RWC 2023: Ireland

[JB1973]

Depends if you only care about Team Wales or otherwise.
They've done a good job of squeezing every penny out of the test team.

Yes they have in fairness but there is a big backlash here about putting the autumn games solely on amazon

The home games have always been free to air even if just on S4C, I think the amazon take up is under the 50% mark in wales and probably even less than that in rugby clubs and pubs so that's over half the population who won't get to see the games live. I wonder if that will lead to a drop off in interest in the national side, accessibility to games always helps keep the interest high

[Morf]

I can see how that would ruffle a few feather alright.

[cormac]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

[CiaranIrl]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

[sunshiner1]

by cormac

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

Is this there first time in the RWC?

[Dave Cahill]

No, 1999

[neill_m]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

The review reportedly concerns South Africa-born front-rower Gavin van der Berg. He made his debut on December 19 as Spain beat the Netherlands 52-7 in Amsterdam in the Rugby Europe Championship, which also doubled as World Cup qualifying.

Van der Berg was a second-half replacement and scored a try.

He was a second-half replacement again on February 7 when the Netherlands was beaten 43-0 in Madrid.

Van der Berg arrived in Spain in 2018, and had to live there for three years to qualify for Spain on residency before his debut on December 19. But he reportedly returned to South Africa for four months in 2019, and went back there again during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

If Spain is found guilty of breaching Regulation 8, it could lose at least the 10 competition points it won against the Netherlands.

That would drop it from second to fourth in European qualifying and out of the Rugby World Cup. Romania, instead, could rise to second and automatic qualification, and Portugal could finish third and advance to the world repechage tournament in November.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/int ... app-iPhone

[neill_m]

Spain have been disqualified from competing at Rugby World Cup 2023. The winners of the Europe 2 qualification slot have been found guilty of breaching player eligibility laws by selecting South African prop Gavin van den Berg as a replacement in two Rugby Europe Championship matches against the Netherlands. Spain won the matches 43-0 and 52-7 to claim maximum competition points.

It was revealed that van den Berg was not eligible to play for Spain having not completed the requirements of three years consecutive residency, having returned to his home country in between domestic seasons for longer than is allowed under Regulation 8. Guidelines stipulate that players must remain in the country for 10 months a year to qualify on consecutive residency. Spain had hastily included van den Berg in order to qualify him under the three-year regulation which then changed to five years on January 1 of this year.

Complicating matters was that van den Berg had been incorrectly cleared to play for Spain by both the national federation (FER) and World Rugby. Those clearances were made based on false documentation provided by the player and his club Alcobendas. van den Berg’s social media presence alerted other unions of the breach and an appeal was made to World Rugby to investigate the matter, with an independent panel confirming his ineligibility.

Romania go into Ireland's group and Portugal into the repechage tournament.

[heno]

2 rwc in a row for Spain! That's some self destructive achievement.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[neill_m]

Spain's appeal has failed re their disqualification from RWC 2023 and Romania will remain in Ireland's pool.

https://www.world.rugby/news/728050/ind ... ligibility

[Twist]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

[ronk]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

Seems fine. 2 warm up games, then the big one then a 2nd chance after a good beak if we're chasing a result.

We won't need to double up that hard. I'd say full squad Romania then a 2 week break for most. Then SA, 2 weeks Scotland. 4 from 5 games for the starters.

[jezzer]

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

Seems fine. 2 warm up games, then the big one then a 2nd chance after a good beak if we're chasing a result.

We won't need to double up that hard. I'd say full squad Romania then a 2 week break for most. Then SA, 2 weeks Scotland. 4 from 5 games for the starters.

Looks fine to me too.

[Degz]

Yeah, the two week break between SA and Scotland is the kicker.

If we could manage to beat SA (big if, obviously), then we might not even need much from the Scots and could potentially mix and match (i.e., rest J10).

[johng]

Spain have qualified for the RWC as Europe 2 and will be in our group.

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

Not sure how you could improve them tbh. Looks like the best possible combination. What would you consider ideal?

[Ruckedtobits]

Our opening game of the tournament as well.

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

Not sure how you could improve them tbh. Looks like the best possible combination. What would you consider ideal?

Play S.A first.

[jezzer]

This is something Scotland should be fretting about, not us. Ireland is good enough to get out of the group no matter the match order, so we just have to execute and roll onwards.

It's in our favour that SA will know where they stand in the group by the time they meet us and maybe they'll be interested in finishing second, assuming they beat Scotland and the Tier 2s. Depending on the other group they might be happy to field a weakened team.

Either way, as i say unless the draw was egregiously unfair to us, which it isn't, it should be the least of our concerns. We're well able to adapt.

[Twist]

Actually the order of our games could scarcely be worse;

09 SEP - Romania
(10 SEP - SA v. Scotland)
16 SEP - Asia/Pacific 1
23 SEP - South Africa
7 OCT - Scotland

14/15 OCT - Potential QF

Not sure how you could improve them tbh. Looks like the best possible combination. What would you consider ideal?

Play S.A first.

Yep. I'd opt for this too. Most of all I'd just want the Scotland game before SA.

As it stands, I think we're likely to field our best 23 against the Saffers. We're more likely to lose than to win that, and to be fairly bruised afterwards. The Scotland game becomes a knockout at that point, which isn't ideal especially as they'll have had a couple of gimmes to build up some momentum. If we get through that then we're sending out our best 23 for the third game in a row against NZ/France.

[jezzer]

Looking ahead to the autumn, and with an eye on refining your potential RWC squad, pick your 23 to face Australia on the basis that we really want to win, but nobody who started a test vs the ABs can be selected, nor can Kelleher/Henderson/Conan.

Playstyle and player demands stay the same as today

I'd go:

Kilcoyne
Herring
O'Toole

Treadwell
McCarthy

Prendergast
Connors
Timoney

Casey
Frawley

Conway
McCloskey
Hume
Balacoune
J O'Brien

[Oldschool]

Looking ahead to the autumn, and with an eye on refining your potential RWC squad, pick your 23 to face Australia on the basis that we really want to win, but nobody who started a test vs the ABs can be selected, nor can Kelleher/Henderson/Conan.

Playstyle and player demands stay the same as today

I'd go:

Kilcoyne
Herring
O'Toole

Treadwell
McCarthy

Prendergast
Connors
Timoney

Casey
Frawley

Conway
McCloskey
Hume
Balacoune
J O'Brien

As close to the 23 that beat NZM and adjusted for your criteria.
The bench would be interesting.