RWC 2015 Qualifiying

[usausa]

Just a note on Europe, only the 1A Division (Georgia, Romania, Russia, Portugal, Spain, Belgium) have the opportunity for the outright qualifiers in Europe, everyone else can only reach as high as repechage (not an automatic qualifer), but they'd have to defeat vs. 1A's 3rd placed squad to get there. So 2 different battles really going on in Europe. I know you touched on it Black Magic, but just wanted to explain it a little more.

 

[RuggerUA]

Oh certainly, I just find it quite interesting. I don't think we have any other Namibian fans or Ukrainian members here. Nice to have though!

I am Ukrainian, but currently live in the USA. I am not a very frequent visitor to this forum, but good to see another Kievan here. Sorry for the offtopic.

 

[white bear]

It seems to me that Africa has undeservedly straightforward place. If spravdlivosti Europe has 10 teams in the top twenty ranking and perhaps we should have 9 seats directly and 1 in the qualification.

 

[usausa]

 

[yarmolinsky]

Oh certainly, I just find it quite interesting. I don't think we have any other Namibian fans or Ukrainian members here. Nice to have though!

Thank you, cheers! ))

 

[norcalbuff]

Americas 2 RWCQ to be moved from November 2013 to March/April 2014.

http://www.thisisamericanrugby.com/2013/08/final-americas-rwcq-series-to-take.html

Earlier today we asked whether the announced November tests meant that a potential World Cup qualifying series between the loser of the U.S.-Canada series and Uruguay would be held at a later date. We can now confirm that is the case. We asked Eagles head coach Mike Tolkin what would happen to the potential fixtures and he replied that they would be moved to next March/April.

As we noted in the earlier article, playing during the spring window has been something that Tolkin and U.S.A. Rugby CEO Nigel Melville have been asking for. The move is both good and bad for the U.S. and Canada. On the one hand their full-time professionals should be at their peak while on the other hand they risk being in the midst of injury. Another factor is the lack of domestic rugby in February and early March. Something will have to be done to ensure that the domestic players are up to full speed. Either way, whoever wins the upcoming series between the U.S. and Canada should be in an advantageous position.

 

[LittleGuy]

Americas 2 RWCQ to be moved from November 2013 to March/April 2014.

http://www.thisisamericanrugby.com/2013/08/final-americas-rwcq-series-to-take.html

HUGE boost to Uruguay's chances of pulling off an upset IMHO, their players will be fresher off of their own club action, they don't have many overseas pro's to get back from Europe. They also don't have the disadvantage of playing in Canada or the USA in November(potentially a cooler climate than they are used to). While I don't think they'll win that round I would not be surprised if they push Canada/USA at home in March. The advantage to Canada and the States is they get better opponents this November.

 

[psychic duck]

HUGE boost to Uruguay's chances of pulling off an upset IMHO, their players will be fresher off of their own club action, they don't have many overseas pro's to get back from Europe. They also don't have the disadvantage of playing in Canada or the USA in November(potentially a cooler climate than they are used to). While I don't think they'll win that round I would not be surprised if they push Canada/USA at home in March. The advantage to Canada and the States is they get better opponents this November.

Canada and USA have little to worry about Uruguay, they aren't anything special and they could both (especially Canada) get through with less than full strength teams. Uruguay could get close within 7 or 14 at home and lose by about 20 or 30 away imo.

Uruguay will be underdogs even for their likely Repechage match with Russia, they don't have a good record of late against teams like Portugal who they lost at home to, Canada and USA are a step above.

 

[canadafan]

Who are the Yanks opponents this November anyway?

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

Maori All Blacks, Georgia, Russia

 

[Brad John]

Americas 2 RWCQ to be moved from November 2013 to March/April 2014.

http://www.thisisamericanrugby.com/2013/08/final-americas-rwcq-series-to-take.html

Strange how Rugby Canada (being an amateur organization) as you've mentioned, when compared to the
fully professional outfit USA Rugby is, still beats the best the USA can offer for RWC2015 qualifying, and
pretty much any other test match over the past few years. Must be difficult to take for Americans to realize
the little northern country dominates the best athletes the USA has on offer in the game of Rugby.

Good luck against Uruguay.

 

[usausa]

Quick totals so far:

855 tries scored, 542 conversions, 496 penalty goals, 26 drop goals, 6925 total points scored
147 games played, 41 decided by 7 points or fewer, 92 times out of 294 a team has scored 4 or more tries (31%), 10 matches both teams have scored at least 4 tries

Hoping to go back over all the matches and add disciplinary records (yellow/red cards) soon, and maybe games played for individual players so I can get per game averages to better identify who has been doing well. For example, someone like Raynor Parkinson will get more points than Chris Wyles simply because he gets more matches but Wyles may be averaging 10 points per game. I don't know. Anyone have suggestions please put them forward I will try to add certain things.

 

[norcalbuff]

Strange how Rugby Canada (being an amateur organization) as you've mentioned, when compared to the
fully professional outfit USA Rugby is, still beats the best the USA can offer for RWC2015 qualifying, and
pretty much any other test match over the past few years. Must be difficult to take for Americans to realize
the little northern country dominates the best athletes the USA has on offer in the game of Rugby.

Good luck against Uruguay.

Random rant. Did mommy not give you enough love or did she just get mad when you still couldn't read after all those years?

 

[norcalbuff]

Since this thread was last updated, two European countries have been eliminated. Luxembourg lost their playoff against Israel 12-26 and are out. Czech Republic were eliminated with their loss to Poland last weekend.

Here are the upcoming European RWCQ fixtures through the end of the year:

Oct 19: Sweden vs Czech Republic - ENC 1B
Oct 26: Israel vs Netherlands - Round 3 playoff (winner plays 1B champion in May 2014)
Oct 26: Ukraine vs Germany - ENC 1B
Nov 2: Ukraine vs Sweden - ENC 1B
Nov 9: Germany vs Poland - ENC 1B
Nov 9: Moldova vs Sweden - ENC 1B
Nov 16: Moldova vs Germany - ENC 1B
Nov 16: Czech Republic vs Ukraine - ENC 1B

2 more rounds of ENC 1B in April 2014, but Germany could well have it wrapped up by the end of the year if they beat Poland and Moldova.

 

[norcalbuff]

Dates for the Americas 2 RWCQ set

BOULDER, Colo. – The International Rugby Board has released the dates for the Rugby World Cup 2015 Qualifier playoff for the Americas between the Men’s Eagles and Uruguay. Uruguay will host the first match Saturday, March 22, with the return leg set for the United States Saturday, March 29.The winner of the two-leg series will qualify for the Rugby World Cup England as Americas 2 in Pool B with South Africa, Samoa, Scotland and the Asia 1 qualifier. The loser of the series will participate in the repechage tournament.
The location of the U.S. leg will be announced in the coming days, along with ticketing information.

 

[LittleGuy]

That's a little earlier than initially anticipated, really wonder whether the sides will have access to their pro's. United States will have to look towards a southern city as a host as well at that time of year it's a little risky weather wise.

 

[norcalbuff]

That's a little earlier than initially anticipated, really wonder whether the sides will have access to their pro's. United States will have to look towards a southern city as a host as well at that time of year it's a little risky weather wise.

Yeah, if they were going to have it in March, why not shift it two weeks earlier when it would be in the Six Nations window?

Although from an American perspective, the timing is nice as there is very little to compete with it on our sporting calendar. After football season, before MLB has started and also before the NBA and NHL playoffs. Pretty much the only thing of importance that weekend is the NCAA Tournament (basketball) semis.

I've heard the match might go to Glendale, which would be a little disappointing from an ambition perspective, but from a selfish perspective I wouldn't complain.

 

[canadafan]

Still gives you the same problem about player availability, can't see you guys having most of your best players for these two tests.

 

[norcalbuff]

Still gives you the same problem about player availability, can't see you guys having most of your best players for these two tests.

Moving up the matches to March 8th and 15th wouldn't have those problems as there are no Top 14 or Aviva Premiership matches those weekends. It's a player release window which is why ENC 1A is played on those weekends.

Technically players are required to be released for all RWCQs anyway. Whether or not that can be worked out remains to be seen. I can see having the most problems with Manoa and Ngwenya and don't really expect to see them. Clever will pretty much always be available because he's in Japan. Wyles and Lavalla are a bit more on the iffy side because they are firmly entrenched in the starting 15s of their sides, but LaValla just signed a 3 year contract extension at Stade Francais so they can't pressure him much with the threat of no new contract and Wyles has pretty much always made himself available when needed. If we really needed him, I don't think Scully would be too much of a problem since he is rotated in and out of the Leicester lineup and isn't essential to them. Suniula and Fry will almost certainly be available.

Honestly I think we shouldn't have a problem with Uruguay even missing a lot of our overseas pros, but I'd still prefer to have them. I could also see a situation where we send a side without our essential pros to Uruguay for the first leg and then if we perform poorly in Uruguay, we fly them in for the return leg.

 

[usausa]

Here are some tidbits, keep in mind my stats are unofficial and, I know, more accurate than the IRB's (at least when it comes to player scoring).

60 teams have been eliminated
7,379 points overall in 157 matches (912t, 574c, 531p, 26d)
912 tries scored (conversion rate of 62.9%)
Germany's Raynor Parkinson leads scoring with 112 pts, and leads all kickers with 28 conversions. (4t, 28c, 11p, 1d)
South Korea's Kim Gwong Min leads all with 8 tries.
Warongkorn Khamkoet of Thailand is leader in penalties converted with 20, but won't add to total as team is elimiated. Romania's Florien Vlaicu is right behind with 19 pens.

Europe: 3,186 points in 78 matches (363t, 225c, 297p, 10d)
Asia: 1,838 pts in 31 matches (253t, 165c, 80p, 1d)
Americas: 1,100 pts in 25 matches (144t, 85c, 67p, 3d)
Africa: 926 pts in 17 matches (104t, 71c, 76p, 12d)
Oceania: 329 pts in 6 matches (48t, 28t, 11p)

File: http://www.mediafire.com/view/d6jenz6fjyqpih5/RWC2015Q.xlsx