WC 2015 M40 USA v Japan

WC 2015 M31 South Africa v USA

RWC 2015 M18 Scotland v USA

Pool C: Italy v USA

Pool C - Australia v USA

It was a bit like Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome at the end of the 80 minutes - 30 blokes came on to the field but only about 23 of them walked off it under their own steam.

If ever there was to be a better demo of Deans’ lack of depth, it was a game that took out 3-4 of his players. After this he had Anthony Faingaa, Rob Horne and Pat McCabe sharing an ambulance to the hospital. Faingaa was the worst hurt, looking to be out cold in a tackle, but I understand he was up and about soon after - I hope he is okay, but surely he will be stood down to recover.

The Eagles were tackling all night, but could never get anywhere on attack. From my seat, they were so deep when on attack, the midfield were having to cover 15m just to get back to the advantage line they had ceded, and that gave Aussie all the time in the world to shut them down.

Glad to see Berrick Barnes and Drew Mitchell back - always thought they were both key to Wallaby success this year, but the Reds’ form and injury seemed to put them in the background.

Quade Cooper couldn’t even get a kick drum to work at the moment, and the Aussies (unlike the Boks) are spraying points wide every game and this could cost them big time in games where their precious space is shut down.

The atmosphere in the Cake Tin was great again. Despite the yellow Wallabies fans’ numbers being high (and bolstered with every empty yellow plastic seat), heaps of USA fans were painted up in red, white and blue .... as were many Kiwis who came off the fence and swallowed their anti-nuclear pride for an hour or two.

I don’t know where all this dross in the media about Kiwis being rude to and nasty to visiting Aussie fans comes from. I experienced nothing but good hearted banter all night, moreso than in the two Bok games we have hosted.

All our seated neighbours were happily ranting and laughing all night, and I think the general angle was the usual Famous Kiwi or Famous Aussie Claim Game. Seems no one was too keen on taking credit for Russell Crowe, but then ... there is enough of our Rusty to go around.

So, looks to me like Aussie have big depth and injury issues now - and this may hurt them beyond the pools, but for now they need to secure every win and bonus point they can to keep Ireland from qualifying first.

They have to annihilate Russia – a thought that would have excited Little Johnny Howard.

Also, a note on how much fun its been to just bowl up to visiting fans and have a chat so far at the Cup. They all seem to be having a great time, and feel Kiwis are looking out for them, and that is great.

Slugso and the Nursedude

 On Thursday night, down at Macs on the waterfront by the fanzone, and last night before the Australia v USA game, I got a chance to meet up and share a pint or two with Steve aka Nursedude who writes The Nurse Was a Prop blog - he’s a passionate Eagles and rugby fan, and he’s been a long time blog comrade of Ferdy’s and mine.

Great guy, and really interesting talking to him about rugby, and life in general, in the States. Good luck and safe travels to him and his wife Rebekah for the rest of their time here.

Pool C: Russia v USA

Bugger me, but sorry, I was raised under the fear of a Nuclear Winter. MUTUALLY ASSURED DESTRUCTIOJ!!!!  I was led to believe that should I ever hear the phrase on television, “…Russians about to breach the American lines…” then it was really time to duck and cover. Mushroom cloud. All over, red rover.

RED DAWN!!!

But no. The Cold War Rematch did not really deliver to the level of other so-called ‘Minnow Match-ups’ that RWC2011 has coughed up so far. To be fair I think the Russians need to come back to another World Cup to get it. Somewhere in Russia lurks a line-out dominance that was embarrassingly absent tonight, they just lacked the polish of a Top 20 nation ... it will come.

USA: Well, they showed real pace and munter-ability, but it does not get any easier for them either in this pool. Are they the most populous nation to appear at RWC? I think they are. But I expect better frankly - this ‘sleeping giant’ bullshit needs to grow legs. They have pace, they have power, they have sheer bloody determination in the likes of Clever, but they will not really sprout into the Top 10 unless they knuckle down and do it ugly to begin with. They can’t Wham Bam Super Bowl it to the Rugby World Cup knockout stages without playing Test rugby. Hyper Power maybe but baby steps in Test Rugby.

Reposted with correct team now - I was enjoying a leetle too much of the sponsor’s product earlier. Hic.

Pool C: Ireland v USA

Tonga V US Eagles

Tonga 25 USA 15
When Tonga plays we can all expect a bit of crunch. And The Eagles didn’t disappoint either. It was a competitive match and even though Tonga started strongly, the Eagles matched them for possession and territory as the game wore in. The Tongans didn’t help themselves by some wayward kicking but managed to stay ahead of the spirited US who did well to pick themselves up so soon after their game against England in the weekend.

Fiji 35 Japan 31
I wish I could have managed to stay up for this one. It sounded like a stunner. Both teams can play that attractive running style of rugby and it would have been a nail biter for the Cherry Blossom and Fijian supporters. Poor old JK.

Italy 24 Romania 18
This was another unexpectedly close match, with the Romanians taking the Azzurri to the wire. Good on those Romanians god damn it. What has happened to Italy though? They showed so much promise in the Six Nations (ok, they didn’t win the wooden spoon for a change but that’s promising, surely?) I only saw the last twenty of this match and definitely the worst feature of this was some geriatric British commentator who moaned continually about the standard of the match and how boring it was. A lot like the sound of his voice, I thought.