Arena 2011 Rugby World Cup

Yes, the Irish were able to top the Australians.

 

Final score was Aus 6 Ire 15.

England play tomorrow morning against Georgia. I'm hoping to catch the second half as the start time is 7am UK time. Just a bit early for me! Also on tomorrow is France v Canada (9:30 am) and Wales v Samoa (4:30 am).

 

Was a pretty scrappy game, just like those England matches I hate with no tries and tons and tons of penalties. Ireland missed a lot of penalty goals, could've won by more. Australia had really the only tryscoring opportunity of the game but missed the final pass. I think that would've made a difference as it was straight after half time and there was never any momentum after that.

Means to win Australia will probably have to beat South Africa / New Zealand / England in order. Not going to happen.

 

England won against Georgia this morning and I actually managed to see the last 10 or so minutes of it. A comfortable win - 41 to 10 with England getting a try right at the end.
France v Canada starts in about 15 minutes.

 

The USA is up against Australia tomorrow morning. Match time is 9:30 am UK time (4:30 am East Coast USA). I'll probably watch since it's at a decent hour here. England play Romania on Saturday at 7am UK time. I might catch the second half on that one.

 

I don't think that it'll be pretty for the US.


With Australia coming off a loss, they'll be especially determined to beat the teams that they are supposed to beat.

 

Hopefully it won't be as bad as South Africa vs Namibia this morning. SA won that 85-0.

 

Talk about a beat down. Hopefully the Eagles will at least be able to get on the scoreboard.

 

Plus Australia needs to flog the USA in case Italy beat Ireland. The Wallabies won't be letting up.

 

So, what's a good moral victory for the USA? Keeping Australia under 60? Scoring?

 

I'd be pretty disappointed if either of those happened, so yes.

Though given Australia's record it seems inevitable we'll give up a few penalties, so you have a good shot at scoring.

An Italy-Russia (53-17) score would be surprising, but possible.

 

I would say both would be good moral victories for the US. However, probably scoring points, because that means that at least they cashed in on scoring chances, which may be few and far between.

 

Hiding comments for those who might be watching later on delay..

Well, at least the USA are on the scoreboard in the first half.

Edit:
Well, not as bad as Namibia vs South Africa. Final score Australia 67 USA 5. The game ended on a sour note though with an Australia player seriously injured and stretchered off. Here's hoping he's OK.

 

Scotland - Argentina could be a really good game. Argentina destroyed Romania in their last match, while Scotland got a tighter win.

 

Caught about the last 5 minutes of the England/Romania match this morning. Scoreline was eerily similar to the Australia/USA one - England 67 Romania 3.
Watching NZ vs France now - just started so no score yet.

 

Looks like England are beginning to warm up.

I'm glad interest in some of the "smaller" rugby nations is growing. It's a cracking game to watch (and literally to play).

 

Scotland lost to Argentina. Scotland's really got to beat England to advance out of pool play and hope that Argentina stumbles.

 

I was hoping Scotland would pull out a save near the end. The score was so close at 13-12. But they didn't make it.

 

From the report that I read, it sounded like they had a chance to, but couldn't. Oh well.

 

Another big blowout this morning. Wales thrashed Namibia 81-7. Tomorrow sees Canada vs Japan at 5am UK time and the USA face Italy starting at 7:30 am UK time. I'm hoping to see the second half on that one as I have to be up early anyway.

 

Italy's going to be the last realistic chance that the US has for a win. That'd be great if they could do it. And if not, at least keep it respectable.

 

Don't forget the USA does have a win - they beat Russia 13-6. It's the last group game for the USA as well. The group games finish this weekend. Then the survivors go through to the knockout stages.

 

True. But two wins in one World Cup would probably be the best showing ever by the Eagles.

 

Wins are always nice to see, especially when you are known for losing big time in friendly matches.

 

Well, I saw a bit of the USA/Italy match.

Unfortunately Italy beat the USA by 27-10. Since this is the final USA group game and they didn't make the cut, they will be on the plane home.

And we saw the first tie of the series - Canada 23 Japan 23.