England 18 Samoa 17. England wasn’t impressive. If they play like that against any of the big teams in pool A or B I don’t see them surviving.
Ireland 36 Scotland 14. It went as expected. Ireland is really really good. I look forward to them playing New Zealand in the quarter-finals. The quarter-finals for Pool A and B are going to be really fantastic.
Watched in London pub last night. England finish was great. Ireland defense is something else.
England benefitted so far from being in the weakest Group but I expect they would lose handily to any one of Wales, SA, Ireland, France and NZ. Not sure they will even get past Pool C runner up.
Portugal 24 - Fiji 23, this was a fantastic game to watch. 3-3 at halftime, tries by both sides within the first 7 minutes of the 2nd half, then another pair of tries in the next 20 minutes. Fiji nails 2 penalty kicks after 70 minutes to take a 6-point lead. Came down to the last minute, Portugal needed a converted try and managed a stellar run and then converted the kick to win their first ever World Cup match. Excellent show all around.
Awesome game! Fiji now faces England. It is going to be interesting. Fiji has played better than I was expecting so far. I always saw them as a 7s side.
Yep.
I watched their 7s play at the Olympics in Rio (2016) and only NZ remotely challenged them. They anhilated the rest of the competition (beat GB 43-7 in the final for the Gold).
Fiji definitely knows how to play close games. All of their game margins were within 7 points.
This game could go either way. If England does advance they will probably get blown out in the next round.
Ireland-New Zealand and SA-France are the quarterfinal matches I most want to watch. As good as Ireland is, you can never count out the All-Blacks.
Ireland - Scotland was something like 26-0 at the half. I don’t think I want to watch the second half.
When Ireland defended against South Africa I was sure I was looking at the champions. They are just unbelievable. They are playing New Zealand which seems to have a ravenous attack. We will see them put to the test this weekend.
Interesting that each of the four matches this weekend have a North Hemisphere country versus a South Hemisphere one and the North is favoured in all four.
Big match for me is still Ireland vs NZ. That could go either way and should be fun to watch. Wales has an easier route to the semis so won’t watch that one. France-SA tomorrow is the other must-watch game.
Sure got that one wrong. Was Wales overconfident like me?
Awesome first half in Ireland-NZ game. Everything I expected.
Unfortunately both today and tomorrow’s late games are only on Peacock in the US and both early games are tape delayed, alas! Hoping the semis and the final are on normal TV.
Ok. I will not comment further on outcomes. Would just say the Ireland-NZ game was incredible.
2 southern hemisphere upsets in a row
That South African loss to Ireland may have been a smart move. See how they go against France.
I would never bet against South Africa nor bet on England when it comes to rugby. However 80,000 supporters in the crowd may make a difference for France.
As much as I have always liked the All Blacks I was rooting for Ireland given how successful NZ has been in the past. It would have been an incredible finish if Ireland had won it on their last possession
No worries on my part, I was periodically following the live score and would just avoid the thread if I wasn’t up to date.
It looks like iTV in the UK might be broadcasting for free, so I can either start a Peacock trial or have my browser “be” in London.