Japan v Scotland game of the tournament so far. Japan's ball handling, confidence & energy (particularly in the 1st Half) blew Scotland away. My only concern with them is their ability to retain the ball in the ruck. Scotland turned them over quite a few times, even from a settled ruck. A team like New Zealand would overwhelm them.
It was the first time I’d ever watched a rugby game from start to finish, and I was blown away. I had no idea whether all games were that riveting, so it’s good to hear that more knowledgeable fans like yourselves deem it an exceptional match.
-GW
if you follow Rugby you will be familiar with Stephen Jones, a welsh sports journalist...... not very well regarded in the southern hemisphere, as he has a habit of writing dribble.
It appears the Irish are not to fond of him either, his Wikipedia page has been updated.
Stephen Jones is a Welsh journalist and the rugby correspondent for The Sunday Times since 1970s. [1] He now (as of 2019) covers Rugby for The Times as well. He also has a tendency to write pieces without fact-checking them. The IRFU aren't very impressed with his scurrilous allegations regarding RWC19. He also contributes an occasional report on others sports that he knows equally less about, such as cricket, football, and golf, in addition to his main topic of rugby union, although his inherent anti-Irish bias is not as prevalent in these articles.[2]
All the quarter finals have be exceptional and running true to form. Australia not quite up to their 2015 best & England grinding out the win. New Zealand are, well... New Zealand. France throwing it away, South Africa too much for Japan.
Japan can be proud of what they have achieved.
I hear you.... 4 tries to 1 and a good result. Just don’t want to get ahead of ourselves. I was at Twickenham 4 years ago and it still smarts! I ended up in Chertsey A&E!!
Sorry but there is no way on this planet that England are better than Wales.
Perhaps to the uninitiated Wales looked dodgy in the second half of the game against Australia. The fact of the matter is that Australia threw everything they had in their arsenal, and it is a massive arsenal, but Wales defended amazingly while not losing their cool.
An indicator of how well Wales played is the fact that the only comeback the Australian media had was to blame the ref.
England have had reasonably easy games, with no big tests so far so they might look good but when they meet a proper side they will fall short.
NZ are consistently the best team in the world but they are beatable, only a fool would dismiss them as one of the favourite contenders but they have lost a few, all be it close, games this year so they need to turn up with their A game.
My view is biased because I am welsh and it is a massive part of our culture, when Wales play, Wales shuts down for 80 minutes. It is one of the very few sports where we can sit at the top table with the best in the world. If Wales have a hope of winning the World Cup then this current team are the ones who have the biggest chance of all the teams that have represented Wales since 1987.
There are many factors that will play a role in the outcome of this tournament but it will be one hell of a party if Wales do manage to pull it off.
That was horrific viewing for a Wallabies fan 🙁
Why run it out every single time from deep within your own territory? No kicking game at all.
The All Blacks were ferocious - I'm hoping they run over, around and right through England.
