International Rugby

[Rory]

World Cup prediction time.
France to beat South Africa in the final, should be close but home advantage might swing it for Les Bleus.
Ireland to go out in the quarter finals, and still not have made a World Cup semi-final.
England to go as far as (if not further than) Ireland in the tournament.

Defeatist! (Although probably correct.)

[Monty]

Very up for this. Excited to watch Italy-Namibia at the Irish Pub in Cannaregio. The Veneto (for obvious, Benetton-flavoured reasons) is the biggest region for rugby in the country, so should be a good atmosphere.

[paul_e]

So we're on to day 1 and we kick off with, and I don't think this is being over the top, the best (on paper) opening fixture to a world cup (in any sport) I can think of. It must be pretty rare for the first game to be one that could genuinely end up repeated in the final and would be much of a shock. Nothing much between the teams either so could be a belter.

For anyone who isn't aware all the matches are on ITV (and most are on ITV1) so there shoyuldn't be many problems finding somewhere to watch them.

Things kick off properly tomorrow with 4 games back-to-back 9including the opener for England which I'm marginally less worried about now I've seen the team, still a few red flags in there but it's better than I expected a few weeks back and at least Mitchell is starting.

[Axl Rose]

World Cup prediction time.
France to beat South Africa in the final, should be close but home advantage might swing it for Les Bleus.
Ireland to go out in the quarter finals, and still not have made a World Cup semi-final.
England to go as far as (if not further than) Ireland in the tournament.

Ireland have a great chance, mate.

South Africa to win it. England have no chance. Even the Japanese think they'll beat England.

[AV84]

England and Wales won't make it out of their pool, that's my prediction.

[PaulWinch again]

Quite possible although weirdly either one could easily get to the semi final.

[AV84]

Allez les boos!

[PaulWinch again]

Does anyone know if there’s a logic as to why the draw is so far in advance of the tournament? It’s so weird and had left it open to this lopsided draw.

[paul_e]

England and Wales won't make it out of their pool, that's my prediction.

I agree on Wales, they just don't have the quality, I'm 50/50 on England, it will really depend on whether Borthwick has realised he was on track to match our worst ever world cup.

[AV84]

Does anyone know if there’s a logic as to why the draw is so far in advance of the tournament? It’s so weird and had left it open to this lopsided draw.

Supposedly it's to do with the logistics of organising team bases and stuff like that. They needed to know what teams would be where and as early as possible. That's what Beaumont said anyway, but he's acknowledged its a disaster now and they're looking at ways to have the draw as late as possible for the next one.

[paul_e]

Does anyone know if there’s a logic as to why the draw is so far in advance of the tournament? It’s so weird and had left it open to this lopsided draw.

Supposedly it's to do with the logistics of organising team bases and stuff like that. They needed to know what teams would be where and as early as possible. That's what Beaumont said anyway, but he's acknowledged its a disaster now and they're looking at ways to have the draw as late as possible for the next one.

Personally I think it's more that the rankings normally don't shift around all that much so it generally works out ok and there's no pressure to do anything different. That's gone to shit this time and suddenly a process that was fine looks really poor. The logistics argument makes sense if you consider the rules were implemented before the internet.

[AV84]

Whose stupid idea was the choir?

[Brazilian Villain]

Ireland to go out in the quarter finals, and still not have made a World Cup semi-final.
England to go as far as (if not further than) Ireland in the tournament.

Defeatist! (Although probably correct.)

Just a realistic view given the draw, but obviously hope I'm wrong. Even the Guinness ad campaign for the tournament is "Think it. Just don't jinx it". It's no wonder we look on aghast at the biennial "It's Coming Home" circus across the water.

[Flamingo Lane]

What happened there to the French national anthem?

[AV84]

What happened there to the French national anthem?

They had a choir doing an arrangement of it, but the crowd were singing faster or slower, and it all just blended into a horrible noise.