Start this friday! i am already looking forward to it! I was amazed that no live games on BBC, ALL games is live in ITV1, 3 and 4!

BBC's great loss but they got six nations rights anyway.

Come on England, I feel they will reach semi finals! France is favourite cos of it is being in their home country. Ireland can be suprise package, i just bet on them to win (£10)!

Portugal's first time in world cup, wow!

Should be a good year for England - with Twenty20 Cricket World Cup coming this month!

hmmmm finally to have a proper man's sport world cup coming in !!! lets hope them cheating divers divas footballers watch and learn how to be a proper man with oval balls of steels !!

i'm as usual rooting for england but despite their lack of creativenesses in the middle of the park and using the old power play style ... i'd put my money on south africa to win the world cup ... or even australia .. PERHAPS france but of late in the frenches warm up matches, they looked rather wonky !! and never mind the new zealanders !!

vealehill, interesting u've put a bet on ireland to win ... when they are in the group of death with france and argies. i'd predict the argies to whack out the irelish ...

going to the england vs south african game next week friday, got tickets so can't wait at all .. even watching the game in st denis !! mint !!!

england would reach the semis IF they win the group to avoid facing all of the top 3 southern hemisphere teams. IF they win the group, they'd face Wales in the next round then they would face either France/Argie/scots/italy/ireland b4 they get to meet one of the 3 southern hemisphere teams in the finals.

if we become runners up in group stage, we got the Australians in the quarter ... that's when we all should wave england goodbye !!

Drodz? waiting for your views on it? cos i know u are rugger man!!!

At last a real sports thread Thanks for the invite vealhill, but i'm sure you knew i would put my 2 peneth in at some point. Rob welcome back, i havn't heard owt from you on this forum since the end of the season "i wonder why "

England? i am hoping mr ashton has been playing his cards close to his chest, as i think some of his selection descisions have been a bit strange. i think the team are struggling to gel at the moment. which is strange as most of them are wasps players. i thought the first friendly against wales was spot on and the team realy gelled in the second half, but then it all went pear shaped for the next two friendlys.

France were a bit ropey i thought, the team are carrying a few injuries so hopefully some of their top player will be nobbled before the semi's

Ireland again plagued by injury, lets hope some of the top boys will be match fit and stay fit through the tourny.

Wales? i have not really been impresed with their friendlys, again think there is a gelling problem.

S Africa think they will get to the semi's but not sure after that.

Argies watch this space, I think they will open a few eyes this world cup.

Going down under.

NZ not being a gambling man i have got to say final.

Aussie they have now sorted their scruming out and are looking pretty good so maybe.

Somoa looking forward to watching their games they have some big guys.

My diary is forming nicley round the world cup so hopfully wont miss too many games, but my sky plus box has been wipe clean just in case Happy viewing guys and will look forward to your match reports.

hey man long time and yeh mainly coz the rugby period is quiet due to summer break ...

anyway Drodz, you pointed out england performance against wales where we whupped them 62-5 ... yeh it is nice score to see, sweeten things up after what they did in the 6nations avoiding to pick up a top of the range wooden spoon ... however you fully aware it was their 3rd team we played eh ?!

we went pear shaped in the last 2 friendlies against the french, well thats coz we've finally met our "match" playing against a 1st teamer than a 3rd teamer ... gotta say we were robbed by Chabal who i see as my icon !! and delighted to have met him when i went to the anglo welsh semis, met/bumped into him outside the millennium stadium where he and his sales sharks troops were heading back with a long face to their hotel after losing to your team eh ?! anyway i thought We did performed QUITE nicely, not satisfyingly NICELY in the 1st warm up match against the french ... not that satisfied coz we didn't really played with style ... nothing in the middle of the park you know ...

South Africa, one of my most hated team coz they rely on drop goals too often. they got this young quality player francois steyn and i believe they will rely on him to do as many long ranged drop goals when they are desperate to clinch a win !! they've got a GOOD team, GOOD squad so i just got this funny feeling that they'll be a finalist team.

Could/Should be an Aussie vs South Africa final, that'd be my BEST bet ...

more things i'd like to say about some teams, Drodz, your right about samoa ... i'm nervous about us facing them as i believe they could beat us on their day when the day isn't ours' ... like this Lomu player they got, Tuilagi !!! i IN FACT am considering placing a small bet on england not to qualify to the next stage coz of them !! Like the footy world cup in Japan, Senegel Kicked the French out of the world cup !! ... it goes along with those sayings Life's full of surprise, Life's like a box of chocolate .... You just don't know what you will see/get ...

One of the reason i have my doubt over The New Zealanders is that they didn't quite perform in the Tri-Nations and Aussies gave them a helluva time same goes for the South African .... South Africa played superb in the 1st match, winning it then after that they mixed up their team not fielding their strongest team .. WHY ?? this is my theory; i don't blame them for thinking ahead by giving some of their not so experience players a chance to play against the 2 top teams in the Tri nations in order to mentally prepare them ahead of the world cup ... whatscha reckon ??

Didn't they do well against the scots too ?? hmmm

one of the few matches i'm totally looking forward to is the Argies facing the French and the Irish ... gonna be one of the match of the tournament !!

oh man hurry up friday am brimming with HUUUUGE EXCITEMENT !!!

Alex Tuilagi is deffo a force to be recond with, he has gone from strength to strength since being at leicester. His brothers can be pretty impresive too.

Wow you met Chabal is he as big in real life as he looks on TV? I thought he had a pretty ropey domestic season this year with the sharks due to recovering from injury, but seeing him in the friendlys, good old Seb's back so watch everyone. Betson can be a bit of a bugger when he's on form as well. considering the frenchies are playing on home turf they have a good chance of being up there.

I watched the Argies play agains the tigers earlier this year and they were awsome. they wopped our arses big time. the team realy gelled and knew what eah other was thinking. shame they have lost their head coach, but i'm not complaining as he s coming to Tigers.

Think you could be right about SA giving younger players experience to build them up for the world cup. But why jeoperdise the tri natons for that. surely their confidence would have grown more if they had won the tri nations.

Maybe SA is playing things out mentally, i.e. keeping the press and pundits off their back inorder to play the tournament without any weights on their shoulders ?? maybe they fancy the idea of being the "dark horse" .... really world cup holds a better value than tri nations as world cup only comes every 4 years whereas the tri nations is every year so for them to jeopardises tri nation this year isn't as much of a lost hmmmm perhaps ?! ....

yeh Chabal is as big as he looks on TV, he's more of a cave man so in another word he's PROPER MASSIVE but a flamey gentle giant ... when i approached him when he was ambushed by fans ... i got the luck to get a hand shake from him and said "well played" .. he respond with a gentle and calm attitude and smiled "thank you" ... wow amazing man .. now the next i'd love to meet is the proper bad boy Grewcock but doubt i'd get the opportunity to meet him as his rugby career is pretty much in twilight zone, sadly !!

anyway if you fancy a bit of fun then do please yourself to join in ... rugby fantasy league. check and hit the link

http://gb.fantasyrugby.heineken.com/default.aspx

and then join the mini league, name 'ladyboy chaser' password: 26

just sumbit my team and join the mini league now, my team called Deaf Heathens thanks

wikked but can't find your team in the mini league .. hmmmm

i join the mini league but have waiting for the administrator of the league will either accept or decline my request.

My wishlist for this world cup in order of importance:

-Scotland to make the quarters and put in the display of their lives to make the semis.
-A northern hemisphere team to win the cup.
-Anyone to stop the all blacks.
-Exciting "flair-filled" play throughout.

Enjoy it!!!

What a start to the world cup :thumbup: totaly enjoyed the game, even though there was not that much scoring. french need big time kick up th A hole or they will be out in the first stage. why leave chabal out until the last 15mins??? and their kicking was rubbish, think they had their boots on the wrong feet
Argies have got plenty of heart and played well, but will struggle with scrums and mauls especially from the bigger teams like us and they need to tidy up their line outs.
I see jonny is taking another week off why Andy Goode was not selected for the squad beats me. i think he beats olley b and toby flood hands down.
anyways guys 17 hours to go

My predictions for tomorrow are
winners
group a USA
agroup b Japan
group c Italy

NOT

Laterz

yeah, what a result! Argies deserve it, French seems nervous. I was impressed with Argies captain (no9) he is brilliant, organise at everything, yeah drodz you are right, they need sort their line out bit better, will be interesting when France play Ireland in couple of weeks time. big test for France.

Come on England, yeah about Goode, Brain Ashton have make a hard decision, i like Goode and Barley both but i can't choose between them. wait and see what happen.

As i am warriors fan, i cant beileve Pat Sanderson didnt getting in World cup squad and final 40!! he played very brilliant for Worcester Warriors's great escape end of last season. it puzzled me but Tom Rees , i like him! wait and see. i would love Ashton prove me wrong cos i think england can reach semi final and he say england will win the cup.

Today Australia will be winning by about 40 points against Japan, NZ will be about 10 points against Italy, we know Italians is not pushovers. England no problem .

Come on england tonight, Let's hope Farrell and Catt play well to get lots of points as they can!!

Tmw NZ vs Portugal!! oohhh, will be brilliant game for who dont interested in the game and want to learn about rugby. It is MUST see game.

Rob i hope you put that little wager on because i cant see england getting any furter than the group stage. there was nothing in the team that i could see promising until the last twenty minutes and yes it was because they brought on the big guns, moody and chuter. i know they are tigers players and i am maybe a bit biast, but to be honest they could play for any team and i would have said the same.
we are missing so many key players that could have made a difference.i think ashton has messed about with the team too much :bash:
Porta V NZ today i thought was a class game, Porta had nothing to be ashamed about with such a big score difference,as they played their hearts out and gave NZ a run for their money. Wales again i was impressed with, but think the final will be as Rob said, going to be either NZ, SA or AUS. cant see anyone touching these guys, i hope i'm wrong and there are some suprises to come. if not world cup will be boring.

OOOOOH was in St Denis to witness our worst and biggest defeat in world cup history without scoring a point (!!) my my my !!! but hey at least i get to see the ex champs and the champs to be !! so that's not a too bad thing plus a priviledge to see paris !! never mind our performance, i had paris for the day !!

Yeh where's Anthony Allen (My Favourite player and believe he'll do england the world of wonder in the middle of the park), Olly Morgan, Allen Lamb, Toby Flood, Palmer, Strettle, Haskell, Cipriani, Wigglesworth, Ellis, Mike Brown, Alex Brown etc ... Before you say something YES i do know some are/were injure/d, just putting down if injuries doesn't exist ....

Never mind the Golden Oldies, why can't Ashton Field out the young and inexperiences Guns to prepare them for the next world cup 2011 (!?) Give them an early Learning curve ?!

Goode, Drodz am sorry to say this but i think your very Biast cos He's one of those players i DON'T rate on any given day and would rather Barkley, Flood or Lamb than Goode, Goode is a michelin man !! *ooompa ooompa ooompa* (whatever the sounds of a puncture tyre is) Goode is a good kicker, set/positioning kicker but not a goal kicker and an attacker neither a tackler !!

After the world cup, or when england go out, wot i would like to see the RFU do;

1) Sack Ashton

2) Call in Gatland (first choice) or that ex englishman south african coach who drove south africa to win the 1995 world cup (i think), anyone care to correct me or even know his name ? Drodz, by any chance ye'd know that guy i'm trying to name ??

3) Dump out the Oldies for good and bring in the new young guns and stick with them then set a team policy stating that a squad needs to have a nice well balanced mixture of 'old-ish' and youngs to help fluent eachother.

Rooting for Wales coz out of 4 british teams, wales are the only one who are ACTUALLY performing out of all northern hemisphere teams .. LOVE their style of play and MASSIVELY WISH England could play that style !!!

Rob me thinks you are maybe on about nick mallett? Rumor has it that he is due to take over from Pierre Berizier after the 2007 world cup. i know he was someone england were looking at before they chose what they thought was a safe bet with Ashton. He wasn't actually involved in the world cup 95 as he joined the springboks coaching team in 96, but he was pretty influential in them setting allsorts of records inthe 97/98 season.
I think i would go with your wish list only add get rid of rob andrew as well.

Robaldo will you be frequenting any other England matches this world cup? via your dads big wallet :wink:. from what i seen with tonga and samoa, we could still be in with a chance of quaters. what do you think guys?

Well here we go again. I will put my neck on the line and say we are in with a good chance of taking the Aussies out next week. We just need to capitalise on their mistakes and they made plenty of them yesterday. I think they have spent that much effort sorting their scrum out, that they forgot the other important elements of the game. Shame about Wales and well done to lucky Scotland. Come on Ireland for today if Irland and Georgia win today the Frenchies are going home

Scots are facing Argentina if I am correct, they may not have a chance - Argentina is having a good run so far.

yeah u are right, next sunday. Argentina beat France and Ireland, I will be surprised if Scotland beat them, i hope they will beat Argies, wait and see. England vs Australia, will be good game, i am not condifent in England wait and see. New Zealand vs France in CARDIFF!! lol will be good game! love this 1999 semi or quater final game between them, awesome game!! South Africa will have easy passage to final after will facing fiji then Argies or Scottish in the semi final.

I enjoy this competetion so far.

Quater Finals

Australia Vs England
New Zealand Vs France
South Africa Vs Fiji
Argentina Vs Scotland

5 South Hemp teams
3 North Hemp teams

Let hope England, France or Scotland will win the cup!!!!

England wiiinnn!!!! 12-10!!!! against NZ or France in Semi! i cant beileve it!!! i am sooo happyyy!!!!

I'd love to have seen Campese's face though Time for another walk?

Bloody hard fight, dodgy ref but we made it "just" Rob why are you keeping quiet? :P
I feel good now and maybis even thinking we will be in the final :thumbup:

France Won! what a day for North Hemps Teams!!!!! NZ and Aussies out!!! brilliant!

Hey Drodz .. just fancy giving it a break here and busy thinking about other things i'd much like to sort out !!

WICKED to see IRELAND go out ... it shown they were lucky to win 3 triple crown in 4 years !! and now Ireland and wales will have to go throught qualification round to get into the next world cup so i'm delighted for that !!!!

what a lot of shocking performances so far in this world cup with wales going out and especially the stunning come back by the french and england grinding and holding on for the win ... with us marvellously destroying the Aussie's forward, with the help of our andy sherry who did it again but not as good as when he injured baxter (i think or is it the other way around) after coming on for someone who was sin binned for collapsing the scrum coz unable to hand the power sherry put in !!

so Drodz, the bit up there where u asked whether i got any match tix for more matches ... well papa went to the tongan game with mum and sister and offered if i wanted to go but couldnt coz of work committment and was also gutted when me dad opt not to include the quarter final tix coz he felt it would be too costing, he's just a typical tight as ant [Beep] b****** ... lol

However i MAY have missed the marvellous quarters but CAN SAY that i got something interesting ... i've BOUGHT tix to the semis from dad's mate with my own money, bearing in mind the massive cost !! worth every penny end of the day so am extremely looking forward to heading back to St Denis and hope this time we score some points unlike we did against SA in that stadium where i FIRST went and now i hope my LAST visit to St Denis become a Happy ending !!

remmy in the beginning i said SA to win the world cup and so far it's looking pretty much happening eh ?! just wish i did put some money in but then again i ain't the kind whose waste money on gambling when it could be used on other things that holds more value for money ... one fantastic example, Tix to the semi is better than wasting on betting innit eh (?!)


hmmm Drodz ur right about nick mallet and now am pooping my boxers after reading Warren Gatland "offered" to take the Welsh coaching role when all this time i wanted him to coach England !! so fingers cross he doesn't get the Welsh job otherwise Wales will be dangerous team till he depart ... whenever that maybe so DON'T want to see that happening !!

anyways lets cheer on for the Argies !! hey .. Argies looking good ?? well now start thinking about HOW GREAT tigers will become when Loffreda take the Tigers coaching seat !! *shivers* brrrrr looks as tho they'll dominate the Guinness league for quite a period of time (!!!) GAH !!

Rob sorry for giving you an hard time, especially now you have bigged up tigers :thumbup: . you did predict SA at the start and unless Habana gets nobbled next round you may still be right. can't say i have seen much decent rugby yet, but hopefully the best is yet to come. would love to see the Argies in the final, dream come true if it wa against us and we beat them. that would show the diving diva supporters what real men can do.
as for semi tix, you jammy sod :sad: dont for get to give me a wave this time, i will be sitting there on me sofa with me case of stella :thumbup: . i bet you have already got plans afoot incase we do make the finals.
i hope Gatland takes the wales job. its about time they became the great team they used to be. in the days of JPR Williams, now thats going back some, ask your dad
if all else fails at least you may get to meet BIG SEB again hopefully with a few more bruises this time :wink:

The Caveman is a legend :lol: But i belive he be cut down n out sat nite

England 14 France 9 - Wat a entertaining game! Had me on edge my seat for last 5mins though! Rock on England!!

come on england to be win world cup!!!

Good luck England tonight.

We just had my sis's bf parents over the last two weeks. they are from south africa and they are refusing to watch the rugby today! how daft is that!!

I guess they dont want to lose lol

cmon England, win me money

I am very proud of England, Well done to South Africa team, they did well. At least England is top two in the world and better than Australia, New Zealand and France. They did me proud!!!!

In 2011, England will take this cup back!!!!!!! i am 98% postive!!!