Rugby World Cup

Pross

Yep agreed with that. I hope he stays fit as I really don't want Wales using Bighead at 10!

secretsqirrel

Interesting stat.

Wales missed 59 points worth of kicks during their RWC campaign. They lost 3 matches for a accumulated total of 5 points.

Makes you think....... :shock:

cjcp

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Interesting stat.

Wales missed 59 points worth of kicks during their RWC campaign. They lost 3 matches for a accumulated total of 5 points.

Makes you think....... :shock:

Yup.

Hook isn't as good at FH than Priestland seems to be (time and more matches will tell, I think), but the reality is that Wales lost matches because their (especially Hook's) goal-kicking was dreadful. They failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over, something England did very well when WIlkinson was in his pomp. If you do this, you put your opponent under pressure and force them to make other decisions.

Against France, this was compounded by Wales's equally-dreadful line-out.

All very frustrating when you consider that they seem to have sorted out their previous problems with fitness.

benno68

I agree that the poor goal kicking has cost Wales big time. Still, it's a very positive RWC 2011 performance from Wales, let's hope they can keep building for the Six Nations.

I've thought for a long time that increasing the points for a try and reducing points for a drop kick may make the game more exciting and give more incentive to go for tries which I think most rugby fans would approve of.

greg66_tri_v2.0

cjcp wrote:

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Interesting stat.

Wales missed 59 points worth of kicks during their RWC campaign. They lost 3 matches for a accumulated total of 5 points.

Makes you think....... :shock:

Yup.

Hook isn't as good at FH than Priestland seems to be (time and more matches will tell, I think), but the reality is that Wales lost matches because their (especially Hook's) goal-kicking was dreadful. They failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over, something England did very well when WIlkinson was in his pomp. If you do this, you put your opponent under pressure and force them to make other decisions.

Against France, this was compounded by Wales's equally-dreadful line-out.

All very frustrating when you consider that they seem to have sorted out their previous problems with fitness.

I agree that Wales' kicking has cost them this WC, but it's interesting to think how things might have differed:

If they had beaten SA, and topped their group, they would have met Aus in the 1/4s. Assume that with good kicking they had overcome Aus. They would have taken the semi berth against NZ. With the best will in the world, they would likely have ended up in the 3rd place play off match again.

SA, otoh, would have met (and likely beaten) Ireland in the 1/4s to meet France in the semi. Possibly leading to a NZ v SA final and Wales meeting Fra in the 3rd place match.

I think in fairness, Wales in the final was always a longshot given the draw.

benno68

I agree Greg66 - but the way things developed with the odd surprise along the way worked in favour of Wales. We ended up with France in the semi's which couldn't have been better - until the 18th minute.

So it seems that the poor kicking from Wales actually helped our cause in the early stages and gave us a fairly decent path through. Just a shame we didn't get our kicking boots on for the French game.

I'm looking forward to the game tomorrow.

cjcp

Greg66 wrote:

cjcp wrote:

SecretSqirrel wrote:

Interesting stat.

Wales missed 59 points worth of kicks during their RWC campaign. They lost 3 matches for a accumulated total of 5 points.

Makes you think....... :shock:

Yup.

Hook isn't as good at FH than Priestland seems to be (time and more matches will tell, I think), but the reality is that Wales lost matches because their (especially Hook's) goal-kicking was dreadful. They failed to keep the scoreboard ticking over, something England did very well when WIlkinson was in his pomp. If you do this, you put your opponent under pressure and force them to make other decisions.

Against France, this was compounded by Wales's equally-dreadful line-out.

All very frustrating when you consider that they seem to have sorted out their previous problems with fitness.

I agree that Wales' kicking has cost them this WC, but it's interesting to think how things might have differed:

If they had beaten SA, and topped their group, they would have met Aus in the 1/4s. Assume that with good kicking they had overcome Aus. They would have taken the semi berth against NZ. With the best will in the world, they would likely have ended up in the 3rd place play off match again.

SA, otoh, would have met (and likely beaten) Ireland in the 1/4s to meet France in the semi. Possibly leading to a NZ v SA final and Wales meeting Fra in the 3rd place match.

I think in fairness, Wales in the final was always a longshot given the draw.

Agreed. Winning the group would always have been an extremely bad idea, despite SA being a great scalp.* The problem has been failing to take the opportunities when they present themselves. Very annoying.

Lovely "tackle" by McCaw on Parra this morning...


*Does anyone know how would this have affected the seedings for the next RWC and whether Wales get a higher seeding or if's France plus the Tri-Nations which will get top seeding?

ddraver

Well, Congrats All Blacks but well played les blues! I was a little bit French this morning!

benno68

Well done NZ.

The French came out to play and were close to causing an upset, they played great and exciting rugby today.

Seems that the ref played two sets of rules at the breakdown though, in favour of the winners IMO.

clarkey cat

The ABs always get a different interpretation at the breakdown. It seems everyone has such a hard-on for them that even the refs want them to win. The commentator on the Beeb was embarassing with his fawning... almost as bad as when they trot out the usual "You can bet your mortgage on this one going over" when Jonny Wilkinson lines up to take a kick.

Deserved winners though - it pains me to say.

Lets hope England get their act together and put together a seven match long rolling maul to victory at HQ in 4 years.

benno68

clarkey cat wrote:

The ABs always get a different interpretation at the breakdown. It seems everyone has such a hard-on for them that even the refs want them to win. The commentator on the Beeb was embarassing with his fawning... almost as bad as when they trot out the usual "You can bet your mortgage on this one going over" when Jonny Wilkinson lines up to take a kick.

Deserved winners though - it pains me to say.

Lets hope England get their act together and put together a seven match long rolling maul to victory at HQ in 4 years.

Looking at the competition overall, I agree that the All Blacks were deserved winners.

I started watching the match supporting the All Blacks, but after seeing the way the French came out and some of the dodgy refereeing decisions, I ended up supporting the French.

Let's hope the ref's go to summer school next year.

walkingbootweather

Amazed at what a low scoring final it was. I mean Man City scored nearly as many as the All Blacks.