Who do Wales & Ireland want to face - England or France?

Wales v Ireland and England v France are probably both too close to call.

However, as an Irish fan IF we beat Wales, I hope England beat France. The reason being I think Ireland would have a much better chance of beating England. France has always been our bogey team and I imagine even if they are not playing well they would still beat us.

If Wales win, I imagine they might fancy their chances against France more so than England.

Who would English fans prefer their team to face IF they get past France?

If we beat France, which I think we will do, I don't think it matters who we play in the semi final. Against Wales or Ireland on current form I think we would start as the underdogs.

from an ireland perspective i would say id prefer to be playing england. I think our group of players have a mental block when it comes to playing the french, no disrespect to england

As an Irish fan I am not looking beyond Wales at all. Wales are the in form side in this half of the draw and arguably pose the greatest threat to us right now.

If we get past them then I don't care who we face. Obviously we have a better record against England but I don't think in a RWC SF that will count for much and whichever side we would face would be a huge challenge but not an impossible one.

One game at a time though.

trust me rodders I'm I'm not getting ahead of myself.

I just thought it was interesting that Wales and ourselves might think we would have a better chance against France and England respectively. And as one of us has to go through to the semi I just thought i would bring it up.

Fair enough Snowman. I think at this stage of the competition there are no easy games.

I can't think either France or England would prove easier than the other in a RWC SF and we would be underdogs against either but both are beatable if we get our tactics and performance spot on.

They are all 50:50 games from here until the final.

Ask me this again at about half seven Saturday morning...

England

England

If England beat France (which I expect them to do) then I'd want to play Wales. I'm still not overly convinced by them, but we know how good Ireland can be.

I'm confident England could beat both, but would want to face Wales given the choice. We've beaten them in the last two 6 Nations home and away.

It's not going to happen though as I think Ireland will beat Wales by about 10-15 points.

England!!! Deffo.

They cant beat us.

We have pedigree in that fixture. They dont.

Boyne wrote:England!!! Deffo.

They cant beat us.

We have pedigree in that fixture. They dont.

Ah, but don't forget it's a WC semi-final. You Irish will be getting nose bleeds by then

Simple question - Who would Ireland / Wales rather play in the semi. France or England

Enigmatic France who were beaten by Tonga or

England who are plodding their war through but getting results that usually sees them do well

Boyne wrote:England!!! Deffo.

They cant beat us.

We have pedigree in that fixture. They dont.

Er, I am pretty sure we beat you the last time we played you, no?

Mighty England please

Ozzy3213 wrote:

Boyne wrote:England!!! Deffo.

They cant beat us.

We have pedigree in that fixture. They dont.

Er, I am pretty sure we beat you the last time we played you, no?

Oh yeah!! A friendly with al lot of our front liners missing!!!

Score!!!!

A lot of your front liners missing.

10 of your starting XV that day are playing against Wales this weekend, with another 2 of them on the bench, and 2 more (Flannery and Wally) injured, so don't give me that nonsense about missing your best players mate.

You may well beat us in the semi final if we both get that far, but to come out with "They can't beat us" is just complete nonsense.

England please. We have pedigree against them.

Ozzy3213 wrote:A lot of your front liners missing.

10 of your starting XV that day are playing against Wales this weekend, with another 2 of them on the bench, and 2 more (Flannery and Wally) injured, so don't give me that nonsense about missing your best players mate.

You may well beat us in the semi final if we both get that far, but to come out with "They can't beat us" is just complete nonsense.

not more so than, "Ireland wont do anything because they dont have pedigree"

At least my point takes into consideration players who actually play the game rather than the crew of 2003 (Larry Dall'Aglio n all)

With England they would reckon to know what was coming their way and believe they can deal with it. They'd only pick France if they were certain they would play as they have done and as ever that's not a foregone conclusion.

Boyne wrote:

Ozzy3213 wrote:

Boyne wrote:England!!! Deffo.

They cant beat us.

We have pedigree in that fixture. They dont.

Er, I am pretty sure we beat you the last time we played you, no?

Oh yeah!! A friendly with al lot of our front liners missing!!!

Score!!!!

I'm pretty sure the Irish, a good proportion of them playing on Saturday, didn't turn up to lose that match in Dublin.

Oh and I forgot the "Ireland doesnt know how to win against SH opposition in the SH"

Another legend blown out of the water.

Look, England are not as good as they are made out to be and its time to stop looking at past glories as an indication of how things will pan out this time.

Bitter Beer- The players said that they treated it as a friendly- a trial match if you will.

England went out all guns blazing and we were missing a lot of front liners.

Read into it what you will, but lose against France (Or Wales / Ireland in the SF) and it will be cold comfort.

Boyne, if you want the Irish side to be treated with respect maybe you should give out a little to others rather than behaving like you are.

England please, England all day long.

Who's doing that exactly Boyne?

Nobody that I have seen on this thread. The first person to come in all high and mighty was yourself fella, with your "They can't beat us" comment.

Who exactly on this thread has said Ireland won't win anything as they don't have the pedigree, or Ireland can't beat the SH teams in the SH?

SafeAsMilk wrote:Boyne, if you want the Irish side to be treated with respect maybe you should give out a little to others rather than behaving like you are.

Safe As, dear boy. Did you forget the tripe you were posting re Ireland pre WC??

-No WC Pedigree..
- Cant beat the SH teams down under
-Old team ect ect

Karma.

Boyne wrote:Look, England are not as good as they are made out to be.

And arguably, neither are Ireland.

Who exactly on this thread has said Ireland won't win anything as they don't have the pedigree, or Ireland can't beat the SH teams in the SH?

Oh, on this thread, none. Because you saw how we coped with Australia and Italy.

Go back a few weeks and you will see the bile.

Boyne behave yourself sir!

Bitter Beer wrote:

Boyne wrote:Look, England are not as good as they are made out to be.

And arguably, neither are Ireland.

Depends.

Because we are made out to be old, lacking 'pedigree' being unable to beat SH opposition ect...

On that score, I'd say we are rather ahead of the curve.

Boyne wrote:

SafeAsMilk wrote:Boyne, if you want the Irish side to be treated with respect maybe you should give out a little to others rather than behaving like you are.

Safe As, dear boy. Did you forget the tripe you were posting re Ireland pre WC??

-No WC Pedigree..
- Cant beat the SH teams down under
-Old team ect ect

Karma.

You're the only one posting tripe on this article.

You really must try harder.

Think most would take England because they aren't suddenly going to find another level while the French have that in them even with the lack of harmony in the squad

Sorry Rodders. Just reminding the likes of Safe As Milk of his short comings and mal-predictions pre world cup.

Both and neither.

Isn't this a duplicate of the thread in the main board?

Boyne wrote:

Who exactly on this thread has said Ireland won't win anything as they don't have the pedigree, or Ireland can't beat the SH teams in the SH?

Oh, on this thread, none. Because you saw how we coped with Australia and Italy.

Go back a few weeks and you will see the bile.

You list your age as 99 Boyne. Grow up fella. There has been no bile. There has been people giving at the time fairly justifyable opinions in relation to various teams including Ireland.

Since the QF draw was decided, the banter between the Welsh and Irish has been good, as well as a smattering of banter involving the English as potential semi final opponents for either of those teams. What you are doing is trying to turn a ligheharted thread into a argument for the sake of it.

As I said, maybe it's time to grow up a bit.

I see a random Englishman wondered on and voted for France!!

Boyne wrote:Sorry Rodders. Just reminding the likes of Safe As Milk of his short comings and mal-predictions pre world cup.

And yet wrong as he may have been, its only taken you 5 postings on this article to destroy any credibility you may have had.

Boyne, maybe you should rise above this so-called bile or it will only make you ill

I don't think I've ever called the Irish team old (though some have)
To be fair before this tournament, Ireland didn't really have WC 'pedigree'. Depending on how the next couple of games go, they may have.
Ireland have struggled to beat the SH sides away from home. It was a tremendous result against Australia, but that needs to be backed up.

If any level of criticism or examination upsets you it's just as well you're not English

Come on pal, give us a smile

SafeAsMilk wrote:Boyne, maybe you should rise above this so-called bile or it will only make you ill

I don't think I've ever called the Irish team old (though some have)
To be fair before this tournament, Ireland didn't really have WC 'pedigree'. Depending on how the next couple of games go, they may have.
Ireland have struggled to beat the SH sides away from home. It was a tremendous result against Australia, but that needs to be backed up.

If any level of criticism or examination upsets you it's just as well you're not English

Come on pal, give us a smile

The lobotomised grin permanently, didn't you know?

Thye just can't resist it Boyne - I want to avoid France at all costs as they have quality all over the park and I can see them getting to the final and playing SA

If England beat France - and I think it's a big 'if' at the moment - I would marginally prefer to face Wales. Ireland have very recent experience of beating England in a big game, and the personnel in the Irish team would have absolute belief that they've got the beating of England. Wales are a form side, but recent history marginally favours England and that would surely form a grain of doubt in Welsh minds, particularly with England's tournament pedigree.

Also, whilst Warburton has been a standout player in the tournament, I would still shade it to Ireland in the backrow department (the Irish trio's ferocity at the breakdown was the key element of their victory over the aussies in my opinion), which is another reason that I think they have the beating of this English team, where the backrow has been a consistent weakness.

The reality is that there's nothing between them and it will all come down to psychology. Wales can perhaps take the most confidence from their form, but then Ireland are also in good nick, have the confidence from a big win vs Aus, and are blessed with more 'winners' in their ranks (something lacking from Wales' young squad?), England are well behind on form, but this may count in their favour psychologically - coming in under the radar - plus they have that underlying world cup experience and pedigree.

Honest prediction: France beat England, Wales beat Ireland, Wales beat France, Wales/SA final: SA retain the cup. I have a 0.01 degree of confidence in any of those predictions....

How are Wales a form side? They lost to SA in the pool, when SA played arguably their worst game of the tournament. I thought they were lucky to squeak past Samoa, who were backing up after 4 days and had lost key play maker Tusi Pisi.

Wales can only thank their luck that they did fail to beat South Africa, because if they had right now they'd be staring down the barrel of Australia and I don't think any one here realistically believes they can beat a full strength Australian team.

TheGreyGhost wrote:How are Wales a form side? They lost to SA in the pool, when SA played arguably their worst game of the tournament. I thought they were lucky to squeak past Samoa, who were backing up after 4 days and had lost key play maker Tusi Pisi.

True GG but they were in good form against Fiji and Namibia....

From England's perspective, I'd want to be playing Wales because I think we have a better chance against them than against Ireland (who have been a bogey side for us in recent years). Unfortunately, I expect Ireland to win their QF (maybe not by a load, but well enough), and we should be good enough to beat a very dispirited France, even allowing for our mediocre form - the concern there is of course that the French might get out of the right side of bed on match day and remember that they still have an opportunity to win this tournament.

Welsh perspective... We are playing well enough and it really does not bother me who we play next.

I voted for England initially. But, ya know, if we really want to grow up and blow this voodoo away - on the biggest stage of all, a RWC SF is the best time possible to do it in. The whole World will be watching.

I'm changing it. I want France. I want them baaaad. We do England and Wales on a regular basis. So where's the craic in that?

Gibson, I do prefer the idea of beating France in the semi final. But realistically we'd have a better chance against England. France just keep beating us. It used to because they always played brilliantly against us. But in this years Six Nations they played rubbish and we still managed to lose. Then they beat us twice in the warm ups for good measure. I'd be more confident of beating England.

It's crack, C R A C K.

I want to play against England.

We do have a hang-up playing against France but really, of the teams left on this side of the draw, I think Ireland are the only ones who can beat England