The boys in green

[Duke of Marmalade]

The exception being the appallingly one sided games that have been a feature of this and previous World Cups .

There should only be 10 teams in the Rugby World Cup. I watch the betting. There were several games in this tournament where the odds were 1000 on one of the teams on Betfair in a single match. The longest odds in a World Cup soccer match are around 20. That is not competition.

 

[joer]

Pretty dour on Saturday night with even the usually majestic Manchester City shackled by a richly deserved sending off .
Match of the day 2 last night showed the beautiful game in its best light Arsenal - Spurs , Liverpool- West Ham & Brighton - Bournemouth featured a level of skill rarely seen in Rugby .
It really is just rucking , scrums and kicking for touch enlivened by the odd try .
The exception being the appallingly one sided games that have been a feature of this and previous World Cups .

Yes there were one sided games , just like the soccer Champions league and world cup . But that is just the nature of these tournaments. The real action starts at the knock out stages.
I saw match of the day too and you forgot to mention Newcastle 8 -0 win. It might be called the beautiful game but there is no comparison to the biting of nails , edge of the seat excitement of that game of rugby on Saturday night , in my opinion.
Bring on the Scots..

 

[Deiseblue]

No comparison to the nail biting tension of rugby - nonsense, you obviously weren’t behind the goal in stuttgart when we beat England or in the stand in Giants Stadium when we beat Italy and then the penalties in Genoa - I certainly held my breath !
You never see sides humiliated on a regular basis in the Champions League and World Cup as you do in the Rugby World Cup .
Granted. Rugby is a hugely physical, attritional game but the skill level is nowhere near the highest levels of football.

 

[joer]

Well if you have to go back that far for excitement in the game of soccer,or football then that speaks for itself.
The six nations is only a few months ago which had plenty of excitement. The Leinster v Munster matches have plenty of excitement too . Ok I'll agree with you as far as most of the group games are one sided but they qualified so they have every right to be there. But just as France v Namibia was a group game so was France v New Zealand and Ireland v South Africa was too.

 

[Deiseblue]

Well if you have to go back that far for excitement in the game of soccer,or football then that speaks for itself.
The six nations is only a few months ago which had plenty of excitement. The Leinster v Munster matches have plenty of excitement too . Ok I'll agree with you as far as most of the group games are one sided but they qualified so they have every right to be there. But just as France v Namibia was a group game so was France v New Zealand and Ireland v South Africa was too.

Only 8 teams qualified for the Rugby World Cup the rest pre qualified unlike the football World Cup where everybody bar the hosts have to qualify.
I actually picked those the examples I quoted as I was at those games having attended the three World Cups & the three European Championships that Ireland qualified for - I was never much of an armchair supporter !
I could pick a myriad of examples of nerve shredding games of a more recent vintage featuring the teams I support if you want ?

 

[joer]

Only 8 teams qualified for the Rugby World Cup the rest pre qualified unlike the football World Cup where everybody bar the hosts have to qualify.
I actually picked those the examples I quoted as I was at those games having attended the three World Cups & the three European Championships that Ireland qualified for - I was never much of an armchair supporter !
I could pick a myriad of examples of nerve shredding games of a more recent vintage featuring the teams I support if you want ?

No thanks, I've heard enough..
I think we will have to agree to disagree on which is the real beautiful game though.

 

[Deiseblue]

No thanks, I've heard enough..
I think we will have to agree to disagree on which is the real beautiful game though.

Fair enough .
I’ll stick with the true World game .

 

[odyssey06]

The way the rugby scoring is setup - similar to American football - you are less likely to get underdogs causing upsets.
In soccer, there's fewer 'scores', a bit of luck here, a referee decision there, and a minnow can sneak a win or hold out for a draw.
Rugby tried with bonus points to give teams more to play for, but some of the world cup teams are even outside those bounds.

 

[Purple]

I don't get why people jump in on a thread about Irelands success in Rugby to moan about the sport, a sport that they clearly don't understand or appreciate because they have a chip on their shoulder about the people who play it. It smacks of inverted snobbery to me.

I find most soccer matches boring and I find it bizarre that people complain that Rugby is an elitist sport and/or that it's a west-brit game and who wear their Irishness as a badge of pride then support English soccer teams who are owned by very dubious people. They even say "we" and "us" when talking about those foreign teams.

I never played Rugby, I went to a GAA School, but I support Irish club teams who compete at the highest level and an all-Ireland Irish team that is ranked first in the world.

Oh, and how many countries have a realistic chance of winning the soccer world cup?

 

[thedaddyman]

Remember we once had to go to Siberia to qualify for the world cup.

As for Scotland, the rules are quite clear, if they beat us without scoring 4 tries and we don't get a bonus point, we will both be on 14 points they will finish above us as the head to head takes priority over points difference

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

Remember we once had to go to Siberia to qualify for the world cup.

As for Scotland, the rules are quite clear, if they beat us without scoring 4 tries and we don't get a bonus point, we will both be on 14 points they will finish above us as the head to head takes priority over points difference

Interesting. You are correct, presuming South Africa had beaten Tonga with a bonus point as they would be clear winners.
A bizarre and unlikely outcome is if Scotland beat us and we both get bonus points!
For then all three are equal on 15 points and on the first tie break criterion; Ireland would be better than South Africa would be better than Scotland would be better than Ireland A similar conundrum arises in your scenario in the unlikely event SA beats Tonga without a bonus point.
We would then move on to the second tie break condition - points difference which would likely see us with best PD then SA then Scotland.

 

[Firefly]

Interesting. You are correct, presuming South Africa had beaten Tonga with a bonus point as they would be clear winners.
A bizarre and unlikely outcome is if Scotland beat us and we both get bonus points!
For then all three are equal on 15 points and on the first tie break criterion; Ireland would be better than South Africa would be better than Scotland would be better than Ireland
We would then move on to the second tie break condition - points difference which would likely see us with best PD then SA then Scotland.

Duke, I admire your analysis here but I'm already practicing my "a haon, a dó, a trí" for during the Haka!

 

[mathepac]

We were always a mathematical race. We dance to prime numbers!

 

[joer]

My head is in a tizzy with all the if's , but's and maybe,'s . As for all the maths formulas that ye all have come up with I thought I was sitting the Leaving cert again . I feel that it is going to be a very long two weeks and am going for a lie down after all that..

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

My head is in a tizzy with all the if's , but's and maybe,'s . As for all the maths formulas that ye all have come up with I thought I was sitting the Leaving cert again . I feel that it is going to be a very long two weeks and am going for a lie down after all that..

Ah now! There is no issue with the Scotland game, win or lose we're through. The All Blacks will be another SA nail bitter but I really dread a SF against Wales. We will be favourites but Wales are on a roll, wouldn't like to lose to them

 

[joer]

The only thing is that if we are going to lift the World Cup we will have to beat all comers regardless of who they are ....So the Scots are the next stepping stone to the title.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

The only thing is that if we are going to lift the World Cup we will have to beat all comers regardless of who they are ....So the Scots are the next stepping stone to the title.

If we play our best team and Scotland win and still we go through, I agree with you that our chances of winning take a big hit. Not quite as nail biting as vs SA or knock-out but not to be dismissed either.

 

[mathepac]

I feel that it is going to be a very long two weeks and am going for a lie down after all that..

Camomile tea and lavender baths for 1 week, then back into hard training. Your country needs you man, righ'?

 

[thedaddyman]

If we play our best team and Scotland win and still we go through, I agree with you that our chances of winning take a big hit. Not quite as nail biting as vs SA or knock-out but not to be dismissed either.

The Scotland match is knock out, lose and the chances of us going through are very slim unless we get a bonus point and even then, we could be out.

 

[Duke of Marmalade]

The Scotland match is knock out, lose and the chances of us going through are very slim unless we get a bonus point and even then, we could be out.

On reflection, if I was told now Scotland would win I would go 50/50 Ireland making it through. A lot depends on SA's last game and Scotland's next game. We will have the benefit of being the last game in the pool and knowing what we are facing.