Who will the Wallabies play in their World Cup quarter-final?
Post their dramatic loss to 25-29 to a deserved Welsh side in Tokyo last weekend, it is anticipated that the Wallabies will now meet the might of England as the Australians appear destined to finish runners-up of Pool D, thus putting them on a collision course with the winner of Pool C.
Yet a clear path to an English conquest of Pool C will be challenged by Argentina and France, both of whom would relish in defeating this venerable English side as each has ‘history’ with the men in white.
Argentina will be the first hurdle for the English when they square off at Tokyo Stadium this Saturday, and it is destined to be attritional rugby at its finest.
“Saturday is going to be like a war, it’s like a final for us,” legendary Argentinian hooker Agustin Creevey said.
“It’s going to be really hard with the forwards. I think the battle with the forwards will be the game. We need to win the scrum, win the line-out, win the maul, win the breakdown.”
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England has not lost to Argentina since 2009, which bodes well for Eddie Jones’ men, while they haven’t played against each other since 2017, where Los Pumas were defeated at Twickenham 21-8.
However, since they last met, Argentina have defeated South Africa and Australia and narrowly lost to New Zealand.
This, coupled with the Jaguares finishing runners-up in Super Rugby this year is indicative that there have been encouraging results for Argentinean rugby despite their inconsistencies.
Argentina is not a team to be trifled with.
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But from an English point of view of progressing further into the World Cup, Argentine consistency isn’t a factor that should be weighed upon too heavily.
In fact it’s their opponent’s inconsistency that should be of concern, as Los Pumas are capable of taking down ‘Big Game’ and are due to do so.
There is no greater stage than a World Cup to deliver, and given that we have already seen Japan topple Ireland and fellow South Americans Uruguay upset Fiji, perhaps there is yet another to come this weekend?
If the English do navigate past Argentina, which I suspect they will, they must then back up and face the French the following Saturday at Yokohama.
Brodie Retallick will return to action for the first time in just over two months as the All Blacks name a new playmaker for their clash against Namibia. #RWC2019 #NZLvNAMhttps://t.co/ZqQwwzINDD
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 4, 2019
France have had a typically French tournament thus far, riding their luck and narrowly defeating the Argentines 23-21 in the opening round, and, despite a lacklustre start, did enough to defeat the USA 33-9.
Do not be deceived, though, as the French have the framework of a very good side that is building toward a big performance.
They have the set-piece, physicality, speed and intelligence, but also appear the patience and mentality to ‘stay-in-the-fight’ and dismantle an opponent.
Something that has previously been lacking in French rugby – dare I say team cultural issues – appear to be quelled at this tournament.
Another factor to consider is how well England do play away from fortress Twickenham?
Since 2017, the English have played 13 test matches away from home and lost six of those matches to tier one opposition such as South Africa, Ireland, Wales, Scotland and France.
Sexton had declared himself fit to take on Russia after missing Ireland’s shock loss to Japan with a thigh complaint.https://t.co/n56PHKgy8H
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) October 3, 2019
To their credit, they have also defeated Ireland, Wales and South Africa away, but consistency on the road might be an issue for this English side.
Former English hooker and World Cup-winner Steve Thompson doubts whether England will even win this tournament.
“The game is going well at the moment. America [on Thursday]? I’m expecting England to put another 40 points on, but it’s just when the pressure comes on,” he said.
“If England want to win the World Cup they have got five knockout games. They have got Argentina, France, quarter-final, semi-final, final and I don’t think they have got the mentality in the squad at the moment to be able to back that up five weeks in a row.”
England have not strung together four successive wins over tier one nations since 2017, those being against France, Wales, Italy and Scotland, which gives factual credibility to Thompson’s assertions.
However, I differ from Thompson as I think England could still win the World Cup if they were to lose to either Argentina or France in the pool stage.
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Despite questionable away form, England has the ability get to the quarter-finals and win three games to win the World Cup against any opposition they face. They don’t need to win five knock out games to win the Cup as Thompson claims.
I suspect England will drop a game, and that game will be against France as they will have an easier build-up to the clash by facing an enthusiastic Tonga, who will be willing but outclassed.
England, on the other hand, will no doubt be coming off a brutal encounter with Argentina, which might prove to be influential toward the latter part of the match when France and England do finally meet.
What this means for Australia is that they will either face a French side coming off a difficult pool game with England, or an English side that will have to back up after two gruelling encounters with Argentina and France.
Either scenario is favourable to the Wallabies, who have matches against Uruguay and Georgia before the finals stage.
Both of those sides will need to be respected by the Wallabies, but it should also provide the opportunity for Australia to hone their attack and get their combinations right.
Most importantly, though, it gives them a chance to address their mentality of how they start the game, as they can ill afford to start passively – as they did against Wales – in the quarter-final, regardless of who they face.
In other news:
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Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
4 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to comments