What are your thoughts after the pre World Cup Warm Up Matches...!

We are so nearly there, it is all getting very exciting now that there are only one warm up game before the teams head to NZ.

What are your thoughts on progress or lack of it at this stage for your team?

Here are the up coming games:


Saturday, 20 August 2011

Ireland v France, 17:00

Scotland v Italy, 17:00

Wales v Argentina, 14:30

South Africa v New Zealand, 16:05

Fiji v Tonga

Ukraine v Romania

Japan v USA


Saturday, 27 August 2011

Ireland v England, 14:30

Australia v New Zealand, 11:05


International Results since the Six Nations:

Canada 26 - 12 Italy

Canada 34 - 18 Russia

USA 13 - 44 Tonga

Russia 19 - 24 Italy

Tonga 18 - 27 Italy

USA 32 - 25 Russia

Australia 23 - 32 Samoa

New Zealand 60 - 14 Fiji

Australia 39 - 20 South Africa

New Zealand 40 - 7 South Africa

England 23 - 19 Wales

Scotland 10 - 6 Ireland

New Zealand 30 - 14 Australia

France 19 - 12 Ireland

Italy 31 - 24 Japan

Wales 19 - 9 England

South Africa 9 - 14 Australia


IRB Rankings top 20:

1(1) NEW ZEALAND 93.26
2(2) AUSTRALIA 87.75
3(3) SOUTH AFRICA 84.08
4(5) FRANCE 82.69
5(4) ENGLAND 81.82
6(6) IRELAND 80.67
7(7) WALES 80.22
8(8) ARGENTINA 78.97
9(9) SCOTLAND 78.57
10(10) SAMOA 74.55
11(11) ITALY 74.14
12(14) FIJI 72.25
13(12) JAPAN 71.96
14(16) CANADA 71.56
15(13) TONGA 71.07
16(15) GEORGIA 70.30
17(18) ROMANIA 65.57
18(17) USA 65.00
19(19) RUSSIA 61.93
20(20) NAMIBIA 61.43

This weekend Wales play the Argentinians on the back of two decent performances one a home win, the other a narrow away loss. Panic and confusion by the fans surrounded the build up into the warm up matches, but in hindsight that seems to have been premature pessimism.

Everything, bar injuries doesn't look that bad, the squad looks strong and capable. The coaching seems confident and capable, it will be interesting to see who they pick as the starting fifteen come the first game with SA.

Im happy with Wales. A good attacking display in the first game and an excellent defence in the second.

However, all the injuries are definatly a concern :/

The players that have been brought in have really impressed me, some are very young guys and they have adapted to the level needed very quickly.

The starting fifteen could have a few surprises come Sunday September the 11th.

I think they are all a waste of time except the one the home leg of Englands double header against Wales which is the only one that counted.

The next game is huge for England. Questions like Flood vs Wilkinson could be answered, and Johsnon will have to decide if he needs to rip his entire centers plan up and start again or if the dross served up last weekend can be improved on.

These games should be about performance and specifics first, results second. But England were poor on both last weekend.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:I think they are all a waste of time except the one the home leg of Englands double header against Wales which is the only one that counted.

why? surely the one you lost will tell you more than the one you won easily.

Englands backrow seems to be as big a problem for Johnson as the Centers. I cant see Easter making the first fifteen on last weeks performance, he walked around the park looking over weight and unfit, Fourie and Wood were absent all match. Though I thought Haskel played well the week before and Moody looked good pre injury.

Well Fourie and Wood werent first choices anyway, taht would be Moody and Croft with Haskell on the nbench.

Its more the style of play, poor handling , and the packs inability to stop Wales dragging them into a Holly Wilaboobie for tat penalty battle at the breakdown he needs to worry about than the form of his reserve flankers.


Turkster, it was a joke. Only the games we beat Wales in should be capped internationals and recorded.

If feels like Ireland have been focusing so far on narrowing down the squad rather than focusing in on the starting XV.

That shift in focus will happen in the next two games.

yeah, I'd recognised it as such, just wanted to get you to expand on your reasons.........it's a quiet day and I was bored, so why not?

thebandwagonsociety wrote:If feels like Ireland have been focusing so far on narrowing down the squad rather than focusing in on the starting XV.

That shift in focus will happen in the next two games.

I think that is similar for everyone, what did you think of the French ?

I agree with Peterseabiscuit wheeler. England have learnt very little. The backrow and centre problems still remain and have been brutally exposed yet again. Yet again Martin Johnson has not found a solution to these problems.

The positives are that Stevens,Shaw and Armitage performed well in their returns to international rugby. Stevens in particular is revitalised. Manu Tuilagi had a solid if unspectacular debut. Front five looks in good nick, just the rest don't....

So many negatives where do we start?

beshocked wrote:I agree with Peterseabiscuit wheeler. England have learnt very little. The backrow and centre problems still remain and have been brutally exposed yet again. Yet again Martin Johnson has not found a solution to these problems.

The positives are that Stevens,Shaw and Armitage performed well in their returns to international rugby. Stevens in particular is revitalised. Manu Tuilagi had a solid if unspectacular debut. Front five looks in good nick, just the rest don't....

So many negatives where do we start?

Unfortunately not a good place to start, luckily there are a few weeks and one more good test to try and put things right before the tournament.

I am sure it will be interesting for England fans to see how Scotland and Argentina go in their games this weekend.

Given that Robbo has given nearly all 38 players in the provisional training squad game time across the two warm-up matches, I think that Scotland are probably one game short - it would be good to see the starting XXII get a run-out against perhaps a combined pro-district team prior to heading off to the land of the long white cloud

maestegmafia wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:If feels like Ireland have been focusing so far on narrowing down the squad rather than focusing in on the starting XV.

That shift in focus will happen in the next two games.

I think that is similar for everyone, what did you think of the French ?

Thing is up till last weekend most peopel felt confident about teh vast majority of Johnsons England 15 even if it didnt match theirs. Now the gates really have ben thrown open.
I cant see him shifting his thinking radically but its going to be very importnat for some players to perferom and the team as a whole t show the approach can work again. If it doenst it leaves him having to consider an emergency plan B going into the world cup ... maybe time for anotehr honest nmeeting with the players.
Last weekend looked a lot more like England early 2010 up to the second Aus test

England were suppossed to be the side that knew where it was going. If the bus stil cant get up the hill this sweekend they may have to look at a left turn to drive around it.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Given that Robbo has given nearly all 38 players in the provisional training squad game time across the two warm-up matches, I think that Scotland are probably one game short - it would be good to see the starting XXII get a run-out against perhaps a combined pro-district team prior to heading off to the land of the long white cloud

Scotland are throwing a decent team together for Saturday evenings game with Italy. The team that played against Ireland two weeks ago can't have been too far from a choice fifteen.

Scotland: R Lamont (Toulon), M Evans (Castres), N De Luca (Edinburgh), G Morrison (Glasgow Warriors), S Danielli (Ulster), D Parks (Cardiff Blues), M Blair (Edinburgh), A Dickinson (Sale Sharks), S Lawson (Gloucester), M Low (Glasgow Warriors), N Hines (Clermont Ferrand), A Kellock (Glasgow Warriors), K Brown (Saracens), R Vernon (Sale Sharks), J Barclay (Glasgow Warriors)

Replacements: D Hall (Glasgow Warriors), E Murray (Newcastle Falcons), R Gray (Glasgow Warriors), R Rennie (Edinburgh), C Cusiter (Glasgow Warriors), R Jackson (Glasgow Warriors), N Walker (Ospreys)

Italy: Andrea Masi (Aironi); Tommaso Benvenuti (Treviso), Gonzalo Canale (Clermont-Auvergne), Gonzalo Garcia (Treviso), Mirco Bergamasco (Racing-Metro Paris); Luciano Orquera (Aironi), Fabio Semenzato (Treviso); Sergio Parisse (Stade Francais) - capt, Robert Barbieri (Treviso), Paul Derbyshire (Treviso); Cornelius Van Zyl (Treviso), Carlo Antonio Del Fava (Aironi); Martin Castrogiovanni (Leicester Tigers), Leonardo Ghiraldini (Treviso), Andrea Lo Cicero (Racing-Metro Paris)

Replacements: Tommaso D'Apice (Aironi), Lorenzo Cittadini (Treviso), Marco Bortolami (Aironi), Alessandro Zanni (Treviso), Pablo Canavosio (Calvisano), Riccardo Bocchino (Cavalieri Prato), Matteo Pratichetti (Aironi)

Tommaso Benvenuti will be one to watch, a very talented young player, should cause Danielli a few problems on the wing.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:If feels like Ireland have been focusing so far on narrowing down the squad rather than focusing in on the starting XV.

That shift in focus will happen in the next two games.

I think that is similar for everyone, what did you think of the French ?

Thing is up till last weekend most peopel felt confident about teh vast majority of Johnsons England 15 even if it didnt match theirs. Now the gates really have ben thrown open.
I cant see him shifting his thinking radically but its going to be very importnat for some players to perferom and the team as a whole t show the approach can work again. If it doenst it leaves him having to consider an emergency plan B going into the world cup ... maybe time for anotehr honest nmeeting with the players.
Last weekend looked a lot more like England early 2010 up to the second Aus test

England were suppossed to be the side that knew where it was going. If the bus stil cant get up the hill this sweekend they may have to look at a left turn to drive around it.

I agree with you that "last weekend looked a lot more like England early 2010 up to the second Aus test." They had a tremendous amount of possession but were constantly reorganising in attack very slowly instead of attacking with quick ball. It made the Welsh defensive job a lot easier. Even when the scrumhalves were changed this didn't alter.

maestegmafia wrote:Scotland are throwing a decent team together for Saturday evenings game with Italy. The team that played against Ireland two weeks ago can't have been too far from a choice fifteen.

I'd reckon roughly 8 starters from the team that played against Ireland/7 from this group give or take

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Scotland are throwing a decent team together for Saturday evenings game with Italy. The team that played against Ireland two weeks ago can't have been too far from a choice fifteen.

I'd reckon roughly 8 starters from the team that played against Ireland/7 from this group give or take

I thought the Scots looked strong against Ireland, there is definitely a deep vein of strength in the squad than we have seen for a while.

I still do not rate Parks as a ten, I would have hoped Jackson would have been given another run out, time in the position will see him more good than giving the tried tested and found out another run...

Mind you we have Andy Powell at eight, and I cant for the life of me think why. Surely Delve was deserved of a run out.

Ireland have given me more questions than answers. I worry that we don't know our best 15. It genuinely wouldn't surprise me to see either of these teams play Australia.

Healy, Best, Ross
O'Callaghan, O'Connell
Ferris, Heaslip, Wallace
O'Leary, Sexton
Darcy, O'Driscoll
Fitzgerald, Kearney, Bowe

OR

Healy, Flannery, Ross
O'Callaghan, O'Connell
Ferris, Heaslip, O'Brien
Reddan, Sexton
Wallace, O'Driscoll
Earls, Jones, Trimble

Also its looking like a few unlikely faces - Murray, Jones, McCarthy could actually make the squad.

Peter Seabiscuit Wheeler wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

thebandwagonsociety wrote:If feels like Ireland have been focusing so far on narrowing down the squad rather than focusing in on the starting XV.

That shift in focus will happen in the next two games.

I think that is similar for everyone, what did you think of the French ?

Thing is up till last weekend most peopel felt confident about teh vast majority of Johnsons England 15 even if it didnt match theirs. Now the gates really have ben thrown open.
I cant see him shifting his thinking radically but its going to be very importnat for some players to perferom and the team as a whole t show the approach can work again. If it doenst it leaves him having to consider an emergency plan B going into the world cup ... maybe time for anotehr honest nmeeting with the players.
Last weekend looked a lot more like England early 2010 up to the second Aus test

England were suppossed to be the side that knew where it was going. If the bus stil cant get up the hill this sweekend they may have to look at a left turn to drive around it.

I have never been that confident about the England XV. Just thought that the England XV would be good enough to beat Wales away as Wales are an average team.

Every side in the NH is mediocre compared the SH sides.

Not being able to beat Wales away shows that England are a poor team that has not made progress.

Losing to Ireland yet again would send confidence to an all time low.

Our backrow and centre problems are gaping holes.

I feel a bit agitated by the whole thing to be honest. I'm watching us try new pairings, not do too well out of it, then I look at the All Blacks and ask myself if they would ever accept going two whole matches without a try, regardless of the reasons. They wouldn't use the word reason, they'd say it's an excuse.

Of course, the level of expectation, as well as the sporting mindset, are completely different. But that's why we have never been past the quarter final stage.

Our 12's aren't doing well, we'll still take them. Matt Giteau isn't doing well, Oz left him out because they can afford to. If Giteau was Irish he'd be in the world cup because we just don't have that luxury. When Irish fans say we can beat Oz, I look at their squad and (while hoping we do) all I can ask is "how?"

maestegmafia wrote:...Mind you we have Andy Powell at eight, and I cant for the life of me think why. Surely Delve was deserved of a run out.

Delve was released back to the Rebels, and I dont think he has been named for their next squad so I can only assume he is carrying a knock and /or hasnt been able to get fit.

ML wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:...Mind you we have Andy Powell at eight, and I cant for the life of me think why. Surely Delve was deserved of a run out.

Delve was released back to the Rebels, and I dont think he has been named for their next squad so I can only assume he is carrying a knock and /or hasnt been able to get fit.

I heard that, such a shame. He looked good for the Rebels in the Super 15. It would be nice to have more options at eight. Though I am pleased with the way Faletau has played so far.

Ireland's poor lineout is a big concern for me. With regards to selection, I hope Deccie see's Reddan as his number one scrum half, not O'Leary. But he's playing O'Leary with Sexton again tomorrow. They just don't combine well together. I also hope Flannery is seen as our number one hooker ahead of Best, but again I'm not sure Deccie see's it that way.

maestegmafia wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Scotland are throwing a decent team together for Saturday evenings game with Italy. The team that played against Ireland two weeks ago can't have been too far from a choice fifteen.

I'd reckon roughly 8 starters from the team that played against Ireland/7 from this group give or take

I thought the Scots looked strong against Ireland, there is definitely a deep vein of strength in the squad than we have seen for a while.

I still do not rate Parks as a ten, I would have hoped Jackson would have been given another run out, time in the position will see him more good than giving the tried tested and found out another run...

Mind you we have Andy Powell at eight, and I cant for the life of me think why. Surely Delve was deserved of a run out.

+1

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:

maestegmafia wrote:Scotland are throwing a decent team together for Saturday evenings game with Italy. The team that played against Ireland two weeks ago can't have been too far from a choice fifteen.

I'd reckon roughly 8 starters from the team that played against Ireland/7 from this group give or take

I thought the Scots looked strong against Ireland, there is definitely a deep vein of strength in the squad than we have seen for a while.

I still do not rate Parks as a ten, I would have hoped Jackson would have been given another run out, time in the position will see him more good than giving the tried tested and found out another run...

Mind you we have Andy Powell at eight, and I cant for the life of me think why. Surely Delve was deserved of a run out.

+1

I would love to see a strong Scottish performance this RWC, I really think that the Nation needs it, to encourage a lost love of the game.

AsLongAsBut100ofUs wrote:Given that Robbo has given nearly all 38 players in the provisional training squad game time across the two warm-up matches, I think that Scotland are probably one game short - it would be good to see the starting XXII get a run-out against perhaps a combined pro-district team prior to heading off to the land of the long white cloud

Yup if you can beat Italy, andthen Romania and Georgia, you'll be on a 4 game winning run for the Argentina match, win that and it's 5-0 for England. when was the last time Scotland managed any kind of a run like that?

Happy with the way things have gone so far and if we win tomorrow then as I predicted two out three wins I will be happier.

It was a better performance in efat than it was in victory but we needed that win.

I am more concerned with the mixed messages coming out my the management with regards to injuries and also the limited time (if any) some players have been given.

Its been good for Wales with the following players showing up well

Warburton
Lydiate
Bennett (sorry but he has and we're short at hooker)
Toby has done well and will get better
Phillips finding form
Hook
Roberts getting back to his destructive best
Scott Williams - looks the part IMO
Priestland - Can more than play at this level
North - The guy is a beast

The overall confidence has doubled and welsh fans are starting to look forward to games - Its been good although we need to keep it going tomorrow.

We are where I thought we were.Bit wobbly without our full selection but willing and reasonably able.If the reffing is fine we should reach the quarters.Bit of a lottery.At full strength who will ever know?C'est la vie.Same for all sides.
Does it really matter?Cor,there's a question.Are the players fussed?>Are the fans fussed?

you know I think for the first time wales have a bit of strength in depth, were looking like having 2 or 3 players in each position except 2nd row. A good win tomorrow and I will be looking forward to the Boks game.

TycroesOsprey wrote:you know I think for the first time wales have a bit of strength in depth, were looking like having 2 or 3 players in each position except 2nd row. A good win tomorrow and I will be looking forward to the Boks game.

Gatland said in a recent interview that building depth in the squad has been the main priority for the last two years. Who knows - maybe he does have a plan!

Apart from the catastrophy that was called `kamp staaldraad` by Streauli in. 2003 this is by far the worst warm up we have had leading to a world cup.

In my opinion PDV has not had a plan. He has already decided his squad long before the time and has therefor not used the warm ups usefully.

He sent a very green team to Australasia having to play against the best two attacking teams in world rugby, surely he didn't expect they would have the experience and cohesive organised defence to stop them. Effectively breaking the spirit of young hopefulls.

That left him two matches at home, creating undue pressure on a group that have not played rugby for almost two months, then to make matters worse, his continious use of John Smit on tighthead turned a game they should have won.

Now all that is left is a team that will go out desperate to salvage some pride out of it all.

The man has brought very little to the table, except for perhaps his dogged determination that if he doesn't change anything people won't realise his lack of coaching ability

In essence Bilton; PDV is doing what most expected from him. He inherited a great team and has gradually eroded it and failed to bring on others. You will however be dangerous next month but something is lacking and it is rare to see a SA rugby team lacking confidence; just look at the rabble you sent over here that demolished Ireland, Wales and England with relative ease recently.