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allblackraven

allblackraven

Hall of Famer
And this one

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Inqui

Inqui

Pro Bowler
rossihunter2 said:
i mean i dont think they will be they're not minnows anymore - i dont think its out of the realms of possibilities especially with the way theyre being supported

then again south africa will be doubly motivated because they'll want to exorcise the demons of that match in Brighton in 2015
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Sadly though I see South Africa winning pretty comfortably. If I'm on the Springboks coaching staff I'd be playing replays of that 2015 game every day and twice on game day. That loss was a national tragedy and these guys have the chance to atone for that. On the other side of the coin, as much as this isn't your dad's Japan I think they were building to get through pool play and anything beyond this is a bonus.

I'd love nothing more than to see Japan do well though (as much as it would ruin my fantasy team), and it's pretty cool to see how far the world game's come since I started watching. It used to be that there were five behemoth teams (the Tri Nations players plus England and France) and four pools (albeit the first World Cup I followed live there were five pools...), so the pool of death would always be the one with two of those sides and then one of those five would have a clear run and not have to face one of those sides until the semi-finals. Nowadays it's probably best to think of it as 10 tier-one sides where you have a case to include Italy and Japan duking it out for eight quarterfinal spots.

And this year's talent pool is particularly deep. I'd say there are five legitimate title contenders (four after Ireland got bounced) compared to the two or three you'd get most years. Chuck in the ABs being on a downswing compared with previous years and this year's World Cup is probably the most open one we've ever seen (and we didn't even need France to blow it open lol).
 
Nurps

Nurps

MVP
Any way to stream the games a la Reddit nfl style? My wife’s from SA and I’d like to get the match against Wales next Sunday. TIA
 
allblackraven

allblackraven

Hall of Famer
rossihunter2 said:
from the england team selection it looks like eddie jones has decided we cant stop the all blacks so we'll just try and outscore them - not sure that fills me with excitement against the most explosive team in rugby but heyho
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This is the worst by the All Blacks since before Graham Henry took over. England forwards are beating them in breakdowns, numbers in rucks, lineouts, mauls and scrums. Comprehensive smashing, I can' believe it's only 10-0 at half.
 
allblackraven

allblackraven

Hall of Famer
rossihunter2 said:
im really worried about it only being 10-0 feel like at the end of the game we're gonna regret the couple of missed opportunities

jack goodhue probably the only all black who's shown anything so far
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Nah, looks like they can't put anything together. Big mistake not playing Cane, Coles, Tu'ungafasi and not having Ioane at least on the bench is inexcusable.
 
Inqui

Inqui

Pro Bowler
England well and truly the better team tonight. The selection of Scott Barrett at flanker indicated the ABs planned to come out and dominate England up front and that didn't come close to happening. England's rush defence also did a great job of flustering the NZ playmakers and we couldn't come up with anything for at least 60 minutes.

Really depressing loss but England were next-level impressive tonight. Gotta take your hat off for that performance.
 
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