RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal

[Duluth]

[GibbonRib]

@Steve said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:

The refs have abdicated responsibility for showing red cards since the bunker came in.

Not at all, you've missed the point of the bunker - it's there to speed up the game. The refs have generally been using it exactly as they should - check if the incident is at least worth a yellow, and then let the bunker spend minutes poring over the replays to decide of it's met the threshold for red while the game continues.

I guess the counter argument is that it seems the decisions about whether it's red-worthy are made by rolling a dice, which shouldn't take that long.

[GibbonRib]

Bit of a scrapy performance from Wales, but pretty much what I expected. Good to get the BP win, and sit back and watch Fiji and Aus battle it out tonight.

The top nations might be able to put 50 points on a decent tier 2 team like Portugal, but that's not where Wales are at the moment, so I'll take this.

[GibbonRib]

@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:

Entertaining match and Os Lobos have been really good. Excellent defence, discipline and kicking game.

We keep saying it every four years, but World rugby really does need to get it's act together and find a way to get teams like Portugal regular games against the top sides.

Absolutely.

And in true World Rugby fashion they are doing the exact opposite - their new pet project, the "World League", is going to almost entirely eliminate tier 1 v tier 2 games between world cups.

[ARHS]

Great performance by Portugal. Very disappointed they ruled a red card. I am hating the lottery at this rwc

[Nevorian]

@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:

@pooler-fan said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:

@MiketheSnow

Halfpenny is a rock in defence and is still our best goal kicker

Doesn’t offer much in attack at the moment though

Two out of three, more than our fullback can manage at the moment

[NTA]

Halfpenny should have been penalised and perhaps given yellow for a supposed turnover a couple of metres out from his own line. No way he was supporting his weight, in a strong position, or lifting the ball.

[MiketheSnow]

Robert Kitson in the Observer today:
“It was against the run of play, then, when the ball was moved wide right to Rees-Zammit who chipped ahead and regathered smoothly to put Wales on the board after nine minutes. The winger cheekily marked the moment with a Cristiano Ronaldo-style celebration which, predictably, did not go down terribly well with everyone present.”