November Internationals - Tier 2 & 3

[Brigantine]

Russia did? And they still get overtaken by Uruguay in the rankings.

Though that Romania win takes them to 14th and within 0.35 RP of Italy. They'll be happy about that.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

watched a bit of russia-belguim and youtube and the crowd was pretty awesome... seemed really into the game

 

[Brigantine]

russia-belguim

Russia vs Belgium isn't till February?

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Hopefully you watched Belgium vs Brazil from this weekend. Crowd was into that too, particularly in the final minutes.

You wouldn't be the first to watch the wrong game on YouTube. I watched a 2 year old game for a full half once before I realised it wasn't the one that happsned over the weekend.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Russia vs Belgium isn't till February?

haha brazil belguim

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Highlights of Georgia vs US as it went to the death.



US improving markedly since losing their coach to the Bulls it seems. Augurs well for the potential of any US based Pro14 franchise (assuming they could capture their internationals).

Elsewhere nothing too unexpected except Germany's makeshift, strike breaking players losing to Chile.

Uruguay completed the double in Namibia showing they will giving a tough challenge to Canada in the RWC playoff and making a mockery of "Africa 1" getting an automatic qualification spot while the equivalent side in South America has to jump through every hoop imaginable.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Also Spain hammered Brazil something like 67-24. Clearly they've had a rocket under them after disappointingly losing to Canada

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Oh and of course Fiji hammered Canada yesterday scoring over 50 points.
Just watched the highlights of this game. Some unbelievable rugby played by Fiji, one of my favourite teams when they play like that! Nadolo, Tuisova, Botia and both second rows are pure quality with their pace and offloads.

 

[Brigantine]

I watched Moldova vs Switzerland. Only the second time I've been able to watch Switzerland play live, and last time was only because someone in the stand was kind enough to stream it from their phone camera! The stream even started in time for the anthems. Much better than Rugby Europe's standard fare.
(thanks to being actually broadcast by a Moldovan TV station)

Moldova's pack was very dominant, but Switzerland have gotten good at their territorial kicks.

If it wasn't for the try they scored off of a penalty hitting the crossbar, Switzerland wouldn't have won that game. Avoiding relegation again should be manageable now.

(technically not a test, but meh)

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

I watched Moldova vs Switzerland. Only the second time I've been able to watch Switzerland play live, and last time was only because someone in the stand was kind enough to stream it from their phone camera! The stream even started in time for the anthems. Much better than Rugby Europe's standard fare.
(thanks to being actually broadcast by a Moldovan TV station)

Moldova's pack was very dominant, but Switzerland have gotten good at their territorial kicks.

If it wasn't for the try they scored off of a penalty hitting the crossbar, Switzerland wouldn't have won that game. Avoiding relegation again should be manageable now.

(technically not a test, but meh)

And I thought I was becoming hardcore

 

[Ainsthrilln]

Also Spain hammered Brazil something like 67-24. Clearly they've had a rocket under them after disappointingly losing to Canada

Spain was just very superior to Brazil. Their defense is not good, and their forward can't compete in scrum or maul, but I admit that their players are really fast, and at the end of the game were fresher than ours.

In fact Spain did not play really well in the second half, and in the last 5 minutes conceded two tries, when Spain was winning 67-12, due to unforced errors.

They are growing fast, but still not prepared to compete with most teams of the ERC.

 

[Osezno]

The worrying side from Spain in this window is to see we keep disconnecting from games for 10-20 minutes, whatever the opposition we face. It already cost us the bonus point against Germany last Spring. Against Russia and Romania that will be lethal.

And even though we managed to call some of the best players from France (Malié, Peluchon, Bélie, Rouet, Ascarat), there is no real harmony between them and the core of the team. Guillaume Rouet and Charly Malié often play way faster than the rest and send passes nobody is expecting.

 

[Welshdragon2000]

Thats what you get when your players are playing together for only a few weeks a season. Spain need their own team in a competitive league (like what Jaguares have). Obviously that would be ideal but also probably unrealistic. Spain can certainly get a World Cup place if they play as they can do although it'll be tough especially as they'd have to play against Samoa, Uruguay or Canada (who they lost to recently).

 

[Osezno]

Coach Santos sounds pretty depressing each time he speaks to media. Even after winning after such a margin. Players believe way more in reaching RWC than the staff or fans do.

 

[Brigantine]

World Rugby are showing two tests as confirmed for Japan in Nov 2018... New Zealand and England!

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

World Rugby are showing two tests as confirmed for Japan in Nov 2018... New Zealand and England!

Ouch. Hopefully they get a fixture that is a bit easier to balance that out. Great exposure for them though and the sort of fixtures that are essential if they are to have any chance of escaping their group.