What sports teams do you support?

[Heid the Ba]

And Tim Visser who we stole from FD's mob.

[Lance]

Oh yeah, I forgot I was trying to have interest in this.

[Heid the Ba]

27th September, 1430 BST. Scotland -v- USA in Leeds.

[Мастер]

I googled for a translation but didn't find one. And I just couldn't hurl my brain to write one.

Go to this site. Click on the link (under the main video window) which says "Bonker-Video". When it starts to play, click on one of the flags at the bottom right, which indicate language - you can choose German, English or French. Don't be deceived by the initial title, which comes up in German no matter what - the rest will be in the language you have chosen.

[Мастер]

The Rugby World Cup is imminent, Scotland are in a group with South Africa, Samoa, USA and Japan which presents some interesting problems. The US will be big and fast but not overly skilled so we have to outplay them, Japan will be fast and committed so we have to outmuscle them, South Africa will be big, fast and skilful so we'll lose unless we get lucky and Samoa are big and committed so we have to run the legs off them.

We have a Kiwi coach who has started to return to the bad old days of brining in anyone who isn't good enough for the All Blacks or 'Boks but has a Scottish granny. We have two Saffers who have only just qualified on residency, a Kiwi just off the plane, a player from Zim who has been here a few years now, and someone else I'm forgetting. All will be forgiven if we win, but it grates a bit. I suspect our three southern Africans will be flying into people against the 'Boks.

South Africa's been total rubbish recently, maybe Scotland has a chance. Although the performance in the Six Nations this year was uninspiring.

Two teams from each pool advance, and Pool B looks to be the weakest (arguably), so there's a decent chance for Scotland to make the knock-out stage.

[Heid the Ba]

The Group of Death has Eng-ger-lund, Wales and Australia. The only thing better than any of them going out would be a meteor strike hitting the stadium as all three play. Which isn't likely.

The Saffers have been rubbish lately as they have written off The Championship to build for the RWC. If they don't reach the semis I'll eat my hat. My small pastry hat, obviously. They do have the usual allegations of racism in team selection but they will be hard to beat. They also do well in Europe as they tend to have a bastardingly large (it's a technical term) pack who grind it out in mud and rain. See also Argentina.

And fuck Guinness with the world's largest fucky thing for using Gareth Thomas coming out to sell beer.

Why yes, I have been drinking, how did you know?

[MM_Dandy]

I wish I could take credit for noticing this on my own or at least remember where I read it, but I was alerted a year or more ago to the fact that Canada was going to have a very good men's basketball team. After stumbling out of the gate at the FIBA Americas against Argentina, they've looked absolutely spectacular. They are probably a top-five team right now. In EuroBasket, Germany has fallen just short, losing tightly-contested games to the top-tier teams of Spain, Turkey, and Serbia. As a result, they've been eliminated, and will not be able to qualify for the Olympics. Russia met a similar fate, only they lost close games to lesser foes like Israel, Poland, and Finland. To their credit, however, they did play France very well. Biggest surprise: Belgium (ranked 51st in the world right now) edging out Lithuania (ranked 4th)!

[Arneb]

Hertha 2 - 1 Stuttgart

Played 30, won 18, drawn 4, lost 8.

[Arneb]

Greuther Fuerth 3 - 2 1. FC Nürnberg

Victories over the local rival are SO much sweeter
Played 31 Won 19 Drawn 4 Lost 8

[MM_Dandy]

Oh, Canada!. I haven't had a chance to watch any of the game, but from all accounts, Canada did not play well at all, which put them in such a precarious position to begin with. Sounds a bit like USA's showing in the 2004 Olympics. Venezuela went on to win the championship over Argentina.

[Heid the Ba]

Apologies, real life has been getting in the way of posting.

At the weekend Rangers won and Ross County drew. And local rivalry does make it all sweeter.

Played 33 Won 20 Drawn 5 Lost 8

[Arneb]

Played 33 Won 20 Drawn 5 Lost 8

One could get the false impression we actually supported capable teams (wrong except for Lianachan, who does).

[Heid the Ba]

It is skewed by Rangers who are a division below where they should be.

[Мастер]

England changes time zones right between the two semi-finals in the Rugby World Cup. (I guess Wales does too, but the last match in Cardiff is before the change.) How diabolical.

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A)

More action in less than 2.5 hours.

Llance - this competition should be at a higher level than the ITM cup matches you saw a while back. These are 20 national teams, including all the best players. Sort of like an "all star" match They're on Fox Sports here, but that might be Asia-specific. It's in England/Wales, so I think six hours ahead of you.

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A)

September 19

Tonga 10 - 17 Georgia (Pool C)

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A)


September 19

Tonga 10 - 17 Georgia (Pool C)
Ireland 50 - 7 Canada (Pool D)

[Arneb]

September 19

Wolfsburg 2 - 0 Hertha, in a Bundesliga match - Hertha held out for a long time, which is encouraging against a the second most expensive team of the lague and a CL participant; however, late in the match, the defence slipped once, and that was the first goal.

Played 33 Won 19 Drawn 4 Lost 9

[Heid the Ba]

Rangers ground out a win, 2-1

Played 34 won 20 drawn 4 lost 9, hang on, we've lost a game somewhere. Did Arneb take a win off rather than add a loss on? Sorry I'm on an ipad and can't scroll easily.

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A)


September 19

Tonga 10 - 17 Georgia (Pool C)
Ireland 50 - 7 Canada (Pool D)
South Africa 32 - 34 Japan (Pool B)

I have never in my life seen so many white people screaming in joy because Japan won something.

[Arneb]

... hang on, we've lost a game somewhere. Did Arneb take a win off rather than add a loss on? Sorry I'm on an ipad and can't scroll easily.

See? See?? Ahtoldya!!!
Played 34 won 21 drawn 4 lost 9

[Heid the Ba]

And the Japanese beat the Saffers. Great for rugby, and either it means we can beat RSA or Japan will beat us. Time will tell.

[Heid the Ba]

In case I didn't make it clear, that is a fucking enormous result for Japan. Imagine Japan beating the US at ice hockey and you are getting there.

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A)


September 19

Tonga 10 - 17 Georgia (Pool C)
Ireland 50 - 7 Canada (Pool D)
South Africa 32 - 34 Japan (Pool B)
France 32 - 10 Italy (Pool D)

[Мастер]

September 18

England 35 - 11 Fiji (Pool A, bonus point to England)


September 19

Tonga 10 - 17 Georgia (Pool C, bonus point to Tonga)
Ireland 50 - 7 Canada (Pool D, bonus point to Ireland)
South Africa 32 - 34 Japan (Pool B, two bonus points to South Africa)
France 32 - 10 Italy (Pool D, no bonus points)

September 20

Samoa 25 - 16 United States (Pool B, no bonus points)