2019 Rugby World Cup Discussion - Or: The Continued Failure of New Zealand

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

The Rugby World Cup, taking place in Japan, takes place this year.

I personally will be dedicating most of my focus to the whole event so I figured I'd make this thread as containment should any other users be doing much the same.

If you're new to rugby, or just a casual viewer and want to know how you can watch the event you can find the broadcaster here: https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/broadcasters?lang=en

Nations competing are: Argentina, Australia, Canada, England, Fiji, France, Georgia, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Namibia, New Zealand, Russia, Samoa, Scotland, South Africa, Tonga, Uruguay, USA, Wales.

I personally have a close relationship with the game, so if you are new to the game and wish to learn through this tournament I will make my best effort to be helpful to any questions you may have - and I am fairly confident others in the thread will be too.

If your nation is one competing, I'll announce my alignment here: Welsh, so if we play let's try and be civil (we aren't football/soccer hooligans) - but I will absolutely call you a cunt and say I'm better than you.

MATCHES (Link to RWC site for times, converted local to you):

Spoiler: KNOCKOUT STAGE GAMES

Saturday 19 October	ENGLAND / AUSTRALIA - FT 40 / 16 - Match Report, from The Guardian NEW ZEALAND / IRELAND - FT 46 / 14 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Sunday 20 October	WALES / FRANCE - FT 20 / 19 - Match Report, from the BBC JAPAN / SOUTH AFRICA - FT 3 / 26 - Match Report, from Sky Sports
Saturday 26 October	ENGLAND / NEW ZEALAND [Semi-Final 1]
Sunday 27 October	WALES / SOUTH AFRICA [Semi-Final 2]
Friday 1 November	Loser SF1 / Loser SF2 [Bronze Final]
Saturday 2 November	Winner SF1 / Winner SF2 [Final]

Spoiler: THE POOL STAGE RESULTS

Spoiler: GAME RESULTS

Friday 20 September	Japan / Russia - FT 30 / 10 - Match Report, from Sky Sports
Saturday 21 September	Australia / Fiji - FT 39 / 21 - Match Report, from Sky Sports France / Argentina - FT 23 / 21 - Match Report, from Sky Sports New Zealand / South Africa - FT 23 / 13 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Sunday 22 September	Italy / Namibia - FT 47 / 22 - Match Report, from Sky Sports Ireland / Scotland - FT 27 / 3 - Match Report, from Sporting Life England / Tonga - FT 35 / 3 - Match Report, from Sky Sports
Monday 23 September	Wales / Georgia - FT 43 / 14 - Match Report, from Sporting Life
Tuesday 24 September	Russia / Samoa - FT 9 / 34 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Wednesday 25 September	Fiji / Uruguay - FT 27 / 30 - Match Report, from The Guardian (I'll editorialise here, Uruguay shouldn't have won, what the fuck have I watched that was massive.)
Thursday 26 September	Italy / Canada - FT 48 / 7 - Match Report, from Sky Sports England / USA - FT 45 / 7 - Match Report, from Sporting Life
Saturday 28 September	Argentina / Tonga - FT 28 / 12 - Match Report, from The Guardian Japan / Ireland - FT 19 / 12 - Match Report, from the BBC South Africa / Namibia - FT 57 / 3 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Sunday 29 September	Georgia / Uruguay - FT 33 / 7 - Match Report, from Rugby World Australia / Wales - FT 25 / 29 - Match Report, from Sky Sports
Monday 30 September	Scotland / Samoa - FT 30 / 0 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Wednesday 2 October	France / USA - FT 33 / 9 - Match Report, from The Guardian New Zealand / Canada - FT 63 / 0 - Match Report, from the BBC
Thursday 3 October	Georgia / Fiji - FT 10 / 45 - Match Report, from Sky Sports Ireland / Russia - FT 35 / 0 - Match Report, from The Telegraph
Friday 4 October	South Africa / Italy - 49 / 3 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Saturday 5 October	Australia / Uruguay - 45 / 10 - Match Report, from Sky Sports England / Argentina - 39 / 10 - Match Report, from the Evening Standard Japan / Samoa - 38 / 19 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Sunday 6 October	New Zealand / Namibia - 71 / 9 - Match Report, from the Independent France / Tonga - 23 / 21 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Tuesday 8 October	South Africa / Canada - 66 / 7 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Wednesdy 9 October	Argentina / USA - 47 / 17 - Match Report, from The Guardian Scotland / Russia - 61 / 0 - Match Report, from the BBC Wales / Fiji - 29 / 17 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Friday 11 October	Australia / Georgia - 27 / 8 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Saturday 12 October	New Zealand / Italy - 0 / 0 - GAME CANCELLED DUE TO TYPHOON HAGIBIS England / France - 0 / 0 - GAME CANCELLED DUE TO TYPHOON HAGIBIS Ireland / Samoa - 47 / 5 - Match Report, from The Guardian
Sunday 13 October	Namibia / Canada - 0 / 0 - GAME CANCELLED DUE TO TYPHOON HAGIBIS USA / Tonga - FT 19 / 31 - Match Report, from The Guardian Wales / Uruguay - FT 35 / 13 - Match Report, from Sky Sports Japan / Scotland - FT 28 / 21 -Match Report Pending

Spoiler: Pool A Table

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAW	LOST	TRIES	+/-	BONUS POINTS	POINTS
Japan	4	4	0	0	13	+53	3	19
Ireland	4	3	0	1	18	+94	4	16
Scotland	4	2	0	2	16	+64	3	11
Samoa	4	1	0	3	8	-70	1	5
Russia	4	0	0	4	1	-141	0	0

Spoiler: Pool B Table

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAW	LOST	TRIES	+/-	BONUS POINTS	POINTS
New Zealand	4	3	1	0	22	+135	2	16
South Africa	4	3	0	1	27	+149	3	15
Italy	4	2	1	1	14	+20	2	12
Namibia	4	0	1	3	3	-141	0	2
Canada	4	0	1	3	2	-169	0	2

Spoiler: Pool C Table

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAW	LOST	TRIES	+/-	BONUS POINTS	POINTS
England	4	3	1	0	17	+99	3	17
France	4	3	1	0	9	+28	1	15
Argentina	4	2	0	2	14	+15	3	11
Tonga	4	1	0	3	9	-38	2	6
USA	4	0	0	4	7	-92	0	0

Spoiler: Pool D Table

TEAM	PLAYED	WON	DRAW	LOST	TRIES	+/-	BONUS POINTS	POINTS
Wales	4	4	0	0	17	+67	3	19
Australia	4	3	0	1	20	+68	4	16
Fiji	4	1	0	3	17	+2	3	7
Georgia	4	1	0	3	9	-57	1	5
Uruguay	4	1	0	3	6	-80	0	4

It appears I've somehow convinced myself to maintain this OP with information regarding the tournament such as post-match reports, I'll try not to go too far but suggestions for good little additions are welcome

 

[Franjevina]

Just the fact that you used word " soccer " shows how much of a faggot you are

 

[Rancid Flid]

I'll be supporting England & Wales, both of who have a chance of being in the final. As do S.Africa, Australia & maybe France & Ireland. Scotland played quite well in a few matches in the winter, so if I were to have a bet, I might go with the Jocks as the odds should be fairly good on them. The Haka bois will win though.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Just the fact that you used word " soccer " shows how much of a faggot you are

I only put it there for the American audience, I did use the correct word for it - even if it is the lowest form of football.

I'll be supporting England & Wales, both of who have a chance of being in the final. As do S.Africa, Australia & maybe France & Ireland. Scotland played quite well in a few matches in the winter, so if I were to have a bet, I might go with the Jocks as the odds should be fairly good on them. The Haka bois will win though.

I agree the All Blacks will win, hence the subtitle to the thread. Since about February during the six nations I have been calling it the contest to play NZ in the finals.

 

[Rancid Flid]

I only put it there for the American audience, I did use the correct word for it - even if it is the lowest form of football.


I agree the All Blacks will win, hence the subtitle to the thread. Since about February during the six nations I have been calling it the contest to play NZ in the finals.

I'll have some lulz if the Japs &/or Italy beat the Yanks. They're not used to contact sports without wearing a suit of armour. I'm English with a bit of Welsh in me, so on the off-chance they're both the finalists, I'll be torn as to who to support. I hope Italy win at least a couple of games, it'll improve their confidence.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

I'll have some lulz if the Japs &/or Italy beat the Yanks. They're not used to contact sports without wearing a suit of armour. I'm English with a bit of Welsh in me, so on the off-chance they're both the finalists, I'll be torn as to who to support. I hope Italy win at least a couple of games, it'll improve their confidence.

I'm Welsh through and through, I live in England though, so English local club. If that's the final, I'll be very out of place.

 

[Furina]

Congratulations to the Japanese for their good start. Wishing them the best.

I will be putting my support behind Australia, with South Africa second. I would also like to see Namibia and Japan get as far as possible. Japan because I'd like to see the hosts do well and Namibia because they're the real underdogs here. Fuck the All-Blacks.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Congratulations to the Japanese for their good start. Wishing them the best.

That game was really quite good, the scoreline doesn't quite do it justice. The Japanese clearly had something bothering them, presumably home crowd pressure, by the fact they had so many handling errors in the first half. However they made very good use of the outright authority on being a nimble, athletic side, against the wall of meat the Russians put up. It was a nice contrast between two clearly very different approaches to the game on a team level.

 

[Furina]

That game was really quite good, the scoreline doesn't quite do it justice. The Japanese clearly had something bothering them, presumably home crowd pressure, by the fact they had so many handling errors in the first half. However they made very good use of the outright authority on being a nimble, athletic side, against the wall of meat the Russians put up. It was a nice contrast between two clearly very different approaches to the game on a team level.

I don't watch a ton of rugby (my dad was watching it when I came over so I sat down with him for a while) but I think the Russians actually performed quite poorly. They looked like they were trying very hard, but just couldn't play very well. Still, looking forward to things.

 

[Draza]

I guess i'll throw my weight behind the All Backs again.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

I don't watch a ton of rugby (my dad was watching it when I came over so I sat down with him for a while) but I think the Russians actually performed quite poorly. They looked like they were trying very hard, but just couldn't play very well. Still, looking forward to things.

The Russians play a very hard game, they're all built to fuck and will hit harder than your biggest guy - so as soon as you get through three or so phases of play they're all fatigued (of course, I'm speaking relatively to the level you expect of a world cup squad). On the contrast the Japanese can hit pretty hard but probably every other team's middle weight guy hits harder than Japans hardest, and as such they have fantastic athleticism - if they get the ball and see an opening, they will score a try almost every time simply because they are impossible to grab ahold of or keep up with, however if they get pressed in their 22 against the try line all you have to do is just push hard rucks at them to walk it over.

I guess i'll throw my weight behind the All Backs again.

Lmao picking obvious favourite to win

All games today were good, which surprised me since I didn't have brilliant hopes for FRA/ARG since both teams are prone to be somewhat mediocre despite having very good players. The AUS/FIJ game for me personally was actually the worst, simply because the Fijian side just couldn't keep up the pace in the last quarter. The highlight though, of course, was the NZL/RSA game, it was always going to be a good one but it really was a very good game with comparable sides going against one another - unfortunately though the South Africans kept making rather amateurish errors which lost them the game, I can distinctly remember two tries they really should have gotten but instead got turned over.

 

[Woke Blue Muttlema]

Wish fucking Scotland make shit man. Not feel like bandwagoning yet.

 

[DSPGouting]

Cymru Am Bath

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Russia - Samoa game, the two high tackles resulting in yellow cards. First one I think is a yellow (marginally) but the second a hard red with the player off regardless due to HIA after knocking himself out. Samoa play a hard game, they play the old game - which I personally love - but they tackle too dangerously for current rules.

 

[User name: Required]

I’am a dumb burger. how is rugby played?

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

I’am a dumb burger. how is rugby played?

To specify, this is Rugby Union rules I am explaining, there is also Rugby League - but that's shit, American Football is a more dangerous game than League.
Rugby consists of teams of 15, with 5 substitutes available. The ball used is, for all intents and purposes, the same as an American football. Unlike American football, however play continues between phases with more flow (See Video 1 linked below). It is a game of two halves, each being 40 minutes.
Scoring is if you touchdown the ball (Properly, you must be in control of the ball as it comes into contact with the ground) over the try line - for this you recieve 5 points - and after scoring a try your team can then convert the try, earning another 2 points.
Passing must always be backwards unless the ball is kicked - even if the ball is passed essentially horizontally, it must not go forwards.
There are rules surrounding tackles in the aim of safety, the primary one being "High-Tackles" which essentially labels head and neck collisions absolute no-go's, which even as a burger I'm sure you can appreciate why through even your armour. (See Video 2 below for the framework on a high-tackle).
There is no permitted armour in the game, with a few exceptions, the main one being a scrum cap - which is a small foam thing designed to stop your scalp getting removed. Otherwise you get electrical tape and a few bandages to hold your ears and fingers on.

The key thing about rugby which puts off you burger folk, I find, is the scrummage. A scrum is a pure show of strength. With the average pack weight this world cup being about 950kg (2095lbs) spread between the 8 man unit, where they form up 8 on each side, crouch down, bind, and then slam into the other team and try to push for control over the ball being put in by one of the teams - generally now a scrum is not lost, it's more formality now because of the quality of the game and also the safety surrounding it.

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

I think this is everything in a very basic capacity, if another user in the thread cares to add or correct me they're welcome to.
I will leave you with this, Japanese TV is trying to take advantage of the RWC being in Japan so is trying to help the new audience learn, so to demonstrate the characteristics of each position they made this:

 

[User name: Required]

To specify, this is Rugby Union rules I am explaining, there is also Rugby League - but that's shit, American Football is a more dangerous game than League.
Rugby consists of teams of 15, with 5 substitutes available. The ball used is, for all intents and purposes, the same as an American football. Unlike American football, however play continues between phases with more flow (See Video 1 linked below). It is a game of two halves, each being 40 minutes.
Scoring is if you touchdown the ball (Properly, you must be in control of the ball as it comes into contact with the ground) over the try line - for this you recieve 5 points - and after scoring a try your team can then convert the try, earning another 2 points.
Passing must always be backwards unless the ball is kicked - even if the ball is passed essentially horizontally, it must not go forwards.
There are rules surrounding tackles in the aim of safety, the primary one being "High-Tackles" which essentially labels head and neck collisions absolute no-go's, which even as a burger I'm sure you can appreciate why through even your armour. (See Video 2 below for the framework on a high-tackle).
There is no permitted armour in the game, with a few exceptions, the main one being a scrum cap - which is a small foam thing designed to stop your scalp getting removed. Otherwise you get electrical tape and a few bandages to hold your ears and fingers on.
View attachment 947355
The key thing about rugby which puts off you burger folk, I find, is the scrummage. A scrum is a pure show of strength. With the average pack weight this world cup being about 950kg (2095lbs) spread between the 8 man unit, where they form up 8 on each side, crouch down, bind, and then slam into the other team and try to push for control over the ball being put in by one of the teams - generally now a scrum is not lost, it's more formality now because of the quality of the game and also the safety surrounding it.

VIDEO 1

VIDEO 2

I think this is everything in a very basic capacity, if another user in the thread cares to add or correct me they're welcome to.
I will leave you with this, Japanese TV is trying to take advantage of the RWC being in Japan so is trying to help the new audience learn, so to demonstrate the characteristics of each position they made this:
View attachment 947416

Cool, thanks.

I’ve always been interested in understanding rugby but never got to it because it never ends up on US TV.

I watched a bit of Australia vs Fiji from the current cup and holy shit some of those Fiji players are fucking huge.

Also when you wrote all blacks it hough that meant all the players were black at first

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

Cool, thanks.

I’ve always been interested in understanding rugby but never got to it because it never ends up on US TV.

I watched a bit of Australia vs Fiji from the current cup and holy shit some of those Fiji players are fucking huge.

Also when you wrote all blacks it hough that meant all the players were black at first

Thursay 26th you have England versus USA which may be of interest to you.
To watch rugby you can buy a subscription to RugbyPass whilst is genuinely brilliant for how much it covers, essentially with coverage for everything international and often top end domestic.
For Major League Rugby look to ESPN and CBS, as they have the current partnership with MLR - of course, I say this if you don't already get that as part of RugbyPass, which I can't emphasise enough is worth every penny.

 

[User name: Required]

Thursay 26th you have England versus USA which may be of interest to you.
To watch rugby you can buy a subscription to RugbyPass whilst is genuinely brilliant for how much it covers, essentially with coverage for everything international and often top end domestic.
For Major League Rugby look to ESPN and CBS, as they have the current partnership with MLR - of course, I say this if you don't already get that as part of RugbyPass, which I can't emphasise enough is worth every penny.

I’m currently in college right now with no job, so I I don’t have the money right now. I will check the highlights though.

USA is in a tough group from what I’ve looked at, only argentina and Tonga seem winnable, plus none of the players have World Cup experience it seems. Will be a tough watch.

 

[WhiskeyZuluLima]

I’m currently in college right now with no job, so I I don’t have the money right now. I will check the highlights though.

USA is in a tough group from what I’ve looked at, only argentina and Tonga seem winnable, plus none of the players have World Cup experience it seems. Will be a tough watch.

I am definitely not suggesting piracy
If you get a VPN into the UK, and make an account for ITV (https://www.itv.com/) you can watch all of the games in full, even after the fact. When it asks for a postcode during account creation drop a pin on a map somewhere in England (Not Scotland, not sure about Wales or Northern Ireland) and use the postcode it shows there - it will follow a format of AA1A 1AA. ITV is free to watch, as they are funded by advertising.