After the treat that was Saturday’s matches, here’s two more to keep the couch full!

Can Fiji, everyone’s 2nd team it seems, perform the miracle vs an England team that are building and learning to do what it takes and win ugly? England did the drop goal game already in the Velodrome, will we see some more here?

Will the hosts be able to overcome the mighty Springbok defense and keep alive the northern hemisphere hopes? Will SA have brought their kicking boots and can french flair find room to maneuver?

All too close to call imo, the bookies always inflate England: these are going to the 80’!

  • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    This match is 🔥🔥 I came to the only bar I could find leaning pretty neutral, but the unexpectedly large rugby crowd is so lopsided for France I’m cheering with the 4 Spring Boks fans. Of course my Houston Sabercats have a huge contingent of Saffa players, so I might be seeing some of these guys find their way here in a few years!

  • TagMeInSkipIGotThis@lemmy.nz
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    11 months ago

    People rave about the defensive effort in NZ v IRE, but if the first 5 minutes of SA v FRA are to go by it could be the best quarterfinal purely from the attacking rugby.

    • TagMeInSkipIGotThis@lemmy.nz
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      11 months ago

      That was so quickly called by Willemse it must have been a pre-match decision; and the SA scrum wins the penalty too. This forces France to only do contestable shorter kicks or lose territory through penalties.

  • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    Kick-off time! I love a good underdog, but I also have English ancestry to root for. As long as them match is competitive that’s all I could ask for.

  • not_woody_shaw@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    I’m thinking the only way to play with that kind of chaos and flair at the pace we saw tonight is to base it on a foundation of the kind of well drilled precision we saw last night. So maybe these two teams are a level above IRL and NZ.

    Or maybe they’re all four about the same level and it was just different game plans. Last night’s was “keep possession” and tonight’s was “get their defence scrambling”

  • Baron Von J@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    That was a saucy bounce out of the scrum! Fiji seem to be having a lot of this today, scrambling to recover the ball when it just meanders out of control.

    • Olap@lemmy.worldOPM
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      11 months ago

      Yeah, bounces not going their way for sure. But also needing to front up a bit more, England winning more collisions it feels

      Fiji need the next score to keep this alive too, not great at 40 min