all right, so rugby world cup week two is upon us let's preview the fixtures and as I was previewing the fixtures things came up because It wouldn't be a really long video if we just previewed the fixtures because there just isn't much Unpredictable stuff going on or depth to get into Okay, I'm going to have to add this in today after the France Uruguay game because there is a little bit of unpredictability with how close, Uruguay did run France. Now, it also feeds into the rest of what I'm going to say in this video because there was inconsistencies with the referee and still, like how well Uruguay did was absolutely commendable considering that, like, Where have they come from? What have they done to prepare this game? This was their first game at this level this entire year, and they ran them really close. What are they, what would they have done if they had had a little bit more preparation? it was, I found it very telling that their captain at the end of the game said, oh, you know, this is just the start for us. This is just the beginning. Well, I thought that was Fiji in 2019. And even if they go on and they win against the All Blacks or they beat Italy, Where do they go from here? What are the plans to expand this, the tier 2's playing capabilities? Because I'm still not seeing it and this is still feeding into the rants that I've been having. I don't know. We'll, we'll get into the rest of this video and I'll talk more specifics on this stuff. But I want to know what you guys think. But there are some quick rants that I do want to go on That I think you guys as part of the rugby community could get behind and if you do Let me know in the comments below. It's been one of the best things about Videos around the world cup or doing videos in general, but Particularly around this world cup i've been enjoying reading your input in the comments below So whatever it is, whether it's opinions on the rants that i'm about to give or the fixtures that are coming up or Maybe even the loudness and the lack of how this shirt really fits me too. Well, or it could be the the island slash the flag that i've got behind me even though it's pink I don't know what's going on with this video. Anyway, let's get into the fixtures for this week and uh, Preview them because again, I'm a bit excited and I think you guys are excited Did you feel the same way that I felt? Uh after sunday's game We finished on the high of that ridiculous fiji whales game. My heart was pounding. I didn't even I wasn't I would have liked fiji to win but you know, i'm not a big fiji fan or anything like that and What a game to finish, uh, week one on and then we were left with nothing for like three days. I was like, Got to the evening when I'll be hoping to watch some fixtures and nothing. Just had to chill and do something else. Maybe you guys end up just watching the games on rerun or whatever you did. I hope you had a great week. But now let's get into previewing week two. And actually, off the back of that, there is a bit of a rant that I want to go into. But first, we'll preview the game. So we're looking at Thursdays and Fridays games and Saturdays as well. I'm actually recording this on the Thursday before the France Uruguay game, so I might have to clip something over this in case Uruguay win, but let's be honest, that isn't happening. France is going to be way too strong for them, so France will, uh, get a big lead. Whether they'll get up to 100, I think Uruguay aren't that bad, so I think, I think France will, will not stack up the, the 100. New Zealand might. There's there's there's three big opportunities here for a team to get over a hundred points. I think then Those first two Thursday and Friday definitely have the potential. I'd say New Zealand more than France But we'll see Samoa Chile could potentially be close But again, it's I think Samoa will be too strong particularly with the all black the ex all black assistants that they've got in Um, as far as Nima Sopawonga and, um, what's the, the, uh, Stephen Luatua, the class that those have added in and given them a bit of structure, I'm, I'm quite bullish on this Samoa team. And then we've got Wales, Portugal, uh, be good to see Portugal back in, uh, I was in Lisbon watching them play 2021. And, yeah, they looked good. They looked like they're coming out of their shell quite a bit. They've definitely leapfrogged Romania. It seems that they might have even leapfrogged Spain to become the next team behind Georgia to really challenge. So it would be interesting, but obviously they haven't had a game to prepare for this one. Like Wales have against Fiji. And then you've got Ireland and Tonga. Again, I mean, that's, that's... Fairly predictable. I know Tonga are looking quite strong, but they don't seem to have the structure or the glue that Samoa and Fiji seem to have to really Mount up a strong challenge against these teams and that leads me to sort of my first rant is like Could the air? Of this balloon that is the rugby world cup, you know, i'm not even sure how Um big this balloon got i'm not even sure how many Non rugby fans have been tuned into the epicness of this world cup or have been really invested in it so far I haven't really heard much at all in that way So maybe let me know in the comments below if you've got friends or family that are into it this week That aren't normally into it But I do fear that the the wind might go out of these sails The air might get out of this balloon before we even get into week three because we've got these fixtures here which Like I don't think they're going to be competitive and if they're not competitive Then are they going to be entertaining like are people not are non ruppy fans going to care or even ruppy fans? Gonna care about these fixtures because if I'm perfectly honest, I'm not that fussed about this France, Uruguay, New Zealand, Namibia Wales Portugal because I kind of like Portugal Island Tonga, maybe not like, you know I mean That's just not and if you actually if you if you go back to my rant about the big divide between the tier one and tier Two nations. This is a big reason for it Although this is another sort of string to that bow as far as like these Teams just can't be competitive because they're not given the chance and if we look at the fixtures, if we look at Uruguay, Namibia Chile, Samoa Portugal and Tonga Out of all of those fixtures this entire year. How many times have these teams Played a tier one nation. Do you know do you know? It's once. Samoa played Ireland, and I think that's even Ireland looking for a bit of an easier fixture leading into the World Cup as opposed to throwing Samoa a bone, or Samoa, like, getting that fixture because they deserved it or something. You know, out of all of those teams, that's one fixture the entire year against a Tier 1 nation. Yes, technically. Australia A played Portugal and Chile played an Argentina 15. But the rest of them, they haven't had one match against a Tier 1 nation until this World Cup. So how they're supposed to be prepared to take on Tier 1 teams is beyond me. Like the challenge for these teams is absolutely monumental before you even acknowledge the fact that they're, you know, before being hamstrung by the fact that they're not dealing with this level of rugby. Like basically at all this year until this World Cup. So, you know, not only is it a higher level, but you don't even get to experience that higher level until the World Cup until that match really, really counts. England on the other hand, right? For example, they got to dick around for like nine matches. Like Steve Balfour took over and they took nine matches leading into the World Cup. Okay, maybe eight if you don't count Fiji as a tier one nation. They got. They got all of those matches to really prepare their team for the World Cup as best as possible. They're all throwaway matches. They didn't even care. Like, yeah, of course they wanted to win those games. But they saw them as preparation directly for the World Cup. To me, like, with the money and the investment and the, you know, the backbone and whatever rugby has in England. Do they not have the advantage of nine throwaway games to prepare you for the World Cup? I mean, you know, I say throwaway games. Yeah, they were. They were. They literally, uh, something I'll touch on at the end of this video, actually. So, the fact that these other teams just do not get that preparation, not only, you just, I mean, not only are they hard enough because of the challenges that they face anyway, because they're not, you know, they might not have the talent or whatever, They don't even get the exposure at all, and that's, there's no way that you're ever going to expect them to ever be competitive, and you know, like, I heard that they're trying to expand the World Cup to have more teams in, how it's gonna, like, that doesn't, that doesn't make sense to me at this moment in time, because there just isn't the competitiveness in the global game outside of the tier one nations to really make it interesting, you know, and like I say, the win could go right out of the sails week one of this World Cup, or week two of this World Cup. If all these landslides lead to people just not really caring, you know, um And like I say the talent that you see actually the talent right these other countries do have talent They do have good players with Uruguay. And as I said If you go back and listen to me in week one I said Chile will will not do that bad and I was proven fairly correct in that Georgia the same thing Fiji because of the juror and Samoa potentially now because of Moana Pacifica like these teams have got one Uh, country or one like club side that's allowing them to stay relatively professional year round that has built out a real good cohesion. You can see it at the set piece, just like the set piece of Chile. You could also see that they could play, but just consistency and you know, the, the, the, the level needed to maintain at that level for 80 minutes is really high. And I think. I think you have that's the only way you get used to that is by playing at that level more and more and more and these Teams just don't get the chance. All right. That was my first rant over. Let's get into the second half of week two So we've got Sunday's fixtures South Africa, Romania Mini right here South Africa will smash them. This is probably the most likely to get a hundred points now if actually up the way New Zealand score tries it might be New Zealand, but My mini rant here is that I get a lot of comments on this, uh, on my World Cup previews about how South Africa, uh, and let me make no mistake. I predicted them to be like the fourth most likely and I predict them like a tier below Ireland, um, New Zealand and France. I was wrong about that. I was totally off after that Rugby Championship performance. I thought that they came into that undercooked and like... Clearly they would gear it up towards the World cup and they are looking good and they are looking really good Not because they've got the experience of guys that have won in 2019 It's got nothing to do with 2019 and people like keep citing that are only one northern hemisphere team has won it Ever and it's going to be a team from the southern hemisphere. I don't think any of that's got anything to do with it I think it's just the fact that south africa are just That bloody good. They've got so much talent that they are actually giving players to other countries because they don't need them You know here go take duan We've got enough wingers like they they I just saw malcolm marx is out of the rest of the world cup and that is To any other country that's a huge loss and it is a big loss for south africa But they've still got so much time. They've got so much talent in every position It is it is Unreal it's just not fair. They are so good. And I think that's uh, I Just think these guys are on another level because of the the culture of South Africa I think they've got like lots of players that have gone overseas for that payday that have earned that payday and then they've had I've come back into the fold and set an example for the rest of their players, but the rest of their players I've also been able to step up in there in the provinces in the In the curry cup teams in the URC teams and they've been They've got so much time. It's more probably to do with the school system than anything else But like I said, I was totally wrong. They are They've they've been they've looked like the number one team so far with that new zealand game And now with that scotland game and we've still room to improve man Like they're looking good. Now. I could that could all be undone next week as they play ireland we'll see but They are they are looking very strong and they're looking strong because of the talent not necessarily because of any like Shout out to rossi. He's a great uh director of rugby not a coach But he's an innovative mind that they've got a good coaching setup. They've got everything set up quite well But I don't think Like I don't think 2019 is that important to them. I just think they've just got so much talent And that's what's and that's why they're so far ahead Like south africa is as far as a rugby nation go are massively blessed with their talent anyway, we'll move on we're looking at australia and fiji next so this one Finally, let's hope this is a competitive game But this is the most likely to be a competitive game and i'm pretty sure it will be I think fiji can do it. I Like I know that australia looked decent against georgia Um, I just think georgia again were a little bit undercooked fiji were definitely not undercooked But they let's be honest like looking back at that game. They probably should have won it They they had the better of uh, wales what they Like, I was going to say they have to make some adjustments going into this game, but do they really? They just need to score their tries. They went over the trial line three times and got disallowed against, uh, against Wales. They got that one, and they still could have won it. You know, they still just, if Sami Radjadjic caught it, and then they made the kick. Or if, you know, if they didn't take so bloody long, uh, with 75 minutes gone, setting up scrum after scrum after scrum, trying to get another guy off the pitch. I just think, um, yeah, I just think, I just think it's, uh, it's, this one is going to be the toughest predict. My heart definitely predicts Fiji. I think they can do it. I do really want them to win. Whether I'm going to put them as, as a team that are going to win on my SuperBrew predictions. Um. I'm not sure. One thing of note, and this will lead me to my second rant, is this Australian team are going to be without Tate McDermott. And that's because Tate McDermott, it got a, um, A concussion in the last game, and he's out for this one. Pretty severe, it was a pretty, uh, it was fairly brutal, this, like, his, uh, concussion. So far, so much so that I, I really looked for a picture of it, or even a video of his hit, so I could see it again, just to see how bad it was. Not like on a, for like a, a bit of a dodgy sense, just to, just to get a clip to put here, to be honest. Um, but I couldn't see it, and there's, the conspiracy theorist in me says that they're trying to hide these types of head knocks, because... It goes against what these new rules and I know they're not even that new but going against what these red cards are all about because like He got this concussion because he tackled too low. So like if we're talking about safety of players and we're talking about safety of um concussions and we're talking about Like this potentially being a big threat to the game Should we ban people going too low because they're going to concuss themselves? like Where does this, where does this start? Because this is a severe concussion. He got, like, I mean, he's out for this game. He got completely rocked. He's probably not doing too well and, you know, this unfortunate man, but this stuff happens, you know. And this was a, like I say, this was a severe head knock. You know what wasn't severe head knocks? Uh, Jesse Krill. And, uh, I space on the Scotland number 8's name. Um, but both of those two fellas carried on playing. They didn't, I don't, I don't even know if they went off for HIAs. Tom Curry and the Argentine fullback, whose name I'm also spacing on. Both, I don't know if they, oh, Tom Curry went off for a, for a, what turned out to be a red card, but he would have been available. The fullback, I think, also stayed on the pitch. And then also when you look at the inconsistencies, like, where's he, like, How different are these hits? The difference I know is that Jesse Crewe had a big run up to a guy that was carrying the ball into him. Tom Currie had a guy that was flying out of the air. Now, How does that even make sense? And then they've gone back and reviewed it and Jesse Crewe's got no ban. Tom Currie's got a two match ban. How does that make sense? And, and, uh, Jesse Crewe here, like I say, he's carrying on playing, he's playing, he's playing in the Romania game that's coming up. You know who isn't playing in a Romania game? Oh, sorry. He is playing in a Romania game. You know, uh, when he did get concussed that he couldn't play on for the next week? When he tackled really low. So, like, how does that even make sense? Like, what are we doing here with these red cards? If anyone can explain this and make a logical explanation, I'd love to hear it. Because this to me seems like it's not working. Like it seems like we're sending guys off because we want to look like we care or rugby wants to look like it cares about concussions and it wants to Like appear friendly. What appears to me is that we're trying we're losing fans. We're losing loyal rugby supporters rugby players part of the rugby community To gain a smaller percentage of people that don't really care as much about rugby We accept concussions are going to happen we accept that accidents happen Right. How much easier is this like? If we're going to punish mistakes because You know, we want to make sure that we want to get guys being safer and safer and safer I want to make the game appear to be safer and caring for its players getting hit in the head Then, then why are we not, why are we not punishing cheap shots like what Scott Barrett did? Like, if, if there's a behaviour that you want to get out of the game, Here's Malcolm Marks, I think it was Malcolm Marks in this game, Lying on the floor, no real threat to the ball, Scott Barrett comes flying in, off his feet, for no reason, Arm kind of tucked. Like, like, and maybe the contact was made with the shoulder slightly, but does that mean that, like, he, there wasn't intent? Like, this guy could have absolutely, really done some damage to Malcolm Marx, for no, for, like, with intent, on purpose. Like, for no reason, or for no gain as far as the game of rugby goes, these hits were trying to stop the guys over the gain line. They're trying to be physical. Yes, they got their height a little bit wrong, but rugby's played so fast, you can't run around with your body, like, well, with your body in a position where your shoulders are at someone's stomach. That's just not physically possible. That's not how it works. You know, so are we saying that everyone has to like run slower in defense so they can be low enough? Like, where is, where's the guidance? Because it's, it's completely ignoring how the human body moves and how it works. It just doesn't make any sense to me. And these red cards, another team is going to get a red card. And it's going to be more influential than what happened to Tom Currie in England. And we're, and... Like the, the lack of clarity around this is another thing that is rugby is going to shoot yourself in the foot with and like, I hope it doesn't seem I'm just complaining about rugby, uh, about what it's doing because I love this game and I, and I want to see it grow. I want to see people. I want to see more people enjoying it, but this doesn't help. This does not help anyway. Going on to the final fixture. We have got England against Japan. Um, England, my God, like I was critical of England's prep in week one, no, before the World Cup when I was looking at their preparation because they were, they were doing the extra heat training to put themselves under extra pressure and I was saying, well, these guys aren't getting the basics right. This is not what you should be doing. And that's. Could potentially be because I do not work with the elite of the elite of the elite as far as rugby athletes go I work with amateur rugby players like you and if you're interested in Uh getting your programming sorted if you're an amateur rugby player that wants to move your physical performance to a new level rather than um, just following a bodybuilding program or something like that piecing together whatever you can Reach out to me through the links in the comments below and we can figure out something for you Maybe it's because that's like those are the people I deal with and we don't we we we aim for low stress We aim for to take all of the basics along with us But there are schools of thought where we you need to put these guys under so much pressure. It's come out Something very interesting about the do you know what is? These two pictures here. So we've got Owen Farrell in the Fiji game Um, no, in the Wales game when he got sent off and we've got South Africa looking like absolute beasts. Do you know what these two images have in common? They're both pre World Cup players that were coached by strength and conditioning coach Alad Waters, who came out and said that England were deliberately tired going into their, um, pre World Cup fixtures. Uh, particularly against Ireland, uh, where they looked like they didn't even bother putting up a fight. He said that that was all on purpose. He was Sorry about the email notifications coming in, I'll turn that off. Um, For the next video at least anyway. Um, he said that he put them under extra pressure with extra training. They were overly fatigued going into those games so that they could alleviate their fatigue in the two weeks before the World Cup and then come in like peaking. It's very much a definite thing that's done in a lot of strength sports in a lot of Um, you know, real physical performance based sports. I've not seen as much in team sports, but this is interesting that he's come out and said this. And it does make a lot of sense as to why England really looked undercooked, particularly when you look at, they do have some, they do have talented players and they were playing terribly. So, you know, now it's, it's me thinking that is it dumb and dumber when he was like, so you're saying there's a chance England could do it. Was this all deliberate? Was this all a ploy? To not just, uh, lull us into, like, not expecting anything of England, but for putting them into, for making them fitter and that much more prepared. Again, because they had those games to throw away, unlike the other teams that, they could, they could do this, but they didn't have high quality test matches to prepare them for it. They just had games, so, a little bit of an unfair advantage for England. We're going into this game with Japan. I'd like to see them really open up I'd like to see him at least get a bonus point Japan are not the team that they were in 2015 and 2019 but in saying that No one expected them to win in 2015. No one was saying they they could do a job here against South Africa. So You've always got to be prepared. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed that preview If you did, let me know in the comments below give the video a thumbs up hit subscribe and i'll catch you guys later Enjoy the rugby this weekend