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Trf team of tournament

Anyone picking someone who's country has been eliminated? I've still got a couple in the running for 10.
Yep.

At 11, first I want to confirm I only picked from players who played left wing this tournament. I watched the 14s too, but only in case one of them played 11 at some point then I'd be able to use their performances at 14 as extra evidence. This didn't really happen with any contenders though.

The most consistent performer was probably koroibete.

josh Adams was good in all but one game, but he was poor in that game, against Fiji where he got run over for two tries and stuffed up a scoring opportunity he should have taken. He had one of the best left wing performance of the tournament against Australia.

mapimipi had an excellent game in the final, and it was the final so that counts for a lot. He caught several attacking high balls, and obviously played a big part in a critical try. Despite being his only impressive game against top opposition, it was enough to make him


Second equal.

fukuoka was amazing in his limited time, with an incredible performance against Scotland. Second equal.

Radradra against wales was beyond exceptional, an absolutely amazing performance in what was Fiji's final. Not the same pressure as mapimpi was under in the actual World Cup final of course, but the performance really was soMething special.

radradra wins it.

if I had to guess pre tournament who I'd be picking I would have gone with may, then bridge, then Stockdale. None of them made my top 5 of radradra ,Fukuoka, mapimpi ,koroibete ,Adams . Full disclosure, I hadn't even heard of radradra pre tournament.

I'd be interested to know if anyone else's picks deviated wildly from what they would have guessed pre tournament.

For tighthead prop I think sinckler has stood out for his carrying but also his role as first receiver. I don't think any other side uses a prop as a distributing first receiver like England have.
The real dual playmaker
When is the deadline for selection as I'm currently in a real quandary about Curry or PSDT at 6?
I think the game against mars' team of the tournament is next week, so we have to have our side selected by then.
13. Tuilagi
I'd be interested in any commentary around your decision.
 
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After sleeping on it I'm going PSDT at 6. It was very close between him and Curry, both having two outstanding games each. Curry in the QF and SF, PSDT in the SF and Final... but the two things that edge it towards the bok for me are 1) a performance in the final is weighted somewhat in my mind & 2) a performance over your closest competitor... Curry was very quiet by his own standards in the same match that PSDT excelled is also weighted for my choice.

Oh and maybe the fact he is an out and out blind side too.

So PSDT is my 6.
 
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I'd be interested in any commentary around your decision.
There was not particular player that was head and shouldesr above the rest at 13 imo, but Manu was consistently solid and had a few moments where the turned the game in England's favour.

I think Lukhanyo was very good defensively but nothing special other than that (which was enough given their style) and Goodhue was overall good. Nayacalevu was poor on defense imo.
I expected much more from Ringrose and i think i'm not the only one. Not that he played bad, but i was expecting him to make a dent he clearly did not.
Davies is ok, but that's about it. Both French centres were good on offence and bad on defense.

So again, i think Tuilagi did his job and stepped up a bit more than the rest.

Oddly enough, if i were to make an ideal team, i'd probably have him at 12 (it'd be a completely different exercise).
Offensively I like my 12's more "tankish" and my 13's faster and more elusive, but that's a matter of taste.
 
There was not particular player that was head and shouldesr above the rest at 13 imo, but Manu was consistently solid and had a few moments where the turned the game in England's favour.

I think Lukhanyo was very good defensively but nothing special other than that (which was enough given their style) and Goodhue was overall good. Nayacalevu was poor on defense imo.
I expected much more from Ringrose and i think i'm not the only one. Not that he played bad, but i was expecting him to make a dent he clearly did not.
Davies is ok, but that's about it. Both French centres were good on offence and bad on defense.

So again, i think Tuilagi did his job and stepped up a bit more than the rest.

Oddly enough, if i were to make an ideal team, i'd probably have him at 12 (it'd be a completely different exercise).
Offensively I like my 12's more "tankish" and my 13's faster and more elusive, but that's a matter of taste.
Agree with all that. Ringrose had a bit of a BOD 07 tournament. He clearly turned up and was one of the better players in the competition in terms of ability but there's very little you can do when about 3 quarters of your teammates aren't at the races.
 
Leitch stood out for me captaining a tier 2 nation to wins over Scotland and Ireland and only coming up short to the eventual World Cup Winners deserves huge respect.

also worthy mentions.
Semi Radradra
Sam Underhill
Josh Adams

all had a fine tournament and came of age.
 
Leitch stood out for me captaining a tier 2 nation to wins over Scotland and Ireland and only coming up short to the eventual World Cup Winners deserves huge respect.

Agreed, I probably should've included at the very least a mention of Leitch when selecting my eventual choice at 6, he was outstanding.
 
14 - Cheslin Kolbe
Can write 14 paragraphs about it or not, will still be Cheslin Kolbe

Notable mention- Japan winger - Kotaro Matsushima
 
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14 - Cheslin Kolbe
Can write 14 paragraphs about it or not, will still be Cheslin Kolbe
The reasoning is pretty clear I think. Notable mentions?
There was not particular player that was head and shouldesr above the rest at 13 imo, but Manu was consistently solid and had a few moments where the turned the game in England's favour.

I think Lukhanyo was very good defensively but nothing special other than that (which was enough given their style) and Goodhue was overall good. Nayacalevu was poor on defense imo.
I expected much more from Ringrose and i think i'm not the only one. Not that he played bad, but i was expecting him to make a dent he clearly did not.
Davies is ok, but that's about it. Both French centres were good on offence and bad on defense.

So again, i think Tuilagi did his job and stepped up a bit more than the rest.

Oddly enough, if i were to make an ideal team, i'd probably have him at 12 (it'd be a completely different exercise).
Offensively I like my 12's more "tankish" and my 13's faster and more elusive, but that's a matter of taste.
What did you think of lafaele? he had several game defining X factor moments and wAs mostly excellent in defence.
 
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The reasoning is pretty clear I think. Notable mentions?

What did you think of lafaele? he had several game defining X factor moments and wAs mostly excellent in defence.

Lafaele was dope. His offload game was a great factor in Japans attack.
 
What did you think of lafaele?
To be honest, and this will come out wrong but i have to say it, he was good against okish opposition. No offense, but the hardest opposition he excelled against was Ireland's B team.
He was good against scotland but irrelevant (again, sorry for the harshness) against RSA.
 
So prior to the playoffs, the hookers were a bit tough to find a clear cut winner, although I think Horie edged it by a whisker if I had to make a call. But the playoffs was a totally different story. And here, there was only one guy who stood out. Malcolm Marx, and what's strange about this, he didn't start any of the playoff games...
 
So prior to the playoffs, the hookers were a bit tough to find a clear cut winner, although I think Horie edged it by a whisker if I had to make a call. But the playoffs was a totally different story. And here, there was only one guy who stood out. Malcolm Marx, and what's strange about this, he didn't start any of the playoff games...

he looked a lot more confident with his throws coming off the bench than he has in any game I've seen him start.

Boks front row depth is ridiculous.
 
To be honest, and this will come out wrong but i have to say it, he was good against okish opposition. No offense, but the hardest opposition he excelled against was Ireland's B team.
He was good against scotland but irrelevant (again, sorry for the harshness) against RSA.
Makes sense.

But who wasn't irrelevant against South Africa? o_O
 
Right then, here is my 15 for the tournament. It's mainly going to consist of players who reached the knockout stages, which is unfair on players like Radradra, but the further you got the extra weight I add to selections.

15. Barrett - Oozes class, proper full back, but also a great 2nd play-maker.
14. Kolbe - Yeah, I mean he dances to the finishing line at pace. I like him a lot.
13. Tuilagi - Very good, but not lots of competition here. Scored tries, got England over the gain line.
12. de Allende - Him and Tuilagi would scare anyone, but vital plays at vital times and overall consistency too.
11. Adams - Top scorer, a proper finisher. Looks dangerous. Koroibete comes close so deserves a mention
10. Pollard - He won the final so gets extra kudos. Mo'unga looks the business. And Ford was in the running too till the final, but Pollard wins.
9. Faf - Could of been a liability but was just fantastic, played at pace when he had to, and slowed it down too. Game management was spot on.

1. Mtawarira - Beast right!
2. Mbonambi - No mistakes, part of a powerful front row.. I almost gave it to George but I can't have 2/3 English in my front row after that final.
3. Sinckler - Powerful in the loose, great lines, 2nd receiver at times. Also, his try Vs Australia made me so happy :)
4. Itoje - Up there for player of the tournament. Fantastic in defence, set piece and his turnover work
5. Lood de Jager - Shame he got injured in the final but looked immense in all games. Etzebeth and AWJ run him close though. Could of picked any 2 tbh. Looks like a massive nerd.
6. Steph du Toit - 6 or 7 he played fantastic. Great in the final, but had a fantastic tournament.
7. Underhill - Turnovers, tackles and not a bad carrier. Brutal in defence.
8. Vermeulen - Brute. MoM in final. No other 8 really came close.

9 SA. 4 Eng. 1 NZ. 1 Welsh.

Proper weighted to the final teams, but that's how it should be.
 
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Thanks for @TommiG88 for stealing my pick. :p

I am also going for a finalist. It's a bit of a shame that his final performance didn't live up to the semi final but Maro Itjoe's performance was one of the best i've ever seen from a 2nd row. Overall he always had tremendous work-rate, seeming to pop up everywhere making tackles and slowing the ball down at breakdowns, sometimes turning it over.
 
Opta's team of the tournament, based solely on player stats. Players must have played 320mins of rugby (240mins for props):

h8V90kh.jpg
 
My pick for 12 is DDA.

ALB played some really good rugby but mostly at 13, he had one good game at 12 against Namibia but for the most part was moved around a lot.
Farrel played well but it's kinda hard to put him in this category as he's such a completely different player to most 12, also again played a lot of 10.

Kerevi and Fikou were both great, if they had gone a little deeper into the world cup or been a little more dominant they'd almost certainly be ahead of the tournament.

DDA basically didn't have any games below a 7/10 all tournament, he always tackled well and carried strongly, and in a few key games made some good kicks, in the final he also magically distributed as well.

I might be biased. It's hard to say, I'm happy to be argued off this one.
 
So I was assigned loosehead and I think it's a pretty straightforward decision. The Springbok pack was a key factor to their success this World Cup, with front line dominance, knocking players back in the tackle, massive driving mauls and the scrum. Then really in the final, we were able to keep the scoreboard ticking and stay ahead of the English because of our scrum, led by Beast. He was really key in the scrumming dominance and was part of a team that dominated the set piece throughout the tournament.

Honourable mention Keita Inagaki who did well in the pool games, got a great try against Scotland and overall kept a strong setpiece. His forward pack only really faltered when they came up against the Springboks, especially that maul/thing of beauty.
 
Opta's team of the tournament, based solely on player stats. Players must have played 320mins of rugby (240mins for props):

h8V90kh.jpg


I despise these stat people. When I saw in the preview of the Final that SA had like a 26% chance of winning the final, I thought, you fools!. Joe Moody was immense for NZ as well. Didnt get much credit as I just scrolled through this whole thread. But Moodys workrate was top notch and he made some good runs too.
 
I've been in a tough spot but think I've made my choice for 10. Sadly been ill so haven't had much of a chance to come on but I'll post up a bit when I can.
 

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