RUGBY WORLD CUP

11.10.2015
Japan 28, United States 18 in Gloucester (World Cup, Pool B)
Argentina 64, Namibia 19 in Leicester (World Cup, Pool C)
Italy 32, Romania 22 in Exeter (World Cup, Pool D)
Ireland 24, France 9 in Cardiff (World Cup, Pool D)

Reviews
Ireland placed themselves at the top of Pool D after defeating France 24-9 in Cardiff. There concern though is for a trio of injured players who may not be fit enough to play in next weekends quarter final match against Argentina. Coach Schmidt may have to find four replacements for injured players Peter O'Mahony, Paul O'Connell and Jonathan Sexton.

France will rue their lost opportunities on attack and will face a real battle against old foes New Zealand next weekend.

In other results Italy eventually defeated Romania but not without the Eastern Europeans putting up a great fight. Argentina overwhelmed a tired Namibia whilst Japan finished their Rugby World Cup tournament with a win but not enough to secure a quarter final place.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Sunday’s Fixtures 11 October

United States v Japan in Gloucester (World Cup, Pool B)
Argentina v Namibia in Leicester (World Cup, Pool C)
Italy v Romania in Exeter (World Cup, Pool D)
France v Ireland in Cardiff (World Cup, Pool D)

Briefly
The USA v Japan game is for pride only. Because Scotland defeated Samoa Japan did not reach the quarter finals. But they can be proud of their achievement in gaining automatic qualification to the 2019..hang on! They automatically qualified as they will be the host nation.

Pool C has also been sorted so the Argentina-Namibia game has no bearing.

The action is in Pool D. Ireland and France clash to see who tops this pool and has an easier ride to the semi-finals. Romania and Italy clash for third place. Romania will desperate to win this game, qualify for 2019 and push the claim that Romania and Georgia should be included into the 6 Nations tournament.

There is a lot to play for tomorrow.

Predictions
Japan to win by 14 points. Score 27-13
Argentina to win by 31 points. Score 42-11
Ireland to win by 8 points. Score 21-13
Italy to win by 9 points. Score 24-15

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Pool Standings

Here are the pool standings prior to Saturday’s and Sunday’s final pool fixtures.

POOL A

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
AUSTRALIA	3	3	0	0	126	29	97	17	2	1	13
WALES	3	3	0	0	105	47	58	11	2	1	13
ENGLAND	3	1	0	2	73	72	1	6	5	2	6
FIJI	4	1	0	3	84	101	-17	10	11	1	5
URUGUAY	3	0	0	3	27	166	-139	2	26	0	0

Still to play

10.10.2015	AUSTRALIA		WALES		TWICKENHAM
10.10.2015	ENGLAND		URUGUAY		MANCHESTER

Tonight Australia and Wales fight it out to see who gains top position in this pool. Both are assured of a quarter final place.

POOL B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
SOUTH AFRICA	4	3	0	1	176	56	120	23	4	4	16
SCOTLAND	3	2	0	1	100	60	40	11	5	2	10
JAPAN	3	2	0	1	70	82	-12	6	10	0	8
SAMOA	3	1	0	2	36	88	-52	3	10	0	4
UNITED STATES	3	0	0	3	32	128	-98	3	17	0	0

Still to Play

10.10.2015	SAMOA		SCOTLAND		NEWCASTLE
11.10.2015	UNITED STATES		JAPAN		GLOUCESTER

South Africa is assured top spot in this pool. Scotland and Japan will slug it out for second place. If Japan gets through it will be the first time in their Rugby World Cup history to do that.

‘Scotland will qualify for the quarter-finals if they beat Samoa on Saturday or if Japan fail to beat USA on Sunday (provided that it is not a bonus-point draw for Japan).

Samoa can finish in third place only with a bonus-point win against Scotland and if Japan gain no points against USA.’
http://www.rugbyworldcup.com/news/107002

So at this stage South Africa will play either Australia or Wales in a quarter final, whilst England or Wales will play either Scotland or Japan in the other.

POOL C

 

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
NEW ZEALAND	4	4	0	0	174	49	125	25	3	3	19
ARGENTINA	3	2	0	1	115	51	64	13	4	2	10
GEORGIA	4	2	0	2	53	123	-70	5	16	0	8
TONGA	4	1	0	3	70	130	-60	8	17	2	6
NAMIBIA	3	0	0	3	51	110	-59	5	16	1	1

Still to Play

11.10.2015

ARGENTINA

NAMIBIA

LEICESTER

New Zealand has sewn up top place in this pool whilst Argentina has second place. Namibia will have to defeat Argentina on Sunday to have a chance at gaining automatic qualification for 2019 over Tonga.

POOL D

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
IRELAND	3	3	0	0	110	26	84	14	2	2	14
FRANCE	3	3	0	0	111	39	72	12	4	2	14
ITALY	3	1	0	2	42	66	-24	3	5	1	5
ROMANIA	3	1	0	2	38	97	-59	4	13	0	4
CANADA	4	0	0	4	58	131	-73	7	16	2	2

Still to Play

11.10.2015	ITALY		ROMANIA		EXETER
11.10.2015	FRANCE		IRELAND		CARDIFF

Ireland and France will battle it out for top spot in this pool. Both are assured of a place in the quarter finals. Italy faces Romania on Sunday to decide third place.

So for the other quarter final games, New Zealand will play either Ireland or France, whilst Argentina will play either Ireland or France.

This is a big weekend at the 2015 Rugby World Cup finals.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Results 6 October

06.10.2015
Fiji 47, Uruguay 15 in Milton Keynes (World Cup, Pool A)
Romania 17, Canada 15 in Leicester (World Cup, Pool D)

Briefly
Fiji unleased their free flowing rugby against Uruguay to score a decisive victory. Meanwhile Romania came from 0-15 down to just overhaul the Canadians to register their first win in this Rugby World Cup.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Results 4 October

04.10.2015
Argentina 45, Tonga 16 in Leicester (World Cup, Pool B)
Ireland 16, Italy 9 in London (World Cup, Pool D)

Briefly
Argentina cruised past Tonga in Pool B whilst a below form Ireland managed a close 16-9 win over a resurgent Italy. The Italians had charismatic leader Sergio Parisse back in the team following injury.

SAMOA v JAPAN: Rugby World Cup, Pool B

03.10.2015

Referee: Craig Joubert (South Africa)

Image thanks to en.wikipedia.org

Venue: Stadiummk, Milton Keynes

Pool Standings

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
SCOTLAND	2	2	0	0	84	26	58	10	2	2	10
SOUTH AFRICA	2	1	0	1	78	40	38	10	3	3	7
SAMOA	2	1	0	1	31	62	-31	2	8	0	4
JAPAN	2	1	0	1	44	77	-33	3	4	0	4
UNITED STATES	2	0	0	2	32	64	-32	2	2	0	0

Preview
There is no more crucial match in this pool than this match. The winner is most likely to at least gain third place, and win a place at the 2019 Rugby World Cup, and then has a chance to make the quarter finals.

Samoa received the South African backlash after the Springbok lost to Japan in the opening round. Samoa has the edge historically but, v Scotland excepted, Japan has lit up this Rugby World Cup. Nothing would please the Japanese players more than to send retiring coach Eddie Jones on his way with that quarter finals spot. This could go either way.

Last Five Encounters
20.05.2014 Japan 33-14 in Tokyo (Friendly)
17.06.2012 Samoa 27-26 in Tokyo (Pacific Nations Cup)
02.07.2011 Samoa 34-15 in Tokyo (Pacific Nations Cup)
30.10.2010 Samoa 13-10 in Tokyo (Friendly)
19.08.2010 Japan 31-23 in Apia (Pacific Nations Cup)

These two teams first met in 1990 in a World Cup qualifying game. Samoa won 37-11

Previous World Cups
03.10.1999 Samoa 43-9 in Wrexham (World Cup, Pool D)

Samoa last Five P 5, W 2, D 1, L 2
26.09.2015 v South Africa L 6-46 in Birmingham (World Cup, Pool B)
20.09.2015 v United States W 25-16 in Brighton (World Cup, Pool B)
03.08.2015 v Fiji L 29-39 in Vancouver (Pacific Nations Cup; Final)
29.07.2015 v Canada W 21-20 in Toronto (Pacific Nations Cup)
24.07.2015 v Fiji D 30-30 in Sacramento (Pacific Nations Cup)

Japan Last Five P 5, 4, L 1
23.09.2015 v Scotland L 10-45 in Gloucester (World Cup, Pool B)
19.09.2015 v South Africa W 34-32 in Brighton (World Cup, Pool B)
05.10.2015 v Georgia W 13-10 in Gloucester (World Cup Warm Up)
29.08.2015 v Uruguay W 40-0 in Tokyo (2nd Test)
22.08.2015 v Uruguay W 30-8 in Tokyo (1st Test(

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table: Japan 8th, Samoa 13th

World Rugby Ranking Points
Samoa 74.67, Japan 73.01

Prediction: Almost too close to call.Samoa by 1 point. Score 23-22

TEAMS

Japan
15 Ayumu Goromaru, 14 Akihito Yamada, 13 Male Sau, 12 Harumichi Tatekawa, 11 Kotaro Matsushima, 10 Kosei Ono, 9 Fumiaki Tanaka, 8 Ryu Koliniasi Holani, 7 Michael Broadhurst, 6 Michael Leitch (Capt.), 5 Hitoshi Ono, 4 Luke Thompson, 3 Kensuke Hatakeyama, 2 Shota Horie, 1 Keita Inagaki
Replacements
16 Takeshi Kizu, 17 Masataka Mikami, 18 Hiroshi Yamashita, 19 Justin Ives, 20 Amanaki Lelei Mafi, 21 Hendrik Tui, 22 Atsushi Hiwasa, 23 Karne Hesketh
Head Coach: Eddie Jones

Samoa
15 Timothy Nanai-Williams, 14 Kenneth Pisi, 13 Paul Perez, 12 Johnathon Leota, 11 Alesana Tuilagi, 10 Tusi Pisi, 9 Kahn Fotuali'i, 8 Faifili Levave,
7 TJ Ioane, 6 Ofisa Treviranus (Capt.), 5 Kane Thompson, 4 Teofilo Paulo,
3 Census Johnston, 2 Ole Avei, 1 Sakaria Taulafo
Replacements
16 Motu Matu'u, 17 Viliamu Afatia, 18 Anthony Perenise, 19 Jack Lam,
20 Vavae Tuilagi , 21 Vavao Afemai , 22 Michael Stanley, 23 Rey Lee-Lo 
Head Coach: Stephen Betham