RWC 2015 - build-up thread

Yeah_Right

total former wrote: »

A fifth world cup for Mauro Bergamasco. Phenomenal.

Very impressive. Has anyone else played in 5 world cups? I thought Matfield might have but he didn't make the 1999 RWC.

total former

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Very impressive. Has anyone else played in 5 world cups? I thought Matfield might have but he didn't make the 1999 RWC.

Brian Lima

Yeah_Right

total former wrote: »

Brian Lima

How could I forget Brian Lima!! Disgusted with myself.

The Lost Sheep

Yeah_Right wrote: »

Very impressive. Has anyone else played in 5 world cups? I thought Matfield might have but he didn't make the 1999 RWC.

Brian Lima played in 91/95/99/03/07 world cups

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

South Africa are announcing their squad on Friday. Seems to be almost a one a day kind of thing. Wonder if it was prearranged?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Tonita for Romania is going to his 5th World Cup. Apparently he's only played a few times since 2011 though.

Witheringeye

Who do people think the wingers are going to be on Saturday. I'm finding it very difficult to predict.

How I see it:
Options for 11:
Zebo: least likely, most game time so far out of the whole back three

Fitz: possible, didn't play as bad vs Scotland as a lot have made out. More importantly don't see why Schmidt would give him a full 80 the week he started full contact if he was only getting one game.

Dave Kearney: hasn't gotten much game time and doing well in training etc and due a start.

Options for 14:
Trimble:least likely, they'll want to monitor the injury etc and his fitness could be a little bit behind

Bowe: only got 60 odd minutes so due another game soon. Currently the 14 incumbent so priority to give him game time

Dave Kearney: I'm more inclined to think he'll play at 14 as he's better off his right than his left and there were joe brought him on vs Scotland.

I think dave will start and one of bowe and fitz will as well

Agent J

Picked up tickets for the Saturday Cardiff QF. Now covered for both of Irelands potential QFs....

pickarooney

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Tonita for Romania is going to his 5th World Cup. Apparently he's only played a few times since 2011 though.

He played for my local team last season. He was in great form any time I saw him but it was at a relatively low level. When you think a lot of these guys have to step up from the third division to playing the likes of NZ every couple of years...

irishbucsfan

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Tonita for Romania is going to his 5th World Cup. Apparently he's only played a few times since 2011 though.

It's only his 4th World Cup as a player though, he wasn't a playing member of the squad in 1999. That's pedantic but I'm only pointing it out to protect Lima/Bergamasco's achievement!

Yeah_Right

irishbucsfan wrote: »

It's only his 4th World Cup as a player though, he wasn't a playing member of the squad in 1999. That's pedantic but I'm only pointing it out to protect Lima/Bergamasco's achievement!

Was he in the squad in 99 and never took the field?

2smiggy

the first airing of Ireland's Call by the High Kings on today fm now, the official anthem for the world they are saying ?

molloyjh

2smiggy wrote: »

the first airing of Ireland's Call by the High Kings on today fm now, the official anthem for the world they are saying ?

It would be the anthem for the RWC all right because it is away from home. We only do Amhrán na bhFiann at home games.

ionadnapokot

Ledesma on Aus only bringing two hookers:
"We (Pumas) played 1999, 2003, 2007 and 2011 with two hookers and a prop that can play hooker and that's the case over here,"
http://en.espn.co.uk/australia/rugby/story/272645.html

Arg have again only brought 2 hookers.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Canada's squad, featuring 18 players with zero World Cup experience.

sydthebeat

id recognize about 4 of those players......

PTH2009

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Canada's squad, featuring 18 players with zero World Cup experience.

Jeff hassler is very fast. He caused Munster lots of problems last May in the pro 12 semi final

ionadnapokot

nice to see this guy back Actually hes not!

ionadnapokot

Hubert is a good beard sub for Kleeberger

A2LUE42

Cipriani cut from English squad being reported on Sky.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

There's actually quite a few of the Canadians playing at clubs at different levels of European leagues. Granted I don't know how much playing time they actually get.

Ardron, Hassler - Ospreys
Beukeboom, Carpenter, Evans - Cornish Pirates
Cudmore - Clermont
Gilmore - Rotherham
P. MacKenzie - Sale
Marshall - Agen
Sinclair - London Irish
Thorpe - London Welsh
DTH - Scarlets

molloyjh

A2LUE42 wrote: »

Cipriani cut from English squad being reported on Sky.

Can't wait to hear the outrage over that one.

ionadnapokot

Hartley. I have the horrible feeling we will see him at the rwc
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/34055242

thomond2006

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Hartley. I have the horrible feeling we will see him at the rwc
http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/rugby-union/34055242

They've already said they won't pick him in the original squad as that would leave two hookers versus Fiji and there's no way anyone would pick 4 hookers in an original squad. After that he can only come in for an injured player. If you replace Hartley for an injured player in another position, that potentially leaves a shortage. 31 players with 6 front rows in a matchday 23 really doesn't leave much room.

ionadnapokot

What i fear is that one of their hookers does get injured. & then the Hartley lad gets called up. I do think they will only pick 2 hookers in the hope that they can call him up.

Stheno

Fifty four weeks of suspensions in total!!!!

sydthebeat

ionadnapokot wrote: »

What i fear is that one of their hookers does get injured. & then the Hartley lad gets called up. I do think they will only pick 2 hookers in the hope that they can call him up.

that would be madness... if they want him theyd be better off naming him in the squad and forgoing the fiji game.

stephen_n

ionadnapokot

It would certainly be risky. But having read 3.5 THE FRONT ROW - REPLACEMENTS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
http://laws.worldrugby.org/downloads/World_Rugby_Laws_2015_EN.pdf

I reckon England would argue that they cant adhere to the criteria
e.g.
d) A suitably trained and experienced front row forward may start the match in another position.

That would lead to:
(g) If a Union or match organiser decides to have 23 players nominated for a team there must be sufficient front row players to play at hooker, tight-head prop and loose-head prop who are suitably trained and experienced to ensure that on the first occasion that a replacement is required in each front row position, the team can continue to play safely with contested scrums. If a team is only able to nominate two suitably trained front row players then only 22 players may be nominated for the match.

RFU would argue that they need Hartley to be brought into the squad to prevent the inevitable uncontested scrum. World rugby would agree and make an exception to the RWC rule of a stand-down period of 48 hours before the new player is allowed to take the field.

sydthebeat

tournament rules supercede

1.1.7 Compliance with Law 3.5

Compliance with the relevant World Rugby Laws and Regulations is critical in the conduct of the Tournament. Should Teams be found to be in breach of Law 3.5 (suitably trained and experienced players in the front row), the matter will be forwarded to the Tournament Disputes Committee for consideration.

In the absence of any mitigating circumstances this will result in:

forfeiture of all Match points for that fixture (including bonus points)
possible financial penalties
In terms of the provision of front row players to comply with Law 3.5, the necessary number of reserve front row players must be included in the Tournament Team to cover last minute injuries to front row players selected in the Match Team within the 48 hour replacement timeframe set out in Section 4.5 on page XX.

ionadnapokot

That is fairly clear cut so.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Anscombe could be ruled out for Wales. Damaged ligaments in his ankle today. They're still assessing him.

Ceadog

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

There's actually quite a few of the Canadians playing at clubs at different levels of European leagues. Granted I don't know how much playing time they actually get.

Ardron, Hassler - Ospreys
Beukeboom, Carpenter, Evans - Cornish Pirates
Cudmore - Clermont
Gilmore - Rotherham
P. MacKenzie - Sale
Marshall - Agen
Sinclair - London Irish
Thorpe - London Welsh
DTH - Scarlets

Hassler, Cudmore, and DTH are all pretty good players. Cudmore is probably a bit past his prime though.

ionadnapokot wrote: »

Hartley. I have the horrible feeling we will see him at the rwc

Surely that can only be good news? They can call him up and he can get red carded 5 minutes into their semi-final

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Anscombe could be ruled out for Wales. Damaged ligaments in his ankle today. They're still assessing him.

Could be a big loss for them. That means they've only got Biggar, Priestland, or Hook as their FH options, and Biggar is the only consistent one of the lot of them.

PTH2009

Just to see Ireland facing the haka in the world cup would be cool

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ceadog wrote: »

Could be a big loss for them. That means they've only got Biggar, Priestland, or Hook as their FH options, and Biggar is the only consistent one of the lot of them.

Interesting to see if they'd use Hook after getting rid of him in the first round of cuts.

I have to say, I don't really get this cutting players frim the squad before you have to. Unless they get injured or are causing problems it's bound to be better to keep them all there for as long as possible. Wales could be faced now with having to call back a player that was cut and had a lot of media attention around it when they could have just kept them all there and nobody would have been any the wiser that Hook wasn't supposed to make the team.

Ceadog

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Interesting to see if they'd use Hook after getting rid of him in the first round of cuts.

I have to say, I don't really get this cutting players frim the squad before you have to. Unless they get injured or are causing problems it's bound to be better to keep them all there for as long as possible. Wales could be faced now with having to call back a player that was cut and had a lot of media attention around it when they could have just kept them all there and nobody would have been any the wiser that Hook wasn't supposed to make the team.

Interestingly, England could be in a similar situation should Slade, Ford, or Farrell go down, because then their only option is Cipriani who Lancaster clearly is no fan of.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Ceadog wrote: »

Interestingly, England could be in a similar situation should Slade, Ford, or Farrell go down, because then their only option is Cipriani who Lancaster clearly is no fan of.

Exactly, especially when they make a "controversial" decision and then might be forced to go back on it. Plus you've got to deal with a player who knows they weren't really in your plans at all. At least waiting until the last minute to cut them they can go home believing they were so close to making the squad.

total former

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Anscombe could be ruled out for Wales. Damaged ligaments in his ankle today. They're still assessing him.

Disappointing for him but I've seen nothing from Anscombe to suggest he's good enough for international level tbh. I'd pick Priestland and Morgan ahead of him every time.

Ceadog

total former wrote: »

Disappointing for him but I've seen nothing from Anscombe to suggest he's good enough for international level tbh. I'd pick Priestland and Morgan ahead of him every time.

He was pretty good when he came on against us, settled the team down, ran the backline well, and kicked some pretty tricky conversions. Definitely a better option than Priestland and Hook, plus he covers centre and fullback.

Also wasn't he involved in the underage All Blacks setup? Can't be that crap.

total former

Ceadog wrote: »

He was pretty good when he came on against us, settled the team down, ran the backline well, and kicked some pretty tricky conversions. Definitely a better option than Priestland and Hook, plus he covers centre and fullback.

Also wasn't he involved in the underage All Blacks setup? Can't be that crap.

I wouldn't say he's crap, just a bit ordinary. He hasn't really stood out at Pro12 level. He's still young enough but it's no crisis for Wales.

The Pheasant2

Wouldn't be particularly fussed if they were to select Hartley. The guy's a liability at this stage; there's always the chance he'll get himself carded at a crucial moment...and if he doesn't, I wouldn't put him up there as a player of the likes of Creevy or Bismarck anyway.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

BBC are claiming Slade and Burgess are in for England. Burrell to miss out.

Pudsy33

Taking Burgess is mental.

Ceadog

In fairness Burrell has been playing pure crap pretty much all season so it's more like he's played himself off the plane.

I read a pretty interesting article about how Bath and I assume England will use Burgess last week. He's incredibly effective in those big backline screens because defences have to commit 2-3 players just to stopping him and the offload. This creates so much more space for the rest of the team to attack because defences simply can't decide who to commit to. It's a fairly standard tactic, Ireland do something similar when they run SO'B in those moves, but Burgess is probably an even better ball carrier.

The only flaw I can see in England's reasoning is that Bath use a creative 12 like Eastmond to link up the backline and fire wide passes, as well as having the threat of Ford at 10. Whereas with England Burgess is almost definitely going to be paired with Barritt, who has all the attacking nous of Andy Powell falling out of a stolen golf buggy.

Wang King

Will Carling believes Ireland don't have strength in depth
http://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/world-cup/lack-of-depth-is-irelands-achilles-heel-warns-carling-31481443.html

Ceadog

Wang King wrote: »

Will Carling believes Ireland don't have strength in depth

Ironically I think Ireland have better strength in depth than England in almost every position and are just generally stronger.

I wonder what Mr. Carling thinks of England's hooker crisis? :P

irishbucsfan

He doesn't have a clue about Irish rugby outside of the Champions Cup or about the quality of our depth.

He did however say that he thinks we're the best team in the Northern Hemisphere so I don't think he really means it's as big a weakness as the headline is making out. Coincidentally he's a neighbour of mine and I'm pretty certain he has us down as one of the favourites.

Celly Smunt

Wang King wrote: »

Will Carling believes Ireland don't have strength in depth
http://m.independent.ie/sport/rugby/world-cup/lack-of-depth-is-irelands-achilles-heel-warns-carling-31481443.html

He's right to a degree. In my mind we have 4 key players - Sexton, POC, SOB and Heaslip and perhaps Best to a degree.

A loss of any of those is obviously a hard blow considering they're top top players and any side would feel such a hit. Though without them all and with our strongest supporting players on the pitch I'd imagine we could still contend against most northern hemisphere teams. Not being able to rely on Sexton if he were to get injured is more of a concern than any.

Ceadog

I think I'm pretty alone in thinking that losing O'Connell for a game or two isn't the blow it would have been a couple of years ago. Ryan and Henderson are both world class second rows, and are very much capable of going toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Losing O'Mahoney wouldn't be the worst either considering the strength of our replacements.

O'Brien and Sexton really are irreplaceable though. I pin losing to England in Twickenham back in 2014 entirely on not having the go forward ball of O'Brien, and Sexton needs no comment.

Celly Smunt

Ceadog wrote: »

I think I'm pretty alone in thinking that losing O'Connell for a game or two isn't the blow it would have been a couple of years ago. Ryan and Henderson are both world class second rows, and are very much capable of going toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Losing O'Mahoney wouldn't be the worst either considering the strength of our replacements.

O'Brien and Sexton really are irreplaceable though. I pin losing to England in Twickenham back in 2014 entirely on not having the go forward ball of O'Brien, and Sexton needs no comment.

I think POC brings a lot to the table mentally throughout the team, he just seems to demand focus and generally seems to get it when he needs it.