Sunday, September 16, 2007

Watching Rugby World Cup in Chiang Mai - Second Weekend Update


The best place to watch the Rugby World Cup in Chiang Mai is Tuskers. Here are our thoughts on the second weekend's games

We watched last nights games in the delightful company of Donny and a belligerent Crowboy who made me suffer for being an England fan - quite right too I'd have done the same biggrin.gif

Reflections -

New Zealand 108 v Portugal 13- Another highly competent display from the AB's obviously nothing of significance can be gained from the result but they all had a run out and are looking pretty sharp. Only concern is that without decent opposition in the group is that they will go undercooked into the quarters. A word of praise though for Portugal who battled gamely without the firepower to compete and never gave up. They scored 13 points more than England and looked very happy at the end. Some good looking Portuguse fans as well. cool.gif

Wales 20 Australia 32 - Very professional display from the Aussies. For the most part they controlled the game against a spirited Welsh side. Wales gave the ball away far too much and didn't have the penetration in their running game that they had a couple of years ago. The Aussie defence looked very good at the gain line which may be an important factor in the latter stages of the competition.

Ireland 14 Georgia 10 - Oh dear Ireland continue in their competition with England for most incompetent team at the RWC. What has happened to this team which was surrounded by so much hope before the tournament began. They even had the bonus of an early try to help them settle. Well done Georgia for such a gutsy performance but on this form it looks an early plane home for the boys in green.

Tonight's games

Fiji v Canada 7pm
Samoa v Tonga 9pm
France v Namibia 2am Monday

A couple of fun games tonight. Fiji Canada seemd to be a battle between a strong Canadian pack and sparkling Fiji backs - I fancy the Canadians to keep it in the forwards and get a hard fought victory

Samoa Tonga - must see game. Starting off with Haka wars as the tow teams go toe to toe with their war damces before the game even starts. Exopect a brutal game and plenty of handbags should be great.

France Namibia - French will need to try to get some team cohesion and a morale boosting annihilation of Namibia to try to get their campaign going. Expect stern Namibian resistance and a stroppy crowd on French backs if they don't start piling on quick points. Could be fun.

Tuskers is Chiang Mai's leading sports bar showing the wides selection of sporting action in Chiang Mai