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Karizma

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The second round of Pacific qualifiers were played out tonight, with Fiji taking on Tonga and Samoa clashing with the Cook Islands. By all accounts the opening clash was an absolute thriller, with St. George/Illawarra's Wes Naiqama scoring and converting a late try to give Fiji a shock 30-28 victory.

The next match was a one sided affair with Samoa remaining unbeaten after a 46-6 victory over an underdone Cook Islands side. With one round of competition to go, the table looks like this.

TEAM W L D For Against Difference Points

Samoa 2 0 0 76 34 +42 4

Tonga 1 1 0 84 44 +40 2

Fiji 1 1 0 58 58 +0 2

C. Islands 0 2 0 22 100 -88 0

Now, the top two teams qualify, so Samoa will secure a place in the World Cup with a victory or a draw against Tonga. They've been the form team of the competition so far, but could miss out if Tonga beat them and Fiji thrash Cook Islands as expected. The Fiji vs. Cook Islands match is coming up, and Fiji should be confident of a win. Tonga vs. Samoa will be played over in England later in the year, and it's really a 50/50 who wins there. I'm going to back Fiji to beat Cook Islands comfortably, and Tonga to end Samoa's unbeaten run. Tonga and Fiji to qualify, with Samoa to go into the repecharge against the 3rd and 4th placed European nations and the 1st placed Atlantic qualifier.

Edited by The Misanthrope
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Didn't the round of Penrith qualifiers just go by? I thought the results of the games I'd just posted came from Western Weekender Stadium in St. Mary's.

As for a winner, Australia will almost certainly go in as favourites, but winning it is another thing. New Zealand showed last year that the wheel is starting to turn, and the abysmal lineup we're fielding this year (irregardless of whether we win or not) shows we've got great backs coming through, moderate forwards, and ordinary halves.

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  • 2 weeks later...

In the final Australian based Pacific qualifier, Fiji crushed Cook Islands 40-4 to ensure that the Islands won't feature in the 2008 World Cup. Fiji will now be hoping that Tonga can deal with Samoa, meaning that Tonga and Fiji would both qualify for the World Cup. Either way, one of the three will be in the repecharge along with the third and fourth best European teams as well as USA or Japan.

All qualifiers bar the repecharge begin at the end of this month.

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Ireland have opened the second round of European qualifiers with a dominant 50-12 victory over Russia, who qualified alongside Georgia (who have since been forced to withdraw) from the first round of European qualifiers.

Pacific qualification is now complete, with Tonga's 18-10 victory over Samoa meaning they've secured their place in the ten team 2008 tournament. The previously unbeaten Samoans slip to third in a tight Pacific qualification as a result, allowing Fiji to qualify. Samoa will now have to play in the repecharge tournament against the Atlantic winners and the third and fourth ranked European sides.

Current Qualifiers

1. Australia (hosts)

2. New Zealand (Automatic Qualifier)

3. England (Automatic Qualifiers)

4. Papua New Guinea (Automatic Qualifiers)

5. France (Automatic Qualifier)

6. Fiji (Pacific Qualifier)

7. Tonga (Pacific Qualifier)

8. European Qualifier A

9. European Qualifier B

10. Repecharge Qualifier

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I was disappointed that there weren't more teams included for qualification. There are about twenty more nations playing rugby league than involved in the qualification process. Morocco, Malta, Italy, Greece, South Africa, West Indies, Singapore.... but the tournament rules stated a nation had to have a domestic comp up and running to participate, which rules all of the above out for the time being. In 2012, maybe. :lol:

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Guest Anti-Hero

I'm really pumped for the Rugby World Cup now. Man, next year's going to be an interesting year for league (Titans [possibly with JONAH FREAKIN' LOMU], Souths with a few big buys, Jamie Lyon) and union (RWC, Schifcofske and Cross' defection from league)

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There have been a few more qualifiers played over the weekend. The United States qualified for the repecharge round alongside Samoa after a dominant 54-18 victory over the Japanese team. They'll be joined up by the runners up from both European groups.

In European qualification, Lebanon opened their account with a hard fought 22-8 victory over the Russians. This is a massive improvement for the Bears, who a few years ago would have struggled to stay close to the Cedars (who boast a number of NRL players). This came after Russia lost their opening game against Ireland, 50-12. With the Irish side being almost solely professional, the Russians were never going to qualify. Ireland play Lebanon on November 5th, with the winner likely to secure a place in the World Cup (although there's an away leg to go).

Wales and Scotland play today in their group (comprising just the two nations after Georgia's withdrawal). Wales will be lead by ESL star, Lee Briers - and should be too strong for the Scottish.

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  • 1 year later...

Can't see a thread anywhere on here about this.

Anyway wicked day of rugby! Good win for the Welsh today and the France-Ireland game had a great finish. Shame the Irish couldn't pull off the comeback.

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Because Rugby Union is shit, just men kicking the ball around and chasing it. If you want a Rugby game with skill and talent then it's all about Rugby League, bit of tactical thinking involved there. You get unlimited tackles in Union, yet they still insist on kicking it to the other team 90% of the time.

Rugby League shits on Rugby Union in all aspects except being wank.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Grr it's upsetting that less people have interest in this! It's getting massive in Cardiff now I feel! Watched Wales cruising to their win against Italy and then the excellent English win against France. A very good day of rugby and the real possibility of a grand slam for Wales.

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How anyone can prefer League to Union is beyond me. Aside from the set-up of the actual competitions, the League game itself is fucking lame. How can you have uncontested scrums and call it Rugby? zOMG, we've been tackled four times, I'd better just give the opposition the ball, they seem awfully persistent, darlings.

League is like Premiership football, half the players are too worried about messing their hair up. And all the numbers are backwards.

So you're a hooker. Your job is basically to avoid getting killed in scrums when fifteen other guys are trying to crush you into the floor. You need to get the ball to your team mates, and not die when everyone falls on you. Who'd you pick for that?

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jsc_mascots_italy4.jpg

Yeah, thought so...

League is for people who wanted to play rugby but got bullied at school.

Aaanyway, onto the matter at hand:

Before Saturday, I figured Wales'd walk the triple crown, but France'd get the grand slam after an epic finale. Now I'm not so sure... The French backs were non-existent against England, and since that's their main weapon (let's face it, fly-half isn't their strongest suit, is it? Traille's kicking is awful, and Skrela is only mediocre). So if Wales can shut them up as well as England did, Wales could probably beat them much more comprehensively.

Wales vs. Ireland and Wales vs. France will be unmissable. It'd suck if the Irish got lucky :P That'd ruin the whole tournament.

Edited by Farmer Reil
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I prefer Club League to Club Union, but International Union to International League.

As for the tournament, I made a bold prophecy that, after loosing to Wales in the first game, that we would still finish ahead of Wales. Hopefully, France and Ireland beat them, and we beat Ireland and Scotland, and I win.

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