RWC week 2

How interesting is this world cup so far? The game that has thrown the cat amongst the pigeons has to be the Irish v Oz game. The Irish played such a top game and their forwards totally outmanouvered and outmuscled the Australians no end. They neutralised the threat of Genia and you can see that Quade is believing his hype, running things from his 22 when he had plenty of time to kick it clear. The main talking point about this RWC is the fact that the minow teams who can ill afford a few major injuries are the ones that have the toughest draw regarding turnaround times between games. Properly unfair, and therein lies part of the difference between the Soccer and Rugby world cups, even an average team in soccer has the ability to beat a top tier nation, based not only their player resources, but a little luck and relatively even schedule loads... The IRB should note that from the viewing evidence that i have noticed, most of the spectators have been getting the most satisfaction from seeing the minow teams perform and give the top tier nations a good run for their money. the loudest cheers come when they score tries or do something outstanding. All they need is a little exposure and regular rugby in good structures and boom they will be a formidable opponent...look at Samoa and Argentina, they have the players with ability but top flight rugby has given them more structure and refinement. Bok supporters, is PdV still a useless coach or was that win only attributable to the players...as usual? Yes it was only Fiji and a pretty unknown Fiji side, who SA should ordinarily murder, but because of the previous weeks performance, which i believe was more a result of Wales playing beyond themselves than it was SA's bad play (the boks were pretty kak, but thats because they werent allowed to play). The Boks showed what they can do with ball in hand, which is what i have always said, FdP is off his game properly and i think he and the rest of SA are resting on his past glory, but in Hougaard you have a hungry player who is tactically as sound as FdP, play him, there may be that game where introducing him 20 min at the death wont be able to save SA. But I think the Boks are in good shame, should be an interesting game against Samoa. As impressive as this Samoan team is, the Boks will have too much for them. The Samoans play an unrefined game. Like against Wales, you have a penalty infront of the post and need to score twice to win, take the 3, and start again, because that will put more pressure on the Welsh because they know one mistake and they gone, now all they knew was that worst case scenario was a draw...mcimn I see England making the finals again with that random rugby of theirs, especially with Ireland beating Oz, they only have a 6 nations tournament to contend with to advance to the finals. SA have a good chance too, but I am thinking if they 'throw' their game against Samoa, they will also have an easier ride to the finals, because then they go to Englands half of the draw as opposed to the tri-nations side of the draw. Game of this week is NZ v France, looking forward to this game, I am not too concerned about the result here, because even if we lose we win, why, because we will then end up in the 6 nations half of the draw and take a "South African" (easy) route to the finals, (sorry had throw that in there :)) France have made an interesting choice at no 10 playing Morgan Para, are they not taking this game seriously? I think this is when the ABs RWC starts, the centres will be Nonu and Smith, wings Kahui and hmm tough one, perhaps Jane for his experience or Dagg for his x factor, oh this abundance of talent is the ABs achilles heel i tell you. Best tournament i have watched so far, because there hasnt been a dull game...that i have watched at least Chat again next week, i'll have a bit more to say then :)