RWC Japan

[dinny_g]

Fair play to Japan - they were awesome

[duncs500]

What a performance, to scrape a lucky win in a match like that is one thing, but they dominated the game. To a man they were brilliant. Apart from Sexton's replacement who was poor, it's hard to single out exactly who played badly for Ireland they just got dominated.

[KiwiDave]

I reckon to an extent, that turns the whole tournament on its head. I had Ireland in the final...

[Swervin_Mervin]

Ireland are always hugely overrated imo. Still wouldn't have expected that result tho

[duncs500]

If England played like they did in their first two games against that Japan performance they would have lost by more than Ireland!

[KiwiDave]

If England played like they did in their first two games against that Japan performance they would have lost by more than Ireland!

I'll take that if they come up against the ABs!

[dinny_g]

Wales have turned up this morning...

[KiwiDave]

I reckon if Wales do them over in this game, it'll sink Aussie without a trace. They'll have lost it in their heads.

[dinny_g]

This is getting good!!

[KiwiDave]

If this game were the final everyone would have bitten off half their fingers. Same goes for the Japan vs Ireland game last night. Awesome to see some proper hard ass clashes.

[KiwiDave]

That was some game! Genuine kudos to both sides, they played their hearts out!

[McSwede]

Great game to watch and what a result for Wales. Fantastic stuff!

[Carlos]

Cracking games over the weekend.

I bet England are happy with that.

[duncs500]

Great performance by Wales.

[Swervin_Mervin]

Cracking by Wales. Whereas the Irish are always overrated imo, the Welsh are often underrated. I wouldn't be surprised if they go further than any other northern hemisphere side.

[Orange Cola]

Wales played a belting game today, some brilliant moves from them. I can’t call who will win it, but NZ will probably go a fair way and I reckon Wales could out do England.

[KiwiDave]

There's a lot of talk in NZ press that the Japan win over Ireland is gonna make the QF match for the AB's really hard - nothing more belligerent than a grumpy Irish rugby team, and the All Blacks have come unstuck to that in the past. I think the Japan and Welsh win have really torn up the playbook for the rest of the tournament - gonna be good watching!

[dinny_g]

Ireland are always hugely overrated imo.

This I'm afraid...

If you think of a scale from 1 to 100 where 100 is "the All Blacks on their very best day", Ireland can play to a "95 level" and on their day, beat anyone but they can also drop to 60 and Saturday was one of those days.

A team like Wales might only reach 90 at the maximum but never drop below 80.

This is why Ireland have the occasional Scalps - beating Southern Hemisphere teams here and there and most recently, the All Blacks whereas Wales have the Success - more Championships, more Grand Slams, 2 WC Semi Finals (Ireland have never made a Semi final) etc.

[duncs500]

If Sexton played that game, they win it I reckon. They are a different team with him in it, he makes them tick.

[mik]

If you think of a scale from 1 to 100 where 100 is "the All Blacks on their very best day", Ireland can play to a "95 level" and on their day, beat anyone but they can also drop to 60 and Saturday was one of those days.

A team like Wales might only reach 90 at the maximum but never drop below 80.

Scotland like to occupy the 40-75 zone with occaisional glimpses of 95 to make us all think "maybe?"