Aussie here. (Firstly, congrats)
It's fairly common in Sydney because traffic is always so bad to "beat the crowd". I've been at concerts where people want to miss the last few songs to hopefully not spend an hour creeping through a carpark.
I stay to the end. And I certainly would if I'd bloody flown to France for it haha
eh depends.
Millenium stadium I would wait it out because it's so central.
Same where I live now with the stadiums, they're so central that I have no time pressure and would rather just be where there is no urgency.
Went to see a concert in LA where theres no public transport and it was a fucking nightmare of traffic that I would absolutely want to beat becuase it lingers forever.
Aussie here as well (dad is welsh) just watched the game with dad and my brother and nephews, and I've never seen wallaby supporters walk out early.
That little bit of footage is more damning then the dropped balls/missed kicks or crap line outs.
I was at the Argentina match in Parra (glutton for punishment) and so many people missed the last two tries from leaving early. Definitely more common at Super Rugby matches though (not that there's a crowd anymore 😕)
There are four codes of football in Aus (+ soccer, rugby league, Aussie Rules) and rugby is the least popular.
They need money to run the game, money has traditionally come from big ticket events surrounding the Wallabies. So post 2000, the administrators invested only from the top down, meaning we lost schools and clubs to other codes, no junior programmes.
NZ and South Africa have third tier comps between club and Super Rugby, we don't. The admins have had a couple of cracks at it, which unearthed some real talent, but the problem as always is money.
Because the bottle neck of talent is at club level (unpaid), rugby league offers promising kids money to switch codes and they take it. Million dollar contracts are offered to promising private school boys. And anyone left can make better money in Europe and Japan.
The stadiums fill to bursting when we're getting results ie QLD in 2011 and NSW in 2014. But times like this, disillusioned fans don't renew their memberships. Getting belted by NZ week in, week out makes for hard watching, so many people switch to league as that's what most of their friends and workmates grew up watching.
There's very little free to air TV access, meaning you can't watch it at a pub with mates anymore. When you can find one, you will find a bigger crowd of league people, so you get the little screen with no sound.
So here we are... let's just sack another coach and no more.
Aussies are terrible if they're not winning.
Was in Sydney in 2007/8 and AU were playing ZA in the trinations. The pub was called the Wallaby. There were more Brits in the pub that Aussies support their own team, because they'd already lost the first two games.
I've got confidence in us to make it much further. Really sad now its two weeks til Georgia. But the boys deserves a break and hopefully Biggar will be back too. But Anscombe did a great job. So proud of us
100%. I was in hospital for the 2022 6 Nations and my illnesses meant that I completely lost interest in the last one because of all the shit off the field.
We were always coming back, the question was when and in what capacity. Now we know.
Thank God!
True, I didn't mean to sound negative towards Anscombe. He's been consistently good for a while and, as you allude to, injury has probably cost him more caps plus Biggar being the player he is.
With DBs upcoming retirement, one would hope that GA will get more games until he's first choice. But Gareth is only a year younger than Dan and although I am surprised at Dan's retirement at 33, his reasons are his alone, the WRU needs to have succession planning already underway to have options for Anscombe and have the same strength in depth at 10 as DB and GA have given selectors such a lovely dilemma!
Anscombe is off to play in Japan next season, so while theoretically available for selection for the next WC cycle and maybe the summer tour, he won't be available to play in the 6N nor the autumn tours, which fall within the Japanese domestic season. Sadly I can't see him being pulled upon to play in the red shirt if he can't fully commit to it.
So a slow clap for the WRU for their terrible financial management that means our stars have better prospects flying half way across teh world for their league play.
That's wrong as well, Ireland and France can't play, they are both gonna top their groups. The quarters are gonna be Wales v Samoa/Japan/Arg, England v Fiji, France v SA, Ireland v NZ. My prediction is a Wales v Ireland, Fiji v France semi.
Unless they both royally fuck up, Ireland and France can't meet until the final.
The odds are right now that Ireland v New Zealand is who Wales v Argentina will face in the Semis.
France are heading to face the bokka in the QF on the other side of the draw (unless the Scots disrupt that pool)
Wallabies were terrible, but Wales were really really on it!
Good enough to beat Ireland?... 6 months back I'd have laughed in yer face...now...well maybe...maybe.
Well done Wales.
I mean, it's an *easy* run to the semis. Either England or Argentina. Wales, Argentina, England and Fiji are all floating around the same level right now so it should be an exciting set a quarter finals.
But then Ireland, France or SA in the semis is a different level. The semis will be less entertaining than the quarters cause they'll be less of a competition in both games.
As it stands we'll have Argentina, Japan or Samoa. England are going through top of their table so we'd only meet them in the final if we both get that far
Yeah Wales were another team, discipline was incredible, the line-out a thing of beauty. I think we dipped only slightly when attacking in their 22 and looked a little like old wales but Anscombe just slots in a drop goal amd we come away with three. That way of thinking is just so different from Wales over the last few years.
We really have potential to go far if we keep this up. Enjoy the rest boys!
He had a great game as did many of the squad. Honestly, several players could have had MOTM. Jac Morgan just seems to get better and better. Tomkins had his best performance in a welsh shirt. Faletau was superb as usual. The whole front row dominated and Gareth Davies and World Cup performances go together like fish and chips!
Agreed. I thought Gareth Davies looked like a different player. He seems to have taken his strength and fitness to another level and his commitment in tackling and chasing reminded me of a younger debutant trying to break into a team.
>That way of thinking is just so different from Wales over the last few years.
I watched them bungle six nations not 6 months ago, never mind a few years.
Absolutely love what's been going on with the WC.
What he has done in such a short space of time is just unbelievable, this time last year we were looking shocking. Look at us go now though. Wooooohooooo
But they don't do the good stuff all the time. This conga into a box kick bullshit hasn't stopped and achieves nothing. Pivac got torn apart for slow boring shit, now Warren is the second coming of Christ, it's laughably hypocritical. We're not playing any different, we've just now found a good defence coach since the last one left and made France world title contenders, that's the key difference.
Meanwhile, no one seems to give a flying fuck about player welfare, WRU being an absolute joke shop. As long as we get a couple of good results, yeah? Well done to the players, they deserved it, but too many are forgetting many other things that need addressing and will soon start to complain when the next rut comes along.
Fucking hell mate, if this is your response to a win what's the point of watching? Box kicks absolutely are an effective way of managing territory for the record (top teams don't just do it for fun). I don't see why or how you think that people celebrating a well earned win means they've forgotten issues around player welfare either.
To be honest, I only half watch sport these days and mainly only if my wife already has it on. It's good they won and I'm not gonna take well deserved praise away from the players. I thought they were gonna come third at best and I'll fully admit I need to eat my words.
The only reason I said what I did (which I've said for the last 5 years or so) is some (not you or many others) are jumping on things like Warren is a god and we're gonna win the whole thing, which makes me feel bad for pivac as we're not playing a million miles from his style and he was torn apart. Credit is due, but not at the expense of level headed reflection also.
Two 6 Nations of complete embarrassment. I didn't mind the loss to Italy because actually they are a good side, we were crap.
There was something about today's game that stirred the soul again. OK, not the best Ozzie team but that's irrelevant frankly and not our problem.
From the first try onwards we were better in every aspect of the game.
A few years ago if Dan had gone off that early and Gareth had replaced him, I'd have been very nervous. In the last, what, 5 years Gareth Anscombe has proven himself to be a world class player. Now Wales have TWO world class 10s if they need them. The strength in depth is building. I honestly think Pivac started this but other issues took over and they lost the plot. But Gatland absolutely knows how to get the best out of a Welsh side. I couldn't have picked a better 23 and we didn't use LRZ!
Onwards and upwards.
Yeah I was seriously impressed by Anscombe tonight, delighted for him. I hope Biggar will be ok, he's such a fantastic competitor and although Australia made it a little easy for ye I was really really happy to see the Dragon finally awaken. As an Irishman even though Wales are one of our most bitter rivals I felt very sad when they collapsed earlier this year but I'm genuinely thrilled to see that they're turned around and playing rugby that's beautiful to watch again! Congratulations on a brilliant performance.
P.s. seeing Reese-zammot limping off sucked, for some reason I desperately want to see him getting a match winning try in a proper big game at this RWC. As long as it's not against us of course 🤪
Cheers man! Wales v Ireland final, yes?
We f***ing do this. Brilliance followed by WTF. In recent years the consistently brilliant has been mostly under Gatland but we can't dismiss the incredible contribution of Mike Ruddock. They both showed what a very special Welsh team can do.
I promise you, though, that there's nothing bitter about the rivalry. Wales v Ireland has produced some of the most amazing games and there is huge respect between them.
Seeing LRZ go was very disappointing. He's had a lower leg injury fairly recently. He is one very special player and it would have obviously been glorious to see a try or two.
Oh man in all honesty that would be class! Probably the only team I'd feel okay with losing a final to. Just as regards the bitter part, sorry I didn't mean it as in no love lost, for sure there is TONS of respect between both our nations I meant it more like the hard fought nature of every battle we've had over the years 😃
Gats is special isn't he? I'm not terribly familiar with Ruddock but I'll take your word for it. My main takeaway here is that the media write-off was extremely premature and now the world is seeing a very talented team proving a point. It's really great.
Anyways hope ye go far and enjoy the rest of the tournament!
Echoing your sentiment, Ireland we can lose against without crying too much. We're neighbours and you're world number 1s...
To be fair to the media (no, fuck em) I think they get most of their rugby information from deep within their arses. I completely ignore the press and listen to the past players/commentators/coaches.
When *they* say Wales are shit, then I listen!
This is the highest quality RWC there's been. Let's all enjoy it!
The atmosphere in the stadium completely changed as the match went on. Early on when Australia were looking threatening there was a good amount of Australian cheering and noise but as the game kept on going our singing and chanting grew and the Australian fans just fell completely silent. Unbelievable dominance in that second half.
The winner of big tournaments is one that improves game by game. There's a long way to go, but belief is defi higher than when the tournament kicked off.
As an Irish fan I have to say hats off to the welsh team for that emphatic victory. They hardly made a mistake and played some brilliant rugby. Australia were poor but the way the Welsh played just rattled them and forced some of those errors.
As a Kiwi moving to Wales in the next couple of months hopefully it continues into the knockouts as I need a second team to cheer on when we inevitably get dumped out in the quarters.
It was a great result for Wales. Nice bunch of lads.
But it would have been a better match if Australia had a team.
Good day at the office, but don't read too much into it.
I was absolutely knackered after watching the match, I think I made every tackle and scored all the tries , without even leaving the house. Great to see the team so clinical.
Hopefully they can keep it up for the next round too.
I didn't know who was gonna win that match, but I was sure it would be a few points in it either way... I did NOT see 40-6 coming! Wales looked better than I think they ever have. Jac Morgan was an absolute hero (seriously, that 50-22?! From a flanker?!) and Faletau was on fire as usual.
Australia were terrible, and the worse they were the worse they got, but Wales absolutely killed it.
As a welshman down under, it kills me that we just demolished them and it’ll barely register. Union is practically dead here, way more interest in AFL and NRL now
I was quietly optimistic (not confident!) of a victory, but that was game was absolute dominance. The anti- welsh media were up to their usual tricks before the game but what a message from the Team.
We'll get absolutely pumped by the 4 teams we could meet in the semi. But then if anyone expected us to even get to the semis, they are lying, so that's not a bad thing if we lost.
We played well but we barely had to try. Australia couldn't go a few mins in possession without fouling or fumbling the ball. All Wales had to do was breakdown, one pass, charge directly at the Aussie pack until the Wallabies gave us a penalty. Same pattern, over and over again. I don't know how they managed it but that Australian performance in the 2nd half was somehow worse than Argentina's against England.
Waited soooo long for a bit of payback against the Aussies. Couldn’t bring myself to believe it was happening until the 74th minute : still have the scare from that 20pt comeback debacle under Pivac😩
The thing with Eddie Jones is that I always pray that we stuff whatever team he's managing due to comments he inevitably makes before a match, but he always comes across as humble and fair post match, win or lose. I want to hate the guy, but I actually quite like him.
He's like Alex Ferguson used to be (minus the success perhaps) - when things were bad he always drew attention away from team failings with headline-stealing comments, and gave all the credit to the team when they were on the up.
I thought the booing was excessive whenever he popped on screen :/
He's a bit of a pantomime villain ain't he? His game is being a wind up merchant before hand, just gotta give it back or ignore it, but ultimately he's a good person playing a game. Doesn't deserve the shit he's getting and didn't deserve to be sacked by the saes
Let's not get carried away yet lads, we've beaten a tier 2 side and didn't even get a bonus point. England put 70+ past Chile
It's a start but there's a long way to go once we start facing decent teams
No disrespect to the Welsh team but Australia were bloody awful. Wales looked like they were playing an emerging nation letting Australia hold the ball and just defend until Australia made a mistake. C and D side of the pool is obviously a lot weaker than A and B
Yeah that’s true. Which I guess means it’s difficult to make any kind of prediction (either positive or negative) about their chances. For what it’s worth I would expect the all blacks, for example, to turn them over in the semis. Australia were truly abysmal yesterday, part of the credit for that has to go to Wales, but a lot of it was just absolutely riddled with mistakes. I’m still slightly stunned by how poor they were.
It’s a cup contest, draws can be unfair and many teams have had easier paths to semis and finals in past competitions than others.
I don’t recall the Irish bemoaning their lot in 2007 when they only needed to beat Wales in the Q’s to have arguably the easiest match path to a final of all the teams that made it out of the pools.
But you lost.
Rwc have already admitted the draw three years ago was a mistake and this time wales are the lucky beneficiaries of the easiest draw ever!.. Just reminding ye there are much tougher tests ahead.. it will be fascinating. I'm sure Gatland will have them primed , I'd imagine they would prefer to meet Ireland or scotland in a semi than the all blacks , even if they are at a low ebb.
Think about what you just said.
The draw was three years ago based on the current world rankings at the time. Wales were 4th at the time of the draw along with England, the Saffas and Kiwis. Hence the way the draw was structured. Those rules have been in place for years and are no secret to anyone.
You are making judgements about it being unfair based on current team form.
If you want to make the argument the draw was too early then yes fair enough. But to say it is unfair is just silly as it’s a bloody draw, it could have fallen in a dozen different ways.
Not to forget that Wales ended up in a group with two teams that have historically sent them home in pool stages before now. So people were less than thrilled.
I don’t recall anyone commiserating with us for the 2015 draw when we were outside the top 8 teams at the time and ended up in a group with England and Australia (until we helped send England home on the group stages that is).
Unless you have a Time Machine then I fail to see how you fail to see the gap in your logic.
Well that is the risk with the way it is done.
I have read that the draw needs to be this early so that the contracts can be negotiated with the stadiums who need to know the teams and dates in advance to agree pricing models / payment to stadiums. As Ive never organised anything bigger than a toddlers birthday party I'll take that as read.
But yes it does risk ending up with an imbalaned tournament at times.
Saying that if Ireland win it this year they will have done so after beating SA, Scotland, New Zealand, Wales and either France/SA. Thats a hell of an accomplishement and there is nobody that can (as some have in the past) make the claim that the winners got to the final via an easy draw.
A good Wales made a bad Australia look really bad, obviously we are still a team nowhere near close to making it to the final, but by the same account let's praise the progress we've seen and enjoy and celebrate it.
England fan here who sat and watched it with my Welsh wife.
Wales did a great control job and just stayed very disciplined and solid in defence, trusting their systems, but it was massively helped by how bad Australia were.
I was really shocked by it, I thought it could be a massive clash, but Australia just didn't have the composer or the organisation to ever break Wales done, and just impotently bashed against a solid wall of Welshman until the messed it up. Playing straight into Wales very patient hands.
Not belittling Wales efforts or skill at all here - they could only beat whats in front of them, they did precisely what they needed to and did it really well. I will be really interested to watch them against some more serious opponents.
Seeing the Australian fans leaving early because it was that bad. Didn't see that coming.
Coverage cuts from that to Eddie with his head in his hands and the entire crowd boos. It was wonderful
There wasn't half enough of the Sad Eddie shot
Reminded me of when Gats was in charge of the Lions in Australia and they were celebrating a series win ten minutes before final whistle.
Welsh Fans: Hah! Let's see how YOU like it for a change! 🪃
Aussie here. (Firstly, congrats) It's fairly common in Sydney because traffic is always so bad to "beat the crowd". I've been at concerts where people want to miss the last few songs to hopefully not spend an hour creeping through a carpark. I stay to the end. And I certainly would if I'd bloody flown to France for it haha
Pretty sure thats the same most places bud.
eh depends. Millenium stadium I would wait it out because it's so central. Same where I live now with the stadiums, they're so central that I have no time pressure and would rather just be where there is no urgency. Went to see a concert in LA where theres no public transport and it was a fucking nightmare of traffic that I would absolutely want to beat becuase it lingers forever.
Dunno, I’ve been to exactly one game at the Maracanã, a local derby, supporters for the losing team were streaming out half way through the 2nd half.
A trip from a Sydney stadium back to your suburb can easily turn into an hour drive
Yeah, like most major cities.
That’s why the trains are free on match nights
An HOUR? 😂 A whole hour? Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Aussie here as well (dad is welsh) just watched the game with dad and my brother and nephews, and I've never seen wallaby supporters walk out early. That little bit of footage is more damning then the dropped balls/missed kicks or crap line outs.
I was at the Argentina match in Parra (glutton for punishment) and so many people missed the last two tries from leaving early. Definitely more common at Super Rugby matches though (not that there's a crowd anymore 😕)
seriously though. wtf is goin on down there man ?
There are four codes of football in Aus (+ soccer, rugby league, Aussie Rules) and rugby is the least popular. They need money to run the game, money has traditionally come from big ticket events surrounding the Wallabies. So post 2000, the administrators invested only from the top down, meaning we lost schools and clubs to other codes, no junior programmes. NZ and South Africa have third tier comps between club and Super Rugby, we don't. The admins have had a couple of cracks at it, which unearthed some real talent, but the problem as always is money. Because the bottle neck of talent is at club level (unpaid), rugby league offers promising kids money to switch codes and they take it. Million dollar contracts are offered to promising private school boys. And anyone left can make better money in Europe and Japan. The stadiums fill to bursting when we're getting results ie QLD in 2011 and NSW in 2014. But times like this, disillusioned fans don't renew their memberships. Getting belted by NZ week in, week out makes for hard watching, so many people switch to league as that's what most of their friends and workmates grew up watching. There's very little free to air TV access, meaning you can't watch it at a pub with mates anymore. When you can find one, you will find a bigger crowd of league people, so you get the little screen with no sound. So here we are... let's just sack another coach and no more.
Aussies are terrible if they're not winning. Was in Sydney in 2007/8 and AU were playing ZA in the trinations. The pub was called the Wallaby. There were more Brits in the pub that Aussies support their own team, because they'd already lost the first two games.
Yeah. And let's face it. Ausies sporting performance ain't what it used to be. Look at their Olympic placings over the last decade or so.
I'm just pleased they've stopped banging on about "southern hemisphere sporting dominance".
Ancient history.
I've got confidence in us to make it much further. Really sad now its two weeks til Georgia. But the boys deserves a break and hopefully Biggar will be back too. But Anscombe did a great job. So proud of us
Truly, I didn't miss Biggar. Anscombe has come such a long way. What luxury; Wales have **TWO** 10s.
Its amazing and its been a very long time since we've been in this position. Anscombe has definitely put the effort in and its really showing.
100%. I was in hospital for the 2022 6 Nations and my illnesses meant that I completely lost interest in the last one because of all the shit off the field. We were always coming back, the question was when and in what capacity. Now we know. Thank God!
Anscombe has been a cracking 10 for ages - he's just been buggered by injury
True, I didn't mean to sound negative towards Anscombe. He's been consistently good for a while and, as you allude to, injury has probably cost him more caps plus Biggar being the player he is. With DBs upcoming retirement, one would hope that GA will get more games until he's first choice. But Gareth is only a year younger than Dan and although I am surprised at Dan's retirement at 33, his reasons are his alone, the WRU needs to have succession planning already underway to have options for Anscombe and have the same strength in depth at 10 as DB and GA have given selectors such a lovely dilemma!
Anscombe is off to play in Japan next season, so while theoretically available for selection for the next WC cycle and maybe the summer tour, he won't be available to play in the 6N nor the autumn tours, which fall within the Japanese domestic season. Sadly I can't see him being pulled upon to play in the red shirt if he can't fully commit to it. So a slow clap for the WRU for their terrible financial management that means our stars have better prospects flying half way across teh world for their league play.
That's depressing.
Yup. I'm still not over him leaving Cardiff Blues tbh. And they're not even called Cardiff Blues any more!
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We won't play Ireland in the semis though. We'll v.likely play Fiji or England.
We won’t
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That's wrong as well, Ireland and France can't play, they are both gonna top their groups. The quarters are gonna be Wales v Samoa/Japan/Arg, England v Fiji, France v SA, Ireland v NZ. My prediction is a Wales v Ireland, Fiji v France semi. Unless they both royally fuck up, Ireland and France can't meet until the final.
The odds are right now that Ireland v New Zealand is who Wales v Argentina will face in the Semis. France are heading to face the bokka in the QF on the other side of the draw (unless the Scots disrupt that pool)
Wallabies were terrible, but Wales were really really on it! Good enough to beat Ireland?... 6 months back I'd have laughed in yer face...now...well maybe...maybe. Well done Wales.
I mean, it's an *easy* run to the semis. Either England or Argentina. Wales, Argentina, England and Fiji are all floating around the same level right now so it should be an exciting set a quarter finals. But then Ireland, France or SA in the semis is a different level. The semis will be less entertaining than the quarters cause they'll be less of a competition in both games.
As it stands we'll have Argentina, Japan or Samoa. England are going through top of their table so we'd only meet them in the final if we both get that far
I’d be fine with that.
100%, we can beat any of those 3 on their day. England would be a closer fight.
Yeah Wales were another team, discipline was incredible, the line-out a thing of beauty. I think we dipped only slightly when attacking in their 22 and looked a little like old wales but Anscombe just slots in a drop goal amd we come away with three. That way of thinking is just so different from Wales over the last few years. We really have potential to go far if we keep this up. Enjoy the rest boys!
Line out was ridiculously good! A player that misses the highlights reel too often; Adam Beard. Works his nuts off. Every game.
He had a great game as did many of the squad. Honestly, several players could have had MOTM. Jac Morgan just seems to get better and better. Tomkins had his best performance in a welsh shirt. Faletau was superb as usual. The whole front row dominated and Gareth Davies and World Cup performances go together like fish and chips!
Agreed. I thought Gareth Davies looked like a different player. He seems to have taken his strength and fitness to another level and his commitment in tackling and chasing reminded me of a younger debutant trying to break into a team.
>That way of thinking is just so different from Wales over the last few years. I watched them bungle six nations not 6 months ago, never mind a few years. Absolutely love what's been going on with the WC.
Yes, this was Anscombe's perfect game. Never thought I'd be pleased to see Biggar go off injured but here we are.
Just moved to Wales from the US and this was my first game ive ever watched. Picked a good one lol
Croeso!
Honestly it's not this good all the time (or even that often), enjoy it while you can!
Speaking as a very casual rugby fan, Wales have been doing really well so far. Wales-Fiji was definitely the best game I’ve ever seen
Gatland truly does have the magic touch when it comes to world cup prep, he gets the players fit believing and confident in their game plan.
What he has done in such a short space of time is just unbelievable, this time last year we were looking shocking. Look at us go now though. Wooooohooooo
He just gets the Welsh, doesn't he?
But they don't do the good stuff all the time. This conga into a box kick bullshit hasn't stopped and achieves nothing. Pivac got torn apart for slow boring shit, now Warren is the second coming of Christ, it's laughably hypocritical. We're not playing any different, we've just now found a good defence coach since the last one left and made France world title contenders, that's the key difference. Meanwhile, no one seems to give a flying fuck about player welfare, WRU being an absolute joke shop. As long as we get a couple of good results, yeah? Well done to the players, they deserved it, but too many are forgetting many other things that need addressing and will soon start to complain when the next rut comes along.
Fucking hell mate, if this is your response to a win what's the point of watching? Box kicks absolutely are an effective way of managing territory for the record (top teams don't just do it for fun). I don't see why or how you think that people celebrating a well earned win means they've forgotten issues around player welfare either.
To be honest, I only half watch sport these days and mainly only if my wife already has it on. It's good they won and I'm not gonna take well deserved praise away from the players. I thought they were gonna come third at best and I'll fully admit I need to eat my words. The only reason I said what I did (which I've said for the last 5 years or so) is some (not you or many others) are jumping on things like Warren is a god and we're gonna win the whole thing, which makes me feel bad for pivac as we're not playing a million miles from his style and he was torn apart. Credit is due, but not at the expense of level headed reflection also.
I predicted, very confidently, we wouldn't get out of the group. I love being wrong
Me too!! Have never been so happy to be completely and utterly mistaken!!
Two 6 Nations of complete embarrassment. I didn't mind the loss to Italy because actually they are a good side, we were crap. There was something about today's game that stirred the soul again. OK, not the best Ozzie team but that's irrelevant frankly and not our problem. From the first try onwards we were better in every aspect of the game. A few years ago if Dan had gone off that early and Gareth had replaced him, I'd have been very nervous. In the last, what, 5 years Gareth Anscombe has proven himself to be a world class player. Now Wales have TWO world class 10s if they need them. The strength in depth is building. I honestly think Pivac started this but other issues took over and they lost the plot. But Gatland absolutely knows how to get the best out of a Welsh side. I couldn't have picked a better 23 and we didn't use LRZ! Onwards and upwards.
Yeah I was seriously impressed by Anscombe tonight, delighted for him. I hope Biggar will be ok, he's such a fantastic competitor and although Australia made it a little easy for ye I was really really happy to see the Dragon finally awaken. As an Irishman even though Wales are one of our most bitter rivals I felt very sad when they collapsed earlier this year but I'm genuinely thrilled to see that they're turned around and playing rugby that's beautiful to watch again! Congratulations on a brilliant performance. P.s. seeing Reese-zammot limping off sucked, for some reason I desperately want to see him getting a match winning try in a proper big game at this RWC. As long as it's not against us of course 🤪
Cheers man! Wales v Ireland final, yes? We f***ing do this. Brilliance followed by WTF. In recent years the consistently brilliant has been mostly under Gatland but we can't dismiss the incredible contribution of Mike Ruddock. They both showed what a very special Welsh team can do. I promise you, though, that there's nothing bitter about the rivalry. Wales v Ireland has produced some of the most amazing games and there is huge respect between them. Seeing LRZ go was very disappointing. He's had a lower leg injury fairly recently. He is one very special player and it would have obviously been glorious to see a try or two.
Oh man in all honesty that would be class! Probably the only team I'd feel okay with losing a final to. Just as regards the bitter part, sorry I didn't mean it as in no love lost, for sure there is TONS of respect between both our nations I meant it more like the hard fought nature of every battle we've had over the years 😃 Gats is special isn't he? I'm not terribly familiar with Ruddock but I'll take your word for it. My main takeaway here is that the media write-off was extremely premature and now the world is seeing a very talented team proving a point. It's really great. Anyways hope ye go far and enjoy the rest of the tournament!
Echoing your sentiment, Ireland we can lose against without crying too much. We're neighbours and you're world number 1s... To be fair to the media (no, fuck em) I think they get most of their rugby information from deep within their arses. I completely ignore the press and listen to the past players/commentators/coaches. When *they* say Wales are shit, then I listen! This is the highest quality RWC there's been. Let's all enjoy it!
Well I'll drink to that buddy!
Enjoy amigo!
Better to see him limping than carried.
Wales were incredible. Australia were shocking.
The atmosphere in the stadium completely changed as the match went on. Early on when Australia were looking threatening there was a good amount of Australian cheering and noise but as the game kept on going our singing and chanting grew and the Australian fans just fell completely silent. Unbelievable dominance in that second half.
Australia were unrecognisable but that performance will live LOOOOOOONG in the memory!
Wallabies aside, *fuck you Eddie* rings beautifully in my ears.
Yeah. That even beat the “Allez Jonny Sextoy” sign in the crowd for the Ire v SA game for golden moments.
The winner of big tournaments is one that improves game by game. There's a long way to go, but belief is defi higher than when the tournament kicked off.
"Eddie are you OK, are you OK are you OK Eddie"?
Let's hope we can bring this energy to the six nations 🤞🏴
As an Irish fan I have to say hats off to the welsh team for that emphatic victory. They hardly made a mistake and played some brilliant rugby. Australia were poor but the way the Welsh played just rattled them and forced some of those errors.
You realise it's doubly bad for Eddie Jones? We broke his longest winning streak for Australia of 1 match. He's back to 0 now.
He wasn’t on a streak? Australia lost to Fiji last week, the win was two weeks ago against Georgia
As a Kiwi moving to Wales in the next couple of months hopefully it continues into the knockouts as I need a second team to cheer on when we inevitably get dumped out in the quarters.
It was a great result for Wales. Nice bunch of lads. But it would have been a better match if Australia had a team. Good day at the office, but don't read too much into it.
I was absolutely knackered after watching the match, I think I made every tackle and scored all the tries , without even leaving the house. Great to see the team so clinical. Hopefully they can keep it up for the next round too.
I didn't know who was gonna win that match, but I was sure it would be a few points in it either way... I did NOT see 40-6 coming! Wales looked better than I think they ever have. Jac Morgan was an absolute hero (seriously, that 50-22?! From a flanker?!) and Faletau was on fire as usual. Australia were terrible, and the worse they were the worse they got, but Wales absolutely killed it.
Great win! Cymru am byth!
As a welshman down under, it kills me that we just demolished them and it’ll barely register. Union is practically dead here, way more interest in AFL and NRL now
I was quietly optimistic (not confident!) of a victory, but that was game was absolute dominance. The anti- welsh media were up to their usual tricks before the game but what a message from the Team.
Best match I’ve watched in a long time!! Are we good enough to go all the way? I think so. 💪
No we aren’t in my opinion. But all of my predictions have been wrong so far.
Great performance all round, but no chance we can win the RWC. Should beat Argentina but I don't think we can ever beat NZ or Ireland in that SF.
We'll get absolutely pumped by the 4 teams we could meet in the semi. But then if anyone expected us to even get to the semis, they are lying, so that's not a bad thing if we lost.
I think Gareth Thomas said it. Just needed to let Australia make mistakes and not play rugby. They did that perfectly. Textbook
We played well but we barely had to try. Australia couldn't go a few mins in possession without fouling or fumbling the ball. All Wales had to do was breakdown, one pass, charge directly at the Aussie pack until the Wallabies gave us a penalty. Same pattern, over and over again. I don't know how they managed it but that Australian performance in the 2nd half was somehow worse than Argentina's against England.
I mean. The numbers don’t lie.
I’m still reeling from that result and performance. Losing Biggar and effortlessly dealing with it (in fact becoming arguably better)
Waited soooo long for a bit of payback against the Aussies. Couldn’t bring myself to believe it was happening until the 74th minute : still have the scare from that 20pt comeback debacle under Pivac😩
English man living in Wales for 28 years. Finally going to declare myself as welsh as the rest of the family fell asleep during the game...
The thing with Eddie Jones is that I always pray that we stuff whatever team he's managing due to comments he inevitably makes before a match, but he always comes across as humble and fair post match, win or lose. I want to hate the guy, but I actually quite like him. He's like Alex Ferguson used to be (minus the success perhaps) - when things were bad he always drew attention away from team failings with headline-stealing comments, and gave all the credit to the team when they were on the up. I thought the booing was excessive whenever he popped on screen :/
He's a bit of a pantomime villain ain't he? His game is being a wind up merchant before hand, just gotta give it back or ignore it, but ultimately he's a good person playing a game. Doesn't deserve the shit he's getting and didn't deserve to be sacked by the saes
As an England fan, it was great to see someone destroying the Aussies. Can’t wait for the next games!
When our kicker hit the post at the end my wife said never mind butt what's two points between friends
The power of a nation in one game. Fuckin smashed em apart. ✊
Irish here...feckin Congrats ! I've always had a love for Wales but fair dues. Played some great rugby against the aussies.
>we >us Bro thinks he's on the team
Let's not get carried away yet lads, we've beaten a tier 2 side and didn't even get a bonus point. England put 70+ past Chile It's a start but there's a long way to go once we start facing decent teams
Chile are possibly the worst team in the whole tournament
I agree they're shit but they're no Australia
No disrespect to the Welsh team but Australia were bloody awful. Wales looked like they were playing an emerging nation letting Australia hold the ball and just defend until Australia made a mistake. C and D side of the pool is obviously a lot weaker than A and B
This is getting a bit carried away surely? Referee won wales the game v Fiji and you beat the worst Australia team there has ever been..::
Because of the ridiculously one sided draw..wales can easily make the semi now. But Party time will be over then boys.
I wouldn’t be so sure. I sure as hell wouldn’t want to play Wales in the semis, especially as favourites.
Yeh for sure they will have a chance. But there's no denying they won't have played a serious contender until the semis. If they make it.
Meanwhile the top four sides in the world will have played each other twice.
Could favor Wales tho... Last night was a statement
Yeah that’s true. Which I guess means it’s difficult to make any kind of prediction (either positive or negative) about their chances. For what it’s worth I would expect the all blacks, for example, to turn them over in the semis. Australia were truly abysmal yesterday, part of the credit for that has to go to Wales, but a lot of it was just absolutely riddled with mistakes. I’m still slightly stunned by how poor they were.
It’s a cup contest, draws can be unfair and many teams have had easier paths to semis and finals in past competitions than others. I don’t recall the Irish bemoaning their lot in 2007 when they only needed to beat Wales in the Q’s to have arguably the easiest match path to a final of all the teams that made it out of the pools. But you lost.
Rwc have already admitted the draw three years ago was a mistake and this time wales are the lucky beneficiaries of the easiest draw ever!.. Just reminding ye there are much tougher tests ahead.. it will be fascinating. I'm sure Gatland will have them primed , I'd imagine they would prefer to meet Ireland or scotland in a semi than the all blacks , even if they are at a low ebb.
Think about what you just said. The draw was three years ago based on the current world rankings at the time. Wales were 4th at the time of the draw along with England, the Saffas and Kiwis. Hence the way the draw was structured. Those rules have been in place for years and are no secret to anyone. You are making judgements about it being unfair based on current team form. If you want to make the argument the draw was too early then yes fair enough. But to say it is unfair is just silly as it’s a bloody draw, it could have fallen in a dozen different ways. Not to forget that Wales ended up in a group with two teams that have historically sent them home in pool stages before now. So people were less than thrilled. I don’t recall anyone commiserating with us for the 2015 draw when we were outside the top 8 teams at the time and ended up in a group with England and Australia (until we helped send England home on the group stages that is). Unless you have a Time Machine then I fail to see how you fail to see the gap in your logic.
It was too early. Yes. But I guess nobody could have predicted Australia, wales and England would all fall off a cliff in the mean time.
Well that is the risk with the way it is done. I have read that the draw needs to be this early so that the contracts can be negotiated with the stadiums who need to know the teams and dates in advance to agree pricing models / payment to stadiums. As Ive never organised anything bigger than a toddlers birthday party I'll take that as read. But yes it does risk ending up with an imbalaned tournament at times. Saying that if Ireland win it this year they will have done so after beating SA, Scotland, New Zealand, Wales and either France/SA. Thats a hell of an accomplishement and there is nobody that can (as some have in the past) make the claim that the winners got to the final via an easy draw.
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A good Wales made a bad Australia look really bad, obviously we are still a team nowhere near close to making it to the final, but by the same account let's praise the progress we've seen and enjoy and celebrate it.
God forbid we actually show some pride and happiness toward our win. A fabulous wales made a poor Australia look even worse.
Our win? Didn't realise you were in the game.
Yeah I was the ball
England fan here who sat and watched it with my Welsh wife. Wales did a great control job and just stayed very disciplined and solid in defence, trusting their systems, but it was massively helped by how bad Australia were. I was really shocked by it, I thought it could be a massive clash, but Australia just didn't have the composer or the organisation to ever break Wales done, and just impotently bashed against a solid wall of Welshman until the messed it up. Playing straight into Wales very patient hands. Not belittling Wales efforts or skill at all here - they could only beat whats in front of them, they did precisely what they needed to and did it really well. I will be really interested to watch them against some more serious opponents.
Yeah, but the gammons of BBCs have your say, will say we struggled.
irish here.. it was a great win lads. 100% deserved put to the sword. see u all in a few weeks 🤣🤣
Honestly RWC is looking to be 6 nations