Rugby World Cup 2011: Go Canada! - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Slava · 07-26-2011, 09:11 PM

We're a little over a month away from the 2011 RWC in New Zealand and I'm getting excited! I know that there are a number of CPers who either still play, or once did and we're all probably looking forward to this event. For those of you who haven't watched it before, its a great spectator sport and is easy to follow with the help of the commentators. Feel free to ask questions here and I'm sure we can help you out as well. TSN has the broadcast rights for all of the games for this year and 2015 in England. Here are the pools and my predictions:

Pool A
Canada
France
Japan
New Zealand
Tonga

I pick New Zealand and France....which is really going out on a limb! Canada could have some good showings against Tonga and Japan but it would be really hard to see a scenario where they could knock France off.

Pool B
Argentina
England
Georgia
Romania
Scotland

Here things are a little more interesting with three good teams. England should advance easily and I'll pick the Scots to edge the Pumas (Argentina). It could be close though and there will be some fun games here.

Pool C
Australia
Ireland
Italy
Russia
USA

Another sort of interesting pool. Australia should advance and same with Ireland. Italy is pretty good though, and if any other team has a shot it would be them. USA sucks!

Pool D
Fiji
Namibia
Samoa
South Africa
Wales

This is probably the tightest pool. South Africa should pass easily, but for the other its either Wales or Samoa. I'm picking the underdog here and taking Samoa.

Canada is ranked 15th in the world and are bringing a relatively young squad this time. Their pool schedule is as follows:

14th September 5pm NZ time vs. Tonga (ranked #17)
18th September 8:30pm NZ time vs. France (ranked #6)
27th September 5pm NZ time vs. Japan (ranked #13)
2nd October 3:30pm NZ time vs. New Zealand (ranked #1)

As an added bonus TSN is carrying two upcoming friendlies against the USA on August 6th at 12pm (MDT) and then on August 13th at 7pm (MDT). Hopefully the boys can beat up on the Eagles and head to New Zealand with some confidence!

CMPunk · 07-27-2011, 01:07 PM

Are the games going to be on TV at all this year?

GirlySports · 07-27-2011, 01:27 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CMPunk

Are the games going to be on TV at all this year?

All of the games will be on TSN.

TSN will show all the Canadian games, the two semifinals and the final.
TSN2 will show all the other games.

Slava · 07-27-2011, 01:30 PM

^mainly in the middle of the night...I think that NZ is about 17 hours ahead of us.

GirlySports · 07-27-2011, 02:26 PM

yeah the final will be at 21:00 NZ time which is 04:00 Calgary time

You Need a Thneed · 07-27-2011, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GirlySports

yeah the final will be at 21:00 NZ time which is 04:00 Calgary time

Hello DVR.

Matty81 · 07-27-2011, 05:35 PM

Ouch, tough group for Canada. They always seems to have problems with the South Pacific island teams but if they can win that first game they might graduate to a snowballs chance in hell of advancing because France was pretty awful (by their standards) at six nations and I heard Canada looked real good at Churchill cup.

CMPunk · 08-06-2011, 11:49 AM

Canada vs USA exhibition at noon on TSN

shermanator · 08-06-2011, 12:26 PM

Pretty good crowd at BMO

Slava · 08-06-2011, 12:58 PM

Not a great first half for Canada. Down 15-10 and a lot of mistakes and dumb penalties. They need to get it together to have a decent world cup next month...that kind of play in their pool would send them home winless and embarrassed.

Slava · 08-06-2011, 02:04 PM

Decent second half from Canada and they prevail 28-22. Their lineouts were atrocious, which cost them and at points they were really dominated...that said it is what it is and you take the win. Denver next Saturday night completes the home and home.

Slava · 08-13-2011, 06:31 PM

Thought that I would bump this for the Canada vs. US game tonight at 7pm. Should be a good one and hopefully another favorable result for Canada heading to the southern hemisphere.

The game is live on TSN2 from Denver.

troutman · 08-13-2011, 08:18 PM

That was a questionable try by the US at the end of the first half. I don't know the rules that well, but they barely touched that ball.

Slava · 08-13-2011, 08:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by troutman

That was a questionable try by the US at the end of the first half. I don't know the rules that well, but they barely touched that ball.

Ya it was close. All you need is any pressure though...so you can literally touch the ball when its on the ground. Watching tonight is tough...Hightower used to play for the US (the colour guy) and he's putting Hughson to shame in terms of being biased!

Slava · 08-13-2011, 09:17 PM

Another win for Canada! The game was closer than the 27-7 final would indicate, largely because the first half saw Canada down 1 man for about 15 minutes and down 2 men for 5. The defence looked OK...there were some big breaks by the US backs, but their only try against was really close.

Canada capitalizedon US mistakes though and had some nice runs and could've scored at least one more try. The US really is just not as polished and at the end of the day the missed opportunities just piled up and cost them the game.

The US winger Ngwenya is exciting to watch and played really well I thought. Their kicking was atrocious, and I could've made the kicks they missed in the first half (which isn't bragging...it was that bad!) For Canada I thought the best player to watch was van der Merwe. He scored the first try and with a nice chip set-up the last one. Canada's lineouts were atrocious again and they have to get that together before NZ. If they can't win their own throw almost all of the time it will punish them against the All Blacks and French (and most others in general).

I hated the commentary, but enjoyed that the cameramen weren't shy about showing every pretty girl in the stands at least once!

troutman · 08-13-2011, 09:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slava

the cameramen weren't shy about showing every pretty girl in the stands at least once!

That's for sure. It kinda got creepy.

GirlySports · 08-17-2011, 07:58 PM

So England are going to a World Cup in New Zealand where the All-Blacks have not won a World Cup win 24 years....

and they're going to wear? all-black!

Slava · 08-17-2011, 08:09 PM

Well they were beaten by Wales on the weekend, so maybe no team in black wins it this year! If I had to pick a team from the north to have a legitimate chance I would go with Ireland.

TopChed · 09-05-2011, 06:25 PM

What's the deal with the TV coverage for this? I heard Sportsnet was doing the Canada games, but the rest are on Setanta. And if you want to watch the semi's and finals, you have to pay more than just having the regular Setanta. Anyone know what's going on with this?

CMPunk · 09-05-2011, 06:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TopChed

What's the deal with the TV coverage for this? I heard Sportsnet was doing the Canada games, but the rest are on Setanta. And if you want to watch the semi's and finals, you have to pay more than just having the regular Setanta. Anyone know what's going on with this?

Quote:

Originally Posted by GirlySports

All of the games will be on TSN.

TSN will show all the Canadian games, the two semifinals and the final.
TSN2 will show all the other games.

Right here

http://tsn.ca/rugby/feature/?id=47571