Anyone watching the rugby??

[VEGAS]

Watched the game and throughly enjoyed it despite the result. Wish my hangover would go away though. Might have another few beers for the GP. Hair of the dog and all that!.. :drinkers: CHEERS

[Myles]

I think the next few years might be a little hard for the home nations, with the possible exception of Scotland.

Many from the England and Irish teams will be retiring from international rugby and new players will have to make their mark and work their way into the teams.

I think Scotland are coming out of their transition and Wales are in the middle of theirs. I wouldn't be surprised if we don't all get beaten by Italy in the next couple of seasons!

Best,
Myles

[Prop Jockey]

Well if that's the start of a return to competiveness for England on the international stage then I'll take 2nd place It's been a rough 4 years for English rugby and the determination and effort our players put in to get to the final was inspirational.

But on the whole wasn't it a tremendous tournement as a whole ?

Argentina who upset the the apple cart right from the first whistle. Fiji and Wales - for one of the most enthralling games I've seen for a long time. The Saffas in the pub on Saturday night - each and every one came over to talk about the game and the what-could-of-beens after the final whistle. The sportsmanship of the fans of the other northern hemisphere teams who loaned their support to England.

And not forgetting the England fan that stood on the bar in my local, dropped his pants and burnt his pubes off when England beat France. Unforgettable :prayer:

Lets just hope politics don't get in the way of talent and the Saffas make a good defence of it in NZ (but remember, nobody has retained the WEC yet ;-) )

Cheers

Rich

[Hot_Charlie]

I think the next few years might be a little hard for the home nations, with the possible exception of Scotland.

Many from the England and Irish teams will be retiring from international rugby and new players will have to make their mark and work their way into the teams.

I think England are in a better position than some people think - and potentially fewer international retirees than expected. - what good did the raft of "retirements" last time? Half of them ended up coming back! For example many have been saying that 2007 was Jonny's last world cup. He's only 28 for crying out loud, as is Lewis Moody, and even someone like Ben Kay, who is 31 now, may well be in prime form (as was Martin Johnson in 2003 at 35) and still one of the best locks in the world as a 35 year old in 2011 for his 3rd RWC. Bring in people like Harry Ellis, who at 25 missed this year through the most miss-time injury in history, and the crop of youngsters coming in, such as Haskell, Lamb and Cipriani and you have a very encouraging situation.

I hope they persuade Newcastle to convert Tait into a full-time full back too.

Finally, if he's a success in Europe, what price that Marcelo Loffreda is England coach in 2011, bearing in mind the signs (ie, Rob Andrew) that Brian Ashton will be England coach up until then have been inconclusive...