Rugby World Cup 2011 – Opening matches.

First match results:

 Scotland 34 – 24 Romania

I didn’t see much of this game – It was a choice between staying up to watch this one or getting up early to watch England (I chose England). But I doubt very much the Scots will be too disappointed with a ten point victory.

Argentina 9 – 13 England

First off, the result doesn’t reflect this but, we were awful. Well maybe not awful, but we certainly need to improve if we want to progress.
I have a couple of reservations about this match – firstly with our kit. Since when is black our colours? Our national colours are White (Home kit) or Red (away) – its very simple to remember, just look at the flag. On this basis, if for some reason we can’t use either of those colours then I would settle for blue. But black? Who thought that was a good idea?
Secondly is the refereeing. I don’t think the ref did anything “wrong” but he was a little inflexible for my taste – particularly in the opening minutes. He seemed to blow his whistle every ten seconds which doesn’t allow the game to settle – at one point he even gave us a caution for incurring too many penalties. I’m not suggesting that the first 5-10 minutes of any game should be a free for all – and I do understand that the nature of the tournament insists on firm refereeing – but I still feel he could have shown a little more restraint. Also most of our penalties were infringements (being off-side etc.) and we got carded for it – while I saw two instances of dangerous play (a tackle in the air and what can only be described as a pole-axe) on behalf of the Argentineans, which didn’t pick up the same penalty.
Lastly, Wilkinson’s poor kicking performance. I’ve never been big on “Wilko-worship” – there were 14 other players on the field the day we won the cup. I do however expect him to perform when it matters. In conclusion: there is much work to be done!

Ireland 22 – 10 United States

Again, I only saw highlights of this game – but from what I saw Ireland turned in a typically solid performance. Personally, I would have expected a slightly stronger result against The States but then a win is a win.

South Africa 17 – 16 Wales

How heart-breaking to lose out for the sake of one point. Don’t let the result fool you – this is practically a win for Wales (aka my second team for the tournament) who many felt, pre-game, were in for an absolute spanking. Strangely, this performance (even though a defeat) should inspire the welsh side to escape their group.

Still To Come:

14th Sept. – Scotland vs. Georgia (08:30 BST)

Coming off of their win against Romania, Scotland face off against a fresh Georgian side and former Scotland coach Richie Dixion.

17th Sept. – Australia vs. Ireland (09:30 BST)

Australia were always going to be strong favourites and smashing Italy 32-6 hasn’t dimmed that opinion any. A true test for Ireland.

18th Sept. – Wales vs. Samoa (04:30 BST)

They’ve yet to play at time of writing, but Samoa come with a reputation for hard hitting rugby. Wales will have to find ways to play around them and not get stuck into a test of strength.

18th Sept. – England vs. Georgia (07:00 BST)

We’ll have to see what happens with Scotland before we can speculate further on this match – but whatever England do, they’ll have to do it without Courtney Lawes (lock) – who has gone and got himself a two match ban. [Can‘t find a video of what happened but you can read about it here.

Plenty more heart-break and triumph to come – and feast of matches to argue about, analyze and discuss.

Let The Banter Continue!