MichaelRobartes

England are haunted to be in such a poor pool. It's 2023. You can't just play kick pressure.

Ben Earl celebrating a scrum reset is my highlight of that half.

They're the best team in this group. What a pity they didn't beat Wales last week. I love this World Cup.

Sorry missed the point about the disallowed try. I think it was correct to chalk it off, he runs a blocking line. But watch for those in every game. See how many Ireland get away with in the opposition 22 when we play Tonga on Saturday. Now I've said that we'll be whistled off the park.

They decided there was mitigation because the player was in the process of being tackled by another player. We see here that he's always high and his left arm is tucked, no wrap. There's not any significant sudden change in height from the first tackle. I'll be amazed if he isn't cited.

Well done Uruguay. A mighty performance. A few guys playing themselves out of Gaulthie's plans too. Edit: Yes it was a red card. Only the bunker official knows why it wasn't.

Brilliant game. Great tonic after the disappointment of the SA - Scotland match. Wales haunted to win that.

As a Munster fan who grew up watching our 00s team, I enjoyed that. It was a bit of a throwback game. I think I said on this thread before, England don't have to be that good to get out of this group. I think that was a really mature display in the circumstances. Yes Argentina were chronic, but if the opposition keep coughing up penalties, don't stop them. Agree England will need to show a lot more to beat a top team, but they may not meet one until a semi final with this draw and a lot can happen between now and then.

Argentina punching themselves in the face repeatedly. They have no set piece, can't handle England's linespeed and can't stop giving away dopey penalties.

This is the best I've seen England play in ages. Great defensive sets. Argentina are really rattled, them taking on that drop at the end of the half showed that.

Each to their own.

Don't have the numbers to hand but it's several hundred. Sorry but I couldn't disagree more. Probably leave it at that.

Jesus Christ lads. Stop punting one another in the head, yeah? Dull as hell from Carreras. This could be 14 a side.

Wait for the cases from players with permanent brain damage to come up. Rugby has to do something to survive.

Sorry lads. I think he'll be lucky to get back on the pitch here.

Long day today. Not expecting any shocks in the first three matches. The last game could be a cracker. Argentina are playing way better than England but you never know.

NZ showed up better than I expected. France bench massive in that win. They'll take some stopping.

Losing bonus point for losing by seven or less.

Hope I'm wrong but I see us losing to SA in the group and then France in the QF. If we beat SA, NZ are very beatable and then anything is possible.

Surprised they didn't get more. It's always a special fixture. I would've gone if I'd been in Bristol.

I thought he played well last night. Obviously we were playing a team miles better than us. He couldn't have done a lot more. Looks a top signing so far.

My worry for England is that they don't have the players to play the system they want to play. People are talking about shifting the selection around but they're not seeing the bigger picture. I was listening to a rugby writer I follow and he was discussing the Ireland game, saying that by kicking mid-long and having no effective kick chase, they showed that they didn't understand why they'd lost to Ireland in the Six Nations and it's difficult to argue with that. That sort of thing should be extremely worrying. That said, they're in a really weak pool so who knows. They can lose to Argentina and qualify easily. Japan look pretty rubbish at the moment. England will have Aussie, Wales or Fiji in the QF, all tough given how badly England are playing but all winnable. As for Ireland, it's our toughest pool ever. I's back us to beat Scotland but they're playing really well and should've beaten us in the Six Nations. SA are a bit hard to predict. As impressed as I am with the variation they've added to their game, I worry about Libbok at ten. Really good player but he's had off days in big KO games before. I'd probably lean towards SA topping the group and us having to beat France to reach a SF. Tough ask.