Sir Clive Woodward..... Champion of Welsh Rugby

First topic message reminder :

Sir Clive Woodward defends Wales coach Warren Gatland

Warren Gatland has done an "amazing" job as Wales coach and does not deserve the criticism levelled at his playing style, says Sir Clive Woodward. Woodward also believes Wales, along with England and Ireland, will present a serious northern hemisphere challenge to the dominance of the Wallabies, New Zealand and South Africa in the 2015 World Cup, which gets under way in September.

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

fa0019 true but Wales should believe they can beat those 3 sides.

Avoiding the top 2 is important.

beshocked wrote:fa0019 true but Wales should believe they can beat those 3 sides.

Avoiding the top 2 is important.

Absolutely.

the odds for both the ENG and AUS matches are probably at worst 45:55 against. Easily double.

Odds may be against them but its not David vs. Goliath.

I still think that all 3 teams will beat each other don't ask me why as current results certainly won't back my thoughts up (especially against Australia) but I think they will.

bedfordwelsh wrote:I still think that all 3 teams will beat each other don't ask me why as current results certainly won't back my thoughts up (especially against Australia) but I think they will.

very plausible BW

The Pool is certainly building up to be the damp squib of the Century!!!

If it manages to live up to the hype there'll be few players left in any of the three sides to worry the opponents of later rounds.
But hype can burst embarrassingly too and be replaced with slog games of utter boredom or absolute routs caused by one much superior team in that pool.

And to think we're still only prowling around the very edges of the hype that has yet to come.

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

I would, Wales have to beat Australia, England AND Fiji....

SecretFly wrote:The Pool is certainly building up to be the damp squib of the Century!!!

If it manages to live up to the hype there'll be few players left in any of the three sides to worry the opponents of later rounds.
But hype can burst embarrassingly too and be replaced with slog games of utter boredom or absolute routs caused by one much superior team in that pool.

And to think we're still only prowling around the very edges of the hype that has yet to come.

I think Ireland has quite a tricky pool themselves to deal with even though I expect them to get to the SF at least. France, Italy will be very tough and France in a world cup almost puts it at 50/50 despite their woeful form. Then there is Argentina who will be very tough (beat AUS last year, took SA all the way in both matches).

No one has it easy but the winner of Pool A will have the easiest QF for sure.

Yes, the deceptively 'straight forward' pools might indeed have most fireworks.

France will be no walkover. I don't think any Irish fan will be claiming such in the lead up. Dicey, any-wayie game for both sides. I do think though that Ireland would need a very bad day indeed for Italy to beat them. (could happen though, nothing written in stone).

But easiest QF for winner of Pool A? Only if they win. If they lose, that'll be a box of tissues and months if not years of 'what-went-wrongs'

SecretFly wrote:Yes, the deceptively 'straight forward' pools might indeed have most fireworks.

France will be no walkover.  I don't think any Irish fan will be claiming such in the lead up.  Dicey, any-wayie game for both sides.  I do think though that Ireland would need a very bad day indeed for Italy to beat them. (could happen though, nothing written in stone).

But easiest QF for winner of Pool A?  Only if they win.  If they lose, that'll be a box of tissues and months if not years of 'what-went-wrongs'

If Scotland/Samoa win their QF vs. ENG/AUS/WAL at twickenham it would be the greatest upset in world cup history. Certainly the craziest result to rival NZ vs FRA 2007 and SA vs. Lions 2nd test 1997.

Its beyond both teams unfortunately.

If a destructive meteor shower hits W London all through October,then that would be the greatest upset in RWC history. And about as likely.

Jimpy wrote:

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

I would, Wales have to beat Australia, England AND Fiji....

Well do it then. Convert your house, or farm, or caravan, or whatever it is, to cash and put it on at the bookies and post evidence of the betting slip on here. If you don't then it proves you're not as confident as you suggest. Will be see empty words???

fa0019 wrote:

SecretFly wrote:Yes, the deceptively 'straight forward' pools might indeed have most fireworks.

France will be no walkover.  I don't think any Irish fan will be claiming such in the lead up.  Dicey, any-wayie game for both sides.  I do think though that Ireland would need a very bad day indeed for Italy to beat them. (could happen though, nothing written in stone).

But easiest QF for winner of Pool A?  Only if they win.  If they lose, that'll be a box of tissues and months if not years of 'what-went-wrongs'

If Scotland/Samoa win their QF vs. ENG/AUS/WAL at twickenham it would be the greatest upset in world cup history. Certainly the craziest result to rival NZ vs FRA 2007 and SA vs. Lions 2nd test 1997.

Its beyond both teams unfortunately.

Wales v Samoa 1/4 final is a possibility. And Samoa have had the beating of us many a time before. So I'd say it's not that implausible.

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

I would, Wales have to beat Australia, England AND Fiji....

Well do it then.  Convert your house, or farm, or caravan, or whatever it is, to cash and put it on at the bookies and post evidence of the betting slip on here.  If you don't then it proves you're not as confident as you suggest.  Will be see empty words???

You're on the money there Griff....

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

I would, Wales have to beat Australia, England AND Fiji....

Well do it then.  Convert your house, or farm, or caravan, or whatever it is, to cash and put it on at the bookies and post evidence of the betting slip on here.  If you don't then it proves you're not as confident as you suggest.  Will be see empty words???

If I don't, it means it's because whatever I do is none of your business. I tell you what i'll do - i'll wager the net worth of Newport on Wales not making it, if I lose, that'll be a tenner less than I had, but hey, i'll make do.

Am off to look up 'a figure of speech' in a Thesaurus or something, just to make sure it wasn't me seeing something that wasn't really there in the first place in my original post...

Oh I see your pet chimp has turned up.

Jimpy, I don't think we've ever conversed before on here.  I think you have me mistaken for someone else.  Why the hostility?  And the swipe at my home town?  Are you well?

As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Jimpy wrote:

Griff wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

fa0019 wrote:If Wales win pool A and get to the final it will probably be their greatest achievement since the 70s

England (at home)
Australia
Ireland (last 2 6N titles and no.3 in world)

At the moment the money is them not even reaching the QFs regardless of how good they are.

I'd put the farm on it....

No you wouldn't.

I would, Wales have to beat Australia, England AND Fiji....

Just to point out that Wales do not necessarily need to beat all 3 teams to reach the 1/4s. To top the group, yes. But as 2 teams go through then 2 wins could do. Still very difficult for Wales. But not as difficult as made out.

bedfordwelsh wrote:As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Gee, that'll be difficult won't it.....

The relatively short breaks between Wales' matches against England and Australia could be a more decisive factor I think.

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Gee, that'll be difficult won't it.....

The relatively short breaks between Wales' matches against England and Australia could be a more decisive factor I think.

What will be difficult hitting the ground running?

tongue in ...Uruguay...geddit ?

fa0019 wrote:

SecretFly wrote:The Pool is certainly building up to be the damp squib of the Century!!!

If it manages to live up to the hype there'll be few players left in any of the three sides to worry the opponents of later rounds.
But hype can burst embarrassingly too and be replaced with slog games of utter boredom or absolute routs caused by one much superior team in that pool.

And to think we're still only prowling around the very edges of the hype that has yet to come.

I think Ireland has quite a tricky pool themselves to deal with even though I expect them to get to the SF at least. France, Italy will be very tough and France in a world cup almost puts it at 50/50 despite their woeful form. Then there is Argentina who will be very tough (beat AUS last year, took SA all the way in both matches).

No one has it easy but the winner of Pool A will have the easiest QF for sure.

You say no one has it easy? You don't think SA and NZ do?

Argentina have very little competition for the runners up spot to NZ too.

France and Ireland should both make the quarter finals comfortably.


Fiji would have fancied their chances of a runner up spot if they weren't drawn with England,Wales and Australia!

bedfordwelsh wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Gee, that'll be difficult won't it.....

The relatively short breaks between Wales' matches against England and Australia could be a more decisive factor I think.

What will be difficult hitting the ground running?  

Against Uruguay.... are you kidding? Wales wont exactly have to be at their best will they.... It's not as if it's England in Cardiff....

Griff wrote:
Just to point out that Wales do not necessarily need to beat all 3 teams to reach the 1/4s.  To top the group, yes.  But as 2 teams go through then 2 wins could do.  Still very difficult for Wales.  But not as difficult as made out.

Not difficult at all. I think the side that now has to prove to both England and Wales that they are in for a right battle is Australia. Cheika has to show what his guys can do and if he proves much in the run in to that WC, then that pool does become a very difficult one to get out of. I think England and Wales have the edge so far based on how much Australia have fallen well short of their own standards in recent years and how unknowable they are now in advance of Cheika really bedding in as National coach.

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Gee, that'll be difficult won't it.....

The relatively short breaks between Wales' matches against England and Australia could be a more decisive factor I think.

What will be difficult hitting the ground running?  

Against Uruguay.... are you kidding? Wales wont exactly have to be at their best will they.... It's not as if it's England in Cardiff....

Ah right get you, well I hope we wouldn't Jimpy, but like I said we have been slow starters for ages now. Whilst I have no doubt we will win we need to win by as much as we can and stack the points up rather than just stumble across the line.

1st April

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:

Jimpy wrote:

bedfordwelsh wrote:As I have said on other threads, our slow starts worry me and the fact that the pool could very well be decided on points diff and bonus points we have to hit the ground running against Uruguay.

Gee, that'll be difficult won't it.....

The relatively short breaks between Wales' matches against England and Australia could be a more decisive factor I think.

What will be difficult hitting the ground running?  

Against Uruguay.... are you kidding? Wales wont exactly have to be at their best will they.... It's not as if it's England in Cardiff....

I think what Beford is saying is that as we're slow starters to lots of tournaments, and this pool could come down to points difference, we may not rack up as many points as we should/could against Uruguay (no offence Uruguay fans) and this could come back to bite us. If we faced them later in the tournament we would (usually) be stronger and have an better chance of getting the big score.

Still, no better game to warm up with. If Bedford's logic is true (and I believe it too) then the fact that we don't hit the ground running would have more drastic consequences against the other 3 in the group. Glad we're not playing any of them first up.

Griff,

How about I send all my posts to you first for proof reading as you put it a lot better than I did .  Am also glad that we haven't got England or Australia first up

Griff wrote:Jimpy, I don't think we've ever conversed before on here.  I think you have me mistaken for someone else.  Why the hostility?  And the swipe at my home town?  Are you well?

He's always been a coward hiding behind a keyboard that's why, even since the old 606 days when he had several different alias' banned.

Girls ! wish i'd never started this MODS ! kill thread !

The Saint wrote:

Griff wrote:Jimpy, I don't think we've ever conversed before on here.  I think you have me mistaken for someone else.  Why the hostility?  And the swipe at my home town?  Are you well?

He's always been a coward hiding behind a keyboard that's why, even since the old 606 days when he had several different alias' banned.

Pot, kettle, Saint. Pot, kettle.

Gregortree, your wish is my command.