The Rugby World Cup - Japan 2019

First topic message reminder :

We're getting there folks. Less that 50 days to go til lthe big event.

Here's a place to talk about all things world cup as we lead into this most spectacular of events.

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/

Full fixture list
https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/matches

Teams that are going
https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/teams

Pools:

Pool A

Ireland
Scotland
Japan (Hosts)
Russia
Samoa

Pool B

New Zealand (3x cup holders) Reigning champs
South Africa (2x cup holders)
Italy
Namibia
Canada

Pool C

England (1x cup holders)
France
Argentina
USA
Tonga

Pool D

Australia (2x cup holders)
Wales
Georgia
Fiji
Uruguay


Who do you think has the best chance?
Who will provide this competition's upset?
What pool will see the biggest fight for qualification?
Which of the non seeded teams are looking like they could do well?
Who has the current momentum going into the W/C?


I can't wait. If I could have swung it, I'd have gone over for it.

Fans mixing together    and top quality rugby being played over 6 weeks  

I've been watching the opening ceremony. They just showed clips of an old Eddie Jones press conference, from when he coached Japan. It was a little funny!

First big upset of the World Cup coming up?

Russia smashes fancy Japan?

Stranger things have happened as Japan well knows.

It’s all started

Rugby Fan wrote:Tokyo here. I'm not as familiar with Osaka and Kobe but Shinsaibashi in Osaka is a treasure trove of good  food and booze, while Kitashinchi has a wide variety of nighlife.

If anyone comes through Tokyo, drop me a message, and I'll see if I can hook up.

Second that, some very cool bars there!

If you are in Kumamoto, and thought of checking out the Fanzone to watch the weekend's matches, then make other plans. It will be closed because of expected high winds and heavy rain.

The others are expected to be fine, though we will see rain in other parst of the country.

Rugby Fan wrote:If anyone comes through Tokyo, drop me a message, and I'll see if I can hook up.

Guns would love to hook up with you. Slide into his DMs.

TightHEAD wrote:Lets hope the team that eventually triumphs is playing an exciting brand of rugby to watch and not the dross served up by some teams who have hit the World rugby's No1 spot over recent weeks.


While I can understand why someone may view this as a WUM, it is really pretty mild, does not target anyone specifically (and we all know England kick a lot) and light hearted and perhaps saved by the emoji. 

Good to know an emoji saves all. I’ll keep it in mind.

Plus, if I ever got banned, it’s clear you can come back at least three times (emoji save)

Is it a competition to see how many ex Welsh player itv can use to commentate? , Roberts is a bit dull

RiscaGame wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Lets hope the team that eventually triumphs is playing an exciting brand of rugby to watch and not the dross served up by some teams who have hit the World rugby's No1 spot over recent weeks.


While I can understand why someone may view this as a WUM, it is really pretty mild, does not target anyone specifically (and we all know England kick a lot) and light hearted and perhaps saved by the emoji. 

Good to know an emoji saves all. I’ll keep it in mind.

Plus, if I ever got banned, it’s clear you can come back at least three times (emoji save)

We do have to allow some humour - even if it is of a mild wind up. And as I said just because England kick a lot does not mean it is dross. Unless of course Scotland were the target - and even the Scots will admit that what they served up on Saturday would struggle to even qualify as dross.


Oops almost forgot  

So across the four pools:

It is quite possible that we have seen the big games in 3 of the pools and was Saturday the best day for pool games in any RWC?. Certainly NZ/SA should have decided Pool B, Japan will hope they can pull of a scalp in Pool A and while England v Argentina & France could bring a surprise, I feel the remaining HUUUUGE pool game is Wales - Australia.

What games are others looking forward to now?

Think Japan v Scotland in the final pool game could be a special occasion (sorry Scotland fans)

England v France.  It's a WC.  France will make a fight of it....methinks.
Wales v Australia.  It's a WC.  Australia will make a fight of it.  Or at least, one-man self-propelled intercontinental nuclear missile, Michael Hooper, will.
Scotland v Japan.  Scotland get to prove they're better at chaos theory than Japan.

LondonTiger wrote:So across the four pools:

It is quite possible that we have seen the big games in 3 of the pools and was Saturday the best day for pool games in any RWC?. Certainly NZ/SA should have decided Pool B, Japan will hope they can pull of a scalp in Pool A and while England v Argentina & France could bring a surprise, I feel the remaining HUUUUGE pool game is Wales - Australia.

What games are others looking forward to now?

I think you're right about Wales-Australia being the biggest remaining pool game, but I have a feeling we are going to see an upset or two in a few of the other remaining pool games. I've been seriously impressed by the likes of Fiji, Tonga, and Georgia and I expect them to test a number of the tier 1 teams. Especially considering that they will likely only get better over the course of the next few weeks.

Fantastic opening weekend.

I actually don't think we will see any upsets in the group stages. I think it will be predictable enough from here in.

Come the KO stages it should heat up....

Agree on Jamie Roberts, I thought no one could be duller than listening to Jonny Wilkinson...

TightHEAD wrote:Is it a competition to see how many ex Welsh player itv can use to commentate? , Roberts is a bit dull

Dull is maybe a bit harsh. 'Tows the party line' would be the better option. Also weird to see him criticise JD2 twice in the game. Always got the sense they never gelled on the field - no idea off it - and Roberts was in denial in the last few years as to his future with Wales, and probably thought he stood a chance of making Japan (he didn't). Warburton is surprisingly more insightful than Roberts, and has loosened up since retiring. A couple of his podcasts he's done this summer while promoting his book have been really good, and he properly 'lifts the lid'. What Wales would do for him out on the field though...

Not quite sure why they keep inviting Alfie back. It's pretty embarrassing and he really adds nothing of value.

bluestonevedder wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:So across the four pools:

It is quite possible that we have seen the big games in 3 of the pools and was Saturday the best day for pool games in any RWC?. Certainly NZ/SA should have decided Pool B, Japan will hope they can pull of a scalp in Pool A and while England v Argentina & France could bring a surprise, I feel the remaining HUUUUGE pool game is Wales - Australia.

What games are others looking forward to now?

I think you're right about Wales-Australia being the biggest remaining pool game, but I have a feeling we are going to see an upset or two in a few of the other remaining pool games. I've been seriously impressed by the likes of Fiji, Tonga, and Georgia and I expect them to test a number of the tier 1 teams. Especially considering that they will likely only get better over the course of the next few weeks.

Fantastic opening weekend.

Definitely. Fiji can beat Wales. If we provide the right combination of misguided play, low confidence, and egotistical overplaying in the loose, it could easily go wrong. Don't think it will, but they have talent all across the park, and they will win the collisions against Wales. I'd love to have seen how Ireland got on against them, as it would basically force Ireland to either double down on their squeeze game of grind, grind, kick, grind, pass to winger, score, or they would have to avoid going through such monotonous contact. Wales will have to avoid slipping in to that trap - we did it against Georgia today, even. If ever there was a game to play Hadleigh Parkes at 10 in a test match, it's probably the first half of this game...maybe...probably not. But they will go for Biggar, you can believe that, and God help Patchell. I hear pasty, lanky gingers are a delicacy in the Pacific...

Great win by Uruguay.

Great win for Uruguay. Quite the upset.

Uruguay beating Fiji is kinds like Scotland beating, well, Fiji!

"Eddie Jones' quip that the United States will play like "15 Donald Trumps" when the teams meet at the Rugby World Cup in Japan on Thursday has intensified the build-up to what should prove a routine win for England.

"They're going to come out all guns blazing," Jones said. "It's going to be like 15 Donald Trumps out there, so we'll have to be on our job, because we know they're going to give it everything they've got, just like Tonga did."

Stay classy Eddie.

Eddie was specifically hired for the coaching and quips...not necessarily in that order.

I'm looking at that England team and i'm worried, I think the USA will be stubborn and raise their game vs us like all teams do!

Ireland don't.....

How’s that Haka going so far? I see the grumbles have started in the usual places, thought it would take about a week.

TightHEAD wrote:I'm looking at that England team and i'm worried, I think the USA will be stubborn and raise their game vs us like all teams do!

Is it really that ALL other teams raise their game against you? Or is it actually that other teams end up being better than you expected, due to England/English fans assuming they're all conquering and will easily beat anyone?!

TightHEAD wrote:I'm looking at that England team and i'm worried, I think the USA will be stubborn and raise their game vs us like all teams do!

Or maybe they just lower it against everyone else?

Fiji lose, gosh...

Its a known fact that certain nations/principalities raise their game vs Engerland, the rival players say as such.

On a different track, isn't it great to see teams playing in shirts with minimal sponsor logos on them?

Irish Londoner wrote:On a different track, isn't it great to see teams playing in shirts with minimal sponsor logos on them?

That is why I always buy a World cup shirt, well after we make the knockout stages at least!

tigertattie wrote:Great win for Uruguay. Quite the upset.

Uruguay beating Fiji is kinds like Scotland beating, well, Fiji!

Uruguay beat the USA in the America's Cup and you would expect the USA to be compeditive v Fiji who had a short turnaround from a game that must have drained them mentally not just physically.

Will make the fight for 3rd now interesting.

TightHEAD wrote:Its a known fact that certain nations/principalities raise their game vs Engerland, the rival players say as such.

The USA is a principality?

Might have been had we held it for longer?

rodders wrote:

TightHEAD wrote:Its a known fact that certain nations/principalities raise their game vs Engerland, the rival players say as such.

The USA is a principality?

Just an ex colony

I think its fair to say that despite all the pre tournament noise about how much an impact the weather would have on the tournament in particular on NH sides there has been very little impact so far. Agreed?

Not sure if any posters are out in Japan, but what we're probably not picking up at home is the heat. Several journalists have spoken about the heat at games. That will play its part, and England looked sloppy today towards the end - they're not really built for the heat.

Ill be there in Sunday. Englands game was in an indoor stadium was it not?

Not sure, but apprently boiling. Same goes for the Wales v Georgia game according to journalists. Imagine many have been similarly muggy and damp as well.

TightHEAD wrote:Its a known fact that certain nations/principalities raise their game vs Engerland, the rival players say as such.

Do any principalities even get to play rugby against England?! Bizarre comment.

https://interactives.stuff.co.nz/2019/rugby-world-cup/power-rankings/

By the looks of the power rankings they reckon Wales vs NZ final.

Old Man wrote:By the looks of the power rankings they reckon Wales vs NZ final.

Yup. Though they do predict elsewhere that England (who are their second favourites to win the cup) are much more likely to make the final if they lose to  France next week, and marginally more likely to win the Cup from that side of the knock out stages.

LondonTiger wrote:

Old Man wrote:By the looks of the power rankings they reckon Wales vs NZ final.

Yup. Though they do predict elsewhere that England (who are their second favourites to win the cup) are much more likely to make the final if they lose to  France next week, and marginally more likely to win the Cup from that side of the knock out stages.

Interesting that a draw between Ireland and Samoa is <1% however a cyclone is due to his that city on Saturday. If the game is cancelled or is abandoned before half-time the official result will be a draw. So <1% for this is rather low. Also, Ireland making the QF is 98% which appears excessively high.

Fair dues to someone to go to the effort to put those kind of probabilities together.

There are plans to move the game to a different city the next day if the cyclone gets in the way. Its kind of unlikely though as there have been a few cyclone warnings so far and none have materialised yet.

https://www.irishtimes.com/sport/rugby/international/rugby-world-cup-plans-in-place-to-move-ireland-samoa-match-if-typhoon-hits-1.4042429

Think it would be fairly unlikely the game will be cancelled albeit Im glad it is scheduled before the Japan Scotland game is played so there can be no funny business if Japan were to lose with no BP.

I think the 98% is quite high alright too.

thebandwagonsociety wrote:

LondonTiger wrote:

Old Man wrote:By the looks of the power rankings they reckon Wales vs NZ final.

Yup. Though they do predict elsewhere that England (who are their second favourites to win the cup) are much more likely to make the final if they lose to  France next week, and marginally more likely to win the Cup from that side of the knock out stages.

Interesting that a draw between Ireland and Samoa is <1% however a cyclone is due to his that city on Saturday.  If the game is cancelled or is abandoned before half-time the official result will be a draw. So <1% for this is rather low.  Also, Ireland making the QF is 98% which appears excessively high.

Fair dues to someone to go to the effort to put those kind of probabilities together.

I think they do it on a computer simulation. So every match-up has a probability and then they simulate a tournament 1,000 or 10,000 times and work out the probabilities - e.g. if NZ win the simulation 600 times out of 1,000 they have a 60% probability.

I would also assume that the weather hasn't been factored in, so that may be an oversight. But as we've never had a washout in the history or the rugby world cup and a handful of postponements in any top flight international in the 20 or so years I've followed rugby, it would be weird to cater for it. The cancellations I can remember have all been postponements: France vs Ireland the other year and foot and mouth in 2001.

Let me just take this chance to say, what a very good job Japan are doing with this world cup. It just goes to show how much can be done when the game is taken from the more "traditional" countries and others are given a chance.

Time zones aside, I think this could be one of the best world cups ever. I think the Japanese have embraced this world cup better than any others have in the past. All the stadiums are full, the locals are all attending and supporting the rugby, family and friends who are over there have said how welcoming, friendly and kind they have been, and not one single ounce of trouble anywhere.

They are the most enthusiastic fans on the planet, the stadiums are beautiful, all in all, a 10 out of 10 so far for me. I am thoroughly enjoying this world cup.

Also, just to add, I want to mention how safe people I know are feeling in Japan and how even the smallest of businesses have made the effort to embrace the world cup, it's everywhere over there.

Will this be the most successful world cup to date ? I know the English one last time was pretty decent, and the French one in 2007, but will this one surpass those two ?

Ireland will in 2023.




......what?  I'm getting strange looks.

LordDowlais wrote:Let me just take this chance to say, what a very good job Japan are doing with this world cup. It just goes to show how much can be done when the game is taken from the more "traditional" countries and others are given a chance.

Time zones aside, I think this could be one of the best world cups ever. I think the Japanese have embraced this world cup better than any others have in the past. All the stadiums are full, the locals are all attending and supporting the rugby, family and friends who are over there have said how welcoming, friendly and kind they have been, and not one single ounce of trouble anywhere.

They are the most enthusiastic fans on the planet, the stadiums are beautiful, all in all, a 10 out of 10 so far for me. I am thoroughly enjoying this world cup.

Also, just to add, I want to mention how safe people I know are feeling in Japan and how even the smallest of businesses have made the effort to embrace the world cup, it's everywhere over there.

Will this be the most successful world cup to date ? I know the English one last time was pretty decent, and the French one in 2007, but will this one surpass those two ?

Couldn’t agree more.

SecretFly wrote:Ireland will in 2023.




......what?  I'm getting strange looks.

I would love Ireland to get a world cup, a beautiful country with a lot of heritage and history, if Ireland had a world cup, I would 100% support it, as it would more or less be a home one for Wales. The only reservations I would have, is the same as what happens during the 6N's, and that is all of a sudden the prices of everything goes up. Also, Ireland with the Euro is not cheap, and I worry how the everyday fans would be able to afford it.

But personally I would love an Irish world cup.

The world cup has been great so far for everyone there but that's more to do with the japanese culture than anything else. They are a country built on respect, duty an honour. I cant even remember what we did when the world cup was here but I dont think we had entire organised groups of school children going along to matches

The timezone is a bit of a kicker for fans in Europe and the Americas but thats always going to happen.

My favourite part of the world cup currently is the boy who seems to be turning up everyday at one game with different body paint on. Magic stuff. Though I have to wonder if he still has a job!

tigertattie wrote:The world cup has been great so far for everyone there but that's more to do with the japanese culture than anything else. They are a country built on respect, duty an honour. I cant even remember what we did when the world cup was here but I dont think we had entire organised groups of school children going along to matches

The timezone is a bit of a kicker for fans in Europe and the Americas but thats always going to happen.

My favourite part of the world cup currently is the boy who seems to be turning up everyday at one game with different body paint on. Magic stuff. Though I have to wonder if he still has a job!

I was going to post something very similar. It is no surprise to me that it is going so well over there. Respect, duty and honour, as tigertattie says, are pillars of their culture. There's unlikely to be trouble (apart from us tourists), everything will run like clockwork, and their population is naturally welcoming, accommodating and friendly. That's always going to make for a good tournament.