The IRFU have done an incredible job with rugby. Almost as incredible as how BAD the FAI have done with football over the years. Make no mistake though, footie is still much bigger here, just rugby is making a lot more waves right now cause we’re really good at it. GAA trumps both, though the gap isn’t massive between it and football.Well that's why I inserted an arguably in therebut 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.
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.
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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Not if they'd done the seeding properly.
The top 4 should have been in different groups.
The draw is done far too early. A lot can change in even a year never mind almost three. England and Wales were recent World Cup finalists and semi finalists respectively when the draw was made. Form over the few years since means the draw now looks one sided.
Agree. Doing the draw so long in advance is absolutely ridiculous
Was looking it up and Rugby is only the tenth federation by members in France (apparently). Basket, Handball have a larger pool (though not by much) and as you pointed a number of individual sports. That's not the sole criteria, Rugby Union definitely feels like the second sport in terms of coverage and comparatively France has a lot of capital in Rugby clubs compared to most places.
The seedings were representative but the draw was conducted ridiculously early. Made no sense.
The draw has made the world cup more interesting to be fair, especially the group stage. Who wants want 4 groups where you know the winners instantly.... every group had a 50/50 betting line games going in. Regardless if only one actually delivered a game fitting of that 50/50 on the result.
Until 2 of these weaker nations get absolutely tonked in the semi's, think moaning about it should hold fire.
Until 2 of these weaker nations get absolutely tonked in the semi's, think moaning about it should hold fire.
I am amazed that someone in Australia saw the last few years of Eddie jones and decided to employ him.
Really? It’s barely even broadcast outside Ireland….impressive that it keeps dominance with just a domestic audience
So is Eddie Jones just a bit shit?
Huh? It’s our national sport. Why would outside broadcast matter? What am I missing?
Exactly.
Plus it just wouldn’t be the same without England in the later stages, and we’re a bit shit at the moment, so it’s nice we can avoid all the scary teams and let them all knock each other out. Amirite @Pogue Mahone ?
The general globalisation of all sports? Not many sports that are dominant in a country are exclusively played in that countryHuh? It’s our national sport. Why would outside broadcast matter? What am I missing?
It's nothing to do with audience. It's an amateur sport but when you play GAA, especially in rural areas, you represent your town/parish and if you're good enough then your county. The roots are deep into the local community. It's tribal in a way that football/rugby aren't over here. Rugby is somewhat redressing that, I suppose, with the province system but it's not the same.
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The winners don’t matter anyway. The interesting bit is who can get second place. And this draw hasn’t made that any more interesting at all. The only interesting bit about the competition so far has been Australia being even worse than expected. There haven’t been any other real upsets and the teams that get out of the groups are almost exactly as predicted. What makes it a really shitty draw is the fact we inevitably lose two of the four best teams in the world after the quarter finals. That would spoil any World Cup, in any sport.
EDIT: Argies being very poor also a slight surprise
Combination of shit meets shit.
Australian rugby is dead. Even their traditional talent pool is moving towards afl and football.
I'll wait a little before saying no upset.
Forza Italia !
Forza Italia !
fecking disgraceful to watch a team sullying the rugby world cup, kicking all their points
Nice, thanks for the extra insight
For the draw, look at it like that : At least it's almost guaranteed we'll have a France vs SA or Ireland in QFs and have two of the three favorites having a proper knockout game and we already had competitive France / NZ & Ireland / SA games out of the groups. So at least we're not missing out too much on the best playing the best ?
I think the semis not being the optimal sport result is not the most pressing issue for RU, hopefully let's see more development & more nations compete on a more homogeneous level. Would be glad a "surprise" team get in semi so long they give a good account for themselves.
I think the semis not being the optimal sport result is not the most pressing issue for RU, hopefully let's see more development & more nations compete on a more homogeneous level. Would be glad a "surprise" team get in semi so long they give a good account for themselves.
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To be fair, not sure I entirely agree on the second place thing either. You very rarely get more than the 2 surprise ones you could potentially get here, but yes, the scheduling of this Wales-Australia game has kind of ruined that one, as it did when England slumped out in 2015. I don't think we've had many group stages before with the best sides all in at least 1 big contest... the winner of every group not ultra predictable, and 2 with a strong chance of an upset exit.
And to be fair, at least the absolute shittest teams were thrown in them top heavy groups too... except Scotland.
The issue with the draw, is that unless I'm mistaken we are guaranteed to lose 3 of France, Ireland, NZ, SA or Scotland after the QF. That's essentially the majority of the current Top 5 teams out due to scheduling. But then again we have had 3 years to accept it.
After Jones’ comments earlier in the week, what a great result.
Arrogant prick.
Arrogant prick.
Yup.
Another way to put it is we’re guaranteed to have half the teams in the final four currently ranked 6th or worse. And this happens without any of those lower ranked teams needing to beat a side ranked any higher than them to get there.
The madness really sinks in when you write it down like that…
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The guy is an absolute bellend so it’s always good when he’s on the losing side.
More than that. He's been shit talking for years... Good enough for the pathetic little dweeb.
Unlike one of the other Australians who posts in this thread, I love the game, I'm genuinely interested in the game and I hate the state it is in right now in this country. I'm absolutely gutted by the way this World Cup has turned out for the Wallabies. A supposedly generous draw meant a semi final appearance was a possibility and now we're gone at the pool stages. I'm just bitterly disappointed.
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It's never been that popular. League and AFL are miles ahead in terms of popularity.
Cricket too, and probably football now as well.
So the Wallabies are condemned to L2 status in the future?
Is there a way of muting the word draw from the thread?
How often do cup competitions ever get the four best teams into the semi’s? I’d be more worried about the fact that it’s seemingly a foregone conclusion that the four best teams won’t be beaten by anyone else, not a great look for the sport. At least we have some interest in the games now.
How often do cup competitions ever get the four best teams into the semi’s? I’d be more worried about the fact that it’s seemingly a foregone conclusion that the four best teams won’t be beaten by anyone else, not a great look for the sport. At least we have some interest in the games now.
Who’s the early front runners for the main job? Is there anyone who stands out for you?
yeah. and try having real problems, like clearly biased refs and citing panels, waiting to screw your over at every turn.
If Eddie goes, I don't know who's going to want what now appears to be a poisoned chalice. Dan McKellar is the best Aussie coach at the moment but he's just starting out at Leicester Tigers.
Who’s the early front runners for the main job? Is there anyone who stands out for you?
ROG got a mention on a rugby forum here but he'd only leave La Rochelle for the Irish job and let's face it, Ireland don't need a coach at the moment.
The RFU must be pissing themselves laughing that they didn't insert a non compete clause in Eddie's as part of his severance package.
Since 2003 it has been run by the old boys network, NRL also recovered from their issues, young Union players can earn money playing in the NRL over Union and AFL/Aussie Rules has targeted the areas of Sydney that really produced Rugby Players and there is close to zero rugby played in government schools (not to mention very little rugby played south of the Barassi Line )
I live in Melbourne there has been very very little mention of this world cup and during AFL finals it very much is a "who cares" I only knew about the result because I saw a simpsons meme of it , hell outside of sports bars and some irish pubs there is very little of it on TV.
I'm in Bali which I'm sure you know is full of aussies and AFL is on in pretty much every bar and they're usually packed out - and if it's not live they show replays. I haven't seen the union team on the tele once in the last two weeks.
Yep, an absolute joke when you make the draw - what was it, 3 years ahead of the actual tournament? Now the top 5 ranked teams are all stuck on one side meaning 3 of the top five will be out of the tournament at the QF stage (Ire, SA, Fra, NZ & Sco), with one already getting eliminated at the group stage. Shambles.
If they don’t, that’s because they’ve been beaten by a team from outside the top four. Which is fair enough. And won’t happen here, so isn’t a relevant comparison.
Although I do understand why England fans would rather the draw is never brought up.
As if you weren't enjoying it, rimaldo.
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Talk of being cited for this. Would be very harsh. Doesn’t seem to know where he’s standing, as he doesn’t look down.
He knows
he takes an unnaturally small step onto a hand that is already touching his other shoe- Status