Here comes the World Cup! Oh, and an English Premiership Cup match too.
Exciting rugby on the telly this week
Friday 20th September
| Japan 30 – 10 Russia | 11:45 | ITV / S4C |
Saturday 21st September
| Australia 39 – 21 Fiji | 05:45 | ITV |
| France 23 – 21 Argentina | 08:15 | ITV |
| New Zealand 23 – 13 S Africa | 10:45 | ITV |
| Exeter 28 – 14 Bath | 15:15 | BT Sport 3 |
Sunday 22nd September
| Italy 47 – 22 Namibia | 06:15 | ITV |
| Ireland 27 – 3 Scotland | 08:45 | ITV |
| England 35 – 3 Tonga | 11:15 | ITV |
Monday 23rd September
| Wales 43 – 14 Georgia | 11:15 | ITV / S4C |
Tuesday 24th September
| Russia 9 – 34 Samoa | 11:15 | ITV4 |
Wednesday 25th September
| Fiji 27 – 30 Uruguay | 06:15 | ITV4 |
Thursday 26th September
| Italy 48 – 7 Canada | 08:45 | ITV4 |
| England 45 – 7 USA | 11:45 | ITV |
Ovally Balls 
This is going to be brutal
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Another good try, but Georgia’s midfield defence looks very disorganised.
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@ticht
Yep, loosehead side. I’ll have a look at it again tonight. My initial thought was that he was pointing northwest.
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Tbf there is always a bit of that from all props, Yos
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Wales’ kicking from hand has been quite loose.
Beale and Korobeite wont be as forgiving of this as the Georgian back 3
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Pretty straightforward. Adams looks sharp. though.
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Another good try off that outside in pass.
Stephen Jones been at work there, I think
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Nerves drove me into the rufty-tufty bar. Good start = controlled drinking so far.
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Georgia look a lot better when they keep it close and attack the fringes around the ruck.
Think Davies very lucky there. Yellow for me.
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Davies seems to have World Rugby immunity from being offside and deliberately knocking the ball on.
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It clearly went backwards Pro
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Wales nailed on to win the World Cup. Only one of the Big 4 to comfortably deal with minnow opposition in the first round of matches so far:
England huffed and puffed unconvincingly against an abysmal Tonga side and only got a fortuitous BP with a minute to go;
Australia would’ve lost to Fiji if it hadn’t been for the heinous actions of Hodge;
Ireland were grim and functional against a dire Scotland with simply nowhere near enough Bok beef in their pack;
New Zealand clung on via a couple of late penalties against a plucky South Africa who were a decent pass away from the upset of the tournament.
Wales to lose, from here on out.
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BP by half time. Job done. Get the key players off early.
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Going to be hard for Wales to get much of a read from this, the Georgian defence (in midfield in particular) is woeful.
And no I’m not at all just jealous of Wales putting England’s huffing and puffing into context (I.e not really very good).
On the bright side, a 50 something nilling will hopefully put an end to the Georgia in the 6n calls
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Is Wales playing well after Howley going home correlation or causation?
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amUSA have picked a strong team for the game against England:
1. Ainuu (Toulouse)
2. Taufeete the piston powered cow (Worcester)
3. Lamositele (Borg)
4. Landry (Ealing)
5. Civetta (Doncaster)
6. Lamborn (Rebels)
7. Quill (NY)
8. Dolan (NOLA)
9. Davies (Glendale)
10. McGinty (Sale)
11. Iosefo (USA 7s)
12. Lasike (Quins)
13. Brache (Force)
14. Scully (unattached)
15. Hooley (Bedford)
16. Fawsitt (NY)
17. Kilifi (Seattle)
18. Mullen (Houston)
19. Peterson (Bordeaux)
20. Germishuys (Austin)
21. de Haas (Cheetahs)
22. Campbell (London Irish)
23. Te’o (San Diego)
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Looks weak.
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How heavy are the centres?
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Great drive by Georgia! Excellent try.
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Get in Shalva Mamukashvili.
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@Utna
Lasike is an absolute unit – he’s the Kiwi who played fullback for the Chicago Bears
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USA looks pretty good, but Fawsitt is leaky on defence.
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Quite the reward for scoring a try. Get hoiked off a minute later.
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Bloody hell. You watched the maul, you gave a penalty only. Why go back now to see if its “something more”
What is the point in all this reviewing?
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Why is the referee thinking of a yellow card here when he didn’t think of exactly the same when Wales did the same a few moments ago?
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With you Utnap. Penalty and pick any fatty to have 10 in the bin.
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@DAB
One tier reffing….
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Credit to Georgia. Have stiffened their defence this half and are also really getting stuck in to the breakdown.
Wales attacking clearout has been quite poor (also notable in the warmup games)
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The second is going the way I expected the whole match to be. Much better from Georgia.
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Wow, the little Georgian 9 just sat Big George down
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The Georgian team names are almost as good as the Namibians.
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Wales fail to score when Georgia are down to 14.
#moralvictory
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Biggar seems really flaky today. Need more from the old ship-steadier.
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That looked an awful kick but Tomos is rapid
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Nice vision with the kick.
Georgia have made a mess of Wales at the ruck, though.
Pocock next!
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I think North didn’t kick for himself, but cross field for his 9. A Welsh RWC tradition.
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Good driving play from Georgia again. Like what their reserve scrum half is doing in terms of varying the pace.
Wales reserve props have really struggled to cope in the scrum
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Awesome try from Georgia.
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France “no one can play a great 1st half and an utter shambles of a 2nd like us”
Wales “hold my pint”
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Georgia fitness is good. Is it less humid / sapping ?
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Good try again.
Tipuric has been excellent. POTM imho
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Beautiful from Tomos. Skillz
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Noice try
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Lasha Khmaladze
Or, kma ladze onna lash.
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Good jinxing from me at halftime then!
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Good to see Georgia make a better showing in the second half. A little unlucky with some of the calls, but they played some good stuff later on to keep Wales off the World Cup Winners (Continuous Assessment) 2019 position, still rightfully held by England.
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Georgia total shit in the first 20 minutes. Thought their fight in contact and general effort were much better thereafter. Job done for Wales, although maybe a small worry about Ken Owens re. injury?
The Georgians are capable of playing properly for 80 minutes, I’m sure, and if I do that they’ll pose a few more problems for Oz and Fiji. Bit of an indigestible morsel all round when they really get going.
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Aye, I’m glad the match is behind us. Happy to send Georgia down the pipeline to Fiji and Oz.
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@Utna, at least we are mixing it up a bit. Usually it’s dismal first half and a better second half.
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If I was Dr. Frankenstein, I would find a way to transplant Conor Murray’s nous into our 9s’ brains. They would be very formidable players.
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