Rugby World Cup

[Ottawa Green]

England squeeze thru 30-24

 

[Andy S]

England squeeze thru 30-24

With a Samoan in the side and an Aussie/Tongan/Welshman in the side.

Golden balls Farrell gets away with a deliberate knock on…should be a yellow card.

 

[Mat]

thought it would be a yellow as well, England lucky with that one, pass wasn’t really going anywhere mind you.

 

[Argylegames]

You really do have a problem with that Kev.

Yup

I can understand those who transfer the other way, but not those who choose to stop being English.

The best bit in my ancestry was when the Royal Marines moved my Scottish grandfather to Plymouth.

 

[Argylegames]

Now who do we want next Saturday. I think we could beat the French in Paris, but the opposition crowd would be quieter if SA win tonight.

 

[unhinched]

Faf de Klerk & the main kicker, Pollard, both on the bench is slightly surprising, although Pollard been battling injury. The French are excellent, and at home. Whoever wins fully deserves their semi spot that's for sure and you'd have to say would be strong favourites for a final spot. After the lacklustre group stages it's all getting very exciting.

 

[Cobi Budge]

Good win against a Fiji side who have been a joy to watch, but France or South Africa will be a different kettle of fish and the levels will have to go up again.

 

[jerryatricjanner]

Miaow!

I take it you’re including South Africans, Zimbabweans, Fijians et al who play various sports for England? Or are you implying that it should be England for the English?

Strange reply. Not sure how you interpreted it as a catty remark. I merely suggested that the 'Irish' player being consoled in such fine sporting fashion by the All Black was no more Irish than you or I and should have been representing NZ by birth or Samoa by parentage rather than Ireland bend the rules to accommodate him. This goes for the Rugby world cup in general with teams having up to 15 players in their squads not born in their own country. I was implying nothing about England or the English, every country bar SA and one or two minnows are equally culpable of stretching the rules.
As for having changed to a NZ passport or holding both a British and NZ passport you are kidding yourself if you think that makes you a New Zealander. I've lived in Spain for 20 years but I certainly ain't Spanish.

 

[Daz]

Strange reply. Not sure how you interpreted it as a catty remark. I merely suggested that the 'Irish' player being consoled in such fine sporting fashion by the All Black was no more Irish than you or I and should have been representing NZ by birth or Samoa by parentage rather than Ireland bend the rules to accommodate him. This goes for the Rugby world cup in general with teams having up to 15 players in their squads not born in their own country. I was implying nothing about England or the English, every country bar SA and one or two minnows are equally culpable of stretching the rules.
As for having changed to a NZ passport or holding both a British and NZ passport you are kidding yourself if you think that makes you a New Zealander. I've lived in Spain for 20 years but I certainly ain't Spanish.

I don’t know, you had a Spanish accent when we last spoke amigo. 🤣

 

[Andy S]

Strange reply. Not sure how you interpreted it as a catty remark. I merely suggested that the 'Irish' player being consoled in such fine sporting fashion by the All Black was no more Irish than you or I and should have been representing NZ by birth or Samoa by parentage rather than Ireland bend the rules to accommodate him. This goes for the Rugby world cup in general with teams having up to 15 players in their squads not born in their own country. I was implying nothing about England or the English, every country bar SA and one or two minnows are equally culpable of stretching the rules.
As for having changed to a NZ passport or holding both a British and NZ passport you are kidding yourself if you think that makes you a New Zealander. I've lived in Spain for 20 years but I certainly ain't Spanish.

Apologies if it sounded abrupt jj, it wasn’t meant to be.

English by birth, Kiwi by choice! ;-)

 

[Cobi Budge]

I absolutely love the transparency of VAR in rugby, you see everything, you hear everything, the decision making is explained in detail, so much better than the smoke and mirrors approach to VAR in football.

 

[xmastree]

Amazing when you think the population of Fiji is 900,000, Samoa 220,000 and Tonga 108,000. England scraped by Samoa by 1 point and lost to Fiji recently. The All Blacks and Aussies often take the best of the Islanders too although , in fairness, there are as many of Samoan descent with NZ credentials as live in Samoa.
Bundee Aki (above) - born in Auckland of Samoan descent plays for Ireland. He is a fantastic player. There's something about that South Sea Island build , combined with a seemingly natural ferocity and ubiquitous strong Christian faith that is very well suited to Rugby.
I wish England well facing some of those Fijian tackles later. They should win reasonably comfortably though.

Bundee Aki also spent 2 years at Truro College.

 

[jerryatricjanner]

Apologies if it sounded abrupt jj, it wasn’t meant to be.

English by birth, Kiwi by choice! ;-)

No problem. You are fortunate to live in such a stunning country. I savoured it's beauty for a month seven years ago and look forward to a similar trip hopefully in 2 or 3 years time.

 

[Andy Tall]

All Europe semis.

Have you got next week's lottery numbers, Mat? Just so I know which numbers not to pick.

 

[unhinched]

What a match !
With a South African wife we had to do a deal concerning the kids - and agreed on England for football and South Africa for Rugby. I'll whisper it, but I eventually converted to the Boks myself about three years ago after progressively growing in admiration for them having private parts of steel and being very happy that my kids might aspire to develop such a mentality.
I will be amazed if England match them on any level, despite having plenty of good players, but at least it would mean England in another WC final ?