RWC warm up matches

[bonxie23]

Can anyone tell me if these games count towards caps or are worth ranking points?

 

[saulan]

They are international test matches. They will count for both caps and ranking points.

 

[bonxie23]

They are international test matches. They will count for both caps and ranking points.

Thank you. Less value in experimenting then

 

[saulan]

Ranking points are doubled for all games during the World Cup, so any mishap trying things out prior to that aren't really going to matter too much if the World Cup goes well for that team.

In general though, you won't be seeing a huge amount of experimenting in those games anyway. Teams would have been doing that for the last two to three years and would want to try do the last few tweaks or get into the swing of things in these games.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Given the thread ***le I will just hijack this for sundry internationals. Below may become the Rugby Network link for the Romania vs USA match tonight. Currently inactive.

rugby-network

rugby-network

www.therugbynetwork.com

Do not blame me if this doesnt work. I find Rughby Network a bit unfathomable sometimes and some things can be geolocked.

I consider it a pretty experimental combination of Romanian backs with a relatively new (but capable) coach versus an expeirmental US with a new coach (Scott Lawrence, promoted from MLR) who is hopefully positioned to stake his claim into leading the US into their home WC of 2031. I'm hoping for a fairly open and expansive match (if it isn't too roasting in Bucharest)

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Or could be here.

 

[die_mole]

rather it be on YouTube than on TRN which you have to log in every time even though it's free

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Exactly what I was hoping to see from Lawrence's USA so far. They look coherent and physically prepared. They can show that top level MLR is not a joke.

Romania had better turn up or face a 'shock'. Always difficult in these early season games to fnd form though so I wouldn't be too critical

 

[die_mole]

our scrum isn't crap which is amazing. Looks like we have actual structure as well. Qualifying is only going to get harder each cycle though.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

26-0 so far to USA. I can see them winning 40-0. If i was a betting man I'd be seeing what odds I could get on a US home QF in 2031. I just love seeing home developed coaches being given a chance to coach their national side when they have performed well at club level (rather than parachuting in a Tier1 guy who usually doesn't speak the language). I hope the Canon Eagles coach is given a chance with Japan.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

our scrum isn't crap which is amazing. Looks like we have actual structure as well. Qualifying is only going to get harder each cycle though.

I just noticed Romania seem to be down a man in the scrum which may explain it! Hard to follow with no commentary and no icons for yellow or red cards.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania just about wakeup and give the crowd something to cheer, still losing 17-31. US up to 17th.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Romania still being totally experimental, even at this late stage. I fear they will lose badly here even if I think their players and coach are okay. Starts in 5mins. Temp is to be high 30s celsius, which may impact on things.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Georgia win 56-6. It was as much of a train wreck as I expected and just as well my link above didn't appear to work. It was a good advert for not playing rugby in the height of modern summers. Players were immediately drenched with sweat and struggled to handle the ball.

If Romania continue to experiment/rotate in their next match against Italy then they could be looking at a 3 figure loss (with more to follow at the RWC). I really like what the coach did in the REC to test combinations of players, but his failure to even attempt to build familiarity between combinations of players in these warm ups is proving a disaster that will have predictable consequences in the RWC. Especially if Ireland, Scotland and the Boks feel they need to chase points difference in the event of a tie for 2nd in the group.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

So it seems I was completely baited by Romania into thinking the US had already taken a step forward. Portugal pretty much ripped them apart with their silky backs (seriously, how are these guys not on big money somewhere?). I can see Portugal scoring a try in every match, which would be a good achievement for them.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Italy go almost full strength against Romania. Romania finally select lots of their first choice players in position, with the exception of the halfbacks, with a combined age of 41, who have never played together before. Talk about a baptism of fire.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

Pretty underwhelming by Georgia again (again possibly too hot for good rugby). Handy little tour fof the US.

 

[Bruce_ma gooshvili]

A pretty useless match due to an early red card for Romania.

 

[Umaga's Witness]

Samoa looking too structured and not sufficiently passionate this year. Very different from some of their teams in the past eg when semo setiti was the captain.