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Other than France, the top seeds are doing rather well: Australia beat Japan 91-3, South Africa beat Samoa 59-7, and in a game that should've been a little closer, as Italy should be better competition than Japan or Samoa, New Zealand crushed the Italians 76-14.

We lost to England 28-10 and Ireland, Wales, and Scotland won their first pool matches.
 
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Chabal was a bit of a disappointment...we were fortunate enough to see Sale play Northampton when we were in England and he can take over a game but he also disappears for large stretches. He came of the bench for France and got tackled one-on-one by a wing and threw a couple of 50-50 passes in contact.

If you haven't seen Sebastian Chabal yet, feast your eyes:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1r2vEd1_IA[/youtube]
 
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Watched the first half of the USA/England match last night. Not exactly the kind of match to capture non-rugby fans' attention on VS; lots and lots of rucking without much open field play. Pretty solid play by the US, though. Good defense and some hard running. The score was 9-3 Cornwallis over Washington when I turned it off in favor of a margarita and some RR-type activity. Apparently, the Brits came out better in the second half and ran off with it. On the whole, though, a good first showing for the Eagles.

USA v. Tonga is on VS tomorrow night.
 
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RugbyBuck;924664; said:
Right on both points, Steve, but I think a Four-Nations tournament is eventually possible, if Argentina continues to improve. There is certainly some resistance or it would already exist as the idea has been tossed around for awhile. The IRB may step in at some point to imrpove its global footprint. Certainly, there would be cultural and geographic issues, but a Southern Hemisphere test series like that would make more sense than having Argentina play the US and Canada.

You could well be right, my friend. What a feast of rugby. You can watch at the Rugby World Cup site as well, by the way, for those who didn 't realize that.
 
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I watched another 20 minutes of so of the England match (mainly to figure out what I was doing wrong at practice last night :biggrin: ) . It looked like England started to figure us out right before the half and played with a little more flair. Apparently, one of our guys, Paul Emerick, has been suspended for four weeks (essentially thrown out of the tournament, I imagine) for a flagrant high tackle of England's flyhalf. I didn't see it, but both sides were bringing it pretty hard, so I'm not surprised.
 
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I haven't watched it yet, but the USA lost to Tonga, 25-15. That means that we're likely to finish last in our Pool. A last place finish would be hugely disappointing as, I think, the conventional wisdom is that we've improved a fair amount since the last world cup.
 
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South Africa Routs England 36-0 at Rugby World Cup

England have been held scoreless for the first time in six World Cups. The Boks looked very good indeed.

By Sam Sheringham
Sept. 14 (Bloomberg) -- South Africa routed England 36-0 in their Rugby World Cup group match in Paris to inflict the defending champion's biggest loss in its 30 games at the sport's biggest event.

JP Pietersen scored two tries for the Springboks at the Stade de France and Juan Smith got the other. Percy Montgomery kicked 18 points as the 1995 world champion posted its fourth straight win over England, which failed to score a point for the first time in six World Cups.

The victory put the third-ranked Springboks in pole position to finish top of Group A and probably avoid meeting tournament-favorite New Zealand until the Oct. 20 final.

Continues
 
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RugbyBuck;932099; said:
I was playing in Chicago this weekend and taped SA/England. Can't wait to see it tonight.

It's a bloody clinic. I still think they are peaking at the right time and can take it all! Now, we just gotta get some of that mojo from the Boks to the Bucks!
 
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Fell asleep helping the NMR study for a psychology exam and didn't get to watch it. I'll try again tonight.

I did watch the first 20 minutes of the USA/Tonga match, though. Holy Cripes! Those guys beat the hell out of us. First time I've ever seen a score off of the opening kick in a rugby match.
 
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Fiji and Tonga are liable to make the quarterfinals. England and France are likely to miss them. That's huge. I'd love to see a Pacific Islands All-Star side.

Right now it looks like NZ, SA, Australia, Argentina, Scotland, Ireland, Tonga, and Fiji in the quarters.
 
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I finally got to watch the Boks match, Steve. Yes, it was a clinic. The defense was exceptional, I loved the scrumhalf play, and Habana and JPP on the wings are fantastic. England needs to bring up a new generation of players. I've seen them twice now in the RWC and they look old and lethargic. I'd like to see more tries from the Boks, but I guess if the other team is giving you penalty kicks and you keep knocking them down and playing crushing defense, you don't need ten tries to win.
 
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