[2015 RWC] Pool A: England vs. Australia (03/10/2015)

[ABs2011]

Australia needs just a bonus point against the Englishmen. Then they are going to crush comfortably a weak Welsh side. And who knows, even Fiji could win against this Welsh side

Even IF they beat Wales, a bonus point only vs England may well be not enough.

You could well see Eng 15, Wales 15, OZ 14 in that case!

Dangerous plan

 

[Kiwi_]

Wales beating England was the worst result Australia could have hoped for.

 

[LeinsterMan (NotTigsMan)]

Is it me or is it bad that it will be the third time in this RWC that the back lines Lancaster has pick have has never previously played with each other before.

 

[yaboyjj]

I got Farrells' inclusion for the Wales match- but I see no reason why he should start this match- not leat because it means reuniting him with Barritt at IC. Aus do not have a particularly big backline (other than Kuridrani)- at least not enough to warrant the inclusion of Farrell on the basis of his size.

 

[TobesHodges]

I got a feeling England will beat Australia , England do some surprise performances I.e New Zealand 2012 ?? Who saw that result coming ??

Tuilagi was playing..

 

[Mcfadden]

..

 

[Ospervat]

My take on the Pool:

Currently the pools is headed by:

AUS 9 Pts
WAL 9 Pts
ENG 6 Pts


And there's only 4 games left that will effect those 3 teams:

WAL v FIJ
ENG v AUS
WAL v AUS
ENG v URU

Even as a Welshman I can safely say England will get a bonus point (4+ tries) win over Uruguay, so that would leave the table as ENG 11, AUS 9, Wales 9 but with England only having one game to improve on that 11 Pts compared to Oz and Wales having 2.

Wales should beat Fiji with a bonus point, however it's a short turnaround between the tiring England win and Thursday's Fiji game, Wales have even more injury concerns and Fiji have upset Wales in world cups before, so it's not an easy game to call. I'm going to go for the bonus point win here even though I'm not confident that will happen, I'm not even confident we'll win at this point! However, If we lose then I can't see us beating Oz and this post will be a waste of typing with Oz & Eng going through.


So taking the easy (ish) games in to account, the table will probably be WAL+5, ENG+5:

WAL 14 Pts
ENG 11 Pts
AUS 9 Pts


With only these two massive games as a decider, note Oz have two chances to improve compared to ENG & Wales 1:

ENG v AUS
WAL v AUS


Which ignoring draws gives us the options below, excluding bonus points, max BPs in brackets:

AUS beat ENG & AUS beat WAL: AUS 17(19), WAL 14(16), ENG 11(13)
ENG beat AUS & AUS beat WAL: ENG 15(16), WAL 14(16), AUS 13(16)
AUS beat ENG & WAL beat AUS: WAL 18(19), AUS 13(14), ENG 11(13)
ENG beat AUS & WAL beat AUS: WAL 18(19), ENG 15(16), AUS 9(13)


Wales: Assuming Wales actually beat Fiji with the bonus point, if England lose to Oz then Wales are through. If England beat Oz and Wales lose it will likely be down to bonus points between Oz and Wales for runner up. Wales should have 1 already from Fiji with 1-2 possible when losing to Oz, Oz could get 1 for beating Wales and 1-2 losing to Eng... could be close and a possible scenario.

England: Unless Wales lose on Thursday, they have to beat Oz to go through. However, beating Oz even without a bonus point would almost guarantee progression - Oz would have to gain all 3 possible bonus points without England getting theirs to beat England's points (i.e: lose to England by less than seven WITHOUT England scoring 4 tries WHILE scoring 4 tries against BOTH England AND Wales). Even if Oz went all out for the tries, England could pick up 4 tries (think England France in the 6N) in retaliation, the BP win against Oz would ensure England are through to the QFs.

Australia: They look pretty comfortable, beat England and they're through. Only losing to both teams would definitely see them out. Losing to only England would mean a bonus point contest between them and Wales (see Wales above).

Aaarrrggghhh - my head hurts.

Instincts telling me this will be the final table so gonna stick my neck out.......

Aus - 17 pts

Eng - 12 pts

Wales 11 pts

 

[The Jones Boy]

Isn't it great that we're still only in the middle of the group stages and so much is going on that is of interest.
Not great for England fans at the moment but after the weekend the will know where they stand.
Hopefully, on higher ground.

 

[RoosTah]

If Aussie beat England it will be ALL over Aussie media.
Don't try and tell us it won't be.

You either haven't been here or if you have, not during the NRL and AFL GF weeks.

If Australia win, then yes it will get its fair share of attention, but given it will take place in the early hours of GF Day for the NRL, it'll not make the front or back page in either Sydney or Brisbane, and certainly not in the AFL states. It'll be a story, sure, but not anything remotely close to the coverage the game will get in the UK.

 

[ABs2011]

You either haven't been here or if you have, not during the NRL and AFL GF weeks.

If Australia win, then yes it will get its fair share of attention, but given it will take place in the early hours of GF Day for the NRL, it'll not make the front or back page in either Sydney or Brisbane, and certainly not in the AFL states. It'll be a story, sure, but not anything remotely close to the coverage the game will get in the UK.

Yup people in NZ that haven't spent time in OZ often don't realise (or forget) the dominance that AFL and NRL have, particularly in certain states, and certainly when it is finals time.

EDIT: Spent some time in Richmond and St Kilda during AFL season as well as a couple NRL seasons in Sydney. I can't recall Rugby even being a talking point at the pubs let alone on the front or back page of the paper

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Joseph and Youngs named but didn't train. it will be interesting to see if they actually get up or naming them is a little bit of gamesmanship.

Also Wood shouldn't be playing. If you think there is nothing wrong with this, then you should remove the rose tinted glasses. He also got away with that move on the Fijian player and Nadolo got suspended for exactly the same thing. Wood is a thug.


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This is Wood's job on the Fijian compared to Nadolo (copy and paste it into a browser)

blob:https%3A//vine.co/42f447aa-00f5-4196-a271-84fad10be373

 

[ABs2011]

Joseph and Youngs named but didn't train. it will be interesting to see if they actually get up or naming them is a little bit of gamesmanship.

Also Wood shouldn't be playing. If you think there is nothing wrong with this, then you should remove the rose tinted glasses. He also got away with that move on the Fijian player and Nadolo got suspended for exactly the same thing. Wood is a thug.


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[video]https://v.cdn.vine.co/r/videos_h264high/393D974EC71260739835397029888_SW_WEBM_144355792653 7c038883b5a.mp4?versionId=OnmrZzUFdLi0H.JwwXwc474K Htbyfbob[/video]

Holy crap, I hadn't seen that. Did nothing come of that?

Edit: Just read that "Wood received a warning from the citing commissioner for striking" UNBELIEVABLE!

The Argentinians and Fijians must be having a filed day on this one. Blatant bias if you ask me.

 

[InsaneAsylum]

hey got a warning.... a WARNING. a guy who has a history in the tournament of thuggery, and the worst thing is English fans pulling the "nothing to see here, move along" rubbish

 

[ABs2011]

hey got a warning.... a WARNING. a guy who has a history in the tournament of thuggery, and the worst thing is English fans pulling the "nothing to see here, move along" rubbish

I see they are claiming he was trying to kick the ball? You have to be kidding me. That's really disappointing. Even more so for those that have received suspensions. They will surely feel pretty aggrieved at the system.

 

[RoosTah]

I see the English media are claiming Burgess will be dropped and Joseph fast tracked back with his chest injury. Given that was apparently a 3 week injury, I wonder how wise that is...

 

[Kiwi_]

I have a feeling England will beat Australia, I don't think the Aussies are good enough at 9 and 10. Farrell is on good form and I can't see Hooper and Poey getting away with murder this game.

 

[The80sDogCancer]

You either haven't been here or if you have, not during the NRL and AFL GF weeks.

If Australia win, then yes it will get its fair share of attention, but given it will take place in the early hours of GF Day for the NRL, it'll not make the front or back page in either Sydney or Brisbane, and certainly not in the AFL states. It'll be a story, sure, but not anything remotely close to the coverage the game will get in the UK.

and its unfortunate the position rugby is in Australia atm, but i think it has got to the lowest it will get and will only improve as i have a league background (growing up in western sydney) and every RL fan i know (inc me obviously lol) have a respect for union and support the wallabies and/or the all blacks, i think its more the old school league and union heads that still have the hate for the other.

 

[McTallshort]

hey got a warning.... a WARNING. a guy who has a history in the tournament of thuggery, and the worst thing is English fans pulling the "nothing to see here, move along" rubbish

its his first WC you clown

 

[InsaneAsylum]

its his first WC you clown

that's why I said "a guy who has a history in THE TOURNAMENT of thuggery" ie. the incident against Fiji and the incident against Wales

YOU CLOWN

 

[RoosTah]

and its unfortunate the position rugby is in Australia atm, but i think it has got to the lowest it will get and will only improve as i have a league background (growing up in western sydney) and every RL fan i know (inc me obviously lol) have a respect for union and support the wallabies and/or the all blacks, i think its more the old school league and union heads that still have the hate for the other.

Yeah, Rugby is honestly at its weakest I can remember in Australia... I thought with the Tahs winning last year we'd get a bit of momentum back, but it just doesn't seem to be happening. The support base seems to have dropped out a fair bit and the administration aren't doing anywhere near enough to grow the sport in poorer areas.