Official Rugby World Cup 2011 Thread

Let's see what Canada can do tonight against France. They are dressing the same team that played Tonga, a vote of confidence in the lineup by Kieran Crowley. Hopefully Pat Riordan will be 100% healthy.

Starts at 1am Sunday. Im stayin up late tonight, noo problem

We are havin a huge rugby watchin party tonight with allmy old buddies from the highschool team. pumped

We are havin a huge rugby watchin party tonight with allmy old buddies from the highschool team. pumped. Hopefully canada puts up a good challenge.

Just found this thread…

I am loving the coverage on TSN2; I hadn't watched televised rugby before and I am really enjoying it; it is a great spectator sport.

I really didn't expect Canada to beat France. Although the score was close for an hour, I had hoped for a tighter outcome.

The final oitcome wasnt good be the gameplay was actually pretty even. we just gave up too many simple penalty kicks. its refreshing tos watch a sport game without commercials ever 2 minutes. reason number why this wouldnt fly here.

No wonder nobody likes the french. They looked like a bunch soccer players for a while there in the first half, flopping around trying to draw penalties.

Good effort by Canada, too bad they could not keep up to the frogs for the full 80 mins.

france showed a bit of class at the end, giving the canadians a round of applause.

Canada's lack of exposure to Tier1 rugby showed up here. While tough, determined and athletically competitive (but they don't seem to have a winger with blinding speed), they were sunk, getting penalized on the small things and missing kick goals. They also broke down late in the second half and looked mentally and physically drained by the intensity of their game. Its too bad they couldn't sustain the great start (and make some of those missed penalty kicks) and demoralize the French. They did put up a good show, all things considered. How about that idiot of a Frenchman who did a swan dive over the advertising board to get a penalty?

Canada should get the win against Japan. Hopefully they don't get too embarrassed by the All Blacks.

This Tournament does seem very favourable towards the Tier 1 teams. They all have a full week of rest in between matches, while the tier 2 sides play within 4 days.

The Tier 2 teams are improving (NZ beat Japan 145-17 in 1995) but without more exposure to the top countries, the world cup will remain a tournament between 5 countries. If Canada does happen to play one of the tier 1 sides in a test match, the tier 1 team is usually not the top lineup.

I am Enjoying watching the Canadians play with a lot of heart.
But I am really hoping the Kiwis can get the monkey off their backs this year and win it at home.

If Canada beats Japan (seems likely) hopefully we will see them move up the rankings a bit; perhaps that will expose them to more top tier oppostion in test matches (I don't really know anything about how international rugby works, I'm just wondering…).

If Canada beats Japan (seems likely) hopefully we will see them move up the rankings a bit; perhaps that will expose them to more top tier oppostion in test matches (I don't really know anything about how international rugby works, I'm just wondering…).

They would have to move pretty far up the tables (probably into the final 8 and stay there) to be considered a contender on of any kind for Tier 1. Otherwise the top teams will continue to field their development squads against Canada (and who can blame them?).

But I am really hoping the Kiwis can get the monkey off their backs this year and win it at home.

The Kiwis have a huge monkey on their backs. Every World Cup after 1987 they've arrived the favorites and gone home empty-handed. It has left a mark on their national psyche.

Canada has already moved to a record 11th in the world.

Canadians were bumped from the 14th spot to 11. Just a couple of percentage points out of Italy and the top 10.

With a win over Japan, Canada could place themselves into auto-qualifying for the 2015 World Cup, which was their original goal this year.

Good to see the boys leave everything on the field. That game was a war. Too many penalties by the Canadians against a very good French squad that has its eyes on the finals.

Looking forward to Japan!

Canadians were bumped from the 14th spot to 11. Just a couple of percentage points out of Italy and the top 10.

With a win over Japan, Canada could place themselves into auto-qualifying for the 2015 World Cup, which was their original goal this year.

Doesn't the 3rd place team in a group automatically qualify for 2015?

Doesn't the 3rd place team in a group automatically qualify for 2015?

Correct, assuming we beat Japan and lose to NZ standings should be:

1. NZ (assuming win over France)
2. France
3. Canada (assuming win over Japan)
4. Tonga (assuming win over Japan)
5. Japan