rugby world cup

[pantherhound]

who's picking who in the final, im going to say england get crushed again, unfortunately

[Ash256]

definitely.. south africa are sooo sick at the moment.

been a pretty crazy world cup; fiji and argentina impressing..

all the 6 nations played pretty bad in the group stages though; wales especially

[Ash256]

although having said that, wilkinson's boot is pretty golden

[Miffed22001]

im english through and through, but i hate the way england have played rugby, always will.
therefore the sensible money is on the springboks.

[metalface]

I (obviously) pick my country South Africa FTW

[HiLo]

Would like to say otherwise but I just can't see England raising their game enough to beat S Africa

[givememyleg]

rugby?

[Seasider]

This world cup has been crazy, but seriously S Africa have to win this one. Not that I particularly like the S African team but they have the forwards and the backs wheras England have the forwards and Wilkinson.

Swing low.....

[lolzzz_321]

LETS GO SPRINGBOKS!

[arkana]

BOKKE!!!

[Knytestorme]

Fuck Wilkinson......someone needs to snap his legs in a tackle

[Jack Sawyer]

Lekker

[salsa4ever]

rugby is not supposed to be played as England do. they sux

[pantherhound]

does anyone think that if we play like we did against australia we (england) can win? are the boks that much better than australia? with wilkinson back are they as likely to repeat the drubbing?

[arkana]

does anyone think that if we play like we did against australia we (england) can win? are the boks that much better than australia? with wilkinson back are they as likely to repeat the drubbing?

Yeah England can definitely win, finals are never high scoring games so having a kicker like Wilkinson in your team is worth a lot. Having said that I think England will find it much harder to dominate the South African forwards and will struggle to maintain the territory they need for their game plan to work (convert territory into penalties and penalties into points).

South Africa on the other hand have the players who can create tries and I am hoping they can break the English defence a few times to make the final a bit more exciting. As long as they have the upperhand up front and don't give away too many penalties, they should come away with a win.

[WillburForce]

rugby is not supposed to be played as England do. they sux

who invented the game (and all other decent sports)?

I recon England are gonna do it. Suffocate the Safas and watch Wilko kick us to glory

[silu73]

I hate both teams but for the games sake I hope its South Africa. You got to admire England but their style of game is even more boring than a Star Wars movie marathon.

[Jack Sawyer]

KA MATE! KA ORA!

[Pelion]

We are gunna get crushed

[lolzzz_321]

Maybe someone who follows the NFL and Rugby can compare this math to a matchup of two NFL teams!

[Seasider]

Habana races a cheetah -

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7_iAQXyDJns

GL En-ger-land.

[Muzzard]

Prepare some some amazing rugby by England - I can be OPTIMISTIC!!! lol

I hope we pwn-adoodles them, but in all seriousness I can't see how we are going to win. Over the last 3-years our form has been terrible (though it just seems to be picking up in the right place) I can't see us having more than 30% chance of winning.

[metalface]

Bryan Habana will break Lomu's try record and SA are gonna take it down!

[Miffed22001]

lets try some proper rugby (no pussy pads required)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tc0Ut...elated&search=

[sinky]

I will probably not survive the news coverage if England win again.

[arkana]

Im a South African living in England, so if they win .... Dont even want to think about it

[badgers]

Meh I don't care until Saturday, I'm too busy being depressed about the football (soccer for all you americans)

[Miffed22001]

£100 on england for the laff me thinks.

[sinky]

£100 on england for the laff me thinks.

£100 on Wilkinson getting stretchered off in first 10 minutes.

[Ash256]

£100 on england for the laff me thinks.

£100 on Wilkinson getting stretchered off in first 10 minutes.

lol yeah, south africa were playing pretty rough last game

[arkana]

[pantherhound]

lol

can't wait for this one, but I do actually have a feeling that wilkinson is gonna get flattened and our only chance of winning will be gone

[silu73]

Schalk Burger and Juan Smits will be lining up Jonny Wilkinson pretty early on. Just for the love of the game please do not let England win.

Anyone remembers 1982 and Italy's Cattenacio tactics? England's rugby tactics are pretty much modeled on it and Wilkinson is Paulo Rossi.

[Miffed22001]

burger is the most overrated back row ever. He is pretty damn average, and S Africa getting to the final has nothing to do with him.
Your second row is sick good, in fact you tight 5 are pretty good (although englands may very well be better if it turns up) but in the backs its no contest, basically robinson versus you back line in terms of ability to score tries.

[Miffed22001]

bump

$148 on england, pays 500~?

GAMBoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooL!!!!!!!!!!

[Miffed22001]

i call rigged.

Another cheating aussie, just the ref this time.

[Ash256]

it wasn't a try.

[Seasider]

I don't think it was a try either. Commentary of the night - "In the end it's their [England's] inability to score tries that really hurt them"

[pantherhound]

Why wasn't it a try? Everyone in the room I was in was saying it was a clear try.

If that had been given, and we hadnt given away those stupid penalties, who knows. As usual we gave our all.

[Miffed22001]

my only point is this:

the rules state the evidence for one or other has to be clear:

so i nwhich replay was it clear it wasnt a try. One of the angles was clear his knee was in touch after grounding making it clear it was a try.
1. Aussie refs
2. No balls to give a close decision that would have changed the game.

Fwiw, S AFrica are deserved champions, they have all the best players, and prob would have gone on to win it anyway, but it was a try. because no replays were presented saying it wasnt.

[metalface]

Why wasn't it a try? Everyone in the room I was in was saying it was a clear try.

If that had been given, and we hadnt given away those stupid penalties, who knows. As usual we gave our all.

His foot touched the line before the ball was down. It's a rule that they know about so it wasn't a try.

[Seasider]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/7054741.stm

Picture 9 seems pretty clear to me...