Illuminati-R-Us

For what it's worth, I have a beer riding on the outcome of the final. The person with whom I have the bet didn't ask me. When I predicted South Africa would win, she just said we know have a bet, where she is for New Zealand. Someone else gave me a little stuffed kiwi (a bird, not a human) she made...

Congrats to England for a Worls Cup bronze! That was, again, a fun game to watch. I didn't watch it. However, I'll head over to the Irish pub probably around midnight, so they may replay it. Meanwhile, down i the German Secons League, SpVgg Greuther Fürth 4 - 0 VfL Osnabrück. Played 57, won 28, dra...

So Irish pub around the corner not showing England v Argies, the alternative is to go to Orchard Rd and then fight the Orchard girls at 5am while trying to get a taxi home. Decided to give it a miss.

Any predictions and/or preferences fir the two Finals tomorrow and Sunday? OK, I have no doubts pn Richard's and the Scottish members' preferences on Friday, nor on tubeswell's for Saturda/, but otherwise? I think I would predict Saffers and England, but both of these are close. So far, the only kn...

So no matter who wins the Rugby World Cup final, out of the ten tournaments, four of them will have been won by South Africa or New Zealand, three of them by whichever team doesn't win four, two of them by Australia, and one by England.

So watching a replay of New Zealand and Argentina. It looks like the Argies are going to lose this time also.

Brexiteers led for the first 77 minutes, but the final result is,

SAFFERS!

Brexiteers 12 - 6 Saffers at the half.

Arneb wrote:You mean, All Black?

I was for the Argies, but we have to be realistic . . .

Hung be the heavens with black!

Arneb wrote:Just read there have been Molotov cocktails on a synagogue in Berlin.

For what it's worth, I used to work near Synagogue Street here.

I never saw any evidence of a synagogue.

Haven't heard anyone discuss it here.

It has also been noted that four continents will be represented in the semifinals.

I'm also noticing that for 2027 (hosted by Australia) and 2031 (hosted by the US), the number of teams will be 24 instead of 20. Only 26 teams have ever played in a World Cup :) The format seems not to have been determined yet. But we saw a lot of complete blow outs in the group stage this year (e.g...

Southern Hemisphere normally dominate when rugby is on the world stage, so this would seem the normal order of things righting itself. That's often how it has been, but the natural order seemed like it had been on its head recently. Ireland and New Zealand are even up in the last ten years. France ...

That looks a LOT less Six-Nationsy than last week. Just to see who's boss, what are your predictions for the semis? Three of the four pool winners (Wales, Ireland, France) lost the quarterfinals. Only England survived. But, for the semis - I’m predicting New Zealand over Argentina, and South Africa...

And, France 28 - 29 South Africa

So it’s Argentina v New Zealand and England v South Africa in the semifinals.

My quarterfinal predictions were 25% accurate.

Another hard fought quarterfinal, but . . . England 30 - 24 Fiji My prediction record in the group stage was excellent, with Fiji v Portugal being my only misstep. But, in the knockout stage, there are three matches so far, and this is the first one I predicted correctly :( So England will play the ...

Equally hard fought, but ultimately,

Ireland 24 - 28 New Zealand

Argentina and New Zealand will face off next week.

But, I’m already thinking, the final is France v New Zealand.

For the first twenty minutes, it looked like New Zealand’s game, but Ireland had a different plan for the next twenty minutes.

Ireland 17 - 18 New Zealand at the half.

What a hard fought match! Neither Wales nor Argentina have ever won a World Cup before. But only one can keep the dream alive. And that one is - Argentina!

Wales 17 - 29 Argentina

So Argentina will face either Ireland or New Zealand in a semifinal.

Second Monday - Economics: To Claudia Goldin, of Harvard University, for her "discovery of important causes of gender inequlaity in the labour market". So now I am thinking about Dilbert explaining to Dogbert that his boss makes him identify as a woman, so that he can claim to pay men and...

Portugal are making a decent fist of it. Indeed, but Australia needed Portugal to do just a little bit better. Fiji 23 - 24 Portugal, bonus point to Fiji. So the team that recently defeated both England and Australia, cannot defeat Portugal. But, that bonus point was the clincher - it has now put F...

Tonga 45 - 24 Romania, bonus point for Tonga. Pool B is now fully sorted. Pool A - fully sorted. 1. France 2. New Zealand 3. Italy 4. Uruguay 5. Namibia Pool B - fully sorted. 1. Ireland 2. South Africa 3. Scotland 4. Tonga 5. Romania Pool C - partially sorted. 1. Wales 2. Australia/Fiji 3. Australi...

In Rugbyland, the winner of all four pools is a Six Nations team. Three of the runners-up are Rugby Championship teams. It is possible that the fourth (Australia) will be also, but I'm betting against it - I predict Fiji (who only need to win, draw, lose by seven or less, or score four tries, agains...