2015 Rugby World Cup thread - Page 3 - Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community

Resolute 14 · 09-19-2015, 11:46 AM

That was an unbelievable finish. I think I heard Japan had won only 1 game all-time at the World Cup, and they had the balls to sacrifice the tie to go for the win? Nuts!

You Need a Thneed · 09-19-2015, 11:46 AM

Incredible ending.

ChuckieNZ · 09-19-2015, 12:10 PM

Unbelievable game. Unbelievable finish. Japan have come a long way in the past 8 years.

Slava · 09-19-2015, 12:31 PM

Amazing. I of course missed the whole thing, but that's unbelievable. Japan has gotten a lot better over the past few years. That's a big deal because they host in 2019 as well as the obvious ramifications this year.

undercoverbrother · 09-19-2015, 05:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ChuckieNZ

Unbelievable game. Unbelievable finish. Japan have come a long way in the past 8 years.

Eddie Jones

He was one of the main architects of the 2007 win for The 'Boks and now he does this to them.

Great great game.

Canada, had some good passages, but in the end Ireland was too much.

FireGilbert · 09-19-2015, 05:02 PM

OMG what the Blossoms beat the Boks?!? I went to bed last night thinking Japan put in a solid first half but that SA would likely score 30 unanswered in the second. The Japanese have been improving lately but this is still one of the greatest upsets in sports history.

transplant99 · 09-19-2015, 05:33 PM

ESPN called it the biggest upset in World Cup history.

ChuckieNZ · 09-19-2015, 10:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

ESPN called it the biggest upset in World Cup history.

I can't remember a bigger upset in rugby history, period. I still remember the All Blacks pumping Japan 145-17 in '95.

Pool B just got a lot more interesting.

nik- · 09-19-2015, 11:40 PM

They're replaying it right now on TSN2

Scrambler · 09-20-2015, 05:14 AM

Wow... that was fricken awesome, I watched the Japan vs South Africa game at a 24 hr mall here in Fukuoka with several hundreds of others. We all went nuts at the end of the game, some started crying (hard to explain, it really was emotional to watch).

Not sure what Japan's hopes are against Scotland, but who knows.

ChuckieNZ · 09-20-2015, 11:54 AM

Not the best performance by the All Blacks against Argentina, but a win is a win. They will have to clean up their handling errors and execution as the tournament progresses. Sonny Bill Williams came up huge off the bench; this result pretty much guarantees the ABs will win Pool C.

A couple of days off now, I'm looking forward to Scotland v Japan (never thought I'd be saying that) & Australia v Fiji, both on Wednesday.

undercoverbrother · 09-21-2015, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by transplant99

ESPN called it the biggest upset in World Cup history.

Easily there is nothing that stacks up to this victory.

nik- · 09-23-2015, 09:48 AM

aaaaaand Scotland destroys Japan. 45-10

SuperMatt18 · 09-23-2015, 10:56 AM

Not that surprised.

With all the energy that they would have used on the weekend, and the emotional roller coaster that came with the win, it would have been hard to have energy for this one.

Schedule didn't help them much either, having to play a team in their first match on short rest.

ChuckieNZ · 09-23-2015, 11:19 AM

Japan didn't look all that bad in the first half. A few mistakes cost them, but if they had executed they could have put the pressure on. One team was rested, and Scotland took full advantage of that in the second half.

undercoverbrother · 09-23-2015, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nik-

aaaaaand Scotland destroys Japan. 45-10

Quote:

Originally Posted by SuperMatt18

Not that surprised.

With all the energy that they would have used on the weekend, and the emotional roller coaster that came with the win, it would have been hard to have energy for this one.

Schedule didn't help them much either, having to play a team in their first match on short rest.

Yeah as happens at the World Cup(s) the minnows often has short turn around. The Cheery Blossoms (they will always be that to me) were, to a man, on empty. It is very hard to turn that around in 4 days, especially with the shallower talent pool they have. Couple that with the selection meeting that took place in the Scotland camp as soon as the whistle blew in the 'Boks V Blossoms game. I have no doubt in my mind that a number of that side where no originally in the side prior to the SA kick off.

Slava · 09-23-2015, 12:49 PM

The scheduling issue happens to a number of teams in the pool play. France plays next and they had Italy this past weekend. The Romania plays again Sunday, which is rough because they're already against the Irish. It probably evens out as the play goes on, but I haven't really looked.

Canada plays again on Saturday, then Thursday and the following Tuesday, so we don't really get hit with this issue.

undercoverbrother · 09-23-2015, 12:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slava

The scheduling issue happens to a number of teams in the pool play. France plays next and they had Italy this past weekend. The Romania plays again Sunday, which is rough because they're already against the Irish. It probably evens out as the play goes on, but I haven't really looked.

Canada plays again on Saturday, then Thursday and the following Tuesday, so we don't really get hit with this issue.

It has been an issue since I started watching my first World Cup in '91.

This isn't a bad article on the topic:

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2...on-the-minnows

Slava · 09-23-2015, 01:12 PM

I'm not sure how that could be rectified. I mean some of the big nations are playing similar schedules and have that short prep time, but they are just better and have more depth. It sucks for the minnows, but its got to be hard to really set this up much better. I suppose you could extend the tournament and play all the games on the weekends or something, but then you're looking at a really long tournament.

undercoverbrother · 09-23-2015, 01:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Slava

I'm not sure how that could be rectified. I mean some of the big nations are playing similar schedules and have that short prep time, but they are just better and have more depth. It sucks for the minnows, but its got to be hard to really set this up much better. I suppose you could extend the tournament and play all the games on the weekends or something, but then you're looking at a really long tournament.

In a nut shell:

Quote:

If anything, the top sides should be the ones forced to deal with such a severe turnaround as their players are used to such demands and have the ability to shoulder such a workload. Instead, they are afforded the comparative luxury of a week between their games with the TV broadcasters able to leverage their significant investment to ensure the big names play in the most optimum window in terms of commercial value.

The tops nations can handle a tighter schedule. Look at the team that NZ is trotting out, 12 changes from their top team that faced the Arrgies. The second string for NZ would out the fear of god into many nation's top team.

More often than not the minnows get boned on the schedule, as opposed to the top tier nations.