Australia

[Lizard]

It's worth watching all 30 minutes of this. You've probably seen him before, but his passion fills me with joy.

My Aussie mate put me on to this guy. He is literally gold.

[UKHamlet]

Just in case you want to watch the highlights.

https://www.rugbyworldcup.com/2023/vide ... -australia

[Graigwen]

I don't know if I can cope with this. Everything going according to plan - has that ever happened before to Wales?

That was actually clinical. We showed great discipline and exerted not only physical but also mental pressure on Australia, which they could not take and imploded. The Australian acceptance of inevitable defeat was contrary to their national instinct. My grandfather had single sentence summaries for the nationalities he fought alongside or against during his years on the Western front in the First World War; for Australians it was "They never know when they are beaten". Aussie units that were outnumbered or surrounded fought on instead of surrendering. We saw none of that spirit yesterday. Clearly part of Australian rugby has been hollowed out, I don't suppose it is all Jones's fault but he has certainly made it worse.

.

[normanski]

It's worth watching all 30 minutes of this. You've probably seen him before, but his passion fills me with joy.

My Aussie mate put me on to this guy. He is literally gold.

Priceless!

[Numbers]

Hopefully we don’t play England. With both sides kicking the ball it could resemble team tennis

We're playing Argentina.

I was thinking later in the competition

That would only be the final and I'll be very surprised if either team get that far, if we could beat Argentina we would be playing the winner of NZ & Ireland, so we may have a better chance than England of getting there

[Puja]

We're playing Argentina.

I was thinking later in the competition

That would only be the final and I'll be very surprised if either team get that far, if we could beat Argentina we would be playing the winner of NZ & Ireland, so we may have a better chance than England of getting there

Much more likely is that we meet in the 3rd/4th playoff and co-operate to break the very high bar for the dullest and most futile 3rd/4th playoff ever.

Puja

[newgalesurf]

This is such a strange position to be in that I am not used to. Before the tournament started, I thought we would need to win against Georgia to sneak into the quarters.

That was as professional and clinical a display as I remember seeing for a long time. Except for one part in the first half, Australia never looked like breaching our line.

Scrum creaked a little early on but once the ref realized Aussies were wheeling, it looked pretty solid

[Sandydragon]

I was thinking later in the competition

That would only be the final and I'll be very surprised if either team get that far, if we could beat Argentina we would be playing the winner of NZ & Ireland, so we may have a better chance than England of getting there

Much more likely is that we meet in the 3rd/4th playoff and co-operate to break the very high bar for the dullest and most futile 3rd/4th playoff ever.

Puja

It was the 3rd place playoff that I was thinking of. Hopefully Fiji can beat you again but if not then it could be a snooze fest

[Numbers]

I was thinking later in the competition

That would only be the final and I'll be very surprised if either team get that far, if we could beat Argentina we would be playing the winner of NZ & Ireland, so we may have a better chance than England of getting there

Much more likely is that we meet in the 3rd/4th playoff and co-operate to break the very high bar for the dullest and most futile 3rd/4th playoff ever.

Puja

That doesn't really count as a proper game tho does it.

[Lizard]

That would only be the final and I'll be very surprised if either team get that far, if we could beat Argentina we would be playing the winner of NZ & Ireland, so we may have a better chance than England of getting there

Much more likely is that we meet in the 3rd/4th playoff and co-operate to break the very high bar for the dullest and most futile 3rd/4th playoff ever.

Puja

That doesn't really count as a proper game tho does it.

It's a stupid game. I'd rather they flew in the 2 lowest-ranked sides in the world to play off for World Wooden Spoon. I reckon they would still get 10,000 along to that. I'd watch it.

This time it would be Vanuatu (sort of a poor man's Fiji) v American Samoa (sort of a poor man's, well, you can guess...)

[Son of Mathonwy]

It's worth watching all 30 minutes of this. You've probably seen him before, but his passion fills me with joy.

Poor guy, you feel his pain.

One thing though, not sure he's right about Slipper. I've also seen it written elsewhere that the Aussie scrum went to pieces when Slipper was subbed at half time. I know they got a scrum penalty off us at about 20 minutes in but after that we seemed to work them out and got a scrum penalty just before half time. Sure, things absolutely did not get better after Slipper was gone but we already had ascendency.

[Numbers]

It's worth watching all 30 minutes of this. You've probably seen him before, but his passion fills me with joy.

Poor guy, you feel his pain.

One thing though, not sure he's right about Slipper. I've also seen it written elsewhere that the Aussie scrum went to pieces when Slipper was subbed at half time. I know they got a scrum penalty off us at about 20 minutes in but after that we seemed to work them out and got a scrum penalty just before half time. Sure, things absolutely did not get better after Slipper was gone but we already had ascendency.

Yeah, he's excellent at loosehead, not so much at tighthead.

[Son of Mathonwy]

One thing about this result - it's the worst points difference Australia has suffered since their 57-22 loss to NZ in Aug 2021, and their lowest score since their 43-5 loss to NZ in Oct 2020. Despite their poor form no one else has beaten them like this in 2 years.

So there's that

[Sourdust]

One thing about this result - it's the worst points difference Australia has suffered since their 57-22 loss to NZ in Aug 2021, and their lowest score since their 43-5 loss to NZ in Oct 2020. Despite their poor form no one else has beaten them like this in 2 years.

So there's that

As I've already said, we NEVER dish out beatings like this, even when they are warranted. That's the thing I'm enjoying most about it. We often struggle to get 40 points against Tier 2, at home. Eng '13 and Ire '19 might have been "hammerings" on the pitch, but they were still fairly unremarkable scorelines. A 34pt margin over a SANZAR team is without the faintest precedent.

We're not suddenly going to win the cup, none of the problems back home are fixed, we'll probably 2/5 the 6N again... but right now, we're 34 points better than a team who have tortured us for decades. It's delicious.

[normanski]

Yes it was a beating in the end and our detractors put it down to a poor Oz side rather than a dominant Wales performance.

Remember this Australian side were in the game and in contention past the half hour mark and it looked like one of our traditional nail-biters where the Aussies score late in the game to win a narrow victory.

It makes me wonder just how good we can be in this tournament and what we’re capable of.

I don’t want to get over excited about our progress so far but there is quiet confidence about Wales. Fitness, defence and attack are all so greatly improved since the last Six Nations.

As has been said on Hammy’s thread about the top four teams in the competition, while they are far and away better than the rest of us, none of them will fancy meeting the current Wales side. Not that on form we could say we would beat any of them but I believe we could give them some very tough games.

The mantra, one game at a time holds good for Wales. Dispose of Georgia, hopefully with a bonus point (not that we need it) but to keep the try scoring momentum going into the Argentina match (I assume!).

Argentina have not played well so far and are due a better performance. If we can get past them in style then who knows how far we can go? Handing out a beating to another SH side would start to make Ireland/New Zealand just a little concerned.

Perchance to dream!

[Son of Mathonwy]

One thing about this result - it's the worst points difference Australia has suffered since their 57-22 loss to NZ in Aug 2021, and their lowest score since their 43-5 loss to NZ in Oct 2020. Despite their poor form no one else has beaten them like this in 2 years.

So there's that

As I've already said, we NEVER dish out beatings like this, even when they are warranted. That's the thing I'm enjoying most about it. We often struggle to get 40 points against Tier 2, at home. Eng '13 and Ire '19 might have been "hammerings" on the pitch, but they were still fairly unremarkable scorelines. A 34pt margin over a SANZAR team is without the faintest precedent.

We're not suddenly going to win the cup, none of the problems back home are fixed, we'll probably 2/5 the 6N again... but right now, we're 34 points better than a team who have tortured us for decades. It's delicious.

I don't know, any time the winner's score is a big multiple of the loser's is pretty special (unless it's 3-0 ). That's just one reason why I love the 30-3 scoreline for Eng '13.

Ire '19 is interesting. 25-7 is still pretty good, but the way we did it - a quick Anscombe/Parkes try to begin with then just a succession of penalties to slowly destroy their souls. Sounds familiar. And our team has plenty of the faces from that match. Ireland won't take us lightly . . . unless we look wobbly in the quarters.

[normanski]

One thing about this result - it's the worst points difference Australia has suffered since their 57-22 loss to NZ in Aug 2021, and their lowest score since their 43-5 loss to NZ in Oct 2020. Despite their poor form no one else has beaten them like this in 2 years.

So there's that

As I've already said, we NEVER dish out beatings like this, even when they are warranted. That's the thing I'm enjoying most about it. We often struggle to get 40 points against Tier 2, at home. Eng '13 and Ire '19 might have been "hammerings" on the pitch, but they were still fairly unremarkable scorelines. A 34pt margin over a SANZAR team is without the faintest precedent.

We're not suddenly going to win the cup, none of the problems back home are fixed, we'll probably 2/5 the 6N again... but right now, we're 34 points better than a team who have tortured us for decades. It's delicious.

I don't know, any time the winner's score is a big multiple of the loser's is pretty special (unless it's 3-0 ). That's just one reason why I love the 30-3 scoreline for Eng '13.

Ire '19 is interesting. 25-7 is still pretty good, but the way we did it - a quick Anscombe/Parkes try to begin with then just a succession of penalties to slowly destroy their souls. Sounds familiar. And our team has plenty of the faces from that match. Ireland won't take us lightly . . . unless we look wobbly in the quarters.

And Ireland only scored their seven points at the death to salvage some respectability in the scoreline!

[Son of Mathonwy]

As I've already said, we NEVER dish out beatings like this, even when they are warranted. That's the thing I'm enjoying most about it. We often struggle to get 40 points against Tier 2, at home. Eng '13 and Ire '19 might have been "hammerings" on the pitch, but they were still fairly unremarkable scorelines. A 34pt margin over a SANZAR team is without the faintest precedent.

We're not suddenly going to win the cup, none of the problems back home are fixed, we'll probably 2/5 the 6N again... but right now, we're 34 points better than a team who have tortured us for decades. It's delicious.

I don't know, any time the winner's score is a big multiple of the loser's is pretty special (unless it's 3-0 ). That's just one reason why I love the 30-3 scoreline for Eng '13.

Ire '19 is interesting. 25-7 is still pretty good, but the way we did it - a quick Anscombe/Parkes try to begin with then just a succession of penalties to slowly destroy their souls. Sounds familiar. And our team has plenty of the faces from that match. Ireland won't take us lightly . . . unless we look wobbly in the quarters.

And Ireland only scored their seven points at the death to salvage some respectability in the scoreline!

Yeah, that annoyed me at the time. Let's make a point of nilling them next time.

[Mikey Brown]

The trophy is yours to lose, frankly.

[normanski]

The trophy is yours to lose, frankly.

I admire your optimism!

[Son of Mathonwy]

The trophy is yours to lose, frankly.

Damn right. Engrave our name for the next three competitions at least.

[Sandydragon]

The trophy is yours to lose, frankly.

Damn right. Engrave our name for the next three competitions at least.

The Welsh optimism/despair swing reaches a new height!

[Ross. S]

The trophy is yours to lose, frankly.

Damn right. Engrave our name for the next three competitions at least.

The Welsh optimism/despair swing reaches a new height!

Its fine, it'll be balanced by 12 6 nations white washes in the same time period

[Sourdust]

I don't know, any time the winner's score is a big multiple of the loser's is pretty special (unless it's 3-0 ). That's just one reason why I love the 30-3 scoreline for Eng '13.

Hmm. 30 points happens every week, though. 40+ doesn't, really.

30-3 (like 40-6) is difficult to say, too! I'd have much preferred 33-3, or even better, 30-0 (DAMN that post!)

[Son of Mathonwy]

Damn right. Engrave our name for the next three competitions at least.

The Welsh optimism/despair swing reaches a new height!

Its fine, it'll be balanced by 12 6 nations white washes in the same time period

NB I refuse to clarify the meaning the the term 'competition'.