RWC 2011 - HOT PICKS FOR WEEK THREE

Looking at Week Threes fixtures which matches will be Classics?

The first week saw a blinding clash between SA and Wales, this week saw a valiant and measured Ireland beat Tri-Nations Champions Australia. There was also a great match between the two Giants of World politics former cold war adversaries the Russians and the USA.

This weeks games are below, which matches are your HOT PICKS FOR WEEK THREE..!

Tuesday , September 20
Italy vs Russia 08:30

Wednesday, September 21
Tonga vs Japan 08:30

Thursday , September 22
South Africa vs Namibia 09:00

Friday , September 23
Australia vs USA 09:30

Saturday , September 24
England vs Romania 07:00
New Zealand vs France 09:30

Sunday , September 25
Fiji vs Samoa 03:30
Ireland vs Russia 06:00
Argentina vs Scotland 08:30

where are the games below mm

bedfordwelsh wrote:where are the games below mm

Rectified now mate...!

Wednesday's Japan vs Tonga match could be a good grudge match after Japans 28 - 27 win in the PI Nations Cup.

NZ vs France on Saturday should be a cracker, it generally is.

Fiji vs Samoa and Argentina vs Scotland on Sunday too

There are a fair few dead rubber games already. Most of the rest are potentially one-sided affairs.

NZ will destroy France, maybe by 40-odd points.

Argentina v Scotland will be a drab affair with Argentina winning by a score.

NZ v France and Argentina v Scotland could be two of the games of the tournament so far.

NZ and France are two of the best attacking sides (and best sides full stop) in the tournament and the history between the two sides suggests this could be a cracker! An upset here could turn the tournament back on its head and stick the AB's in with the NH teams.

Scotland and Argentina may not be the most exciting sides to watch for attacking perspective but this is really a must win game for two proud rugby nations who expect to make the KO stages. This will be a real war and not for the faint hearted.

New Zealand France will obviously be the big one but I am looking forward to the Samoa Fiji game just to see them knock hell out of each other.

This game won't be for the faint hearted.

According to Sun Tzu, using your weakness as your strength is an essential strategy in achieving victory.

Undeniably an inability to polish off the frogs has been a glaring weakness for NZ.

It'd be kind of cute if we lost, flipped the draw and then waded through the NH sides that haven't achieved a win over NZ since, respectively 8 years, 50 years and ever; whilst France, SA and Australia bashed each other to a pulp on the other side of the draw and arrived in the final well tenderised.

I enjoy a tenderized piece of meat as much as an underdone piece of meat, ghost.

biltongbek wrote:I enjoy a tenderized piece of meat as much as an underdone piece of meat, ghost.

I'm a vegetarian .......

TheGreyGhost wrote:According to Sun Tzu, using your weakness as your strength is an essential strategy in achieving victory.

Undeniably an inability to polish off the frogs has been a glaring weakness for NZ.

It'd be kind of cute if we lost, flipped the draw and then waded through the NH sides that haven't achieved a win over NZ since, respectively 8 years, 50 years and ever; whilst France, SA and Australia bashed each other to a pulp on the other side of the draw and arrived in the final well tenderised.

Dont be starting any of those capers, beat them and leave our half alone, thankyou very much.

I cant imagine either side fielding a weakened team.

Though even fielding a weakened team can often prove to accomplish more. Remember Wales' second string vs the ABs in 2003... Hell of a game to watch, almost looked like Wales were going to win in the third quarter when they pulled back to lead 37-33.

Could be a real cracker of a match whether its a first or second team out there...

Bookies are offering 7-1 against France for next weekend match v NZ. After relieving Paddy Power of cash thanks to our boys in green doing the biz over the the now-whinging Ozzies, that might be worth a modest punt. That said, my rugby head tells me we don't want NZ on our side of the draw.

SA and the Aussies both beat the ABs, considering Ireland just beat the Aussies, I am surprised you are overly concerned with the prospect.

I would say for relevance the following games are going to be the ones to set your alarm for

Saturday , September 24
England vs Romania 07:00 - Just waiting for the upset PLEASEEEEEEEEEEE
New Zealand vs France 09:30 - So much history and just because it could be nuclear

Sunday , September 25
Fiji vs Samoa 03:30 - for Welsh interest, and because the big hits will be felt in as far away as Scotland. Get the cocoa and aspirin ready

Argentina vs Scotland 08:30....... THE WINNER TAKES IT ALL!!!

COME ON SCOTLAND!!

Argentina vs Scotland and New Zealand vs France are the biggest games this weekend, the biggest and most important out of the two has to be
Argentina vs Scotland

While New Zealand vs France could both win the wrold cup the loser will still get to the knock out stages,

in the Argentina vs Scotland it's effictivly a knock out game as the loser will prop not make it out of the group, so it has to be the biggest.

I do wonder will New Zealand or France really want to win this game as it looks like little like the winner could be the one to get the tougher draw?

As a bonus question, no using google maps, can anyone tell me where Zealand (old Zealand if you will) is (kiwi's can't play as they should already know)?

After Ireland's win against Australia I can't see the French being all that bothered with even trying to beat New Zealand.

If they go toe to toe with the All Blacks they risk injuries and a potential semi against Australia / South Africa if they win.

If they lose they have a potential 1/4 against England and semi against Wales / Ireland.

Isn't Zealand in Denmark or somewhere like that?

a region of netherlands is called zeeland I think

Its part of Holland, New Zealand was dutch in the mid 1600s the europeans first discovered by a dutch explorer called Tasman, hense the Tasman sea and Tasmania all referencing his name. Obviously the Polynesians had been there for a long time before...

Maestegmafia and Who cares are wrong, Munstermac you win. Zealand is an island of Demark.

I looked it up years ago wondering about New Zealand, no one really think much now about New York being named after York either, though prevously it was New Amsterdam.

France and NZ definitely the game of the week but keen interest for Scotland and Argentina and high hopes for some Pacific eruptions with Fiji and Samoa.

I hear Donald has been called up for this game and Slade is out. SBW has been moved to scrum half, Henry has put Brad Thorn on the left wing to dare anyone say that left wing is a weak link for the ABs. Meanwhile France have been looking high and wide in NZ for dwarves with fluent French to employ a controversial tactic of making it exceptionally difficult to refrain from making a high tackle. Both teams want this win bad.

Kingshu wrote:Maestegmafia and Who cares are wrong, Munstermac you win. Zealand is an island of Demark.

I looked it up years ago wondering about New Zealand, no one really think much now about New York being named after York either, though prevously it was New Amsterdam.

Zealand may well be an island off Denmark. But New Zealand was not discovered by the Danish. Zeeland was a Dutch province which was separated by sea from the other main province Holland. Australia was named Nova Holland and hence NZ, separated by the Tasman sea, was named New Zealand. It´s like saying Russell Crowe was named after the New Zealand town Russell and the fact that Crows are black and Russell´s parents wanted him to be an All Black. His middle name on the other hand is oaf and I grant you that there is a direct link there.

maestegmafia wrote:Its part of Holland, New Zealand was dutch in the mid 1600s the europeans first discovered by a dutch explorer called Tasman, hense the Tasman sea and Tasmania all referencing his name.

I think you'll find Aotearoa was never Dutch. Careful with the eurocentricities.

Think you'll find Tasman did a lot of arrogantly naming things, and not a lot of actually setting foot anywhere.

Zealand is an island off the coast of Denmark but to be fair all those saying that New Zealand is named after a place in Holland are correct.

But the original question asked where 'Zealand' is and not 'Zeeland'.

Nor did it ask where New Zealand is named after.

"Old Zealand if you will" does imply, in fairness, the origins of the name. But I´ll be the first to admit I didn´t know there was an island off Denmark called Zealand.

I did know, however, that Russell Crowe is a muppet.

kiakahaaotearoa
ok I admit I was wrong (but maybe I'm right), Zealand is of Denmark, and it stood to reason Cook christened it, (after all he did change it from Nova Zeelandia to New Zealand).
Like New South Wales in Austrailia, (I don't think it was discovered by the Welsh), but because Cook first named the east coast of Australia "New Wales", which he later corrected to "New South Wales" as he though it looked like south Wales. So maybe part of Cook changing the name was to anglicatise it, and part because it reminded him of Zealand, and he decided to kill 2 birds with one stone and went with New Zealand.

And back on topic now that has all been solved...!

Apologies to all kiwis for what we are taught in History in Europe.

I´m sure Cook used to have summer vacations regularly off the coast of Denmark and couldn´t believe his luck when two centuries earlier a Dutch explorer coincidentally named the southern lands which he would later explore and chart with the same name he would be inspired to christen his favourite holiday haunt.

The native name of the Danish island is Sjælland apparently. Zealand is indeed a anglicism but has as much to do with Cook as the planet Mars has to do with Mars bars.

fiji v samoa, france v nz, argies v scots will all be good game i think

kiakahaaotearoa wrote:"Old Zealand if you will" does imply, in fairness, the origins of the name. But I´ll be the first to admit I didn´t know there was an island off Denmark called Zealand.

I did know, however, that Russell Crowe is a muppet.

I too know that russ (as he's called in our house) is a muppet, and it has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that my wife fancies the buns off him

I´d say your wife has poor taste in men but that´d be unfair on you as I don´t know you and any man who doesn´t like Russ is fine with me. So I will just say that better for her to fancy a muppet than somebody you´d genuinely need to be worried about. Those six pack abs of Brad Pitt are too difficult to emulate. Those six packs are far better served drunk and turning those abs into a keg. More value for money.

Gladiator costumes are easy enough to find and maybe that´s all there is to it. Surprise her with full battle armour and tigers one night and find out.

Back to the topic, Japan and Tonga is also worth a shout in terms of a nice even match.

Yeah lads on topic please or start your own origins of pacific islands thread somewhere else.

Cheers

Maes

Shame that SA Namibia isn´t the same quality as a Home Nations match-up or Oz vs NZ. Rugby could do with a few more rivalries.

Any bets for Ireland getting behind on the scoreboard against Russia at any part of the game? That´s got to be a hard game to get up for. You beat Australia and then you have this right after.

Some teams do have some very juxtaposed fixtures.

I am not sure if I would prefer to get the hard games out of the way early as per Wales, or last as per Scotland...

Certainly irelands mixed bag of USA, Australia then Russia is a tough one. THey might still fall to Italy, nearly did in the 6 Nations.

If only NZ could do itself and us(bokke aus fans) a favour by losing to France and save us and them possibly choking !! Still cant believe the tri nations are going to bash each other before the final

Assumptions,assumptions France last match v NZ in Marseille the
All Blacks really choked that day did`nt they ?only 36points and a shove over try.Every one dribbles on about 1999,and 2007 and NOT 1987 and 2003 when the roles were reversed funny that hey?

Argentina v Scotland for me, for me personally that will be a control measure for England's opening game performance.

Georgia aren't capable yet of beating either Scotland or England, even "on their day", and therefore neither Scotland nor England had anything to gain other than a potential bonus point.

Argentina are capable of a win against either and have produced on a number of occasions, this will be make or break for both of them, if Argentina lose they'll be going home after the group games, if Scotland lose they will most likely have to beat England well to finish second.

Half-a-crown to sixpence time for Scotland I think .

France v New Zealand will decide top of the group and runner-up, and none of the other games will have any bearing on who qualifies. They may well be entertaining but in terms of QF places they are irrelevant.

Bullsbok wrote:Still cant believe the tri nations are going to bash each other before the final

Tri Nations teams arent looking that great mate... SA very lucky to beat Wales and Aussies lost to Ireland. France ended second in the six nations. Ireland have lost last three games to France. Wallabies beat the ABs.

France might look like a shambles to the outside but they know how to play rugby, they have some of the most skilful players in the world.

maestegmafia wrote:

Bullsbok wrote:Still cant believe the tri nations are going to bash each other before the final

Tri Nations teams arent looking that great mate... SA very lucky to beat Wales and Aussies lost to Ireland. France ended second in the six nations. Ireland have lost last three games to France. Wallabies beat the ABs.

France might look like a shambles to the outside but they know how to play rugby, they have some of the most skilful players in the world.

Can you elaborate please.

If SA are not looking great why did Wales lose? Ireland played well but don´t count Australia out. They haven´t been knocked out and are still in the comp. Wales have every right to be confident with how the draw is turning out. France vs NZ game should be a cracker but let´s see how that match turns out before we dismiss the ABs because they lost to Australia in the 3N. It doesn´t work to say we beat B who beat C so we A are the champions, otherwise Ireland would be the number one ranked team in the world.

3N are on a collision course but European teams can only get one to the final as well. Still a lot of rugby to be played.

maestegmafia wrote:

Bullsbok wrote:Still cant believe the tri nations are going to bash each other before the final

Tri Nations teams arent looking that great mate... SA very lucky to beat Wales and Aussies lost to Ireland. France ended second in the six nations. Ireland have lost last three games to France. Wallabies beat the ABs.

France might look like a shambles to the outside but they know how to play rugby, they have some of the most skilful players in the world.

NH fans especially some Welsh fans have an annoying habit of thinking if they played good on the day the other team should automatically lose. It just doesnt work like that mate .Its all i heard the week after the win , "wales should have won" wales deserved that" Springboks were lucky to beat Wales" . the way i see it the only team that deserves to win is the one that puts the most points on the scoreboard end of story which is what the Boks did ironically enough scoring more tries than Wales despite being told they dont play any rugby .

As for the Aussies look at it this way , remove 2 key players from any side and chuck them in an international and see what happens. If the Irish were to play a rematch this saturday they'd catch an almighty backlash from the Wobblies ,fortunately for them it looks like the Boks will be at the recieving end & i hope they can cope with it .

MunsterMac wrote:Zealand is an island off the coast of Denmark but to be fair all those saying that New Zealand is named after a place in Holland are correct.

But the original question asked where 'Zealand' is and not 'Zeeland'.

Nor did it ask where New Zealand is named after.

"Off the Coast" ...... I think anyone from Copenhagen might object to the description..... it is the largest island and home to the capitaljavascript:emoticonp('')

The rest is correct

Off the Coast" ...... I think anyone from Copenhagen might object to the description

I think you'll find there's always someone who'll object to anything that's ever written on these boards.

SafeAsMilk wrote:There are a fair few dead rubber games already. Most of the rest are potentially one-sided affairs.

NZ will destroy France, maybe by 40-odd points.

Argentina v Scotland will be a drab affair with Argentina winning by a score.

Another non-inflammatory and carefully reasoned piece of analysis from you, Milk.