English Chess Forum

Flabbergasted, not expecting that game at all!

Not just the score, but the manner in which it was achieved. Jonny Sexton's penalty scoring, though, still remains a worry. Was it me, or were there a few Ozzie swinging arms in the dying minutes?

Looking like Ireland - Wales for quarter final 2, Saturday 8th October at 6 a.m.

There are still lots of small Pacific islands Wales can lose to. Samoa and Fiji are both in their group. Wales' record against those two nations combined in World Cups is 0-3!

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

A remarkable win! A Kiwi mate (of Irish heritage) emailed asking me about Ireland's prospects after the game v. England. I replied to the effect that the best to be said was that Ireland weren't peaking too soon. Now they've knocked over Oz, I guess the real beneficiaries will be the ABs

Really? Australia, South Africa and New Zealand all look like being in the same half of the draw, along with Argentina (who I expect to beat Scotland). New Zealand v Argentina in the QFs is expected, and New Zealand v Ireland/South Africa was the Semi Final expectation. Now that the Semi Final expectation is New Zealand v Australia/South Africa, does it make much difference?

It will mean that the top 4 Northern Hemisphere teams - assuming Wales beat Pacific island nations for a change! - will be in top half, with the top 4 Southern Hemisphere teams in the bottom half!

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships

Not sure about it benefiting ABs most. If everything to form from now on, we will have NZ, SA and Aussies all in the same half of the draw. If England win a QF with France, I'd be optimistic about us making the final again.

(Like Alex just said, mostly )

If England (as pool B winners) beat France (as pool A runners up) and Ireland beat Wales/Samoa/Fiji (Ireland have 14-4 against Wales since 1995), don't they meet in the semi's on Saturday 15th October?

Not wishing to injure the feelings of my Ingerlund chums, but what is the recent score? 7-2 since WC '03, including that means nothing warm up? (We do keep score ) And you have to get past France first!

Naturally, recent past form won't count for much, it will be the teams that want it more on the day and have greater self-belief, but I wouldn't want to hear any uncalled for Ingerlunder chirping at this stage! Any of England, Ireland, Wales can beat the other on the day, but should any of those teams get to the final they will get slaughtered by the All Blacks.

And we all seem to have forgotten about the improving Scots, too.

Seems like a lot of eggs being counted, rather than fledglings.

Just saying, like.

You've met England fans before presumably?

I'd rather play Celts late in the tournament; typically they have less strength in depth and a long tournament weakens them. I think squads matter more in WC compared to, say, six nations. One of the reasons England have made three finals

OK, I'm wrong. I couldn't be bothered looking up the draw, and assumed NZ v Oz was the 'seeded' Final. Further assumed that if Oz failed to meet their seeded rank, that would leave the way open for 'weaker' NH opponents in the semis and/or Final; hence, benefit to ABs

Anyhow...still a great result by Ireland. And if England have shaken off their midweek exertions , they should be able to squeeze past Georgia tomorrow

And they (England) did. An interesting final would be Australia-Ireland...

All Blacks: simply awesome.

England looked pretty good too. OK, they were up against Romania's 2nd XV. But even so, one small step for a man... And having got a good grip of Georgia last week (that's the rugby team, not the girl in the nightclub ), it's all set for Scotland. Then France!

Bad luck for Scotland, dreadful match for the man with the whistle. England and Argentina go through, Scotland dumped out in the cruelest of fashions.

It's not quite over for Scotland.

Assuming Argentina beat Georgia, they'll need to beat England by more than 7 points and score four or more tries.

That's three conditions to meet. Scotland could meet the first two, but never the third in a month of Hogmanays.

The last time Scotland did that against England was on 27th March, 1971. Scotland won 26-6 at Murrayfield. This was also the last time they scored 4 tries against England.

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February 16-17: 2013 BUCA Team Championship
April 20: 2013 British Blitz Championship
July 27-August 10: 100th British Chess Championships