Can't wait for this to get going,

Got plenty of money down to makes things a little more interesting,

€20 Top points scorer Skrela @ 16/1
€50 Top Tryscorer Howlett @ 6/1
€100 France winners @ 13/2

I really think this is France's cup to lose,
Home advantage is massive in International rugby imo, and i really can't see them losing to anyone as the semis and final are in Saint Denis.

obv wouldn't mind losin the €100 if Ireland beat them in the Final though ,

Anyone else have any money down?

You beat me to it. I just came in here to create an **official rugby World Cup** thread but I'm happy to just have one to post in. Not sure how much traffic we will get from our United States friends but I'm sure the Europeans (and maybe even the Canadians) will get on board. Of course the Aussies will be mad keen.

As for the winner, really hard to go past the All Blacks I think. Sure, France does have home ground advantage and are a great side but the All Blacks are simply awesome. Sometimes the weight of expectation for the host nation can be a burden as well but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Can't wait for it to start. Australia have Japan in the first round tomorrow so we should land a nice win first up. The question will be, how well will we stack up against the better sides? I'll be cheering for them.

GO THE WALLABIES!!!!!




On a side note go the rabbitohs in the NRL (National Rugby League) semi final tomorrow night. First finals campaign in 18 years. Long wait between drinks so go the boys!

I'm from Pittsburgh, PA...but I'll be in Paris from 9/22 - 9/30 (then SW France for a week). Anyway, I've been checking out the site to try and catch a game (or match?) while I'm there. I don't know much about it, but would live to see one live...or at least riot with some fans after a game (or match?).

Ireland vs Argentina is on the 30th in Paris, thats probably gonna be the biggest match of Pool D and the standard of rugby should be high, I'd suggest going to see that one.

I'll be leaving for SW France once we get up from the wedding the night before, so I doubt that's not an option, but thanks.

aww nice.. what station are they going to be showing it on?

havent watched rugby in for ever, my u-19 club in high school went undefeated in the reg season after 3 years of getting romped on..

be nice to watch again

France played sooooooooooo bad its rediculous, 17-12 to Argentina

One of the biggest upsets in RWC history.

Yeah, just finished watching the replay. Massive upset and a poor way for France to start their campaign. Argentina are one of those sides that will push you all the way but shouldn't really be beating the absolute top sides.

Oh well, we're underway. WALLABIES by 60 tonight against Japan, woot woot.

Looks like I was a little light on, Wallabies by 88! Great win fellas.

All Blacks crush Italy 76-14 as well.

Australia looked abit out of form in the first 20 mins but they got it together and scored some good tries in the 2nd half,
New Zealand looked good, Italy are a good team now and it was impressive to watch the All Blacks run in so many tries.

Ireland v Namibia today, looking for a good results and NO INJURIES i'm talkin to you O'Driscoll!

well, Namibia doesn't have Tana Umage to spear tackle him on a line out this year



well, I was worried that I wasn't going to be able to see any of the RWC this year since Fox Sports World decided to switch to an all football format in the US, but it looks like VS is carrying some of the matches on tape delay by a day or two. I really wish that I had DirecTV to see this on setanta

Awful display by ireland tonight, 32-17 against of bunch of amateurs is fkin pathetic,

The backline looked incapable of stringing passes together and the forwards weren't upto much at the breakdown,

Gonna have to improve dramatically to even have a chance at beating France and Pumas.

Definately, I hate to say it but NZ looked awesome.

Aust. did look a bit rusty early and the hitout would have done them good, will need to improve alot against the top sides though.

Didn't see the Irish game but I did watch South Africa against Samoa. The good sides must really hate playing a side like Samoa. They know they should win, they know if they play anywhere near to their ability they will win, but no doubt lingering in the back of their minds is that no matter what the scoreboard reads once that match is over there will be some bruised and battered bodies in the sheds. So physical in attack and defence makes the Samoan's a fun side to watch.

good first half for canada, but piss poor second half...no use of the backs at all! crash crash crash crash...get it to the backs when you are 1M from the tri line. and the turn overs...yucky...but they have played two good first half's recently (versus all blacks and against wales) give us a few years, rugby in canada is building steam!

FYI: ESPN the Mag has 2 pages about the RWC.

Australia to play Wales in their next encounter tomorrow night. While I will be definately cheering the Wallabies on I won't be taking the odds on offer in my neck of the woods. $1.14 is a joke imho, anyway, gl boys!

It's gonna be nice to watch England get absolutely crushed by the Springboks

Looks like a good match between Wales and Australia, I reckon it'll be tight til the last 20 mins or so, then australia will pull away and win by 20

Yeah, we will have to be patient and try to wear down the Welsh forwards. Should be an interesting match.

As for the English, I know it's a little off topic but hopefully we can crush them in the 20/20 cricket tonight. Nothing like absolutely destroying the poms, doesn't matter what sport it is!

36-0 to the springboks, plus england lose Robinson, Samoa look good to make the 2nd round now!!!

You sure were spot on with that read!

I heard somewhere that it's possible England can get knocked out before the second round now, is that correct? I haven't really looked into the draw but that would be pretty huge I'd think. All I know is Aust have to win their pool to avoid playing the Springboks in the quarters. They looked pretty good the boks and I'd prefer not to play them then too early.

It'll come down to England vs Samoa to see who gets the second qualifying spot out of that group, Samoa could easily pull this off especially as England have lost Robinson.

some of the tactics used against SA were terrible, They dropped out long every time basically gifting the ball back to Montgomerie and he just stuck it into the england 22 over and over again.

Half time in Wales vs Aussies 3-25, prob gonna be Aussies vs Samoa in 2nd round

I watched the Aust. game live. They were clearly a class ahead of the Welsh and their defence was fantastic but through some fundamental errors never quite put them completely away. Chris Latham was super for us and congratulations to Berrick Barnes for the excellent job he did stepping into the injured Stephan Larkham's shoes. I think he went really well. Anyway I'm sure they will be glad to have escaped from Cardiff with the victory because it's never easy winning in front of that awesome Welsh crowd.

Also, what about the All Blacks racking up 100+ against Portugal. Of course the Portugese aren't exactly at the top of World Rugby but the All Blacks were awesome again. They look scary.

Ireland vs France now!! Ireland were 4-1 to win this match

Fkin disgraceful display again by ireland

Go Ireland?

I don't know jack about rugby, but my wife and I were in France a couple of weeks ago. The day before and day of the Scotland v France game there were a sheet-ton of Scottish fans walking around in kilts. The French people were riding them hard as hell, but it looked to be all in good fun. Well anyway Scotland ended up winning, pulling the upset I believe, and it was crazy silly with the partying after that.

That's all.

^^France didn't play Scotland

I know Amsterdam didn't scramble that many brain cells, well Ok, maybe it did.

After looking at the schedule the only game it could have been was Scotland v Portugal. So apparently the French just like making fun of guys wearing kilts.

Scotland and France were playing a qualifying match for the soccer world cup. My dad was over in Paris at the same time as you, and he made the same mistake. He thought the scots were rugby fans at first, but he was confused because they were so mental they could only be soccer fans!:)

Yes!!! I feel somewhat better.....I think. Other than posting in it the completely wrong forum it's cool.

France lost 1-0 to Scotland in Soccer.



Ireland out of the World Cup practically, excellent. Sport has been going so sh!t recently.
Our soccer team conceeded a last minute to end all hopes of qualification for the Euro Champs, Bernard Dunne got knocked out in the first round against Martinez in boxing, Limerick lost against Kilkenny in the All-Ireland hurling final, and now we're out in the rugby, arguably our best sport.

LETS GO TONGA, LETS GO!

Australia vs Canada tonight! Any guesses as to what the margin might be?

Upset by Canada! 17-11

Heh, not quite but the Canadians were pretty impressive. Hung in really well and tried to the very end. It wasn't much of a spectacle though, the weather combined with the pedantic refereeing and the rusty Aust. seconds made for an ugly match.

Now the Fiji vs Wales game, that was a different story. Some great tries, big defense a grandstand finish made for a great game to watch.

Anyway, quarter final time now. The real stuff begins. I don't think I could cope with Australia losing to England again so GO THE WALLABIES!!!

And......Australia was terrible against England. Absolutely diabolical.

Then NZ loses to France after leading 13-0.

The World Cup is over for me!

WOW!!
Scotland, England and France were all 7/2 to go thru. I was so tempted to put €20 on each, if just one of them wins you get 30 profit. But England and France won!! Sick
South Africa (my pre tournie 2nd [after Ireland obv] pick) FTW

Didn't the Fijians give them a run for their money. Really good game. I think you're right though, It's gotta be SA or France right?

Ship 750 when france win this!!!!

all my other bets were a complete wash but still got hope aslong as france don't bottle it,

All 4 quarter finals were great matches, lol at the NZ coach being sacked already.

If by all you mean 3/4?

Truly though I thought the Aus vs Eng game was terrible. Australia's ball control was atrocious, kicking on both sides was ordinary, and just a very ugly game to watch IMHO. The other 3 though I loved.

Hope France get up for you and you enjoy the 750 quid or euro or whatever it is now.

England beat France, woot =)

So Infuriating cos France are so much better than them. whiffed on all my bets , ISASB

they both played pretty bad imo, the kicking game was horrible.

still was glad to see england go through from the johnny kicks =D

Yeah. I'm suprised France didn't try to run it a bit more, Traille just kept booting it back to robinson and vias versa, didn't really make for a good game.

hopefully boks vs pumas will be a more open exciting game.

Can someone please explain to me how the hell this happened?

by both teams playing a horrible kicking game and neither taking advantage of it, johnny kicks 3 points and they take the lead and then kicks a drop goal and it holds.

Hell will freeze over before Argentina are involved in an open game of rugby, the dull boring c#nts. They have great players in the backline too, they just don't use them. They're like Ireland under Jack Charlton, I'm glad they're out. Where to next for Ireland Jargonator, do you reckon we'll implode or will Eddie build another good team?

RAYMOND RAHME GOOGOGOGO WIN THIS... oh wait a minute... SOUTH AFRICA WIN THIS PLEASE one time! give EM RED BULL!

Not sure, part of me thinks its time to get rid of eddie and start fresh, but the team has come along way in the past 5 years and maybe the worldcup was just a blip. I think if we fail to impress in the 6 nations it'll be curtains for eddie. Also if he even thinks about leaving out Geordan Murphy in any competitive game again he should be sacked immed.

Whats yis think of Argies joining either 6 nations or the tri-nations?

I'd take them in the 6 nations in a heartbeat, I dunno what the logistics of it would be like though. Isn't there talk of them playing in Spain or Belgium
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