Other stuff

[Jarquis]

Touch rugby then?

my right ACL would like a word…

 

[ripper868]

Galthie probably got it wrong, he'd have been better off playing the full team against Uruguay and resting them for Namibia.

Nah, Dupont would of broken an ankle v Uruguay, much better that it was a cheekbone tbh.

Rugby is a contact sport, so is dancing, injuries happen. It's piss easy to say 'he should of been off' etc after the fact, its like the wallabies appointing Eddie, we never should have. But hindsight is 20/20, and if ym grandmother had wheel's she'd of been a bike, but injuries happen. They happen v Tier 1 opponents as well.

 

[Molehill]

Nah, Dupont would of broken an ankle v Uruguay, much better that it was a cheekbone tbh.

Rugby is a contact sport, so is dancing, injuries happen. It's piss easy to say 'he should of been off' etc after the fact, its like the wallabies appointing Eddie, we never should have. But hindsight is 20/20, and if ym grandmother had wheel's she'd of been a bike, but injuries happen. They happen v Tier 1 opponents as well.

I'm not doubting that injuries happen in rugby, hence why it seemed such a risk playing him in a match he simply wasn't needed in.

 

[Furball]

my right ACL would like a word…

Haha mine too, both of my knee injuries happened playing 5s with no-one around me.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Buggered my knee dancing. True story.

I did the medial collateral in my right knee at a sixth form disco thanks to Sit Down by James.

A group of us were (with the unironic literalism of pissed up teenagers) "sitting down" on the dance floor when Mr Booth commanded us to do so.

However my mate Keith (his old man was a Glaswegian) didn't so much "sit" as "hurl himself with considerable force" onto said knee, and I'd tucked my left foot underneath my right thigh, which acted as a counter pivot, increasing the weight that went against the joint.

I shrugged it off, being more than slightly arseholed it barely even hurt, but the next morning it'd come up like a ****ing space hopper.

Net result was a knee brace, six weeks on crutches and my first experience of the untrammelled majesty of prescription opiates.

 

[ripper868]

I ended up needing a shoulder recon after a social staff football game, nobody near me, just turned to chase a ball, fell, dislocated the shoulder worse than I ever have, 3 screws and a 15cm scar later.

 

[Tom Flint]

Good think about having lots of minnows is they get a game in the group against eachother and their opportunities to win a wc match, like Georgia Portugal yesterday. That was their wc final and was a great contest to watch and for neutrals a close game between 2 sides you never see play

 

[Tom Flint]

I didn't actually watch that game but imagine it was a cracker 18-18.
Wish I had instead of playing myself and breaking my collarbone in 3 places tackling low and taking a knee in the shoulder

 

[Ali TT]

Good think about having lots of minnows is they get a game in the group against eachother and their opportunities to win a wc match, like Georgia Portugal yesterday. That was their wc final and was a great contest to watch and for neutrals a close game between 2 sides you never see play

If you want to see two **** sides playing their "WC final" in a pool game, tune into the Wales Australia match.

Hope your shoulder fixes up soon enough but guessing that's your season done.

 

[ripper868]

Good think about having lots of minnows is they get a game in the group against eachother and their opportunities to win a wc match, like Georgia Portugal yesterday. That was their wc final and was a great contest to watch and for neutrals a close game between 2 sides you never see play

Portugal had a kick from wide to win it after the siren. missed by posts wide.

good game otherwise.

 

[Tom Flint]

If you want to see two **** sides playing their "WC final" in a pool game, tune into the Wales Australia match.

Hope your shoulder fixes up soon enough but guessing that's your season done.

Thank you, the season is only 2 weeks old so there may still be time to return depending on how it heals.
It's a horrible feeling hurting yourself so badly doing something you enjoy.

 

[ripper868]

Heal quick mr Flint, as a fellow broken shoulder enjoyer, i can sympathise with the road ahead you have.

 

[Molehill]

So every group will be won by a N Hemisphere side, it’s not ridiculous to think there could be no Rugby Championship teams in the semis.

 

[Bahnz]

Is the gap between the minnows and the traditional nations rising again? Post 03 World Cup the minnows nations gradually seemed to be closing the gap with the top 10 sides, not to the extent that the group phase was ever genuinely competitive, but at least so that the massive wipeouts became a lot less common. In 2019 there were only 3 games where a team ran in 60+ points and only one where 70 was breached. In 2023 we're still only about 3/4 through the group stage and we've had seven 70+ scorelines. Is there any particular reason for the rapid decline of tier 2 competitiveness? Covid taking a bigger toll on the development of amateur/semi-professional players than full professionals?

 

[Furball]

Is the gap between the minnows and the traditional nations rising again? Post 03 World Cup the minnows nations gradually seemed to be closing the gap with the top 10 sides, not to the extent that the group phase was ever genuinely competitive, but at least so that the massive wipeouts became a lot less common. In 2019 there were only 3 games where a team ran in 60+ points and only one where 70 was breached. In 2023 we're still only about 3/4 through the group stage and we've had seven 70+ scorelines. Is there any particular reason for the rapid decline of tier 2 competitiveness? Covid taking a bigger toll on the development of amateur/semi-professional players than full professionals?

That and a lack of tours between 2020 and 2022.

 

[andruid]

Is the gap between the minnows and the traditional nations rising again? Post 03 World Cup the minnows nations gradually seemed to be closing the gap with the top 10 sides, not to the extent that the group phase was ever genuinely competitive, but at least so that the massive wipeouts became a lot less common. In 2019 there were only 3 games where a team ran in 60+ points and only one where 70 was breached. In 2023 we're still only about 3/4 through the group stage and we've had seven 70+ scorelines. Is there any particular reason for the rapid decline of tier 2 competitiveness? Covid taking a bigger toll on the development of amateur/semi-professional players than full professionals?

I am also wondering if it is a coincidence Namibia and Chile were done with their group fixtures so quickly, relative to the rest of the World Cup teams.

 

[ripper868]

I am also wondering if it is a coincidence Namibia and Chile were done with their group fixtures so quickly, relative to the rest of the World Cup teams.

5 teams in a pool, someone has to have the 'bye' in the last week.

 

[Howe_zat]

Yeah but it's surely no coincidence that the teams having a bye in the last week are write offs like Chile, Namibia and Australia

 

[Uppercut]

The top level has broadly shifted away from attritional rugby and towards having a good passing game, and that lends itself to dunking harder on minnows.

 

[ripper868]

South Africa have also played all 4 of their games, so I think it's more a consequence of the 5 teams thing as opposed to concerted effort to minimise hotel time for namibia/chile etc.