Which team are you supporting other than your home nation?

[UilamOsa]

(Stop the hate of Quade Cooper!!! He is a bloody good rugby union player and i hope he switches codes and plays for the Kiwi's in the near future)

No way. Not in another 100 years of test matches. I hope he plays for the Kangaroos. He's so weak defensively, Thurston will send Thaiday & Gallen at him all day.

1. Samoa/All Blacks
2. Wales/Fiji
3. Australia (for the greater good of Rugby)
4. All the smaller nations
5. The Refs

 

[RoosTah]

^^^
I love your name - but to be truly okka, you actually don't need the 'O'. "Strayan" is the way the true bogan pronounces it lol

 

[RoosTah]

No way. Not in another 100 years of test matches. I hope he plays for the Kangaroos. He's so weak defensively, Thurston will send Thaiday & Gallen at him all day.

Cooper would never make the Kangaroos... too many good halves running around who can tackle for his defensive liabilities to be passed over. In fact I'd say the selectors would probably have him behind Thurston, Soward, Cronk and even Hayne (kinda like cooper in his dynamism, but better defensively and is becoming a more solid half).

 

[james5000]

No way. Not in another 100 years of test matches. I hope he plays for the Kangaroos. He's so weak defensively, Thurston will send Thaiday & Gallen at him all day.

1. Samoa/All Blacks
2. Wales/Fiji
3. Australia (for the greater good of Rugby)
4. All the smaller nations
5. The Refs

His D is a liability but i'm sure he can improve it to a good enough standard. No doubt he would never b a starter but he could be dynamite off the bench

 

[UilamOsa]

Cooper would never make the Kangaroos... too many good halves running around who can tackle for his defensive liabilities to be passed over. In fact I'd say the selectors would probably have him behind Thurston, Soward, Cronk and even Hayne (kinda like cooper in his dynamism, but better defensively and is becoming a more solid half).

Pearce, Cherry-Evans, Maloney, Lui, McCrone, Campese, Any Toyota Cup 6/7, daylight...

His D is a liability but i'm sure he can improve it to a good enough standard. No doubt he would never b a starter but he could be dynamite off the bench

Defence is about technique & attitude. Even Benji gets put out in the centres/wing to defend, but when they come his way he's happy to put his shoulder in, also if he's gonna start something - he's gonna do his best to finish it. I don't see Cooper in the same way.

 

[james5000]

Pearce, Cherry-Evans, Maloney, Lui, McCrone, Campese, Any Toyota Cup 6/7, daylight...



Defence is about technique & attitude. Even Benji gets put out in the centres/wing to defend, but when they come his way he's happy to put his shoulder in, also if he's gonna start something - he's gonna do his best to finish it. I don't see Cooper in the same way.

I agree D is about technique and attitude, i see improvements in his D with both technique and attitude every time he plays. It's still s@$t, but it's getting better.
Compare last year in the Northern Hemisphere to the recent tri nation's and Italy game and it's quite noticeable how much he has improved.

League will see him get much more action on D, which will only make him better for it. If he can improve to a 60%-70% tackle success rate he will be alright.

Offensively is a different story, i reckon he will rival Benji. He will put those mugs you listed too shame

 

[Diego]

Hey lads!
I introduced myself here some time ago but never really started posting in the forum. The main reason for it was the fact that rugby is still very new for me so I have very little to say - and still am totally lost in some discussions here! Anyway, with the World Cup going on, I have renewed my interest in rugby and have watched quite a few matches so far (and downloading those that were not on tv). I'm afraid you'll probably see me here more often

Back on topic, my home nation (Brazil) is not on the WC so I'm cheering for Ireland, my favorite International team - the first contact I ever had with rugby was thanks to a bunch of drunken Irish guys in a pub in Rio de Janeiro. They were watching Munster in the Heineken Cup and I was amazed with their passion for it.

My 2nd team in the competition would be the Wallabies. I watched a documentary about their WC win in 1999 and they also became a favorite of mine - after Ireland, of course. (That drop goal vs South Africa is bloody amazing!!)

Also.. as much as the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina is huge in every sports, to see them doing well in the RWC wouldn't be bad... Brazil are miles behind them in rugby anyway, so it would be nice to see South America well represented. They did a fantastic job vs England btw, great team spirit.

 

[SelimNiai]

Hey lads!
I introduced myself here some time ago but never really started posting in the forum. The main reason for it was the fact that rugby is still very new for me so I have very little to say - and still am totally lost in some discussions here! Anyway, with the World Cup going on, I have renewed my interest in rugby and have watched quite a few matches so far (and downloading those that were not on tv). I'm afraid you'll probably see me here more often

Back on topic, my home nation (Brazil) is not on the WC so I'm cheering for Ireland, my favorite International team - the first contact I ever had with rugby was thanks to a bunch of drunken Irish guys in a pub in Rio de Janeiro. They were watching Munster in the Heineken Cup and I was amazed with their passion for it.

My 2nd team in the competition would be the Wallabies. I watched a documentary about their WC win in 1999 and they also became a favorite of mine - after Ireland, of course. (That drop goal vs South Africa is bloody amazing!!)

Also.. as much as the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina is huge in every sports, to see them doing well in the RWC wouldn't be bad... Brazil are miles behind them in rugby anyway, so it would be nice to see South America well represented. They did a fantastic job vs England btw, great team spirit.

Sounds about right, don't really need to say "in a pub" though

 

[RoosTah]

Hey lads!
I introduced myself here some time ago but never really started posting in the forum. The main reason for it was the fact that rugby is still very new for me so I have very little to say - and still am totally lost in some discussions here! Anyway, with the World Cup going on, I have renewed my interest in rugby and have watched quite a few matches so far (and downloading those that were not on tv). I'm afraid you'll probably see me here more often

Back on topic, my home nation (Brazil) is not on the WC so I'm cheering for Ireland, my favorite International team - the first contact I ever had with rugby was thanks to a bunch of drunken Irish guys in a pub in Rio de Janeiro. They were watching Munster in the Heineken Cup and I was amazed with their passion for it.

My 2nd team in the competition would be the Wallabies. I watched a documentary about their WC win in 1999 and they also became a favorite of mine - after Ireland, of course. (That drop goal vs South Africa is bloody amazing!!)

Also.. as much as the rivalry between Brazil and Argentina is huge in every sports, to see them doing well in the RWC wouldn't be bad... Brazil are miles behind them in rugby anyway, so it would be nice to see South America well represented. They did a fantastic job vs England btw, great team spirit.

A man from Brazil! Welcome on board. Tudo bem? (That's about as much porteguese as I know - I learned it from Brazilians who run my local cafe lol - awesome people, who've actually become wallabies fans themselves owing to the fact the the Wallabies often come down to the cafe when they train in Sydney - it's right next to the field they train at in a place called Coogee).

Ireland and Australia are you favourite teams? Australia should be a natural choice for a Brazillian - we wear the same colours and our boys also play good running rugby .

What is Rugby like in Brazil? Does it have many teams? Argentina have been one of the Rugby world's grea "potentials" for a long time, and now that they will be in the Tri Nations (well, 4 Nations) from next year, you can expect to see them get a lot better with the regular exposure they will receive playing the Sprinboks, Wallabies and All Blacks.

Pearce, Cherry-Evans, Maloney, Lui, McCrone, Campese, Any Toyota Cup 6/7, daylight....

LoL wouldn't go that far, but yeah... Cooper wouldn't make the Qld or Australian national squads in league. I actually rate Cooper, I just hate his complacency in defence (the way he watches players run past him for instance) and think his game lacks composure and maturity. He reminds me a little of Carlos Spencer in that he's brilliant when things are going his way, but diabolical when they're not.

On league though, I seriously want someone to get Inglis and Uate over to Union...

 

[TRF_RC]

Im surprised to see how many ABs supporters have Argentina as their alt. team.
Given how ugly, boring and poor their rugby has been as of late, it just leads me to believe that these kiwis haven't seen argentina play since 2007.

 

[Reggie1198]

AB supporter all the way, Ireland would be my second choice

 

[Deadmonton]

Mainly Canada and Wales, to a lesser extent SA and the Yanks. In the playoff I'll be supporting those guys, but if they're not there/lose in the quarters I'll support whoever hasn't won the RWC before.

 

[formerlyfastwing]

Aussies, it all started with me man crush on Tim Horan....god he was lovely.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Argentina & Namibia

Other than that i'll be hoping teams like Romania, Georgia, Canada, USA & Japan give the 'bigger boys' a bit of a scare.

 

[Diego]

A man from Brazil! Welcome on board. Tudo bem? (That's about as much porteguese as I know - I learned it from Brazilians who run my local cafe lol - awesome people, who've actually become wallabies fans themselves owing to the fact the the Wallabies often come down to the cafe when they train in Sydney - it's right next to the field they train at in a place called Coogee).

Ireland and Australia are you favourite teams? Australia should be a natural choice for a Brazillian - we wear the same colours and our boys also play good running rugby .

What is Rugby like in Brazil? Does it have many teams? Argentina have been one of the Rugby world's grea "potentials" for a long time, and now that they will be in the Tri Nations (well, 4 Nations) from next year, you can expect to see them get a lot better with the regular exposure they will receive playing the Sprinboks, Wallabies and All Blacks.

Tudo bem!
I only started to watch rugby in a regular basis this year, but from what I've seen so far Australia really play good rugby, I enjoyed seeing their win vs the All Blacks in the Tri Nations and the 2nd half against Italy was immense, although they seemed to have problems with the scrum.

I see Quade Cooper is being discussed a lot here, he seems like a player that blows hot and cold quite a lot, one you have to pray to be in one of his best days. Against Italy he showed a bit of both I think - made some nice passes but also gave away a silly penalty.

As for rugby in Brazil, it's all very new to me so I'm not the best person to talk about it, but the obvious thing to say is that it's growing a lot! The game is still amateur here but the number of participants is growing really fast. A few years ago I hardly knew what a game of rugby was. Now not only it's on ESPN Brazil quite often, but also I know at least 3 guys who play it on a regular basis.

I never watched a domestic game but from what I hear, the quality of our game is still way below the Argies. But there are many teams and championships - a guy who I work with play for a team in the 2nd division of the Rio de Janeiro State league, for example.

There's also the Topper effect, they're doing a brilliant job in trying to make it more popular, with the motto 'Rugby: it'll be big in Brazil one day' (or words to that effect) and very funny ads. I can't post links here at work but will do once I'm at home.

Btw, I'm trying to write an article (in portuguese) for my football (soccer) blog about the common origins of football and rugby. If anyone can recommend a read about the subject, it would be greatly appreciated. Cheers!

 

[ckell]

Samoa, love their style, and think they could surprise a few teams at the WC.

 

[Amobokoboko]

NZ,
Fiji, Tonga, Samoa (love their style, pity Tonga lost to Canada today)
Italy

 

[formerlyfastwing]

(love their style, pity Tonga lost to Canada today)

No, no it isn't

 

[FlukeArtist]

Wales, Georgia and Fiji.

@Sanzar - as a Kiwi, I appreciate that sentiment mate, and would reciprocate it in true ANZAC fashion... if only Quade Cooper wasn't playing in your team, Robbie Deans wasn't coaching it, and John O'Neill wasn't in charge of the Union.

 

[Tricia McMillan]

New Zealand first, United States second, anyone but Australia third. Also have a tendency to support the underdogs.

If New Zealand were ever to play the United States, I don't think it would matter who I supported considering the mismatch, but in other sports I wold go for New Zealand.