2019 Rugby World Cup, Japan

Leo31291

South Africa get the first try. Hard not to be a Japanese fan here as they try and comeback, their style of play is amazing.

Theseus

South Africa wasted a couple of chances late on there. Great fight by Japan.

Leo31291

Hosts waning now. South Africa physicality starting to show.

Stinja

Squeaky bum watching vs France?   "The better team lost today"
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        Loading…                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                www.bbc.co.uk                                                                               
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Was Wales' rip in the last minutes of the France game a forward pass?                                                                                                        What the rules say, and whether you are allowed to rip a ball forward                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                inews.co.uk                                                                               
Poor Japan, so close, but yeah couldn't quite make things stick.  NZ v SA final then.

clydebest

Yes they are consistent buggers in their ability to churn out superb teams year in year out.. and a population of 3 million and the Geo local islands to them.

Having watched today's game It was a step too far for Japan rather than S Africa impressing. as for Wales with France down to 14 men for 31 mins you did and should have won .. 50/50 your semi .. as the AB will IMO win the WEC that's my lot out.

gibbsy

Oh yes. Stupid action by the French forward may very well have cost them the semi final place. But it's funny if the All Blacks had had that result then everyone would have said ''it's the All Blacks, what do you expect, you just can't beat them''.

France's discipline let them down yet again. Shaun Edwards will be in charge of that next year, then you can look out.

Stinja

Almost 5 million now apparently (2018 census 4.7mil), so fewer than Ireland (6.5mil), Scotland (5.4mil), bigger than Wales (3mil), obviously way less than the bigger countries.
But it's their primary sport, so all the best athletes aspire to play rugby, and become an All Black.
Lots of investment into developing children from a young age, spotting talent, and bring them up see their potential.  
Compared than to England or Oz where the best athletes go to Association Football, Australian Rules Football, syphoned off to tennis, motorsports, rowing etc etc and you get the not-dregs exactly, but not the cream of physical ability to train and eventually select from.
It'd be interesting to see if the total talent-pool at each stage is bigger than even say England.

But according to Wikipedia, and given the All Blacks win more at home than away, there's about 25% chance to beat them on test, and 12% in the World Cup.
Certainly not invincible, just very very good.

Next round of games will certainly be interesting

danwel

Watched the second half of the Wales game and genuinely wanting them to win. The elbow from the french guy was utter madness and what cost the french even though it took wales a long time and a bit of luck to capitalise.

Donnacha

Shambolic from Ireland. Sexton has been on the wane for a while now and the style of play has not helped. We haven't progressed any of our plays or style since that great year last year whereas everyone else has evolved and improved. We peaked a year too soon.

England will give NZ are real test so will be a cracking match. SA were just too powerful for Japan once they turned it on in the 2nd half. Let's hope its not the last we see of Japanese rugby as the sport needs more competitive teams.

gibbsy

I think Sexton is a confidence player. Playing a great club team in Leinster he's often given an armchair ride. Now Ireland have been worked out and players run down the 10 channel or between 10 and 12 it's dented that confidence. His head really went down on Saturday, but as a whole the team were very poor. Time for some new young players to take up the mantle now that Schmidt's reign is at an end. He has though been a tonic for Irish rugby and more than deserves the affection that was shown to him at the end of the game.