Rugby World Cup 2011- The Awards

‘Best Beard’ Canada’s Adam Kleeberger – you can see why he grew the beard

The ‘Black is Beautiful’ Award – the All Blacks. After being the best team in the world for most of the last 24 years, they get finally get the title to go with the fact.

The ‘I could have been a contender’ Award: Samoa, who’s chance of making it big were scuppered by unequal treatment from the IRB. (Them and all the other little countries)

The ‘Bring on the clowns’ Award – England! Dwarfgate, Boobgate, Ballgate, and they left their A game at home.

The ‘Most farcical performance in a major tournament’ Award France. Lose two, stagger out of the pools, get to the final on a wing and a prayer

‘Performance of the Tournament’ Award: France in the final

‘The Little team that could’ Award – Ireland, who could beat Australia, helped a Northern Hemisphere team into the final, but couldn’t beat Wales…

The ‘You’ve made your point, now STFU’ award: Samoan Eliota Fuimaono-Sapolu. Making the smaller teams play games every three days is unfair – but not in the same league as killing 6 million people. The IRB is not likely to face a crimes against humanity tribunal.

The ‘Move to the top of the class’ award – Wales. Sucker punched by Fiji four years ago, they looked like they could go all the way at one time.

The ‘Multiplicity’ Award: Jerome Kaino - was there only one of him on the pitch at a time? He seemed to be everywhere

The ‘My kicking went brilliant in the warm up, honest’ Award: Piri Weepu

Rugby world Cup final 2011 - Black is the new black

Deserved champs (Picture http://bit.ly/oC3Y57 )

So 7 weeks and umpteen matches later, we get a final that, even until the last minute, the last play of the match, could have gone either way. New Zealand brushed off 24 years of pain to finally double their haul of World Cups. And France make the startling discovery that (cover the screen so no one else gets to see this) if you want to beat the All Blacks – you have to play better than them. That’s what France did for 64 minutes of the match, but the All Blacks won it with fifteen minutes of excellent play in the first half, and one minute of good play in the second half. C’est la vie.

Everything that could have gone wrong for the All Blacks, did. First of all, the French surrender monkeys that had been booked for the final failed to turn up, and instead we got 15 lean mean hungry Frenchmen who had the skills and the nous to go nearly all the way. The All Black line out was pretty shambolic, their scrum creaked, and then there was the kicking. Rugby coaching 101 states the first thing you do is pick a good kicker. The second thing you do is pick another good kicker. If I had somebody kicking for my life, Piri Weepu wouldn’t be top of the list – Piri Weepu wouldn’t even be on the list. Let’s be kind and say his radar was a little off. Then there was the  fly half merry go round. Dan Carter is the best  fly half in the world. When he was injured, his replacement, Colin Slade, is possibly in the top 15 in the world. His replacement, Aaron Crudden might make the top 30 on a good day. When Crudden was injured, on ran Stephen Donald who knows fly havles in the top fifty in the world. Graham Henry could see the apocalypse unfolding in front of him, the tactic was – don’t let him touch the ball! Or do anything! The second someone passed him the ball, Henry’s  eyes glazed over and he sent the word for his head to brought on a plate. And for two valium.

But it was the All Blacks day, Donald did what Weepu couldn’t and banged the ball over when he had to, and they just about held their nerve to kept the French out. I couldn’t think of another team that would have beaten France in the final, and it’s no more than they deserve. For France, their loose trio was immense, Bonnaire, Dusautoir and Harinordoquy were all outstanding, in fact their whole pack was – let’s face it, 1-15 they played out of their skins.

Now it’s all over things can go back to normal in the world of rugby, the All Blacks can carry on beating everyone, the French can go back to concentrate on the T14, and maybe, just maybe, one day they’ll find a coach without a mustache to make them into world beaters.

French journalists pay homage to that tache

In the other match, Australia outplayed game Wales to claim third. It was the Hook and Jones disaster series again for the Welsh I’m afraid.

Finally, this is a big shout for avid rugby fans Ciaran Kelly and his friend Alan Burnell who are heading to Zambia next June to help with Brent Pope's Rugby Legends Foundation as they build homes for the Habitat for Humanity project.

If you'd like to make even a small donation to help them out please follow this link and click the "sponsor me now" button! Get in behind them!

It's Lethal Weapon, Johnny Logan, the All Blacks and the French - it's a dodgy 80's remix

The last time France and New Zealand met in the world Cup final was in June1987. Johnny Logan wanted to hold you now, Whitney Heuston wanted to dance with somebody, Lethal Weapon was big at the box office, 'Aertel' teletext service debuted on RTÉ Television and Charlie Haughey was back in the house. And this little guy was practicing stealing balls out of the playpen. 

Well, we’ve all passed a lot of water since then, or however the saying goes, can the All Blacks get what they’ve been waiting 24 years to claim back? And have the double satisfaction of winning the World Cup AND beat the French who’ve been their nemesis twice since the. In a word, yes. They comprehensively dismantled the number two side in the world last week, pulled them apart, danced on the bits and blew raspberries at what was left. They made the French look pathetique when they met in the pool stages, and there would be many ( four million Welshmen for a start)   that would argue that France don’t deserve to be there, especially after having lost twice already.

After having been knocked out by the French last year, you’d think that the All Blacks would never underestimate them again, and I’m just about sure they’re not although they wouldn’t have seen much to scare them so far. The French have got a few rays of hope – I reckon their front row is going to give the AB’s a torrid time, and the All Blacks attack better than they defend – Ioane ran through nearly their whole team last week. It’s going to come to patience, discipline and composure and consistency, and even their most ardent supporters are going to have to admit that France don’t have the last two. What I’m hoping for is a great match, and for the French to display even half of their potential. So the all Blacks by 2 or three then.

On Friday,  the Wallabies and Wales fight it out to decide who’s the third best team in the tournament. Has a really nice ring about it doesn’t it, third best.  You’ve narrowly missed out on a spot in the final, or been robbed, depending on your nationality, and now you face the potential indignity of losing twice in two weeks and being called the fourth best team. The last time they met in a 3rd 4th paly off was - 1987! They should do like the boxers do and just give everybody a bronze medal. For the record, I’d say Australia are going to shade it, but it could be a really entertatining match, and bad luck Wales I’ll be shouting for you again.

Composure and World Cup Rugby

Alain Rolland (Picture http://bit.ly/nZajIr )

Australia 6 - 20 New Zealand
Wales 8 - 9 France

This weekend was all about composure – if you can keep your head while all about you are losing theirs – you’re probably not French, Welsh or Australian.

I was really looking forward to the French Wales, two teams giving it welly, a feast of running rugby, a try fest, spy vs spy unlocking each others defenses.  Well, we didn’t get was on the tin on Saturday. The Welsh will all be sticking pins in their Alain Roland dolls, while the French confound us again, doing barely enough to scrape through.  The low point of the match was Warburtons sending off, after that, the French thought, ‘Ne problemme pas,  this one’s in the bag’, and the Welsh could only do so much with 14 men. The incident was a 50 50 call, judged on the real time view of the officials,  and could easily have been a yellow as well. Now if you were a Welsh conspiracy theorist, you’d be going into overdrive. What nationality is Alain Rolland? Irish. And who did Wales  beat last week? Ireland. And who did Wales controversially beat in the 6 Nations with a dodgy refereeing decision? Ireland. And who was the ref that day, and  touch judge today who could well have helped  the decision on the sending off? Jonathan Kaplan. It all comes together…

Leaving that aside though, Wales left 11 points you’d think they should have got on the table, and so really they should of won this anyway, with a magnificent effort from the 14 left on the field. If you ever wondered why Gatland  has been starting Priestland, Hook and Jones were there to provide the answer.  Where was the drop goal when they needed it? I was disappointed there was so much kicking by both teams, and Wales’ unloading game deserted them. So the French straggle into the final, well thye still have a lot in reserve because they didn’t use any of it this weekend. Their man of the match for me was Yashvili, who just kept the game ticking over nicely. I knew Wales wouldn’t thank me for shouting for them.

The first 20 minutes of Sundays match were as good as you’ll see anywhere anytime. The All Blacks put maximum effort into breaking the Australians, which they did successfully, and then went into containment mode. Australia got into the match a bit after that but never looked like they were going win. The All Blacks had that composure I was on about , sorely lacking for them last week, but the Australians never had composure, Quade Cooper had a mare, they really missed Beale, and didn’t have anyone to grab the game by the scruff of the neck and drag themselves into back into it. Even Sonny Bill Williams long overdue union yellow card for a shoulder charge didn't dampen their spirit. The All Blacks do all the simple things really well, and then have that X Factor – not the Louis Walsh type (Although I’m sure Gary Barlow has it in him to throw a dwarf) – players like Dagg and Jane that can turn the game on it’s head in a flash.

The win meant the world to them, their whole scrum started punching the air and giving each other high fives when they won a scrum penalty near the end – steady on lads, it’s only Australia – but they rightfully claim their place in the final.

Wales carry the burden of their reponsibility for beating Ireland into their France match, and the Wobblies get to grips with teetering All Blacks

Aaron Crudden - no pressure mate (Picture http://bit.ly/nTLtYE )

Saturday , October 15 Wales vs France
Sunday , October 16 Australia vs New Zealand

First up is Wales and France. Now Wales, occupying as they do the spot rightly belonging to Ireland, have a massive responsibility to beat France, since they denied us that opportunity. You broke the heart of a small nation that’s been through a lot lately, and when light appeared at the end of the tunnel in the shape of a best ever world cup result, you built more tunnel for us. All of that lovey dovey post match celtic bonhomie might disappear in a flash if Wales make like England and go all pathetic in front of the French.

Meanwhile  it’s Gallic smirks all round in France at the thought of kicking Les Rosbifs out of the World Cup, but they need to now nail down another performance now, two in a row, oooo tricky. Wales are bursting with self confidence, but how do  they stop that from going over into cocky? For France, there is disheartening harmony between Lievremont and his players at the moment, they seem to work best off the friction of mutual loathing. The French coach has persisted with Parra at fly half, which worked abysmally against the All Blacks and Tonga, but seemed to reasonably do the trick against England.  Because Parra at fly half makes no sense to me, it’s probably absolutely the best thing for the French to do.

Performance vs performance, I think Ireland were better than England, so on that basis Wales put in a better swowing than France, and they sustained that form for the whole match.  It’s going to be a fairy tale for Wales if they win this – but I kind of think French experience should kick in to see them clinch a win. I wouldn’t be too disheartened  though Wales fans ,with my record, my tip for success for France is the probably the death knell for them.

Then on Sunday we have the match that could easily have been the final, if magnificent Ireland hadn’t saved the Northern Hemisphere by bumping the Wobblies into the path of the All Blacks. 8 weeks ago, at home, this would have been good night nurse for the Aussies. But a lot has changed in the last two months, the AB’s are now done to third choice fly half, with Aaron Crudden now in the hot seat attempting to fill the size 15 boot sized gap left by Dan Carter. He’s got 5 caps for New Zealand, but has never played a whole match for them. It would the stuff of legends if this cancer survivor could guide the All Blacks home. The other pillar of the team, Captain Fantastic McCaw has a crocked foot and is below par on his admittedly stellar standards.

How about those Australians, not too consistent, but they are a cunning bunch, living off scraps last weekend to pick the pockets of the Springboks. It’s every New Zealanders worst nightmare, a bunch of jeering Aussies leaving the land of the long white cloud waving the World Cup in the tear stained faces of the Kiwis. Australia have a fairly sorry excuse for a scrum at the moment, but enough firepower behind them to trouble most defenses. The All Blacks have a far superior scrum, and even Carterless are a match for the Australian backline. That equals an All Black win. But the New Zealanders are all over the place at the moment, they look like nervous wrecks, and I’m afraid that this could be the end of the road for the Blacks again.

The music dies for Ireland in New Zealand

I feel like that too if it's any consolation (picture http://bit.ly/owtAHc )

New Zealand 33 - 10 Argentina 
Ireland 10 - 22 Wales 
England 12 - 19 France
Australia 11 South Africa 9

I woke up on Saturday morning with a funny feeling in my stomach about the Ireland match, and it wasn’t just that curry I had on Friday night (although that may have had something to do with it). It was the day the music died for the Irish in New Zealand. There’s no point in beating about the bush – Wales were just better on the day, sharper, hungrier, faster more physical, better sums it up pretty well. We looked like we had a chance when we got it back to 10 all early in the second half, but then Wales stepped up a gear.  They had all the answers to the questions we asked of their defense, and they wore us down until the two trys they scored in the second half were pretty well inevitable.  They were given away way too easily, but you can only defend for so long against that sort of attack until the cracks start to appear. Wales can go far now if they can just keep hold of themselves.

 There weren’t too many Irish players that had fantastic matches, not that they played badly, just that they were shaded all over the field by the rampant Welsh. Now’s not the time to knock the team though, they gave it everything they had, but came up short.  Players O’Connell, O’Driscoll O’Gara have been unbelievable for Ireland, and it must be very hard for them to take that they didn’t manage to push Ireland on to their best ever world cup finish.  A sad ending for some of the greats of their generation BUT things are looking up in the long run – we stopped at the pool stages last world cup, got the quarters this time, that means we’ll make the semis in 2015 and the final in 2019! Keep the faith!

France finally decided it was time to stop messing and play some rugby, and they had England caught like a rabbit in the headlights. Johnson had made a few dodgy selections, Flood at center for instancewas always going to have the potential to go wrong, he should have taken the bull by the horns and dropped Wilkinson. And what was he thinking picking Easter when the man’s clearly in the advanced stages of pregnancy – aren’t there health and safety regulations about that anyway? On the bright side, Dan Cole, will be releasing a limited edition miniature garden statue of himself after the tournament.  England looked leaden and devoid of ideas – they peaked just before their match against Ireland in the six nations. France will be reveling in the superlatives coming their way, they played some sublime rugby, and should they chose to turn it on again, could go all the way.

After Ireland were knocked out, I threw my weight behind my ‘B’ team, the Springboks. Big mistake. Ireland were at least beaten by a better team on the day, whereas the Springboks  absolutely butchered a perfectly winnable match against a below par Australia. All they know about is running in to people as hard as they can – you wouldn’t want to pass or your mates might think you were a sissy. Australia rode their luck, they used up lives 4 to 9 in this match. It’s enough to make you weep. Anyway, good luck to the Aussies, there are no prizes for trying really hard and doing everything but winning, as the Springboks have discovered.

Finally Argentina got their shot at being the first team apart from Australia and France to knock the All Blacks out of a World Cup. They made a fairly good fist of it for the first half hour, and even had the lead for a while, but they ran out of steam eventually. The All Blacks look fairly out of sorts – Slade, trying to fill the massive boots of Dan Carter, looked unsure of himself, and the giant hook removed him from the field at the 30 minute mark just after the Argentinean try. They got the win, but they look eminently beatable, and it’s those jammy Wallabies who get a shot at them next.

So that's a shocking one from four right for me.

It's going to be Ireland, England, South Africa, New Zealand

All the warmth and compassion of Kim Il Jung (picture http://bit.ly/qIHg4x )

Saturday , October 8
Ireland vs Wales 06:00
England vs France 08:30
Sunday , October 9 South Africa vs Australia 06:00
New Zealand vs Argentina 08:30

The action this weekend kicks off at the indecent hour of 6.00am with a mouth watering contest between Ireland and Wales. Mouth watering because they are arguably the two form Northern Hemisphere teams, and are evenly matched in strengths. They both have  ultra competitive tight fives, young talented and mobile loose forwards, and exciting dynamic backs. Could it come down to coaching then?

 Both Gatland and Kidney have coached Ireland, both are not entirely comfortable in media interviews, but that’s about where the similarities end. Kidney is a kindly self effacing man who comes across like everybody’s favorite uncle.  Gatland has a less friendly demeanor and has been said (not by me I might add) to exude all the warmth and compassion of Kim Il Jung. Kidney comes across as somebody who really doesn’t like the attention, and who’d prefer not to be there. Gatland’s media tactics are constant ham fisted attempts to wind the opposition up. He should really save his breath as based on his previous utterances, the biggest motivation for the Irish team, never mind progressing to the semis for the first time, never mind the pinnacle of careers in the offing, no the biggest single motivator for them will be spoiling his day on Saturday.

Kidney is a good man manager, developing players and bringing out the best in them, and getting the Grand Slam for Ireland in 2009. He makes tough decisions easily though, if he made decisions based on sentiment he would have brought Stringer and O’Leary along with him. Gatland has brought the Welsh along in fits and starts, they got the Grand Slam in 2008, but in the meantime he’s dropped his captain Ryan Jones and had to discipline various players for off field drinking offences.In fairness he’s brought a young keen team to this Cup.

It’s going to be a tight tight match, but I’m backing Irish experience and Declan Kidney to take them through to the next round.

England France Neither team is much burdened by the weight of expectations for this fixture. England have the better form but have looked pretty lackluster so far. Paper thin wins over Argentina and Scotland hardly mark them out as tournament favourites at the moment. They are certainly not playing to their potential, which saw them claim the 6 Nations title and score a shed load of tries in the process. They’ve been disappointing so far to me anyway, pre tournament I thought they possibly had the best chance in the NH of doing something this World Cup. Speaking of disappointing, France’s campaign has degenerated into the same sort of farce that their soccer team put up last year. Marc Lièvremont is the new Raymond Domenech. He hates the players, the players hate him. France have the talent to win the whole thing, but barring a French style miracle they’ll be on the plane home on Sunday.

Australia South Africa. This should be the most competitive match after the Ireland Wales match, as the two Southern Hemisphere giants lock horns. Australia’s form has been moderate, king of the Southern Hemisphere teams they may be, but when they came up against a quality side like Ireland, then we saw what they made of. They really seem to have their tails between their legs now. The Boks have also been in so so form, scraping past Wales, and not looking too flash against Samoa either. Confidence seems high in the Bok camp, and I think they’re going to bully their way past a talented but erratic Australian side.

New Zealand Argentina. Now I’m expecting the AB’s to win this one. But then me, them, the whole world expected them to thump France in the last World Cup. This is just the sort of block they tend to stumble on in the World Cup and theyno Carter to steady the ship. Plus the field is going to going to be full of white and blue missiles on Sunday as Argentina, in fairly literal terms, lay their lives down for their country. There’s a Latin drama about everything they do. But the Men in Black are big enough, bad enough and street wise enough this time not to make the mistake of previous cups and underestimate the men for the land of the Pampas, so I’m expecting a close match, but a win for New Zealand.

Rugby World Cup - last chance to get on the bus!

Ronan O'Gara - sign out of picture (picture http://bit.ly/oLQ6tU )

Right, this is where things get really interesting, no more hiding your light under a bushel, get in there and prove you’re good enough for the next round!  Samoa have to knock down the biggest, thickest door in the tournament to stay in the tournament on Friday. They outmuscled the Australians pre tournament, can they do the same to the Boks? Beating the South Africans at their own game by taking them on physically is a mammoth task – most teams have profited by outsmarting them, which doesn’t seem to be nearly as difficult. While I have every admiration for the Samoans, and sympathy with their match schedule, I can’t see them having the tactics or the discipline to overcome the Boks, so that is them gone I’m afraid.

The Scots are in a similar position with a similarly sized door, if a bit paler, as they plot against the Auld enemy.  They can beat England, I’m sure of that. But can they manage to jump through the whole range of hops necessary for them to get through to the next round? They have beat England, score four tries, deny them a bonus point, climb the greased pole and eat the candy apple with their hands tied behind their backs. So Scotland are on the plane. They just don’t have the firepower to do what they need to do, they’re never going to score four tries.

Wales Fiji is a interesting one, but Fijians have had a pretty disastrous time of it with only one win, and not good performances in the two they lost. They beat Wales to make it into the next round last World Cup, but Wales are a different team these days, even without Hook and Lydiate. So no fairy tale ending this time, the Fijians to lose, and the princess to marry the frog with no spell on it.

Then it’s the last big match, and the only one where the underdog, Italy ,has any real chance. If Italy beat Ireland, and deny us a losing bonus point, that would be Italy and the Aussies on their way and us on the plane. We tiptoed past them in Rome in the Six Nations, wouldn’t they just love to go one further this time? They have the forwards to tie us up in knots, and realistically, we are one front row injury away from disaster. Our backs are far better than theirs though, and I’m actually expecting quite a lot from Ireland in this match, a statement of intent.

 It will be interesting to see who starts at fly half on Sunday. O’Gara is top class international, with excellent place kicking skills, and he’s brilliant at keeping the game in the other teams half. His running game is not of the same standard as his kicking though. His inside pass for instance- you know the sign board they use to let you know how many extra minutes are to be added on in a soccer match? It’s like there’s a man waving a sign board on the sideline saying ‘O’Gara is about to make an inside pass’, that’s how much notice the other team gets. Sexton is good positional kicker, and a great man running with the ball, getting the backline going. He tackles better than O’Gara as well. He falls down on his place kicking though, when he lines up a place kick these days, that’s the time to make yourself a cup of tea or get another beer from the fridge as you really can’t watch. I think we need a running game to beat Italy, so I’m expecting Sexton for the first 60 and O’Gara to close it out. That’s unless D’Arcy is out, in which case they may both start. The front row is going to be under massive pressure, but the players  I want to really stand up are O’Callaghan and Heaslip. Are we at the bus stop or on the bus lads? I think we’re on the World Cup bus, Ireland by 10.

Ireland: Rob Kearney; Tommy Bowe, Brian O'Driscoll (capt), Gordon D'Arcy, Keith Earls; Ronan O'Gara, Conor Murray; Cian Healy, Rory Best, Mike Ross; Donncha O'Callaghan, Paul O'Connell; Stephen Ferris, Sean O'Brien, Jamie Heaslip.

Replacements: Sean Cronin, Tom Court, Donnacha Ryan, Denis Leamy, Eoin Reddan, Jonathan Sexton, Andrew Trimble.

And that's the team, bit surprised to see ROG and Murray but, who can argue with Kidney?
Fri - 30th Sep 11  
08:30 South Africa  vs Samoa

1 October:
Australia v Russia, Nelson (0330 BST)
France v Tonga, Wellington Regional Stadium (0600 BST)
England v Scotland, Eden Park, Auckland (0830 BST)

2 October:
Argentina v Georgia, Arena Manawatu, Palmerston North (0100 BST)
New Zealand v Canada, Wellington Regional Stadium (0330 BST)
Wales v Fiji, Waikato Stadium, Hamilton (0600 BST)
Ireland v Italy, Otago Stadium, Dunedin (0830 BST)

Rugby World Cup - sob story for France, SOB story for Ireland

Sen O'Brien (picture http://bit.ly/r33MLY )

Australia made some small amends for their recent fall from grace by pummeling the USA, who at least had the solace of scoring a try against the No.2 side in the world.  England look like they are back in the groove, playing free flowing rugby and chalking up a good total against the brave but limited Rumanians.

The match of the day, maybe even of the tournament, was supposed be the one between the All Blacks and the French, but it didn’t live up to the hype. New Zealand, while they’re no Ireland,  are a formidable team. They went through about 30% of their gears, and still smashed the French. The French started with blistering pace,  then it looked like they had a meeting with their shop steward and played to rule after that.  The All Black back line absolutely ripped the French to shreds, running in try’s just about at will. French coach Lievremont must have known that playing a scrum half at fly half was going to disrupt the team, but who knows what his plans are. This is a World Cup, there’s only one winner, and neither team has won or lost anything yet.  The French are safely in the ‘easy’ side of the draw, but what’s frustrating is that you feel they have the talent to beat anyone, anywhere, and should have been going for a win. For the All Blacks, Carter, Dagg, Jane and Kaino were all outstanding. The only soupcon of comfort for the French was that they put immense pressure on the All Black scrum – if the French hadn’t scored a try in a ‘huh?’ moment while the clock was supposedly stopped after a series of scrum penalties, they were odds on for a penalty try.

Samoa kept themselves in contention with a good win over Fiji, then it was Irelands turn to put Russia to the sword. It was pretty much an Ireland B team, and Russia are really weak, but they scored 9 tries, a couple of the fringe players like Trimble and McFadden put their hands up, and Sean O’Brien is in the stratosphere at this stage with another stellar performance. 6 o’clock on a Sunday though! Feel my ‘real fan’ credentials growing by the minute.

The last match on Sunday was Scotland/Argentina, one place apart in the world rankings, and evenly matched in strength and style. It was an appalling day in Wellington, so ball handling was diabolical, it was scrum reset after scrum reset, in a fascinatingly close contest none the less. A try by Argentinean super sub  Amorosino made the difference and clinched the win for the Argentines. Absolutely  gutting for the Scots.

Moment of the weekend – Francois Pienaar in post match commentary – ‘The loose trios are so fast these days – in my day, the difference between me jogging and sprinting was a change in my facial expression!’


Australia  67 - 5  USA 
England 67 - 3 Romania 
New Zealand 37 - 17 France
Fiji 7 - 27 Samoa 
Ireland 62 - 12 Russia 
Argentina 13 - 12 Scotland

RWC11 - Ireland beat Australia - move over DKNY there’s a new name in grand design, DKCC! (Declan Kidney Cork City)!

Move over DKNY, there’s a new name in grand design, DKCC! (Declan Kidney Cork City)! Nobodies talking about four losses in a row now! We didn’t just beat the Australians, we BEAT them! A 9 point win when no one’s given you a chance – how sweet is that! Just about none of the media, few of the fans, but most importantly the Australian players didn’t think Ireland had a hope. Ireland didn’t do anything flash, just went about their business in a determined fashion, kept the ball tight, and established an absolute dominance in the scrum. The most kudos for this performance definitely go to the front row and the loose trio, but 1-15, what a performance, no stars just one for all and all for one. Genia, Cooper and Beale were near invisible for Australia as Ireland stifled the life out of the Aussies. Even our bench was stronger, with O’Gara and Trimble both looking sharp. There was nothing the Wallabies had either on or off the pitch that could match us.

Australia now face the unenviable task of needing to beat the Springboks in the next round – that’s if they beat the USA first, although I’d definitely back them to beat the USA, especially if they get Pocock and Ioane back :). And as for Ireland – well, you wouldn’t want to get too carried away, but it’s a sweet, sweet moment to savor, it feels like the sky’s the limit at the moment.

Here’s the phrases the Aussies should have learnt for the match:

Is féidir le Paul O'Connell teacht le cabhrú linn lenár scrum nuair a scoireann sé?
Can Paul O'Connell come help us with our scrum when he retires?

Riamh Tá na beers i Bondi ceirteacha tarraingthe ag do dtíre ag dul go dtí an blas céanna arís.
Those beers in Bondi pulled by your countrymen are never going to taste the same again.

Tá tú ceart iad do sheila ag lorg níos fear
You're right your sheila's are better looking

Earlier on Saturday, the Springboks picked up where they left off after the first 5 minutes against Wales with a pretty impressive victory over Fiji. Fiji looked really good for the first 20 minutes, they had the Boks on the ropes, but then the Springboks struck back, playing uncharacteristically fluid rugby. They were, dare I say it, exciting to watch! Every South African out there put his hand up and there are some interesting headaches for the South African coaches now. This is a great group for Wales and South Africa, there is no hiding place against Samoa and Fiji, you either survive or die, and whatever doesn’t kill you just makes you stronger.

Wales Samoa was the other big match of the weekend, and it was a massively physical encounter – both teams must have felt like they’d been run over by an 18 wheeler. Wales are growing in confidence, they didn’t have it all their own way but they showed enough composure and grit to grind out his win. They must have sealed their place in the next round with that win. Samoa don’t have a good enough scrum to really compete at this level.

Elsewhere, The All Blacks annihilated Japan, Argentina thumped Rumania, and France ran out easy winners over Canada. England took a break from their busy schedule of dwarf throwing and cleavage diving to easily account for Georgia.


New Zealand  83 - 7  Japan  
 
Sat - 17th Sep

 Argentina  43 - 8  Romania    
 Australia  6 - 15  Ireland
South Africa  49 - 3  Fiji    

Sun - 18th Sep

 France  46 - 19  Canada    
 England  41 - 10  Georgia    
 Wales  17 - 10  Samoa    

Rugby World Cup round up - all the biggies win

Would you ever run the feckin ball?

New Zealand  41 - 10  Tonga 

Scotland 34 - 24 Romania 

Fiji 49 - 25 Namibia 

France 47 - 21 Japan 

Argentina 9 - 13 England

Sunday , September 11

Australia 32 - 6 Italy 

Ireland 22 - 10 USA 

South Africa 17 - 16 Wales

New Zealand got the show going in fine style with a 6 try demolition of Tonga. The eagle eyed choker spotters weren’t impressed – ‘They fell off in the second half! Dan Carter had a poor match!’ Six tries does it for me though,  and Tonga are not an easy team to beat. Quite an interesting pre match haka competition as well, where I thought the Tongans had a slight edge.

I didn’t catch the Scotland Romania match,   where the Scots kind of tiptoed past the Romanians by all accounts, or the Fiji Namibia match, where Fiji clocked up a good score in what was said to be an entertaining match. I then made a fatal error by writing off the Japan France match as one the French would slam dunk the funk out of the Japanese to go for a run, in time to watch the England Argentina match.  Well, the Brave Blossoms, ( and spell check saved my blushes on the first spelling of blossoms, cough) obviously spurred on by the news that I’d got them in the office draw, really took the game to the French, and at times looked like they were going to record their second ever world Cup win . (Their only win so far is ironically over Zimbabwe). I watched for a bit when Japan got their second try, and I wasn’t feeling the love for the French from the crowd. There were plenty of Japanese supporters, the Kiwis were all oddly behind the Japanese, and all the neutrals were backing the underdog. One sniff of victory for the Japanese and half the western world descended into raucous ‘allo ‘allo style derision of the French. They managed to pull themselves together in the end and get the win. Nihon gambatte!

Then it was the supposed match of the day, England v Argentina. You can win pretty, you can win ugly, but at the end of the day, a win is a win. But England’s win was as ugly as Martin Johnson’s face in the post match interview – yes, it was that bad! It was a poor match by any standards, with both teams bereft of ideas, either bashing it up the middle, or kicking it aimlessly away. They were both content to play without the ball and wait for the other team to make a mistake. Don’t get me wrong either, I’m not knocking England for the sake of it, they played some good rugby in the Six Nations, attractive running rugby. They are back in the straight jacket of a kicking game, except their wunderkind Johnny has lost his mojo. The commentary didn’t help either – when I heard them labeling their group with England, Argentina and Scotland the ‘Group of Death’ it was fortunate there was a large basin handy. Captain for the day was Mike Tindall, and he would do well to learn from the John Smit/Ritchie McCaw book of conversing with the ref – it’s ‘Yes sir, No sir, 3 bags full sir’, not ‘Yes, but…’ England scraped out of this one by the skin of teeth – please in their next match can they start with Youngs and Flood and run the ball a bit? The most exciting part of this match was the streaker by a country mile.

On Sunday, Australia started slowly and then ran away with it in the end. Then it was Ireland’s chance to start righting the wrongs of 2007. Except they still had Steady Eddie, now coaching the USA, putting a spanner in the works. Ireland were underwhelming, they got the win, but still made far too many mistakes for a team that has ambitions to go far in this tournament. The USA competed well physically in loose play, but their scrum and lineout were awful. Still, the match was played in pretty appalling conditions, and it still seems like half the Irish team is just back from injury. Tommy Bowe made a good few fluff ups, but got two tries as well, Earls looked lively, and O’Gara was on hand to steady the ship at the end. A win is a win is a win. Let’s just bank it and move on.

The last match of the weekend was Wales/South Africa, and it was the most keenly contested. The Boks started like a house on fire, then gradually lost their way – they had a few ‘senior’ moments I guess. I think Pieter De Villiers had to gently remind this bunch of veterans why they here and what they were doing at half time. Wales played really, really well, and I thought they had it won several times in the match. The Boks still had a few gears to go up though, and however badly they played, when they needed to, they went straight up the field and scored a try under the posts. The Welsh will be kicking themselves, this was the one that got away, but if they carry on playing like that they can still go a long way in this competition. The World Champs look anything but.

So I pick NZ, Australia, Ireland, England and South Africa for this weekend

Here’s a look at the big matches this weekend

Ireland vs the USA

Ireland come in to the tournament on the back of a less than impressive build up, with a 0 from 4 record in the summer internationals. You’d have to qualify that though by looking at the stern opposition in the last 3 matches, England and France. And coach Declan Kidney took the opportunity to do some tinkering and try out a few combinations instead of just putting out his strongest side each time, mindful of the fact that we might not win. Were they hiding their light under a bushel, or managing expectations of their World Cup chances, or a bit of both? On Sunday we start to find out.

We got a Grand Slam in 2009, and a couple of Heineken Cups and Magners’ League titles with the provinces  in the last few years so the talent is there, just a matter of it all clicking for us to have a good run in this tournament.  For the USA, the fact the match takes place on September the 11^th gives them extra motivation, but they just don’t have the player resources to mount a serious challenge. So this game for Ireland is all about performance, starting the build up for bigger games. We should get out of our group, and when it gets to the knock outs, anything can happen.

New Zealand Tonga

Picture from http://bit.ly/qkrpB2

This is the opening match. The All Blacks are, as always, No 1 in the World leading into the World Cup. They slipped up in their last match, losing to Australia, and conceding the Tri Nations title at the same time. Is that the sound of the All Blacks clearing their throats for another choke? They are always the team to beat anywhere in the world, and at home they are just about unstoppable, so this tournament is theirs to lose. Tonga are unlikely to be competitive apart from in the physicality stakes.

Argentina vs England

England arrive with pretty big expectations, based on an improvement in form over the last few years. From bitter experience in the last World Cup , Ireland and France could tell them not to underestimate the Argentineans. I don’t get the sense that they see Argentina as a serious threat, but with a constant focus on size size size they should be able to steamroller the South Americans.

Australia Italy

This is one for Irish fans to watch (not literally as it’s on at 4.30 in the morning but we’ll be there in spirit). A win for Italy would leave us well poised to top our group and meet up with probably Wales or Samoa in the next stage.  Now I know we basically picked Italy’s pocket in the 6 Nations with a last gasp win, but surely this is a time for us Europeans to stick together  and stand up to this Southern Hemisphere giant? Italy probably only have a small chance of beating Australia, but they have beaten France this year so you never know. Australia are in good form, probably not consistent enough to go all the way but they should have a good run. Forza Italia!

South Africa  Wales

South Africa are the current holders of the World Cup. However, they arrive at the tournament with pretty much the same model that they used in the last World Cup, only with a lot more mileage on the clock, and various dents scrapes and a dodgy head driver in coach Pieter De Villiers.  So while they probably won’t disgrace themselves I couldn’t see them going all the way. Wales are on a bit of a roll recently, but I don’t think they have quite enough in the tank to take out the Boks in this encounter. Warren Gatland's typically ham fisted attempts at stirring things with the Boks, and half the team saying 'The Boks don't scare us' = 'The Boks scare us a lot.'

Fri - 9th Sep 11   09:30 New Zealand  vs Tonga

Sat - 10th Sep 11  
07:00 France  vs Japan
02:00 Scotland  vs Romania
09:30 Argentina vs England
04:30 Fiji vs Namibia

Sun - 11th Sep 11  
04:30 Australia  vs Italy
07:00 Ireland  vs USA
09:30 South Africa  vs Wales