Ireland Team Talk XII: Farrell's First Fifteen

You posted:

Munster fans will remember how SA crashed before the last WC as it caused them to lose their coach. SA were a mess and going into the competition many people thought it would catch up with them,, as Aloof makes clear above.

Along with other statement to say how terrible SA was prior to 2019. Including that nobody had them in for winning the competition. I provided the bookies and loads of others seen the form of SA and had them in as a favuorite.

Now you are saying???

Maybe it times to admit you make an error

Trust me I aint dying on any hill! This is an opinion forum so I'm not going to criticise you for having an opinion but what I wont do is let you spread false information and get away with it. In 2019 SA were in the top 4 teams in the world, 2nd in the odds and rugby championship holders. To say they weren't a very good team is factually incorrect so continuing to say they weren't is just damaging you're credibility.

Read your own posts and they don't align. You said SA was a basket case and nobody had them to win the last WC. Anyway it seems you are playing the standard online forum game. Make a statement and when its wrong ignore you made it in first place

Ill answer you're 2nd question first. Basically what all the stats in 2019 prove is that SA weren't "no hopers" going into that WC that people claim.

One thing I'll caveat with those stats both in the betting and ranking is when Erasmus took over SA were like 7th in the world and their odds were alot longer (in September 2018 they were 12/1 so can only imagine they were alot longer when Erasmus took over after the 2017 season) so what you can see between when he took over and the RWC they went up 3 places in the rankings and had their odds slashed both in terms of positions and the odds themselves. This time however they've went from 1st in the world to 4th and their odds havent really moved at all ( I would imagine this largely down to the fact that England/Wales/Australia have collapsed and Ireland have really shortened so almost by default SA have held their position) so when you break it down SA have gone backwards despite the data being similar as they started in a far FAR stronger position this cycle compared to when Erasmus took over.

I dont think I have dismissed their chances, they definitely are contenders and could very well end up as champions but if I look at the 4 sides they are the only ones with massive red flags sticking out, you don't see Ireland or France having shockers like 2 weeks ago for instance and to be having those shockers with more or less you're best team only 50 days or so out from the tournament would be hugely concerning, you cant exactly come out and say they were experimenting or anything looking at that team. NZL I still would have just behind Ireland & France as they have had a tendency of drifting in and out of games like v Australia (in Melbourne), England, Scotland, SA (both times), Argentina (home) and even to an extent that game against SA in Auckland. You see in those games for the most part why they will be a huge threat at the RWC but then you also see why they still have a bit of work to do.

Conway is up a while, they had pictures of event ages ago and he was sitting in the very back of a group photo...some eagle eyed fans picked it out

NZ want Ireland

France probably want Ireland to be honest

Our WC record is terrible and they will want Ireland instead of SA who could turn up and sneak out a win

Am I living in some alternate universe or something because by some miracle SA odd's have actually shortened after the last 2 round of the championship and Ireland drifted, have punter accidentally mixed the two countries up when placing bets or have they just lost their mind?