And so it Begins
If you have no interest in Rugby :shock: , this thread, which will develop and track the Highs and Lows of the Rugby world cup, may not be of interest. It has started and there has already been one upset. The highly rated French :8) , potential losing finalists against the Mighty All Blacks, lost the opening game. The road to being world champions just got a little easier :P

New Zealand appears to be set for rugby flu over the next month or so (http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2007/s2026607.htm) Greg

One of the most respected traditions in World Rugby, is the Mighty All Blacks performing a Haka (Maori war dance http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFWccDJa4XY&mode=related&search=) before the start of the match. Most teams face the Haka, but Italy, maybe trying to start a new tradition, decided to go into a huddle :shock: and ignored it. :evil: Perhaps as it turned out they were discussing how many tries they would let Richie McCaw score in the first 10 minutes. :lol: The Mighty All Blacks won, scored a few points, and played reasonably well, just like the Australians :shock: . As for the English, well they won, but looked very ordinary. :roll: So Australia is looking better for a top 4 finish. As for the English, well it’s a long time since the 2003 tournament. :? John

New Zealand bosses are in for some interesting excuses why their employees are running late or skipping work altogether over the next six weeks I'm very surprised that the New Zealand government have NOT declared match days as public holidays and what about the week after the final? :shock: I thought not watching an All Blacks game was treason! :wink:

As for the English, well it’s a long time since the 2003 tournament. We're saving our selves for the Springboks, well we wouldn't want to peak too soon. :wink:

Well, now that the All Blacks have demonstrated their might, perhaps they should relax now and lose a few matches, just to make things more exciting. :wink: It's been a bad weekend though for Italy. Not just the Rugby result, but failure to defeat France at soccer and Ferrari losing the F1 to Mclaren means they have had nothing to cheer about.

Hi Johan, A good win by South Africa this morning. Did you know that no country whose team won the S14 (or S12) title in world cup year have ever won the world cup! John Crusader fan (7 titles in 14 years!)

Johan, your prediction looks very reasonable based on the form so far. NZ and AUS would meat in one semi and the other would be ZA vs ARG, IRE or FR.

Come on the Jocks! :wink: Dave.

AND YET ANOTHER ONE HAS BEGUN. The inaugural ICC T20 World Cup played in South Africa. The opening game between The Proteas (SA) and the Windies produced several records. Windies 205/9 - Proteas 208/2 with 14 balls to spare. Not even a "Gayle"force Wind(ies) could blow the Proteas away. All these World Cup Games have a serious impact on modelling time. :wink: Kind regards. Johan

ummmmmmmm cricket, The hapless black caps have no show. :roll: Such a shame Berger is now out for 4 games. I still predict a win for SA against the English without him. :8) John

Alan Rees must be feeling a bit disappointed at the Red Dragons defeat 32-20 (four tries to two) by the Wallabies at their home ground of Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.

John Where as that great rugby nation of Portugal must be celebrating that they scored a try and conceded 18 of them! Thought the ref was rather funny when he went upstairs to ask if there was any reason he could not award the try. If that was the world cup final it would have been a 5 meter scrum. Great game of rugby by the English, they must be so proud of the clean sheet!!!!! But its ok because they learned a lot and are saving themselves for the final, 1/4 that is. John