Rugby World Cup 2011

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
So who do you want to take it home?

I'm all for South Africa. Let's go Springboks! (although i have few friends on French team, i can't root for them though, unless theyre playing England haha). Irish look like they can put up a fight as well, but favorites must be SA and Kiwis.
 

DixieDestroyer

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
9,464
Location
Dixieland
I don't follow rugby, but I sure respect those fellers...it's a tough sport. Who's the "Whitest" team playing for the Cup? They'd get my "de facto" support. :icon_wink:
 

devans

Mentor
Joined
Jul 7, 2005
Messages
729
Location
Outside North America
Australia are normally all white - or very close.
I will check out their squad and let you know.

England are a joke. They have been busy "recruiting" players from all over the place. They are good players - just not English. I really hope it backfires on them.
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
Hi backrow, thanks for starting this thread!!

French team will bring Webb Ellis to the Champs Elysées Avenue!!

today on lequipe.fr, the daily question : do you think the french team will win the world cup of Rugby:
15% no
83 % yes
2% no opinion

I think we have 15 % chance of winning (yes we are optimistic :) )

as for the whiteness of the teams, well they're almost all majoritarily white, even the french team has (only) 2 blacks for 28 white on the team
 

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
and one of those aforementioned blacks is a friend of mine, haha. your captain.
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
and one of those aforementioned blacks is a friend of mine, haha. your captain.

Thierry Dusautoir?? he's an excellent player! and I'm a big fan of (the best team in Europe) Stade Toulousain so..

as for the survey I mentioned earlier, I inverted the results!! it's 15 % yes (for winning) and 83% no (we won't)
 

foobar75

Master
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
2,332
I became a rugby fan a few years ago, and despite the sport’s lack of popularity and coverage here in the US, I’ve done my best to follow various teams over the years and watch whatever matches I can. I’m by no means an expert, but here’s my preview of the 2011 World Cup. If we have any others with more insight, feel free to contribute and/or edit any of my points.

The 7th edition of the Rugby World Cup is taking place this year in New Zealand, starting Sept. 9 and concluding 6 weeks later on October 23. While the sport has always enjoyed a strong following outside the US, things really came of age in 2007 in France, when the Rugby World Cup became the third most popular sporting event in the world, right behind the Olympics and the Soccer World Cup. This year should be no different, and the sport is even more popular now with 20 teams participating in 4 groups of pool play.

The Rugby World Cup, and the sport as a whole, has been dominated by the 3 Southern Hemisphere teams (New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa) who also play in the annual Tri-Nations Cup. These 3 are currently ranked 1-2-3 in the world, and are the heavy favorites to win the world cup this year. The strongest competition will come from Europe, with France, England, and Wales, ranked 4-6, respectively, leading the way. Scotland, Ireland, and Argentina follow in the order, with Samoa rounding out the top 10. The rest of the teams, including the US and Canada, do not factor in the big picture and are not expected to make it out of group play. In fact, to use a baseball analogy, the rest of the teams compare to AAA squads trying to compete against Major Leaguers.

There’s a fair amount of cross-over between rugby and American Football, but ultimately, they are two very different sports. For starters, rugby has not been watered down by affirmative action to increase the number of non-whites in the sport, although it has not been completely immune. Still, it’s a majority White sport, except for teams from the Pacific (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, etc) which are obviously represented by their own people. The black participation rate is extremely small.

Another important distinction between rugby and the NFL is that everyone plays offense and defense, and the action is continuous. There are two 40 minute halves, with a halftime in between and no TV timeouts, commercials, or sumos running for the oxygen masks after 1-2 plays. All the players are in top shape, and the biggest men (forwards) usually top out around 265lb. Most, however, are in the 245-255 range. There are no pads or helmets, although some players have been known to wear minimal protective gear which is allowed by the rules. Overall, rugby is a sport with a great display of speed, athleticism, agility, power, and endurance. It’s no surprise, therefore, that Whites dominate the sport and have some of the best players in the world on each team.

This year, NBC and Universal Sports will be showing a total of 10 games, including the opener which was last night, all the US games, plus the semis, 3[SUP]rd[/SUP] place match,, and the final. This is actually pathetic coverage and if you’re in the US, your best bets are to find a bar to watch the matches or pay for them online (Universal will be streaming all the matches). I’d encourage everyone to at least watch the free matches on NBC so you can get an idea about the sport and hopefully gain some newfound appreciation. The rules are not very hard to learn, you can read about them anywhere online, and as you start watching the matches, things will make more sense. This sport is not for the faint of heart and you have to be one tough son-of-a-gun to play it, especially at the world class level.

Here’s my racial breakdown of the top 10 teams. I do not have the figures for the starters, but all the White nations (including S. Africa) have majority White rosters and starting units. Remember, 30 total players on each team, 22 on game day, with a starting line-up of 15. Give this one an error margin of +/- 1, but I think I got this correct for the most part.
  • New Zealand: 19 Whites, 8 Maori, 3 mixed
  • Australia: 19 Whites, 11 Maori/mixed/various Pacific Islander
  • South Africa: 21 Whites, 9 blacks
  • France: 24 Whites, 3 blacks, 3 mixed
  • England: 26 Whites, 2 blacks, 1 Samoan, 1 mixed
  • Wales: 28 Whites, 1 black, 1 Pacific Islander
  • Scotland: 29 Whites, 1 black
  • Ireland: 30 Whites
  • Argentina: 30 Whites (this is a tough one, it’s possible that there might be a few mixed/mestizos in here, but at a minimum there 25 Whites on the roster, if not more)
  • Samoa: 30 Samoans (including a few that appear to be mixed)
Also, for US and Canada:
  • US: 21 Whites, 6 Pacific Islanders, 2 mixed, 1 black
  • Canada: 28 Whites, 1 black, 1 Asian
And finally, who to root for? Well, I’ve always been a fan of the All Blacks (NZ) and Springboks (SA), so those are the two teams I’m rooting for to meet up in the final, with the host New Zealand finally winning their 2[SUP]nd[/SUP] cup, which has eluded them for 24 years since winning the very first cup in 1987, also on home soil. If you’re strictly going for the Whitest team, then either England or France would be the ones to cheer, as they have the most realistic shot at winning it all.
 

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
Thierry Dusautoir?? he's an excellent player! and I'm a big fan of (the best team in Europe) Stade Toulousain so..

as for the survey I mentioned earlier, I inverted the results!! it's 15 % yes (for winning) and 83% no (we won't)

yeah, i played with him once upon a time.

and France has a very small shot at the title. if rugby was more like soccer i'd say it could happen, but due to specifics of the sport, i doubt it.

oh, and Wasps are the best team in Europe :tinfoil3:

and because France scraped one of my all time faves, Seb Chabal... i don't want them to win!

sebastien-chabal.jpg
 

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
foobar, nice writeup man!

shocked at the fact that US doesnt have blacks, i havent ben following Eagles news much, but damn! they always used to have more Tongans and Samoans but there seems to be less of that. it is still a very white sport at college level in US, and most of the kids in Cali that play are also white (high school level).
 

foobar75

Master
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
2,332
Thanks backrow! Yes, rugby in the US is a sort fringe sport, with a dedicated, but mostly underground following. The participation rate at the collegiate level is indeed nearly 100% White and has a very low profile compared to other sports.

This is probably the main reason why the national team and all the college teams are allowed to be mostly White, because the sport is not mainstream and therefore is not a threat to the establishment's agenda. If it ever caught on in a meaningful way (highly doubtful, given the busy US sports landscape), you can be sure that every sports writer and media outlet will start wondering where the black players are and how to get them "interested" in the sport. Because as you know, if blacks aren't dominating a sport, it's because they have no interest in it. /sarcasm

Anyway, the All-blacks got off to a solid start against Tonga, and I look forward to their match against their nemesis France in 2 weeks. And as you mentioned earlier, I was also very surprised and disappointed that one of my all-time favorite players, Chabal, was left off the French squad.
 

frederic38

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
4,774
Location
france-grenoble
thanks for this preview, foorbar
my family is very interested in rugby, but i prefer soccer
but there are some good rugby players in my family
who are the 6 blacks-mixed for france? i only found 5

i am surprised by the number of non-whites in the australian team :icon_confused:
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
thanks for this preview, foorbar
my family is very interested in rugby, but i prefer soccer
but there are some good rugby players in my family
who are the 6 blacks-mixed for france? i only found 5

i am surprised by the number of non-whites in the australian team :icon_confused:

Dusautoir- Ouedraogo - Lakafia I beleive that's all, if by mix you mean french-european (yachvilli, Zarzewski) they are not black-white mixed

as for foobar; i remember the wasps being beaten up in the Stadium at Toulouse :biggrin: ... le Stade Toulousain has undoubtedly the best record in Europe: 4 time winners (H cup) , 2 times finalists, 4 times half , 3 times quarter-finals.. the wasps? (2 win- 0 finals lost - 0 half - 2 quarts ) not bad, but still far from reaching ST :)
 
Last edited:

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
Wasps with Loz Dallaglio and Joe Worsley, even young Haskell, what a back row that was!
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
French coach was very upset after the 47-21 win over Japan, they were at 21-25 at 60th minute.. England won very difficultly, scotland won 34-24 over romania and the score was 24-24 at 71st minute! until now only New Zealand dominated outrageously its opponent..
 

DixieDestroyer

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jan 19, 2007
Messages
9,464
Location
Dixieland
FB75,

Thanks for that analysis sir. :) With that, I'll be pulling for 1) Ireland, 2) Scotland, 3) Argentina & 4) Wales & Canada (tie)...in that order. WPWW! :biggrin:
 

Matra2

Master
Joined
Jul 6, 2011
Messages
2,317
I saw the 2nd half of France v Japan and wasn't too impressed with the French team. (BTW a lot of those Japanese weren't very, uh, Japanese looking:icon_wink:).

I've always been a fan of France and South Africa when it comes to rugby. But the South Africans with their quotas and coach are now getting on my nerves. I definitely don't want the All Blacks who are becoming more Maori every year. As for England, for as long as I can remember they've always been the most boring team to watch.:yawn:
 

foobar75

Master
Joined
Jul 29, 2008
Messages
2,332
Matra, the South Africa - Wales match last night was a good one. The Springboks barely won, but they were clearly outplayed by the young Welsh team. In fact, Wales had several opportunities, including a couple of penalty kicks that were wasted. The better team did not win, and SA has to play a lot better if they want to defend their title.

By the way, SA started 12/15 Whites, and finished with 13/15. In fact, of the 22 men in uniform, 18/22 were White, including 6 of the 7 subs. 3 of 4 blacks are mullatos anyway, so for all intents and purposes, SA is a White team.

I'm encouraged by some of the close matches in the early going. It shows that the gap between Tier1 and Tier2 powers has narrowed somewhat. Let's hope the competive matches continue the rest of the way.
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
I saw the 2nd half of France v Japan and wasn't too impressed with the French team. (BTW a lot of those Japanese weren't very, uh, Japanese looking:icon_wink:).

I've always been a fan of France and South Africa when it comes to rugby. But the South Africans with their quotas and coach are now getting on my nerves. I definitely don't want the All Blacks who are becoming more Maori every year. As for England, for as long as I can remember they've always been the most boring team to watch.:yawn:

about the french team, it's the least that we can say that they weren't impressive! they were almost ridiculous at some point (but not as ridiculous as the irish team against the - very courageous - US team)..
as for SA there is no noticeable "quotas" policy, blacks in SA are little interested by Rugby, and some africans playing for south africa isn't that shocking, idem for new zealand and aborigenous Maoris, it's good to see native zealanders playing for their ancestor's land..

@foobar Wales is my favourite team for winning, they were cited in french newspaper as serious candidate for final win 2 months ago, and they seem the only european team who can stop the hegemony of the southern nations
 

frederic38

Hall of Famer
Joined
Jun 22, 2011
Messages
4,774
Location
france-grenoble
as for SA there is no noticeable "quotas" policy, blacks in SA are little interested by Rugby, and some africans playing for south africa isn't that shocking, idem for new zealand and aborigenous Maoris, it's good to see native zealanders playing for their ancestor's land..

there are quotats in SA rugby
when they won the world cup, SA officials said that the aim would be to have 50% blacks in the near future
while, as you said it, rugby is traditionally a white sport in SA, and soccer a black sport
i didn't hear SA officials asking for more white players in soccer :dodgy:

actually, i think you didn't u nderstood what matra said
he said there were quotas to increase the number of black players, and you understood the opposite i think
 
Last edited:

backrow

Hall of Famer
Joined
Oct 23, 2005
Messages
7,209
Location
Spain
in SA they have a racial quota for minimum number of blacks in a squad, that's a fact.
 

Bk21

Guru
Joined
Jul 16, 2010
Messages
300
Location
Dijon - France
in SA they have a racial quota for minimum number of blacks in a squad, that's a fact.

if it is so it's really sad to see that each and every part of our societies should "look" the same: we will finally die of boredom
 

Rebajlo

Mentor
Joined
Nov 9, 2009
Messages
1,521
Location
N.S.W. - Australia
For starters, rugby has not been watered down by affirmative action to increase the number of non-whites in the sport, although it has not been completely immune. Still, it’s a majority White sport, except for teams from the Pacific (Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Japan, etc) which are obviously represented by their own people. The black participation rate is extremely small.

Unfortunately, Pacific Islanders and Maoris are grossly overrepresented in rugby at both provincial and international level. Just like blacks in soccer, the coconut connoisseurs are popping up in lineups all over the place, especially in New Zealand and here in Australia - but also in Europe.

frederic38 said:
i am surprised by the number of non-whites in the australian team

Non-Whites (i.e. Islanders, Maoris and Abos - and, in the case of soccer, blacks, Turks and Arabs) are being funnelled into Australian sports at an alarming rate. The Wallabies World Cup squad makes me sick. How the hell am I supposed to support my nation's team if it contains the likes of the following? :yell:

Kurtley Beale: Abo
Anthony Fainga'a: Tongan, quarter-Abo
Saia Fainga'a: Tongan, quarter-Abo
Sekope Kepu: Tongan
Salesi Ma'afu: Tongan
Tatafu Polota-Nau: Tongan
Wycliff Palu: Tongan

Then there are these four, who weren't even born in Australia:

Quade Cooper: Maori mother (born in New Zealand)
Radike Samo: Fijian (born in Fiji)
Will Genia: Papua New Guinean (born in PNG)
Digby Ioane: Samoan (born in New Zealand)

My other favourite teams have always been (surprise, surprise :icon_wink:) Wales and England, but Wales also feature a Tongan (Toby Faletau) in addition to the black Aled Brew while the "English" squad is a right joke, complete with two blacks, a Maori, a Samoan and White lads born in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Kenya, and the United States.

Anyway, Scotland scraped past Georgia 15-6 in a match sans tries, while I was deucedly glad to see Canada dispose of Tonga 25-20, running in 3 tries to 2... :biggrin:
 
Top