*** The Official Rugby World Cup 2015 Thread ***

sbi5ar said:
What rule has he broken exactly? I'll save you time... None. He has asked the RWC board for clarification on what rule he has broken and they have said he has broken no rule, but has broken the "spirit of the rules"... whatever that means.

Gatland may appear arrogant to the outside, but he knows the rules and how to play them. Right now he doesn't need to do his pre-match mind games as England seem to be doing that for him.

Also hoping Burgess gets his comeuppance with his "Scott who?" comment... However I can't yet tell whether he will make or break Englands game. Either way, I hope for a good contest and fair refereeing of the game.
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Gatland knew exactly what rules he was breaking having players "train against" the squad ;)

What precisely are England doing in his favour? A slightly off colour 10 has been replaced with an in form one (look at the Premiership final for the clue) and a world class sportsman with proven "big game" mentality has replaced an injured player and in so doing has completely sidestepped the Welsh defensive preparations who had been prepping for England's "Plan A". The midfield is going to be a seismic crash now and Wales better watch for Brown, Watson and May on Burgess' shoulder as he goes into contact (which Edwards will now be drilling for like mad). Part of me just gets a little sense that possibly these changes aren't necessarily being forced completely but the coaches had it in the back of their mind for this game anyway.

As to Burgess' comments, if a joke pulls Scott Williams out the line faster than he should, then "job done" ;) :p

It's going to be tight and we have a god awful referee in Jérôme Garcès for the game, I'm just glad Twickers will be full of cheering fans rather than the hospitality hunters that frequent it these days. Everything is just to close to call right now it'll be small margins to tip it.
 
I'm slightly disappointed with the England selection. Obviously there's not a lot that can be done about the injury to JJ, but with Burgess and Barritt the midfield looks quite one-dimensional and I worry how much ball the wings will get. This is compounded with Farrell at 10 over Ford.

It may have been the plan all along to tighten it up against Wales and play more percentage rugby, but I would have liked to have seen more trust in Ford.
 
It can't be any worse than the lateral side to side tosh they played against Fiji, it wasn't until the replacements came on (i.e. the new starters tomorrow) that England earned the right go wide by going direct and breaching the middle first. I have far more worries about Marler and Youngs in the front row than the Centre combination, neither of those two are world class and I still can't understand why Corbs and Cowan-Dickie weren't picked in the 31 and Webber doesn't get the start ahead of Youngs.

Also I have every confidence in Burgess and Farrell as Dawson has come out and stated categorically that Burgess will be "smashed" by Wales as Farrell stands to deep. Dawson is fast turning in to a clueless, anything for the attention, idiot (who should stick to cooking and dancing) that hasn't made a single correct call with anything he's said about Lancaster's England over the last few years (he seems to have reserved a particularly large amount of ire in his inflated melon for Burgess)
 
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sbi5ar said:
What rule has he broken exactly? I'll save you time... None. He has asked the RWC board for clarification on what rule he has broken and they have said he has broken no rule, but has broken the "spirit of the rules"... whatever that means.

Gatland may appear arrogant to the outside, but he knows the rules and how to play them. Right now he doesn't need to do his pre-match mind games as England seem to be doing that for him.

Also hoping Burgess gets his comeuppance with his "Scott who?" comment... However I can't yet tell whether he will make or break Englands game. Either way, I hope for a good contest and fair refereeing of the game.
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I find the Welsh supporters poor winners and losers when playing England. I hope England win, but in a way wish Wales didn't have any injuries.
 
TheMightyTen said:
Gatland knew exactly what rules he was breaking having players "train against" the squad ;)
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There is no rule so there can be no breaking of the rules ;) And of course he knew what he was doing... he knows the rules :p

TheMightyTen said:
What precisely are England doing in his favour?
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A lot of the press and the England team have been saying they wonder when Gats mind games will begin... This is without him saying anything at all, so he already has them thinking of things without doing anything now. This was nothing to do with selection...

TheMightyTen said:
As to Burgess' comments, if a joke pulls Scott Williams out the line faster than he should, then "job done" ;) :p
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Its not just that, but Williams did win it for us against England a year or two ago as he waltzed through their defence.

TheMightyTen said:
It's going to be tight and we have a god awful referee in Jérôme Garcès for the game, I'm just glad Twickers will be full of cheering fans rather than the hospitality hunters that frequent it these days. Everything is just to close to call right now it'll be small margins to tip it.
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I agree with you here.

Monkey Puzzle said:
I find the Welsh supporters poor winners and losers when playing England. I hope England win, but in a way wish Wales didn't have any injuries.
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I think the Welsh would say the same about the English ;) No matter what happens today, the saving grace is that neither team are out of the competition, but just makes that match against Australia all the more important!






I would like to finish by saying, good luck to all teams today (including England). So long as all teams play a good game of rugby then I will be happy and deal with the consequences... (tomorrow) :p
 
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