Argentina

10
Oct
2011

Quarter-Final Wrap-up

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What a great weekend of international rugby we had! Great to see teams playing at 100% intensity with everything on the line. We’ll start with a couple of bizarre facts from the weekend, only one winning team, New Zealand, had a 100% record in the pool phase. Looks like losing a game in the pool phase may not be a bad thing after all. Three of the four teams left in the tournament are coached by New Zealanders, Graham Henry, Warren Gatland and Robbie Deans. Anyway back to the games and first up we had the Celtic clash between Ireland and Wales in the capital city, Wellington.

Wales 22 Ireland 10 (23-18)

Wales’ recent ranking improvement appeared to have been justified as three tries from JJV Davies, Phillips and SM Williams were more than enough to see off the challenge from the Irish. Only Earls dotted down for the Emerald Isle as the Dragons continue their great form in the 2011 World Cup. Will this be the World Cup where Wales take the rugby world by storm? Next up they face northern rivals France.

France 19 England 12 (19-25)

Well the Openside Predictor got this match totally wrong with a predicted England victory. It was third time lucky for coach Livremont playing Parra at number 10 when after two losses, the French dominated England to take the match by 19 points to 12. Both teams scored a couple of tries but it was two penalties by Yachvili and a drop goal from Trinh-Duc that nudged the French ahead.

Australia 11 South Africa 9

If you just saw the Quade Cooper highlights from this game, you could have reasonably assumed that South Africa had taken this game easily. But somehow Cooper’s teammates covered his errant kicking, handling and tackling to beat the Springboks in what was the game of the weekend in terms of excitement if not skill. Australian captain Horwill scored the only try with great Australian defence denying any tries for Souith Africa.

New Zealand 33 Argentina 10 (40-10)

Tries from Read and Thorn and a great kicking performance from Weepu ensured that Argentina never really had a look-in in the final quarter-final. Whilst the All Blacks were not firing on all cylinders they easily overcame the Pumas and still look good to capture the World Title for only the second time despite numerous injuries to key players.

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02
Oct
2011

World Cup 2011 Pool Phase Wrapup

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And now we have only eight. Twelve teams have now packed their bags and are on their way home, most expected to be making the trip right now, but some would have thought their visit to New Zealand would last at least a week longer. Here’s a quick rewind of the weekend’s games and how the final round of pool matches played out.

Pool A

We had a sense an upset was coming. We’d had (perhaps ironically) Canada beating Tonga and Argentina over-coming the Scots, but they really weren’t major upsets, we were due a BIG one! And on Saturday night in Wellington we got it. When Tonga led at half-time by 13 to 6, we sensed something special was about to happen, rugby history was about to be made. The brave Tongans hung on, desperately at times, in the second forty minutes to close out a momentus 19 to 14 victory over the French. To say the French played within themselves is an under-statement, yet take nothing away from the Tongans, they went out determined to win and shut the French down. But like a cruel plot twist, France will progress to the quarter-finals and Tonga travel home, such is the way of sport, a lack of bonus points prevented them from making the quarters. In the other Pool A game, a rampant and Dan Carter-less New Zealand team over-whelmed a brave Canadian team by 79 points to 15.

Pool B

After the excitement of the Wellington upset, Scottish fans hoped for a similar experience in Auckland in the final game on Saturday and for 76 minutes it looked as if they would cause the second upset of the day. But England’s winger Chris Ashton broke Scottish hearts when he scored in final minutes of the game, the scoreline finishing 16 – 12 to England. Only an unlikely Georgia victory over Argentina would see the Scots taking any further part in the World Cup. However Argentina ground out a 25 to 7 win to claim second spot in Pool B.

Pool C

In a contrast to Pools A and B, nothing untoward occurred in Pool C. Australia over-whelmed the Russians and Ireland ran out easy winners in their clash with Italy. Ireland and Australia progress to the quarters, the rest fly home.

Pool D

Pacific Island hearts were truly broken in this pool over the weekend, with Both Samoa and Fiji losing to South Africa and Wales respectively. Samoa pushed the South Africans close but South Africa did just enough to win 13 points to 5 and register four wins out of four to claim the pool. Wales followed up with a convincing win over Fiji, with a 66 to nothing rout.

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26
Sep
2011

World Cup Weekend Roundup Number 3

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Well the blowouts were blowouts and the close game even closer than predicted. Before we go on about last night’s Argentina v Scotland showdown in Wellington, we’ll recap on the other results from the weekend.

Australia 67 – 5 USA (34 – 4)

Australia were just too strong for the American Eagles, allowing just one score, a try from Gagiano. Australia bagged the four-try bonus point early in the game and never looked back. Ashley-Cooper playing on the wing scored a hat-trick. A win for Australia against Russia next Saturday will put them into the quarters.

England 67 – 3 Romania (33 – 10)

Dunedin again hosted England in a lop-sided victory, England scoring 10 tries with hat-tricks to Cueto and Ashton to hammer Romania 67 points to 3. England looked strong throughout the match and will go into next weekend’s crunch game against Scotland in Auckland with a lot of confidence.

New Zealand 37 – 17 France (40 – 17)

This was tipped to be a lot closer than the predicted 23 point All Black win, but in the end the New Zealand back-line ran rings around the French to make this a strong victory. It’s unlikely Canada will trouble New Zealand next Sunday, so this result probably gives Pool A to the All Blacks. On Saturday Tonga have a sniff of a chance of knocking France out if they can beat the French with a four-try bonus point and denying the French any bonus points. A tall order, may be, but a chance none-the-less.

Samoa 27 – 7 Fiji (34 to 19)

The Pacific Island clash went pretty much to form, with Samoa looking much more organised than Fiji. Tries to Fotuali’i and Stowers clinched victory for the Samoans and sets up a great match next weekend at Eden Park between the in-form Springboks and Samoa.

Ireland 62 – 12 Russia (34 – 4)

The final predicted blowout of the weekend went to form, with Ireland over-whelming the Russians. Ireland ran in nine tries to the Bears two to firmly place themselves at the top of Pool C. An intriguing match against Italy on Sunday awaits the Irish but surely it’ll four out of four wins and top spot in the pool for them.

Argentina 13 – 12 Scotland (19 – 15)

Tipped to be the one to watch this weekend, this game didn’t let us down. Keeping us on the edge of our seats until the final whistle, the Pumas squeaked a one point victory over the Scottish. As we mentioned in the weekend preview, if you believe England can beat Scotland next weekend then Argentina will qualify second in Pool B.

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23
Sep
2011

Rugby World Cup Weekend Preview

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We’re now getting towards the serious part of the round robin phase, and a team that slips up over the next weekend or two may end up taking a flight home sooner than they would have wanted. The only true upset we’ve had so far is the Irish beating Australia which didn’t really change anyone’s flight plans but who knows what this weekend may bring. Here’s the Openside Flanker’s predictions for this weekends world cup games.

Australia v USA – 34 to 4

It would be strange to see anything other than a convincing Australian victory in this match. The Wallabies have rested a few players but their replacements are full of experience such as Drew Mitchell, whilst USA have one eye on next week’s game against Italy and have dropped (or rested) 14 players from their last outing. Yeah, this could be a blowout.

England v Romania – 33 to 10

Again another blowout on the cards in Dunedin on Saturday. England will be looking to bounce back after a couple of under-whelming games against Argentina and Georgia. And the Romanians may well have one eye on next week’s game against Georgia, shame really, so another blowout.

New Zealand v France – 40 to 17

Despite the prediction of a 23 point New Zealand win and talk of the France fielding a ‘B’ team and looking to lose, this match will be one to watch. The French are notorius at spoiling the All Blacks world cup chances and would love to upset them again we’re sure, especially after all the talk of fielding an under-strength team by the New Zealand media during the week. This may be closer than the Openside Flanker thinks.

Samoa v Fiji – 34 to 19

A Pacific Island clash at Eden Park on Sunday pits Samoa against Fiji. Samoa look like the in-form team of the two, with Fiji not impressing at all during the cup so far. Yeah, a 15 pointer to Samoa sounds about right.

Ireland v Russia – 34 to 4

Another clobbering on the cards here. Ireland are looking good and a second-string Irish team would even dominate the Russians. Sorry to say a 30 point margin looks good.

Argentina v Scotland – 19 to 15

This is more like it, with the Openside prediction of this game swinging in the favour as Argentina as the tournament progressed, it’s probably fair to say this will be a close game. Both sides have quarter-finals aspirations and with England in the same group, this is virtually a knockout game if you believe England will beat Scotland next week. We’re pretty certain no-one will be rested and both teams will go all out for the win. If you can only watch one game this weekend, this is the ONE to watch!

Openside Pick of the Weekend

Sunday night’s game in Wellington between Argentina and Scotland is the pick of the bunch, whether you’re having a asado or serving up haggis with neeps and tatties, grab yourselves a cold one, sit back and enjoy!

 

 

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12
Sep
2011

Weekend Wrap-Up

by admin

What a great weekend it was to open up the 2011 Rugby World Cup with. Who could have predicted that the so-called minnows of the tournament would have pushed the larger teams so hard? But before we get ahead of ourselves, let’s look back to Friday night and the opening game of the 2011 Rugby World Cup between New Zealand, our hosts, and their local Pacific Island rivals in Tonga.

After the smoke from the amazing opening ceremony fireworks had cleared we were treated to the unusual sight of double haka, with the Tongans performing their own version of the New Zealand haka. And then the games began!

(more…)

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 PlWonDrLstPts
New Zealand440020
France420211
Tonga42029
Canada41126
Japan40132

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England440018
Argentina430114
Scotland420211
Georgia41034
Romania40040

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Ireland440017
Australia430115
Italy420210
USA41034
Russia40041

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South Africa440018
Wales430115
Samoa420210
Fiji41035
Namibia40040