Are Wales that good? Only 57% win ratio this world cup

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I posted after Wales lost to France and asked wether Wales are over rated? I think this loss to Australia proved they are. Wales were outplayed today make no bones about it, Australia were riddled with injuries during the game with Beale and Cooper, their two best backs having to leave the field after 20 minutes. The welsh try came from a blatent forward pass which was the only reason they were still in the game. Wales have played 7 games this world cup and LOST 3 of them. When you break that down further Wales have played 4 tier 1 teams and lost 3. in other words Wales have only won 25% of their games against tier 1 opposition! I think Wales world ranking is of 6th is spot on when you look at the games they have lost this world cup.

if you want to look at win ratio's/percentages in a knockout competition thats up to you, but I'd prefer to look at that against each game in context. Without looking at each game you cant make any sort of balanced decision on whether Wales are that good or bad.

There was certainly a lot of over-hyping, but how much of that actually came from any welsh fans? I think you'll find the vast majority of the hyping of wales was done by pundits and the media.

But I digress, I havent seen the game today, so im going to watch that and then come back on and post my summary of the Welsh world cup in detail anyway. But I think the answer any poster gives is going to be subjective in comparison to how good they actually thought Wales were in their own head, which will differ with too many variables thrown in to measure any kind of general consensus.

On another note, what more are Samoa going to have to do before being considered a tier 1 nation?!

Comfort wrote:if you want to look at win ratio's/percentages in a knockout competition thats up to you, but I'd prefer to look at that against each game in context. Without looking at each game you cant make any sort of balanced decision on whether Wales are that good or bad.

There was certainly a lot of over-hyping, but how much of that actually came from any welsh fans? I think you'll find the vast majority of the hyping of wales was done by pundits and the media.

But I digress, I havent seen the game today, so im going to watch that and then come back on and post my summary of the Welsh world cup in detail anyway. But I think the answer any poster gives is going to be subjective in comparison to how good they actually thought Wales were in their own head, which will differ with too many variables thrown in to measure any kind of general consensus.

On another note, what more are Samoa going to have to do before being considered a tier 1 nation?!

Given its an outadted system thats no longer officialy used, they probably never will be. They are in the "high performace" group

Arent they worse than they used to be though? Didnt they used to qualify from the group stages all the time?
Didnt they used to ranked in the top 10?

JDandfries wrote:

eirebilly wrote:How you can claim that any side that finishes 4th in a RWC is over-rated is simply beyond me. It beggers belief to be honest.

Let me ask you then, how do you rate France?

France are a good team with great players that have not played well. They are still up there with the best teams in the world though.

The original point was if i thought Wales were over-rated. I say no because they have finished 4th in the RWC. Is that too difficult?

If that is your only reason then yes it seems a bit difficult, as all youa re basing your arguement on is that 'they finished 4th'!

France may well finish 1st, but have yet to play anything like well in the 6 prior games and would be deemed very lucky to win, if they did so.

So saying NO, just based on them finished 4th, is not much of an arguement.

eirebilly wrote:

JDandfries wrote:

eirebilly wrote:How you can claim that any side that finishes 4th in a RWC is over-rated is simply beyond me. It beggers belief to be honest.

Let me ask you then, how do you rate France?

France are a good team with great players that have not played well. They are still up there with the best teams in the world though.

The original point was if i thought Wales were over-rated. I say no because they have finished 4th in the RWC. Is that too difficult?

So how good shoudl Wales be rated? 4th best? But they lost to Australia, France, SA and New Zealnad are obviosuly number one so they must be the 5th best side in the world. That means they are at best 5th ...so they are overated if you base it purely on them having finished 4th in the world cup...unless youre going to argue that SA are joint 5th best in the world (and only as good as Argentina) because they finsihed joint 5th.
If you think they are better than SA you are overating them.
If you argue they are one of the best 4 teams in the world because they outplayed france then your logic that the position you finish in the world cup dictates where you should be placed in the "whos the best side" rankings becomes redeundant as France will finish in the top two.

Is that too difficult? Basing your argument solely on "they finsihed 4th" is bunk.

Where England the second best side in the world in 2007? Not by a long shot. They werent even in the top 4.

Theres a case for arguing Wales are better than France ( not just that they played better) but that isnt proven by them having finsihed 4th. They are not better than any of the tri nations sides, and they still have a serious problem winning tight games.

Most peopel underated them pre torunament, many people overated them following the win over Ireland. They are clearly ad ecent side but not agreat one. Taht finishing 4th in the world cup only beating one good side along the way is seen as a major acheivement shows just how bad they have been for the majority of recent history, especially in world cups. Things are getting better, but fans of SA and NZ would have been dissapointed with the equivelant competition record of Wales.

I am not going to get into this with you Jdanfries as its obvious what you are trying to do. Good luck with that and i hope you find someone to bait that will bite.

PSW, it has nothing to do with rankings. Its if people think that they are over-rated. I dont think that they are as they played some of the best rugby this RWC and finished fourth.

Do i think that they are bettwe than the SANZAR teams no but i dont think that they are over rated.

Not many people on hear today?

where is everyone?