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.
Playing Scrabble in Welsh would disappoint you as it would actually be a very low scoring game that never ends due to most of the high scoring letters not existing in the language. Could do with some more of some of the other letters too.
Unsurprisingly there is a Welsh language version. It would not be much use to me as I can’t speak Welsh. I think BRB might be a speaker, but as of 2016 he hadn’t bought a copy:
ITV have definitely been told to stop the “game’s gone soft” talk and actually explain ref decisions, listening to Ugo last night and Scott Hastings today.
Matins Dittus, prop for Chile, makes à living with Périgueux in the Dordogne area. They play in Fédérale 2, the 4th division.
Wonderful atmosphere in a packed stadium in Bordeaux. So happy that Chile could make it rather than the USA.
Good on you Thaum.
You got to love the underdog who tries stuff rather than plays the percentage. With just a tiny bit more precision, Portugal
who had more opportunities to score than Wales would lead.
At least they are not shafted by the ref like Fiji.
Am enjoying this a lot .
Even the mister is now supporting Portugal on the grounds that he thinks the game’s won (although he’d like the BP try), and that they need to build their confidence against the other teams.
I wish the WBP was like in the Top 14. Not just scoring 4 tries, as both teams could win it, but having scored three tries more than your opponent. Makes a better game as even the losing team may have some serious incentive to score a try.
And Portugal, to underline my point, just score!
Ovally Balls 
@Trisk – I think it’s probably snwcer.
Playing Scrabble in Welsh would disappoint you as it would actually be a very low scoring game that never ends due to most of the high scoring letters not existing in the language. Could do with some more of some of the other letters too.
Unsurprisingly there is a Welsh language version. It would not be much use to me as I can’t speak Welsh. I think BRB might be a speaker, but as of 2016 he hadn’t bought a copy:
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2016/sep/24/scrabble-yn-gymraeg-the-board-game-no-one-wants-to-buy
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“But, ironically, we had one customer come to the counter with the Welsh version, only to ask if we had it in Polish.”
Got to think that was just a local who could see fine right they were going to be able to score more points with that one.
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TRY Chile! How exciting!
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Goooooooooooooooooooo Chile! Try!
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And a yellow with a review … Chilean player taken out off the ball, and looks like there was contact to the chin.
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Yellow for Samoa, for an off-the-ball tackle during the build up.
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Just a yellow.
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Commentators have informed us that the injured Namibian from yesterday had a broken leg and and a dislocated ankle. *ouch!*
Has had successful surgery, and the All Blacks have sent him a signed shirt. :-)
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Pitch is shocking – coming up in squares! Could they not have prepared it in advance?
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Shit, Videla is injured. He’s their best player.
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Chilean player gets his head on the wrong side in a tackle, and knocks himself out on a Samoan. It’s the #14.
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Thaum – it’s okay, a Videla’s still on the pitch. His brother has replaced him.
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:-) There are a lot of brothers on this team.
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Chile go ahead with a penalty!
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Great game, this.
Thaum, this is a football pitch, used extensively until recently.
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Flair – thanks; thought it might me. But don’t footballers also need grass?
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No.football player needs cleats as long as first row players.
Rugby damages pitches much more than football.
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Damn Samoa have scored just at HT.
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Good try, too.
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And the Ulsterman doesn’t miss the conversion.
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Bugger. And they do it again just as the second half begins.
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Ewww, that was a nasty replay of the injury perpetrated by the Samoan 21! Although I am not sure what he did wrong.
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ITV have definitely been told to stop the “game’s gone soft” talk and actually explain ref decisions, listening to Ugo last night and Scott Hastings today.
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Yeah, can’t see why that was a yellow.
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Thaum – Hastings was saying the World Rugby explained that clearouts need to be upwards, not downwards, to try and prevent things like that.
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Thats another really harsh yellow card, this time for Chile.
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Another yellow for Chile. Replacement prop with possibly the worst haircut at the WC gets one for repeated team penalties.
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Refit – yes, I heard the explanation, but it was a new one on me. It wasn’t like he was jumping on top of the player.
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Matins Dittus, prop for Chile, makes à living with Périgueux in the Dordogne area. They play in Fédérale 2, the 4th division.
Wonderful atmosphere in a packed stadium in Bordeaux. So happy that Chile could make it rather than the USA.
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Oh my, there is a Portuguese player named Tadjer.
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Portugal looking lively in the opening minutes.
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LZR with another well executed try. Booooo-ringgggg.
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Portugal with some lovely off-loads! Unfortunately they can’t keep it.
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Hell of a chase by Talupe, to save a try there.
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It’s an entertaining match! Wales quite rightly penalised there for tackling the 10 off the ball so he couldn’t catch it.
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This is fun. Great tempo.
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Portugal have certainly got their kicking boots on tonight – in the best possible way.
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Portugal wont last but in the mean time, they are quite enjoyable to watch.
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Portugal are on the board, penalty in the 37th minute. 7-3
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I am having to be very careful not to openly cheer for Portugal.
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With ruck ball this glacial, you’d think it was England playing, not Wales.
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Having no Welsh mister at home to placate, I have no problem whatsoever to cheer for Portugal.
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*whispers* Sneaky rec to Flair.
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Good on you Thaum.
You got to love the underdog who tries stuff rather than plays the percentage. With just a tiny bit more precision, Portugal
who had more opportunities to score than Wales would lead.
At least they are not shafted by the ref like Fiji.
Am enjoying this a lot .
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Yes, Chile were playing in a similar way, but with less precision still, and I think less fitness. These matches are very enjoyable!
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Even the mister is now supporting Portugal on the grounds that he thinks the game’s won (although he’d like the BP try), and that they need to build their confidence against the other teams.
And as I was typing that, they scored!
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I wish the WBP was like in the Top 14. Not just scoring 4 tries, as both teams could win it, but having scored three tries more than your opponent. Makes a better game as even the losing team may have some serious incentive to score a try.
And Portugal, to underline my point, just score!
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Try Portugal! Yesss, get in lads.
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Me, I think that if you get 8 tries, you should get two WBPs.
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Cheeky!
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