Rugby World Cup 2023

aguero93:20 said:
Meant to reply to this last night. Don't know how much difference Pollard would have made, SA missed 4 kicks, but he wouldn't have even considered kicking for goal from the two that de Klerk missed, they were too far out (both 45m+). The second of those in particular was a rush of blood after Libbok's missed penalty a minute before. Ireland had those kicks in the first half and went for the corner, could just as easily say we could have had an extra 12 points instead.
Both of Libbok's missed kicks were tricky, although almost identical misses from both was a bit disappointing, if he was going to miss the second kick, it was similar enough you'd expect it to be wide of the far post instead. Pollard probably would have gotten 1 of those, he's good but he's no Dan Carter, Johnny Wilkinson or Ronan O'Gara.
They'd have been a lot worse off with him in open play though, it's not his strength and he's played very little rugby (as has Sheehan for Ireland for ex, it's not just other teams suffering with this) and they wouldn't have been able to flood the game with as many fresh forwards.
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Nobody will particularly want to face us either Aguero.
In the cold light of day, I absolutely loved that game, mistakes and all, from both sides.

It was a war, where every inch of ground was fought for.
I would not like to face them again before the final, if that’s even possible.

The thing about this group though, is three teams could finish on 14 or 15 points. Scotland have a goal in sight now. It’s clear to them. Two bonus point wins then beat us.
If we’ve all beaten each other it comes down to points scored difference, tops the group, then second is whoever won in the head to head.

Simple, eh?

Fine margins. The thing about if SA had kicked just one of those penalties, it would have influenced how they played for the last few minutes, being 2 points behind rather than 5. Needing a try and needing a penalty are two different things.

Whatever happens in the next two weeks though, it’s all starting to get really interesting.
 
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mancity2012_eamo said:
Nobody will particularly want to face us either Aguero.
In the cold light of day, I absolutely loved that game, mistakes and all, from both sides.

It was a war, where every inch of ground was fought for.
I would not like to face them again before the final, if that’s even possible.

The thing about this group though, is three teams could finish on 14 or 15 points. Scotland have a goal in sight now. It’s clear to them. Two bonus point wins then beat us.
If we’ve all beaten each other it comes down to points scored difference, tops the group, then second is whoever won in the head to head.

Simple, eh?

Fine margins. The thing about if SA had kicked just one of those penalties, it would have influenced how they played for the last few minutes, being 2 points behind rather than 5. Needing a try and needing a penalty are two different things.

Whatever happens in the next two weeks though, it’s all starting to get really interesting.
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As much as I'd love to see a permutation happen with Ireland and Scotland going through from the group, it's unlikely either Ireland or SA go out now. Scotland need a huge win today, 50+ points margin as well as the four tries. They're 137 points behind us and 101 behind SA (who will beat Tonga to increase that and can go all out for it having the last weekend off). In fact, if the Scots go through its a lot more likely to be at Ireland's expense than SA, so I'll be reluctantly cheering on Tonga today.
 
aguero93:20 said:
As much as I'd love to see a permutation happen with Ireland and Scotland going through from the group, it's unlikely either Ireland or SA go out now. Scotland need a huge win today, 50+ points margin as well as the four tries. They're 137 points behind us and 101 behind SA (who will beat Tonga to increase that and can go all out for it having the last weekend off). In fact, if the Scots go through its a lot more likely to be at Ireland's expense than SA, so I'll be reluctantly cheering on Tonga today.
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Agreed.
If Scotland go through, it’ll be at our expense.
They need bonus point wins, though. Without them we could lose to them and still go through.

Having said that, I like the Scot’s and would love if there was a way for both of us to get through.
 
aguero93:20 said:
As much as I'd love to see a permutation happen with Ireland and Scotland going through from the group, it's unlikely either Ireland or SA go out now. Scotland need a huge win today, 50+ points margin as well as the four tries. They're 137 points behind us and 101 behind SA (who will beat Tonga to increase that and can go all out for it having the last weekend off). In fact, if the Scots go through its a lot more likely to be at Ireland's expense than SA, so I'll be reluctantly cheering on Tonga today.
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One highly unlikely scenario is possible however. Scotland win their last three games with bonus points, but in beating us, we also get a bonus point and SA win their last game without a bonus point.
Highly unlikely I know but possible.
Also possible is Scotland running up enough points difference in the next two games to head the group, with us all finishing on 15 points.
We’d go through second on a head to head with SA.

As I say possible but unlikely.
 
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