Not so... The better team prevailed
The Turks and Caicos have been begging to join Canada for some time now
Ouch... Short, sharp and poignant.
That scathing truth has gotta hurt BL
Rugby World Cup 2015
- Thread starter Blackleaf
- Start date
Not so... The better team prevailed
The Turks and Caicos have been begging to join Canada for some time now
Ouch... Short, sharp and poignant.
That scathing truth has gotta hurt BL
Today's results
Pool A
Australia 65-3 Uruguay
Australia: Tries: McMahon 2, Tomane, Mumm, Speight, McCalman 2, Mitchell 2, Toomua, Kuridrani Cons: Cooper 5
Uruguay: Pen: Berchesi
At Villa Park, Birmingham
Att: 39,605
Australia went top of Pool A as they ran in 11 tries against Uruguay in the biggest win of the 2015 World Cup so far.
Flankers Sean McMahon and Ben McCalman both crossed twice, as did winger Drew Mitchell at a near-capacity Villa Park.
There were also tries for right wing Joseph Tomane, lock Dean Mumm, centres Henry Speight and Matt Toomua and replacement Tevita Kuridrani.
Uruguay's sole response was a penalty from stand-off Felipe Berchesi.
They were spared a bigger beating by the kicking of Aussie stand-off Quade Cooper who, as well as being shown a yellow card, missed six of his 11 pots at goal.
BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup 2015: Australia beat Uruguay 65-3
Pool B
Scotland 39-16 USA
Scotland: Tries: Visser, Maitland, Nel, Scott, Weir Cons: Russell, Laidlaw 3 Pens: Russell, Hogg
USA: Try: Lamositele Con: MacGinty Pens: MacGinty 3
At Elland Road, Leeds
Att: 33,521
Scotland recovered from a 13-6 half-time deficit, securing a bonus-point win over USA to top World Cup Pool B.
The Americans battered the error-prone favourites in the opening half, Titi Lamositele burrowing over the line.
A dynamic bench helped spark Scotland after the interval, though, as Tim Visser, Sean Maitland and WP Nel all crossed smartly.
Matt Scott picked a sumptuous line to score a fourth try, and Duncan Weir added a late fifth from close range.
Imbued with great transatlantic fervour, the USA defence made hay from Scottish inaccuracies during a maddening first 40 minutes for Vern Cotter's side, where attacking opportunities were bungled by loose passes and hot heads.
The likes of Nel, Scott, Tim Swinson and Greig Laidlaw, however, brought efficiency and control from the bench where Scotland had threatened to descend into chaotic rugby reminiscent of days sooner consigned to memory.
The major blight for Cotter will be an injury to key pivot Finn Russell, who was helped from the field midway through the second-half resurgence.
BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup 2015: Scotland 39-16 USA
Half-time score in Pool D:
Ireland 18-3 Romania
At Wembley Stadium.
2015 Rugby World Cup England in numbers
Attendance so far: 883,554
Points scored so far: 959
Tries scored so far: 106
Conversions scored so far: 72
Drop goals scored so far: 2 (Nicholas Sanchez for Argentina vs Georgia and Owen Farrell for England vs Wales)
Penalties scored so far: 93
Top points scorer so far: Goromaru (Japan): 29; Farrell (England): 27
Top try scorers so far: Allen (Wales): 3; Davies (Wales): 3
Top penalty scorers so far: Biggar (Wales): 7; Goromaru (Japan), Farrell (England): 6
Most conversions so far: Laidlaw (Scotland) 7, Priestland (Wales): 7
Top points scorers in Rugby World Cup history: Jonny Wilkinson (England): 277; Gavin Hastings (Scotland): 227; Michael Lynagh (Australia): 195; Grant Fox (New Zealand): 170
No, they lost. England dominated so much in the first half they should have been out of sight before half time.
Pool A
Australia 65-3 Uruguay
Australia: Tries: McMahon 2, Tomane, Mumm, Speight, McCalman 2, Mitchell 2, Toomua, Kuridrani Cons: Cooper 5
Uruguay: Pen: Berchesi
At Villa Park, Birmingham
Att: 39,605
Australia went top of Pool A as they ran in 11 tries against Uruguay in the biggest win of the 2015 World Cup so far.
Flankers Sean McMahon and Ben McCalman both crossed twice, as did winger Drew Mitchell at a near-capacity Villa Park.
There were also tries for right wing Joseph Tomane, lock Dean Mumm, centres Henry Speight and Matt Toomua and replacement Tevita Kuridrani.
Uruguay's sole response was a penalty from stand-off Felipe Berchesi.
They were spared a bigger beating by the kicking of Aussie stand-off Quade Cooper who, as well as being shown a yellow card, missed six of his 11 pots at goal.
BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup 2015: Australia beat Uruguay 65-3
Pool B
Scotland 39-16 USA
Scotland: Tries: Visser, Maitland, Nel, Scott, Weir Cons: Russell, Laidlaw 3 Pens: Russell, Hogg
USA: Try: Lamositele Con: MacGinty Pens: MacGinty 3
At Elland Road, Leeds
Att: 33,521
Scotland recovered from a 13-6 half-time deficit, securing a bonus-point win over USA to top World Cup Pool B.
The Americans battered the error-prone favourites in the opening half, Titi Lamositele burrowing over the line.
A dynamic bench helped spark Scotland after the interval, though, as Tim Visser, Sean Maitland and WP Nel all crossed smartly.
Matt Scott picked a sumptuous line to score a fourth try, and Duncan Weir added a late fifth from close range.
Imbued with great transatlantic fervour, the USA defence made hay from Scottish inaccuracies during a maddening first 40 minutes for Vern Cotter's side, where attacking opportunities were bungled by loose passes and hot heads.
The likes of Nel, Scott, Tim Swinson and Greig Laidlaw, however, brought efficiency and control from the bench where Scotland had threatened to descend into chaotic rugby reminiscent of days sooner consigned to memory.
The major blight for Cotter will be an injury to key pivot Finn Russell, who was helped from the field midway through the second-half resurgence.
BBC Sport - Rugby World Cup 2015: Scotland 39-16 USA
Half-time score in Pool D:
Ireland 18-3 Romania
At Wembley Stadium.
2015 Rugby World Cup England in numbers
Attendance so far: 883,554
Points scored so far: 959
Tries scored so far: 106
Conversions scored so far: 72
Drop goals scored so far: 2 (Nicholas Sanchez for Argentina vs Georgia and Owen Farrell for England vs Wales)
Penalties scored so far: 93
Top points scorer so far: Goromaru (Japan): 29; Farrell (England): 27
Top try scorers so far: Allen (Wales): 3; Davies (Wales): 3
Top penalty scorers so far: Biggar (Wales): 7; Goromaru (Japan), Farrell (England): 6
Most conversions so far: Laidlaw (Scotland) 7, Priestland (Wales): 7
Top points scorers in Rugby World Cup history: Jonny Wilkinson (England): 277; Gavin Hastings (Scotland): 227; Michael Lynagh (Australia): 195; Grant Fox (New Zealand): 170
No, they lost. England dominated so much in the first half they should have been out of sight before half time.
That may have been true once upon a time - although why somebody would want to become part of a country as cold, grey and interminably boring as Canada is perhaps a question we should be asking ourselves - but that is less so now. The numbers of the islanders wanting to join Canada are in rapid decline. In 1990, 90% of the islanders, according to polls, wanted to join Canada, but that had dropped to just 60% in 2003 and has probably dropped a lot more since then. Canada has also effectively ruled out annexing the islands (it probably wants to avoid suffering the same fate as Argentina in 1982).
Well, it's not the truth, is it? You're just making it up.
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Today's results
Pool A
A dismal place for England.... And soon to be eliminated from the tourney
Might want to review the stats above.
Goes to prove that the best teams win and the teams that aren't up to par, land at the bottom of the pool
Still is true, I was just down there and that's all the locals ever talk about
France vs. Canada on Thursday.. Canada is a 22 point underdog.. but they are right on the verge of respectability in contests against top tier teams. I hope for a competitive game. Go Canada.. Beat France... Believe!
France 41, Canada 18. Despite some patches of excellence, it's been a disappointing year for Rugby Canada. It failed to win a game as host of the Pacific Nations Cup.. and has, at best, met but not exceeded expectations at the World Cup.. which in fairness weren't very high in the first place.
They play with a lot of heart, but the scattered and thin Rugby culture in Canada isn't much of platform from which to shine. We've still got a game left, against Romania who only outrank us by 1 place.. Imho.. the Maple Leafs should win it. Go Canada... lets go out of 2015 on a high.
They play with a lot of heart, but the scattered and thin Rugby culture in Canada isn't much of platform from which to shine. We've still got a game left, against Romania who only outrank us by 1 place.. Imho.. the Maple Leafs should win it. Go Canada... lets go out of 2015 on a high.
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We're building. Someday, we will be head-to-head with our Commonwealth bretheren.
P.S. Wales won again!
England are out of the World Cup after a 13-33 loss against Australia yesterday, which follows on from their 25-28 defeat against Wales last week. Still, Wales and Australia are ranked second and third in the world respectively and rugby union is the national sport in Wales, whereas it's only the third sport in England. England put in a brave performance yesterday against the mighty Wallabies. We were 17-3 down at half time but managed to claw it back to 20-13 with about ten minutes remaining, but then Australia just turned up the gears again in the last few minutes, scoring another try.
Wales and Australia qualify from the group and England become the first host nation since Wales in 1991 to be eliminated at the Group Stage (although the anti-English media are trying to have us believe that England are the first host nation of a World Cup ever to be eliminated at the Group Stage, but they don't reckon with clever Blackleaf who knows otherwise).
The only thing which really annoys me is the anti-Englishness from the ENGLISH press. If you want to see this in action read the readers' comments on this MailOnline page. The moderator, it seems, is only mainly accepting comments on the page that are anti-English: England 13-33 Wallabies RWC 2015: Bernard Foley breaks English hearts as hosts crash out of Rugby World Cup | Daily Mail Online
Wales and Australia qualify from the group and England become the first host nation since Wales in 1991 to be eliminated at the Group Stage (although the anti-English media are trying to have us believe that England are the first host nation of a World Cup ever to be eliminated at the Group Stage, but they don't reckon with clever Blackleaf who knows otherwise).
The only thing which really annoys me is the anti-Englishness from the ENGLISH press. If you want to see this in action read the readers' comments on this MailOnline page. The moderator, it seems, is only mainly accepting comments on the page that are anti-English: England 13-33 Wallabies RWC 2015: Bernard Foley breaks English hearts as hosts crash out of Rugby World Cup | Daily Mail Online
look at the bewildered faces on the about-to-be-crushed Georgians.
http:// https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZD987MUwZk
http:// https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=pZD987MUwZk
The thing is, England is big football and cricket country and most people in England won't even care about being knocked out at the group stage of the Rugby World Cup or even realise that it's happened, not like when it happened in the football last year (when we also had Uruguay in our group).
Still, it would have been nice to have played in what would have been our fourth Rugby World Cup Final on Halloween.
Still, it would have been nice to have played in what would have been our fourth Rugby World Cup Final on Halloween.
The problem i have with the way the Rugby Union World Cup is organized is the lottery system for the Group Stage produces these 'Groups of Death'.
England was fairly beaten by Australia (#8 and #2 in the world respectively).. but this really should have been a quarter or even semi final. I think a seeding system which would allocate the first two position of a Group by world ranking, the other three by lottery.. would be fairer and more entertaining. So you don't get 3 premier teams lumped together in one group.
As far as i could see, though, Rugby fans come out in droves in England (and Wales). Maybe its a smaller franchise but that doesn't mean its less passionate.
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I agree with you. There's no way England, Australia and Wales should have been put into the same group.
This has come about because the draw for the 2015 World Cup was made THREE YEARS ago. Some sort of seeding system was in place. At the time, Wales had slipped to ninth in the world and with a system that saw pools comprised of one team from the top four, one from the second four, one from the third four and a qualifier, fate saw Australia, England and Wales all pulled out of the barrel together. This at the time seemed fair. But, of course, over the succeeding three years the World Rankings have changed a fair amount. In football, the draws for World Cup are made just seven months before each tournament starts.
Pool A was immediately dubbed the “pool of death” and the difficulty of progressing was apparent, but the reality of one strong nation (England, three-time finalists and winners in 2003) being sent home after the pool stages is now upon us and it has highlighted the damaging nature of World Rugby’s system.
Australia rugby union boss Bill Pulver has said the World Cup draw that led to Australia, England and Wales sharing a pool of death was an “error” by World Rugby but he is confident the potentially code-crippling system will be fixed for the 2019 tournament in Japan. The Scots, Welsh and Irish may gloat that England are out of the World Cup, but what looked like being the best Rugby World Cup will now suffer with things like a huge drop in millions of viewers without the host nation being in the latter stages.
Also, another thing which strikes me as odd and a bit fishy was the decision in 2011 by the IRB (now World Rugby) to allow the Millennium Stadium in Wales to host games and, incredibly, for Wales to play many of their games there, thus getting home advantage in what is supposed to be ENGLAND'S World Cup! It has been unfair on England that Wales get to play many of their matches at home rather than in England - the host nation - and you can only imagine the uproar from the Welsh had they been the host nation but England were allowed to play their matches at Twickenham. It just all seems very fishy to me.
Are Wales being haunted by Henry VIII after securing their Rugby World Cup quarter-finals spot?
Some members of the Welsh squad insist they have encountered a spectral presence at their hotel
Some Wales players have reported seeing the former King of England Photo: REX FEATURES
By Daniel Schofield
05 Oct 2015
The Telegraph
There have been some strange goings on in the Wales team hotel at Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge this week. Certain members of the squad have encountered a spectral presence, an uncomfortable feeling of something that was once there but has now left this realm.
This is not the ghost of England’s World Cup campaign drifting across the Surrey countryside from nearby Pennyhill Park but an actual apparition that is said to stalk the Tudor Wing of the the 19th century hotel that was built on the site of a 16th century palace that Henry VIII constructed for his new Queen, Anne of Cleves.
“I think the boys might have had one too many knocks to the head,” James King, the Wales flanker, said. “There are a couple of stories about Henry VIII here but I haven’t seen any yet. Faletau and Lydiate have done their research and they said they saw a couple of ghosts the other week.”
Some Wales players have reported seeing the ghost of Henry VIII - who was of Welsh descent - at Oatlands Park Hotel in Weybridge, Surrey, where the Welsh squad are staying
There have been some strange goings on in the Wales camp
Their research may have been found slightly wanting. The figure in question is a woman of common descent and is said by hotel staff to be of a perfectly friendly disposition rather than a royal with commitment issues. The “grey lady” legend is based on the death of a maid who threw herself from the bell tower after a lovers’ quarrel, supposedly landing next to room 1313 where guests complain of unexplained temperature changes.
It is fair to say that the majority of the Wales squad are less than impressed by the claims of Taulupe Faletau and Dan Lydiate. “A few boys think they’ve seen a ghost but I’m not sure they actually have,” Samson Lee, the prop, said.
“I think it’s best to stay away from room 1313. Some of them reckon they have seen Henry VIII. It has been discussed over food and stuff like that and Dan Lydiate isn't happy about it. He actually thinks he’s seen a ghost but I think he’s dreaming.”
With a quarter-final berth already in the bag, Wales are already dreaming of bigger and better things. Their match against Australia this Saturday at Twickenham will determine whether they face the winners of Pool B – likely to be South Africa – or the runners up that is shaping up to be either Scotland or Japan. Wales have not beaten Australia in their last ten meetings, with their last victory over the mighty Wallabies coming in 2008.
Are Wales being haunted by Henry VIII after securing their Rugby World Cup quarter-finals spot? - Telegraph
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Romania 17, Canada 15.. the last note of a sad tune for Canada this year. It's really this one i wanted to win, with a team on the same tier, and a matchup that always produces close games.
What irks me about this test was Canada was 15 points to nil up.. and frittered it away with missed kicks, penalties and sloppy ball handling. Victory was on their boot and not converted.
Likewise for England.. certainly with different expectations than Canada.. but defeat rests hard wherever you stand in the tables.
Rugby Forever Strong.
What irks me about this test was Canada was 15 points to nil up.. and frittered it away with missed kicks, penalties and sloppy ball handling. Victory was on their boot and not converted.
Likewise for England.. certainly with different expectations than Canada.. but defeat rests hard wherever you stand in the tables.
Rugby Forever Strong.
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