[Rugby] Union | League / Super / 6's & 7's / Internationals/Cups/Tours/Olympics

I watched the Panthers get beaten by the Melbourne Storm. By the end of the game, the Panthers had caused five or six HIA on their southern opponents while suffering a couple of key injuries on their own team.

Not a good way to play with attrition taking a heavy toll.

A win for the Dragons this after will propel them into the top eight over the Dolphins who were unavailable to fend off the on form Bulldogs yesterday. (Scores are 14 - 6 over the Titans after thirty minutes of game play).

The tigers were able to overcome the Rabbitohs who scored a late try with three minutes to go, but were unable to set up a two point field goal to end up loosing 18 - 16.

Likewise, the Warriors season is over as is Canberra.

https://www.rugbypass.com/internationals/

South Africa and Ireland top the table followed by New Zealand, France, England and Argentina.

Australia are in ninth spot behind Scotland and Italy. Fiji and Wales take up the tenth and eleventh places on the table.

https://www.world.rugby/tournaments/fixtures-results

Emphatic wins for New Zealand and South Africa with more games to follow in the coming hours.

Australia are indeed slipping down the table, they were once a powerhouse of
Rugby Union and having 2 world cup titles.

The performances havent been great of late and it was going to be difficult to beat
South Africa anyway.

As expected by most, Argentina were not able to back up the win last week with
another yesterday, the All Blacks rarely let that happen. It will be interesting to
see what Argentina can do at home with Australia visiting.

NRL Australia

Just checking the ladder to see where the mid table is at and the fight for qualifying
for the 8 final positions and I'm surprised to see the Broncos closing in on that 8th spot.
Its a very congested mid table.

Dolphins in 9th have to play the Apex predators the Sharks and Broncos have to play
the Eels so by my reckoning the Broncos could go to 9th at least.

Yeh I was having similar thoughts. The Dolphins won't win their game while I'm anticipating the Broncos will probably win (but the Eels patchy game play means they might pull a Rabbit out of their bag).

Regardless, my pics for round 25 begins tonight with the Sea Eagles comfortably winning over the Tigers. Then,

Bulldogs
Broncos
Panthers
Storm
Knights
Roosters
Sharks

Talk about the unpredictability of the NRL this season - Sea Eagles in 6th or 7th
spot were supposed to easily win visiting the bottom of the ladder Wests Tigers
but nope the Tigers werent having any of it - Final score - Tigers 34 - 26 Eagles.
A game of close margins, Tigers scoring 6 trys and 5 out of 6 conversions, Eagles
scoring 5 trys and only 3 of 5 conversions.

Anyway more games to follow, really hope the Broncos can do themselves a favour
by winning tomorrow.

Quote from: Timelord2067 on August 22, 2024, 08:09:39 AM

2 from 8 - not bad at all!
Obviously nobody saw the Wests Tigers beating the Sea Eagles and likewise
the Bulldogs beating top ~~dogs~~ cats the Panthersl

Broncos up to 9th with 2 rounds to play. Dolphins next and last round against
Storm, not the easiest last two rounds

Dragons in 8th on the Ladder have an easier 2 rounds against the Eels and Raiders,
they could keep the Broncos out of the finals....

Round 3 of the Rugby Championship coming up this weekend with a very tasty
match up between South Africa and New Zealand.

Second match is Argentina v Australia.

The two home teams are favourite 1.34 and 1.36, a parley on both is 1.84 but
I'm not sure if South Africa can hold back New Zealand. If New Zealand lose
this match I think their Championship title hopes are dead. Argentina will be hoping
New Zealand win I suspect, It opens up their chances a bit.

Yes, I'm going with South Africa and Argentina over New Zealand and Australia who are both offering over $3 each odds.

I lucked out last night with Melbourne parking 11 of their key players on the bench for their game vs the Cowboys in Townsville. I thought they might have avoided what the Broncos did last year, but sadly the Storm weren't paying attention.

My other pics for this weekend are

Bulldogs
Panthers
Dragons
Dolphins
Sharks
Knights
Roosters.

Tomorrow afternoon we have the so-called battle of Brisbane with the Dolphins and Broncos squaring off at Lang Park just before the Riverfire festival kicks off (the Hornets did a practice run lass than half an hour ago).

Just following the Eels v Dragons score and in second half time its the Eels
trouncing the Dragons 40-12 and doing the Broncos a favour - all they have to do
is go ahead and beat the Dolphins.

Eels have been a mixed bag this season, sitting near the bottom of the ladder
they have been winning games they should be losing and losing games they
should be winning since the start of the season.

e d i t

OMG Eels are very lucky today, they end up winning 44 - 40! The Dragons made
some comeback from 40 - 12 down with 57 minutes played. Unfortunately Timelord
your bet got killed.

The Argentinians lost by just one point against Australia (and I even had money in them to win 🤔) . South Africa win their match against New Zealand (that must have hurt).

Last night the Dolphins slaughtered the Broncos keeping their own finals hopes alive while the Broncos can't get into the top eight with just one week of regular game play left.

If the Dolphins win next week they should see off the Knights, Dragons and Raiders who share with them 28 points.

The Tigers had a bye this week earning two points. Next week fittingly, the Eels and Tigers battle for the ultimate prize of Wooden spoon and runner up Wooden Spoon.

Yup, thats that so for the Broncos, still can't believe the difference in some teams
and how they have changed so much from last season to this, Eels, Rabbitohs and
Broncos who were Grand finalists last year.

Anyway, it would be great in a way to see the Dolphins into the Grand final in
their second season! They play the Knights next week 8th spot plays 9th spot, should make
for a great game!

Quote from: Timelord2067 on September 01, 2024, 10:57:34 AM

The Argentinians lost by just one point against Australia (and I even had money in them to win 🤔) . South Africa win their match against New Zealand (that must have hurt).

Oh yea the Argentinians were definitely hurting after that narrow loss last weekend.
Its a replay coming up this weekend and they will be out for revenge for sure.
Its interesting that both teams are in rebuilding mode with two new coaches

Odds for the weekend is Argentina 1.5 - Australia 2.8. Timelord I sense you are
going to chance a bet on the Wallabies?

In the other match I cant see New Zealand beating South Africa, same odds as
above 1.49 v 2.8

I've just spent nearly a week in cloudfare purgatory...

I'm going with RSA and Argentina on the weekend - turns out my funds are too low to withdraw from nitrobetting.eu so I'm doing some larger than normal wagers (including a parlay on my eight picks for the last round of the NRL regular season.

The Storm destroyed the Broncos last night 50 - 12 with many Broncos supporters leaving Lang Park early in the second half. The ABC commentators calling the game were reading out listener SMS' that were critical of their analogy of the Broncos loss, but in their defense they commentators were just calling it as is was - a mid-season collapse with no recovery.

My other pics are:

Tigers
Roosters
Dragons
Bulldogs
Panthers
Sharks
Dolphins.

Its rare for the two teams vieing for the wooden spoon to do battle in the last round, but after twenty minutes they are locked at 10 - 10. The media have been agonizing over who might win, but on the streets its a party atmosphere.

And just like that, the Balmain Tigers retain the coveted Woodend Spoon for a third straight year loosing to the Eels 26 - 60 (a compelling reason for relegation) Ironically, the win for the Eels lifts them to fifteenth place ahead of the Rabbitohs.

I doubt the Bulldogs have what it takes to win the grand final with their shock loss 6 - 44 against an in for Cowboys.

As expected, South Africa beat New Zealand 18 - 12 while Argentina trounced Australia 67 - 27.

Quote from: Timelord2067 on September 08, 2024, 12:50:04 AM

As expected, South Africa beat New Zealand 18 - 12 while Argentina trounced Australia 67 - 27.

Oooh there was vengence in that win by Argentina! realistically they shouldnt
have been beaten last week ^{sorry Timelord!}

With South Africa beating New Zealand in both matches the Pumas are into
2nd! but with New Zealand facing Australia and Argentina facing South Africa
in the next rounds I would say the table will be as follows at the end...

1. South Africa
2. New Zealand
3. Argentina
4. Australia

Dolphins didnt make it into the NRL finals! Timelord what do you think about
the finals, do you fancy Storm to win the title?

Hi guys! Long time without passing here.

What a win for Argentina against Australia this last weekend, when i see the result i was quite shocked. Very good to see now Argentina is becoming a more serious team and start to try to fight for something big in this tournaments.

Anyways Australia is very deep in a shithole since a few years, why is this happening?

Yes Argentina are going well, they are capable of beating all 3 opponents in the
Rugby Championship, I would really like to see them beating South Africa in the
next rounds.

I feel though that they are progressing slowly, being beaten by Australia the week
before last was a killer blow to their final standing.

Australia are indeed going through a troublesome era I'm not sure why this is the
case, Australia 20 or so years ago were a real powerhouse.

Quote from: aoluain on September 10, 2024, 09:14:21 PM

I feel though that they are progressing slowly, being beaten by Australia the week
before last was a killer blow to their final standing.

Australia are indeed going through a troublesome era I'm not sure why this is the
case, Australia 20 or so years ago were a real powerhouse.

Yes i have the same exact feeling Argentina is building and progressing very slow, but well like a italian phrase which is super used here says "piano piano si va lontano" which means "slow you go far".

About Australia seems like they lose the north, i dont know how is the system of australia to make players. Are clubs or how they do? You can become a profesional player in Australia so i dont know why dont have much better players.

EDIT: Just in case im darxia this is my alt.

Good to have you back with us @darxiaomi - Argentina are ticking all the right boxes at the moment while Australia just can't seem to get their act together. Next weekend Australia are probably going to get trounced by New Zealand while South Africa are going to face off against Argentina. I'm leaning towards South Africa in that one and NZ in the other.

Across the ditch, I'm going with Canterbury, Bay of Plenty, North Harbour ($1.02), Waikato and Auckland in the NPC competition.

NRL 2024 Finals

I'm going with the four favourites - Penrith, Melbourne, Cowboys (playing at home in Townsville) and the Sea Eagles over the Bulldogs (whose last two games were very lack luster)

Who do I think will win the Grand Final? I've narrowed it down to a three way tussle between the Sharks, Storm and Panthers. I would have included the Bulldogs, but they came up short in their recent games.

The Dolphins are close to breaking into the top eight next year. It'll be interesting if a change of coast next year improves their chances (same goes for the Rabbitohs).