Wales

Im convinced they will have a good tournament. They have built nice momentum from the two England games and they won easily against argentina tho the score line does not tell that tale. Really they were in control for large parts of the game.

I think they will go well in the tournament. From their point of view however i would love to know that a good result is... we shall see

I disagree - Wales have given themselves a false sense of security as far as Im concerned - the 2 games v England were flattering - Wales were excellent in the second half in the first game and fully deserved their win in the second game - I have nothing but praise on those points - however both games were against teams with ... lets say 6 or seven probables missing - however I felt England were the better team in both games - they just couldnt match the Welsh heart and desire - against the Argies - were Wales that good?? Really??? Were Argentina that good?????

Wales have done well in the warm ups but they have become legends in their own lunchtimes - after Samoas result v the Wallabies and Fijis performance v NZ - and with the Welsh pedigree in the WC (not counting 87 cos I wasnt born*) I predict out at the group stage

*not strictly true

As for the Eng side - I reserve judgement untill the full side is revealed - Im hoping that will be the case on saturday but I feel Ireland will do the same as no team wants to lose - Ire already having lost 2 and Eng their last-

To be honest - the only thing that the f@*kwits at the rfu and Irish rfu have acheived with this fixture is the chance of major injuries to the first XV and someones pride being hurt b4 a major tournament

Lydneyian

Ah mate. you know i agree that the fixture between us was perhaps a little risky from both our unions.

Anyway, im not sure you will see a full strength Irish outfit. David Wallace is hampered by an hamstring strain so DK is not likly to risk him.
Stephen ferris is returning from long term injury and so long term that his place has been stolen opps i mean WON fair and square by the outstanding Sean O'Brian. So DK is forced to play ferris this weekend as he needs game time.

ROG will also most likely start for the same reason, AND Geordan Murphy almost forgot him.
Likewise we have a new situation where TOL has been left out of the squad so our scrum halves are Murray the new kid, Boss and Reddan. We know what reddan brings so i expect boss to start with Murray on the bench because both also need game time ahead of the WC.

Again its the same situation with John Hayes who could be starting this one but will most certainly feature off the bench around 50/60 mins

Now that looks for all the world like an under strength Irish side. However there will be serious impact on the bench should it look like we are gona be hammered they will be sprung en-mas to try and save the day.

Lydneyian
I miss typed an important part in my first comment.
"I think they will go well in the tournament. From their point of view however i would love to know that a good result is... we shall see"

What i meant to say was:
'From their point of view however i would love to know WHAT a good result is... we shall see'
Point being that if they make it out of the group and get knocked out in the first knock out stage is that a good result?
I would say absolutely yes it is. Its a difficult group, and if they qualify from it first up they are likely to meet either Ireland (us) or Australia and despite the the warm up games thus far specially from my point of view, if/when we meet them, the warmup stats count for nothing. It will be a good game and i will enjoy us winning it. As wales are not even in their wildest dreams better then Oz ore Ireland at the moment... They will need the ref again to help against us, and you can be damn sure we will bring fury in to that game treating it as payback for a match we should not have lost.

DingBatMan - you seemed to have lost the plot a bit there. Wales look to quite easily be the best home nations team going into this tournament at the moment. There is no doubt in my mind that Australia will run away with you group, however I think Italy can quite easily beat Ireland and make the quarter finals.

As for your rant about the last time you played Wales, I can only agree with what Brian Moore had to say. You didn't lose that game because of the ref, you lost it because wales dominates the break down and because your back line simply cannot fire when it matters!

By the way, I think quarter finals for all the home nations is an absolute minimum. Wales won't be pleased with just a qf finish, they will look to push on. Whether they can is another question. As for Ireland bringing fury to a world cup game, I didnt see much of it in 2007...

Ye Jeric can't argue about 2007 tho your view of the wales Ireland game is a liitle off i will leave that alone. History records it one way and it matters not what brian moore says. you read his book? the man say alot about alot and not alot makes sense.

Anyway make no mistake i have no disrespect for wales. infact always admired the manner in which they try to play.

You can take my comment above as a repost to your not so subtle WUM's since you joined the forum 3 days ago.

Things have been quite nice here, Gecko a lad from Wales, myself, Lydneyian from England and a few other have been having genuine chats and the odd laugh enjoying the peace and quiet and frankly WUMless nature of the board thus far.

Seems the honeymoon period is over. I will retract any insensitive comment and say this. best of luck to wales and indeed to yourself.

I have actually read Brian Moore's book and found it a good read. You should read his articles in the telegraph, he talks a lot of sense unlike a lot of the English biased pundits.

As for me being a wum, why on earth did you say that? You were the one suggesting Ireland can top their group and that they are far better than wales? Did Ireland really dominate the breakdown against wales? If their backs were so good that day then why did paddy wallace throw away a clear try scoring over lap at the end?

I'm not on hear to offend but to just have a debate. In my honest opinion I would be very concerned if I were Irish because their form hasn't been the best, I don't think Australia will be too worried about playing you at the moment.

Realistically, what do you think will be a good world cup for Ireland? I think they're in the same boat as wales where they'll look to get to the qf's and push on, however it's very likely they will come unstuck.

Mate ur first article here war a snipe at ireland and a comment about us boasting about winning the WC and Beating OZ in the process. That was ur first. then an article berating us, and in fact directing ur comment at poster on the original 606. no body here is berating anybody thus my conclusion that ur a WUM.
All previous comments about wales from myself have been to commend them and concluding that they are building nicely. Until i read a WUM like comment and or article from you which switches my focus. admittedly i should not be drawn in to that kind of thing thus my reaction and then retraction as above.

Now as for our chances as u ask the question, well prior to the warm up games attitudes were good. quietly confident of a good showing for several reasons chief among them the form shown in the last 6 nation game. But not ignoring general irish form in europe over the past few years, ala Leinster and Munster and indeed Mr Moore was full of praise for us despite it being a contradiction of things he said the week before.
BUT
He's a pundit and from my point of view i draw conclusions from what i see not what pundits say. Not Irish French Welsh Scottish or English.

SO in answer to ur question i would say that before the worm ups we could and rightly expect that semi finals would be a good result for us. perhaps a 3rd place play off. This is not a new conclusion as i have said this many times in the forum and i still believe it would be a great result and justified as per our position in international rugby. Winning it is a dream and a little unattainable as Oz and NZ in particular are in another galaxy but having a dream and thinking who knows what can happen in a one off game is perfectly acceptable.

As for wales i would have said that semi finals would also count a a good result. Same as Ireland and in realistic terms its not about what you hope and dream but in fact about where you are in terms of the other teams. And realistically neither of us should scoff at a potential 3rd place or even 3rd place playoff game. That would be a good result for both our nations. Tho we can still dream of higher honours. And as i said in a one off game anything can happen... for example a ref can make a big mistake.... But thats just the way things go..
"Any Given Sunday" as the yanks say.