What a cracker of a first round! Some delectable rugby, some surprises, and plenty of dodgy reffing decisions to moan about.
Tonga and Samoa have yet to play, but Wales easily contained Fiji. The big surprises were the performances of the two South American minnows: Chile gave Japan a good fight, although they ran out of puff before the end, and Wrwgwai (that’s the Welsh spelling of Uruguay, per MisterIks, apparently) gave France a hell of a fright.
So what’s in store for this weekend? Mostly very one-sided fixtures; it’s not even worth speculating about the scores. The closest matches may well be Samoa v Chile, Australia v Fiji, England v Japan, and South Africa v Romania, now they’ve lost Marx and seeing as how they don’t have a proper 10.
Namibia not completely rolling over, but NZ remembering how to play properly, would be a great round-off to my birthday.
I treated myself to a copy of Sandman Vol.1 (good lord, it’s a doorstop of a graphic novel) and a trip to the cinema to watch Barbie. (I highly recommend Barbie, it’s a lot of fun.)
The girlies went to the Barbie film with my mum when I left them down there for a week or so last month. The Eldest and The Middle One really liked it, The Little One sat through it calmly and then told her granny that she was sorry, but she didn’t really enjoy it. I think granny might have confided in her that she didn’t either. I don’t know what if any nail varnish was worn as it’s better if I don’t ask such questions when it’s not me looking after them.
The Middle One hasn’t really watched any rugby yet this world cup, but she was impressed when she saw replays of Ford’s drop goals during half-time of the England game. She approves of that sort of thing and I reckon Ford is her sort of player, as some may remember she doesn’t really approve of mercurial genius types who don’t take it seriously enough (Russell) or people with stupid hair and annoying faces (Smith). Might be able to persuade her to watch England-Japan if I promise her England are going to win and will be great to watch. That should go a long way to making it the tense, close affair I’m hoping for if nothing else does…
Happy Birthday Refit. Presumeably you are going for Tonga over Ireland with the Bris contingent playing ?
Can’t see Samoa Chile being that close, but you never know. Also wwrrrwwwrr may have needed another couple of days recovery after yesterdays heroics to trouble Italy, so the two Sunday afternoon games are the ones to watch. Semi on the wing seems a bit of a waste to me, but if the new centre is better, that one could be fun.
England offering not much in the way of surprises, except Billy V, notoriously in need of match time to reach match fitness more than most , is on the bench. If Ludlam goes well, might as well send Billy home. Starting backs the same as last week, have they learnt to pass ( to Jonny ) ?
de Groot may get away with just a yellow there, as he was ‘passive’ in the tackle – he didn’t throw his shoulder into it. Although there wasn’t a lot of wrap, so red would be unsurprising.
Me neither other than that it did for my halftime prediction. I suspect NZ will feel they lost more than they gained as a result, but so it goes, it was the one thing he didn’t want to do and he did it.
Happy B, Refit.
Some great moves and excellent handling by NZ and yet, I found it quite boring. In fact, last night sloppy game between France and Wrwrgway ( did I do this right?) was more fun.
Bad news for DeGroot, pretty stupid when you think about it. What’s the point of tackling high with no wrap when you lead by 70 points? In fact, even when you lead by 1 point?
Thaum, I love the deliberate inaccuracy in the ATL about Wales easily containing Fiji. Excellent clickbait.
If I’m right in Welsh “w” represents oo. So oo- roo-goo-i… put a w where you see “oo” ( compare with snwcr = snooker and for authenticity put a glottal stop in there)
Gets about 1 zillion points in Scrabble especially if you land on triple word score….
Ovally Balls 
Namibia not completely rolling over, but NZ remembering how to play properly, would be a great round-off to my birthday.
I treated myself to a copy of Sandman Vol.1 (good lord, it’s a doorstop of a graphic novel) and a trip to the cinema to watch Barbie. (I highly recommend Barbie, it’s a lot of fun.)
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Happy birthday, Refit! Hope it is as you wish.
Couldn’t possibly watch Barbie. Pink makes me feel ill.
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I’ve just realised I’m currently wearing pink/lilac nail varnish, so I accidentally went ‘dressed’ for the viewing 😅
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:-D
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Happy birthday Refit, hope you enjoy the game!
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And thanks for the b’day wishes Thaum & CMY.
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The girlies went to the Barbie film with my mum when I left them down there for a week or so last month. The Eldest and The Middle One really liked it, The Little One sat through it calmly and then told her granny that she was sorry, but she didn’t really enjoy it. I think granny might have confided in her that she didn’t either. I don’t know what if any nail varnish was worn as it’s better if I don’t ask such questions when it’s not me looking after them.
The Middle One hasn’t really watched any rugby yet this world cup, but she was impressed when she saw replays of Ford’s drop goals during half-time of the England game. She approves of that sort of thing and I reckon Ford is her sort of player, as some may remember she doesn’t really approve of mercurial genius types who don’t take it seriously enough (Russell) or people with stupid hair and annoying faces (Smith). Might be able to persuade her to watch England-Japan if I promise her England are going to win and will be great to watch. That should go a long way to making it the tense, close affair I’m hoping for if nothing else does…
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Happy Birthday Refit. Presumeably you are going for Tonga over Ireland with the Bris contingent playing ?
Can’t see Samoa Chile being that close, but you never know. Also wwrrrwwwrr may have needed another couple of days recovery after yesterdays heroics to trouble Italy, so the two Sunday afternoon games are the ones to watch. Semi on the wing seems a bit of a waste to me, but if the new centre is better, that one could be fun.
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Happy Birthday Refit
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England offering not much in the way of surprises, except Billy V, notoriously in need of match time to reach match fitness more than most , is on the bench. If Ludlam goes well, might as well send Billy home. Starting backs the same as last week, have they learnt to pass ( to Jonny ) ?
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Well, that didn’t take long
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One missed tackle, Nambia didn’t do anything else wrong there
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Cheers Ticht & SBT.
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Brilliant commentary from ITV. “McKenzie thinks he’s got it” the commentator screams, as D-Mac walks away shaking his head.
It was a hell of a break though.
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Oh, that was an ugly scrum for Namibia.
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Ah well, any thoughts of a repeat of last night are coming undone, badly.
Great scrum from the ABs
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Happy Birthday 🎂 🥳 🎉 🎈 Refit! Hope you’re having a great one and can remember at least bits of it tomorrow!
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Namibia did a good job getting the ball away, on the second scrum.
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Namibian tighthead is getting an absolute hiding
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Kiwi defence clinging on. Tier One penalty there! Ahem.
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Hmm. Namibia not really at the races so far! I think the rain is messing with them. Most of the Namibian lads will only ever have seen it on TV.
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Sloppy by NZ. Left two tries on the field so far.
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Happy birthday Refit!
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Oooohhh, that man’s foot isn’t pointing the right way.
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Thanks BB & Deebee.
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Felicitations Refit.
This feels like a 100 pointer.
I saw this match up at the Olympic stadium in 2015.
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Monster downpour may make it tricky. Sure the ABs knocked it on at the ruck before the penalty offence there.
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Namibia have done well to keep it under a point a minute at this stage. Jeez, the Kiwi backs are turning this into a training ground romp.
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While Namibia are getting royally humped, they’ve not given up. Showing some decent line speed and discipline in the defensive line.
…he types, as Roigard and DMac just glide through the line.
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38-3 to NZ on 39mins.
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The top NZ sides never took the boot off the opposition throat, it will be interesting to see how the second half pans out
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@Ticht – I think NZ will carry on being mean to them.
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I’ll go for 85-3.
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And that’s all I can do to get Namibia a try.
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I’ve got NZ by 54 on the ‘Bru.
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Think you may have underestimated that, Refit.
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Yeesh, that was some raw power from de Groot.
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Thaum – I had France by 36 yesterday, I don’t think I’ve quite grasped the concept of the ‘over/under’ correctly.
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Refit – that was a reasonable guess until we saw how Uruguay played!
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de Groot may get away with just a yellow there, as he was ‘passive’ in the tackle – he didn’t throw his shoulder into it. Although there wasn’t a lot of wrap, so red would be unsurprising.
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Refit, that’s my thinking, there was no “hit” as such
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Red for de Groot.
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That was a really good explanation by Monye, as to why it was upgraded to a red – head contact during an illegal tackle, so no mitigation.
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71-3 is not as good as 82-8. :-)
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Final score 71-3.
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No problem with the red card.
71 is the modern day equivalent of over a hundred in the old days before league-style defences.
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“No problem with the red card.”
Me neither other than that it did for my halftime prediction. I suspect NZ will feel they lost more than they gained as a result, but so it goes, it was the one thing he didn’t want to do and he did it.
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Happy B, Refit.
Some great moves and excellent handling by NZ and yet, I found it quite boring. In fact, last night sloppy game between France and Wrwrgway ( did I do this right?) was more fun.
Bad news for DeGroot, pretty stupid when you think about it. What’s the point of tackling high with no wrap when you lead by 70 points? In fact, even when you lead by 1 point?
Thaum, I love the deliberate inaccuracy in the ATL about Wales easily containing Fiji. Excellent clickbait.
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More subtle was leaving out Wales-Portugal from the likely closer matches list.
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@Flair
If I’m right in Welsh “w” represents oo. So oo- roo-goo-i… put a w where you see “oo” ( compare with snwcr = snooker and for authenticity put a glottal stop in there)
Gets about 1 zillion points in Scrabble especially if you land on triple word score….
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