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

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

inevitable

robbed?

nah just unlucky

Fuck fuck fuck. Roll on the Six Nations though, England and Italy fighting it out for the wooden spoon.

nv was maybe right

Greig Laidlaw tells ITV Sport that the referee should have gone upstairs to review the final penalty decision.

And, by golly, he should have.

It looks clearly like Nick Phipps - the Australia scrum-half- got the final touch on the ball before offside Scotland prop Jon Welsh instinctively grabbed it.

That should have been an accidental offside and a scrum-down Australia.

that is an even bigger sickener

radio commentators were pretty livid, especially when Joubert hightailed it off the pitch at the final whistle

ireland deserved to lose. scotland so unlucky tho

So sad. We missed our most aggressive players, and their intensity. Still. Awful.

theres no discounting the importance of the missing players tbf, think any one of them could have made the difference today despite the large final deficit. was full sure that wed come back to win after narrowing it to three.

Sounds like Folau, Pocock, and Sio might all struggle to make the semi. Might make it a pretty tight game to call - Argentina looked good against Ireland. Solid forwards as always, but their backs are getting more creative and there's some real pace out wide.

All Blacks should beat South Africa if they play near their potential.

That game nearly gave me a heart attack. A deserved win though I think.

It was surprisingly close for a two tries to zero victory. That first NZ try was a forward pass, right? I instantly thought it was, like blatantly. Everyone seemed to agree this on Twitter but not one person on TV even raised the question.

TV3 pundits mentioned it but didn't make a big deal of it. It looked like a forward pass to me too. Obvious forward pass. More people seem to discussing this McCaw elbow rubbish today.