Caught the Japan/France and England/Argentina games today on the TSN replay. Beauty! Totally different games but both great to the eyes.
There are a couple great games tonight/tomorrow. Ireland/US will be fun if the Irish come out and destroy! Wales and South Africa should be a good game in general. The Springboks have won all the games against Wales over the last decade or more, but its the first real match of rugby playing nations at this years RWC. Kick off is at 2:30am MDT...set your PVRs!
What about the early game I can actually watch.. will Australia-Italy be any good?
It will be alright, but if Australia is up to their usual standards they should win in a walk. I'll be watching that one as well...thats the problem with it being in NZ!
The next one is back in the UK, so thats a lot better.
Edited to add that recent scores have been around 30-34 to 18-20 for Australia between the two sides. Its not a huge spread, but it would be an enormous upset if Italy managed a win somehow.
Last edited by Slava; 09-10-2011 at 06:04 PM.
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They said yesterday the 2019 World Cup will be in Japan!
NZ-->ENG-->Japan sounds good
better than freaking FIFA.
I'd be thrilled if they ever put together a bid from Canada. I actually think we could get out the crowds and it would do wonders for the sport here. We have the facilities for the most part I think...I'd even want to do work to make it happen!
The atmosphere here in Auckland has been really good. Lots of flags hanging out of cars. Every second car it seems. The arrival of the waka (canoes) at the harbour was a lot of fun to watch, as were the opening ceremonies. Might be some official youtube up of all that stuff. Not a big rugby guy but easy to get drawn in. Will be getting some Rugby Canada swag at some point for sure.
edit, yep here's the ceremony from TVNZ,
can't find official video of the waka coming in, but people have put their own up, worth a look if you're at all interested
Apparently Tonga is resting 11 starters against Canada tonight
I liked that article on TSN saying it's an insult; it is. I understand if you sit a few since they just got battered by NZ 4 days ago, but 11 of your starting 15? Good analogy to that would be if Finland sat their top 3 lines in an olympic game against Belarus... Even if Belarus isn't a powerhouse, that's an insult and you will probably end up losing that game. I really think Canada can win this game now, would be huge to come away with a victory.
This strategy makes no sense to me, if Tonga loses to Canada they're pretty much out even if they beat France and Japan. Especially with the bonus point France got against Japan.
Maybe they're not too smart in Tonga,
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Watching the Oilers defend is like watching fire engines frantically rushing to the wrong fire
I don't know if they're totally resting starters, but instead they are really working hard to mix things up since Canada got to sit and watch them on the weekend. It is odd though, and hopefully the strategy hurts more than it helps!
Canada is 3-2 all time against Tonga. They are #12 ranked at this point in time and we are #14. It seemed like Tonga wanted nothing to do with their backs against New Zealand last week. That could either be pure preference or not wanting to face the New Zealand backs...I really don't know. I do hope that the Canadians get the ball out to guys like DTH Van Der Merwe and go for some long runs!
My prediction: Canada comes out strong and grinds out a 19-14 win over the Tongans.
