Rugby World Cup - Most Overrated Event in World Sport?

[ceagle]

Basketball is easily the 2nd best and the 2nd most competitive world championship.

Nah, no one really gives a shit about the FIBA world cup because the US always wins it, Lebron, Kobe, Wade etc didn't even bother playing in the last one.

 

[abpanther]

Nah, no one really gives a shit about the FIBA world cup because the US always wins it, Lebron, Kobe, Wade etc didn't even bother playing in the last one.

Are you serious? You do realise that the US has only won one of the past 4 FIBA World Championships right?

 

[ThirdEye]

A better question to ask at halftime of the Italian game: Australia - the most overrated team at the world cup?

 

[undertaker]

I just posted this in the Fight Club forum, and now that I saw this thread, I should've posted it here instead:

I'm not a Union supporter and I watched this match just out of curiosity after the Sea Eagles/Cowboys game, considering that the Rugby World Cup is a major event (much like watching the FIFA World Cup, and then not giving a stuff about other comps like the A-League after the Cup is over). I don't give a stuff about other things like Super 15, Bledisloe Cup etc.

The Argentina/England match single-handedly defines everything that is wrong about Rugby Union (even though I will give them credit that their international game is more widespread than League's international game) and why Rugby League is the more superior sport in terms of quality.

Ok, fair enough Haynetrain, the scoreline was very close and the Pumas gave the Poms a run for their money right up until Jonny "England" Wilkinson got that penalty goal in the 75th minute. But just because a game has a close scoreline and the minnows may have got within a whisker of toppling the favourites, it doesn't necessarily mean that the quality was 4-5 star. The constant whistle-blowing, penalty shot-at-goalathon really destroyed any flow, skill or continuity. Argentina had 9 penalty shots at goal (only got 3). Jonny Wilkinson had 7 penalty shots at goal and only got 2. So, in an 80 minute game (same as league), that's 16 penalty shots at goal for ONLY 5 successful attempts. On average, that is one penalty shot attempt every 5 minutes, not to mention all the other penalties that were awarded in that game. Absolutely disgraceful. Whilst penalty goals and field goals both remain 3 pts in that game, there's absolutely no incentive to score tries in Union. It reminds me of the 2007 RWC QF between Australia and England, where Australia lost despite scoring the only try in that game. I'm watching the Italy/Australia game as I speak, and at halftime, already 15 penalties have been awarded in one half of football and both teams have scored 2 penalty goals. Now, I wasn't haven't a dig at Jonny Wilkinson. It's not his fault that he's good at goalkicking. Although he had a off-night with his goalkicking last night, he's simply a lot better at exploiting this big flaw that exists in Union than any other player/team.

Not a lot of creativity or enterprising play such as the Gidley flickpass, the Benji Marshall sidestep and jinking, Cooper Cronk banana kick for Billy Slater etc. exist. In fact, on occasions, I've noticed that Union has tried to emulate some of these trademark league-style plays, but to not much avail.

Someone should YouTube the video "Beau knows commentary" where he impersonates Ray Warren. The impersonation he did of Gordon Bray is pretty much what you'd expect in a Union match. A standard game of league craps all over a standard game of Union. State of Origin and even internationals such as the 2006 Tri-Nations final between Australia and New Zealand crap all over international union standard. The best Union game I ever watched (in terms of quality) was probably the 2003 RWC Final between England and Australia. But even then, I'd rather see a league game any day of the week.

When you watch a league game, it's very hard to take union seriously. However, in saying that, I much prefer Union to AFL. Union is not as much of a joke as AFL, where you can win a game by missing the goal more times than your opposition. That's akin to saying you can win a game of soccer by kicking the ball over the crossbar more times than kicking it into the goal net.

 

[undertaker]

A better question to ask at halftime of the Italian game: Australia - the most overrated team at the world cup?

Well, I am VERY surprised that Australia is 2nd in the betting odds to win the world cup (behind New Zealand). They're definitely don't have and are not the 2nd best side in this tournament. Before the start of the tournament, just looking from the way the groups were pooled, I would've said that Australia were certainties to top their group and at least make the Semi-Finals. However, at the rate they're going against Italy and if they have a shock lost in the group stage (which is a possibility against Ireland, who they only just scraped past in the 2003 RWC group stage), they could be up for an early showdown against South Africa in the Quarters. Besides Quade Cooper and Genia whatever his name is, it is a pretty ordinary lineup on paper that the Wallabies have.

 

[Twizzle]

I just posted this in the Fight Club forum, and now that I saw this thread, I should've posted it here instead:

I'm not a Union supporter and I watched this match just out of curiosity after the Sea Eagles/Cowboys game, considering that the Rugby World Cup is a major event (much like watching the FIFA World Cup, and then not giving a stuff about other comps like the A-League after the Cup is over). I don't give a stuff about other things like Super 15, Bledisloe Cup etc.

The Argentina/England match single-handedly defines everything that is wrong about Rugby Union (even though I will give them credit that their international game is more widespread than League's international game) and why Rugby League is the more superior sport in terms of quality.

Ok, fair enough Haynetrain, the scoreline was very close and the Pumas gave the Poms a run for their money right up until Jonny "England" Wilkinson got that penalty goal in the 75th minute. But just because a game has a close scoreline and the minnows may have got within a whisker of toppling the favourites, it doesn't necessarily mean that the quality was 4-5 star. The constant whistle-blowing, penalty shot-at-goalathon really destroyed any flow, skill or continuity. Argentina had 9 penalty shots at goal (only got 3). Jonny Wilkinson had 7 penalty shots at goal and only got 2. So, in an 80 minute game (same as league), that's 16 penalty shots at goal for ONLY 5 successful attempts. On average, that is one penalty shot attempt every 5 minutes, not to mention all the other penalties that were awarded in that game. Absolutely disgraceful. Whilst penalty goals and field goals both remain 3 pts in that game, there's absolutely no incentive to score tries in Union. It reminds me of the 2007 RWC QF between Australia and England, where Australia lost despite scoring the only try in that game. I'm watching the Italy/Australia game as I speak, and at halftime, already 15 penalties have been awarded in one half of football and both teams have scored 2 penalty goals. Now, I wasn't haven't a dig at Jonny Wilkinson. It's not his fault that he's good at goalkicking. Although he had a off-night with his goalkicking last night, he's simply a lot better at exploiting this big flaw that exists in Union than any other player/team.

Not a lot of creativity or enterprising play such as the Gidley flickpass, the Benji Marshall sidestep and jinking, Cooper Cronk banana kick for Billy Slater etc. exist. In fact, on occasions, I've noticed that Union has tried to emulate some of these trademark league-style plays, but to not much avail.

Someone should YouTube the video "Beau knows commentary" where he impersonates Ray Warren. The impersonation he did of Gordon Bray is pretty much what you'd expect in a Union match. A standard game of league craps all over a standard game of Union. State of Origin and even internationals such as the 2006 Tri-Nations final between Australia and New Zealand crap all over international union standard. The best Union game I ever watched (in terms of quality) was probably the 2003 RWC Final between England and Australia. But even then, I'd rather see a league game any day of the week.

When you watch a league game, it's very hard to take union seriously. However, in saying that, I much prefer Union to AFL. Union is not as much of a joke as AFL, where you can win a game by missing the goal more times than your opposition. That's akin to saying you can win a game of soccer by kicking the ball over the crossbar more times than kicking it into the goal net.

thats how the poms play, not to be confused with attacking Rugby teams

 

[Te Kaha]

As always.. the trolls pick the worse game to show what is wrong with rugby... funny how there where tries galore with all the other games and not a peep about those... somethings never change.

 

[Parra]

I just posted this in the Fight Club forum,

Should have left it there where it belongs. Might have got some support from the fanboys as well.

 

[Thomas]

I just posted this in the Fight Club forum, and now that I saw this thread, I should've posted it here instead:

I'm not a Union supporter and I watched this match just out of curiosity after the Sea Eagles/Cowboys game, considering that the Rugby World Cup is a major event (much like watching the FIFA World Cup, and then not giving a stuff about other comps like the A-League after the Cup is over). I don't give a stuff about other things like Super 15, Bledisloe Cup etc.

The Argentina/England match single-handedly defines everything that is wrong about Rugby Union (even though I will give them credit that their international game is more widespread than League's international game) and why Rugby League is the more superior sport in terms of quality.

Ok, fair enough Haynetrain, the scoreline was very close and the Pumas gave the Poms a run for their money right up until Jonny "England" Wilkinson got that penalty goal in the 75th minute. But just because a game has a close scoreline and the minnows may have got within a whisker of toppling the favourites, it doesn't necessarily mean that the quality was 4-5 star. The constant whistle-blowing, penalty shot-at-goalathon really destroyed any flow, skill or continuity. Argentina had 9 penalty shots at goal (only got 3). Jonny Wilkinson had 7 penalty shots at goal and only got 2. So, in an 80 minute game (same as league), that's 16 penalty shots at goal for ONLY 5 successful attempts. On average, that is one penalty shot attempt every 5 minutes, not to mention all the other penalties that were awarded in that game. Absolutely disgraceful. Whilst penalty goals and field goals both remain 3 pts in that game, there's absolutely no incentive to score tries in Union. It reminds me of the 2007 RWC QF between Australia and England, where Australia lost despite scoring the only try in that game. I'm watching the Italy/Australia game as I speak, and at halftime, already 15 penalties have been awarded in one half of football and both teams have scored 2 penalty goals. Now, I wasn't haven't a dig at Jonny Wilkinson. It's not his fault that he's good at goalkicking. Although he had a off-night with his goalkicking last night, he's simply a lot better at exploiting this big flaw that exists in Union than any other player/team.

Not a lot of creativity or enterprising play such as the Gidley flickpass, the Benji Marshall sidestep and jinking, Cooper Cronk banana kick for Billy Slater etc. exist. In fact, on occasions, I've noticed that Union has tried to emulate some of these trademark league-style plays, but to not much avail.

Someone should YouTube the video "Beau knows commentary" where he impersonates Ray Warren. The impersonation he did of Gordon Bray is pretty much what you'd expect in a Union match. A standard game of league craps all over a standard game of Union. State of Origin and even internationals such as the 2006 Tri-Nations final between Australia and New Zealand crap all over international union standard. The best Union game I ever watched (in terms of quality) was probably the 2003 RWC Final between England and Australia. But even then, I'd rather see a league game any day of the week.

When you watch a league game, it's very hard to take union seriously. However, in saying that, I much prefer Union to AFL. Union is not as much of a joke as AFL, where you can win a game by missing the goal more times than your opposition. That's akin to saying you can win a game of soccer by kicking the ball over the crossbar more times than kicking it into the goal net.

Any comment on the other games? The England - Argentina was the worst game of the round, easily. Still, it had drama and me hoping for an Argie win.

What are your thoughts on the other matches which were free flowing and featured loads of tries?

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

thats how the poms play, not to be confused with attacking Rugby teams

Wrong. That's how EVERYONE players.

Even New Zealand, easily the dominant team in the world, take kicks when they're 20 points up against 3rd rate nations.

It's a disgusting culture in Rugby that needs fixing. 60% of all points scored in international games are from kicks, and that goes up for finals games.

Which attacking Rugby teams don't play like this? Saying it's only the poms is about as much denial as british soccer fans pretending diving is only an italian trait :lol:

 

[Thomas]

Wrong. That's how EVERYONE players.

Even New Zealand, easily the dominant team in the world, take kicks when they're 20 points up against 3rd rate nations.

It's a disgusting culture in Rugby that needs fixing. 60% of all points scored in international games are from kicks, and that goes up for finals games.

Which attacking Rugby teams don't play like this? Saying it's only the poms is about as much denial as british soccer fans pretending diving is only an italian trait :lol:

Really?

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Basketball is easily the 2nd best and the 2nd most competitive world championship.

basketball is shit and so is there competition. the results are about as relevent as olympic boxing

USA is above and beyond the best team in the world at basketball.

rugby league could hold a competetive world competition at the olympics :lol:

lol at freakishly-tall-mong-ball

 

[Te Kaha]

Really?

Not really.. he is full of shit.

 

[Parra]

Great new adjective.

From the SMH live blog :

7.41pm New Welsh skipper Sam Warburton Pocock's the ball beautifully. British Lion if ever I saw one. Immense.

http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/r...blog-south-africa-v-wales-20110911-1k3xy.html
​

 

[skeepe]

Welsh robbed. Hook kicked the goal.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Not really.. he is full of shit.

Really, care to back up your claims?

Anyone on here can compile a list of international results and find what I said to be the truth. Lying about reality will only convince the already deluded

rugby has far too much self-congratulatory nonsense, the rugby has something majorly wrong doesn't even enter most of your minds, does it?

Here's some throw away international series and their stats(wikipedia sauce)

----------------
Tri nations, last 3 years

162 tries
215 penalties
18 drop

---------------------
2009 end of year

46 tries
102 penalties
6 drop

--------------------------
2010 end of year

79 tries
159 penalty
6 drop

------------
2011 mid year tests

44 tries
45 penalties
2 drop

--------------
six nations last 3 years

155 tries
241 penalties
27 drops

--------------------------
2010 mid year tests

84 tries
86 penalty
4 drop

:sarcasm:
:lol:

That's 542 tries, 848(successful) penalties and 63(successful) drops.

- 542 x 5 is 2710 points for tries

- 848 penalty kicks is 2544 points for penalty kicks

- 63 drops is 189 points for drop goals

That's 2733 points from penalty kicks and drop goals, combined. Pretty much 50%, BUT lets pretend for a brief moment that half those tries are converted(a fair estimation on my behalf, i wasn't smart enough to think of tallying up conversions while i was doing this), and we'd have another 542 points from 271 successful conversion kicks

So lets now add those 3 point values for kicks -- 2544, 189 and 542 -- and we get 3275 total points from kicks, and 2710 try points. A total figure of points scored in these games is then roughly 5985. Total points from kicks accounts for 55% of all points scored in these international games, tournaments and tours.

Keep in mind that my 50/50 conversation rate estimation is stupidly generous to you. The reality is about 7/10 kicks on average are converted


I urge any of you to check the facts yourself and run through game results with a calculator.

And the biggest travesty about the whole thing is that the % of points scored from kicks is actually at about 80% if you pretend the All Blacks don't exist. About 150+ of those tries scored are from NZ crushing teams in 1-sided games, freak games, by normal standards

The number of points from kicks is unbelievably high between even sides in games that matter.

Contrast this with the NRL where about 20% of points come from all kicks

 

[SpaceMonkey]

Of the top 10 nations, only Scotland and Fiji have never beaten New Zealand.. Wales has a few wins over New Zealand, as does Ireland..

Not true. Ireland have never beaten NZ, the best they'e managed is one draw. In fact Scotland's record is actually better as they've drawn twice. Argentina has one draw as well. The only countries to have recorded wins over NZ are Australia, South Africa, France, England and Wales. South Africa are the only ones with close to an even record against NZ, with a 44% percentage.

 

[Masoe_eats_babies]

Really?

Really mate, it's shocking. A real shame that the Union die-hards would rather look to token games either by New Zealand, or between 2 teams that are a complete mis match, to "prove" that rugby is exciting.

Even though when 2 good teams play each other, you're lucky to see more than 3 tries

It's not just NH teams that are boring either. When NZ don't get their own way against teams they kick like everyone else.

The value of points in Rugby should be changed to Rugby League value, in my opinion. Because rugby is great when teams run the ball, but everything about the way the game is ruled discourages people from attacking. NZ being the exception because they're so damn good

Also teams should be allowed to ruck again, the rucks as they are now suck

 

[Usain Bolt]

Welsh were unlucky. How good are the crowds though? See more people at a USA/Ireland game then a Manly finals game:lol::lol:

Manly fans moan about a 20km trip to see their team play, imagine how they'd react if they had to travel half way across the world to watch their team play:lol:

 

[Tommy Smith]

I think youve been overly harsh on Ireland, Wales and Scotland.. Of the top 10 nations, only Scotland and Fiji have never beaten New Zealand.. Wales has a few wins over New Zealand, as does Ireland.. But all 3 have several wins over South Africa and Australia...

Wales have indeed beaten New Zealand. The last of which was 58 years ago. Since then the All Blacks have won 24 in a row.

Wales have also only ever beaten South Africa once. I dont think that qualifies as 'several'.

Also Ireland have never beaten New Zealand. 23 losses with 1 draw.

I do find it funny that people are raving about close contests between juggernaughts Scotland and Ireland with a couple of minnows. Largely because Scotland and Ireland arent far removed from being minnows themselves.