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RWC 2023 Qualifying & Miscellany

Dctarget

John Eales (66)
Damn, Australia has landed on the lucky side of the draw again. Still could go horribly wrong, lose to Fiji and not make it out of the pool matches.
But if we can beat Wales, which I would say is the weakest out of the top 9 teams, then we play Argentina in a QF and through to a semi.

Whereas on the other side of the draw, one team out of SA, Ireland & Scotland aren't making it out of the pool. Money would be on Scotland but they also have a not insignificant chance of beating 1/2 of the others. It wouldn't be ridiculous if SA don't get out of the pool. Then the winner of that exhausting death pool has to go up against France or NZ in the quarter final lol.

Either way Australia if lucky enough to get through to the semi will likely play NZ or France. So, the fun stops there. Ideally a Ireland/SA knocks them off before us.

But yeah, out of five teams: SA, Ireland, Scotland, NZ, France, which has the top 4 ranked teams currently, only 2 can go through.
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
Either way Australia if lucky enough to get through to the semi will likely play NZ or France.
Sure as fuck won't be NZ. No way Fozzie's brigade of uncoached chancers have what it takes to bump off the dynamic, rambunctious French.
David Havili? Scrote Barrett? The DV cohort? Our cadre of fat lazy puddinged props?

Never in my life have I been so unenthused about an All Black setup.

Please don't get me started on this topic, I get wound up.

Site Admin please delete this thread and ban @Dctarget thank you.
 

KevinO

John Hipwell (52)
Sure as fuck won't be NZ. No way Fozzie's brigade of uncoached chancers have what it takes to bump off the dynamic, rambunctious French.
David Havili? Scrote Barrett? The DV cohort? Our cadre of fat lazy puddinged props?

Never in my life have I been so unenthused about an All Black setup.

Please don't get me started on this topic, I get wound up.

Site Admin please delete this thread and ban @Dctarget thank you.
It's ok Dismal, in 2007 everyone expected the All Blacks to hockey the Frogs in Cardiff. Look what happened, maybe this uninspiring uncoached fat lazy puddinged side can pull off a miracle against your RWC bogey side.

:cool::cool::cool:
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
After initially saying they wouldn't, Hong Kong have now said they will take part in the Asia/ Pacific qualifiers.

4 June South Korea v Malaysia
8 or 9 June Hong Kong v winner of SK v M
23 June Tonga v winner of HK v SK or M

Winner qualifies for RWC in Pool B (SA, Ireland, Scotland & Europe 2 qualifier), loser goes through to Final Qualification Tournament in November.

 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Update on Spain's disqualification:


TLDR: player's Club altered his passport to make him appear to be a local player. Club officials have been stood down & Club Final postponed while Spanish RU decides whether to relegate them from the top tier. I'm gunna make a wild prediction that they will & hope that satisfies World Rugby wrt further punishment.

Player claims to have been unaware of the shenanigans but geez you'd have to be almost wilfully ignorant of the relevant Reg & have a pretty poor grasp of maths to not think "this can't be right what with all that time I spent back in SA".
 

Rugbynutter39

Michael Lynagh (62)
Interesting:


No details given but I'm guessing they're going with "we didn't know" as nothing else really makes sense.
Well if it was the club that duped them with forged passport it may be they have a case. As I think the national body may have been duped as well and if so seems unfair to kick them out.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
Spain's appeal has been lodged & it's a doozy:

"...Irish backs James Lowe and Bundee Aki; Scottish prop Pierre Schoeman; and the Tongan-born halfback on the cusp of a first All Blacks cap, Folau Fakatava, have all been named as evidence in Spain’s appeal against their World Cup disqualification for fielding an ineligible player, Gavin van den Berg."

 

Braveheart81

Will Genia (78)
Staff member
Spain's appeal has been lodged & it's a doozy:

This is good.

The passport tampering bit is clearly the key but the fact World Rugby cited the guy saying he didn't feel at home in Spain in the first year is absolute bullshit.

Presumably they removed details of him leaving Spain? I wonder for how long and how that compares to other people who have qualified under the residency rules?
 

Derpus

George Gregan (70)
Spain's appeal has been lodged & it's a doozy:

"...Irish backs James Lowe and Bundee Aki; Scottish prop Pierre Schoeman; and the Tongan-born halfback on the cusp of a first All Blacks cap, Folau Fakatava, have all been named as evidence in Spain’s appeal against their World Cup disqualification for fielding an ineligible player, Gavin van den Berg."

I know it's not a realistic, but it would be quite amusing if WR (World Rugby) doubled down and ruled all those other players ineligible.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
This is good.

The passport tampering bit is clearly the key but the fact World Rugby cited the guy saying he didn't feel at home in Spain in the first year is absolute bullshit.

Presumably they removed details of him leaving Spain? I wonder for how long and how that compares to other people who have qualified under the residency rules?

Yeah, the claim is that it was the Club who doctored the passport without the knowledge of the Spanish Union (plausible) & the player (not so plausible, to say the least).
 

Dismal Pillock

Simon Poidevin (60)
Spain's appeal has been lodged & it's a doozy:

"...Irish backs James Lowe and Bundee Aki; Scottish prop Pierre Schoeman; and the Tongan-born halfback on the cusp of a first All Blacks cap, Folau Fakatava, have all been named as evidence in Spain’s appeal against their World Cup disqualification for fielding an ineligible player, Gavin van den Berg."

Lowe: In a 2019 interview with The42, however, the New Zealand-born wing said that it was "weird that [he] could be Irish, isn’t it?", branding World Rugby’s eligibility laws as “stupid” and “weird”.

It is stupid and weird. Players like him and Aki will probably never set foot in Ireland again the day after they retire from representing the country.

Does "English" test international Riki Flutey consider himself a pom?

The whole thing is a laughable sham.

7 years minimum residency to weed out the charlatans and mercenaries.
 

WorkingClassRugger

David Codey (61)
This is good.

The passport tampering bit is clearly the key but the fact World Rugby cited the guy saying he didn't feel at home in Spain in the first year is absolute bullshit.

Presumably they removed details of him leaving Spain? I wonder for how long and how that compares to other people who have qualified under the residency rules?

Apparently a few recent Irish and Scottish international spent extended periods outside of both respective countries within their qualification periods. Or so Spain will be arguing. If true then I will be interesting to see what comes of it. I'll be honest here.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
It is stupid and weird. Players like him and Aki will probably never set foot in Ireland again the day after they retire from representing the country.

Does "English" test international Riki Flutey consider himself a pom?

The whole thing is a laughable sham.

7 years minimum residency to weed out the charlatans and mercenaries.

Agree with most of that but they're two seperate issues & I think Spain RU are being a tad disingenuous by conflating them.
 

waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)
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waiopehu oldboy

Stirling Mortlock (74)

RebelYell

Arch Winning (36)
Rugby Africa Cup results:

Namibia 71-5 Burkina Faso
Zimbabwe 38-11 Cote D’Ivoire
Kenya 42-7 Uganda
Algeria 35-12 Senegal

SF this Wednesday:

Namibia v Zimbabwe
Kenya v Algeria

Read a good intrerview with Collins Injera who is playing XVs for Kenya as they try and qualify - hope they get there

 
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