Jump to content

2011 Rugby World Cup Thread


Psygnosis

Recommended Posts

  • Paid Members

Well here we go again, can't wait for this here are the teams in their pools, picks anyone?

 

- 2011 version of World in Union

 

Pool A

Canada

France

Japan

New Zealand

Tonga

 

Pool B

Argentina

England

Georgia

Romania

Scotland

 

Pool C

Australia

Ireland

Italy

Russia

United States

 

Pool D

Fiji

Namibia

Samoa

South Africa

Wales

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members

Super-psyched. Made a two-part wallchart on Photoshop and everything. Predicting a semi-final finish for England at worst. Hopefully NZ will choke in the quarters or semis. I can dream.

 

I think the earliest England fans will have to get up is 7am, which isn't too bad at all.

 

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what impact Manu Tuilagi makes. Could be the making of a real star. He's by no means the finished article, but attacking and defending alongside Tindall seemed to bring out the best in both guys against Ireland. Could England's centre quandary really be over just like that?

 

I can't see any major upsets as far as knockout qualification goes, but I fancy Samoa, and perhaps Canada, to grab qualification for 2015.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
England Semi at worst? They don't have the grit.

 

If England win the pool (which we almost certainly will), we'll likely have France in the quarters, and I really would fancy us there barring some cock-ups. After that I'd imagine we'll have Australia in the semis, and while that'll be unquestionably tough, an upset's never out of the question.

 

I suppose what I should've said was that I'll be happy if England make the semis, given the layout of the tournament. I really feel like we could beat anybody barring New Zealand on the right day. Obviously every game won't be the right day, but I'll be disappointed if we can't beat France.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Bit arrogant, no? Scotland will give you more of a test than you're giving them credit for.

 

No, it isn't. I'm not at all suggesting that Scotland won't be tough, nor Argentina, and I doubt that Georgia or Romania will just roll over and die either. But England really should be beating all of them, based on the quality of the players involved and on respective world rankings. Arrogance would be saying England will win the group irrespective of who's in it, or who's playing for any of the teams involved, which isn't what I'm saying at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Been watching the Dallaglio's build up thing on ITV 4 recently

 

The Wales Australia game in the 1987 World Cup 3rd place match was awesome, and Id totally forgotten about Hastings fluffing up his kick vs England in 1991.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Super-psyched. Made a two-part wallchart on Photoshop and everything. Predicting a semi-final finish for England at worst. Hopefully NZ will choke in the quarters or semis. I can dream.

 

I think the earliest England fans will have to get up is 7am, which isn't too bad at all.

 

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing what impact Manu Tuilagi makes. Could be the making of a real star. He's by no means the finished article, but attacking and defending alongside Tindall seemed to bring out the best in both guys against Ireland. Could England's centre quandary really be over just like that?

 

I can't see any major upsets as far as knockout qualification goes, but I fancy Samoa, and perhaps Canada, to grab qualification for 2015.

 

Also looking forward to seeing Tuilagi in action, the guy is absolutely scary, and should hear his interviews, he's got the Brummy accent, he's fantastic hope he makes the All Blacks think twice.

 

- Try against Saracens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Ax9h9b0RY - Poor Tom Williams

 

and poor David Wallace!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Paid Members
Also looking forward to seeing Tuilagi in action, the guy is absolutely scary, and should hear his interviews, he's got the Brummy accent, he's fantastic hope he makes the All Blacks think twice.

 

- Try against Saracens.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7Ax9h9b0RY - Poor Tom Williams

 

and poor David Wallace!

 

Out of shot in both of those videos: me in the crowd, going apeshit. WHERE IS YOUR BLOOD CAPSULE NOW?

 

Lots of videos of the tackle on Wallace around, but I feel it'd be a bit tasteless to gloat about it seeing as the poor guy got hurt. But yeah, Tuilagi's tackling is as beastly as any of his brothers. It's a real asset.

 

I do, however, feel that his bulk and power is being overstated as his main quality. While he is an absolute beast, the subtler nuances of his game are what sets him apart from his siblings, and indeed many other centres in the country. He has a great sidestep, a sixth sense for a gap in the opponents' backline and picks great supporting lines to run. And he's turned the hand-off into something of an art form - while his strength undoubtedly helps with this, 90% of the time he picks exactly the right shoulder or arm to push away to rob an opponent's tackle of all its power. If you watch him closely, you can see all the reasons behind why he manages to break lines so often. And when he gets going, he's got bags of pace too.

 

Just look at that try against Saracens. He gives neat little hand-offs to the first two tacklers, then steps into the last tackle and lets his bulk take him the rest of the way.

 

Anyway. Enough talk. More videos~!

 

- he picked a great line here, and the offload from Wilkinson was class.

Try vs Ireland

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...