Scotland the Brave to take on… the All… ummm… Silvers?

Thus far, only Scotland and to a lesser extent France, have been examples of decent rugby from the Northern Hemisphere.

Scotland continued on their winning way last night with a 42-0 win over Romania. Excellent stuff, given that the Romanians did score a try against the All Blacks… however, the Scots did lack the ABs’ massive scoreline too.
Allister Hogg had a hat-trick of tries, and Rory Lamont put in an impressive performance too.

Now Scotland look forward to playing New Zealand in Edinburgh. Scotland will wear their very, very dark blue home strips, which will require a change of jersey. The traditional black of the All Blacks will be too similar with the Scottish home colours, so for only the second time that they haven’t worn the Black – the All Blacks will be wearing… silver (in 1987’s Quarters against Scotland they wore white).

Tony Woodcock summed it up best with:
“It’s still got the silver fern on, that’s the main part…”

Could be worse… they could choose to wear the pink they wore for a charity event last year…

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In other RWC news:
– Samoan Gavin Williams is hoping to be ready for the clash with England on Saturday…
– Johnny Wilkinson believes his English squad can come back from the brink… HA!
– Larkham ready to roll, but will rest against Fiji…
– Tongan Hale T Pole will miss one match due to suspension…

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Awful North – Rugby World Cup updates…

I don’t think anything’s happened that will make the Southern Hemisphere powers of New Zealand, South Africa and Australia quake. Verily, we could possibly see an all-Southern Hemisphere semi-finals for the first time ever with Argentina throwing down the gauntlet in Pool D.
Reigning World Cup holder England? Laughable thus far…
France? Already down 1-0 in a tight pool…
Ireland? Barely managed to beat Rugby minnow Namibia…
Wales? Not bad, but certainly their performance inspired no fear in the top nations…

So, September 9th’s games brought us the following:

Wales 42 def Canada 17 – A solid victory by the Welsh, but unless they pick up their game considerably I don’t believe they’ll be a match for the Wallabies in their clash this weekend. The Canadians took it right to them – the halftime scoreline was unbelievable: 12-9 to Canada. The Welsh looked underdone for all but 20 minutes of this game, but that was enough. 5 tries in that time span had Canada gone. Still, it will be interesting to see what Fiji can run against Wales…

The Ankle Tap: First weekend of Rugby World Cup matches!

So the Rugby World Cup is merely 11 odd hours away from beginning… excited as all hell here. And despite the IRB’s bone-headedness over media (latest update on that can be found over at Epic Carnival here!), it is shaping up to be one helluvan event…

First round of matches – let’s have a look at the first weekend’s matches: generally speaking this weekend promises to be a fairly one-sided affair. Every match other than the opener looks cut & dried.

1. September 7th – First game, the hosts France take on Argentina, in Saint-Denis. The Argies have been in fine fettle recently, but France-on-French-soil won’t be dissuaded. I’ll tip the Les Bleus to take it, but in relatively tight contest: less than 10 points in the margin.
2. September 8th – Italy face the might of the All Blacks in Marseille. The Italians will be glad to get this one behind them, so they can focus on the possibility of qualifying for the quarters. I look for the ABs to put their stamp on this tournament & beat a much-improved Azzurri side by 24+.

Riddle me this: Rugby World Cup reviews – pool C

The tips we’ve all been waiting for The Riddler to get to… I told you he was a one-eyed All Black fan… but I have a foreboding feeling that this is their year…

Rugby World Cup reviews – pool C

New Zealand

An absolute lock to take Pool C. This is not because I am a one-eyed Kiwi supporter. You could shove France, Ireland, Argentina, South Africa or Australia in this group and they would be still be a lock too. Outside of the All Blacks this group is a pretty sad bunch. Scotland and Italy might get within 50 of them, Romania 100 of them and the sort of score-line to expect in New Zealand/Portugal is scary. Could be 200 points here.

Pool play aside, what I like about this All Black squad is that it is by far the most thoroughly primed squad the All Blacks have ever prepared. In the past they have just rocked up to World Cups knowing they can field highly competitive sides but this time around, instead of using that attitude they have formulated a three year plan similar to England’s in 2003 that have developed astonishing depth. No side can boast the amount of depth and talent they have. They have easily the best scrum in world rugby, outstanding loosies, quality and depth in the halves and a brilliant interchangeable back three combo.

However they have one weakness and that is in the centres. Australia exposed it to great advantage earlier this season but aside from that they have been almost flawless. They have not lost a game in the northern hemisphere since 2002, have been unbeaten against northern hemisphere opponents since the last world cup and have won 32 of their last 35 games averaging 20 more points a game than their opposition.