RWC Finals 2011
And after almost 2 months of rugby we are down to the last matches, 3rd/4th consolation prize play-off between Australia and Wales and the main match New Zealand vs France
Wales vs Australia: 18 – 21
Good game for a play-off consolation prize, Wales losing out because of under par kicking, I was screaming all the way for a Welsh win, not to be I am afraid. Australia earn a credible although undeserved 3rd place in World Cup 2011
New Zealand vs France: 7 – 8
The French A team definitely pitched up for this one, but they had to wait for the second half before they scored any points, this was never going to be a try fest, a close intense game, nice to see both teams playing an expansive game. Kicking once again was a major issue for New Zealand with Weepu missing lots of points and almost costing them then game. Both teams ran in 1 try a piece. In the end a well deserved win for the All Blacks, but here’s hoping they only win when they host 
and keep to the 24 years between wins
Thats it for 2011, we shall see you again in 2015 in England and then in 2019 in Japan of all places! Did you know that Japan has over 8000 rugby clubs and way more rugby players than South Africa?
RWC Semifinals
The tension mounts once again as we head into the semifinals no mistakes now or it is over one step short of the prize.
Wales vs France: 8 – 9
Great game, close game intense stuff, the talking point of this match is obviously the red card for the Welsh capt, and in my opinion fully deserved, even though the rules are structured that only a yellow card should have been given. I say a red card is fully justified as I feel these professional players should know the rules by now and a spear tackle is dangerous, if you going to stamp it out – red card it! How many punch-ups do you see these days? Hardly any, thanks to red cards. France scrape through a tough game and here’s hoping their “A” team pitches up for the final.
New Zealand vs Australia: 20 – 6
New Zealand dominated this game, not letting Australia even get a sniff, justice served as Australia should not have been here, South Africa would have put up a better fight in this game. The talking point in this game was the superb quality of the South African referee Craig Joubert, who finally put Pocock of Australia in his place. Rumours have it Joubert will ref the final, excellent news in my opinion.
RWC 2011 Quarter Finals
Here we go it is crunch time:
Every game from here on is a final, you lose you out! 3/4 Pool winners have lost their quarter final matches, rather amazing stat that.
Ireland vs Wales: 10 – 22
Excellent game, Wales too strong though and they go through to a well deserved semi final. I hinged my bets on Ireland, who miraculously beat Australia earlier in the tournament and Wales having lost to South Africa. Wales were last years Six Nations champions and were stronger on the day, Ireland used all their luck against Australia.
England vs France: 12 – 16
Commentary before the match started was very interesting, with everyone saying both teams have been pretty poor during this tournament, England’s kicking especially needed a big kick in the rear. France, well with France, you never know which team will turn up, John Robbie said they have been poor, and have no chance of going through, but that’s exactly when they win, and that proved to be the case once again. France just bring it in the quarters having beaten New Zealand in the quarters in a previous tournament. France outplayed England in every respect. Lets hope this team turns up in the next round against Wales. Vive le France.
South Africa vs Australia: 11 – 9
Ok very very very disappointed here, I do not want to sit and rant about poor poor reffing, but even the commentators were on my side this time, double standards, exact same events in follow mauls, difference decisions. Having said that, we scored two disallowed tries, we had the opportunities, and you have to be better than your opposition and play your referee! SA will be disappointed with this loss, Australia will feel lucky and I do not see them in the final, This is New Zealand’s world cup to lose. With 80% possession and dominance in territory South Africa was just not good enough.
New Zealand vs Argentina: 23 – 10
Always going to be a New Zealand win here, but Argentina put up a brave fight defending for all they were worth. New Zealand power on to the semis where they face an old foe in Australia, who have beaten the All Blacks twice in semi-finals before in world cups. Good luck All Blacks.
RWC 2011 Round 5
And so, it is time for the final round of the Pool matches, with only 1 team confirmed through to the next round, that being the hosts New Zealand, no other team is guaranteed to go through as of the beginning of the last round of pool games.
This only shows that the old days of a single “Pool of Death” is no more, we have 3 pools of death in this tournament, the competition in world rugby sure is hotting up.
South Africa vs Samoa: 13 – 5
Very tight game expected here, and we were not disappointed, to go through to the next round, SA only needed a single point. Samoa had to win and prevent SA from getting a bonus point. Neither scenario presented itself with both teams running in 1 try each. Discipline was the determining factor in this game, SA did not lose their cool and did not give away any penalties in kick-able range, and Samoa’s off the ball niggling eventually resulting in a red card. The referee had the final say though, with a really puzzling yellow card decision for skipper John Smit. In the end, SA won and are through to the play-offs (crunch time!)
Australia vs Russia: 68 – 22
Did not watch this game, but from the looks of the score, Australia had no problem, what is concerning is that Russia scored 3 tries, some vulnerability in the aussie defence maybe? Australia qualify for the quarters, in either first or second place depending on the result of Ireland vs Italy.
France vs Tonga: 14 – 19
A genuine upset here, Tonga were tough, France were poor. France have a reputation for blowing hot and cold, they were very cold in this match and just did not pitch up. This is, however, not the first time Tonga have defeated France, the current rivalry stands at 2 wins a piece. France qualify for quarter finals, however they must really up their game. They will be facing England in the next round.
England vs Sotland: 16 – 12
Exciting game this, Scotland had the chance of putting England out of the world cup, all they needed to do was win by 8 points of or more. Things looked good for this result early on, but as the match progressed, England began to wear the scots down and eventually opened up their defence to score the only try of the match and win. Johnny Wilkenson is a huge disappointment at this stage, his kicking form is way off, so far he has 4 successful kicks and 8 misses from penalties. Kicking is what will win you matches in the play-offs, England better watch out here. England qualify for quarters and face France.
Argentina vs Georgia: 25 – 7
Again, a match played far too early for me to get up and watch, Argentina seemingly had no problem and qualified for the quarter finals. They will be facing New Zealand in their next game and will have to up their game considerably.. although New Zealand have lost their play-maker Dan Carter…
New Zealand vs Canada: 79 – 15
Another match I failed to watch, New Zealand seemed to cruise past Canada, scoring 12 tries. They must have missed plenty of kicks though looking at that score, this will again be concerning, as the play-off matches are won and lost with kicks. New Zealand will miss their fly-half Dan Carter in their remaining games.
Wales vs Fiji: 66 – 0
The most disappointing team of this World Cup must be Fiji, so much potential but completely failing to pitch up in at least 2 of their games, Wales completely smashed Fiji running in 9 tries, most of the experts did not predict this at all. Wales qualify for the next round and will be facing Ireland.
Ireland vs Italy: 36 – 3
Italy was full of hope going into this match, needing only to win to go through to their first ever World Cup quarter final. It was not to be as Ireland were far too strong for their fellow six-nations participants. Ireland ran in three tries to secure first place in the pool and a match against another six nations rival, Wales.
RWC 2011 Round 4
Time for round 4, interesting match ups in this round will be France vs New Zealand, this match has made the news as a french “second” team has been put in against New Zealand, only thing this achieved was to put even more pressure on NZ, possibly losing to a second tier french team… not good. Fiji vs Samoa – the decider for second place in this pool. Argentina vs Scotland – the decider for second place in this pool.
England vs Romania: 67 – 3
One sided, as expected. England were shocking in the opening stanza of 15 minutes or so, but suddenly a switch was flipped and they started running in the tries. Romania managed to get some points, leaving Namibia as the only team so far to score a zero in any game.
France vs New Zealand: 17 – 37
Huge hype over this game, after 5 minutes NZ were regretting calling France a “B” team, unfortunately that did not last long as the All Blacks took over, getting their bonus point for tries with ease. France happier maybe as they now move into the “Easier” half of the draw against the other northern hemisphere teams.
Fiji vs Samoa : 7 – 37
Much tighter match up expected here, but Fiji just did not turn up for the game, Thanks to New Zealand’s Daylight savings time kicking just before the game, I missed half the match! games are now 1 hour EARLIER in SA, really bad for me
Ireland vs Russia: 62 – 12
Fell asleep during this game it was obviously too boring for me, woke up to see this result, expected I suppose. What was not expected was the 2 tries Russia scored, they are doing very well for their first world cup.
Argentina vs Scotland: 13 – 12 (Game of the week)
Brilliant match, really wet game, so made it alot closer than it may have been, one final piece of brilliant by the super-sub wing and Argentina’s only try got them a win. This places Scotland and Argentina both on 10 points, with point difference separating them. Scotland now have to beat England to get through to the quarters. This may be the first time they do not qualify for quarter finals in a world cup.
Wales vs Namibia: 81 – 7
Namibia had no chance, and once again are the whipping boys of the world cup, but at least they scored some points 
Canada vs Japan: 23 – 23
What a game, very evenly matched teams here and the score reflects that, they have had past meetings in world cups and drew 12-12 last time, so this was always going to be a tight affair and maybe the a fair result here, obviously everyone on Superbru who did not pick draw are not with me here
Italy vs USA: 27 -10
Very had fought game this as well, the strength of the italian forwards vs the resolute defence of the americans. Italy out muscled USA in the scrums and when USA went down a forward, they did not give up, they managed to get out of the corner with a man down. All USA need is more together time against stroonger opposition and they could in future become a threat (I suppose that could be said about alot of the minnow sides) – They need more strength vs strength competitions between world cups.
Romania vs Georgia: 9-25
The Battle of the Minnows, good game, but not of major league quality, Georgia proved to strong and ran in the only tries of the match to take an easy victory.
