Always funny to hear about the challenges of being successful in a country where rugby is a minority sport, as an Ireland fan…
EDIT: Although, to be fair, we do rinse the arse out of that excuse when it comes to football!
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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EDIT: Although, to be fair, we do rinse the arse out of that excuse when it comes to football!
England with a nice bye to the semi's then.
That did cross my mind as I was typing
Literally their first tough game will come when they’re already in the final four. An actual sporting farce, playing out in front of our eyes.
It’s not really an issue with rugby. But with football, so many potentially quality players end up playing GAA instead. Tis a shame.
They won't have it all their own way against Fiji and they'll lose as soon as they face a decent team.
While the best teams have all beaten each other up in the other half of the draw
Can a sport be considered national if no other nation plays it?
What the feck you lot on about, we lost to Fiji a few weeks ago
More of a national pastime thenOf course it can
Are you mixing up national with international?
England are winning the world cup, we all know it.
There's not a lot of places where Union is top of the pecking order, not even France though arguably very popular in some regions and League is no competition.
Likely all groups will be topped by Euro teams !
Likely all groups will be topped by Euro teams !
What’s that got to do with rugby being a minority sport in Ireland? (or Australia?!)
Thinking about it, rugby is probably a minority sport in every country it’s played. Maybe not in New Zealand?
I'm pulling your leg
NZ, the Pacific island (though League is super popular there I think), arguably Wales and Ireland ? Maybe Georgia (guessing) ?
Wales have been excellent here. This is the best I've seen them in ages, to be honest. They came into this World Cup in shocking form.
What's looking quite likely now is England and Wales making the semis with one of France/SA out. That would be a bit of a farce.
Isn't this just luck of the draw? Happens in every other sport.
The Irish lads have England living in their heads rent free it seems.What the feck you lot on about, we lost to Fiji a few weeks ago
Poor buggers
They used to have such an aura.
What?
I guess the World Cup of most other sports tend to have more than like 5 good teams.
Thought the game would be much closer but Wales have have absolutely battered the Aussies.
Yes it does happen in every sport, and I'm sure they'd be an upset somewhere if they indeed did keep the big 4 apart..... but they could just avoid this totally by not doing the draw 3 years in advance or some shit, then they'd be no moaning about it. Something so simple too.
Haven’t they just. great performances all over. Their defence has been fantastic.
Australia have been an embarrassment
It depends on what you mean by minority. In France it is the second team sport behind Football but there are individual sports above it, in New Zealand it's the second or third behind Football and maybe Basketabll or Netball for women. Union isn't the major code among islanders that would be either League or Sevens depending on which country you are talking about.
Though I would say that the second sport in a country isn't really minor.
What kind of a draw has the top 4 teams in the world on the same side of the draw? A max of two can make the semis.
What a result for Wales. Well done them.
Sad to see Australia this way. Rugby isn’t the same without them being competitive. Wales are slowly nicely building. Themselves and England are strong dark horses with the draw. Wales especially so for me. Fiji have to be considered too. Be interesting to see what state their semi final opponents are in after the tough quarterfinals.
Tompkins has been superb and Anscombe has been excellent when he came on. What a result that is for Wales. Incredible. Cheerio Eddie
Jac Morgan is some player. Sam Warburton loves him.
It doesn’t though. That’s what seedings are for. The issue here isn’t an unlucky draw. They made a mess of the seedings.
Nah, when they are good their media is the smuggest of all, giving lessons to everyone.
Not exactly. The issue with the draw is that the seedings weren't representative, the draw was done way too early and nearly everyone outside of the IRB knew it.
Yeah, defence really stood out. Not only that, but excellent discipline in the main, too, with that defence. Gave so many pens away against Fiji (which should have resulted in a yellow card way before it did) but improved massively here. It's the best they've been in a couple of years, to be honest.
Wales we’re excellent, Australia shocking.
It’s all arbitrary though, Scotland are winning the cup and everyone should accept that. The showing they had against Tonga was world class, could rival Ireland to be honest.
who’s gonna bite?
It’s all arbitrary though, Scotland are winning the cup and everyone should accept that. The showing they had against Tonga was world class, could rival Ireland to be honest.
who’s gonna bite?
Well that's why I inserted an arguably in thereWhat?
but with the Province system I think Ireland is making a very good job at nurturing their talent despite the competition of football, Gaelic football and Gaelic football with a stick (hurling ?). And Irish club football being very... unnoticeable on an Euro level. But I don't know which federation really has the big bucks in the Republic or the local popularity of each.I feel it's like that at most RWCs, the last two at least IIRC ? Just inevitable that big names get squeezed out in QFs.
So are Portugal a solid team or are Wales basically just a bit less shit than Australia in reality? All I've heard over the years is Georgia being a decent next tier team.... but Portugal haven't exactly been flattened by anyone and pulled the draw against Georgia.
Are Argentina gonna batter Wales?
Are Argentina gonna batter Wales?
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