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[2015 RWC] Pool A: Australia vs. Fiji (23/09/2015)

Puts England's performance into perspective a little, we got a BP, could be crucial. Fiji were great to watch, Nakarawa's offloads were superb, Volavola impressed me too.

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The Australia defence was good in that game, but can it deal with the agile skills of Farrell, Burgess and Barritt? Thought not.

I feel Australia lack a genuine world class 9 and 10 to really keep up consistent results. England with the home advantage should put them away.
 
English fans singing Swing Low is a bit embarrassing
Yeah, was expecting Ireland's Call - most successful team at that stadium. Apart from Wales' pint chugging team (women's division).

Only caught the last half hour.

Fiji tried to put it up them, but Aus defence too good even in the face of off-loading in tackle. Would love to see analysis of Fiji's try - very odd split in Aus's defence with so many players out wide for both teams - Fiji out-numbered them 10-7, but excellent decision by their #10.

Other concern for Aus was turning down penalty and losing 3 line-outs in a row. Scrum powered through in the end, even after replacement prop had to be replaced. Overall Aus have the defence, so looking forward to them cranking it up in offence.

Ref was a mystery. I guess smartcookie will explain why no penalty for Fiji on the yellow card at 71 mins. And no knock-on advantage a few minutes later.
 
Thoroughly unconvincing towards the end there. Honestly very lucky to have not received three or even four yellows were the Wallabies.
 
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"Honestly very lucky to have not received three or even four yellows were the Wallabies"

Yes and it wont happen twice. As for the disavantage created by the schedule of matches, just look japan, in 4 days, southafrica and scotland..., when aussie played their first match today, it s so AMATEUR
 
Only saw the first 40, then my boss noticed me streaming it...

Fardy/Hooper/Poccock scares me. Alot.
 
I feel Australia lack a genuine world class 9 and 10 to really keep up consistent results. England with the home advantage should put them away.

At his best Will Genia is the best 9 in the world and definitely world class..
But the last few times I've seen him play something's not been quite right with him.

And as for fly half, its hard to categorize but quade cooper has more attacking ability than all the other top 10s put together...its just that you can't quite say that about the rest of his game.

The partnership of those two was at the heart of the reds' and the wallabies' successes a few years back - I'd like OZ to rekindle that spark.

In other news... The difference between England and Australia's breakdown ability is...utterly terrifying. I have a huge amount of man love for Pocock in particular .
 
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Pools of 4 countries instead of 5 would make it easier for a more symmetric, and fair, scheduling.

How would that work? Either you have to lose 4 teams or gain 12 otherwise having an uneven number of pools brings its own problems (more luck of the draw for quarter-final qualification or repêchage games putting the sides that play them at a big disadvantage).
 
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"Honestly very lucky to have not received three or even four yellows were the Wallabies"

Yes and it wont happen twice. As for the disavantage created by the schedule of matches, just look japan, in 4 days, southafrica and scotland..., when aussie played their first match today, it s so AMATEUR


why did they need to in squeeze 3 games today anyway. There's only 1 game being played tomorrow the all blacks vs Namibia. (Unless it's different in NH time zone ). They could have had some of these games tomorrow. Esp the Japan game 4 days rest in a World Cup is ridiculous
 
i can't see the game i was at work, but considering that was the closer result fiji had since 30 years and they have only 5 days for recuperation instead of australia first's game (+ matawalu injured) it's very positive result to fiji no doubt.

From what i see in the 1st game of all the PI nations, Fiji is the best team, as i already said i have a lot of regret they aren't in the tonga's or samoa's instead of these two, i'm sure they have really a good chance to be in the 1/4 final this year.

And the calendar sucks for them as all 2nd tier nation.
They have a good chance to beat wales imo.
 
At his best Will Genia is the best 9 in the world and definitely world class..
But the last few times I've seen him play something's not been quite right .

Hah, that's putting it nicely. He's been rubbish for awhile now and nowhere near the best in the world for a long time. He's a bit like Dagg, in 2011 he was devastating. Now in 2015 it's almost quite sad. Drop off of pace, wrong options, taking steps before passing, just out of form in general. His snipes and bursts into open space are almost nonexistent. Shocker of a season at the Reds (I know everyone struggled there, but him and Horwill epitomised the issues imo.)
 
Taqele Naiyaravoro (Glasgow Warriors) was not included in the squad. Is he going to play against Uruguay?
 
Taqele Naiyaravoro (Glasgow Warriors) was not included in the squad. Is he going to play against Uruguay?

Unless I've missed something he is not in the squad, hence won't be playing. Have you heard something? Late call up perhaps?
 
Australia dropped 1 point against Fiji, and now 3rd. How likely is Australia's exit from the World Cup at the pool stage now?

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Unless I've missed something he is not in the squad, hence won't be playing. Have you heard something? Late call up perhaps?

Oh sorry I did not know. I was thinking that he could play because he played the warm-up match against USA.
 
Australia dropped 1 point against Fiji, and now 3rd. How likely is Australia's exit from the World Cup at the pool stage now?

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Oh sorry I did not know. I was thinking that he could play because he played the warm-up match against USA.

Nah as far as I know he didn't make the squad despite expectations he was going to. Big fast lad, would have been fun to watch!

As for Australia, quite a bit was made on the radio in NZ about them not getting the bonus point, but to be honest I;m not sure it will make any difference. They seem to have had the wood on Wales for some years now, so I think they win that game, and with all of Wales' injuries one would think England should win that game too.

That leaves first and second decided between Eng and OZ. If that's the case, bonus points won't matter.

On the other hand if the big three in that pool split the matches then of course, that bonus point could be crucial.

Time will tell.
 
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Australia dropped 1 point against Fiji, and now 3rd. How likely is Australia's exit from the World Cup at the pool stage now?

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Oh sorry I did not know. I was thinking that he could play because he played the warm-up match against USA.

Nothing has changed IMO. They'll still finish second and exit at the semis against NZ or the Frogs
 
At his best Will Genia is the best 9 in the world and definitely world class..
But the last few times I've seen him play something's not been quite right with him.

And as for fly half, its hard to categorize but quade cooper has more attacking ability than all the other top 10s put together...its just that you can't quite say that about the rest of his game.

The partnership of those two was at the heart of the reds' and the wallabies' successes a few years back - I'd like OZ to rekindle that spark.

In other news... The difference between England and Australia's breakdown ability is...utterly terrifying. I have a huge amount of man love for Pocock in particular .

God, you're really hanging on to that one time way back then? That was 4 - 5 years ago mate, neither of them have been anything close to world class since then, and even then they were only world class on every blue moon.
 

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