RWC 2023 Fixtures and results

[KiwiTig]

Biggar was class…he stood up and took control when he needed to. His presence was immense …The emerging nations are coming nonetheless

[Dokie]

England not that good but Argentina sooooooooooo pooooooooooor. Unbelievable.

I think England have been very good.

Any team could play well against this rubbish.

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

[Greenwhiteandred]

I think England have been very good.

Any team could play well against this rubbish.

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

We’re not talking about England anymore - classic diversionary tactics. If Carley was a half decent ref Fiji win that game …… discuss

[KiwiTig]

I totally agree ! This is how we/you Brits think we should the play the game and if you don’t like it then tough …your so called colonial superiority does you guys no favours at all

[wigworth]

I think England have been very good.

Any team could play well against this rubbish.

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of time the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

Given they had to play a man down for effectively the whole game in pretty tough conditions they were going to have to play in a very pragmatic manor especially against a team most people had as favourites to beat them. This old chestnut of were we good or they just bad, well you can only play what shows up against you, yes they were bad but Lawes, Earl, Manu, Itoje and George all had there best game in ages which I am sure helped play a part in Argentina being so poor.

As for tier a 1 nation playing so poor a couple spring to mind pretty easy, England vs France in the six nations was pretty horrific and Wales vs Georgia in the autumn, which got Pivac the chop.

But I will concede had England had the inspirational leadership of Bigger's motivational words and as much help from the chap in the middle then they might have been able to turn in a better performance. But as Greenwhiteandred said lets not further distract from the topic at hand.

[Scott1]

I think England have been very good.

Any team could play well against this rubbish.

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

Yes you’re right,said it on the night that Argentina were dreadful but the red card galvanised us and we were rabid like in defence. The attack is horrible though,really poor and we botched one comfortable 3 on 2 that was laughable. But it’s a great win and we should top the group now and hopefully build nicely into the tournament

[sam16111986]

Any team could play well against this rubbish.

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

Yes you’re right,said it on the night that Argentina were dreadful but the red card galvanised us and we were rabid like in defence. The attack is horrible though,really poor and we botched one comfortable 3 on 2 that was laughable. But it’s a great win and we should top the group now and hopefully build nicely into the tournament

The defence was rabid before the card having driven Argentina back, turned them over and then kicked to just outside their 22. Curry was everywhere in the 3 minutes he was in.

Argentina struggled but they struggled partly because we systematically took apart their game plan, frustration grew and they lack the leadership to calm down and play their systems. They made some very odd calls and it wasn't a good performance from them. Why the forwards insisted on throwing themselves at our defence I don't know. Their was space wide and we were a man short, dunno what their analysts and coaches were doing.

[Scott1]

Sorry Wigworth but I’ve just read through the comments. England, very good? Yes in terms of GF’s game management and line speed in defence. In terms of an attacking threat, there’s still nothing. I can’t recall a tier 1 nation playing as woefully as Argentina did: scrum, lineout, defence, handling, high ball, discipline, breakdown, total disinterest from the forwards. 27-10 sounds a convincing win but that’s statistics for you.
Even as a Welshman, I can see you’ve plenty of talent within the playing pool but some of the selections/non selections are questionable but not as much as Steve’s gameplan.

Yes you’re right,said it on the night that Argentina were dreadful but the red card galvanised us and we were rabid like in defence. The attack is horrible though,really poor and we botched one comfortable 3 on 2 that was laughable. But it’s a great win and we should top the group now and hopefully build nicely into the tournament

The defence was rabid before the card having driven Argentina back, turned them over and then kicked to just outside their 22. Curry was everywhere in the 3 minutes he was in.

Argentina struggled but they struggled partly because we systematically took apart their game plan, frustration grew and they lack the leadership to calm down and play their systems. They made some very odd calls and it wasn't a good performance from them. Why the forwards insisted on throwing themselves at our defence I don't know. Their was space wide and we were a man short, dunno what their analysts and coaches were doing.

Yes,strange on field gameplan and no on field leadership at all. None of their players turned up at all,not one stand out. Don't forget we started like that v Ireland and Fiji so it was nice to see an 80 minute performance instead of a 20 minute one

[fentiger]

Great article in Telegraph about Fordy's training for drop goals:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/rugby-union ... king-guru/

[mol2]

I have to say there was some poor officiating over the weekend.
If the decision to red card Curry was the correct one, why not a red for the Argentinian who jumped into Ford and made direct head contact. Why no intervention from the TMO for the head clash in the Scotland game? But for the claret identical to the Curry incident.

In several of the games players were diving over the ruck, like missiles to deter competition. If you land 2 feet past the player it’s all right? It’s not as if they drove a player back and were brought to ground, they just dived rather than went over on their feet, not contacting anyone but making sure the incoming players couldn’t safely compete.

Inconsistency in the application of warnings. Wales get warned before the yellow and got another after the yellow. Straight yellow for Fiji in a red zone infringement.
The disallowed Fiji try was one he got right and overruled his own award in spite of the TMO. The player clearly propelled himself on the ground rather than simply reaching to place the ball.

Yellows for deliberate knock ons outside the red zone. Personally I would scrap the offence of a deliberate knock on. If you pass it that close to a player they should be entitled to go for it. Scrum if knocked on.

[Tykger]

Biggar was class…he stood up and took control when he needed to. His presence was immense …The emerging nations are coming nonetheless

Biggar played well. He's a good player, missed a tackle or two but overall was probably the best Welsh player on the pitch. I can't agree about him being class though. His lack of composure when screaming at George North on two separate occasions was like a childish tantrum. As frustrated as he clearly was, a bit of composure and leadership would have been classier IMO. As for the scrum half and Liam Williams behaviour reacting to injury/ pain, it's always difficult to comment from the armchair as it was clearly a brutal contest and courage shown on both sides.... Wales do appear to be leading the way with drawing attention to incidents by maximising the dramatic effect of their reactions . I wonder if the Scots might reflect on that following Kriel and Dempsey's head clash. I'd hate to see a cynical response in the future, but if refs and TMOs don't seem to be able to spot them.......

[Scott1]

Nick Knowles has gone ballistic about the Wales v Fiji reffing. I must admit I had a few things to do so missed the controversial parts,was it really that bad?

[wigworth]

Nick Knowles has gone ballistic about the Wales v Fiji reffing. I must admit I had a few things to do so missed the controversial parts,was it really that bad?

I think it was how the situation played out rather than one howler of a bad decision, from the repeated warnings without a card for the Welsh on their own try line for some very cynical play, to Wales quickly going to the other end and scoring with a Fijian player being carded (I think for collapsing a maul)without a warning. So it really did not have good optics to how the two sides were being treated by the ref.

[jgriffin]

Nick Knowles has gone ballistic about the Wales v Fiji reffing. I must admit I had a few things to do so missed the controversial parts,was it really that bad?

Only saw the first half, but there seemed to be some lack of reffing the rucks which Wales exploited, e.g. diving over. The histrionics from Davies (9) were pathetic.

[TigerFeetSteve]

Nick Knowles has gone ballistic about the Wales v Fiji reffing. I must admit I had a few things to do so missed the controversial parts,was it really that bad?

Not THAT bad, just inconsistent

There were a couple of high shots that looked like they should have had an extra look. (Both to me looked like yellows on first glance but without review hard to say). Made to look worse by a seatbelt challenge being looked at by Fiji (which was reviewed due to the Welsh 9 staying down for treatment)

There was the one disallowed try where the Fiji prop dropped it BUT looked like he was stopped by a no arms tackle, the ref said there was a fraction of an arm lift (debatable IMO)

There also was the yellows given/not given, Wales got pinged plenty in their 22 before a warning. Then clear with a 50:22 maul collapse by Fiji results in yellow first offence due to being cynical (deserved yellow). At least one (Biggar's offside) of the Wales penalties was at least as cynical so regardless of pen count to warning should have been off. When Wales got the yellow there seemed another significant number of penalties before the next warning.... then they get another warning, they score their final try, in the act of scoring Carly sticks his arm out for an advantage about a second before the try is scored, so a penalty was committed there, but no yellow given (despite being on a warning).



In reality one side normally gets a slight rub of decisions, (I've seen a lot worse ref performances) and unfortunately when the rub of the green goes to the team who won by a single score then questions get raised.