Just a few days until the World Cup kicks off, and last weekend had us all reeling out of our shoes. There we all were in the home nations, complacently worrying about the likes of France, South Africa, New Zealand and (maybe) Australia, when it turns out that the Pacific Islanders (and Georgia) are the ones with the skills and outright damned audacity to rip our defences open.
First, Fiji took England apart. It was very entertaining for a non-English person, but I imagine quite demoralising for England supporters. Wales and Australia should be very worried about Fiji in Pool C. Georgia might also provide a bit of a headache.
Because Georgia gave Scotland a very torrid time in the first half, although the Flowers did recover nicely in the second. Scotland could quite possibly beat South Africa and/or Ireland in Pool B, and lose to Tonga.
(And this is a good opportunity to mention that it annoys the fuck out of me that English commentators pronounce Tonga as Tong-ah, or perhaps, Tong-er, but in either case without the hard G it needs.)
Then Samoa came oh-so-close to doing Ireland over. Our French correspondent was on the scene in Bayonne.
Obviously the one thing on all your minds is, ‘But how did the Ulstermen do?’ Well, Tom Stewart (pictured with ball in hand) had a very bad day at the office and was not selected for the squad. He is but a youngster, and one hopes he’ll have many days wearing green ahead of him. Rob Herring, who replaced him, did a fine job of steadying the shoogly Irish ship. Jacob Stockdale also missed out; Tom O’Toole is in. Hendo is of course still in, and so is Our Stuart, who was everywhere doing everything (including issuing one pass that got picked off for an intercept try, but never mind). Eagle-eyed viewers will have noticed that he is often first receiver off rucks and scrums.
France beat Australia comfortably. As you’d expect on current form.
* * *
For the actual World Cup, one thing we can certainly look forward to is the atmosphere at the matches. The brass bands…
…and the singing. Selon Flair, “This is what the local crowd sing to support their team. As they supported Samoa, they sang it for them. The song is called Peña Baiona.”
It’s my prediction that the Pacific Islanders are going to cause some higher-ranked teams serious headaches. They don’t get to play together all that much, and when they do they don’t get as much quality game time as those teams, but they have their poached All Blacks back.
Let’s let Samoa have the last image.
Photos and videos courtesy of Flair99
Onna telly this weekend
Saturday 2nd September
| Oyonnax v Toulouse | 14:00 | Viaplay1 |
| Stade Français v Montpellier | 16:00 | Viaplay2 |
| Clermont Auvergne v La Rochelle | 20:00 | Viaplay2 |
Sunday 3rd September
| Bordeaux v Toulon | 20:00 | Viaplay2 |
Ovally Balls 
Thanks Thaum and Flair. Excitement starting to build.
Nope, definitely worrying about the right team, England are causing enough worry all by themselves without needing to get anyone else involved.
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Ha, I hadn’t considered worrying about your own team. Well played.
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Thanks Flair and Thaum…………….my French friends are all getting patriotic and nervous
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Nerves definitely kicking in down here. The Boks are notorious for following up a great performance with a crap one, and there’s nobody better than a fired up, Finntastic Scotland to take advantage. That said, we’ve had three good wins on the bounce in the build up, in Argentina, Wales and THAT Twickers Triumph. So are we purring along nicely with all the guys ready and settled, or are we going to rip up all that good work and kick the synthetic leather off the ball in a reversion to revulsion?
Can Scotland keep enough parity up front to give their backs the FREEDOM! to flow? More pertinently, can they do it for 80 minutes when a fresh pack parades the park? Will the Boks bludgeon their way to penalties from the set piece and just keep the scoreboard ticking over (assuming Manie has his kicking boots on) or will they give it a flutter with some searing pace out wide?
I suspect the backs will look different to what most fans here want – specifically Esterhuizen in for de Allende, Moodie in (probably on the wing) although it would be great to see him outside Esterhuizen again in the centres. De Allende-Kriel at 12-13 isn’t very inspiring, but is defensively solid. Le Roux or Willemse at 15? Both pretty good options, although Willie running the show on attack from 10 has yielded some good returns recently.
Finally, to Faf or not to Faf? He’s the slowest from the base of our 9s, but the most accurate box kicker. Who we select there will set the tone for much of the rest of the day.
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Lull before the storm ?
Lawes broken, damn.
Beaudy broken too?
Cippers slinging mud at Eddie, nice.
Le racist pour l’equipe Francais, quelle horreur.
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It’s interesting that Borthwick is saying that people are blaming the players for the recent England results (https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/66711302). Other than Billy and Faz, the rest of them are just playing how they’ve been instructed by the coaching staff. Unless there’s a full-on player revolt, I can’t see them going against instructions.
I lay the blame fully at S’SB’B and Wiggles’ door.
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Lawes broken? Never thought I’d say this, but that is bad news for England.
I’m being quiet because I am fairly confident about our first match. The rest, not so much.
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Lawes broken sounds like a recent history of the Tory Party.
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Injury watch-Jordie Barrett also in doubt for the first game.
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Does anyone fancy writing a pre-WC ATL?
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Let me see what I can get done, Thauma. Can’t promise anything good, just maybe casting an eye over the opening round?
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That’d be fine, thanks, Deebee! You are much better at this sort of thing than I am.
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Selling yourself short there Thaum.
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Absolutely Refit! So when does this whole lark kick off? I’m assuming I have a couple of weeks to carefully craft and hone my searing insights?
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Bloody hell, The Bulldog’s gone woke
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Whole battalions of wild, armoured and armed horses could not drag me to that shitshow.
And thank you both! You are too kind. Much, much too kind.
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France team to face New Zealand: Ramos; Penaud, Fickou, Moefana, Villiere; Jalibert, Dupont (capt); Wardi, Marchand, Atonio, Woki, Flament, Cros, Ollivon, Alldritt.
Replacements: Mauvaka, Gros, Aldegheri, Taofifenua, Boudehent, Lucu, Vincent, Jaminet
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Pretty damned fine side, injuries considered. What is the weather forecast?
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Interesting comments by Sinfield about Marcus Smith at 15. Concentrates on how having him ready to come on there will give him more space to be expansive etc, but considering that he is the defence coach, I read it as ” If Freddie keeps having brain farts and is out of position too much, and continues to do impressions of the Ark Royal on the turn, and the oppo work it out, we can hook him and sling Marcus in there and afterwards say it was all parts of the cunning plan.”
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Injury Watch:- Caleb Muntz out of the Fiji World Cup Squad after injuring a knee in training. No replacement announced yet.
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England shockingly going to play a scrum half member of their squad as scrum half shock!
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/06/england-alex-mitchell-shock-scrum-half-rugby-world-cup-opener-against-argentina
Oh, and Tom Curry is going to ‘shore up their defence’…..
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Curry is going to have to be in several places at once then.
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Hugo Keenan is a man after me own heart.
“It’s an exciting opening game. I think everyone will be glued to the TVs on Friday night. It’s annoying it’s so late, nine o’clock (local time), I’ll nearly be watching it from bed.
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Curry hasn’t played since May, if I’m not mistaken? Against a rabid Argentine loose trio. Not sure that’s a great idea.
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I think it’s a great idea.
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Ooh, South Africa have decided to Faf about!
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New Zealand team to face France: B Barrett; Jordan, R Ioane, Lienert-Brown, Telea; Mo’unga, Smith; De Groot, Taylor, Laulala; S Barrett, Whitelock; Papalii, Cane (capt), Savea.
Replacements: Taukei’aho, Tu’ungafasi, Newell, Vaa’i, Jacobson, Christie, Havili, Fainga’anuku.
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Thauma, you have mail.
Not happy with the Bok side, to be honest. Wiese has done nothing at 8 this season, whilst Vermeulen has been superb. Poor old Manie Libbok, an attacking 10 if ever we’ve picked one, is sandwiched between box-kick Faf and battering ram de Allende, with Kriel outside him to emphatically make sure our wings don’t get the ball if de Allende mistakenly passes it. Andre Esterhuizen has been streets ahead of de Allende at 12 this season. It’s a conservative side, and speaks volumes about the Bok camp being very worried about Scotland’s attacking prowess. Looks like we’re going to try to strangle them up front.
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This looks interesting
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South Africa: D Willemse, K Arendse, J Kriel, D de Allende, C Kolbe; M Libbok, F de Klerk; S Kitshoff, M Marx, F Malherbe, E Etzebeth, F Mostert, S Kolisi (capt), P du Toit, J Wiese.
Replacements: B Mbonambi, O Nche, T Nyakane, R Snyman, M van Staden, D Vermeulen, G Williams, W le Roux.
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Interesting graphic in the article below, suggesting that the average weight of players has plateaued in the last few years, after rising sharply from 1991. Still much bigger – up from an average of 93kg back them to 103kg today, but actually slightly declined in the last eight years or so.
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/sep/06/everything-you-need-to-know-about-the-2023-rugby-world-cup
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Ireland:
15. Hugo Keenan (Leinster/UCD)(31)
14. Keith Earls (Munster/Young Munster)(100)
13. Garry Ringrose (Leinster/UCD)(52)
12. Bundee Aki (Connacht/Galwegians)(47)
11. James Lowe (Leinster)(21)
10. Jonathan Sexton (Leinster/St Mary’s College)(captain)(113)
9. Jamison Gibson-Park (Leinster)(26)
1. Andrew Porter (Leinster/UCD)(54)
2. Rob Herring (Ulster/Ballynahinch)(37)
3. Tadhg Furlong (Leinster/Clontarf)(67)
4. Joe McCarthy (Leinster/Dublin University)(3)
5. James Ryan (Leinster/UCD)(55)
6. Tadhg Beirne (Munster/Lansdowne)(41)
7. Peter O’Mahony (Munster/Cork Constitution)(96)
8. Caelan Doris (Leinster/St Mary’s College)(31)
Replacements:
16. Ronan Kelleher (Leinster/Lansdowne)(21)
17. Jeremy Loughman (Munster/Garryowen)(3)
18. Tom O’Toole (Ulster/Ballynahinch)(11)
19. Iain Henderson (Ulster/Academy)(74)
20. Josh van der Flier (Leinster/UCD)(52)
21. Conor Murray (Munster/Garryowen)(107)
22. Jack Crowley (Munster/Cork Constitution)(6)
23. Robbie Henshaw (Leinster/Buccaneers)(65)
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Ireland not taking Romania lightly. Wise move. I also have a feeling that Namibia are going to put out a second string side against Italy to ambush the All Blacks in their second match. Good move.
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Heeeerrre’s Jonny.
F Steward (Leicester); J May (Gloucester), J Marchant (Stade Francais), M Tuilagi (Sale), E Daly (Saracens); G Ford (Sale), A Mitchell (Northampton); E Genge (Bristol), J George (Saracens), D Cole (Leicester), M Itoje (Saracens), O Chessum (Leicester), C Lawes (Northampton, capt), T Curry (Sale), B Earl (Saracens).
Replacements: T Dan (Saracens), J Marler (Harlequins), W Stuart (Bath), G Martin (Leicester), L Ludlam (Northampton), D Care (Harlequins), M Smith (Harlequins), O Lawrence (Bath).
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Kinda like the look of this pack better,tbh.
The team
Argentina: 15 Juan Cruz Mallia, 14 Emiliano Boffelli, 13 Lucio Cinti, 12 Santiago Chocobares, 11 Mateo Carreras, 10 Santiago Carreras, 9 Gonzalo Bertranou, 8 Juan Martin Gonzalez, 7 Marcos Kremer, 6 Pablo Matera, 5 Tomas Lavanini, 4 Matias Alemanno, 3 Francisco Gomez Kodela, 2 Julian Montoya (c), 1 Thomas Gallo
Replacements: 16 Agustin Creevy, 17 Joel Sclavi, 18 Eduardo Bello, 19 Guido Petti, 20 Pedro Rubiolo, 21 Rodrigo Bruni, 22 Lautaro Bazan Velez, 23 Matias Moroni
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That’s a pretty decent Pumas side. I think England will struggle, across the park.
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Prediction: Lavinini to be referred to the bunker and earning a red. To be evened up by an England player, perhaps Genge.
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Hope not, love Lavinini, would be happy to have him playing for England. At least he offers genuine menace, where Maro offers childish chiding. Full of passion and national pride, massive engine, hopefully learnt with age to keep just the right side of the ref. Actually, would be quite happy to have Allemano as well, and the backrow, and possibly both their hookers, altho Agustin probably better off the bench nowadays. Might keep Genge , Lawes.
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Trying to put a picture in, but have no idea how to.
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Deebee, you need a URL for it that ends in .jpg or .png.
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(Or you can send it to me, and I can upload it!)
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This could be the end of a lovely friendship…
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I have plans for that pic! :-D
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Oh dear. Luckily I’m a wee distance away.
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New post on its way shortly.
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IT’S THE WORLD CUP!!!
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