[The Phantom]

Wow! What an opening match! Argentina played brilliantly, and totally deserved their win last night. I was a little shocked but very happy with the result. The French looked very nervous and under pressure. A totally different looking French side from the one I saw 2 weeks ago in Cardiff.

Now for my daily predictions post:

New Zealand vs. Italy: After seeing one of the favourites slip up, they’ll want to put down a marker and show everyone they mean business. Sivevatu and Howelltt will score a copple of tries each and the Blacks will be out of site after the first 40mins. I’m going with a 56 – 9 win for the All Blacks.

Australia vs. Japan: Now I’ll actually be going to see both of these teams in the word cup, the week after next when they both play Wales. Today Australia should pick up an easy win. The Japanese are one of these teams I’m just hoping will improve a lot. They have the potential to be a great rugby nation, and they should have had the World Cup for 2011. Wallabies to win 45-12

England vs. USA: England have had a few injury problem lately, but this shouldn’t give them too much of a problem. England need to stop keeping the ball up front and get it out to their backs, because if given half a chance they can score form almost anywhere on the pitch. I think the US will put England under pressure for the first 20mins, but then England’s class will shine though. 38-12 win for the World Champions.

[Tyler Durden]

Didn't see much of the opener but just watched the defending champions "effort". All power to the US side who played incredibly well for a team chiefly of amateurs, but that was an utterly hopeless performance from England.

The team looked old and lifeless and, I guess that is what you would expect from such an old team!

It cannot be a coincidence that out two best players (Rees and Barkley) also happened to be our two youngest players.

Dallaglio was incredibly bad. Slow and cumbersome at the back of the forwards. It makes a mockery that his team mate, Haskell, is sitting at home when he should be in the team alongside Rees.

Worsley has never cut the mustard as an international rugby player (he only ever "appears" in rush defence Euro games for Wasps) and it's an anomaly that the guy has 60 caps.

Noon also is a foot soldier, he doesn't have the guile, ability or speed to be a true test player.

Regan was shocking and Chuter no better when he came on.

Perry actually managed to take the slow ball we had and make it "even slower" on almost every occasion. That is quite the trick.

Cueto is no full back and won't develop into one in this tourno. The guy is a perfectly acceptable national wing, let him play there!

And as for Vickery.....not only did he perform one of the most blatantly terrible foul, but he also played with no spark or action in his capacity as England captain. He must be dropped.

In terms of what could possibly be done for the next game? Well very little really since it's way way too late, but this is the team I'd pick for the next fixture and hope to goodness we somehow get past Samoa in the game after that as it looks like we may struggle to get through.

15 - Lewsey
14 - Cueto
13 - Hipkiss
12 - Barkley
11 - Robinson
10 - Wilkinson (if fit)
9 - Gomarsall
1 - Sheridan
2 - Mears
3 - Stevens
4 - Shaw
5 - Borthwick
6 - Moody
8 - Corry
7 - Rees

Lastly, good luck to those other British and Irish teams supported by Monks members this weekend!

[The Phantom]

Couldn't agree more. I only saw bits of the England USA match as I was getting ready to go to the football. The one thing that may come back to haunt England is their inability to gain a winning bonus point.

My interest in the World Cup begins today with Wales vs. Canada (two teams I'll be going to see next weekend). Nothing less than a big win and a 4 try bonus point will do. Coach Gareth Jenkins has been under some immense pressure since the 6 Nations. He's always told us to judge him on the World Cup... now he has to deliver. Personally, even without Gareth Thomas starting (which I agree with) we should be too strong for an ageing Canadian side. Wales to win by 50 odd points.

Other match predictions:

South Africa 73 - 10 Samoa
Scotland 84 - 0 Portugal
Ireland 74 - 7 Namibia

[The Phantom]

I haven’t posted my World Cup thoughts for a few days, so I thought it was about time to do so…

Well, despite the early scare, we managed to get the job done and get maximum points from the game. A lot of credit needs to go to the Canadians for their hard work during the game, and their ability to disrupt the Welsh play. James Hook had a pretty poor game, and the game seemed to turn when Steven Jones and Gareth Thomas came on early in the second half. Where as England couldn’t rise though the gears against the US, Wales were able to against the Canucks, and get the all important 4 tries for a bonus point. Wales have learnt a lot more, than they would have done if they’d have thrashed Canada. The game against Australia on Saturday will be a big challenge. We can’t afford to make any mistakes otherwise the Auzzies will punish us badly. Personally I can’t wait for the game, as I’ll be in attendance, for the first of my 3 games of this years tournament.

In the last few minutes it has been announced that Andy Farrell will start at fly half against South Africa on Friday night. All I can say is good luck! So far in his union career he’s played at flanker and centre, so the be thrown in at fly half is a big ask, especially against a top side like South Africa. I would have played Mike Catt there instead. It’s likely they will both interchange during the match, but that in its self can cause confusion in the backline. Maybe he’ll prove me and other doubters wrong, but I doubt it. I still think Farrell should never have been selected for the squad in the first place.

Argentina now seem in prime position to top their group. This would be an awesome achievement, and one I hope they manage to achieve. If things go as planned they’d have a quarter final match against Scotland, one which they are well capable of winning, and then they could achieve the unthinkable… a semi final spot! However I’m not going to pre-empt anything, as things in group D will probably change a lot between now and the end of the group stages. Georgia made the Pumas work hard for their win last night. All credit to them, they had a good go. Most of the minnow teams have come into this world cup with a great attitude. Hopefully they can keep it up for the remainder of the tournament.

[The Phantom]

Well it’s been a big weekend of action in the rugby world cup. Thankfully for Tyler I did not see much of the England vs. South Africa game so I won’t laugh too much. But from what I did see and read, England now need to realise where they actually are in the rugby standings. No longer are they up there with Australia, South Africa and New Zealand, they are in the second tier of the first division, so to say. They should beat Tonga and Samoa, but there is no way they’ll beat Australia in the quarterfinals.

The Millennium Stadium was my destination on Saturday for the Wales vs. Australia group match. Now I’ve been to many rugby internationals over the years, but this one was truly unique. I was more or less pitch side for the match (as my pics will prove) so I could feel the intensity of the match at first hand. Wales lost it in the first half, by not having a proper pattern of play. It seems as though we just want to get through the first half and then play some open rugby in the final third of the game… and by that point we are usually playing catch up. Pivotal moment in the tie was right after half time, we’d scored pretty much straight away, and had the momentum, then after a big up and under Steven Jones missed the flight of the ball and the Wallabies touched down for that vital try which made our jobs even harder. I swear everyone in the stadium could see that Jones was going to miss the ball, it was as if it happened in slow motion! Wales ended the match pretty strongish, and with Australia loosing their discipline towards the end of the match (going down to 13 men) if there’d have been another 10mins I think we could have snuck it. Although it wouldn’t have been deserved. Overall it was a really enjoyable match, the banter in the crowd was good too. There was a helluva lot of Australians and they were a good laugh.

Oh Ireland… what has happened to you? They were a shambles. Full credit to the Georgians, they made Ireland work hard, I was willing them to score a try right at the end. Ireland didn’t deserve the win. They failed to get that crucial bonus point, which I think will deffinatly come back to haunt them. Next up for them is France. If I was an Irishman, I’d hide behind the sofa whilst watching that one!

I was back at the Millennium Stadium on Sunday to watch 2 of the other teams in Wales group play, Fiji and Canada. There weren’t many people there, and I blame that on the RWC organising committee and the way they priced these matches. I picked up my ticket for a bargain £10. The match was a pretty good one, with Fiji dominating the first half and Canada dominating the second half. Canada had many chances to kill the game off, but their decision making was very poor. They squandered at least two chances of certain tries. In the end the Fijians turned over the ball on their own line, and ran the length of the pitch to deprive Canada of a possible win, and seal up a bonus point win for themselves.

[The Phantom]

And now for some pictures:

[The Phantom]

Well here’s probably the most anticipated Rugby World Cup post by TD (since your probably the only person who reads these!)

The Welsh team were an absolute disgrace on Saturday afternoon. Some will say they played some good rugby, but at the end of the day you want the victory… the fancy performances are a bonus. We are (or maybe were) a tier 1 nation. We should have beaten Fiji, and there is no excuse for that.

No disrespect to Fiji, they played some good rugby, but that is only because our game plan played right into their hands. We should have never put ourselves in that position, to play an open game of rugby, against the kings of 7s play.

Before the game I had Wales to win 42-25. I was not worried that much by the Fijians. I watched them play Canada at the Millennium Stadium 2 weeks ago, and there was nothing in that game that suggested to me that Wales should be worried. Fiji looked average at best against the Canadians. In the second half Canada played a tight forward based game which saw them trouble the Fijians… something we should have done. Instead when Fiji scored 3 early tries we panicked. We made the same mistake as Scotland did earlier in the year against Italy. We should have kept pressuring them, and kept the scoreboard ticking over with penalties and drop goals… just chip away at their lead. Instead we spend large periods of the first half deep in the Fijian red zone, with only coming away with 7 points.

There was a glimmer of hope at the beginning of the second half. A glimmer of hope was on the horizon. But then again we allowed Fiji back into the game… and the rest they say is history.

After that result Gareth Jenkins’ position was untenable. He wanted to be judged on the world cup… and he has been. You live by the sword, you die by the sword. I fully support the decision. Jenkins is a fiercely loyal man, he’d never have stepped down so the only thing to do was dismiss him. The WRU are saying all the right things at the moment. A full review of the elite game in Wales will now begin, and hopefully we can see the much needed changes happening to our game. I have many ideas for them… I think I should offer my services to them!!

Now we have to find a new coach. For me there are only two men who could do the job. Former Italy and Japan coach, John Kirwan. He has shown that he can produce good teams with limited resources. He has worked wonders with Japan and Italy, just imagine what he could do with a Welsh team? His experience as a national coach would be desirable, and he has also worked with the New Zealand National Side. He was interested in the Welsh job last time round, but he saw that Gareth Jenkins was the overwhelming favourite and he didn’t pursue the job.

The other man for the job would be Robbie Deans, the Crusaders Coach. Players who play for him speak very highly of him, he also has the ambition of coaching a national side. He applied for the Australian job, when John Connolly got it, so I’m hoping he’d put his name forward.

[Tyler Durden]

Well you'll know far better than me the underlying reasons behind "why" this has happened to Wales. From an outsider looking in all the problems have come since Mike Ruddock was forced out (seemingly) by player power. To wait 27 years for a Grand Slam and then fire the coach that bought it within a year seemed a horrendous move at the time, and it's been all downhill since then. And yes, I'm aware that Ruddock carried on a lot of the good work started by Henson and took over at a good time, and that you had defeats to England and Scotland, but in the game before the England match you beat Australia!!

To be honest I despair at the attitude of the Welsh players. I love to see them playing the rugby they can play, but their attitude just seems all wrong. I mentioned it at the time on here, but the Welsh fans should have "slaughtered" their players for the attitude shown in the 6 Nations with the underlying "well it doesn't matter if we lose to everybody else, as long as we beat England people will forgive us!" That is all sorts of wrong, and this attitude was shown again yesterday. In the 1st 10-15 minutes the team had all sorts of chances to put away Fiji, but messed up two situations where they outnumbered their opponents on the flanks. This seemed to lull them into a belief that they could take Fiji apart whenever they liked but, instead galvanised the Islanders into an incredible "sevens style" performance.

The fact that, when Wales did get shocked they were then able to step up their performance to such a level in the 2nd half was the major factor here. That just tells me a lot of players phoned it in in the 1st half and again this all goes back to "attitude". I personally believe there is way way too much player power in this squad and that (after one six nations success) a lot of players have rested on their laurels.

I hope you get a good coach who is able to identify and either utilise or eliminate the worst elements of the squad. I personally would have thought Eddie Jones or Nick Mallett would have been your best possibilities.

The shift in power in this tournament has been incredible. We've all lived in our little cocoon up in the 6Nations whereas World Rugby has moved on. We're all playing a game that is going to get further and further behind the rest of the World over the next four years in terms of handling, power at the ruck and physicality. This year two of the home nations made the quarters. It could easily have been none.

And yes, I am fully aware of my own nations huge limitations which will likely be shown in full effect this weekend. I hope we have one good game in us, but I feel "heroic failure" would be the closest we could get to any sort of success this time around.

[The Phantom]

Well you'll know far better than me the underlying reasons behind "why" this has happened to Wales. From an outsider looking in all the problems have come since Mike Ruddock was forced out (seemingly) by player power. To wait 27 years for a Grand Slam and then fire the coach that bought it within a year seemed a horrendous move at the time, and it's been all downhill since then. And yes, I'm aware that Ruddock carried on a lot of the good work started by Henson and took over at a good time, and that you had defeats to England and Scotland, but in the game before the England match you beat Australia!!

The facts have never been revealed publically, but I have heard from a very good source that he (Ruddock) was ‘playing away’ with one of the players wife’s. This player retired while Wales were under Mike Ruddock, but has since returned to the international arena. When the players know this has happened to a friend of theirs there is no way the coach can continue. If this is the reason he resigned… the WRU did not sack him.

Henson is an entirely different subject for a different time. He has been riddled with injuries these past two seasons, he did not deserve to go to the World Cup. He is an average player, hyped up by the media after one really good performance against England in 05. He also needs to figure out which position he is going to play in, and stick to it. Although this is really Osprey coach Lyn Jones' fault. I think he can be a world class full back, but Jones sees him as 10/12. **** (See post below)

To be honest I despair at the attitude of the Welsh players. I love to see them playing the rugby they can play, but their attitude just seems all wrong. I mentioned it at the time on here, but the Welsh fans should have "slaughtered" their players for the attitude shown in the 6 Nations with the underlying "well it doesn't matter if we lose to everybody else, as long as we beat England people will forgive us!" That is all sorts of wrong, and this attitude was shown again yesterday. In the 1st 10-15 minutes the team had all sorts of chances to put away Fiji, but messed up two situations where they outnumbered their opponents on the flanks. This seemed to lull them into a belief that they could take Fiji apart whenever they liked but, instead galvanised the Islanders into an incredible "sevens style" performance.

Yes the whole attitude of the Welsh players has left a lot to be desired over the past few seasons. They have been riding the tide of the Grand Slam for far too long. Granted we had injuries in 2006, so we looked at 2007 with the coming back together of the Grand Slam players with some optimism. That fell flat on it’s arse didn’t it? The whole “As long as we beat the English” thing is mealy a feel good factor for us welsh. It achieves nothing else. It mealy papers over the cracks we have in Welsh Rugby. You are right, we need to get away from the whole mentality.

Another thing which disgusts me as a Welsh supporter is the attitude of the players during the World Cup. About a week ago Wales played Japan in the Millennium Stadium. After the game I went into town with a few of my friends for a few drinks and a catch up, and who do we bump into in the club? Some members of the Welsh National Squad!!! I have nothing against players having a few quiet beers after a game to unwind, but to be out clubbing and getting pissed in the middle of a major tournament, for me is an absolute discrace. These are supposed to be ‘elite athletes’, you wouldn’t see players from South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, or even The England squad doing this? It’s the same every Saturday night, you walk into a bar or club in Cardiff city centre and your bound to see a Welsh international out getting pissed.

The fact that, when Wales did get shocked they were then able to step up their performance to such a level in the 2nd half was the major factor here. That just tells me a lot of players phoned it in in the 1st half and again this all goes back to "attitude". I personally believe there is way way too much player power in this squad and that (after one six nations success) a lot of players have rested on their laurels.

Player power is a difficult one for me to talk about, since I feel weak management leads to player power. Gareth Thomas is undoubtedly one of these players who is guilty of having too much power. He has now stepped down from international rugby, so maybe if you kill of the leader, the followers may not be so vocal. Only time will tell with this one.

On a side note, a friend of mine, who I've played a lot of rugby with is on the verge of getting into the Welsh Squad (well in my mind anyway). So I'll have a chat with him once he's there, and see what the mood is like in the Welsh camp. His name is Jamie Roberts. Keep an eye out for him, he'll be a regular in the team in the coming seasons.

I hope you get a good coach who is able to identify and either utilise or eliminate the worst elements of the squad. I personally would have thought Eddie Jones or Nick Mallett would have been your best possibilities.

Two very good candidates, but I personally now want Robbie Deans. The more I read about the guy, the more he impresses me. His name has been thrown around the last couple of times we’ve needed a national coach. Back then it was felt he wasn’t ready. I think his time has now come. I also believe he is top of the WRU 'hit list'.

Essentially, whoever the coach is weather it’s Mallett, Jones, Deans or Phil Davies, they need an experienced backroom staff behind them. The backroom staff we have at the moment is an absolute joke. Assistant manager Nigel Davies: has only coached Llanelli Scarlets (for 2 years), no other experience. Defence coach, Rowland Phillips: Coached the Neath Semi Pro team! He is an absolute waste of space too. He is regularly on a Welsh language show called ‘Jonathan’ (fronted by Jonathan Davies) and he is just an idiot on that show, fooling around all the time, and cracking onto Nigel Owens (internationall ref, who is openly gay). Robin McBride Is the forwards coach: he has no previous coaching role! It says it all doesn’t it? Their all from up west, and good friends of Gareth Jenkins.

The shift in power in this tournament has been incredible. We've all lived in our little cocoon up in the 6Nations whereas World Rugby has moved on. We're all playing a game that is going to get further and further behind the rest of the World over the next four years in terms of handling, power at the ruck and physicality. This year two of the home nations made the quarters. It could easily have been none.

And yes, I am fully aware of my own nations huge limitations which will likely be shown in full effect this weekend. I hope we have one good game in us, but I feel "heroic failure" would be the closest we could get to any sort of success this time around.

Have to fully agree with you here. Argentina have had an immense tournament, and are looking and a possible semi final spot. Who’d have thought that? Even I wouldn’t have thought that a few weeks ago when I saw them lose to Wales in the World Cup warm ups.

Christ, I’m going to have to stop typing for a bit, I feel my Blood Pressure rising while answering all these questions, ha ha!