RugbyRebels

About to start, although they're faffing about with punditry fluff at present. 6 pools of 4 teams:

Pool A
X
Australia
X
X

Pool B
X
X
X
X

Pool C
X
X
X
X

Pool D
X
X
X
X

Pool E
X
X
X
X

Pool F
X
X
X
X

Still fucking about with fluff. I don't care what Brett Robinson or Dan Carter think about things, or how excited Phil Kearns is! Just do the damned draw!

They just faked out, "Let's go over for the draw" and showed people standing in front of buckets of balls, ready to go, then promptly asked them each in turn how they were feeling about it.

Puja

Pool A
X
Australia
X
Hong Kong China

Pool B
X
X
X
Romania

Pool C
X
X
X
Canada

Pool D
X
X
X
Portugal

Pool E
X
X
X
Samoa

Pool F
X
X
X
Zimbabwe

Pool A
X
Australia
Chile
Hong Kong China

Pool B
X
X
Georgia
Romania

Pool C
X
X
Spain
Canada

Pool D
X
X
Uruguay
Portugal

Pool E
X
X
USA
Samoa

Pool F
X
X
Tonga
Zimbabwe

Pool A
X
Australia
Chile
Hong Kong China

Pool B
X
Italy
Georgia
Romania

Pool C
X
Fiji
Spain
Canada

Pool D
X
Scotland
Uruguay
Portugal

Pool E
X
Japan
USA
Samoa

Pool F
X
Wales
Tonga
Zimbabwe

Pool A
New Zealand
Australia
Chile
Hong Kong China

Pool B
South Africa
Italy
Georgia
Romania

Pool C
Argentina
Fiji
Spain
Canada

Pool D
Ireland
Scotland
Uruguay
Portugal

Pool E
France
Japan
USA
Samoa

Pool F
England
Wales
Tonga
Zimbabwe

If it goes on rankings, then it's an England vs Australia quarter final. I'm sure the IRB would've wanted the hosts having a more fortunate draw than that.

Puja

Pool A: See NZ v JPN RWC1995. Guess what the opening match will be?
Pool B: Fucking bloodbath. Georgia has a chance to prove something.
Pool C: Spain might make the Octo-finals!
Pool D: Uru v Port will be a banger.
Pool E: PNC + France? Boring.
Pool F: Good chance of some Welsh comedy here

Format is a mess - who gets to put Ireland out in the QFs?

Potentially Argentina (again)

Which Tyler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 10:43 am Format is a mess - who gets to put Ireland out in the QFs?

Argentina, unless by some miracle Scotland beat them (it’s not happening) in which case France knock them out in the round of 16.

OK, so:
Pool A: NZ 1st, Aus 2nd, Chile 3rd
Pool B: SA, Ita, Geo
Pool C: Arg, Fiji, Spain
Pool D: Ire, Sco, Uru
Pool E: France, Japan, Samoa
Pool F: Eng, Wales, Tonga

I'm guessing the top four 3rd places will be Georgia, Uruguay, Samoa, Tonga

Round of 16:
NZ beats Samoa
SA beats Uruguay
Wales beats Fiji
France beats Scotland
Australia beats Japan
England kills Italy
Argentina beats Tonga
Ireland beats Georgia

Quarters:
SA beats NZ
France beats Wales
Australia beat England
Ireland beat Argentina

Semis:
France upsets SA
Australis beats Ireland

Final:
France beats Aussie

@Danno @BaldiePete
Thank you
Ireland need to go through my junkmail and see if they can pick up a sponsor - currently can't even get a semi...


@Lizard
So... are we saying that when Australia lose to NZ in the pools, it's a "tactical withdrawal" as they'd rather face Japan & England than Samoa & RSA?

Which Tyler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 11:00 am @Danno @BaldiePete
Thank you
Ireland need to go through my junkmail and see if they can pick up a sponsor - currently can't even get a semi...


@Lizard
So... are we saying that when Australia lose to NZ in the pools, it's a "tactical withdrawal" as they'd rather face Japan & England than Samoa & RSA?

100%

The All Blacks could not bring themselves to throw a match. Aussie might not throw it, but I can't see them putting it all on the line to win. The game will be in Perth, so probably more NZers than Aussies in the crowd.

Based on Liz's layout for the tournie...

1/8 final:
New Zealand > Samoa
South Africa > Uruguay
Wales > Fiji
France > Scotland
Australia > Japan
England > Italy
Argentina > Tonga
Ireland > Georgia

1/4 final:
New Zealand = South Africa
Wales < France
Australia = England
Argentina > Ireland

1/2 Final:
NZ/SA v France
Aus/Eng v Argentina

So a 3-way battle for the winner, with England as losing finalists (though NZ may arrive knackered, and France may arrive having just played their final in the previous round - ALA 1999 & 2023)

Ireland to the SF?

Geriatric Ireland will choke when they find their pensions are late being paid

Which Tyler wrote: ↑Wed Dec 03, 2025 11:21 am Based on Liz's layout for the tournie...

1/8 final:
New Zealand > Samoa
South Africa > Uruguay
Wales > Fiji
France > Scotland
Australia > Japan
England > Italy
Argentina > Tonga
Ireland > Georgia

1/4 final:
New Zealand = South Africa
Wales < France
Australia = England
Argentina > Ireland

1/2 Final:
NZ/SA v France
Aus/Eng v Argentina

So a 3-way battle for the winner, with England as losing finalists (though NZ may arrive knackered, and France may arrive having just played their final in the previous round - ALA 1999 & 2023)

Looking at it, England have potentially got a pretty favourable draw. The hosts in the quarter finals isn't ideal, but avoiding all of NZ, France, and South Africa till the final is pretty sweet.

Puja

If looking purely to create a good tournament and not worrying about money or growing the game, a sixteen team tournament would be best I reckon:

You'd have something like:

Group A: South Africa, Fiji, Scotland, Tonga*

Group B: New Zealand Australia, Italy, Samoa*

Group C: England, Argentina, Wales, Uruguay

Group D: Ireland, France, Japan, Georgia

* I've take liberties and put these two in ahead of higher ranked teams, as I think with all their players available they'd probs qualify.

Still some strong favourites to qualify in each group but a lot of decent matches and jeopardy (especially if third place qualifies automatically for the next edition).

Is there an interesting backstory behind the name "Hong Kong China" I see on the bbc they are just listed as "Hong Kong". Did someone get dangled off a balcony by chinese spies to include china in the name?

I will freely admit to not even knowing hong kong had a rugby team, let alone one good enough to be at a world cup.

It's political.

We tried to go to a free match when there, but it was May (typhoon season) and was, predictably, rained off.

twitchy wrote: ↑Thu Dec 04, 2025 8:46 am Is there an interesting backstory behind the name "Hong Kong China" I see on the bbc they are just listed as "Hong Kong". Did someone get dangled off a balcony by chinese spies to include china in the name?

I will freely admit to not even knowing hong kong had a rugby team, let alone one good enough to be at a world cup.

Hong Kong have been the second best team in Asia - they have foundations built by the ex-pats living there and founding traditions like Hong Kong 7s, but went through a slump in the 2000s, before recovering to be the Asian representative to the last RWC qualifying place repechage tournament for 2015, 2019, and 2023. However, being the second best team in Asia is not a huge accomplishment, given the gulf to Japan, and they finished 3rd out of 4 in every one of those repechages.

They were rebranded as "Hong Kong China" in 2023, which I'm presuming is partly the government's attempt to assert ownership over any of Hong Kong's accomplishments and imply they are the official Chinese representation (rather than any hint of independence) and partly an IRB/Hong Kong attempt to encourage the government to treat them as the official Chinese representation and thus put resources and official interest into the team. It would've been known back in 2023 that they were well-nigh guaranteed to qualify, given the expansion of the tournament handed an automatic spot to the non-Japan top Asian team, and dictatorships aren't especially keen on being the whipping boys at big sporting tournaments, so hopefully the appeal to being "China" will work.

Puja

Very interesting, cheers.

How have the IRB screwed this up again? If the 1st and second ranked teams win all their matches, one of them can't make it to the semi finals. That's just dumb.

I'm not sure that "seeding by tier" is a screw up - but it is relatively standard for a competition with both pool and knock-out stages