Pool D - England, Argentina, Japan, Samoa, Chile

[James]

9 September 2023​	England	v​	Argentina	Stade Vélodrome, Marseille
10 September 2023​	Japan	v​	Chile	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
16 September 2023​	Samoa	v​	Chile	Nouveau Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux
17 September 2023​	England	v​	Japan	Allianz Riviera, Nice
22 September 2023​	Argentina	v​	Samoa	Stade Geoffroy Guichard, Saint-Étienne
23 September 2023​	England	v​	Chile	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
28 September 2023​	Japan	v​	Samoa	Stadium de Toulouse, Toulouse
30 September 2023​	Argentina	v​	Chile	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes
7 October 2023​	England	v​	Samoa	Stade Pierre-Mauroy, Lille
8 October 2023​	Japan	v​	Argentina	Stade de la Beaujoire, Nantes

 

[Molehill]

On paper, the first match of this group should decide who wins it......but suspect there could be a few twists.

England have now lost Van Poortvliet and replaced with Mitchell - which frankly could be a good thing too. Getting rid of a formulaic scrum half with a more maverick one is what this team could do with.

 

[GIMH]

That time every four years when I remember I don't mind Rugby before forgetting about it again

England any good?

 

[Molehill]

That time every four years when I remember I don't mind Rugby before forgetting about it again

England any good?

No, we're ****ing terrible....but the draw has been very kind and we might make the semi finals whilst at least 3 better teams won't.

 

[GIMH]

No, we're ****ing terrible....but the draw has been very kind and we might make the semi finals whilst at least 3 better teams won't.

Justice!

 

[Niall]

No, we're ****ing terrible....but the draw has been very kind and we might make the semi finals whilst at least 3 better teams won't.

Yeah very kind, Scottish fans should be fuming especially

Not really followed Japan that closely, but any chance they can turn over England if all the stars align?

I can't recall how they went into the last world cup when they turned over Ireland.

 

[Howe_zat]

That time every four years when I remember I don't mind Rugby before forgetting about it again

England any good?

England have been rubbish since lockdown tbh. But the last time England went into a world cup with this kind of form was probably 2007 and they made the final, so it's not exactly hopeless

 

[Howe_zat]

England have now lost Van Poortvliet and replaced with Mitchell - which frankly could be a good thing too. Getting rid of a formulaic scrum half with a more maverick one is what this team could do with.

JvP was the hot new maverick 9 not too long ago
Whoever's in the side will be the boring one if we don't have forward advantage.

 

[GIMH]

England have been rubbish since lockdown tbh. But the last time England went into a world cup with this kind of form was probably 2007 and they made the final, so it's not exactly hopeless

Ah yeah remember that one well. I knew a lot more about Rugby back then than I do now but I really did enjoy that WC

 

[BoyBrumby]

The stars really aligned for us in 2007, didn't they?

Argentina beat les bleus in the first group game, meaning Johnny Frog met NZ in the quarters and produced one of their typically flaky genius performances to beat them (aided by Wayne Barnes unilaterally deciding not to enforce the forward pass law).

Meanwhile we get stiffed 36-0 by RSA first up, do just about enough to stumble through in second, Andy Sheridan scrummages the Wobblies into the floor in the quarters, Jonny kicks the French to distraction in the semis and we put up a far better showing against the Yarps in the final. We even had a bad luck story to tell with Cueto having what looked a fair try disallowed by the TMO.

 

[Molehill]

Yeah very kind, Scottish fans should be fuming especially

Not really followed Japan that closely, but any chance they can turn over England if all the stars align?

I can't recall how they went into the last world cup when they turned over Ireland.

Japan play Italy on Sat 26th to give us some kind of idea. But they got thrashed 52-13 at Twickenham last November, so despite England being rubbish, it's hard to see them winning. Samoa got well beaten by Italy last Novermber too, so it's kind of hard to see anything but Eng/Arg qualifying from this group.

 

[RossTaylorsBox]

Japan has been trash, they won't make it out of the group imo

 

[ripper868]

It's not the Japan's of 2015 or 2019 by any stretch, would love them to be, but it's just not quite the same level of cattle. England should run them close, but expect Japan by 10-15 really

 

[Molehill]

Well here's a surprise. Having had his yellow upgraded to a red, Farrell has now had it reduced back to a yellow again. Apparently the involvement of Jamie George forced the Welsh player to change angles thus providing mitigating circumstances for the tackle.

Yeah, I don't believe it either. So Farrell free to play until his next questionable tackle...

 

[BoyBrumby]

Well here's a surprise. Having had his yellow upgraded to a red, Farrell has now had it reduced back to a yellow again. Apparently the involvement of Jamie George forced the Welsh player to change angles thus providing mitigating circumstances for the tackle.

Yeah, I don't believe it either. So Farrell free to play until his next questionable tackle...

Christ, that's such horse plop.

He didn't even attempt to use his arms. With his history he should've got 2 or 3 games at least.

 

[Molehill]

Christ, that's such horse plop.

He didn't even attempt to use his arms. With his history he should've got 2 or 3 games at least.

I was expecting 6 weeks given he'd already served a ban back in January for a similar offence. I'm coming to the conclusion the Committee must've been Argentinian who have realised that England are a worse outfit with him in the side.

 

[ripper868]

Joke.

Fact that the panel was 3 Aussies makes even more a joke of our current rugby standards.

Japan by 25 with Farrell's inclusion...

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

I said it was a red card as it happened and nothing I have seen subsequently has changed my mind - I'm an England fan and I find it frankly baffling!

 

[CarlsbergXpress]

Christ, that's such horse plop.

He didn't even attempt to use his arms. With his history he should've got 2 or 3 games at least.

Yep, 3 game ban for me. More if you take into account his history of poor tackles.

 

[Molehill]

I happened to be in the car last night as they were discussing this on specialist BBC rugby programme. It seems he'd have picked up a 5 week ban, or 4 if he pleaded guilty. The difference between 5 and 4 was the Chile game in the World Cup, so it made no difference. really. Hence they decided to plead not guilty, come up with some form of mitigating factor and hired a ridiculously expensive lawyer. It seems that said lawyer was way ahead of the Disciplinary Board and they had no means to counter his arguments.