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Bleater's Blog
  1. The Lions Roar
  2. The Lions Up Next
  3. The End of the Season Approaches
  4. Ready for the Six Nations??
  5. It Is 2025
  6. It’s Nearly The New Year
  7. Season 24/25 is HERE!
  8. The Autumn Internationals are Here!
  9. The Summer Break - Finally
  10. Summer and The Tours
  11. Cups and Playoffs
  12. The Season Run In
  13. It’s Six Nations Time!
  14. 2024 Has Arrived
  15. It’s Nearly Here…… January
  16. Countdown to Chri….. January!
  17. RWC 2023 - The Final Approaches
  18. The Summer Break
  19. Rugby World Cup 2023 Plus
  20. The Rugby World Cup Approaches
  21. The Final Countdown
  22. The Summer Tours Up Next
  23. Rugby Continues Thankfully
  24. The Six Nations - Happy Days
  25. 2023 Has Arrived
  26. The Halfway Point of the Season
  27. The Season Continues into Autumn
  28. Here we go! A new season
  29. The Twilight Zone
  30. The Season is Nearly Over
  31. The Six Nations and Some
  32. The 6 Nations Begins
  33. 2022 and All THAT!
  34. Christmas is nearly upon us!!
  35. We’re Still Waiting
  36. The Season Progresses
  37. At Last - We are back
  38. The New Season is Nearly Here
  39. Lions Tests are Here!
  40. The Lions Up next
  41. Now It’s Europe
  42. 6 Nations Beckons
  43. 2021 at last! A year of renewed hope!
  44. A New Premiership Season
  45. Still NO Grassroots Rugby!!!!!
  46. It Continues - NO GRASSROOTS RUGBY!!
  47. No End In Sight To The Madness
  48. Autumn Internationals BUT Still NO Crowds
  49. We're Back - In Part At Least
  50. The Restart is Still a Long Way Away
  51. When will we play again?
  52. Time for a beer and a haircut!!
  53. It's easing apparently???!!!
  54. Behind Closed Doors or ...... ??
  55. Lockdown or not to lockdown
  56. The Debate Continues
  57. Yet another new page
  58. The Nightmare Continues - the blog
  59. The Season Grinds to a Halt
  60. The Season Moves On
  61. It's Official - The Drought is Over
  62. 6 Nations Starts
  63. Another New Page - Sorry
  64. 6 Nations Beckons
  65. Welcome To A New Decade
  66. It'll soon be over. Xmas that is
  67. Xmas is Coming
  68. Back to the Grassroots Game
  69. Bleater in Japan
  70. The Grassroots Season Starts
  71. Not Long Now!
  72. Japan Still Beckons
  73. Japan Beckons
  74. Nearly Time To Look Ahead
  75. The Summer Break is Here
  76. The Final Countdown
  77. Yet another section of drivel
  78. The Season Continues for a Little Longer
  79. The 6 Nations Continues
  80. Six Nations and More
  81. It's RWC Year!!
  82. Its Definitely Winter
  83. Winter is here. Brrrr!!!
  84. Its the Autumn, soon to be Winter
  85. We Are Off And Running
  86. The New Season Approaches
  87. Still the Summer Tours Go On
  88. The Summer Internationals Plus, Plus
  89. The Season Climax Approaches
  90. Summer is Coming
  91. Another Section, More Drivel
  92. 2018 Already!!!! It'll soon be Xmas
  93. The Season Approaches the Half Way Point
  94. The Season Takes Shape
  95. The Season Starts
  96. More Pre-Season Build Up
  97. Pre-Season and Other Stuff
  98. The Lions Tested
  99. The Lions Roar
  100. We Are Still Counting Down
  101. It's All About The Lions
  102. The Countdown to Season's End
  103. The Season Continues Apace
  104. It's Time for the 6 Nations
  105. 2017 - Let The Fun Begin
  106. The Big Man Will Be Here Soon
  107. Let's Countdown to You Know What
  108. It's Time For Europe
  109. The Season Is Well Underway
  110. At Last Let The Competition Begin
  111. Not Long to the New Season
  112. Not So Much Rugby Now
  113. Still Plenty of Rugby to Debate
  114. The Summer Break
  115. Here Comes Summer
  116. They Think It's All Over
  117. Jones - A New Era
  118. It Was A Grand Slam!!!!
  119. 6 Nations - A Grand Slam??
  120. Six Nations 2016
  121. A New Captain, A New Start
  122. Welcome to 2016
  123. The Countdown to Christmas
  124. Winter Has Arrived
  125. November Movember
  126. The World Cup Is Over
  127. Rugby World Cup Quarters
  128. Rugby World Cup into the knockout stages
  129. Rugby World Cup Day 9 to Day 24
  130. Rugby World Cup Day 1 to Day 8
  131. Sept 9th to Sept 17th
  132. August 24th to September 7th
  133. August 11th to August 23rd
  134. July 16th to August 9th
  135. July 1st to July 15th
  136. June 17th to June 29th
  137. June 2nd to June 16th
  138. May 19th to June 1st
  139. May 7th to May 17th
  140. April 28th to May 6th
  141. April 22nd to April 27th
  142. April 13th to April 21st
  143. March 13th to Aprill 11th
  144. March 5th to March 12th
Bleater's Blog
  1. The Lions Roar
  2. The Lions Up Next
  3. The End of the Season Approaches
  4. Ready for the Six Nations??
  5. It Is 2025
  6. It’s Nearly The New Year
  7. Season 24/25 is HERE!
  8. The Autumn Internationals are Here!
  9. The Summer Break - Finally
  10. Summer and The Tours
  11. Cups and Playoffs
  12. The Season Run In
  13. It’s Six Nations Time!
  14. 2024 Has Arrived
  15. It’s Nearly Here…… January
  16. Countdown to Chri….. January!
  17. RWC 2023 - The Final Approaches
  18. The Summer Break
  19. Rugby World Cup 2023 Plus
  20. The Rugby World Cup Approaches
  21. The Final Countdown
  22. The Summer Tours Up Next
  23. Rugby Continues Thankfully
  24. The Six Nations - Happy Days
  25. 2023 Has Arrived
  26. The Halfway Point of the Season
  27. The Season Continues into Autumn
  28. Here we go! A new season
  29. The Twilight Zone
  30. The Season is Nearly Over
  31. The Six Nations and Some
  32. The 6 Nations Begins
  33. 2022 and All THAT!
  34. Christmas is nearly upon us!!
  35. We’re Still Waiting
  36. The Season Progresses
  37. At Last - We are back
  38. The New Season is Nearly Here
  39. Lions Tests are Here!
  40. The Lions Up next
  41. Now It’s Europe
  42. 6 Nations Beckons
  43. 2021 at last! A year of renewed hope!
  44. A New Premiership Season
  45. Still NO Grassroots Rugby!!!!!
  46. It Continues - NO GRASSROOTS RUGBY!!
  47. No End In Sight To The Madness
  48. Autumn Internationals BUT Still NO Crowds
  49. We're Back - In Part At Least
  50. The Restart is Still a Long Way Away
  51. When will we play again?
  52. Time for a beer and a haircut!!
  53. It's easing apparently???!!!
  54. Behind Closed Doors or ...... ??
  55. Lockdown or not to lockdown
  56. The Debate Continues
  57. Yet another new page
  58. The Nightmare Continues - the blog
  59. The Season Grinds to a Halt
  60. The Season Moves On
  61. It's Official - The Drought is Over
  62. 6 Nations Starts
  63. Another New Page - Sorry
  64. 6 Nations Beckons
  65. Welcome To A New Decade
  66. It'll soon be over. Xmas that is
  67. Xmas is Coming
  68. Back to the Grassroots Game
  69. Bleater in Japan
  70. The Grassroots Season Starts
  71. Not Long Now!
  72. Japan Still Beckons
  73. Japan Beckons
  74. Nearly Time To Look Ahead
  75. The Summer Break is Here
  76. The Final Countdown
  77. Yet another section of drivel
  78. The Season Continues for a Little Longer
  79. The 6 Nations Continues
  80. Six Nations and More
  81. It's RWC Year!!
  82. Its Definitely Winter
  83. Winter is here. Brrrr!!!
  84. Its the Autumn, soon to be Winter
  85. We Are Off And Running
  86. The New Season Approaches
  87. Still the Summer Tours Go On
  88. The Summer Internationals Plus, Plus
  89. The Season Climax Approaches
  90. Summer is Coming
  91. Another Section, More Drivel
  92. 2018 Already!!!! It'll soon be Xmas
  93. The Season Approaches the Half Way Point
  94. The Season Takes Shape
  95. The Season Starts
  96. More Pre-Season Build Up
  97. Pre-Season and Other Stuff
  98. The Lions Tested
  99. The Lions Roar
  100. We Are Still Counting Down
  101. It's All About The Lions
  102. The Countdown to Season's End
  103. The Season Continues Apace
  104. It's Time for the 6 Nations
  105. 2017 - Let The Fun Begin
  106. The Big Man Will Be Here Soon
  107. Let's Countdown to You Know What
  108. It's Time For Europe
  109. The Season Is Well Underway
  110. At Last Let The Competition Begin
  111. Not Long to the New Season
  112. Not So Much Rugby Now
  113. Still Plenty of Rugby to Debate
  114. The Summer Break
  115. Here Comes Summer
  116. They Think It's All Over
  117. Jones - A New Era
  118. It Was A Grand Slam!!!!
  119. 6 Nations - A Grand Slam??
  120. Six Nations 2016
  121. A New Captain, A New Start
  122. Welcome to 2016
  123. The Countdown to Christmas
  124. Winter Has Arrived
  125. November Movember
  126. The World Cup Is Over
  127. Rugby World Cup Quarters
  128. Rugby World Cup into the knockout stages
  129. Rugby World Cup Day 9 to Day 24
  130. Rugby World Cup Day 1 to Day 8
  131. Sept 9th to Sept 17th
  132. August 24th to September 7th
  133. August 11th to August 23rd
  134. July 16th to August 9th
  135. July 1st to July 15th
  136. June 17th to June 29th
  137. June 2nd to June 16th
  138. May 19th to June 1st
  139. May 7th to May 17th
  140. April 28th to May 6th
  141. April 22nd to April 27th
  142. April 13th to April 21st
  143. March 13th to Aprill 11th
  144. March 5th to March 12th
Bleater's Blog 127 of 144

127. Rugby World Cup Quarters


Monday 19th Oct - 09:30

Let me start by congratulating my nephew Daniel on his marriage to Clare on Saturday and wish them well for the future. A great long weekend with family: lots and lots of laughs.

One down side was the wedding breakfast starting at 4pm exactly as Wales v South Africa kicked off.

So here we are Southern Hemisphere FOUR Northern Hemisphere NIL but what a weekend of international rugby.

In chronological order Wales finally ran out of steam against the Boks. The boys in red can walk away with their heads high and proud of their achievements and even prouder that not one of them has blamed the long list of injuries for their losses. With just three minutes gone Wales highlighted the difference between North and South. If Gethin Jenkins and Tyler Morgan were wearing the black of New Zealand that pass on the 3 minute mark would have gone to hand and Morgan would have scored in the corner. If, buts and maybes......... a score then could have changed the game.

Let us not make excuses the Boks were the better side and on balance deserved to win. The tackle count and penalties conceded by Wales stand testimony to this view. Cuthbert has taken some flak for charging in and freeing up the space for Fourie du Preez to score in the corner. Nonsense. Damned if you, damned if you don't. If he had been a fraction quicker he could have bottled up Duane Vermeulen and been a hero.

Wales, take a bow. You gave it all and whilst you won't say it I will; the injury list hurt us and hurt us hard.

There is not much more that can be said about New Zealand vs France that hasn't already be said; remarkable, incredible, ruthless. The complete performance, although Hansen and co say there is still much to work on. The abject French display had nothing to do with coaching, selection or commitment. It has everything to do with French club rugby and the enormous bags of cash the French clubs have to entice ageing FOREIGN stars to fill their teams at the expense of young French talent. Let me throw some names out there; Giteau, Charteris, Lobbe, Mitchell, Gray, and soon Matfield, Carter, O'Connell. Need I say more. French rugby is no longer concerned about international rugby.

Moving on to Sunday. Argentina did to Ireland what Wales failed to do to South Africa and that is score a try early. The Pumas speed of thought and action took the Irish by surprise. Throughout the side the passing was precise and it didn't matter whether you were labelled a back or forward the support play excellent. The second try really put Ireland on the back foot and from then on the men in green were always playing catch up. Strangely the injury to Tommy Bowe was another psychological blow to the Irish. 'Oh wow is me, no Sexton, no O'Mahoney, no O,Brien, no O'Connell and now no Bowe'. The hoards of travelling fans kept up the noise and the Irish rode this to fight back with two good tries. Sadly it wasn't to be as Argentina took the Irish apart in the last quarter and secured a well deserved semi final spot.

So to 4pm Sunday. Scotland with no chance of victory, Australia with an excellent chance of going all the way and one of the best referees in the world the stage was set for an Australian masterclass. Oh how wrong we all were. Scotland were magnificent playing an expansive game and taking the battle to the gold and green. To a man the men from north of Hadrian's Wall (and of course the high veld, the South Island and Zimbabwe) stood and were counted. Laidlaw was the ring master and Finn Russell purred at outside half. The Gray boys and Denton were like wildebeests on heat. Tremendous stuff.

Let us take a step back and say that Foley at #10 for Australia was off colour and his kicking was poor. The scrum was shaky as opposed to the dominant force was saw against Wales and England. Australia also scored three tries against Scotland's two.

Fast forward to the closing minutes and one of the 'best' referees in the world; Craig Joubert. Up until THAT moment I thought he had had a good game and then calamity. He got it horribly wrong so now all the vitriol is being targeted at him. The Ozzies touched the ball so it was not a penalty. Referees make mistakes BUT throughout this tournament there has been one feature that has given rise to comment: the TMO. It is no excuse that he couldn't have gone upstairs for a second opinion. We have TMOs chirping in referees ears about all matters, including the occasional well done for a decision. It is ridiculous that this was missed. Scotland were robbed. (For the record I give him the benefit of the doubt with regard to the deliberate knock on)

This wasn't the worst of it. The fact Joubert legged it like a petty thief caught shoplifting at Poundstretchers. A coward and an embarrassment. I hope his World Cup is well and truly over....... not for the mistake but for insulting the great work referees do throughout our game.

Ok a couple of comments to ponder. During the tournament there were many references to players from around the world joining English clubs once RWC 2015 is over. The RFU and English rugby need to be aware that they are drifting very rapidly towards the situation France find themselves in.

Of the 6 Nations here is the order in which I think they have 'finished': 1. Wales, 2. Scotland, 3. Ireland, 4. England, 5. Italy, 6. France. Wales have snuck it on the basis they had the tougher group and they were not able to rest any of their players in big games unlike Scotland who sacrificed the South Africa group game. England are lucky to make spot #4 because Italy and France were pretty awful.

What a weekend.