Pool A - England, Samoa, South Africa, Tonga, United States

[James]

Discussion around Pool A - England, Samoa, South Africa, Tonga, United States

 

[Perm]

South Africa to dominate this group. Should be a good clash between Samoa and Tonga though, with the outside chance that either of those Pacific Island teams could cause an upset over England.

 

[KennyD]

Prob Samoa if it was to happen. Tonga seem to be heading constantly down hill unfortunately. Beaten by Japan last night.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Come on, we're bad, but there's no way we won't make the quarters at the least.

 

[Fiery]

Come on, we're bad, but there's no way we won't make the quarters at the least.

Yeah, no chance of Samoa or Tonga causing at upset over England . You will probably make the semis easily enough but will need a vast improvement from what we've seen since the last WC to get further than that.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Yeah, no chance of Samoa or Tonga causing at upset over England . You will probably make the semis easily enough but will need a vast improvement from what we've seen since the last WC to get further than that.

Depends where we finish. I think if we finished second here we play the winners of pool A which is likely to be Oz. If we manage to turn the yarpies over tho we're actually a chance for the final as we'll probably have quarters of Wales then France in the semi.

 

[Fiery]

Depends where we finish. I think if we finished second here we play the winners of pool A which is likely to be Oz. If we manage to turn the yarpies over tho we're actually a chance for the final as we'll probably have quarters of Wales then France in the semi.

Aus might not be too hard though

 

[BoyBrumby]

Aus might not be too hard though

Yeah but we're currently tragically afflicted by our "****eness" issues that've been plaguing us since 2003.

 

[Fiery]

so are they

 

[Piper]

All I can say is ''Bye! Bye England!'' I'd be surprised if they made it through this group. It's probably the hardest group in the competition. SA will definitely go through and maybe Samoa.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Let's not go over the top here. We're poor, but we will qualify. Fiji & Samoa have never beaten us ever & aren't that likely to start now.

 

[Perm]

Yeah I agree with BB here. England are crapola but they are still much better than either of the Pacific Island teams in this pool. If they don't qualify then we can safely assume that hell will freeze over.

 

[PY]

Did you see how bad we were in the Six Nations BB? Your blind optimism is endearing but let's have some good ol' Blighty pessimism and say we're a fair chance of getting dumped out in a shock result.

I hope not of course, but I never rule anything out.

 

[KennyD]

^Haha yeah Wales upped ya's.

 

[Piper]

^Haha yeah Wales upped ya's.

Careful Kenny
England are really bad at the moment.. Wouldn't be surprised if Samoa beat them. I hope they don't but wouldnt be surprised if they did.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Did you see how bad we were in the Six Nations BB? Your blind optimism is endearing but let's have some good ol' Blighty pessimism and say we're a fair chance of getting dumped out in a shock result.

I hope not of course, but I never rule anything out.

Our 6 nations was the original curate's egg, rather than being rank poor. We did actually beat France, let's not forget. & my belief we'll qualify isn't blind optimism! We won't win the cup, but we really won't go out from this group. If either Tonga (dunno where I got Fiji from before ) or Samoa get within two scores of us they'll have done well. If we had Ireland's draw I'd be worried, but we'll easily make it through this group.

To illustrate I'm far from alone in this conviction here are the latest group odds courtesy of oddschecker: http://www.oddschecker.com/rugby-union/world-cup/rugby-world-cup-group-a/win-market

South Africa 4/11
England 2/1
Samoa 25/1
Tonga 150/1
USA 300/1

Bookies not renowned for their charity, are they?

 

[ohtani's jacket]

England vs. South Africa is a crap shoot. South Africa always struggle against England in the Northern Hemisphere. Samoa will play well, they always do. They gave England a scare in the last World Cup.

 

[simmy]

SA and Eng will go through. Seems a little obvious.

 

[vogue]

This is the only game i will be able to see today,gonna miss the other earlier games..
...hopefully see an England win....shall be watching it on a 42'' plasma screen too..

 

[steds]

England making harder work of it than the Australians or the All Blacks so far. Would be down, but for that trip by Vickery.

How come Cueto plays fullback these days, btw? Scored at a try a game on the wing iirc, and both Lewsey and Robinson played at fullback alot in more successful England sides, so it seems logical that he swaps with one of them.