Wales have been bloody awful tbh. But kudos to Portugal.
RWC Week 2: Wales
Match thread
Portugal
Wales score but, you have to say, against the run of play.
LRZ set up the try really well.
Scratch that.
Entertaining match and Os Lobos have been really good. Excellent defence, discipline and kicking game.
We keep saying it every four years, but World rugby really does need to get it's act together and find a way to get teams like Portugal regular games against the top sides.
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
Great planned move by Portugal and a great try.
A joy to watch
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
Great planned move by Portugal and a great try.
A joy to watch
Simple, effective and well executed- just like Portugal's play.
@Steve said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
The refs have abdicated responsibility for showing red cards since the bunker came in.
We are seeing a ridiculous number of Reds IMHO
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
Shittest RC ever
Rugby incident
Move on
Wow!
Totally agree.
@Victor-Meldrew some of the "tier 2" sides are great at these sorts of plays. Japan have always been innovative.
Makes you wonder why sides like Wales with supposedly "better" players can't produce moments like that.
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
@pooler-fan said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
I must admit my last memory of a Portugal rugby side was when Wales beat them by 100+ points back in the 90's sometime.
I'd kinda dismissed this game as a nothing match where we'd play our back-ups & win at a canter. After watching Uruguay last night I had an uneasy feeling about this game, made worse by googling their recent results & seeing they only lost by 10 points against Italy last year.Stand down
We'll stuff them
I'm saying nothing 
I feel like what we are seeing an interesting pattern at the world cup and during the warmups.
Once tier 1 teams go into their 2nd string they really are only performing marginally better than these tier 2 teams.
So the inverse is that with proper investment and a few stand out players tier 2 are not that far away.
I would watch a tier 2 rugby championship if the quality of rugby was near what we are seeing. Even more so if it allowed promotion to a tier 1 comp. Rugby championship or 6 nation's.
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
Great planned move by Portugal and a great try.
A joy to watch
Only caught the second half but wales were clearly second best in the two most critical areas: scrums and hot, overemotional fans.
Portugal were absolutely excellent. Other than pick and go up close wales were bereft of ideas. Portugal were great in all facets, scrum excepted.
Very disappointing
Wrong personnel
Wrong tactics
Still 10 pts out of 10, no injuries, and no trips to the judiciary
Flush
Move on
@pooler-fan said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
@MiketheSnow said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
@pooler-fan said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
I must admit my last memory of a Portugal rugby side was when Wales beat them by 100+ points back in the 90's sometime.
I'd kinda dismissed this game as a nothing match where we'd play our back-ups & win at a canter. After watching Uruguay last night I had an uneasy feeling about this game, made worse by googling their recent results & seeing they only lost by 10 points against Italy last year.Stand down
We'll stuff them
I'm saying nothing
We should have
@MiketheSnow we never perform after multiple changes for whatever reason.
Too many passengers - Halfpenny, Lydiate and Anscombe offer nothing as test players these days.
I've no doubt we'll improve significantly against Australia though.
@Jailbreak7 said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
Wales in their change strip of mostly black, and Portugal haven't read the script but not good enough to capitalize.
Why both in change strip?
I know it's down to colourblind wokeness.
But if your normal colours are dark then have a light change strip.
@mooshld said in RWC Week 2: Wales v Portugal:
I feel like what we are seeing an interesting pattern at the world cup and during the warmups.
Once tier 1 teams go into their 2nd string they really are only performing marginally better than these tier 2 teams.
So the inverse is that with proper investment and a few stand out players tier 2 are not that far away.
I would watch a tier 2 rugby championship if the quality of rugby was near what we are seeing. Even more so if it allowed promotion to a tier 1 comp. Rugby championship or 6 nation's.
Most players at this World Cup would be playing some form of pro rugby.
There's still a gap, but teams have to be on their games at all times.