Rugby union?

Some impressive tries and amazingly fluid rugby at times. Enjoyable to watch as a neutral! NZ are brutal on the counter attack, they've always got support runners on the break. Will be interesting to see how they go against better opposition again.
 
Talk about a walk in the park..

Some hilariously poor defending from Italy

Good to watch them get annihilated though ;)
 
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Scotland 2nd 15 quite impressive albeit against 12 men at one point. Did the job and built confidence ahead of showdown next weekend. Ireland will be altogether different proposition. I just hope we can make a match of it.
 
Calpol said:
Scotland 2nd 15 quite impressive albeit against 12 men at one point. Did the job and built confidence ahead of showdown next weekend. Ireland will be altogether different proposition. I just hope we can make a match of it.
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Hopefully a good match but Ireland are just too good. Can’t see anything other than an Ireland win. If Scotland win, what will they need to leap frog the springbok?
 
Reuben klang said:
Hopefully a good match but Ireland are just too good. Can’t see anything other than an Ireland win. If Scotland win, what will they need to leap frog the springbok?
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Hoping for a good game and maybe a bit of luck, we must be due a win against Ireland (I was at Murrayfield in 2017 the last time we beat them!).

Scotland's head to head can only be v Ireland, as I think we all expect SA to get the 5 points against Tonga tonight.
We need to win and deny Ireland a bonus point to go through basically
 
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chrismscotland said:
Hoping for a good game and maybe a bit of luck, we must be due a win against Ireland (I was at Murrayfield in 2017 the last time we beat them!).

Scotland's head to head can only be v Ireland, as I think we all expect SA to get the 5 points against Tonga tonight.
We need to win and deny Ireland a bonus point to go through basically
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it could be to Ireland advanage in the long run if they played a "weak" team against scotland, so that scotland finish second putting SA out
 
Btone said:
it could be to Ireland advanage in the long run if they played a "weak" team against scotland, so that scotland finish second putting SA out
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We can't "beat" South Africa to Second Place, head to head (if points are equal) starts with the result between teams, we lost to SA so would place behind them.

We basically need to beat Ireland with a bonus point or beat them without one and stop them getting a bonus point..... its Ireland who are likely to go out if we beat them, not South Africa
 
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Too many teams in this tournament that are just cannon fodder - cant do them much good seeing 80-100 points conceded.

Would be a better idea to have a play-off tournament for the 2nd tier to decide the best 2 and then progress them to the tournament proper. Be over a lot quicker as well.
 
Mint8 said:
Too many teams in this tournament that are just cannon fodder - cant do them much good seeing 80-100 points conceded.

Would be a better idea to have a play-off tournament for the 2nd tier to decide the best 2 and then progress them to the tournament proper. Be over a lot quicker as well.
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As much as it seems a bad idea they learn a lot playing top tier teams.
 
Mint8 said:
Too many teams in this tournament that are just cannon fodder - cant do them much good seeing 80-100 points conceded.

Would be a better idea to have a play-off tournament for the 2nd tier to decide the best 2 and then progress them to the tournament proper. Be over a lot quicker as well.
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Englands 2007 bid included a smaller top tier competition and then a shield where every single rugby playing nation was invited.
 
Troezar said:
As much as it seems a bad idea they learn a lot playing top tier teams.
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I could understand this if it wasn't just a 4 yearly tanking. Not sure how much the teams learn from a beat down every 4 years.

I'm not sure what the solution is as just throwing them in the 6 nations or Rugby Championship isn't doing much good either. Italy have been in the 6 nations nearly 25 years and are no nearer making a breakthrough now than 25 years ago.
 
Psycho Ned said:
I could understand this if it wasn't just a 4 yearly tanking. Not sure how much the teams learn from a beat down every 4 years.

I'm not sure what the solution is as just throwing them in the 6 nations or Rugby Championship isn't doing much good either. Italy have been in the 6 nations nearly 25 years and are no nearer making a breakthrough now than 25 years ago.
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www.rugbyeurope.eu

Rugby Europe Championship 2023

This year's competition will see eight teams taking part in the REC
www.rugbyeurope.eu www.rugbyeurope.eu

They get plenty of games against each other. They need the step up against the big guns to develop though.

Italy have had their moments over the years, they're a pretty handy side, but right now the northern hemisphere teams are on an upwards cycle, with Ireland and France top dogs in the world, Scotland not far behind and Wales and England being historically crap but still quite decent and able to compete with the top sides.
 
Psycho Ned said:
I could understand this if it wasn't just a 4 yearly tanking. Not sure how much the teams learn from a beat down every 4 years.

I'm not sure what the solution is as just throwing them in the 6 nations or Rugby Championship isn't doing much good either. Italy have been in the 6 nations nearly 25 years and are no nearer making a breakthrough now than 25 years ago.
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It's a combination of things, they need more people participating, a strong home league, good coaching etc. I will say though that the lower tier teams are looking better this time than I remember and they would have beaten some of the top tier teams of the past. All the teams are improving it's just that the stronger teams are still ahead. If you only kept in the teams with a chance of winning it would be a very short tournament ;)
 
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