Starting to show your true colours - RWC Day 10

After rising at 4:25am to watch Wales vs Samoa I was reassured to see the true Wales turn up in the second game of the campaign. Stuttering in attack, beaten at the breakdown and general nervousness; this is the Wales that I have been use to seeing for the past couple of years. Luckily for the Welsh this time Samoa could not finish their chances, if they had Wales would be out at the group stages for the second tournament in a row. If I was a Fijian I would be licking my lips at the thought of playing Wales in a possible winner takes all match at the end of the group stages.

With Hook and Lydiate possibly out for the games against Namibia and Fiji Wales cannot afford to rest players, first choice combinations need to be picked against Namibia so that they do not end up underdone against Fiji. If nothing else it was certainly worth getting up at 4:30 for.

After that starter came the main course. St George vs St George as England took on the gigantic Georgians. England's penalty count was a disgrace, for the second game in a row they seem ill prepared to deal with the competition at the breakdown and were lucky to again be facing a below par kicker. James Haskell has asked for players to be singled out, this will be easy to do and could be done at the next forwards meeting they have. Matt Stevens seemed to catch a case of 'penaltyitus' even though the ref told him what he was doing wrong, Corbisiero will be taking his place against Romania! As for Dylan Hartley (club allegiances aside) the man is well known idiot and his sin binning and general performance has sealed a spot on the bench for him for the rest of the tournament.

In the ITV studio afterwards the pundits seem to have an agenda against the 'young guns', especially the backs. I thought Flood and Youngs did well, Flood grew into the game and will be better against Romania if given the chance. It was good to see Ashton get a couple of tries and Tuilagi's score was try of the game. It was the definition of beautiful simplicity, ball off the top two quick passes and a good run from deep from Tuilagi and he was not touched. It's so so simple to score tries, I think England are just over-complicating it at the moment. It was still a step forward from the Argentina game just not the big step we all wanted.

As for desert there were some sumptuous tries for France against Canada but it was still less than convincing from them. The point France have on their side is that it is almost expected that they blow hot and cold!!

Shoulder to Shoulder - RWC Day 9

I would have sold a body part to be in Auckland on Saturday night. Ireland finally played the way they did against England in Six Nations. Maybe the tries were not there and Sexton missed a few kicks but Ireland beat England all the time.....as for beating the Tri-Nations champions in the southern hemisphere; well that is very rare.

Paul O'Connell had a monstrous game, he has dropped a bit of timber and this allowed the former Lions captain to prowl the pitch and maul any Wallaby that was stupid enough to get in his way. The scoreline flattered the Australians, if Sexton had got his kicks the game could have been done after an hour. Australia did not look like scoring, Genia and Cooper were given no time to influence the dangerous back line, and boy did this frustrate them. Nothing showed this better than Cooper's ridiculous pass to Tommy Bowe, the bonus point was still a possibility for Australia but Cooper could not accept that and threw a suicide pass. The game also showed that the much improved Australian scrum is still a weakness (I know Moore was missing but still) and an improving South Africa will fancy their chances in the quarter finals.

As soon as the whistle blew I sent a text to an Irish friend saying that 'the World Cup is now England's to lose' to which he replied 'cheeky bar steward'. Still, now that it will be the southern hemisphere in one side of the draw and northern hemisphere in the other (barring any more 'upsets') I feel England's chances have improved; I would fancy them to beat France and Ireland. Just to clarify that I don't think Ireland beating Australia was an upset, refer back to my first blog for proof!

Earlier in the day both SA and Argentina kicked started their campaigns with 40 point wins against Fiji and Romania respectively. SA seem to be improving and I cannot see Scotland beating Argentina.

A final congratulations to Ireland, its just what the World Cup needed! Declan Kidney summed the performance up in a typically understated way when asked how this victory ranked....

I think when you're in the middle of something, it's probably not for you to say. It's a privilege to be working with the lads. I'm sure for the lads it's a privilege to be here,"

"Historians will look back and see that we've had a few close calls in the past against Australia, but I think it's maybe for others to decide that. But it's a good reason for a party."

Agreed Declan and I'm sure the Irish had one hell of a party.

It was only the second string - RWC Day 8

New Zealand swept aside the Japanese with a professional show of ruthless finishing. Lets not forget thought that the Japanese put out a second string side for this match before we get carried away. I'm also looking forward to the time where Sonny Bill gets stripped/drops the ball while running around one handed. New Zealand are rotating their side for each game but I feel, and I'm not the only one, that this could come back and bite them in the later rounds. World Cup's are of course more intense in a mental sense that any other competition but physically its not so different to a league season with games every week or so. Why can't you start with your strongest 15 from the start of the competition until the end?

Arguments against this are mental tiredness, the risk of injuries and not having young players getting experience in such a tournament. Injuries happen, nothing you can do about it; is it worth jeopardising one of your first team players? Yes. Combinations are the key to winning the World Cup. You need to know the man next too you inside out and know he can deliver when all seems lost (very dramatic I know). SA played basically played the same team throughout 2007 and the 2003 England team had been to New Zealand and beat them (with 13 men for 10 minutes).

NZ still do not have a first choice 9, England do not have a first choice 10, France do not have a first choice team, SA play with second choice players through captaincy. These are some of the biggest sides in the tournament and these issues could all be there undoing...

'Wyley' USA see off Russia - RWC Day 7

Russia's first ever World Cup game ended in defeat to their perennial rivals the USA. In another close and low scoring game the experience of the Americans showed and a brilliant try from Petri proved to be the difference.

New Zealand get another chance to show the rest that they mean business in the World Cup tomorrow when they take on a solid Japanese side who gave the French more than a little scare in the first round of group games. As with all the 'big' nations rotation is the key word in the the group stages with 10 changes made to the ABs side. Niggles are affecting the two men who will decide whether the ABs will win this World Cup or not. Without Carter and McCaw the ABs look a hell of a lot more beatable and there is no point risking them with France just around the corner.

Again today the media and especially The Sun have been throwing there two pen'eth in regarding some of the England team having a beer after a brutal encounter will the Argentinians, shock horror!!! I think the reason this is seen as such a 'big' story is that these journalists are use to writing about footballers who seem to have a complete lack of control. Wake up boys this is Rugby not the England football team.

I cannot wait for this weekend; England vs Georgia, Wales vs Samoa, SA vs Fiji and the game of the weekend Ireland vs Australia. Winners? England, Wales, SA and Australia. Boring I know but we shall see, I would love to see an upset for the Samoans, the Fijians or the Irish!!

First Shock - RWC Day 6

After a couple of days off the World Cup pool stages and my blog are back to look at today’s action.

Today we had out first upset at the World Cup as Canada overcame Tonga with two tries in the last 10 minutes of the game. That is the problem with the Pacific Island nations, sometimes they lose games they shouldn't; whether is be down to tiredness, which I don't think is the case today, or simply taking there eye of the ball. Special mention to Adam Kleeberger, what a beard! If you haven't seen it just google him. Unfortunately after the World Cup the beard will be shaved off, a good a reason as any to make Canada your second team, keep the beard alive!!

Samoa did the business against Namibia with Tiger's own Alesana Tuilagi scoring a hat-trick. Tuilagi's second try shows what he is all about, receiving the ball 10 metres out and just running straight through people to finish. Gareth Edwards mentioned on tonight’s ITV hi-lights programme that he was wary of Samoa, he was stating the obvious, but it does show that just because Wales had a good 80 mins against SA that an upset is still a definite possibility, certainly worth getting up at 4:30am on Sunday morning that’s for sure.

Boring Boring Scotland? No, Scotland did exactly what they needed to today. The score does show that Scotland were trying to play the free-flowing Rugby that the media seem absolutely desperate for. (On this point if you want to see 10 tries a game go and watch Rugby League and stop complaining about Union, it is what it is. ) The Lamont brothers were excellent today, multiple times coming in off the wing and in from full back looking for the ball and always going over the gain line. Scotland just could not keep hold of the ball after the initial breaks had been made. Being able to get to the breakdown quickly and recycle the ball after quick breaks will be key against Argentina, fail to do so and everyone knows what Argentina will do to you; just ask England. I was also a little surprised how well Scotland dealt with the scrum and this should mean that England can pick off Georgia easier that I thought they might; Georgia are a very forward orientated team.

Apart from the games the past couple of days have seen the first few injury’s ruin World Cups for some of the home nation men. Andrew Sheridan and Jerry Flannery will be both be on planes soon and maybe considering whether to hang up their boots completely. A lot of people criticised Johnno for taking 5 props and therefore sacrificing a back, probably Flutey, but with Sheri's injury record it was a risk work taking and Johnno has called it spot on. Look for Corbisiero to start against Georgia. Commiserations also to Skrela, the World Cup will be worse for the lose of these players.

As for Lawes being banned, this is quite simply a joke. Lawes was putting his body of the line when he hit Ledesma nothing more than that; it was purely accidental. The IRB are looking to be tough on dangerous play at this World Cup and have made Lawes a scapegoat.

Tomorrow sees the USA play Russia, if you fancy a bet I would go for USA by 10. Thanks for reading and see you tomorrow.

So near and yet so far - RWC Day 3

I was rudely awakened on Sunday to watch Wales vs SA with my Welsh friend, when the final whistle blew he looked like Wales had just lost the final even though it was a pool game many expected SA to win with relative comfort. I don't think that some of the Welsh players could believe the position they were in after 60 minutes and they yet again failed to put the South Africans away, just as they have done in recent years in Cardiff. It was all mental for the Welsh, until they win a big game against a southern hemisphere power they are never going to make the later stages of a World Cup.

SA looked, to put in very simply, old and unfit. They only looked old because they were so slow around the pitch, as England showed in 2007 you can win with a bunch of old men. I have never rated De Villiers as a coach and hope of SA's sake he goes after the WC. He treated the shortened Tri-Nations as friendly games and has destroyed confidence by doing so. He has also picked the 3rd best hooker, I'm counting Brits, that SA have as his captain and subsequently had to pick Smit; after Sunday he surely must put in Bismarck but does that mean he weakens the scrum by shifting Smit to loose-head? SA have questions to answer if they are to progress.

As for Wales their back row was outstanding, Faletau could be the back row star of this WC alongside Captain Sam; they were all over SA. Wyn Jones was brilliant in the line out and Priestland showed composure at 10. That said Hook is wasted at full back, he does not see enough ball, J Davies played well but should be scarified for Hook. Off the back of this performance Wales should make the quarters, but they could have topped the group and this may prove their undoing in the later on.

Ireland's WC stuttered into life in patches, to be fair the weather looked awful but they will know they have to perform better than that. Tommy Bowe was excellent again, the man is a try machine and a bloody menace to any defence and BOD showed touches of class. It was not a day for Sexton, Ronan has played most of his career in Limerick so he knows how to play in the wet. The USA looked solid and you could see how much it meant to the Eagles when they scored their last minute try, it was great to see that.

Italy put in a strong 40 minute performance, but as Castrogiovanni stated on Twitter "Good 40 that is it". The Australian back line is the best in the tournament and they showed it in the second half. Cooper played flat and was good at changing up the inside and outside ball but he has to thank his fellow backs as some of the lines they were running. I cannot wait to see Australia vs Ireland at the weekend, I think the Wallabies will bring the best out of the Irish, it should be a cracker.

Today and tomorrow there are no games but I shall endeavour to blog some of the stories following the first round of matches. See you tomorrow.

'I aged about 20 years today' - RWC Day 2

I'm sure that every English rugby supporter and not only Martin Johnson lost a few years after one of the strangest games I have seen England play. I was early the pub for England's first game and the shock on peoples face when Johnny missed all those penalties was clear to see, Johnny doesn't miss these, the man dropped the goal that won the World Cup!!

England seemed to lack any sort of ferocity at the breakdown and quickly got on the wrong side of Bryce Lawrence (though to be fair this is very easy to do) and if Martin Rodriguez had not had a equally shocking day from the kicking tee England could have be buried at half time. Add to that the way Argentina started the second half with Marcelo Bosch almost going over it was almost a miracle that England came through. The introduction of Youngs changed the game and he is now a certain starter for the Georgia game. Aside from the result the general England performance was very naive, we all knew the Argentinian forwards would muscle the breakdown and go hard the scrum but England seem ill prepared to face the onslaught. It is not all doom and gloom, a win is a win and England have won the hardest game in the group and can now move to to securing top spot in the pool.

Due to a Stag do this weekend I did not see the other games on Saturday but have managed to catch some hi-lights. From these Japan looked like they may trouble Canada and possibly Tonga further along in the tournament. France will only improve and will be happy they have another game before they have to meet the All Blacks.

Fiji and Namibia put on an entertaining game and I think the Fijians will give SA and Wales good tests but I still do not see an upset on the cards.

As for Scotland they left it late but did secure a four try bonus point which could prove crucial when it comes to their games vs Argentina. As with England Scotland just needed to win their first game.

So five games in to the RWC and we have seen some of the 'big guns' under perform and get run close, it certainly has not been champagne rugby but world cups are not about that, its all about the winning.

1 Down.....

Panic! The slightly experimental NZ back-line did not fire in the 2nd half against Tonga and there was even a whiff of penalty try against the mighty All Blacks.....

In reality the result was pretty much as expected although the 31 point margin of victory did mean that in my work RWC comp I was 1 point out of my chosen 21 - 30 band. Nonu proved again that he is 'the man' in the NZ centre and SBW proved again why Conrad Smith (In my opinion the best centre in world rugby for years) is first choice. I know SBW made some amazing offloads but there is more to 12 than that and in the big games Smith will get the nod every single time.

If nothing else today maybe some of the AB back line proved that they are not ready for the biggest stage, Toeava left a brace on the field today and in the current AB squad you will get dropped for that, there are plenty of men not even in the NZ squad who would have finished those chances. After game 1 NZ are still favourites.

We are now less than 20 mins until kick off of Scotland’s campaign with Andy Robinson stressing that the win is the most important thing but reading further into the press conference the Scotland boss does also expect a performance to lay down a marker for the rest of the group stages.

Predictions are Scotland, France, Fiji and England. In 8 hours time England will be 15 minutes into their World Cup and I for one cannot wait for it....

See you tomorrow.

Rugby World Cup Eve...

Four years after South Africa powered their way to a second World Cup in Paris we are now just hours away from the opening scenes of of the 2011 tournament which kicks off at Eden Park. I think this is as close a feeling to being a child on Christmas eve as you can get for a rugby union fan.

Tonga will ask for no sympathy but the prospect of facing the favourites at home on a ground they have not lost a game at in 17 years does not suggest that we shall be seeing an upset in the opening game of this tournament unlike what happened to France fours years ago.

Still the New Zealand team announcement was a little strange, with what seems like a re-jig of their back line which has torn apart most teams in the past couple of years. SBW is back at 12, Nonu has gone to 13 where is has had little game time and then there is Kahui being used as a make shift full back. Muliaina may not be on the best form but you want experience at 15 surely. Never the less only the most patriotic Tongan would think they stand a chance, they will be facing an expectant nation on Friday not just the 22 in the match day squad.

After Friday is done with the games come thick and fast over the weekend, with all the home nations in action and all of them with different issues to contend with. Still I believe that we could see two home nations reach the semi finals; England vs Ireland is 19/1.

England arrive looking to secure their third consecutive final and with probable opponents of France then Australia (if not Ireland) in the knock-out stages this is certainly not out of the question. The fear with England, as has been in the case since that glorious night in Sydney, is that they get the opponents 22 and then they seem to sometimes forget how to get over the whitewash. The key over the past 12 months for England has been quick counter attacking ball, keep the ball away from the breakdown and in hands of the two Saints and the Shark. But it seems as though teams have worked this out and the back three have been starved of good ball. With Ben Youngs being out over the summer England have looked stodgy at times and I'm gutted that Danny Care has missed out due to injury. Watching that games against Wales in Cardiff in August reminded me of the times I have screamed at the television in frustration over a lack of cutting edge. England’s front 5 are arguably the best in the World, as mentioned on this evenings Rugby Club, but the key to wining the big games will come from the East Midlands; Foden, Ashton, Tuilagi and Youngs need to fire. Youngs at his best scares defences to death, if he hits top form the rest of the backs will follow.

One of my best friends is Welsh and he is convinced that they are going to make the final, I love that Welsh optimism but I believe Wales have issues both in the front three, half backs, centres and the line out which may cost them. The front three is the logically place to start, Matthew Rees is a devastating lose for Wales in the scrum and line out, who can forget the 2009 Lions tours with the Welsh three establishing themselves as the best in the world. Adam Jones is now fit and Bennett is solid but the line-out can go to pieces under pressure. Priestland is 10 with Hook at 15 instead of the off form Byrne. Its been said a million times but Wales need James Hook in the team somewhere; he is a world class performer. Phillips seems to be getting some form back but Tavis Knoyle is breathing down his neck for a start. I think Roberts and Davies are too similar, Hook should be 12 and Halfpenny is a good option at 15 and if also offers flexibility. The Welsh second row looks an exciting prospect, if they can link with the backs who knows where Wales might end up?

What happened to the Ireland that crushed a shell shocked England at the Aviva in the Six Nations Finale? 4 straight loses since then have had the everyone wondering which Ireland will turn up against an emotional USA at Stadium Taranaki on Sunday. Consistency has always been Ireland’s problem, if they play to their potential they could knock off Australia in the pool stages, especially as Cooper is prone to having games where you struggle to see him on the pitch. It also the last crack for O'Connell, BOD and a raft of the so called 'Golden Generation' of Irish rugby and with a lot of talk about the hurt of 2007 surely the Irish will perform at this tournament, they have no choice. A special mention has to be given to Geordan Murphy, excuse while I have a Tiger moment, but this guy has been the most under rated full back of his generation. I have seen him do things for Leicester that defy belief and I hope he gets more than a few minutes off the bench.

Scotland have got to be up there with Wales for the hated 'Group of Death' award, having to face the teams that came 2nd and 3rd in the 2007 tournament. Argentina have lost some players and have an ageing squad but it will take a good performance from Scotland to beat them. And to beat any team at a World Cup you need to be able to do one thing that Scotland have not been very good at for years, scoring tries! Chris Patterson is a machine but Scotland need the like of Joe Ansbro and Ritchie Gray to show this team that they can be more than a kicking team. Lets not forget that Scotland have beaten Australia and South Africa in recent years, regardless of how those two teams played on those occasions it must give Andy Robinson hope that Scotland can progress, maybe like England this World Cup has come four years too early for this Scotland team.

My main hopes for this World Cup, apart from England bringing it home, are that we again see progress from the so called 'second tier nations' again. Who is the next Argentina? Another is consistent ref'ing, again mentioned on today’s Rugby Club, call me a cynic but I cannot see it happening. Sometimes the difference between the Mangers (or whatever it is called now!) and the Aviva competitions is massive. I hope the few weeks the ref’s have spent together before the tournament have allowed them to get on the same page.

This is my first ever blog ever so feedback is appreciated, hopefully I shall perfect the technique over the coming weeks.

Here's to a great World Cup, see you tomorrow.