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Post by Jep Gambardella on Sept 17, 2019 14:17:39 GMT
The 2019 Rugby World Cup starts this week in Japan, with the hosts facing Russia on Friday at 11:45 GMT. I am not exactly a Rugby fan but I always like the big international sports events, so I figured I would start a thread.
Four groups of five teams. Top two teams in each group advance to the quarter-finals.
Group A:
Japan Ireland Scotland Samoa Russia (didn't even know they played Rugby in Russia)
Group B: New Zealand South Africa Canada (I guess we don't have much of a chance of getting out of this group...)
Italy
Namibia
Group C: England France Argentina (Go Pumas!)
USA (our American friends don't have much of a chance either)
Tonga
Group D: Australia Fiji Wales Uruguay Georgia
Final to be played in Yokohama on Nov 2nd.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Sept 17, 2019 14:20:28 GMT
Interesting article about the lack of enthusiasm about the World Cup in Japan:
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 17, 2019 17:11:45 GMT
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Sept 17, 2019 17:35:44 GMT
I guess that's not a Rugby code that is very popular in Australia and that's why their odds are relatively low? Same goes for Fiji, I suppose - they are the reigning Olympic champions of Rugby Sevens, so I am surprised to see them at 500/1 - surely they have a better chance than Japan, even if you take into account the home advantage.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 17, 2019 23:17:42 GMT
Union isn’t as big as Rugby League in Australia, but The Wallabies are usually very high up the world rankings. 20/1 is probably the longest odds they’ve started a WC at in a very long time.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Sept 18, 2019 17:12:06 GMT
Very hard to see past The All Blacks. England have come from nowhere in the last few months to become a strong fancy, so at 9/2 that each way punt is tempting but I don't see it myself, but then again I'm no massive Rugger fan and only watch the big tournament games. Friends who do follow it though are very bullish about Saffers chances, so under advisement I'm backing them each way to get to the final at least.
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Post by hitchcockthelegend on Sept 18, 2019 17:13:34 GMT
Union isn’t as big as Rugby League in Australia, but The Wallabies are usually very high up the world rankings. 20/1 is probably the longest odds they’ve started a WC at in a very long time. In my lifetime I can't recall them ever being that price, that's damning but also sad that they have fallen so far down the egg chasing ladder.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 18, 2019 17:43:34 GMT
Union isn’t as big as Rugby League in Australia, but The Wallabies are usually very high up the world rankings. 20/1 is probably the longest odds they’ve started a WC at in a very long time. In my lifetime I can't recall them ever being that price, that's damning but also sad that they have fallen so far down the egg chasing ladder. Aus beat NZ just a few weeks ago though ... before losing heavily to them admittedly.
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 18, 2019 17:46:02 GMT
I have a sneaking feeling Wales or Ireland could do it this year.
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Post by hoskotafe3 on Sept 18, 2019 17:52:27 GMT
Group C is the "Group of Death". In Australia Rugby and soccer fluctuate as the #4 men's sport in Oz mainly depending on the performances of the national team. No one watches A League or Super Rugby, but internationals get good ratings in soccer's case and respectable ratings in the case of Rugby. Australia haven't beaten NZ in a series in nearly 20 years and were towelled up by the Saffers this year so is at a low point in relevance right now.
Saffers got a draw in NZ to win the Southern Rugby Championship, which is probably why some are bullish on them.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2019 18:03:32 GMT
Keep this homo-erotic public school toff stuff tidy eh boys 🤨
We don't want it escaping to the rest of the board... we'll be flooded with tales of soggy biscuit, and sexually predatory prefects and house masters 🤮
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2019 15:37:30 GMT
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2019 15:42:35 GMT
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 19, 2019 16:13:12 GMT
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Post by MrFurious on Sept 20, 2019 10:52:07 GMT
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Post by Carl LaFong on Sept 20, 2019 12:07:06 GMT
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Sept 20, 2019 12:18:49 GMT
Watching it while getting ready to go to work. It looks like Japan gave citizenship to a number of foreign players. Not a big fan of that - it kind of defeats the purpose of international sports.
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Post by nostromo on Sept 20, 2019 12:31:47 GMT
Watching it while getting ready to go to work. It looks like Japan gave citizenship to a number of foreign players. Not a big fan of that - it kind of defeats the purpose of international sports. They are not doing anything against the laws. If a family integrates into society, then they are allowed to stay and work in that country. Plenty of rugby players weren't born in the country they represent. They live there for the required amount of years and they are eligible. Simple as that.
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Post by Jep Gambardella on Sept 20, 2019 13:42:02 GMT
Watching it while getting ready to go to work. It looks like Japan gave citizenship to a number of foreign players. Not a big fan of that - it kind of defeats the purpose of international sports. They are not doing anything against the laws. If a family integrates into society, then they are allowed to stay and work in that country. Plenty of rugby players weren't born in the country they represent. They live there for the required amount of years and they are eligible. Simple as that. I certainly don’t think that only people born in a country should be allowed to represent that country in international sports. I know that there are many cases of (football) players who move to a foreign club, stay for many years, integrate, maybe marry a local woman and have children with her, and probably even decide to settle there after their professional playing days are over. Those, I consider perfectly legitimate naturalisations. But I also know that there are cases that are nothing like that – players who are offered citizenship just so that they can join the national team, even though they have no deep link to their new country. They accept it because it’s their only chance to play in the international stage, but everyone knows it’s completely bogus. In the case of these foreign-born players in the Japanese Rugby squad, I really don’t know – but considering how stingy Japan is with their citizenship, I find it very suspicious that a third of their squad is made up of foreigners. I am not sure Japan would have given them citizenship if they worked as, I don’t know, software engineers instead of professional Rugby players.
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Post by nostromo on Sept 20, 2019 13:49:18 GMT
They are not doing anything against the laws. If a family integrates into society, then they are allowed to stay and work in that country. Plenty of rugby players weren't born in the country they represent. They live there for the required amount of years and they are eligible. Simple as that. I certainly don’t think that only people born in a country should be allowed to represent that country in international sports. I know that there are many cases of (football) players who move to a foreign club, stay for many years, integrate, maybe marry a local woman and have children with her, and probably even decide to settle there after their professional playing days are over. Those, I consider perfectly legitimate naturalisations. But I also know that there are cases that are nothing like that – players who are offered citizenship just so that they can join the national team, even though they have no deep link to their new country. They accept it because it’s their only chance to play in the international stage, but everyone knows it’s completely bogus. In the case of these foreign-born players in the Japanese Rugby squad, I really don’t know – but considering how stingy Japan is with their citizenship, I find it very suspicious that a third of their squad is made up of foreigners. I am not sure Japan would have given them citizenship if they worked as, I don’t know, software engineers instead of professional Rugby players. You're confusing citizenship with sporting regulations. They have been residents for 3 years in Japan. That means they can play rugby for the national team. There are plenty of other examples in the tournament: Manu Tuilagi (England) Bundee Aki (Ireland) CJ Stander (Ireland) Hadleigh Parkes (Wales) Blade Thomson (Scotland) If a 1 year old baby from Wales moves to Scotland and gets picked to play for Scotland at age 28 is that ok? How many years should a person live in a country before it's ok to play for their national team?
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