Scrum Fantasy Rugby - World Cup

[trampie]

Looking at the leaderboard if Australia and Wales go home this weekend the top 10 could struggle. There is a lot of coverage across those teams in the backs of the leaders and with not too many transfers left it could be decisive. Having said that the leader has got a nice cushion and will be difficult to catch - France going home this week will hurt him though.
Gutted Kaino got the motm on Sunday when Guildford scored 4 tries and 3 assists - although Kaino has been impressive this WC. That cost me a 10 point swing on the leader and will need a lot of luck to have any chance now.

Good luck Nabby, you have played a good tournie.

[trampie]

Of course I won't give up but looking at my team, looking at the points gap between myself and the top lot and looking at my transfer usage with those that have made 3/4 less transfers gaining on me I'm just being realistic, I peeked too early.
Before the WC kicked off I would have been chuffed with a top 1,000 place of 70k in a game I know nowt about so whatever happens I'd have done well as top 1k is a given.
The plan is still set and will be seen through to the finish.

Excellent performance by Chuck, a self confessed rugby novice, at this rate Chuck you will be one of the boys to beat come the six nations.

[Chuck Taylor]

When is the six nations?

That's the equivalent of not knowing when the Euros Championships are

[trampie]

When is the six nations?

That's the equivalent of not knowing when the Euros Championships are

February and March.

[juckster]

Who's in the six nations

[bloggie]

Romania,Russia,Spain,Portugal,Georgia and Tunisia.

[Nabby]

According to ESPN this is the NZ team for the game v Argentina:
New Zealand: Mils Muliaina; Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Sonny Bill Williams; Colin Slade, Piri Weepu, Tony Woodcock, Keven Mealamu, Owen Franks, Brad Thorn, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (c), Kieran Read

Replacements: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Victor Vito, Jimmy Cowan, Aaron Cruden, Isaia Toeava

So no Kahui and no Dagg - not even on the bench.
This really throws the compo open as the current leader, who holds a healthy advantage now has 3 of his 5 backs not in the 22 this weekend (Byrne, Dagg & Kahui) and only 1 transfer to do anything.

Edit: from the All Blacks site:
Zac Guildford (hamstring), Israel Dagg (thigh haematoma) and Richard Kahui (hamstring) – recovering from injuries

[Chuck Taylor]

This really throws the compo open as the current leader, who holds a healthy advantage now has 3 of his 5 backs not in the 22 this weekend (Byrne, Dagg & Kahui) and only 1 transfer to do anything.

That's a darn shame!!!!

[Nabby]

I hope it didn't like I was wishing ill on mr Gill - I know his uncle has posted on Fiso, and I wish him all the best, however to have a chance of closing the gap I think it needed something like this. He will still take some catching though.

[Chuck Taylor]

No it didn't Nabby, I'll take that role

[grob]

I hope it didn't like I was wishing ill on mr Gill - I know his uncle has posted on Fiso, and I wish him all the best, however to have a chance of closing the gap I think it needed something like this. He will still take some catching though.

Good luck Nabby,all of us in the Fiso ML will be hoping you can pull it off !
It would be sad if someone who wasn't really interested were to win this comp,in fact I can't understand why anyone not interested would bother entering.

Take care over your new kicker,as I understand NZ won't decide until the day,depending on weather conditions,i.e. how windy it is.

[Nabby]

Cheers Grob.
Don't worry I will not be picking Slade as my kicker as I had read that Weepu could assume kicking duties. For the same reason I won't touch Flood or Wilko. It is boiling down to O Gara or Priestland for me. Currently erring towards OG. Steyn would be the sensible pick but at this stage I probably need to do something different to Mr Gill. Picking OG also lets me know early whether my kicker is through to the SFs and so will know whether to hold back a transfer for the next round, which I may otherwise use on bringing in a French or English Back when one of H'Penny or Bowe go home.

[grob]

Even I as a proud Welshman found myself considering OG,whose track record speaks for itself.
However,allowing for a slight bias,I do believe Wales will beat Ireland and probably England in the semis too !
I can't help wondering if NZ will suffer a little blow to their confidence following the loss of Carter,Kahui and Israel Dagg, but I'm expecting SA to beat the Aussies and then be knocked out by NZ,producing a NZ v Wales final !
I guess it's advisable to keep 1 transfer to cover the possibility of losing your kicker especially if you go for O'Gara

[Nabby]

I guess it's advisable to keep 1 transfer to cover the possibility of losing your kicker especially if you go for O'Gara

spot on Grob.
I ended up with OG, even after everyone told me to go Priestland. Problem is I didn't want a 3-1 load on Wales over Ireland when I really thought Ireland were the favourites. Shame as having OG meant that I needed to save a transfer back and couldn't then follow through with the plan to switch Bowe/Halfpenny to Clerc for the France v England game. A move which would have lifted me to 3rd and given me a French back for the semi.
Still all to play for though.

[banana]

bloody hell, nabby...you crazy lunatic...

it was always going to be priestland...!!

as an interloper here from the irish times thread/comp, i can't offend anyone, so as far i'm concerned...GO NABBY GO!!! you've got the beating of mr gill - i knows it...i just knows it...

[Nabby]

I know...I just played what I believed to be the logical move, regretting it now! Congrats on today btw
Gill will take some catching, France going home today would have killed him I think but he lives to fight another day. Must say I'm surprised he has piled all his eggs into the Aussie basket for tomorrw, using his final trannie on Digby Injury Prone. With his lead I would have probably gone Habana or Pietersen ensuring at least one of AAC or his SAF pick in the semi finals and then possible final/3rd place play-off. If he really wanted Aus then he surely should have gone O' Conor, ensuring a kicker in the Semi Final - with one of Steyn or O'Connor going through. His way he either ends up with 2 backs and no kicker or a kicker but losing two backs.
The guy in 2nd has a chance, but if Aus go home tomorrow his chances may be over. The team in 3rd lost 7 players today on top of the one he had already lost from the group phase. Can't see him winning.
I think it's all to play for with a few q'ing up behind, but I think perhaps Mr Gill is perhaps the marginal favourite, and if Aus go through and Kahui and Dagg are back for the SF then it really will be a tough job getting past him.

[grob]

All I can say,apart from good luck again,is thank heavens tomorrow is the last time I'll have to get up before sunrise !
Mind you ,a Wales victory over Ireland this morning made it worthwhile,especially as it was such a cracking game to watch, so I'll be up before the sparrows again for the tasty pre-breakfast menu of SA v Aust @ 6am and the NZ v Arg to follow @ 8.30 and can then begin to savour the prospect of two 9am kick offs next Sat & Sun -
lovely jubbly !

[banana]

sounds like a hell of a finish is on the cards in this comp...

blimey charlie!! sounds like the leader is a welshman, who had a couple too many sherberts after the game and then in a moment of beer-fuelled nostalgia, remembered his great auntie iona who went to live in aus after the war. either that or he has made a bit of a miscalculation. if the aussies go through...which seems to be what he is hoping...why not pick des?? has he got yachvilli? if no, then his best-case scenario involves having no kicker... wow!! it's all getting too weird in your comp.

in i/times-land i've gone for a saffer/aus split, so i was going to just enjoy the game as a neutral. anyway, it looks to me, nabby my friend, that you could be in business if the aussies get busted. so i'm off to follow that game on scrumtext...and rig for matfield's boys.

[grob]

You're watching it on live text Banana ? It's on ITV live - how can scrumtext compare with that,or don't you live in the UK ? or can't you get ItV in Bridgend

[banana]

You're watching it on live text Banana ? It's on ITV live - how can scrumtext compare with that,or don't you live in the UK ? or can't you get ItV in Bridgend

i know that this is hard to believe, but i am serious... we don't have a tv ... tried to sign up for itv's webcast but there was some problem re storage of email address ... so it's webtext or nowt ...

check out my posts on the chittychatty thread ... you can tell i can't see the games ... just 'read' 'em ...

[grob]

but banana,you're obviously online,so you can watch all the games live on ItV online,see How to Watch : http://www.itv.com/rugbyworldcup/2011/matches/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Wales v France on Sat ,NZ v Wallabies on Sunday,both live at the civilised hour of 9am - unmissable !

[Nabby]

has he got yachvilli?

He's got Parra, so could get lucky but presume Yachvilli will play and kick next week.
I think it is now between the top 2. The guy in 3rd could still win, the 4th has lost too many players this weekend and has no transfers to replenish.
I may have missed a trick today - should have switched out Burger (who I thought was a good bet for the motm today ) after the Aus v SA game and gone for Read. Considered a NZ forward and didn't want Kaino as those above me had him but bottled it at the last minute thinking those last two transfers could come in handy when players are rested for the 3rd/4th play off game. Silly really as Read will probably play 3 games including today.

[banana]

yo

@grob: thanks for the link... thing is i tried it this morning, as i mentioned before, and i had an error message saying 'we are unable to store your email address right now...please try again later...' ... anyway, will keep trying...

@nabby: oooh. that is a right old bummer. i decided to go splitsky on aus v saffers so stuck in jpp ... had intended to go pocock ... yeah, i know that looks all wrong, but i decided to go for back rotation rather than wedge up on a full XV. anyway, i'm nowhere near the wonga so... what the hey! not so with you, so i'm reet sorry about that non-read move...damn today was the day for back-rows, and i reckon it caught us both out... hope you get a big chunk'o'luck...hang in there butty.

[Chuck Taylor]

FISO Top 10 after the Quarters

1 Nabby Phil Dines Lily 39 27 524 (5th overall)
2 topspur paul branigan Odd shaped ball boys 34 21 479 (56th overall)
3 Chuck Taylor Russell Cane Mother Hakas 38 16 469
4 bossdrum Oscar Deacy Time for Trumpton 30 30 459
5 Zoolander Paul Stringer Mogwai 33 20 454
6 Mr Green Matt Sims Read It And Weepu 30 20 451
7 Takeshi Kovacs Chris Richards JOCI Club 31 16 430
8 Spencer4 Julian Ravilious The Cat & Pigeon 33 16 428
9 juckster Justin Johnson Here For Beer 27 20 422
10 Doogal Mike Maguire Is this really necessary? 25 19 412

[Nabby]

has he got yachvilli?

He's got Parra, so could get lucky but presume Yachvilli will play and kick next week.

It could be lady luck continues to shine on Mr Gill. Yachvilli picked up an injury at the weekend and although should be ok to play I've read he may hand kicking duties over to Parra. Not 100% sure yet. With a 20 point lead, Kahui and Dagg looking likely to return plus the news on Parra it could just be that the hare holds off the tortoises in this comp.

[banana]

just read the same thing on beeb site.

that is absolutely outrageous good luck! unbelievable...the guy left himself right up the creek...there's no way he should have a kicker...lo & behold...he gets dealt a 'get-out-of-jail-free-card' out of nowhere.

just goes to show...if lady-luck is licking your earlobes whilst kneeing your rivals in the cahonas...then sod forward planning and boo-sucks to sense...you just can't go wrong.

[Nabby]

Think it's all over now. There has been insufficient scores in the quarters and semis to pull Mr Gill back. I have moved up to 4th but no chance of reeling him in with only 2 games to play unless there are some miracle scores left.

[Chuck Taylor]

FISO TOP 10 AFTER SEMI FINALS

1 Nabby Phil Dines Lily 39 27 562 (4th overall)
2 topspur paul branigan Odd shaped ball boys 34 22 514 (55th overall)
3 bossdrum Oscar Deacy Time for Trumpton 30 31 499
4 Chuck Taylor Russell Cane Mother Hakas 38 17 492
5 Zoolander Paul Stringer Mogwai 33 21 491
6 Mr Green Matt Sims Read It And Weepu 31 20 490
7 juckster Justin Johnson Here For Beer 28 20 466
8 Takeshi Kovacs Chris Richards JOCI Club 31 16 464
9 Spencer4 Julian Ravilious The Cat & Pigeon 33 17 454
10 Alchemist andy harvey Edgar Mobbs a true boy's own hero 27 17 450

[Nabby]

with the teams news now complete for the 3rd & 4th place game it could all be very tight going into the final.
Mr Gill is holding a 16 point lead over Mr Northovers 2nd place team but with only 2 playing on friday against Mr Northovers 6 starters plus one replacement it could get close. Appearance points alone would be a max of 6 against a max of 19 and would close the gap to 3. Mr Gill will need Ioane to score to hold a lead I think as surely we will see trys in this one and the greater numbers in the 2nd placed team would suggest he is more likely to nail a try or an assist. He also looks like he will be going into the game with Hook as kicker. Unless Ioane scores I expect to see a change of leader at the top after Friday and then it will be a final day shoot out in which Mr Gill currently has the greater numbers. Mr Northover does have a transfer up his sleeve though, so expect Kahui or Dagg to come in for the final.

[juckster]

Good luck Nabby. we're rooting for you.