Well... France lost to Tonga. What's next, losing to the United States...?! Mind you, they already did, in the 1920s... see blog below! Forget France this year, even for the semi-finals...
Then... England stole the victory in the last 5 minutes to Scotland. I said Scotland, not Ireland or Wales...! Forget England this year, even for the semi-finals...
Russia scored 3 tries against Australia, the TRI-Nations winner!, and Canada scored 2 tries against the host nation New Zealand, two very good performances, showing that the gap between the first 20 rugby nations is closing slowly... Good luck to Canada and Russia in London in 2015. I might be there...
Don't miss next week South Africa against Australia in quarter final, it could be a final before the date...!
As for those who could not make it to Ste Julie - Montreal today, I am happy to report that a few thousand dollars were collected for the John Jones foundation, created by an Australian emigrated to Canada long time ago and who organised the first college rugby game in Montreal many moons ago. All proceeds for the event are going for rugby scholarship in college and CEGEPS in Quebec.
Only one final was not played by the official written rules of the 7s tournaments (7 to 10' each half). Both teams were down to less than 7 people in good order of running, so... with the presence of a referee, the winner was decided by... a beer chug-off...!
Saturday, October 1, 2011
Friday, September 30, 2011
Rugby - Samoa South Africa and quarter finals
One of the best rugby games at the world cup to-date, with Ireland-Australia, Wales-Samoa,...
If you did not see it, borrow a DVD and watch it!
Samoa was simply heroic in attack and defense. But... they dropped a few too many balls, in tackles or handling errors, they had against them one of the best defense of the tournament, and... just when it seemed they had a chance to come back within one point (they had already missed the goal line by a couple of inches minutes before), their full back 15 hung in too long to the shorts of a South African player without the ball, and after the SA player punched his hands many times to make him let go, while looking at the ref, as the SA player was going away, the Samoa full back pushed his hand right into his face with a stiff arm... red card, and Samoa played 14 against 15 at the worst time. Before you ask... a yellow card would have had the same effect since there was only 5 minutes left to play...
When reviewing the tape, SA will see what they did well in defense, and what they need to improve like against the runs of the centers and wings...
So get ready for most probably NZ - Scotland or Argentina, England France, SA - Australia and Ireland Wales. I still think a final between New Zealand and South Africa seems most probable, with the outcome depending possibly of the kickers. And of the referree... hopefully not...
If you did not see it, borrow a DVD and watch it!
Samoa was simply heroic in attack and defense. But... they dropped a few too many balls, in tackles or handling errors, they had against them one of the best defense of the tournament, and... just when it seemed they had a chance to come back within one point (they had already missed the goal line by a couple of inches minutes before), their full back 15 hung in too long to the shorts of a South African player without the ball, and after the SA player punched his hands many times to make him let go, while looking at the ref, as the SA player was going away, the Samoa full back pushed his hand right into his face with a stiff arm... red card, and Samoa played 14 against 15 at the worst time. Before you ask... a yellow card would have had the same effect since there was only 5 minutes left to play...
When reviewing the tape, SA will see what they did well in defense, and what they need to improve like against the runs of the centers and wings...
So get ready for most probably NZ - Scotland or Argentina, England France, SA - Australia and Ireland Wales. I still think a final between New Zealand and South Africa seems most probable, with the outcome depending possibly of the kickers. And of the referree... hopefully not...
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Rugby - USA at the top...
.
So the USA played against Italy... and lost as expected. Overall a poor world cup for the USA. Things will not really change as long as the rugby players are not forbidden to watch american football games...! But all is not lost...
Did you know that the Olympic games had rugby (15) on their agenda during two Olympiades, in the 1920s. In both cases France made it to the finals, and got beaten by the same team, a better team... which team...? guess... yes, the USA!
Below pictures of the events from the early 1920s, except the fan picture, probably taken on a beach of NZ...
So the USA played against Italy... and lost as expected. Overall a poor world cup for the USA. Things will not really change as long as the rugby players are not forbidden to watch american football games...! But all is not lost...
Did you know that the Olympic games had rugby (15) on their agenda during two Olympiades, in the 1920s. In both cases France made it to the finals, and got beaten by the same team, a better team... which team...? guess... yes, the USA!
Below pictures of the events from the early 1920s, except the fan picture, probably taken on a beach of NZ...
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Rugby - Oh Canada...! Japan
With a little bit of help here or there from the referee, Canada held off Japan to a tie, even missing a victory if Canadian number 3 had not retained a ball after the referee whistle...! That would have been a steal... even if Canadian defense was at times heroic. But with 31% of field occupation at half time and with 9 handling errors by half time, you can't expect to win...
Apparently both coaches were from New Zealand, having played both in the NZ team which won the world cup in 1987.
Best man of the match: forget Japan number 6 elected by I don't know whom, best man of the game was clearly Canadian number 13...! simply everywhere on attack and on defense: best game I have seen from a single player this year. If you taped the game, watch it again, only paying attention to number 13... easy to spot him: he was everywhere...!
This tie should / could / might / etc... give Canada third place in their group, meaning an automatic qualification for the 2015 world cup in London. But... let's wait for the rest of the group games...who said France will beat Tonga for sure... not me, and not for the France team I have seen so far... and with Medard still around (shifted to 15...!), one can be even more worried...
Apparently both coaches were from New Zealand, having played both in the NZ team which won the world cup in 1987.
Best man of the match: forget Japan number 6 elected by I don't know whom, best man of the game was clearly Canadian number 13...! simply everywhere on attack and on defense: best game I have seen from a single player this year. If you taped the game, watch it again, only paying attention to number 13... easy to spot him: he was everywhere...!
This tie should / could / might / etc... give Canada third place in their group, meaning an automatic qualification for the 2015 world cup in London. But... let's wait for the rest of the group games...who said France will beat Tonga for sure... not me, and not for the France team I have seen so far... and with Medard still around (shifted to 15...!), one can be even more worried...
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