I agree Shergar - neither side will be taking this lightly. Win and you have the prospect of a QF with Scotland followed by a semi against France, Ireland or Argentina. Lose and it's the Saffers and the ABs most likely.
Agreed, no way will this be taken lightly when you can get a QF with Scotland/Japan! Aussies should win comfortably given Wales injury problems and Wales need to make sure they get everyone fresh for their QF, whoever it is against. But having said that Wales have got the type of players to cope with breakdown speed so they should be close for 60 mins but think the Aussies will just get clear in the last 20.
It would seem reasonable to conclude that the Aussies would prefer the easier route towards the Final, so they ought to put out a side good enough to take care of a banged up Wales team. Victory would afford them the opportunity to rest a couple of guys at the Quarter Final stage against a softer opponent. How come Stuart Lancaster still has a job? Are they waiting until the tournament is over to fire him so it is not a distraction? Or is it that the people that hired him are worried that they might be walking on quicksand too? Maybe he is in negotiations to take over at Anfield where persistent failure is almost a job requirement these days.
Advance apologies, since this really has nothing to do with the RWC. I'd just like to use this thread to reiterate my endless warnings against self-styled 'experts' of any sort, particularly when quoted by the media. Since about 10 pm on Saturday, there's been an enormous amount of chuntering about what England's exit will do to the national economy. Which happily ignores the fact that, apart from a tiny handful of people who intended to visit England just to watch a match or two, what people don't spend on the overheads of sport-watching (supermarket lager, train travel, replica kits, tubes of Pringles, so forth) they'll spend on something else. Unless you really believe that they were going to put the money into a 2% ISA. The pundit I've really liked today is Prof.Alex Edmans of the London Business School (who 'has studied the financial effects of major sporting tournaments') who predicted that the retail downside could be dwarfed by the knock-on effect on Monday's stock markets. So bleak was the prospect, indeed, that he could foresee a decline of 0.15% in UK share values today - call it £3bn, to make a nice tidy headline. In fact, the FTSE 100 was up about 2.75% at today's close (plus a chunky 169 at 6299). So, believe almost nobody, and especially not academic economists. Or royal biographers who sweetly explain that the Queen costs us each 34p a year and we're jolly lucky to have her. Or David Starkey. Or Robert Peston. Or Dave Nevison. Obviously, you can make exceptions for Stick and Barney when they're in form.
I heard that report quoting the prof from the LBS. I have very little grasp or interested in business economics but thought it was complete carp.
Rainer, usually these stories of economic estimates come from QUANGOs trying to justify throwing away taxpayers’ money. Just recently it was announced that when Yorkshire hosted the start of the Tour De France drug cheat bike ride, the Welcome To Yorkshire tourist organisation that footed the bill lost £1,030,000 on the event. When the BBC tracked down the CEO of the body, one Gary Verity (knighted this year), he ignored the questions about their bad management (e.g. having a warehouse full of unsold Tour merchandise due to overstocking and still owing the French £250,000) and blithely stated that the Tour had brought millions of pounds into the local economy.
A slight change of tact here in the handicap markets, I'm taking Fiji -35 at Evens against Uruguay who are pants and have next to no scoring threat at all.
Well after waiting 12 years for a WC try against Engerland in 2003, Uruguay decided tonight was the one for their next Handicap bet beat by 2 pts!
Looks like a bit more crap might be coming England's way, due to an investigation by World Rugby. It seems that a couple of England coaching officials approached the refs in the tunnel at half time as the teams left the field, with the home side trailing 17-3. "World Rugby is investigating an alleged breach by the England coaching team of the match-day communications protocol between match officials and team members or union officials," said a World Rugby statement released on Monday. It appears that England had differing opinions of the penalties awarded against loose head prob Joe Marler for boring in at an angle. There are reports that infighting has broken out within the England ranks. Some are up in arms with what they perceive as too much involvement in team selections by Andy Farrell. Things could get pretty ugly after the home side's final World Cup game, against Uruguay on Saturday. A number of people are beginning to put up their hands for what now appears to be, an impending job vacancy. When questioned about the England coaching position, Eddy Jones said he would be open to a chat with the powers that be. The name Mike Ford, Bath coach has also been mentioned as has the successful 2007 World Cup coach, South African, Jake White. Jim Mallinder of Northampton Saints has cropped up as well.
Naughty English public school boys. Tut, tut. They should have left it to tight head prop Boris and hooker Dave...
I would like to see Sir Clive in a Director role of some sort. We desperately need someone who understands what is required at elite level sport so that they can lay down the structure for us to grow from. He would also sort out selection policy. The thing that is annoying me at the moment is the focus on Sam Burgess. I think the guy is going to become a fabulous player in Union but they are singling out his selection as a reason for our defeats! I think closer analysis shows that our back row is absolute cobblers and that Brad Barrett offered about as much in attack as Emile Heskey (as well as being the man who cost us the try against Wales). We refuse to acknowledge that our Captain at 7 is costing us and our scrum was brutally found out without Hartley. Also, have we not got a scrum half who can pass the ball without doing the hot shoe shuffle? The criticisms and arguments are now beginning to come out and I have said all along that there are too many sissys in English rugby at the moment, all about hairstyles and beards than about the hard work and expertise that it takes to be a Martin Johnson et al. They all need to get their heads down with some modest hard work with the right players in the right positions and with the right coaching staff. When do Gatland and Edwards expire from their WRU deal?
Old Warren Gatland is AOK in my book. Seems to be a real decent guy: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/34482622
So whats it to be Wales and "Warrenball" or Australia's speed to the breakdown? Gatland's game with the ball in hand is to get to breakdown first as often as possible and run the legs off the opposition. It's worked well for him when he led the Loins, but the world may have moved on since then. It's all about fitness. I'm not too sure that's a Northern Hemisphere plus. With 6 of the 7 Cups going to the Southern Hemisphere, questions have to be asked on that front. There is no way that all the smarts are in the South, that's just plain stupid. And do people in the South have better genes? Nope. Gotta say though, I'm crapping myself, Gatland is one astute coach and the Wales tight 5 know their beans. This could be epic.
If you use their respective performances against England as form lines then it should be the Aussies hard held. I watched the New Zealand-Tonga game last night and even though the score line suggests they won it easy they were far from convincing in the first half. On another day the Tongans could have easily got a penalty try and 2 ABs in the bin at the end of the first half. For the last 12 months I've felt that the ABs only had to turn up to win this but the Wallabies have made enormous strides since the Autumn series last year. If they win well today and don't pick up any injuries 11/4 to win the thing is tempting.
Fair play to the Scots. Looks like they've survived a proper examination from the Samoans. Cracking game for the neutral.
You've got to hand it to the Samoans they always have at least one massive game in them. Shame they lose so many of their best players to other countries.
