Rugby World Cup 2015: No haters please, I've heard it all already

Bit of a slack first half from Ireland. Italy look well up for it

that was utter bollocks btw. worrying.

Maybe it's good to get a fright like that leading up to the France game

yeah and we have had a tendency to focus on a big game to the detriment of a previous match, eg that time we were hammered by australia before the narrow defeat to new zealand. maybe a lot of planning for france. i'd be concerned about sexton's kicking, among other things.

Teams that look best:
Australia - beat NZ comfortably recently, and thrashed England
New Zealand - not looking especially fluent, but are still winning games. No injury problems, which is good.

I'd be surprised if another team apart from those two wins, but I think Argentina aren't getting enough attention. They beat South Africa in South Africa this year. South Africa have been jittery but are still a force, and I guess Ireland are the Northern Hemisphere's best hope?

I read the other day that NZ are deliberately not playing to their game plan, and setting up obstacles for themselves, in order to keep a little bit of pressure on them during the pool games. Stuff like never kicking to the opposition in order to have to defend rushes more, etc. Given their relatively easy pool matches they didn't want to set themselves up to choke when they faced a proper challenging team in the quarter finals. It's an interesting tactic and I wonder if it'll work.

Also I may not get to see the finals games live and it's almost enough to make me shell out for TSN.

scotland - samoa is some kind of madness.

23-23 in just over 30 mins. prob jinxed it now and it'll turn to shit.

fantastic game

oh shit, it's ON now

that was an amazing game

looking forward to wales australia now - tho a little sting is gone from it with both qualified

brilliant defending there by the wallabies

Who needs England, eh?

It does seem more enjoyable without them Tom.

in all seriousness it hasn't damaged the atmosphere at all. Now they are neutrals they are getting to see some cracking rugby.

it's always better this way. Euro 2008 was infinitely superior as a viewing experience compared to yr average football tournament thanks to Steve McClaren's England failing to qualify

wrt to tonight's match, fuck wales, if you can't score with 2 men over then wtf can you do really

besides beating england at twicknham obv

one thing for sure is we wont be beating Australia next week.

Wales should have taken the 3 points the minute Genia got the yellow. Don't even mean that due to hindsight either, percentage-wise that was definitely the right call, with 22 minutes to go.

the intensity of this game is crazy

Sexton just got (legally) annihilated

^ it's brilliant.

O'Connell dead now too

amazing.

wowwowwow

always think it's one of the most impressive and exciting things in sport where deadlock intensity is turned into advantage. sheer spirit given the defensive solidity of France in the first 1/2.

damn, this is one for the ages

incredible. the number of players who have gone down for ireland, but they just got stronger and stronger.

What are the odds on all Southern Hemisphere semi-finals?

the intensity of this game is crazy

inhuman levels of intensity. ive never seen anything like it.

a victory that came with a heavy price tho

best irish performance ever? i can't get over how good we were today - brilliant. madigan has had a horrible time with that wanker coach leinster had all of last year slating him in the media and playing him out of position, loved seeing him in tears at the end, he deserves a big day.

i was at grand slam in 09, a few heineken cup finals, paris last year, but i've never seen anything like the atmosphere today. it was unreal - the singing and cheering was just astonishingly loud.

and going back next week for both quarter finals :)

The All Blacks are destroying France. They could put out 4 teams and 3 would probably make the semis

That was pretty insane. I caught the last half and was a bit tense at first when they were still within reach. Can't really believe how dominant they were, what a score, holy shit.

Ireland under the cosh till the try just now.

great since but I fear a strong Argentina finish tbh

that's two generous calls the ref has made for them now

yeah, still 15 mins left - plenty of time to turn this around.

breakdowns are intense

strong finish? yup

woof, good grounding

Northern Hemisphere, you're shite and you know you are.

now this is a game and a half

bloody hell.

wow

it is now

omg this tournament has gotten fucking ridic

jammy bastards