Here’s Rob Kitson’s report.
Thanks everyone. On to the next one!
Before we wrap up, here are a couple of reader emails:
This one’s from James Humphries, who I think is referring to an incident at the back of a Portugal ruck:
“Deliberate knock-on by Wales there, surely? Underdogs have been getting reffed out the games so far.”
Next is Jerry Buirski in Cape Town with some love for the little guys:
The BIG difference between Portugal and Chile is the former plays a lot smarter. They remind me a lot of the early Argentine teams, with ferocious tackling and incisive running. By contrast Wales are giving Portugal zero respect, which is why whoever has the ball thinks he is going to just run through them.”
Finally, Tom [no last name give] has a wild idea:
“Looking at the long schedule for the RWC I wonder if pool games could
be one hour long?
”This would reduce the risk of injuries, allow more frequent matches,
and give lower tier nations a perhaps fairer chance to compete/chance
of an upset.
”I realise this idea has no legs but commentators are already saying
England are as good as in the QFs after one game. If that’s true then
the pool phase could be hastened to get to the seemingly inevitable
outcome. If it isn’t then lower tier nations could be given a way of
creating upsets and staying in the tournament.”
