RugbyRebels

Since the old one was getting unwieldy, server intensive, and required a lot of patience to read through, here is a shiny new one for everyone to comment on.

Puja

Interesting first weekend of the Rugby Europe Championship. Georgia unsurprisingly dispatched Romania, but two reasonably big shocks in Germany losing to Belgium and Spain beating Russia. Not a good first result for Russia especially, who are going to be the sacrifical lambs in the pool with Ireland, Scotland, Japan, and Samoa.

Romania 9 - 18 Georgia
Belgium 29 - 22 Germany (1 LBP)
Spain 16 - 14 Russia (1 LBP)

Also happening this weekend is the Americas Rugby Championship, which saw Brazil beat Canada 18-10. Apparently the game was based on scrum domination from the Brazilians which is a) impressive for a Tier 3 side and b) not really what you'd expect when you think of Brazil. Although there is this infamous video from the Brazil vs NZ Maori game, so I shouldn't be surprised:



Puja

Germany lose again, although this one expected away in Romania. Not sure how long the sponsorship and Hans-Peter Wild rescue money will keep coming in if they can't pull out a victory though. Next game against Russia is vital, although that's the same Russia that just dicked Belgium who beat Germany.

Russia 64-7 Belgium
Romania 38-10 Germany
Georgia vs Spain (Sunday)

Puja

Spain lose to Georgia as expected, but it's not a blowout at 24-10. Spain look to be building something pretty impressive of late and it's a shame that bureaucratic incompetence cost them a shot at the RWC.

Also, is anyone else interested in this? I don't want to be Rowan if I'm the only one interested.

Puja

Puja wrote:Spain lose to Georgia as expected, but it's not a blowout at 24-10. Spain look to be building something pretty impressive of late and it's a shame that bureaucratic incompetence cost them a shot at the RWC.

Also, is anyone else interested in this? I don't want to be Rowan if I'm the only one interested.

Puja

No, it's quite interesting for me, and you are saving me the bother of looking it up myself.

Yep. Keep it up.

You've got no-one to blame, but yourselves.

Spain continue on their recent momentum with a 21-18 win over Russia in front of a decent crowd of 6.700. They're now up to 19th in the world. Germany carry on their recent momentum by losing 18-26 to Russia, while Georgia surprise no-one by dicking Belgium.

Elsewhere in the world, the USA lose at home to Uruguay, annoying SANZAAR and the IRB who would prefer that they were as good as they are potentially lucrative. Incidentally, the result now drops them behind Tonga, who join fellow rejects Fiji and Georgia in being ranked higher than the US. Elsewhere in the Americas Rugby Championship, Brazil move to what I believe is a new high in the rankings of 25th by being Chile. They will be real contenders for a 2023 RWC place, especially if the tournament moves to 24 and/or Canada continues to slide.

Puja

And on that note, here's 47 seconds of the Canadian scrum getting repeatedly man-shamed by Brazil:



Puja

That is ugly.