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Jonny Wilkinson, you're a legend! Now, if only they did the intelligent thing and broadcast the final in Trafalgar Square...
Boy does it suck to be a South African cricket supporter!!!
In 1992, the existing rain delay rules forced South Africa to score 22 runs off 1 ball to qualify for the World Cup Final. Only a year earlier they had returned to the international fold and surprised everyone by reaching the World Cup Semifinals. In 1996, Brian Lara hit a century to put South Africa out of the World Cup at the Quarterfinal stage after the Proteas had won all their group matches comfortably. In 1999, South Africa crashed out because they tied their Semifinal against Australia (who had beaten them earlier in the Super Six stage) while in 2003, the host nation miscalculated how many runs they needed to score to qualify for the Super Six stage. Mark Boucher hit a six off Murali's penultimate ball, defended the last ball and assumed South Africa had reached their target. As it turned out, they were one run short. Tonight in a repeat of history, South Africa crashed out of the first World Twenty20 by a mere 10 runs!! Surely you couldn't call them chokers after this display?! Bwahahaha! Out again and as hosts no less!
India bowled superbly, despite giving away so many wides and we're through to the semifinals. We play Australia on Saturday, while New Zealand who cash-in thanks to South Africa's inability to win when it matters most, play Pakistan. After tying their group game, India and Pakistan have a score to settle in this slam-bam-thank-you-mam format. Can they steal the thunder from the teams Down Under?
Find out on Saturday!
For now, it's over and out to the Millenium Stadium to watch Wales keep their Rugby World Cup hopes alive with an expectedly comfortable victory over Japan. It may not be so easy... the Japanese have scored the first points of the night!
Man, it must suck to be a South African cricket supporter. :D
In 1992, the existing rain delay rules forced South Africa to score 22 runs off 1 ball to qualify for the World Cup Final. Only a year earlier they had returned to the international fold and surprised everyone by reaching the World Cup Semifinals. In 1996, Brian Lara hit a century to put South Africa out of the World Cup at the Quarterfinal stage after the Proteas had won all their group matches comfortably. In 1999, South Africa crashed out because they tied their Semifinal against Australia (who had beaten them earlier in the Super Six stage) while in 2003, the host nation miscalculated how many runs they needed to score to qualify for the Super Six stage. Mark Boucher hit a six off Murali's penultimate ball, defended the last ball and assumed South Africa had reached their target. As it turned out, they were one run short. Tonight in a repeat of history, South Africa crashed out of the first World Twenty20 by a mere 10 runs!! Surely you couldn't call them chokers after this display?! Bwahahaha! Out again and as hosts no less!
India bowled superbly, despite giving away so many wides and we're through to the semifinals. We play Australia on Saturday, while New Zealand who cash-in thanks to South Africa's inability to win when it matters most, play Pakistan. After tying their group game, India and Pakistan have a score to settle in this slam-bam-thank-you-mam format. Can they steal the thunder from the teams Down Under?
Find out on Saturday!
For now, it's over and out to the Millenium Stadium to watch Wales keep their Rugby World Cup hopes alive with an expectedly comfortable victory over Japan. It may not be so easy... the Japanese have scored the first points of the night!
Man, it must suck to be a South African cricket supporter. :D
NEW ZEALAND 108 - 13 Portugal (52-3 HT)
AUSTRALIA 32 - 20 Wales (25-3 HT)
IRELAND 14 - 10 Georgia (7-3 HT)
The All Blacks decimated the Portuguese with 16 tries and became the first team to score more than 100 points (in this World Cup). Though the victory was expected, the margin by which it was achieved reaffirms their title-contender credentials. Even if Portugal only got 13 points, as the English commentator pointed out, it was 13 points more than a certain other team could manage last night.
Meanwhile, the Wallabies got through a potentially tricky encounter in Cardiff against Wales. The game started off poorly for the home team as they conceded a penalty in the first-minute, and then found themselves completely outplayed by the end of the first-half. In the second-half they fought back hard and were within scoring distance of the Aussies, when Latham scored a second try from a garryowen in the 60th minute and knocked the stuffing outta the Welsh. From then on, it was game over.
And in the final game of the day, and perhaps the most interesting match I have watched so far, Ireland took on minnows Georgia. Long story short, Ireland were very, very lucky to escape with a win and after two shoddy performances against supposedly weaker teams, you'd need some guts to put money on them against Argentina and France. If it wasn't for some superb play from their captain, Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland could've been booking their flight home tonight. There was one brilliant interception by the Georgians, midway through the second-half and until the last seconds, were within a try for victory but they just couldn't force the issue. The commentators described the match as one that wasn't for the purists, but I found it utterly gripping and fascinating. It was no doubt helped by the fact that I was rooting for a major upset. I am more convinced than ever that the weakest teams need all the encouragement they can get to put in good performances, and if possible, spring a surprise on the Big Guns. Till tomorrow!
AUSTRALIA 32 - 20 Wales (25-3 HT)
IRELAND 14 - 10 Georgia (7-3 HT)
The All Blacks decimated the Portuguese with 16 tries and became the first team to score more than 100 points (in this World Cup). Though the victory was expected, the margin by which it was achieved reaffirms their title-contender credentials. Even if Portugal only got 13 points, as the English commentator pointed out, it was 13 points more than a certain other team could manage last night.
Meanwhile, the Wallabies got through a potentially tricky encounter in Cardiff against Wales. The game started off poorly for the home team as they conceded a penalty in the first-minute, and then found themselves completely outplayed by the end of the first-half. In the second-half they fought back hard and were within scoring distance of the Aussies, when Latham scored a second try from a garryowen in the 60th minute and knocked the stuffing outta the Welsh. From then on, it was game over.
And in the final game of the day, and perhaps the most interesting match I have watched so far, Ireland took on minnows Georgia. Long story short, Ireland were very, very lucky to escape with a win and after two shoddy performances against supposedly weaker teams, you'd need some guts to put money on them against Argentina and France. If it wasn't for some superb play from their captain, Brian O'Driscoll, Ireland could've been booking their flight home tonight. There was one brilliant interception by the Georgians, midway through the second-half and until the last seconds, were within a try for victory but they just couldn't force the issue. The commentators described the match as one that wasn't for the purists, but I found it utterly gripping and fascinating. It was no doubt helped by the fact that I was rooting for a major upset. I am more convinced than ever that the weakest teams need all the encouragement they can get to put in good performances, and if possible, spring a surprise on the Big Guns. Till tomorrow!
SOUTH AFRICA 36 - 0 England (20-0 HT)
Everybody knew South Africa would beat us but I doubt too many people predicted such a lopsided scoreline. We just never got started and our defence was terrible. The injury to our only bright spot, Jason Robinson, has added to our overall injury problems and now our chances of making the next round depend on a victory over Samoa a week Saturday. Before that, England will need to sort themselves out big-time. They didn't seem to have a gameplan during the first-half, and during the second-half appeared short of new ideas. At this rate we will be heading back home before the knockout rounds. What a disappointment that would be, especially as defending champions. Come on lads, get yer act together! Some people are saying you'll even lose to Tonga! (Prove 'em wrong at least... :/)
OLDER RESULTS:
ARGENTINA 33 - 3 Georgia (6-3 HT)
TONGA 25 - 15 USA (13-3 HT)
FIJI 35 - 31 Japan (10-9 HT)
ITALY 24 - 18 Romania (8-0 HT)
Argentina started off very slowly against Georgia last week, as they fell behind within the first few minutes of play and didn't really get going in the first half. They must've been given quite a dressing down at half-time because they came back much more positive and aggressive, broke the Georgians down and finished comprehensive winners. Tonga and Italy won their games relatively easily, though not entirely convincingly, while the Fijians and Japanese played a cracker in Toulouse. Perhaps someone can correct me on this, but I thought the Fijians were much better than Japan, especially after the Japanese were pummeled by the Wallabies in an earlier game.
Everybody knew South Africa would beat us but I doubt too many people predicted such a lopsided scoreline. We just never got started and our defence was terrible. The injury to our only bright spot, Jason Robinson, has added to our overall injury problems and now our chances of making the next round depend on a victory over Samoa a week Saturday. Before that, England will need to sort themselves out big-time. They didn't seem to have a gameplan during the first-half, and during the second-half appeared short of new ideas. At this rate we will be heading back home before the knockout rounds. What a disappointment that would be, especially as defending champions. Come on lads, get yer act together! Some people are saying you'll even lose to Tonga! (Prove 'em wrong at least... :/)
OLDER RESULTS:
ARGENTINA 33 - 3 Georgia (6-3 HT)
TONGA 25 - 15 USA (13-3 HT)
FIJI 35 - 31 Japan (10-9 HT)
ITALY 24 - 18 Romania (8-0 HT)
Argentina started off very slowly against Georgia last week, as they fell behind within the first few minutes of play and didn't really get going in the first half. They must've been given quite a dressing down at half-time because they came back much more positive and aggressive, broke the Georgians down and finished comprehensive winners. Tonga and Italy won their games relatively easily, though not entirely convincingly, while the Fijians and Japanese played a cracker in Toulouse. Perhaps someone can correct me on this, but I thought the Fijians were much better than Japan, especially after the Japanese were pummeled by the Wallabies in an earlier game.
WALES 42 - 17 Canada (9-12 HT)
SOUTH AFRICA 59 - 7 Samoa (21-7 HT)
SCOTLAND 56 - 10 Portugal (28-10 HT)
IRELAND 32 - 17 Namibia (20-3 HT)
I didn't watch or listen to any of the matches so I can't really comment on them. I was shocked however with the poor Welsh performance against Canada in the first game of the day. At one stage, early in the second-half, they were trailing the Canadians 9-17, but recovered in time to secure a comfortable victory. All the other matches went according to plan, as the Springboks served a timely reminder to the other title contenders, while the Scots and Irish won their respective matches with relative ease (though the Irish were made to work hard in the 2nd half). After a break tomorrow, the remaining teams (most of them minnows) will be in the thick of the action for the first time in the World Cup. Unfortunately I won't be able to follow any of the games until at least Wednesday because I have my dad and other guests to look after. Hope I don't miss anything extraordinary!
On a separate note, there was a discussion by two non-rugby-following sports reporters on the Beeb the other day about why the Rugby World Cup was so long but after checking with the schedule it's easily understandable. There are 5 rest days between each of the rounds, amongst a total of 19 during the whole World Cup! That's why it's so long ignorant-BBC-commentators! Do your homework!
SOUTH AFRICA 59 - 7 Samoa (21-7 HT)
SCOTLAND 56 - 10 Portugal (28-10 HT)
IRELAND 32 - 17 Namibia (20-3 HT)
I didn't watch or listen to any of the matches so I can't really comment on them. I was shocked however with the poor Welsh performance against Canada in the first game of the day. At one stage, early in the second-half, they were trailing the Canadians 9-17, but recovered in time to secure a comfortable victory. All the other matches went according to plan, as the Springboks served a timely reminder to the other title contenders, while the Scots and Irish won their respective matches with relative ease (though the Irish were made to work hard in the 2nd half). After a break tomorrow, the remaining teams (most of them minnows) will be in the thick of the action for the first time in the World Cup. Unfortunately I won't be able to follow any of the games until at least Wednesday because I have my dad and other guests to look after. Hope I don't miss anything extraordinary!
On a separate note, there was a discussion by two non-rugby-following sports reporters on the Beeb the other day about why the Rugby World Cup was so long but after checking with the schedule it's easily understandable. There are 5 rest days between each of the rounds, amongst a total of 19 during the whole World Cup! That's why it's so long ignorant-BBC-commentators! Do your homework!
NEW ZEALAND 76 - 14 Italy (43-7 HT)
AUSTRALIA 91 - 3 Japan (23-3 HT)
ENGLAND 28 - 10 USA (21-3 HT)
I didn't watch any of the matches but I listened to the commentary during the Australia and England games. By the time I tuned into the Australia game, they were in cruise control and the commentator wondered if we'd see the first 100+ pts of the World Cup. We didn't, but the Aussies did score 11 tries which would've been great to watch. Earlier in the day, the favourites to win the World Cup, the All Blacks, destroyed the Italians in front of a capacity crowd of 60,000 in Marseilles. I'd like to watch the highlights of these two games. Unfortunately, England were unable to match the feats of their Antipodean rivals, and instead put on an insipid display against the Americans. If the commentary was anything to go by, we didn't deserve to score the last couple of tries, while the Americans deserved more points than the 10 they eventually got. It certainly wasn't a great way to show off our defending champion credentials and a lot of questions are being asked here about a potentially embarrassing loss to the Springboks when they meet next week.
AUSTRALIA 91 - 3 Japan (23-3 HT)
ENGLAND 28 - 10 USA (21-3 HT)
I didn't watch any of the matches but I listened to the commentary during the Australia and England games. By the time I tuned into the Australia game, they were in cruise control and the commentator wondered if we'd see the first 100+ pts of the World Cup. We didn't, but the Aussies did score 11 tries which would've been great to watch. Earlier in the day, the favourites to win the World Cup, the All Blacks, destroyed the Italians in front of a capacity crowd of 60,000 in Marseilles. I'd like to watch the highlights of these two games. Unfortunately, England were unable to match the feats of their Antipodean rivals, and instead put on an insipid display against the Americans. If the commentary was anything to go by, we didn't deserve to score the last couple of tries, while the Americans deserved more points than the 10 they eventually got. It certainly wasn't a great way to show off our defending champion credentials and a lot of questions are being asked here about a potentially embarrassing loss to the Springboks when they meet next week.
Rugby World Cup, Match 1 (Pool D)
Sep. 7th, 2007 11:45 pmFrance 12 - 17 ARGENTINA
What a start to the World Cup! Argentina dominated the initial proceedings and were soon 9-3 ahead after three penalties. Then France broke loose, but the Argentines intercepted the ball beautifully somewhere near the halfway line and produced the only try of the match. It was an exquisite passage of play and temporarily knocked the stuffing outta the French. They never really recovered, though they did come back hard in the 2nd half, but not enough to force a win. Argentina are ranked 6th in the world so you can't really call this an upset*, but to defeat the French at home (in front of 80,000 mad supporters in the Stade de France), and that too in the World Cup is a great achievement. Especially since no less an authority as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
pappubahry has predicted Les Bleus (do they call themselves that in rugby as well?) to win the whole thing! Ireland are also in the same group, so it'll be interesting to see how things shape up. An easy outing for England tomorrow as they take on the Yanks. I still can't believe I can watch the World Cup for free, LIVE and online!
So much sport to choose from tomorrow. England plays the USA in the Rugby World Cup. England plays India in the final ODI of their 7-match series, which is currently tied 3-all. England play Israel in a football European Championship qualifying match, and there's the US Open Men's Semifinals and Women's final! And all taking place, at some point, at the same time! Looks like the internet radio will get the cricket, the manual radio will get the football and I'll be playing the tennis and rugby on separate internet channels. Take that TiVo!
(* Apparently Argentina have defeated France in 4 of their last 5 matches, and even their last loss (in France?) was by a solitary point!)
What a start to the World Cup! Argentina dominated the initial proceedings and were soon 9-3 ahead after three penalties. Then France broke loose, but the Argentines intercepted the ball beautifully somewhere near the halfway line and produced the only try of the match. It was an exquisite passage of play and temporarily knocked the stuffing outta the French. They never really recovered, though they did come back hard in the 2nd half, but not enough to force a win. Argentina are ranked 6th in the world so you can't really call this an upset*, but to defeat the French at home (in front of 80,000 mad supporters in the Stade de France), and that too in the World Cup is a great achievement. Especially since no less an authority as
pappubahry has predicted Les Bleus (do they call themselves that in rugby as well?) to win the whole thing! Ireland are also in the same group, so it'll be interesting to see how things shape up. An easy outing for England tomorrow as they take on the Yanks. I still can't believe I can watch the World Cup for free, LIVE and online!So much sport to choose from tomorrow. England plays the USA in the Rugby World Cup. England plays India in the final ODI of their 7-match series, which is currently tied 3-all. England play Israel in a football European Championship qualifying match, and there's the US Open Men's Semifinals and Women's final! And all taking place, at some point, at the same time! Looks like the internet radio will get the cricket, the manual radio will get the football and I'll be playing the tennis and rugby on separate internet channels. Take that TiVo!
(* Apparently Argentina have defeated France in 4 of their last 5 matches, and even their last loss (in France?) was by a solitary point!)
2007 Rugby World Cup
Aug. 13th, 2007 08:10 pmI just learnt that it starts in less than a month's time, and just as India's tour of England ends. I couldn't have asked for better timing, and it's probably the best news I've heard all week. As I mentioned in a previous post, I really wanna get into Rugby, and what better chance to push things forward than a World Cup? Infact, everything I know about it till now can be attributed to its last two World Cups. The Six Nations also helped, especially since there were people in school who used to follow it, particularly Scotsfolk. But this will be something else. Following a World Cup while in London. This summer of sport just keeps getting better. Have I mentioned just how incredibly happy I am to have moved to London? It's the best thing that's happened to me since McGill readmitted me in 2003!
[Poll #1038582]
[Poll #1038582]
