Rugby World Cup -- Who is going to win?
 

I have started watching the RWC here in the US on Fox Sports World TV. They seem to show all the games, although I think they're delayed.

Question 1: Who do you think is going to be in the Final?

Question 2: Why do Scotland, Wales & England split up and play as different teams? Do they do this in the soccer world cup and cricket? It would seem they they'd do better if they compteted as one GBR team like in the olympics. Maybe Australia should split up and play as states! :)

Question 3: Do teams get bonus points in their pools for running up the score against lesser opponents? How & why do they do this? Doesn't seem very sportsmanlike.

Go Eagles!

Wales, Scotland and England split up because they are different countries. In cricket there is a Scottish team though I don't know about Wales.
Who is going to win? We would like the Aussies to win but unfortunately they look a long shot at present so I think it will be the Kiwis actually. So we will all have to get behind the Kiwis should they get into the finals ( and Australia not) and hope they win!

I am also an Aussie so would like us to win - our hope has improved since the weekend when the favourites - England - did not play up to expectation!!!
However, it looks like a NZ - England or Australia final.
Each team gets points for a win - and also Bonus Points for in excess of 4 tries and also for coming within a certain number of points of the team that wins.
I guess the competition does seem lopsided - but you have remember that the teams that have actually got to play in Australia were weeded out (by a series of preliminary play-offs) from hundreds of other hopefuls. So most of the lowly rated teams are just happy to be part of it all - no matter how many points are scored against them.
I am glad you are enjoying watching it on TV - we actually live about 4 hours from Sydney but are travelling back and forth to many of the games -
There has been a huge response and the crowds at all the games have exceeded expectations - which is great and makes for a wonderful atmosphere.
Go Aussies!!

1.England versus new zealand.
NZ and Wales are the only countries where rugby is the national game.

2.Scotland,Wales,England and northern ireland are technically separate countries coming together in the united kingdom.This union is represented on the union jack.

They play separately in the soccer world cup and at the commonwealth games.

Periodically a united rugby team called the "Lions" tours other countries.For rugby fans in oz,south africa and nz these tours are great events.The last lions tour of oz was a titanic battle with the Lions winning the deciding test match.

Although the USA is a great place to be a sports fan...you do miss something in not seeing epic,international battles between your countries team and another national team.

The scots don't play a lot of cricket.Wales has a team called Glamorgan.Good welsh players play in the English cricket team.

Australian winter sport is fragmented between rugby,rugby league ,soccer and australian rules football.Rugby is characterised as a middle class,private school game and is only really popular in nsw and qld.So really all the australian players come from those two states.

It is less popular than rugby league and aussie rules.

For an nfl fan i think you would find rugby league a better game to watch.

If you are a sports fan you should go to the mcg or the scg when you are in oz.In winter see an aussie rules game or a rugby league game...in summer take a good book and watch a couple of hours of cricket.

They say England is the #1 team - and that's the kiss of death. I'd like a NZ-England final and may the best team win!

As a previous poster noted, it's a strange fact of life that a country that enjoys its sport has no believable presence in any of the games played INTERNATIONALLY by teams. Yes, I know the US has made it to the RWC and even to the World Cup. Seems you're more into the "World Series" (ha) and individual sports like tennis, golf and athletics.

A funny thing, really. And please, don't mention, the current athletics doping scandal - mega praise for those who blew the whistle.

And good on the US Rugby team. Go, go!

Getting a chance to watch the RWC back home (in the states) is a great way to relive our last vacation. From what little I know about Rugby (which I have learned in our visit a month ago and what I have picked up watching the RWC) it looks like the Aussies, the Kiwis, and England all look to be a class ahead the rest.

As to running up the score, I don't look at that us showing a lack of sportsmanship. Rather it showcases the actual talent and preparation the team has put in to get this far. Do you think less of a tennis player if he or she wins 6-0,6-0? Do you think less of a major league pitcher if he throws a no hitter? The real competitors on any field want to see your best stuff and don't really want you to back off a little just to make it interesting.

I watched the Eagles last night and felt good about them making it to the RWC but it was painfully obvious that our skill is nowhere near that of the three teams I mentioned above.

So good luck to the Aussies. I would love to see an Aussie/Kiwi final.

And to the comment that what we lack in the US is a good international rivalry in sport I couldn't agree more. That's why I enjoy the Olympics so much. It highlights the fact that there's more to sport than football (NFL style), baseball, and basketball.

Ah, but they don't give the pitcher an extra win for throwing a no-hitter or a bye to a tennis player for a certain number of Aces. A win counts as a win.

From a sports fan perspective, I just want to understnd why they implemented this "bonus point" system. Is it to encourage more wide open, risk-taking play?

As long as we're talking culture, history and sports, why do you think that Australia and NZ inherited such a love for rugby and cricket from GBR -- but no strong passion for soccer?

My guess: Soccer didn't really explode in popularity in England et al until after WWI -- after the Empire had had its most influence on the countries down under.

What do you think?

Uncle <ickey

With the draw as it is, and on current form, Australia is due to meet the Kiwis in one of the semi finals! ;

Interesting.

And who would England play on the other side (assuming they make it)?

Looks likely that England will play Scurry - England likely to meet Wales in the QFs. Shame we won't have the spinetingling sound of the Welsh crowd singing that we'd hear if the match was being played in Cardiff! If England win then they'd meet either France or the runners up to Oz in the pool matches (Ireland or Argentina).
The pundits predict France.

1 - England, New Zealand and it will kill the Ozzies to see the English win it, so here's hoping they do! Would love Ireland to but I dont think it is likely.

2 - This one has been answered loads. See all the other good answers.

3 - Teams get a bonus point for scoring 4 or more tries (not for every 4 tries). It encourages try scoring which hopefully leads to more open and exciting play. As for the running up the score aspect, I spent 4 years at a US high school and it is a concept I never got my head around. In my view if you are a far worse team you get hammered, if you are a far better you slaughter the opposition. I know I found it much more embarassing when teams were told by their coaches not to score loads on me, than getting stuffed by say 50 in a basketball game. As long as the opposition is not taunting, you just take a beating and learn from it. Also a VERY important point to remember is that rugby is a very physical and fluid game. In basketball a coach can tell their players not to fast break or press to keep the scores down. In rugby you tell the players to go at half speed and there will be a host of injuries, as the opposition, who even on terrible teams are big big powerful men, will still be playing full pace and intensity.

Hi
In answer to Janese question, Wales do officially have a cricket team but we are part of the England and Wales cricket board and therefore play internationally under the England name, now you may think that with the Welsh being so patriotic this should never happen...alas its probably because cricket is not as massive in Wales as in England and the amount of world class welsh Cricket players is naturally limited.
However In the last 2 years Wales have played England twice in one day internationals, the first Wales won and the second England won by 6 runs.
England considered this to be quite embarrassing especially as the Wales side consisted of the Glamorgan side plus Mike Kasporitz the great Aussie bowler who was playing as overseas guest ??? work that one out.
The only unfortunate thing is that the selectors seldom venture further than Bristol to select the England side and therefore Welsh players at Glamorgan with the exception of about 3 never see the England side dressing room.
Its a shame really as I am sure there are some suitable players available other than Simon Jones and maybe crofty.
Glamorgan won the one day championship a year or so ago and not one player was selected...its a strange game.
With regard to a GBR team, I have to agree it does make some sense, however as john and janese say; we are different countries and fiercly patriotic.The rivalry between Anyone and England is enormous.
Muck

Muck
On the strength of his performance at Glamorgan and a spate of injuries to bowlers Mike Kasporwicz has gone into the australian one day team to tour india.

Of course Kasporwicz sounds like a taffy name to me.

Hi John,
Yes despite an average to poor season this year he has done really well, I think the injury to Jonesy has been a problem and we have missed him.
However I think you are right Kasporwicz (Which I believe is Caerphilly in Polish)lol. Certainly deserves his call up and good luck to him.
I just wish people like crofty the emerging Mike Powell and a few others get their chance too.

Cheers

Muck

Scurry - Why didn't NZ play soccer like thier English ancestors - have you seen the majority of the All Blacks?? English they are not... Soccer requires too much skill and not enough brawn. It is a well known fact that there are thousands of kids starting out playing soccer here in NZ, but it is extremely poorly funded for one thing, and when you have rugby, rugby, rugby rammed down your throat in the media etc, by the time the kids get to 11 or 12 it's considered to be too sissy to play soccer, so they either go to couch pototo school or take up rugby.

Anyway, the All Blacks are gonna win - or we will have to suffer another black depression like the last failed world cup challenge (get me outa here!!!).

This is a girls point of view who is not a fan, but

nzer,

You have addressed why soccer isn't popular in your country _today_ -- what I was asking is why New Zealand and Australia didn't inherit an interest in soccer from the UK way back when. Cricket yes, Rugby yes, Tennis yes, Soccer no. But Soccer is the #1 sport in the British isles -- what gives?

I just want to take a quick side road here related to the RWC which I think all the ladies (and appropriately inclinded gents) will appreciate:
Let us take a moment and pause in thought on the new style kit of England, France and South Africa.

To Nike: thank you, thank you, thank you!

Soccer is geographical in a sense and the majority of English who came to Australia were from the South of England. Besides we 'know' a good game when we see it i.e. Rugby and soccer was always seen as a more European ( continent) game.

I'd like to see Wales hit the finals - not least because elsewhere Mucky promised to sing the Welsh national anthem, naked, from the Harbour Bridge, or some other tomfoolery! ;)

We could use a laugh!

Realistically, England are the favourites, and if all goes to form, will meet, I think, France, in the semis, and go on to play the winner of NZ/Oz in the finals.
Australia are the current holders, but form this year has not been too flash!

I have to agree with Traci about those jersies, though! :o

Oh Margo oz,
I do hope that you will not be laughing too much at my singing.......:;-)
lol