Other Matches, Wk2

[Which Tyler]

If anyone wants individual match threads for any of these - feel free.

Saturday 30 August
Pool A: USA v Australia (19:30), York Community Stadium - iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Sunday 31 August
Pool C: New Zealand v Japan (14:00), Sandy Park - iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Pool D: Italy v South Africa (15:30), York Community Stadium - iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app
Pool D: France v Brazil (16:45), Sandy Park - iPlayer, BBC Sport website and BBC Sport app

 

[9215.]

Another de facto knockout match, my money’s on Australia but it should be close

 

[Which Tyler]

Another de facto knockout match, my money's on Australia but it should be close

Your money ought to be safe, it stranger things have happened.
I wouldn't bank on it being particularly close.

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

yeah, our women's team is trading on their success from a decade ago

 

[Which Tyler]

yeah, our women's team is trading on their success from a decade ago

And a good 7s in the Olympics
And the confusion as to whether Maher is a world class rugby player, or a famous person who's kinda good at rugby.

You're not bad. But... Aus should be winning this by 25-30 points

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

idk about 25 to 30. it was an 8 point game a couple months ago and we beat them by 7 last year.

 

[9215.]

Your money ought to be safe, it stranger things have happened.
I wouldn't bank on it being particularly close.

That was what I initially thought, but I’ve seen some pundits backing USA which surprised me

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

The closing spread was Australia 9.5 favorites. Not exactly lock.

 

[Which Tyler]

The closing spread was Australia 9.5 favorites. Not exactly lock.

Fair play, looks like your analysis is way closer than mine

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

hope we don't empty bench. We just don't have the quality, particularly our back up 9.

 

[Which Tyler]

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

If this ends a draw we’ll try to put 150 up on Samoa

 

[pagliaccio_euforico]

Incredible effort by the Aussie player to get to the ripper

 

[Ddanno]

That was a great watch

 

[9215.]

I said it was going to be close! A really exciting match, and great for tournament after some big score lines.
I doubt Australia will get a bonus point against England but they’re still favourites to get out of the group, 135 is a lot of points difference to overturn but definitely achievable given the contrast in opponents.

 

[Jimbo]

I said it was going to be close! A really exciting match, and great for tournament after some big score lines.
I doubt Australia will get a bonus point against England but they're still favourites to get out of the group, 135 is a lot of points difference to overturn but definitely achievable given the contrast in opponents.

That might be the best match of the tournament for me so far, the kind of pendulum swings we’ve missed in most group games, both equally deserving and a game you could see both teams wanting to play and feeling the pressure of needing the win, scoreline for the most part appear to be a relatively fair reflection of the overall game, early on I was concerned Aus superior goal kicking would determine the outcome which didn’t prove to be the case in the end.

 

[Jimbo]

I said it was going to be close! A really exciting match, and great for tournament after some big score lines.
I doubt Australia will get a bonus point against England but they're still favourites to get out of the group, 135 is a lot of points difference to overturn but definitely achievable given the contrast in opponents.

Be interesting to see how the fixtures order determines things, Aus will probably lose to England without taking anything (expected outcome) but we’re pretty fresh for this fixture whilst USA may feel the fatigue of the first two games where they really need to rack up the scoreline, obviously a counter point to this is more time in camp to fine tune things, Samoa could also be deflated and battered from the two games or come out swinging on their final game.

 

[9215.]

Be interesting to see how the fixtures order determines things, Aus will probably lose to England without taking anything (expected outcome) but we're pretty fresh for this fixture whilst USA may feel the fatigue of the first two games where they really need to rack up the scoreline, obviously a counter point to this is more time in camp to fine tune things, Samoa could also be deflated and battered from the two games or come out swinging on their final game.

Yes, also USA v Samoa is first up next weekend so Australia will know exactly what they need to do.

 

[9215.]

Great start by Japan!

 

[Which Tyler]

Real shame that the matches are actively overlapping today - especially with rugby commentators, and their fetish for telling & showing scores from other matches.

If only there was some way to fit 4 matches into a 9-hour time frame without overlaps...