19 replies to this topic

[Zimbochick]

Any rugby fans in the house? World Cup fever is starting a slow-burn in our house.

[Abaddon]

I'm a rugby fan. Not domestic, but I follow the international game. Enjoying the Six Nations at the moment and looking forward to the World Cup. Quite optimistic about England's chances. A year ago I would've totally written them off, but they're probably the fourth best team in the world at the minute, and on their day they're a threat to anyone (as they showed against Australia in the Autumn Internationals). Expecting a really good tournament. Quality was poor all round in 2007, but the top teams have been playing some entertaining rugby in the last six months, so it should be decent.

[TAP]

Same here, only really interested in international game - and assume we are talking about union? Where can you watch it in the US? I have Fox Soccer Plus which shows domestic rugby but not international as far as i can tell. How about Cricket WC, are you into that?

[Zimbochick]

Is there still much of a division between league and union? And yes, I was talking international, although college rugby is picking up steam here in the south (surprisingly!). We watch mostly on ESPN3.

[Abaddon]

Can't speak for other countries, but in the UK the divide's fairly strong. You're definitely in the minority if you follow both codes. I'm from Salford, a very working class area in the north with its own League team. Nobody I grew up with had any interest in Union whatsoever. But where I work now, there's a lot of southerners and people from more privileged backgrounds. The vast majority of them don't have a clue about League. It's all about class/geography, and I can't see the walls coming down anytime soon. England's World Cup win helped a bit, in terms of raising the profile of Union among people who hadn't really followed rugby before, but there's still a big split. Fans of each are often so dismissive of each other. Personally, I like both. I prefer Union, but I'm still a fan of League and I've been to plenty of games. Oddly enough - and probably because I grew up just one minute away from Salford Reds' ground - I follow domestic Rugby League, but don't really care much for the international game. One of the things that probably hurts League's standing in the UK is that the quality isn't the best. It's still the second best in the world, but it's a mile behind Australia, where it's arguably their national sport. Australian Rugby League is a joy to watch, and it's well worth checking out the State of Origin series when its played each year. The standard is phenomenal and the whole thing's incredibly entertaining - when they're not playing blinding rugby, they're busy having massive fights, so there's never a dull moment. One of the finest sporting occasions on the calendar, I would say.

[Zimbochick]

Well I'm from Zimbabwe and South Africa and my husband is South African so needless to say we are Springbok supporters. League has had varying success in South Africa, but union remains wildly popular. There was a proposal a while back to merge, but I doubt that will happen. The Sprinboks have been very inconsistent of late, so we shall have to wait and see what happens.

[Abaddon]

Will definitely be interesting to see what South Africa can do. You were by far the best team in the last World Cup and looked set to only get better and really dominate the global game, but it didn't really happen. In fact, you dropped off quite a bit. Still got a lot of talent though. I'd pretty much written you off based on recent form and England's when we met in the Autumn Internationals, but you were really good. We played a decent game, but you were just plain better. Really outclassed us, physically. On your day, I think you've definitely got what it takes to go all the way again. Will probably just depend on the draw. Can't really see you beating Australia or New Zealand. But I can see Australia beating New Zealand, and I can see us beating Australia. So if you get lucky with the draw, you might be able to retain.

[LISA]

i dont know anything about rugby..sadly but it looks fun as FUCK! it is a running,killing football game of sorts is it not?

[Abaddon]

Looks like I was getting a bit carried away by England again. Fucking TERRIBLE today against Ireland. Embarassingly bad. And yes Lisa. That's a reasonable assessment.

[LISA]

kinda turns me on a little

[Zimbochick]

Anyone else got rugby fever? World cup starts next week. Here's the schedule:

http://www.rugbyworl.../poolstage.html

[Abaddon]

Really looking forward to it. Little bit gutted I'll miss some fun games due to work (New Zealand-Japan, for example), but all England's matches are on the weekend so that's OK. Expecting New Zealand to walk the entire tournament.

[Abaddon]

Decent start to the tournament - Wales v South Africa was very entertaining and as long as there's one good match each round, I'm happy. England were terrible against Argentina. Got away with one there. Still, we're not the only team to have got off to a poor start. Australia are probably the only ones out of the big teams that didn't have much of a stutter. The All Blacks won comfortably, but they didn't impress.

[cousin it]

About 25 years ago, my city, in the middle of the USA, had a world class rugby team-- the Blackstones

[Zimbochick]

The Wallabies loss yesterday was surprising. I did feel sorry for Japan, they got clobbered by the All Blacks. The Fiji - Samoa game should be entertaining.