Rugby World Cup 2019 aka Squishy McSquish goes into a meltdown thread

utdalltheway

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i agree, it needs it’s own thread.

Watching Fiji v AUS now.

That Fijian kicker initially lines it up like England’s O’Farrell (sp?) but finishes his run up weirdly and sometimes it works.

Anyway 14-12 Fiji atm. 1/2 time.
 

RooneyLegend

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Australia are set piece's away from being beaten easily here, they need to pull up their socks.
 

utdalltheway

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AUS struggled in against a powerful Fiji but if Fiji were better in their decisions they could be much further ahead. Fijian tackling is lacking too.

Still, a good 1st half.
 

DOTA

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Strategy of giving away a penalty every thirty seconds didn't seem to work out.
 

utdalltheway

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Fiji fail to upset AUS. They had their chance but indiscipline and naivety cost them.
They should do ok against weaker opposition.

AUS will be happy enough to get the points and move on with the win. Not convinced about their chances down the line when they’ll meet stronger opponents.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Fiji started really well and I thought they could pull off a shock.

Couldn’t handle the maul in the final 30 mins and eventually tired out.
 

diarm

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Would have been interesting to see how things ended up had Hodge been rightly red carded for the no arms shoulder charge that saw Fiji's best player taken out of the game with concussion. Thought they were quite hard done by all round in that first half but when Genia came on in the second and Australia started using their brains to tighten up, the Fijians couldn't live with their better structure and fitness.

I'll never understand why a team getting bummed in the maul, still refuses to compete for the lineout. It's one thing setting yourself for a maul defence when you can do it, but when you clearly can't just get Nakawara up into the air and try to steal some ball before they can get there.
 

sglowrider

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Typical of the south islanders -- they can only play 60mins of rugby. I just knew they would run out of steam in the 2nd half.
 

unchanged_lineup

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Would have been interesting to see how things ended up had Hodge been rightly red carded for the no arms shoulder charge that saw Fiji's best player taken out of the game with concussion. Thought they were quite hard done by all round in that first half but when Genia came on in the second and Australia started using their brains to tighten up, the Fijians couldn't live with their better structure and fitness.

I'll never understand why a team getting bummed in the maul, still refuses to compete for the lineout. It's one thing setting yourself for a maul defence when you can do it, but when you clearly can't just get Nakawara up into the air and try to steal some ball before they can get there.
I'd agree with all of this. I think Australia may still have won in the end even down to 14 if they switched on their brains, as you say. Fiji's scrum and maul defence were glaring weaknesses that were waiting to be exploited.
 

T00lsh3d

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Gonna make it home in time for all blacks vs boks and I’m very excited
 

RedDevilRoshi

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France - Argentina could really go either way. Two inconsistent sides that you don’t know what to expect.
 

Rams

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France are a curious case. Their squad is loaded with World class talent, if you go through each player they’re as good as any team out there and their league is the strongest in the World. Yet they don’t seem to be able to perform on the international stage. Having said that, with them being able to properly focus & prepare for the tournament without the distraction of club rugby they might be able to shock people and even win the thing, they really have all the tools to do so.
 

RedDevilRoshi

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Have the Argentina players covered their own fingers with butter? I’ve lost count the number of handling errors they have made in the opening 25 mins.

School boy errors and deservedly so losing the game.
 

JPRouve

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Why isn’t Raka playing for France, injured???
He isn't and shouldn't be an automatic starter, he is a liability in the air and in defense.
 

T00lsh3d

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Just found out that Romain Ntamack is the son of Émile Ntamack. And now I feel old
 

JPRouve

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I’d select him, he’s absolutely terrifying in a Lomu sort of way.
He is but Argentine would just pepper him with high balls and try to make it a scrum game. They already like that strategy so they don't need a bigger incentive.
 

JPRouve

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I can't remember the last time France had two good consecutive halves.
 

T00lsh3d

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Wilkinson said at HT, be interesting to see if France come out for the second half. Sounds like he could see an Argentinian revival coming