4 fixtures this week, with SA coming to Europe too
1515 WAL v RSA
1730 ITA v ROM
1730 IRE v ENG
2005 FRA v FIJ
Also on today
1530 GEO v USA
And the Top14 kicks off too!
4 fixtures this week, with SA coming to Europe too
1515 WAL v RSA
1730 ITA v ROM
1730 IRE v ENG
2005 FRA v FIJ
Also on today
1530 GEO v USA
And the Top14 kicks off too!
Fiji have played about three matches this year, and it showed.
France were playing a largely seconds side, and seemed to be wrapping some key players up in cotton wool, and it showed.
For all the Shawn Edwards talk, France have been pretty leaky in defence for the last 4 years. A lot of that is their tendency to switch off for twenty minutes, and they do seem to get away with it by and large.
Bielle-Biarrey looks every bit a twenty year old with a whole one season of pro rugby under his belt, though the hype machine seems to continue in the French press. I’m sure he’ll be fine.
Based on the last few weeks, I think Ireland are by far the best team heading into the WC. NZ/SA close behind. France behind them. Australia are improving and will go far given the easy draw. England look poor, but again they’re on the easy side of the draw.
Ireland and the quarter final curse though. France my pick for winners with their draw. SA and Ireland to knock ten shades of shit out each other to avoid NZ, who I expect to win their opener and hence the pool. England to make the semis, masking how bad they really are, with Wales bottling a quarter final even worse than Ireland usually manage
And Scotland to push both Ireland and SA but fail to escape. Despite them one of them playing the final
I get there’s an Ireland + quarter finals meme, but I honestly believe that most of those are easily explained, and this year feels different. Obviously, once we hit the quarters there are any number of teams who can all beat each other - especially on that side of the draw - so not predicting anything, but they really do look the real deal imo.
Fwiw, Greg Aldritt was on Le French Rugby Podcast after the 6N talking about their fitness prep saying that they front loaded serious work pre-/early-tournament and then lowered the intensity later on, which makes sense when you look at their performances throughout. I’m expecting them to maybe do something similar come WC, so also expecting NZ to take the opener.
Also still think anyone on the easy side of the draw who brings their a game has a good chance. Especially if the teams on the other side of the draw take lumps out of each other.
And yeah. Scotland will probably look better than any other team that’s gone out in the group stages, either before or since. Just can’t see them getting the edge on either IRE or SA.
I get it. But this year its still France or NZ. The meme continues. I really hope not, but alas