LOL , We are going the whole way this year. Wales are fantastic, but there result against Fiji was not as impressive as it looks. That was a Fiji B team. I agree that the Ire-Wal game will be tight, but simply we have more top quality players.
Thats a fair point Kiwi. Our first 15 is impressive but we really cant take any injuries. Think our progression will depend on who wins between Eng and Fra. If England win i think we will have too much for them but i just have this horrible feeling that the French would beat us.
if passion wins games ireland are in the final with nz... england and sa dont do passion..they grind out results... two of those four will be in the final
France are in disarray at present, they seem to be doing a reprise of their football team at the World Cup last year. If England can play to their strengths I think they'll have too much for the French, that would make it a hat-trick of knock-out wins against them in successive World Cups...
france have 1 good game every world cup.. with a bit of luck they are saving up and will have 2 great games in2015
Again a fair point Kiwi. England have plenty of experience and in fairness they do know how do hang on in there and grind out a win. However, England have always over relied on there scrum and JW to keep the scoreboard ticking over with penalties that there forwards earn. They currently have two problems here. The first is that they no longer have a world class scrum and several of the teams left will not be intimidated by the current English pack. Secondly JW is having a nightmare WC. He has obviously left his kicking boots at home. Ashton is a fine player who will score tries, but England just dont dominate in the set plays like they use to.
Flood is a better all round player than Wilkinson, who has been kept in mainly for his kicking and experience. With JW's kicking being total shyte I think Flood may well start against France regardless of whether JW is injured or not...
i hope flood starts..if jw does then i hope he kicks for touch every now and again...got the players to score trys
Yea Sooper, watching the last few England matches i could not understand why JW was left on the field as long as he was. He has been a great servant to English rugby and one hell of a player but sadly IMO his best days are long behind him. TF seems to bring an energy and pace to Englands game that has been missing for a while. England had a great 6 nations and were showing great signs of sustained improvement until they came to Dublin. The result was strange as Ireland just clicked on the day and England did not. I really feel that this England team is in transition. I know there WC record is very impressive but unless they fire on all cylinders very quickly they will be beaten by Wal / Ire/Fra. To be honest i will be shouting for England purely because i feel that IF we can beat Wales we would have a far better chance of beating England than France in the Semis. I am not being disrespectful just calling it as i see it.
You only just manage to squeeze past Scotland and it takes a second half to overcome Georgia and you have the better players? Chaps, you've won only one grand slam since 2003. Let's wait and see.
For some reason Johnson doesn't let us play a more open game when we have players who are capable of it. If Flood plays we could be a lot more effective but sometimes you think Johnson has a blind spot when it comes to JW...
And you lost it. Whilst i dont think Wales will get there. Everyone needs to take a good look at their own. If people believe that this is a good England side then they are sadly deluded. This has to be one of the worst England sides i can remember. The only player who has shown anything for them is, and forgive my spelling Tuilagi. Take him out of midfield and there is nothing. Tindall is just not up to it any more. For all what i have said. i still think England will make the final. But they are certainly not in the best 2 actual sides in their half of the quarter final draw, but they do have a knack of winning. So lets hope France have their one good game and prove me wrong.
i have never said this is a good england side.. not a good team in 2007 but they still made the final.. played pretty poorly but still won every game so far.. better to win ugly than not win,specially for the next 3 games
kiwi I totally agree with you. I still think you will probably get there. I really hope you dont. (no offence). I think at the moment the best 2 sides in our side of the quarters are Wales and Ireland, but unfortunately i think the finalist will come from your quarter. Its nothing against England but I am struggling with the Idiots on the likes of Talk Sh*te claiming you are a great side and are going to win it. After beating the likes of Georgia and Romania. A bit more realism like yourself and it would be more bearable. Its strange i actually cheer for England at football (unless against Wales) But in rugbymost of the fans seem to be just unbearable arrogant prats.Thatjust makes people want them to lose. So i have to say Come On France. no offence mate.
Wales v Ireland hmmmmmmm Wales England v France hmmmmmmm both rubbish atm - France NZ v Argentina - NZ SA v Australia - Aussies dont know how much the All Blacks will miss Carter and Mccaw against Argentina but against either SA or Aussies they will be sorely missed could this be deja vu - Australia v France final as it was in 1999
He is not deffo out yet swords. But you are right, he would be a big loss. IMO we can break even in the scrum without him. This is going to be an incredibly tight but high scoring match. Both sets of backs can do damage. Thats why i expect a reasonably high scoring match. For me the telling difference in the teams will be the ability of our forwards to carry ball into contact and retain it. The welsh have some very good forwards as well but i think we are stronger as a group at 45678. We should be able to punch more holes than there forwards and with O'Gara we will punish the resulting penalties. IMO if we play as well as we can, we will come through a tight match. But if we do not play to our very best, this Welsh team have the capability to put us to the sword.
The pre World Cup training regime is paying dividends for Wales. Arguably they are the fittest team out there. There are no injury issues and Gatland, for the first time in a long time, has got a selection headache. Couple this with the fact that we have a powerful pack, lightning fast backs and the ability to play full on for the entire 80 minutes and you have a very dangerous team. Confidence is massive because in many positions the cover is so strong it would make little difference as to who is selected - and they ALL want to play. Even James Hook, an accomplished player by any standards, might not make the starting line-up. With the greatest respect to the remaining teams, the feeling in Wales is that right now, our "A" game is good enough to beat any other team's "A" game with the exception of the ABs and if we play them they will have to sweat blood to win it. The trick is to produce this "A" game to order and then get the luck to deal with the vagaries of the selected officials. It is simmering nicely and there are some fascinating scenarios. I believe that Wales will actually make the Final but I will accept it if we don't, so long as the result is decided by the two teams involved and not by the bias or incompetence of the officials in charge.
