2014 African Cup (RWCQ) - June 28 to July 6

[Thingimubob]

Too late. It's either Zimbabwe or Namibia for Africa 1.

Yeah true, but at least Zimbabwe haven't qualified in my lifetime so I'll take that

 

[William18]

63-0 after 40 minutes

 

[LittleGuy]

70-3, Namibia have to win by 53. Wow what a wild end.

I wouldn't totally count out Africa 2 guys. It's unlikely but certainly not impossible for them to advance. Russia looked ghastly this spring and their coaching situation is an atrocity. Uruguay would be a tougher opponent however in the final so they'd probably have to hope for a Hong Kong win in the other semi.

 

[LittleGuy]

89-10 final, so Namibia as always make it nerve wracking but slip in to the RWC. Amazing tournament and finish I would have given Namibia maybe a 5-10% chance of being the Africa qualifier heading into this Sunday.

Zimbabwe will be Africa 2 and play the Ruskies in Krasnodar in August in the repechage semi finals.

 

[William18]

Madagascar have been better in this second half but horribly disappointing overall. Most of the crowd has gone home. Hopefully we can send some coaches over there and we nurture this interest in the game. You would hope that they would do a lot better in 4 years time. They seem to be able to spread the ball but have no forward play.

Fulltime: Namibia 89-10 Madagascar

I will write off Africa 2 after what I saw from Zimbabwe earlier. I think they would do very well to beat Russia.

We'll see Namibia play the AB's at the Olympic Stadium.

 

[London_Italian]

Well that was emphatic. Think Namibia may do better at the RWC this time round than they have done in the past....will still lose every game though.

Uruguay to win repechage?

 

[usausa]

What a cruel turn of events to wake up to...

 

[LittleGuy]

Well that was emphatic. Think Namibia may do better at the RWC this time round than they have done in the past....will still lose every game though.

Uruguay to win repechage?

I would lean towards Uruguay right now, they are technically the best side especially in the set pieces, they also have the best coaching staff and set up. The Russians have better backs but in the last couple of years they haven't been able to utilize them very much. Bears would be my 2nd pick still though, with Hong Kong and Zimbabwe probably doing well to advance to the repechage finals.

Namibia aside from the All Blacks game which will be a complete massacre haven't drawn that bad a pool this time around. Argentina will also likely be a big loss but the Pumas aren't really a team that's going to go out and try to put a record score up. They'll probably "target" Georgia, and hope to keep Tonga to some sort of reasonable margin. I'd be very surpised if they won, Georgia they might keep reasonably competitive for a long part of the game.

 

[Feicarsinn]

Well, that was suspicious.

 

[LittleGuy]

Well, that was suspicious.

I think it's more coincidental. Namibia are still the best African side apart from South Africa, if they don't concede that late try to Kenya in the 1st game and come away with the draw they would have cruised to the ***le.

The order of the match ups today probably hurt the other two teams, as Zimbabwe had to play to beat Kenya(without them getting any bonus points) so they could guarantee at least 2nd and advance to the repechage, while hoping Madagascar offered some sort of resistance to Namibia to the point of not conceding a 53 point margin in order to finish 1st. Needless to say Madagascar with absolutely nothing to play for facing a motivated Namibian side who needed a result absolutely crumbled.

I didn't really notice any weird calls or anything out of the games that was unorderly. Madagascar just played like crap in a meaningless game while Namibia were clinical.

 

[LittleGuy]

Apologies Russia vs. Zimbabwe is in Krasnoyarsk not Krasnodar.


Final standings.

1st. Namibia 10 points +76 diff.
2nd. Zimbabwe 10 points +49 diff.
3rd. Kenya 10 points + 23 diff.
4th. Madagascar 0 points - 148 diff.

 

[William18]

I think it's more coincidental. Namibia are still the best African side apart from South Africa, if they don't concede that late try to Kenya in the 1st game and come away with the draw they would have cruised to the ***le.

The order of the match ups today probably hurt the other two teams, as Zimbabwe had to play to beat Kenya(without them getting any bonus points) so they could guarantee at least 2nd and advance to the repechage, while hoping Madagascar offered some sort of resistance to Namibia to the point of not conceding a 53 point margin in order to finish 1st. Needless to say Madagascar with absolutely nothing to play for facing a motivated Namibian side who needed a result absolutely crumbled.

I didn't really notice any weird calls or anything out of the games that was unorderly. Madagascar just played like crap in a meaningless game while Namibia were clinical.

Zimbabwe kicked a penalty to go from 25-10 to 28-10 when a try could have secured their qualification. They only have themselves to blame.

 

[LittleGuy]

Zimbabwe kicked a penalty to go from 25-10 to 28-10 when a try could have secured their qualification. They only have themselves to blame.

A poor choice in hindsight but one that isn't as stupid on closer look, first there is absolutely no guarantee that they actually score the try when going to the corner in fact percentages are probably more likely they don't score and Namibia than only need a 50 point win in their game versus Madagascar.

As well Zimbabwe needed to win by 8 to finish ahead of Kenya, they kick the penalty and they are up by 18, home and dry in that possible scenario, if they go for the corner and Kenya picks off the lineout for example and scores under the posts than it could be 25-17, than Zimbabwe are under huge pressure and all sorts of tie breaking permutations come into play. With the distinct possibility that they could finish 3rd and not even advance to the repechage stage.

Zimbabwe's coaching staff couldn't have forseen Madagscar being that poor(was anyone really anticipating a 79 point loss?) 53 points they probably figured was touch and go and was doable for Namibia but absolutely no guarentee. Tha's where the order of the match up's comes into play if Namibia pounds Madagascar 89-10 in the first game than Zimbabwe would almost certainly have gone for the corner. As it is they do avoid complete disaster by finishing 2nd. Kenya were the ones that really dropped the ball today as all they needed was a losing bonus point and now they are completely eliminated.

 

[LittleGuy]

Namibia are probably the qualifier that is most able of the sides physically at that level, I think Kenya would have found suddenly playing those sides a bit of the shock to the system whilst the Namibians have some background in South African schools rugby. None of the sides will win a game, but Tonga and Georgia would probably have to work a bit harder to crush them, whilst they could have probably crushed others in their sleep. People forget in 2011 that they started okayish against Fiji and Samoa keeping them below 50, but they had no stamina and stuck to playing the same XV each game and playing South Africa and Wales in 4 days was too tough. For all the romance of a Kenya qualifying, I think we may have seen here that would have found those schedules even tougher than Namibia did.

Agreed, Namibia will also likely have their inspirational talisman Burger back who was missing in this round and who tends to put in Herculean efforts for his home country. They have by far the best Flyhalf in Kotze who might be able to change a game himself with an exceptional kicking display. Their set piece isn't embarrasing either, Kenya would have been smashed in the scrum's against that collection of pool sides.

The factors that might keep the margin down a tiny bit in the AB game is Namibia will be completely fresh while the AB's will have played a few days earlier and likely will be putting out the 2nd XV. Also England in the fall isn't like Australia in the spring(the 142-0 game was played in perfect conditions), a wetter pitch and conditions could be in the cards which might keep some of the running down or make conversions more difficult.

 

[Jayatron]

Agreed, Namibia will also likely have their inspirational talisman Burger back who was missing in this round and who tends to put in Herculean efforts for his home country. They have by far the best Flyhalf in Kotze who might be able to change a game himself with an exceptional kicking display. Their set piece isn't embarrasing either, Kenya would have been smashed in the scrum's against that collection of pool sides.

The factors that might keep the margin down a tiny bit in the AB game is Namibia will be completely fresh while the AB's will have played a few days earlier and likely will be putting out the 2nd XV. Also England in the fall isn't like Australia in the spring(the 142-0 game was played in perfect conditions), a wetter pitch and conditions could be in the cards which might keep some of the running down or make conversions more difficult.

Either way I am disappointed that they couldn't do it. Whoever Africa 1 was gonna be they were going to get smashed, it's just that this tournament it's gonna be Namibia, again. Qualifying could have really helped Kenya as well. They have the most potential in that area of the world, granted even if they do have a tallest midget situation going on - great comparison.

It's all rather frustrating with the slow growth that the sport is having. Really hope the Olympics kick it on a bit, again real potential for it to really catch if Kenya can do well in Brazil. I wonder how full the stadium will be for it?

 

[LittleGuy]

Either way I am disappointed that they couldn't do it. Whoever Africa 1 was gonna be they were going to get smashed, it's just that this tournament it's gonna be Namibia, again. Qualifying could have really helped Kenya as well. They have the most potential in that area of the world, granted even if they do have a tallest midget situation going on - great comparison.

It's all rather frustrating with the slow growth that the sport is having. Really hope the Olympics kick it on a bit, again real potential for it to really catch if Kenya can do well in Brazil. I wonder how full the stadium will be for it?

To be fair to Namibia it's not like they are the only small country population wise to qualify. Fiji, Tonga, Samoa, and to a lesser extent Georgia, New Zealand, Wales, Ireland, Scotland(and possibly Uruguay if they qualify) aren't exactly population powerhouses.

 

[TRF_stormer2010]

Does anyone know (if anyone should it should probably be me as a South Afrcan I suppose) what the situations are with Anton Bresler (Sharks lock) and Torsten van Jaarsveld (Cheetahs hooker/backrow) who are both Namibia qualified being born there but havn't been called up as far as I can see. Both are quality players playing at Super rugby level, not stars but holding their own at least. I can't see them playing for SA considering the dpeth we have in those positions- which is the only reason I can think of for them possibly not wanting to play for Nam- so they ought to be shoe ins for the Welwitchias I'd have thought! Add Burger, Engels and Kitshoff and you have a the start of a decent enough pack for a tier 2/3 country.

 

[nickdnz]

Am I the only one that thinks New Zealand's pool is far too easy?

IRB Rankings:

1. New Zealand
12. Argentina
13. Tonga
15. Georgia
26: Namibia

I mean wow. I think it's not really going to give us a decent warm up going into the knock out stages. Not even 1 opponent in the current top 10!

 

[William18]

Argentina are a lot better than that though. They still have a fair way to go but I think they are at least better than Fiji, Japan and Samoa. We do seem to generally get easy pools and it hasn't always helped us in the past.

 

[Nielsch]

Zimbabwe kicked a penalty to go from 25-10 to 28-10 when a try could have secured their qualification. They only have themselves to blame.

Seriously, what the heck were they thinking? You'd think at least one player on the field would have thought: "hey, one more try and we'll get a bonus point..."