[RWC2023] South Africa vs Romania (17/09/2023)

[saulan]

This is where games like Fantasy Rugby get you invested into the minnow clashes (for the wrong reasons, but you're still watching). I was very much focused on O'Mahony and Lowe in the Romania clash hoping they'd get some tries, which they thankfully obliged.

 

[Jer1cho]

There is talk of Grant Williams playing on the wing.

 

[saulan]

And Marco van Staden is practicing lineout throws

 

[Jer1cho]

And Marco van Staden is practicing lineout throws

If Schalk Burger was still playing he would have been fly half

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

This is where the Rugby World Cup falls down, nobody wants to watch this mismatch. One of the big appeals of sport is drama, there is no drama here.

Not surprised you like drama as a Spurs fan

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

There is talk of Grant Williams playing on the wing.

This would be a great time to go with a normal 5-3 split on the bench to give some extra backs a shot.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

This would be a great time to go with a normal 5-3 split on the bench to give some extra backs a shot.

Nah go 8-0 but start three of your halfbacks in the loose forwards. That's the plan

 

[spursindevon]

Not surprised you like drama as a Spurs fan

Not really relevant, I'm also Irish and took no joy in us hammering Romania, what did either team learn from the experience. People need to lose the rose tinted spectacles, this will only happen more and more with the new world league. If the game wants to grow, which I want, then these teams need to play against better opposition. Like I said in another post, get the likes of Romania, Portugal, Spain and Georgia playing in either the challenge Cup or champions Cup. Expose these players to regular high quality opponents, over time they will get better.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Not really relevant, I'm also Irish and took no joy in us hammering Romania, what did either team learn from the experience. People need to lose the rose tinted spectacles, this will only happen more and more with the new world league. If the game wants to grow, which I want, then these teams need to play against better opposition. Like I said in another post, get the likes of Romania, Portugal, Spain and Georgia playing in either the challenge Cup or champions Cup. Expose these players to regular high quality opponents, over time they will get better.

Fully agree there. There should be a big restructure of test rugby. Not sure how viable it is financially but having a tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 competition with promotion-relegation would be very interesting. Similar to the UEFA Nations League.

I also would like to see a Sevens structure in the WRC where every team plays until the end of the tournament, with a cup, plate. bowl and shield.

Have the 5th ranked teams play in a knockout stage for the shield
Have the 4th ranked teams play in a knockout stage for the bowl
Have the 3rd ranked teams play in a knockout stage for the plate

It would be great to see Namibia-Uruguay and Chile-Romania with the winners having some actual silverware to play for. They can run concurrently with what we normally have as the knockout stage.

 

[ShropshireAllBlack]

Not really relevant, I'm also Irish and took no joy in us hammering Romania, what did either team learn from the experience. People need to lose the rose tinted spectacles, this will only happen more and more with the new world league. If the game wants to grow, which I want, then these teams need to play against better opposition. Like I said in another post, get the likes of Romania, Portugal, Spain and Georgia playing in either the challenge Cup or champions Cup. Expose these players to regular high quality opponents, over time they will get better.

Unfortunately the Italy experiment in the 6N has undermined that argument in recent years.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Not really relevant, I'm also Irish and took no joy in us hammering Romania, what did either team learn from the experience. People need to lose the rose tinted spectacles, this will only happen more and more with the new world league. If the game wants to grow, which I want, then these teams need to play against better opposition. Like I said in another post, get the likes of Romania, Portugal, Spain and Georgia playing in either the challenge Cup or champions Cup. Expose these players to regular high quality opponents, over time they will get better.

Is there really anything standing in these teams' way to get something like that up and running themselves if they wanted to do so?

I suppose Georgia would rather want to come into the 6N and it is in their best interest if the others don't actually improve.

Sure, there is little point in SA v Romania but I am sure if you ask those Romanians if they would prefer not to compete in an expanded RWC they'd tell you to mind your own business.

 

[Half Pint]

Is there any value in running in 100 points in a one-sided game? Surely once you've got the bonus point and a 30-point lead, it would be better to just conserve energy by going through phases of keeping ball, or play kick-tennis.
If it comes down to deciding the placings in the group (and assuming it's between SA and Ireland), then is it the winner of that head-to-head that gets preference, or is it whoever racked up the biggest score against the minnows?

 

[OldSchoolRugga]

I like the idea of promotion relegation. Wooden spoon in 6 Nations gets demoted to a "lower" European League. That second European league winner gets to play in the 6 nations. And just repeat each year. Like in soccer/football.

 

[saulan]

Is there any value in running in 100 points in a one-sided game? Surely once you've got the bonus point and a 30-point lead, it would be better to just conserve energy by going through phases of keeping ball, or play kick-tennis.
If it comes down to deciding the placings in the group (and assuming it's between SA and Ireland), then is it the winner of that head-to-head that gets preference, or is it whoever racked up the biggest score against the minnows?

To answer your last Q, and just copy pasting from one of my previous posts somewhere else:

1- winner of the game played between the tied teams
2- points difference
3- tries difference
4- most points scored
5- most tries scored
6- world rugby rankings

In that order

 

[spursindevon]

Unfortunately the Italy experiment in the 6N has undermined that argument in recent years.

I don't think that is true, Italy are not going to get beaten by 80 points, they also have some great young talent coming through.

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

I don't think that is true, Italy are not going to get beaten by 80 points, they also have some great young talent coming through.

Italy is probably the prime example of a team that has nothing to play for in a world cup. They are never good enough to finish top-2 in the group, while at the same time being significantly better than the other 2 teams they face, so they're a lock to finish 3rd every time.

I would love to see a shield/bowl/plate format that gives these countries something to play for.

Imagine this. The group stage ends. France, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Wales, England and Argentina go through.

The Shield bracket will see Italy, Scotland, Georgia and Samoa play for a trophy
The Bowl bracket will have Namibia, Tonga, Fiji and Japan
The Plate bracket has Uruguay, Romania, Portugal and Chile

What makes this entertaining is that there is a really good incentive to try and win a game and finish 4th instead of 5th, or 3rd instead of 4th (which there kinda already is with the automatic qualification for the next RWC of course, but still)

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

Italy is probably the prime example of a team that has nothing to play for in a world cup. They are never good enough to finish top-2 in the group, while at the same time being significantly better than the other 2 teams they face, so they're a lock to finish 3rd every time.

I would love to see a shield/bowl/plate format that gives these countries something to play for.

Imagine this. The group stage ends. France, New Zealand, Ireland, South Africa, Australia, Wales, England and Argentina go through.

The Shield bracket will see Italy, Scotland, Georgia and Samoa play for a trophy
The Bowl bracket will have Namibia, Tonga, Fiji and Japan
The Plate bracket has Uruguay, Romania, Portugal and Chile

What makes this entertaining is that there is a really good incentive to try and win a game and finish 4th instead of 5th, or 3rd instead of 4th (which there kinda already is with the automatic qualification for the next RWC of course, but still)

Italy were unlucky with the draw this year. England, Wales, Australia and Argentina are all within their reach.

 

[saulan]

This team is interesting. Scrum half on the wing. Loose forward as backup hooker. 5-3 split. Our best centre pairing. Willemse at flyhalf, likely for the full game. Fun times

Edit: Wait… I just spotted our backline reserves. Double scrum half reserves means Faf is going to play a bit at flyhalf.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Four scrumhalves in a 23 is wild

 

[saulan]