Tuesday, 20 September 2011

Pool C: Italy v Russia


We are halfway - that was game 20 of 40 for the pool phase, and it was another great example of the favoured team not having it all its own way. The Russians got killed on territory and penalties when you look at the numbers, they really did spend a bit of time in their own half and 22, but when they did have the ball and go wide, they looked great. And they can handle the ball well too.

The Italians will be pleased with 9 tries no doubt, but they have two major games left against the USA and Ireland for which they will need to improve. Is there still a chance for them to qualify for the next round? As long as air puffs in to Castrogiavani’s lungs ... you bet ya!

A sold out house at Nelson tonight? It looked full, and that is wicked. The Cup is alive and well out there in those towns where coffee comes in one flavour - expresso.

I’m kidding. Hell, Nelson brought us rugby apparently, and when 1,000 schoolboys do a haka on the main street, you know this place is behind the World Cup. O for Orsome, Nelson.

I hope the Russians get more games and a leg up from The IRB - Russia, how cool is it that they were here in NZ playing rugby? The Bears: tonight they got their first ever World Cup point, and their first tries - all 3 of  ‘em. Love it.

Remember, we here at ruggerblogger just put pictures and cheeky words with hard numbers calculated for us by ruckingoodstats.com - so check the full range of his downloadable charts and stat breakdowns on every game, yours free. It really is amazing.

1 comment:

Ferdy said...

By the looks of things, Italy did really well with all those tries. Could they could prove to be the headache for Ireland?
Glad to hear there was a huge crowd to support both teams.