International Rugby

[PaulWinch again]

It's a very strong Aussie team.

[OzVilla]

They are and their longstanding Achilles heal of the scrum improved massively in the 4 nations but I think they can still be intimidated if we get in their faces and they concede few early penalties in the scrum. Once they lose confidence England could get a roll on.

They'll be strongest the breakdown, Pocock and Hooper are excellent and provide their backs with good ball.  If we lose that battle we could be in trouble as Falou and Ashley-Cooper will score tries. However, they still don't really know their best halves combination and Checka is a rookie at international level.

England havea good recent record against them in WC rugby though, sent them out in 95, 03 and 07.  Aussies quite confident as usual.

[PaulWinch again]

I'm not surprised their confident having seen us play last week. But in fairness to Farrell he had a good game last week, and our best chance against them is beat them in the set piece. JJ coming back into the backline will help with the balance as well.

[PaulWinch again]

I'm happier with the balance of the team this week, principally because JJ is in. It instantly makes us look a better team, plus it has the added benefit of getting Goode out of the squad.

[Dante Lavelli]

Apologies for the source but this WC is forecast to have the highest aggregate attendance of any sporting event.  And also the most expensive.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/rugbyunion/article-3254706/Rugby-World-Cup-one-best-attended-sporting-events-despite-expensive.html#ixzz3nDmlG2Cv

That's impressive.  Any idea where the money goes?

[Dante Lavelli]

Crikey. Using the numbers from the article, so far, 983,000 people have attached matches with an average ticket price of £104.  Ignoring the beer drunk, that's £100M.  Considering that a reasonable % of the attendees will have come from abroad that's a decent injection of cash into the country's economy.

...And we're not even half way through.

[DaveD]

Putting cost of ticket, transport, food and beer together, reckon I spent well over £300.

[lovejoy]

How do the attendances compare to the Tour De France? Sometimes a single stage has over a million watching.

[ADVILLAFAN]

How do the attendances compare to the Tour De France? Sometimes a single stage has over a million watching.

Whereas it has me rushing to change the channel on the remote

[PaulWinch again]

Good display Fiji. The Welsh failure to get a bonus points makes it very simple. Lose on Saturday and we're out, win and we're probably about 99% certain of going through.

[cheltenhamlion]

Shit or bust on Saturday now. Lose and we are out. Win and I think we will win the group.

[UK Redsox]

Wales were lucky to get away with that. Fiji ran them very close.

Any news on Dan Biggar's injury?

[spangley1812]

Wales were lucky to get away with that. Fiji ran them very close.

Any news on Dan Biggar's injury?

It is only cramp apparently

[Pete3206]

Good display Fiji. The Welsh failure to get a bonus points makes it very simple. Lose on Saturday and we're out, win and we're probably about 99% certain of going through.

It's a pipe dream. England have absolutely no chance of beating the Aussies. Zero.

[PaulWinch again]

Of course they do.