Quote:
Originally Posted by Sainters7
I'm extremely new to rugby, just got into it last week after being at an out-of-town wedding full of Brits & Aussies who got me into the WC, and had it on TV 24/7. Watched the Canada/Tonga match, was admittedly confusing but fun, shocked to see them win too. One Q though, what's with the strategy of resting that many players during round robin play? Is it normal to rest 3/4ths of your starters against lesser teams? That seems absurdly over the top. If the sport is that gruelling why don't they just space out the games a little more?
That'd be like Canada resting their top 2 lines & D pairings in the hockey Oly RR against Switzerland or something. Would never happen. Seems cocky too, kinda bugs me they take us that lightly. Or maybe I'm just too new to get the nuances.
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Resting that many is a lot. For France though this is a top echelon team; I hate to say it, but they should win easily even with a "B" squad against Canada. Canada could keep it close and of course theres a reason that they play the games, but its really unlikely. The French team is made up of all professional players, where Canada has only 2 out of 22 players playing professionally.