I'm an England fan, and I expect NZ will beat us. But other than the USA, I think England have a shout.Bitters my arse. Imagine people thinking that the best rugby team in the World might just beat England. You guys have a good chance no doubt but if both teams play at 100% then NZ win, just like they would win against any team.
Also what gives England the title of best sporting nation in the World? Genuinely I'd love to know.
Rugby World Cup 2019 aka Squishy McSquish goes into a meltdown thread
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Brilliant as NZ are, it might be better for the sport if England, Wales or SA won the World Cup. Three in a row and the sport starts to feel a bit like rugby league where the main interest is finding out who earns the chance to lose to Australia.
England have high quality teams/athletes representing the country in pretty much every global sport out there. I think the poster was probably just on a bit of a wind up; but its hardly laughable to consider England being there or thereabouts.
Also what gives England the title of best sporting nation in the World? Genuinely I'd love to know.
Regardless, can't see anyone beating this NZ team if they turn up, as much as I'd like to be proven otherwise.
I suppose it's hard to really decide whose the overall best without putting a lot of thought into it. I guess I just can't offhand think of many sports where you guys are the "best", but you are definitely very good at a lot of them. Also do the likes of Ireland get credit for being the absolute best at GAA considering we are really the only ones who play it but it's still a top class sport (honestly hurling would be considered one of the best sports if it was played worldwide!!). Hard to quantify I guess overall.
For what it's worth I think you have a great chance against NZ and I see you guys as second favourites for the World Cup, it's just that if NZ play at their best then they win every game they play. In my lifetime IMO they have always been the best team in the World.
Watched it at home this morning and after the game the English pundits pretty much put England as favourites. Nothing wrong with encouraging confidence but come on. I do hope it happens but only from a selfish point of view for the final. And I don't take France and South Africa for granted by any means. I think we will hopefully get through tomorrow then have a 30 percent chance of beating S.A. they are seriously good this year.
Ah no I get that man and England are great at a lot of sports. Actually Ireland should be more respected too. With a population of 4.5m (around 6m for rugby) we are excellent at Rugby (except today
), alright at football and decent at a good few other sports while having to contend with the fact that most of our talented sportspeople go on to play our national sports. Not bad all in all. Didn't mean to sound disparaging of England at all!!You are great at that ball throwing thing down the lanes? What's that calledAh no I get that man and England are great at a lot of sports. Actually Ireland should be more respected too. With a population of 4.5m (around 6m for rugby) we are excellent at Rugby (except today
What, so England could actually win this thing! I guess egg chasing isn't so bad after all.
The one thing I find interesting about Union is that there's a British & Irish 'lions' team, how did this come about?
The one thing I find interesting about Union is that there's a British & Irish 'lions' team, how did this come about?
We came second in the 2016 Olympic medal table by getting more golds than China, it was a great achievement for the UK. I think in recent years we've had a good run in most sports we like.
Yes but olympics is GB. Not England
I think England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland tend to punch above their weight when it comes to sport.
Sure but most of the infrastructure and the money to pay for it which elevates the athletes comes from England. This is one of the reasons Chris Hoy voted against Scottish independence because he acknowledged his career probably wouldn't have been possible without Scotland being in the union. It's why Jade Jones getting out the Welsh flag after she won gold was in poor taste given that she lives and trains in the best possible conditions for an athlete in Manchester.
I agree, for a tiny little island/s we more than hold our own
You have 50 odd million people in England alone. You're not punching in anything.
Yeah, if we ever want to give a QF a proper go we'll have to have a brave coach who writes off the mid-cycle 6Ns instead of how we've peaked for them in recent years.
Bit disappointing to see the England bashing on here still.
Your team are excellent. I have more of a problem with Jones and the moronic roaring than with most of the individual players. Jones is revolting.
I still absolutely want ye to lose though
Name one sport that England dominates in! Maybe snooker or something? F1 possibly? Get real, England is no where near the best sporting nation!!
Jesus christ man no one is bashing England FFS. If someone says that the best rugby team in the World are fancied to beat England is "bashing" then someone saying Anthony Joshua would knock me out in a boxing match is "bashing" too. As has been said in this thread, England have a decent chance but if NZ play at their best then they win the whole tournament. Have you anything to refute that claim? England are very good at sports but at this particular sport NZ are better (just like they've always been no matter who wins the World Cup). For example if Japan win the World Cup then NZ are still the best rugby team in the World. God English fans are so insecure about sports. Here's one for you: England are much better than Ireland at football. I didn't even wince once typing that.
Who has bashed them?
Did I miss the English bashing?
I like this England team. They're incredibly powerful upfront but have some real quality out wide as well, and in Curry and Underhill ye are building something special that could last for a long, long time.
Backrow was the biggest problem in England for a decade and a half. After 2003 ye were looking at guys like Easter, Croft, Haskell and Robshaw as big players when they were never good enough to achieve the sort of ambitions the English would be setting themselves. Now with these two and probably the best ball carrier in world rugby at 8, plus second row riches that most countries can only dream of, England are setting the standard of loose forward play.
I still think the lack of a quality scrumhalf could hurt you this year and I can't understand how Ben Spencer hasn't made that squad ahead of especially Youngs.
I like this England team. They're incredibly powerful upfront but have some real quality out wide as well, and in Curry and Underhill ye are building something special that could last for a long, long time.
Backrow was the biggest problem in England for a decade and a half. After 2003 ye were looking at guys like Easter, Croft, Haskell and Robshaw as big players when they were never good enough to achieve the sort of ambitions the English would be setting themselves. Now with these two and probably the best ball carrier in world rugby at 8, plus second row riches that most countries can only dream of, England are setting the standard of loose forward play.
I still think the lack of a quality scrumhalf could hurt you this year and I can't understand how Ben Spencer hasn't made that squad ahead of especially Youngs.
Who do you think are better? I'm assuming you'll have a comprehensive list of at least 10 nations considering you think England are nowhere near?Name one sport that England dominates in! Maybe snooker or something? F1 possibly? Get real, England is no where near the best sporting nation!!
USA I cannot argue with but I think you'd struggle past them.
Ha. No issue with wanting us to lose, I don't really feel the same about Ireland / Scotland / Wales though. Maybe Wales.Your team are excellent. I have more of a problem with Jones and the moronic roaring than with most of the individual players. Jones is revolting.
I still absolutely want ye to lose though
I think most of the time the arrogance we're accused of is overplayed and amplified just because we're England though.
USA
Wales
Jamaica
France
Ireland
Australia
Spain
Germany
Brazil
Russia
Edit/ Holland
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Well, first of all what defines the greatest? Assuming we’re not counting ‘sports’ like snooker, F1 and sailing, I can’t think of one which England dominates. Holland, for example, absolutely dominate several sports like field hockey and speed skating and are up there with the best in lots of others. Holland has a much smaller population to boot. So stop sticking yer heads up yer backsides.
I’m not saying The Netherlands is the best btw, just using it as an example.
@diarm looks like my made up joke list wasn’t too far wide of the mark.
Onto the rugby. I’m hoping for a Wales Japan double tomorrow
Onto the rugby. I’m hoping for a Wales Japan double tomorrow
Certainly on the per capita table!
I've always kind of suspected Australia to be the best sporting nation to be honest. Thats probably weighted towards the sports I'm more interested in but if their was one nationality of people I had to back to win a sporting contest against the odds, it would be those overachieving feckers.
Even as Britain we don’t top!
It depends on how we weight sports to be honest. If any other nation sends a team to play Ireland in Gaelic Football or Hurling then one of our u18 teams could hand them an absolute hammering. So if we weight all sports the same it could get interesting. I'd wager that Ireland are much better than any other nation at Gaelic Football and Hurling than any other nation are at any other sport. However I don't know enough about other nation's games to back up that opinion.
Edit: for example Brazil >>> Ireland in soccer but Ireland >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> better than Brazil at Hurling.
Edit: for example Brazil >>> Ireland in soccer but Ireland >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> better than Brazil at Hurling.
That's why you can only rank these sort of things in terms of sports played internationally. It will put countries like Ireland at a disadvantage but that's the price we pay for investing so much into such indigenous sports.
All we have to do is convince the rest of the world that a sport where you horse into each other and hit a ball at 150kmh is great and get them all to take it up... So we can beat them at it.
Worked for the English for a while, dinnit?
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Oh please, we are in no way losing to England in the finals. No way at all.
I think if hurling didn't have gaelic football tied around it's neck it would popular everywhere!
Its not a big call, its called being deluded.
Crazy how he's both the best flyhalf and also the best fullback in rugby.
Around 90% of my family are West Cork or Kerry so you can imagine how popular I am with that opinion!
(Probably)
didn't get to watch NZ/IRE but just checked the score and it's just as well.otoh, Eng looked really good against a not so good Australia.
Not sure ENG have the beating of NZ in them but they'll surely give them a better test than IRE did.
I hope Best enjoys his retirement. Sad to see him go out like this but he's had a good career with Ireland.
Greatest is probably defined as the country best across a myriad of sports played on a truly global level. Which I think most will agree is the USA.
And not sure why you think my head is up my backside for simply disputing that England are "nowhere near the best sporting nation" in the world when we regularly compete competitively across most global sports. I agreee we are not the best but absolutely should be in the discussion.
You can't think of one sport where England dominate? We happened to win a World Cup in one of the more popular ones a few moths ago...