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Knockout Stage - General Discussion
- Thread starter James
- Start date
Quaggas
State Captain
Meridio
International Regular
Have been trying to persuade my flatmates to go to one of the quarters this weekend, but had no luck (they're all students and say they can't afford it). Both games would be good to go to and are hard to pick, but if the weather stays as it has been all week here in Wellington it's hard to see Australia getting up.
Anyway, had previously been thinking an NZ-France final was on the cards, resulting in endless articles about history repeating itself etc., but they're looking decidedly rubbish. So are England, mind, but for them playing well doesn't seem to be a prerequisite to winning.
Anyway, had previously been thinking an NZ-France final was on the cards, resulting in endless articles about history repeating itself etc., but they're looking decidedly rubbish. So are England, mind, but for them playing well doesn't seem to be a prerequisite to winning.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Weather's looking pretty good for Auckland over the weekend so you might be in luck. Wellington expected to get some rain on Saturday for Wales vs Ireland but be fine for the Sunday match.Decided to cough up for a ticket to the NZ-Argentina game. In the cheap(ish) seats, so I hope the weather's better on Sunday than it is today.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Had any of Dagg/Guildford/Kahui been available I have my doubts whether Cruden would've been included, as the injuries to all of those players might've forced the selectors hand to include Cruden on the bench.
Thats a big call after France's rather woeful performance against Tonga. They've really struggled to find any form this tournament - even their victories over Japan and Canada were in doubt until late in those matches. Yachvili's certainly been kicking well though Toby Flood's playing at 12 and should Wilkinson continue to struggle with his goalkicking then I envisage Flood taking over. In saying all of that, I still think France have a reasonable chance. England have faced an old Argentina side, a very disappointing Scottish outfit and some minnows with little attacking prowess in their group, and I think they're vulnerable on defence against sides who actually have the ability to finish try scoring moves. France on their day certainly fit that bill. England's penalty count has also been terrible throughout the tournament and in a possible low-scoring match (what matches involving England are high scoring?
) that could be crucial.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Yeh I'm a bit hesistant to call a French victory the match after they lose to Tonga. I guess I'm giving the French credit based on their performances against the ABs in matches they supposedly had no chance in, although their odds are a bit better against a slightly out of sorts England side.
Looking forward to the matches tonight, tipping Wales to overcome Ireland after a series of good performances in their group matches.
Hurricane
Hall of Fame Member
I have tipped Wales to win as well. But really Ireland did beat Aussie so we should be listing them as favourites.
My reason for tipping them was their win over Samoa - although they only won by 7 points they seemed to have the game under control for the most part.
What do you think of this number 12 for Wales surely the second best 12 in the world - better than Sonny Bill for my money.
My reason for tipping them was their win over Samoa - although they only won by 7 points they seemed to have the game under control for the most part.
What do you think of this number 12 for Wales surely the second best 12 in the world - better than Sonny Bill for my money.
Somerset
Cricketer Of The Year
Jamie Roberts has really impressed me this tournament, such a powerful runner. I think Nonu's been superb as well. SBW offers something different to both Roberts and Nonu with his offloads and trickery, so its a bit of a difficult comparision.
Wales perhaps a bit fortunate to lead at halftime, besides their breakout which lead to Williams; try in the first 5 minutes they've hardly made progress into the Irish half. Ireland on the other hand, admittedly with the wind, have certainly looked the more dominant side on attack although seem to suffering with the problem of a number of the NH sides whereby they create territorial pressure but can't score from it.
