The Rugby Union General Discussion thread

Mike Brown MOM...

Shenanigans!!!!! To finish this game.... Bonus point England.
The introduction of this bonus point system is going to make things very interesting...

Looking forward to France v Italy tomorrow. (Looks like I'll have to watch this game on replay later in the day... Just looked at TV guide & it coincides with the Notre Dame v Georgia Tech CFB game.... I can't miss that. )

Japan with the upset of the Springboks

RWC 2015, WTF, WTF, WTF!

16th ranked Georgia (17) defeat 11th ranked Tonga (10) (Wow, Well Done )
6th ranked Ireland (50) destroy 18th ranked Canada (7) (As expected )

But, but, but...

13th ranked Japan (34) defeat 3rd ranked South Africa (32) (WTF, OMG... At the death... RWC you are incredible.

Originally posted by samoan49er:
Japan with the upset of the Springboks

I know RWC just got legit!!!!

What a result! Japan played some seriously impressive rugby. Probably will go down as the game of the tournament even at this early stage

Hail Japan! RWC 2015 Heroes Edition…






















WELL DONE JAPAN.... (Proud of you guys )

Time to raise the flag.... (In Honour of the victorious Japanese Rugby Team)
It wasn't only Japan that won today…Rugby was also the winner of the day!

News made the ESPN main page...

http://espn.go.com/rugby/story/_/id/13690834/awesome-japan-stun-south-africa-historic-rugby-world-cup-victory

OMG OMG OMG

I was laying in bed on a lazy Sunday morning reading this thread and saw someone post that Japan beat SA. At first I thought it was just some silly wishful thinking prediction.

This is beyond belief! I read the other day the coach saying that they were tired of being dismissed with comments like "They played with courage", etc. What a fantastic effort to beat SA lol What the hell happened? Did SA play without their #1s or just go into the match expecting to win?

You have to give credit to the Japanese (and the coach and imports too)...when they decide to get serious about a sport, they really do get serious. They went from nothing in soccer a while back to being a well ranked team...not sure about these days tho.

Go JAPAN! At 40-1 there are some richer people celebrating today.

Last 2 tries are quality...

Originally posted by munst49ERS:
Last 2 tries are quality...

The plays from 1:00 and 2:54 impressed me. Prior to the match wouldn't have thought Japan's team capable of those against SA.

Originally posted by RealSapster4Niners:
OMG OMG OMG

I was laying in bed on a lazy Sunday morning reading this thread and saw someone post that Japan beat SA. At first I thought it was just some silly wishful thinking prediction.

This is beyond belief! I read the other day the coach saying that they were tired of being dismissed with comments like "They played with courage", etc. What a fantastic effort to beat SA lol What the hell happened? Did SA play without their #1s or just go into the match expecting to win?

You have to give credit to the Japanese (and the coach too)...when they decide to get serious about a sport, they really do get serious. They went from nothing in soccer a while back to being a well ranked team...not sure about these days tho.

Go JAPAN! At 40-1 there are some richer people celebrating today.

Amazing effort by Cherry Blossoms/Brave Blossoms. SA rested some big names, but there was still plenty of fire-power out on the pitch... So in my eyes this underdog victory tops Samoa's win over Australia in Sydney in 2011 & that was one of the greatest underdog victories I had ever witnessed... Somebody mentioned on another forum that Japan has only ever won one RWC match & that was in 1991 against Namibia... If that's true, I don't know what to say... It's one of the greatest sporting upsets of all-time... Only your second ever WC victory & it comes against a top three ranked, 2x WC winner, crazy...

You can say some players might be past their prime, but you can't say it was a weak side... (See Bold)
Just got to give credit to Japan & Eddie Jones, great job! (Out played the Boks & won the match, fair & square...)

South Africa: Zane Kirchner, Bryan Habana, Jesse Kriel, Jean de Villiers (captain), Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Ruan Pienaar; Schalk Burger, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield, Lood de Jager, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira. Reserves: Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Fourie du Preez, Handre Pollard, JP Pietersen.

Originally posted by SportOvaFilmTV:

Amazing effort by Cherry Blossoms/Brave Blossoms. SA rested some big names, but there was still plenty of fire-power out on the pitch... So in my eyes this underdog victory tops Samoa's win over Australia in Sydney in 2011 & that was one of the greatest underdog victories I had ever witnessed... Somebody mentioned on another forum that Japan has only ever won one RWC match & that was in 1991 against Namibia... If that's true, I don't know what to say... It's one of the greatest sporting upsets of all-time... Only your second ever WC victory & it comes against a top three ranked, 2x WC winner, crazy...

You can say some players might be past their prime, but you can't say it was a weak side... (See Bold)
Just got to give credit to Japan & Eddie Jones, great job! (Out played the Boks & won the match, fair & square...)

South Africa: Zane Kirchner, Bryan Habana, Jesse Kriel, Jean de Villiers (captain), Lwazi Mvovo, Pat Lambie, Ruan Pienaar; Schalk Burger, Willem Alberts, Francois Louw, Victor Matfield, Lood de Jager, Jannie du Plessis, Bismarck du Plessis, Tendai Mtawarira. Reserves: Adriaan Strauss, Trevor Nyakane, Coenie Oosthuizen, Pieter-Steph du Toit, Siya Kolisi, Fourie du Preez, Handre Pollard, JP Pietersen.

Rugby has quite a presence and following in Japan these days. I really hope they go on to win some more matches and that it lifts the game in Japan. With a population of around 120 million, they could really contribute.