Can England retain the World Cup?

[Canadian_Rugby_Guy]

well, perhaps the game has moved on to be at an even faster pace. There's got to be an explanation for so many of their players being injured. In France, I've noticed that a lot of squads rotate their players on and off the bench, whereas in England, it seems they have the same starters week in week out. not only that, but each english club is involved in basically three competitions. It seems to me french teams only play in two.

 

[DonBilly]

well, perhaps the game has moved on to be at an even faster pace. There's got to be an explanation for so many of their players being injured. In France, I've noticed that a lot of squads rotate their players on and off the bench, whereas in England, it seems they have the same starters week in week out. not only that, but each english club is involved in basically three competitions. It seems to me french teams only play in two.
[/b]

Yes two competitions the Top14 which has 5 rounds more than the GP which should in the end represent the additional games that the Anglo-Welsh cup adds to English clubs.

 

[melon]

Well i must agree with everyone who says that england are **** without johnny and their dads army but i suppose you never know, they may make the semis next year.

I also believe the Allblacks will make the semi finals, no question asked there.

In my opinion next year it will be a race between Australia, New Zealand, France and South Africa, with Wales, England and Ireland capable of causing upsets if they're on their game.

 

[tituslechmakus]

i would add ireland to the race and just say england&wales if they are on their day. few chances to see scotland at this stage but i hope they can make it ...

 

[notsure1]

no abs to good

 

[getofmeland]

no abs to good [/b]

HAHA You mean the world greatest choke artists, I wouldnt put my money on NZ as they are on their downward spiral, like they always seem to do at the world cup... Expect a poor Autumn Internationals from NZ, tho I expect them to beat England... But winning isnt everything in the run up to a world cup, good performances count a far greater amount...

 

[cwans]

<div class='quotemain'> no abs to good [/b]

Expect a poor Autumn Internationals from NZ, tho I expect them to beat England... But winning isnt everything in the run up to a world cup, good performances count a far greater amount...
[/b][/quote]

Um, what planet do you live on? How does beating England and then tight games versus France (NUMBER 2 in the world) constitute poor AB performances...

I agree with the chokes, but to say they will have a poor end of year tour, when clearly the recently named squad shows we are playing our A side with our A game.

WOOT?

We are talking about the All Blacks right. They have off days and still kick every1 else's arse with the most winningness record against any country. Ten years time when pros take hold we might struggle then, but for now, ABs eat every other rugby playing nation for breakfast with enough room for rotations.

 

[getofmeland]

I live on planet reality, there were problems emerging during the tri nations, gradually the performances were getting worse, and this was a case that, I think NZ have a similar problem as England, in which they dont know there best team... I know all you all black fan boys are gonna go off on one about this... but England have a HUGE amount of talent and depth, as much as the all blacks, but the problem for you guys down there is you dont hear alot about these players, its only like us not knowing the depths of your squads...

We are talking about the All Blacks right. They have off days and still kick every1 else's arse with the most winningness record against any country. Ten years time when pros take hold we might struggle then, but for now, ABs eat every other rugby playing nation for breakfast with enough room for rotations.[/b]

So why havent you won every world cup and every game in which you play in... The problem with some NZer's is that they are too up the All Blacks arse that they cant see the bigger picture of the world rugby scene... Teams like France, Ireland, England are still serious contenders for the Rugby World Cup, but this is being over looked cos you all expect the all blacks just to turn up... look at Brazil at the Football World Cup, probably the most talented team to play at the Football World Cup, everyone thought they needed to just turn up and it was their trophy, but they never did the team which everyone considered potential contenders did win...

The key to winning the World Cup will be the Team that is clicks and starts to win when the world cup begins... and if they have the hunger to win the competion, they could lose all their warmup games but have decent performances in the games during the warmup, will boost their confidence still...

So stop talking about the All blacks just having to turn up to win a game of rugby...

 

[cristaph]

I can't see anyone being able to beat the all backs at the moment. I don't think england have enough time to get any were in the world cup.

 

[getofmeland]

Well South Africa beat them!!!

I reckon France will beat them as well...

 

[melon]

The wallabies haven't been mentioned for a while...they are still a chance!!! lol

 

[tituslechmakus]

I live on planet reality, there were problems emerging during the tri nations, gradually the performances were getting worse, and this was a case that, I think NZ have a similar problem as England, in which they dont know there best team... I know all you all black fan boys are gonna go off on one about this... but England have a HUGE amount of talent and depth, as much as the all blacks, but the problem for you guys down there is you dont hear alot about these players, its only like us not knowing the depths of your squads...

We are talking about the All Blacks right. They have off days and still kick every1 else's arse with the most winningness record against any country. Ten years time when pros take hold we might struggle then, but for now, ABs eat every other rugby playing nation for breakfast with enough room for rotations.[/b]

So why havent you won every world cup and every game in which you play in... The problem with some NZer's is that they are too up the All Blacks arse that they cant see the bigger picture of the world rugby scene... Teams like France, Ireland, England are still serious contenders for the Rugby World Cup, but this is being over looked cos you all expect the all blacks just to turn up... look at Brazil at the Football World Cup, probably the most talented team to play at the Football World Cup, everyone thought they needed to just turn up and it was their trophy, but they never did the team which everyone considered potential contenders did win...

The key to winning the World Cup will be the Team that is clicks and starts to win when the world cup begins... and if they have the hunger to win the competion, they could lose all their warmup games but have decent performances in the games during the warmup, will boost their confidence still...

So stop talking about the All blacks just having to turn up to win a game of rugby...
[/b]

that's exactly what i've been saying for many weeks : ABs self confidence is their major strengh and weakness. too much of it will lead them to disaster, 'cause too much of self confidence is called (you all love that word when you talk about france) arrogance !!!
humility reminds THE only way to sucess. look at england during the last wc, they didn't say they had the srtongest front row in the world (even if they had it). that's why AB always have a off match durig the wc and get eliminated, 'cause they INCONSCIOUSLY think they are much better than everybody, specially NH teams, and it leads them to do **** matches ... like france 99' (btw my best rememberance or souvenir of rugby)!!!

and we didn't speak of the giant rats 'cause they always are expected to reach semis !!! and it always happens they are not too confident as the AB. you must have confidence in your own possibilities, in what you
CAN do. AB fans think they can score 40 pts to every team, which is totally wrong !!!

 

[nik]

england can win the world cup if they can sort out their backline....they seemed to be firing blanks against the wallabies when they came down under this year.

as for the ABs, i think they havent played to their potential this year compared to last year...they seemed to be trying new things...they got abit complacent during the end of the trinations and the springboks caught them napping. the ABs are definitely not at their peak at the moment. ABs are ahead of all other teams, but they have alot to improve on. currently the only other team that i believe is in the same boat as the ABs is the french.

come world cup next year, the ABs will not be driven by their confidence but instead of their motivation and hunger to win. because the core group of the current ABs have experienced losing in the world cup finals (2003) and there is only thing left, which is to win the rugby world cup.

 

[DonBilly]

england can win the world cup if they can sort out their backline....they seemed to be firing blanks against the wallabies when they came down under this year.

as for the ABs, i think they havent played to their potential this year compared to last year...they seemed to be trying new things...they got abit complacent during the end of the trinations and the springboks caught them napping. the ABs are definitely not at their peak at the moment. ABs are ahead of all other teams, but they have alot to improve on. currently the only other team that i believe is in the same boat as the ABs is the french.

come world cup next year, the ABs will not be driven by their confidence but instead of their motivation and hunger to win. because the core group of the current ABs have experienced losing in the world cup finals (2003) and there is only thing left, which is to win the rugby world cup.
[/b]

I agree with you we havent seen yet this season the ABs at their peak level. Last season they were much better. It seemed to me that they had not yet found the right replacement of Umaga.

My feeling is that we should see them playing their best Rugby next month when they tour in Europe. I used to be a bit optimistic about what France could show versus the ABs but now looking to the injuries and the current form of the main players with their clubs I fear that they're going to be trashed again.

 

[tituslechmakus]

hum not so sure after the H cup matches. see the form of Biarritz and stade francais, who provide france best players like the front row and the halves and you will see that we are not so bad. traille was decisive against northampton ...

 

[Bullitt]

hum not so sure after the H cup matches. see the form of Biarritz and stade francais, who provide france best players like the front row and the halves and you will see that we are not so bad. traille was decisive against northampton ... [/b]

Outdoing Northampton is hardly an achievement at the moment.

 

[tituslechmakus]

lol

 

[ShowMe]

that's exactly what i've been saying for many weeks : ABs self confidence is their major strengh and weakness. too much of it will lead them to disaster, 'cause too much of self confidence is called (you all love that word when you talk about france) arrogance !!!
humility reminds THE only way to sucess. look at england during the last wc, they didn't say they had the srtongest front row in the world (even if they had it).
[/b]

Youre right, the ABs and their fans breed self confidence like no other, its so contageous the minority who dont watch or even love rugby in this country are affected, its the expectation we have of our teams but generally of ourselves in whatever we do in life and because rugby is the no.1 sport here its magnified a million times on our national team/s.
Id like to think weve learnt our lesson...well i hope we have its been 20 years of learning, if we dont know anything by now we never will.
Henrys been preaching to the NZ rugby public since hes taken over, about how we must recognize and not underestimate the rugby up north, i think since his return we have learnt to appreciate more than ever the presence england, wales, scotland, ireland and france have in the rugby world and what they can do, what they have been doing and what we can learn.

 

[tituslechmakus]

<div class='quotemain'>
that's exactly what i've been saying for many weeks : ABs self confidence is their major strengh and weakness. too much of it will lead them to disaster, 'cause too much of self confidence is called (you all love that word when you talk about france) arrogance !!!
humility reminds THE only way to sucess. look at england during the last wc, they didn't say they had the srtongest front row in the world (even if they had it).
[/b]

Youre right, the ABs and their fans breed self confidence like no other, its so contageous the minority who dont watch or even love rugby in this country are affected, its the expectation we have of our teams but generally of ourselves in whatever we do in life and because rugby is the no.1 sport here its magnified a million times on our national team/s.
Id like to think weve learnt our lesson...well i hope we have its been 20 years of learning, if we dont know anything by now we never will.
Henrys been preaching to the NZ rugby public since hes taken over, about how we must recognize and not underestimate the rugby up north, i think since his return we have learnt to appreciate more than ever the presence england, wales, scotland, ireland and france have in the rugby world and what they can do, what they have been doing and what we can learn.
[/b][/quote]

sure but we can also win this wc 'cause we're playing at home at it helps quite a few ... i've seen it during the soccer wc in france in 98. it would be great to have a france nz in final !!! we deserve that web elis cup quite as much as you. we've always been at least in the semis (except 91 and 95) whereas you've already won in !!! so it would not be unfair if we get it this time.
rugby is also growing up in france and it is coming to be a major sport. we've got the world record for a single league match of any sport ! it was stade francais-biarritz or toulouse i don't remember in a top 14 match last year and something like 79000 persons in the stade de france (stadium of the 2007 wc final).

 

[DonBilly]

sure but we can also win this wc 'cause we're playing at home at it helps quite a few ... i've seen it during the soccer wc in france in 98. it would be great to have a france nz in final !!! we deserve that web elis cup quite as much as you. we've always been at least in the semis (except 91 and 95) whereas you've already won in !!! so it would not be unfair if we get it this time.
rugby is also growing up in france and it is coming to be a major sport. we've got the world record for a single league match of any sport ! it was stade francais-biarritz or toulouse i don't remember in a top 14 match last year and something like 79000 persons in the stade de france (stadium of the 2007 wc final).
[/b]

***us, France played the semis in '95. Don't you remember the semi played versus SA. Benazzi failing to touch down by a few centimeters with all the angels of heaven ******* on the stadium this day?