Please raise your hand if you’ve spent the past 3 weekends on your sofa watching every rugby match of the world cup so far... Lunch and dinner roll into one as you attempt to throw a quick meal together in-between each match. Starting at midday, you keep track of time as you watch the clock count up 80 minutes throughout each match. It's a marathon, a sofa marathon, a marathon of who can keep their words discreet the longest (even when the referee heads to the TMO for the 100th time). It's a trek of endurance, but in fairness a pretty enjoyable one at that.
There is no doubt that The Rugby World Cup 2015 has been one of the most interesting in recent years. With Japan making history beating South Africa 34-32, Whales beating England, and Australia killing England's chance of making it out of the pool stages. The first time in the history of the rugby world cup the home team didn’t make it out of the pool stages - which cost the English economy 3 billion pounds. (Twitter reaction) All in all it's been quite a shocking turn of events for many teams. Personally, I wouldn't have it any other way! It brings the passion back into the game of rugby. The last 2 minutes of the Japan vs. South Africa match were unbelievable, I watched it on repeat a few times basking in the indescribable emotion displayed by the Japanese. We can't forget to mention the videos that made the rounds online capturing the Irish reaction to the win, you'd almost think Ireland had won the entire World Cup! (Irish Reaction)
As an Irish fan, I've quite enjoyed the matches so far. Under the incredible skill and talent of Joe Schmidt, there is no doubt that the Irish team have excelled in every shape and form over the past year. Despite losing two of their warm-up matches against Whales and England, very little was uttered against Schmidt. O'Driscoll reassured the public at the time, revealing a conversation with Schmidt "He didn't want to show their hand," he said, "He wasn't concerned at all about the results... Any time there was an open session, they would do defensive sets or fitness. They were showing nothing at all." (Interview) In spite of this reassurance, O'Driscoll is still convinced the All Blacks will beat the Irish in the final... Not quite sure how I feel about that one...
The Irish team embarking on the world cup this year are a strong mixture of young and old, with the legendary Paul O'Connell captaining the squad. As his last journey with Ireland, there's no doubt he will want to go out on a high. Various players with the likes of Tommy Bowe, Simon Zebo and Jared Payne battle it out to make it onto the team each week. However, there's no doubt Bowe and Zebo showed their talent against Romania last week assisting and scoring 2 tries for Ireland. An undeniable trust is evident throughout the country for Schmidt. It seems the consensus is, that if anyone can take the Irish team to the final, it's going to be the legendary man himself.
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| Paulie Scrum Surfing |
There's something quite satisfying about watching the underdogs mess up the predictions of the entire world. Japan shook up the odds of the outcome but despite the wealth of talent across the world of rugby, the bets are still high on the All Blacks. I mean, it's like watching Kilkenny win the Hurling every year, it just gets boring!
So, get ready for another day of sofa surfing tomorrow and here's to hoping there will be a few more shocking events along the way! It's not over yet lads! (Although maybe it is for England...)
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