

However the game itself leaves me absolutely cold. Just don't get it. Never have done.

Tad unfair, rugby can be tense and very exciting; in fact I prefer close, low-scoring affairs such as England's game against France rather than matches in which alot of tries are scored.

What I don't like are the rugger types who look down on "soccer" either because of class snobbery, jealousy because of football's position as the national game and the attention it receives or because they didn't have the skill to play football and had to pick the ball up and run with it instead.

Not so true today because rugby is far more advanced but as my old sports master said, "the ball players and athletes play football, the fat boys play rugby".

[Flopsy]

which is true for the front five (or was) now look at them, the backs can all run as fast as the football speedsters and take a shoulder in the face, get up and do it all over again

and again

and again

Have you seen how quick Habana is? Jason Robinson? Cuetto? Chabel?

I would actually say now that Rugby players are now more of athletes than footballers because they cover the whole pitch, tackle, run, take massive hits, get up and do it all again

My respect for rugby players is immense and my contempt for a number of footballers is growing by the day, especially a number of mollycoddled spoilt brats that think they're above criticism and should be automatic starters because of they're overhyped overinflated reputations compared to their actual performaces and ability.

Actualy I mean John Terry and Frank Lampard to name but two. Joey Barton and Glen Johnson to name two more

[bblue]

I would actually say now that Rugby players are now more of athletes than footballers because they cover the whole pitch, tackle, run, take massive hits, get up and do it all again

I think that's always been the case with rugby. Even though nowadays football is relying more and more and physical effort, you can hardly compare the strain that goes into playing a full rugby match with a football one.

[Cheshireblue]

Martin Johnson summed it up brilliantly in his auobiography - Football is a game in which the players spend 90 minutes pretending they have been injured, where as in Rugby they spend 80 minuted pretending they haven't.

I got back last night from Paris, after what was one of the best sporting nights of my life. Not only was the result great, but the manner in which the French were force to surrender to us. No huge impact from Chabal, no mercurial magic from Michalak, no chance for the mythical gallic flare to be unleashed. They were outplayed and out thought by a very efficient England team. The speed at which they sloped off into the night was impressive. Still had time to bait a few though.

And of course, there were the Australians and All Blacks that had bought tickets in the mistaken belief that their sides would be in the semi. Did we ever have some fun with them. They took it in good spirit, apart from the Crim that got the hump at the old "It's all the Queens land" gag. Happy days.

Speaking with one of the conditioning staff, he basically said that it was the game plan to be poor early on in the tournament as the players were really put through their paces in terms of impact training and conditioning. The idea being that it would pay dividends in the latter stages as they could wind down the training and allow more recovery time as the hard work had already been done. High risk, but having seen the last two games where our pack has really dominated, it seems to be paying dividends.

Especially when you consider that we are in the final and the Rock Breakers are in the garden. At home. In Australia. Where we beat them last time out as well.

Neekoy - There is no rule in Rugby that says you have to score tries to win a game. To win a game you have to score more points that the opposition. End of. If your boys could scrimmage, then they wouldn't keep giving penalties way. If you get penalties in your opponents half, you kick them. So the fact that we didn't score any tries against you could well be down to the fact that you committed so many penalties that we couldn't get near your line. Not that we needed to.

The thing to remember is that we scored as many tries as you in Sydney and won. We then scored less tries than you in France, and won. So the whole try thing is pretty irrelevent, yes? In tight games, penalties and drop goals are what tip the balance. And when you have Jonny in your team, it is a stupid team that keeps giving you penalties.

As for the 'Boks, they have two extremely fast wingers who given half a yard can do you a whole mountain of damage. That said, so did the Rock breakers. If they don't get ball, they can't score. In Sackey, Robinson and Cueto we have three people who are pretty well placed to catch them even if they do get ball. Their pack however will be going backwards all game so they will find it tough.

England will retain their crown. And I for one will love it.

[Eddie]

Speaking with one of the conditioning staff, he basically said that it was the game plan to be poor early on in the tournament as the players were really put through their paces in terms of impact training and conditioning. The idea being that it would pay dividends in the latter stages as they could wind down the training and allow more recovery time as the hard work had already been done. High risk, but having seen the last two games where our pack has really dominated, it seems to be paying dividends.

That may be the case, it was certainly the opinion of the South African coach a few weeks back, but it doesn't explain how poor they were early-on.

I think even the most die-hard England fan has to admit that we are lucky to be in the final. That doesn't make it any less of an achievement, but it is certainly true.

My head says South Africa will win the final. Their combination of pace and power will be too much for England and I don't think they will be as afraid of losing as France were on Saturday. You may say that they were outplayed on Saturday Chesh, but in my opinion it was their fear of losing that prevented them from running with the ball. Had they done that it probably would have been a different story and South Africa will know that going into this game. They'll compete in the scrum and at the break-down and they'll move the ball quickly enough to trouble this England side.

As it has worked everytime so far I'll say it again; I don't expect to be collecting my winnings on Sunday morning...here's hoping though.

[Jimbo]

I can't see how we're lucky to be in the final - England were the better team in both of the knockout games and as for their performance in the league stages, they obviously did just enough. Ask the Kiwis or the convicts where they'd rather be top of their league or in the final - it just goes to show the dangers of peaking too early

[Cheshireblue]

Let us also not underestimate the experience of our team. Only Du Rant has played in a world cup final before, and certainly not as odds on favourites. There will be a lot of pressure to perform on them.

Many of our guys have played in previous world cups, and in Heineken cup finals etc. Plenty of experience and not as much pressure as we are 9/4 against to win.

Jonny Wilkinson is one of the calmest guys on the field, but if you read his column in the times he is still unbelievably wired, to the point of still being ill the next day. He has been there, done it all, got the T-shirt and that is how he reacts. Imagine how Habana, Pietersen and particularly Butch James will be feeling. Compare them to Robinson, Wilkinson and Shaw and there is a huge gulf in experience and the sheer bloodyminded where with all to win at all costs.

[adopted scouser]

One of the lads who works for me has just bought two tickets for Saturday night. £1,900 on ebay plus £1,060 for the flights for him and his Dad.

Hasn't even got accommodation ! I told him I didn't pay enough for him to do that, said he'd been saving up for a car

[bblue]

One of the lads who works for me has just bought two tickets for Saturday night. £1,900 on ebay plus £1,060 for the flights for him and his Dad.

Hasn't even got accommodation ! I told him I didn't pay enough for him to do that, said he'd been saving up for a car

I can understand the obscene amount for the tickets...But £1,060 for flights from England to France? Isn't that a bit too much?

[Tim Southampton Rover]

They could have paid me half that and I would have sailed them across in my boat.

[RevidgeBlue]

My respect for rugby players is immense and my contempt for a number of footballers is growing by the day, especially a number of mollycoddled spoilt brats that think they're above criticism and should be automatic starters because of they're overhyped overinflated reputations compared to their actual performaces and ability.

Actualy I mean John Terry and Frank Lampard to name but two. Joey Barton and Glen Johnson to name two more

I think that's very harsh on Terry.

He seems to be fairly unique for the modern day soccer superstar in having such a keen desire to play through injury, it almost equates to a reckless disregard for his own physical well being - a trait you (rightly) find so appealing in the rugger boys.

Can't see why people give Lampard such a hard time either. Has had his dips in form but seems to me to be a model professional in the right sense of the word.

Wouldn't disagree at all with Barton or Johnson or the general sentiment.