AUSTRALIA 35, SCOTLAND 34: World Cup Quarter final

18.10.2015

HEARTACHE!

That was how Scotland felt after a last minute penalty goal by Australia saw them lose 34-35 in an exciting game at Twickenham. Scotland should have won this game. They deserved to. Australia were never allowed to settle by a tenacious Scottish side that could sense Australia were having an off day.

There were times when Australia were brilliant but if they make as many mistakes next week against Argentina as they did today they will not reach the final.

Scotland can be proud of their effort. The future for them looks good despite the heartache of today.

I do not believe Australia will repeat this performance next week. They will, like the All Blacks bounce back.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Quarter Finalists Confirmed

17.10.2015
South Africa v Wales at Twickenham (World Cup, Quarter Final 1)
New Zealand v France in Cardiff (World Cup, Quarter Final 2)

18.10.2015
Ireland v Argentina in Cardiff (World Cup, Quarter Final 3)
Australia v Scotland at Twickenham (World Cup, Quarter Final 4)

Briefly
Here they are. Now we are down to the real business end of the 2015 Rugby World Cup. The eight quarter finalists are listed above.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Results Saturday 10 October

Australia 15, Wales 6 at Twickenham (World Cup, Pool A)
England 60, Uruguay 3 in Manchester (World Cup, Pool A)
Scotland 36, Samoa 33 in Newcastle (World Cup, Pool B)

Briefly
Australia put on a stunning ten minute display of defence against Wales in the second half. Reduced to 13 players they held out a great effort by Wales to score in a thrilling encounter. The score was 12-6 to Australia. A Welsh try with the conversion would have put them in the lead. But Wales could not breach the defence. Stand up tall Australia and be proud. Yet another amazing game at this tournament.

Probably the best game of rugby at the tournament to date saw Scotland just edge out Samoa 36-33. What a game! Running rugby at its best. Whew!!

England defeated Uruguay 60-3. That was that!

After today’s results the quarter finals look like this.

Australia v Scotland
Wales v South Africa
New Zealand v Ireland or France
Ireland or France v Argentina

The quarter finals will take place next Saturday and Sunday

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Saturday’s Games

Due to other commitments previews have to be brief.

10.10.2015
Australia v Wales at Twickenham (World Cup, Pool A)

This is a crucial game in Pool A. The winner will take top spot and will play either Scotland or Japan in the quarter finals. The loser will have the much harder game against South Africa.

Prediction: Wales by 5 points. Score 26-21

England v Uruguay in Manchester (World Cup, Pool A)

Nothing much to write about this one. England are out of the tournament and will want to appease their fans with a huge win which they are capable of doing. Uruguay will be going home without a win and having to re qualify for the 2019 tournament.

Prediction: England by 73 points. Score 81-8

Samoa v Scotland in Newcastle (World Cup, Pool B)

Samoa has been a huge disappointment at this tournament. They will put up a good fight in the first half but I expect Scotland to be too strong in the second.

Prediction: Scotland by 13 points. Score 24-11

RUGBY WORLD CUP: POOL B

03.10.2015
Japan 26, Samoa 5 in Milton Keynes (World Cup, Pool B)
South Africa 34, Scotland 16 in Newcastle (World Cup, Pool B)

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
SOUTH AFRICA	3	2	0	1	112	56	56	13	4	3	11
SCOTLAND	3	2	0	1	100	60	40	10	2	2	10
JAPAN	3	2	0	1	70	82	-12	5	5	0	8
SAMOA	3	1	0	2	36	88	-52	2	8	0	4
UNITED STATES	2	0	0	2	32	64	-32	2	2	0	0

Briefly
Japan were comfortable winners over Samoa but made their push towards a quarter final spot difficult with some strange decisions late in the game. Penalty shots were taken instead of working towards a bonus point. Those decisions may come back to haunt them.

South Africa were made to work hard by a determined Scotland in Newcastle. South Africa missed a fourth try.

Coming Up

07.10.2015	SOUTH AFRICA		UNITED STATES		LONDON
10.10.2015	SAMOA		SCOTLAND		NEWCASTLE
11.10.2015	UNITED STATES		JAPAN		GLOUCESTER

SCOTLAND v SOUTH AFRICA: World Cup, Pool B

03.10.2015

Venue: St James' Park, Newcastle

Referee: Nigel Owens (Wales)

	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
If you’d have thought that the Rugby World Cup is yet to light up then you must have really enjoyed that holiday on Mars. What excitement and what good rugby we have been blessed to view. Having been at the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand I can feel the excitement and growing tension coming from England and Wales.

South Africa were a vastly improved side when they defeated Samoa after dropping the game against Japan. In fact I was very impressed with their play; adventurous, fast and powerful. ‘This side could well be the sleeping giant’ I thought to myself. Tonight we will see how close my thoughts are to reality. Without captain Jean de Villiers (broken Jaw and now retired) and veteran Victor Matfield, whose lineout presence is unmatched, the Springbok could well struggle to match that last performance.

Scotland is on top of their pool with a maximum ten points and they deserve to be there. They have played a strong second half game and will be looking to knock the South Africans out of first place contention. They will be without their new pivot Finn Russell who has the ability to set a game alight.If Japan can do it why not Scotland?

Last Five Encounters: South Africa 4, Scotland 1
28.06.2014 South Africa 55-6 in Port Elizabeth
17.11.2013 South Africa 28-0 at Murrayfield
16.06.2013 South Africa 30-17 in Nelspruit (Quadrangular Tournament)
17.11.2012 South Africa 21-10 at Murrayfield
20.11.2010 Scotland 21-17 at Murrayfield

Scotland Last Five P 5, W 4, L 1
27.09.2015 v United States W 39-16 in Leeds (World Cup, Pool B)
23.09.2015 v Japan W 45-10 in Gloucester (World Cup, Pool B)
05.09.2015 v France L 15-19 in Paris (World Cup Warm Up)
29.08.2015 v Italy W 48-7 at Murrayfield (World Cup Warm Up)
22.08.2015 v Italy W 16-12 in Turin (World Cup Warm Up)

Scotland’s record over the last five matches is very good. They pushed France in Paris pre World Cup and thrashed Italy at Murrayfield in another warm up game. A win over South Africa would not be unique. Scotland upset South Africa at Murrayfield back in 2010. It could well happen.

South Africa Last Five P 5, W 1, L 4
26.09.2015 v Samoa W 46-6 in Birmingham (World Cup, Pool B)
19.09.2015 v Japan L 32-34 in Brighton (World Cup, Pool B)
08.08.2015 v Argentina L 25-37 in Durban (Rugby Championship)
25.09.2015 v New Zealand L 20-27 in Johannesburg (Rugby Championship)
18.09.2015 v Australia L 20-24 in Brisbane (Rugby Championship)

What a dreadful year. Prior to losing to Japan South Africa went through the shortened Rugby Championship without a win including a loss to Argentina at home. The game against Samoa apart It’s not looking good.

GWC Rugby Rankings
World Table: Scotland 7th, South Africa 9th

World Rugby Ranking Points
South Africa 82.66, Scotland 79.05

Prediction: Scotland to defeat a limping Springbox by 4 points and cause Heineke Meyer to finally ‘pop’. Score 21-17

TEAMS

South Africa
15 William le Roux, 14 JP Pietersen, 13 Jesse Kriel, 12 Damian de Allende,
11 Bryan Habana, 10 Handre Pollard, 9 Fourie du Preez (Capt.), 8 Duane Vermeulen, 7 Schalk Burger, 6 Francois Louw, 5 Lood de Jager, 4 Eben Etzebeth, 3 Jannie du Plessis, 2 Bismarck du Plessis, 1 Tendai Mtawarira  
Replacements
16 Adriaan Strauss, 17 Trevor Nyakane, 18 Frans Malherbe, 19 Pieter-Steph du Toit, 20 Willem Alberts, 21 Ruan Pienaar, 22 Patrick Lambie, 23 Jan Serfontein 
Head Coach: Heineke Meyer

Scotland
15 Stuart Hogg, 14 Thomas Seymour, 13 Richard Vernon, 12 Peter Horne,
11 Timothy Visser, 10 Duncan Weir, 9 Greig Laidlaw (Capt.), 8 David Denton,
7 Blair Cowan, 6 Joshua Strauss, 5 Jonathon Gray, 4 Richard Gray, 3 WP Nel, 2 Fraser Brown, 1 Gordon Reid.
Replacements
16 Ross Ford, 17 Alasdair Dickinson, 18 Jon Welsh, 19 Timothy Swinson,
20 Ryan Wilson, 21 Samuel Hidalgo-Clyne, 22 Peter Horne, 23 Sean Lamont
Head Coach: Vern Cotter

All stats from www.rugbyinternational.net

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Sunday 27 September

27.09.2015
Australia 65, Uruguay 3 in Birmingham (World Cup, Pool A)
Scotland 39, United States 16 in Leeds (World Cup, Pool B)
Ireland 44, Romania 10 in London (World Cup, Pool D)

Briefly
Australia, Scotland and Ireland all got through their pool matches last night predictably with bonus points.

The next match is on Tuesday, Tonga v Namibia.

My next preview will be on Wednesday as I will be away.

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Today

27.09.2015
Australia v Uruguay in Birmingham (World Cup, Pool A)
Scotland v United States in Leeds (World Cup, Pool B)
Ireland v Romania in London (World Cup, Pool D)

I’m unable to review these games due to other commitments.

Predictions
Australia to defeat Uruguay by 55 points-Score 66-11
Scotland to defeat USA by 21 points-Score 33-12
Ireland to defeat Romania by 33 points-Score 49-16

RUGBY WORLD CUP: Thursday 23 September

23.09.2015
Australia 28, Fiji 13 in Cardiff (World Cup, Pool A)
Scotland 45, Japan 10 in Gloucester (World Cup, Pool B)
France 38, Romania 11 in London (World Cup, Pool D)

Briefly
Australia’s first outing at this Rugby World Cup met with a win but not without many anxious moments. Fiji were very competitive right to the end and exposed weaknesses early on at scrum time and in the lineout throughout the game. Australia failed to gain a bonus point in the win a factor that could be telling later.

Japan’s fairy tale entry into the World Cup came to an abrupt end when Scotland, playing their first game in this tournament, dominated at the game progressed. Japan showed glimpses of the form, speed and skill they showed against South Africa, but another hard game four days after their first was too much to ask.

France stuttered and stumbled their way to a win over Romania and were made to fight hard throughout the game.

POOL A

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
WALES	1	1	0	0	54	9	45	8	0	1	5
ENGLAND	1	1	0	0	35	11	24	4	1	1	5
AUSTRALIA	1	1	0	0	28	13	15	3	1	0	4
FIJI	2	0	0	2	24	63	-39	2	7	0	0
URUGUAY	1	0	0	1	9	54	-45	0	8	0	0

POOL B

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
SCOTLAND	1	1	0	0	45	10	35	5	1	1	5
SAMOA	1	1	0	0	25	16	9	2	2	0	4
JAPAN	2	1	0	1	44	77	-33	3	4	0	4
SOUTH AFRICA	1	0	0	1	32	34	-2	4	3	2	2
UNITED STATES	1	0	0	1	16	25	-9	2	2	0	0

POOL D

	P	W	D	L	PF	PA	DIFF	TF	TA	BP	PT
FRANCE	2	2	0	0	70	22	48	7	2	1	9
IRELAND	1	1	0	0	50	7	43	7	1	1	5
ITALY	1	0	0	1	10	32	-22	1	2	0	0
CANADA	1	0	0	1	7	50	-43	1	7	0	0
ROMANIA	1	0	0	1	11	38	-27	1	5	0	0

Stats from www.rugbyinternational.net