RWC '15: Pool A General Chat [AUS/ENG/WAL/FIJ/URU]

.ak

Pool of Death

Often in sport tournaments a pool of death occurs when a couple of strong contenders find themselves in the same pool or group. It's a rare enough thing, especially when the quality isn't always what it's made out to be, but in this case it certainly is. England have shown good form over the past two seasons under Lancaster, narrowly missing out on 6N trophies to Ireland on both occasions. Meanwhile Australia seem to be on a rare vein of form after toppling New Zealand and South Africa in the Championship down south. Although with some odd squad calls we'll see if Cheika has found the right balance. Wales, whilst a dangerous competitor at all times, showing good form against Ireland in the warmups and 6N, have been absolutely gutted by injury to key players. Meanwhile a team of Fiji's power and running skills to make up the number means Uruguay will be the only possible 'gimme' for other four teams.

Prediction:
1st - England
2nd - Australia


Fixtures:
Date | Teams | Venue
18 September |England v Fiji |Twickenham Stadium, London
20 September |Wales v Uruguay |Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
23 September |Australia v Fiji |Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
26 September |England v Wales |Twickenham Stadium, London
27 September |Australia v Uruguay |Villa Park, Birmingham
1 October |Wales v Fiji |Millennium Stadium, Cardiff
3 October |England v Australia |Twickenham Stadium, London
6 October |Fiji v Uruguay |Stadium mk, Milton Keynes
10 October |Australia v Wales |Twickenham Stadium, London
10 October |England v Uruguay |Manchester City Stadium, Manchester

kuang1

Nice concise write up ak.
I fancy Australia to turn England over. I also fancy Australia to do better against Fiji than England do.
Hence for me:

1st Australia
2nd England

Redgirl82

The surprise pack here will be Fiji. They will beat one of the bigger teams.

I think this could be a step too far for Wales after the injury list so they could end up losing to England/Australia & Fiji.

Australia will win the group and England second...

Legion2008

I'm going to stick my neck out and say Australia 1, Fiji 2 .....

I think Fiji might edge the game tomorrow by going wide and stretching the English backs.

Akrasia

Wales is probably the team Fiji will target most for a scalp. They'll be playing them only 5 days after their game against England so Gatland might be forced to rest a few key players and his squad isn't exactly overflowing with depth in key areas.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

I have no idea what's going to happen here. None of the teams seem to have a great amount of depth as far as I can see. Wales have already taken two big losses so if they're going to get out of the pool they'll need to do it unscathed, which will be a tough ask.

From what I saw in the RC Australia have a pretty decent starting 15 but I think there's a fairly big drop off in quality once they go two or three players into the bench. Their plan to use two completely different teams for the first two matches could really go either way for them. Bernard Foley had a decent kicking % in their match against the USA but their 9/10 partnership is still their weakest link and all of their goal kickers were dreadful during the RC.

The home advantage should help England but you never know with things like this, the media are already running nonsense stories about WAGS ans Hakas and all that kind of stuff. I'm sure Lancaster has tried his very best to get the team 100% focused on the rugby and nothing else but there's still a few guys in that team that you just never know what they're going to do.

I think it's great that this "Pool of Death" happened. I read they were going to change some of the seeding stuff to try to avoid it happening again but personally I hope they don't. Usually Pools are a pretty foregone conclusion and there's really only 1 match that's hard to call and barring the occasional surprise upset there's very little to talk about until the QFs.

.ak

I'll create the other pools after lunch. Damn work asking me to do work stuff...

dub_skav

.ak wrote: »

Often in sport tournaments a pool of death occurs when England's pool is named and their media make a big deal of it.

One correction, above.

However, in this case it actually is true.
I think Wales might actually beat England and make this pool very interesting, with Fiji trying to wreck everybody's plans too.

Only 1 more day - woohoo

This pool really has it all.

• 3 top tier and relatively equally matched teams
• Fairly different play styles
• The Host nation
• 4th team that have at least one potential upset in them
• Warren Gatland + Michael Cheika = Drama x 2
• Second lowest ranked team in tournament potentially deciding on who qualifies based on how many points they cough up
• Aus, Wales + Eng have the most hysterical rugby media

This will truly be the group that just keeps on giving. If you'd hand picked a group of death it couldn't have been much better.

thomond2006

All of Wales should grab rosary beads anytime Biggar takes contact. With Webb and Halfpenny gone his fitness and form is absolutely vital to Wales' prospects.

dub_skav

I see Zzippy lost the "mod off"

Zzippy

dub_skav wrote: »

I see Zzippy lost the "mod off"

Didn't have enough coffee this morning!

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Here's a question, and maybe it's more of a general build up topic but, if Wales hadn't messed up their rankings and got stuck in this Pool which pool would they have been in and would it have been seen as less of a Pool of Death?

South Africa and Scotland are in one pool, Argentina and NZ another and then us and France. I suppose the SA/Scot pool wouldn't have been as deadly as having England/Australia but it still seems that maybe there's just been a bit of improvement all around and someone is going to end up in a really difficult pool every RWC now?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Here's a question, and maybe it's more of a general build up topic but, if Wales hadn't messed up their rankings and got stuck in this Pool which pool would they have been in and would it have been seen as less of a Pool of Death?

South Africa and Scotland are in one pool, Argentina and NZ another and then us and France. I suppose the SA/Scot pool wouldn't have been as deadly as having England/Australia but it still seems that maybe there's just been a bit of improvement all around and someone is going to end up in a really difficult pool every RWC now?

I think it was Samoa that moved ahead of them so yeah it would have been SA, Scotland, Wales but honestly you would expect Wales and SA to put the Scots away.

That said I still hold out some hope that Vern has been playing a long long build up game that will bear fruit this tournament. Could Scotland v SA of 2015 be the Ireland v Aus of 2011?

Tox56

Poor Uruguay jesus christ theyre going to be crucified

Tox56

Tox56 wrote: »

Poor Uruguay jesus christ theyre going to be crucified

They have 3 tier 1 teams that absolutely must score as many points as possible against them.

Having said that, teams have to rest players also in this pool so not as clear cut.

Either way, I suspect Uruguay will break the record for most points conceded in a world cup.

shuffol

I think England will lay down a marker against Fiji tomorrow and win by 25+

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Deleted User wrote: »

They have 3 tier 1 teams that absolutely must score as many points as possible against them.

Having said that, teams have to rest players also in this pool so not as clear cut.

Either way, I suspect Uruguay will break the record for most points conceded in a world cup.

142, I believe, or at least that's the biggest winning margin.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

142, I believe, or at least that's the biggest winning margin.

Wow. That's much higher than I would have thought. Maybe not so - but I still wouldn't be surprised if they shipped 55 - 66 to ENG/AUS/Wal and then 30 - 40 to Fiji.

The Lost Sheep

Deleted User wrote: »

Wow. That's much higher than I would have thought. Maybe not so - but I still wouldn't be surprised if they shipped 55 - 66 to ENG/AUS/Wal and then 30 - 40 to Fiji.

New Zealand Japan 145-17 in 95 and then Australia Namibia 142-0 in 2003.
Is it that surprising considering amateur sides v pros and sport being pro not that long....
I think we may see more than one game of 50-60 in that pool especially if they get an injury or two...

Stheno

I fancy Fiji to upset England tomorrow

Yeah_Right

My dream result for this pool would be England, Australia and Fiji finishing top 3 (I don't care what order). That would mean Wales finished 4th and would have to qualify for the 2019 RWC. Away games to Romania and Georgia could be interesting for Gatland.

Stheno

Yeah_Right wrote: »

My dream result for this pool would be England, Australia and Fiji finishing top 3 (I don't care what order). That would mean Wales finished 4th and would have to qualify for the 2019 RWC. Away games to Romania and Georgia could be interesting for Gatland.

Didn't know that!

CatFromHue

That Fiji squad is very strong with nearly all their guys playing in France of England, a good chunk in the Top14 and Aviva too.

They also finished joint top of the Pacific Nations Cup with Samoa who they drew with in their pool game.

That game was without Nemani Nodolo who's scored 21 tries in 28 games for the Crusaders and is feckin huge, 6'5" and just under 20stone!

Tomorrow night is going to be very interesting, England will be looking for alot scrums I'd say as the Fijian front row players would eb from the weakest clubs out of the whole squad.

thomond2006

According to Rugbyrama Luke Charteris has missed only 2 out of his last 132 attempted tackles for Wales. That is an extraordinary stat!
http://www.rugbyrama.fr/rugby/coupe-du-monde/2015/coupe-du-monde-avec-le-pays-de-galles-luke-charteris-n-a-manque-que-2-plaquages-en-dix-huit-mois_sto4916296/story.shtml

Losty Dublin

One interesting thing about Pool A is that it is the only ground that offers a broadcasting alternative to TV3 and ITV. All of Wales games in RWC are live on S4C and tomorrows is no exception.

Coburger

Yeah_Right wrote: »

My dream result for this pool would be England, Australia and Fiji finishing top 3 (I don't care what order). That would mean Wales finished 4th and would have to qualify for the 2019 RWC. Away games to Romania and Georgia could be interesting for Gatland.

Along with Scotland coming fourth in their group too :rolleyes:

Stheno

What time are Wales playing today?

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Stheno wrote: »

What time are Wales playing today?

Kick off is 2:30

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Can't see this being much of a competition unless Uruguay have been hanging out with Japan.

Tox56

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Can't see this being much of a competition unless Uruguay have been hanging out with Japan.

To put it into perspective, Uruguay played Japan in two warm ups for this world cup and were thrashed both times. Uruguay are going to be absolutely slaughtered by every team this group