Rugby Union World Cup 24 – EVERYTHING (else) thread

[OIsINiSTAn]

h

[Welcomzia]

Welcomzia 12-10 Aquitayne: McMahon's late penalty secures sensational win for Welcomzia

In what was Welcomzia's debut match in the tournament, they put in a resilient defensive display against the 58th in the world, Aquitayne. The underdogs went into the match with 5/2 odds but that didn't stop them springing an upset, as they made the opposition pay for indiscipline. Aquitayne raced into an early 7-0 lead when their prop battered over the line after some sixteen phases. However three penalties later, Welcomzia took a 9-7 lead, all three penalties coming from scrums. McMahon kept his cool and slotted the three difficult penalties through the posts. However, a dark cloud loomed when ten minutes from time, Williamson made a cynical yet try saving tackle from an Aquitane counter attack, he was put in the sin bin for his trouble. Aquitane took the three points and went 10-9 ahead. However the story wasn't over yet, when in the 81st minute, McMahon faced a pressure penalty from 45 metres out at a tricky angle, after an Aquitane player went in at the sides of the ruck. A nation held it's breath as McMahon stepped up and slotted the penalty through the posts for a shock win. Welcomzia's fans ran onto the field in wild celebration as they won their first world cup match against the odds.

"That was the happiest moment of my career, if not life" said McMahon afterwards. "My mind was racing, and when that kick went over and the fans started singing my name, I never felt better about myself. It was sensational".

"That was one rollercoaster of a match, especially the last twenty minutes", said the manger. "I trusted my players to do the job and they came through for me and the fans". "It's a brilliant day for Welcomzian rugby".

[Shytysle]

OOC re:edit - As I had overlooked that Oisinistan already had Giuseppi Reinvaughn officiating their match, I've changed my referee. Also thrown some Euran names in as a roster is now available.

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Harph-Tyme/Half-Time

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"Sycsteen - Nyl?! Sycsteen t'phuccyng nyl!?! SYCS-PHUCCYNG-TEEN. T'. PHUCCYNG. NYL!?!?"

Thus far Ceeth's half-time team talk had been merely the numbers zero and sixteen interspersed with a glut of expletives and the necessary conjunctions. The squad, heads bowed solemnly in most cases, remained deathly silent. Practically nothing had gone to plan and now the Eurans sat on a comfortable lead which to fellow debutants Shytysle seemed insurmountable. It had all started with a polemic decision to award a try by the Aelsh TMO; Rhodri Jones.

Shytysle had kicked off deep into the Euran twenty-two. Make the tackle, hold them, wait for them to kick, play the possession game. Simple. However, the Eurans had plans of their own and they didn't involve a kick. Moving the ball out wide, they exploited Shytysle's narrow play and started racking up the yardage. Shytysle's forwards couldn't keep up and the backs were left with the futile task of challenging the Euran rucks. The forwards of Eura were making mincemeat of them and within six phases, play was in the Shytysle half. Shytysle rallied, their defense tightening and stemming the Euran surge somewhat but still they looked no closer to a turnover. Composure creaked and buckled under the pressure. 'No hands green!' bellowed Edward BIllingdon as opportunistic forwards attempted to steal possession in the ruck. 'Green 7. Hands off! Now.' It was as Jhonny Drongo attempted to protest his innocence that the ball exited the ruck and Eura finally opted to kick.

Their scrum half lofted the ball over the Shytyslysh back-line as the Euran backs charged through said back-line into an area of space Marbhyn Coccrobyn had rather foolishly left vacant. The chase was now on. Bouncing kindly for the Eurans midway between the Shytysle twenty-two and try line, the ball bobbled towards the right corner. As Coccrobyn charged for the corner, Burty Shambels chasing back dived and vainly attempted to palm the ball away only for it a split second earlier to be kicked along the floor by the Euran centre. As the ball entered the goal area there were five players in contention of reaching it first. The Euran centre; Ethan Duffy and wing; Oliver Williamson, Marbhyn Coccrobyn coming in from the side and Bobby Thicco and Edmund Gudlucc neck-and-neck with the Euran backs. Five player lurched for the ball simultaneously which was grounded in the melee but it was unclear exactly who was first. Coccrobyn was adamant it was he and given the muted appeal from the Eurans, it appeared to be the case. Edward Billingdon called for a TMO review.

The replays only seemed to serve to complicate matters. An entangled swathe of arms in slow-motion danced together like trees in a gentle breeze towards the ovoid ball from a collection of different angles as Rhodri Jones reviewed and internally deliberated. Each second felt like an hour as both team's eyes were fixated upon the screens. It certainly was far from a clear decision.

"Edward?"
"Yes Rhodri?"
"Edward, I have a decision regarding the grounding of the ball."
"Yes?"
"You may award a try. Ball grounded by Blue* 14."
"Ball grounded by 14 Blue and a try for Blue?"
"Yes, Edward."

The shock and anguish on Marbhyn Coccrobyn's face as Edward Billingdon raised an arm and blew for a try spoke volumes for the mood of the Shytyslysh. The fact that Edmund Gudlucc left the field of play clutching his shoulder to be replaced by Bhalantyne Brownhed as the convertion drifted between the posts was scarely noticed. Shytysle were 7-0 down barely five minutes into the game and hadn't even had possession yet.

On the sidelines, Ceeth Sabhej scribbed clumsily in one of his many notebooks ...
'Note t'selph: Rodry Rhodry(?) Jones ys an ars'hole'**
Then underlined 'ars'hole' with an violent strike.

Morale slipped from the restart. Silly penalties were given away allowing the Eurans to add another nine points to their score and Shytysle were lacklustre in their attacks which crumbled before an impassioned Euran defence. The half-time whistle came as a blessing for a team yearning to just be back on their wet little island ignoring what lay beyond their shores as before.

"... PHUCCYNG-SYCS-PHUCCYNGBASTARDYNG-TEEN. T'. BLUDDYPHUCCYNGTWATTYNGCUNTYNGSODDYNG-NYL!?!?!?"

Ceeth finally took a break to breathe. His vociferous shouts seemed to have reached their zenith and a few of the squad looked up to see whether he had any other words of wisdom to profer to the team. Not that they needed any, they knew what they were doing wrong. They'd paid the price for the psychological hammer blow of the early try, let it get to them and had been duly punished. It was a rude awakening for their debut in international rugby. Allowing a good few seconds to recompose himself, Ceeth continued.

"Sycsteen t'Nyl lads ... Az tha phoggorren t'gameplan? A'cudda sent t'bluddy yunguns aat phr'awl dysaplyn a'v syn on that pheeld ynt'phyrst harph ... Hold tha lynes, ceep ya pozeshon, n'more dapht penaltees ... Ryte? Them Yoerans aynt so gud. Got luccy wy'that phyrst try (... bluddy Rhodry Jones ... ) theh dyd. Push'em bacc. Phyte ph'phucsake! W'can styl wyn thys match or'at bherry leest gerra loozyn bonus. Ger'owt thehr an'bluddy doo Shytysle praad!"***

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Phull-Tyme/Full-Time

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"Nyneteen - Sycs?! Nyneteen t'phuccyng sycs!?! NYNE-PHUCCYNG-TEEN. T'. PHUCCYNG. SYCS!?!?"

etc.

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OOC

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* I'm making an assumption that Eura play in blue ...
** To clarify, I'm not implying Rhodri Jones is incompetent merely that it was a complicated and unclear scenario to officiate and from a Shytyslysh point of view, he made a mistake.
*** As I assume most people here aren't fluent in the Shytyslysh language, below is a transcript.

"Sixteen to nil men ... Have you forgotten the gameplan? I could've sent the bloody youngsters out for all the discipline I've seen on that field in the first half ... Hold your lines, keep your possession, no more daft penalties ... Right? Those Eurans aren't so good. [They] got lucky with that first try ( ... bloody Rhodri Jones ... ) they did. Push them back. Fight for fuck's sake! We can still win this match or at [the] very least get a losing bonus [point]. Get out there and bloody do Shytysle proud!"

---

Pool E
Shytysle 6–19 Eura
The Fair Republic 33–7 Cata Larga

  Pool E                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 The Fair Republic             1   1  0  0   33   7 +26    5
2 Eura                          1   1  0  0   19   6 +13    4
3 Gregoryisgodistan             0   0  0  0    0   0   0    0
4 Shytysle                      1   0  0  1    6  19 −13    0
5 Cata Larga                    1   0  0  1    7  33 −26    0

[Eura]

Rugby Board of Eura (RBE) Squad for the 24th Rugby Union World Cup

Style mod: +0.5
Trigramme: EUR
Head Coach: Dylan Miles (48, Eura) A talented player in his youth who was forced to retire due to injury in his mid-twenties, Miles is a rare example of truly professional quality in Euran rugby, which has been professional for a couple of decades but does not regularly send teams to international tournaments, something they are seeking to change. He will try his best with a relatively unknown squad of players who have been picked almost entirely from Eura's RBE Premier League, with a handful playing in Endemia or Sameba. The main aim however will be to achieve respectable results and to show that the national team can improve down the line in the future.
Assistant Coach: Ed Carroll (45, Eura) A cult hero in Euran rugby and one its few figures who can match football figures for notoriety, Carroll is a popular figure and a more than able deputy to Miles. He is Eura's record cap holder in rugby with 35, a small figure that can be explained by how few games Eura have played over the years (all of the current squad are uncapped), especially considering that Carroll played for a very long time.

Squad
Shirt number - Position - Name - Age - Club

Preferred starting fifteen

1 - Loose head prop – Kian Gallagher - 25 - Aldon Blues
2. Hooker — Henry Griffin - 24 - Northreach
3. Tight head prop — Nicholas Khan - 20 - Holden Steel
4. Lock — Finn Morton - 22 - Balleck RC (SAM)
5. Lock — Ewan Bull - 19 - Bastion Castles
6. Blindside flanker — David Welch - 27 - Bastion Castles Vice Captain
07. Openside flanker — George Field - 22 - Eastice Eagles (DAE)
08. Number eight — Will Major - 24 - Bastion Castles Captain
09. Scrumhalf — Nathan Howe - 20 - Directus Dragons
10. Flyhalf — Charlie Hutchinson - 21 - Holden Steel 1st choice kicker
11. Left wing — Corey Barker - 20 - Directus Dragons
12. Inside centre — Ethan Duffy - 23 - Brigham RC
13. Outside centre — Tom Cunningham - 19 - Spartans
14. Right wing — Oliver Williamson - 25 - Harther RC 2nd choice kicker
15. Fullback — Anthony Carr - 20 - Bastion Castles

Subs

Prop - Harry Law - 22 - Spartans
Prop - Elliot Moss - 24 - Brigham RC
Hooker - Jack Sanderson - 22 - Brega Buffalos (SAM)
Lock - Oscar Pope - 23 - Bastion Castles
Lock - Norman Baldwin - 28 - Brigham RC
Flanker - Reece Kelly - 21 - Wake Warriors
Flanker - Sam Davidson - 25 - Carsby RC
Eight - Isaac Payne - 24 - Holden Steel
Scrumhalf - Connor Dodd - 22 - Spartans 3rd choice kicker
Flyhalf - Joseph Tucker - 19 - Spartans
Left wing - Peter Chambers - 22 - Falourr RC
Inside centre - Jacob Bruce - 22 - Royals (ITO)
Outside centre - Josh Hughes - 18 - Bastion Castles
Right wing - Callum Turnbull - 25 - Directus Dragons
Fullback - Dominic Jackson - 19 - Farrenton Falcons

RP Permissions

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Godmod scoring events: Y
RP injuries to my players: Y
Godmod injuries to my players: Y
Sin bin my players: Y
Send my players off: Y
Godmod other events: Y, within reason, ie. no killings or absurd events.

Kits

Primary: Blue top and shorts with gold socks and gold trim on the shorts. Badge is a Euran flag.
Secondary: Red top with gold shorts (and red trim) and red socks. Badge is a Euran flag.

[Barunia]

Etami: Why are you still up?

Babcockeandball: I have assignment to finish

Etami: Isn't it late over there?

Babcockeandball: 12:19

Etami: Past midnight?

Babcockeandball: Yes

Etami: You need to get to bed! Game tomorrow

Babcockeandball: Need to get this assignment done. Due monday

Etami: You'll be no good at either rugby or study if you stay up too late

Babcockeandball: Not enough time.

Etami: You'll pull through.

Babcockeandball: Too much work. So tired.

Etami: Get to bed.

Babcockeandball: In a minute

Etami: Bed. Now.

Nathan Babcocke sighed and closed the chat window. Ellen was right. Barunia had their opening game tomorrow, and by rights he should have been asleep by now. But he also had assignments to finish. Unlike some of their rivals, rugby in Barunia was an amateur sport, and players had to find other ways to support themselves. Nathan was studying his Bachelor of Arts, majoring in literature. He wasn't sure what he was going to do with it once he finished, but that was a thought for another night. Right now, he needed to think about rugby.

Actually, right now he needed to think about sleep. Rugby could wait until the morning.

[Neu Engollon]

"Good evening to our loyal viewers out in Neu Engollon and our International crowd. You're watching the NETV Sports 7 Update and I'm your host, Magda Wertauer. Tonight we go to Aels, where the first matches in the Pool stage of the Rugby World Cup have wrapped up. Neu Engollon is top seed in our pool, to the surprise of no one, I'm sure. Today was a bye for the Goats and they made the most of it, touring around the host city of Watersedge, where they will be playing their first match of Pool A. While the rest of their pool was in Llanislwyn, the Goats watched their pool mates matches via television, rather than live, inbetween some light practice drills.
Coach Cosento laid down the law and put a strict drink limit on the Goats players to make sure they didn't over do it and make a disastrous debut for the 24th Union World Cup. Along with other Athletics Ministry staff, he chaperoned them around Watersedge to the popular tourist sights and they even signed some autographs for the rare traveling Neu Engollian fan or even rarer foreign fan that recognized them. The Goats were their usual goofy selves and we have footage to prove it as you see here. Yes, that's Willi Hoerner wearing a local tourist hat with the Aelsh flag on it.

Meanwhile, in Llanislwyn, we saw our fellow Astyrians, 58th ranked Aquitayne, lose by two points to unranked Welcomzia in what might not be a huge upset, but still a lamented one. With a converted try early in the first half, most were certain the match would go as expected. After several sloppy scrums on the part of the Aquitaynians, and successfully taken penalty kicks by the Welcomzians, the match was very much in doubt as the underdogs took over from there and began to dominate the match. The Aquitaynians bounced back in the second half and actually came back to a 10-9 lead. Unfortunately, it wasn't enough as they were felled by one last difficult penalty kick from Welcomzia's McMahon. He'll be one the Goats have to watch out for. What a rollercoaster of an exciting, emotional match.

Lurnana...Lameina...Excuse me...Lauranienne beat Borsh...Borxinoia, The Goats' first upcoming opponent, 20 to 7...I'm going to have to do my tongue twisting exercises for the rest of the Pool stage it looks like, sorry about that folks. Anyway, this bodes well for the Goats as their toughest opponent for the Pool stage, on paper anyway, Borxinoia, was taken down by another unranked team. Neu Engollon is still going to prepare for the match as if it was the toughest one of the Cup, I'm sure, as they do their practice drills and keep sharp.

Taken overall, the fact that both the ranked teams of Pool A were taken down by the unranked ones is not actually a very good portend, if you're another ranked, veteran rugby team. If one lesson can be taken away, it's that nothing is guaranteed here and assumptions can not take the place of sharpness and preparedness when it comes to stepping out on that pitch.

In other pools, we saw dominating high point victories from Saintland, The Fair Republic, Ko-oren and Hutanjia during today's matches. Other than Pool A, there weren't too many surprises in those walking off as victors tonight. We will talk to Coach Cosento for our next report, about how the Goats will get ready for their opponents in one of the more turbulent Pools and do their best to hang on to the top spot. He has already announced that barring unforeseen circumstances, the typical starters for the Goats will be out on the pitch tomorrow against the Borxinoians.

We will have all the replays of matches available on the special NETV pay per view streaming service, with some select matches on NETV Sports 19 and this channel. More previews and coverage of the upcoming Borzo...Borxinoia-Neu Engollon match on the Sports 7 Update. Stay tuned after this quick sponsor break..."

[Kernansquillec]

And now for the rest of Sports News...

Kernansquillec's rugby union team were in action at the 24th Rugby World Cup. Things haven't gotten off to a good start for the green and whites as they crashed to a humiliating 25-0 defeat against group F's top seeds Uitbregen. The Kers are still expected to qualify, but after such a poor showing that lacked any sort of passion and technique, the team will need to up their game considerable ahead of their next game.

Moving on to more positive news...

[Elejamie]

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Dave Carrey's Very Late Guide to 24th RWC Pool C
Dave Carrey - Drefhill, Aels

It's that time again. Time for another international rugby tournament. First, there was the Rugby League World Cup where we managed to defy expectations and, not only because the only group runners-up to make it to the quarter finals, but also knocked out the hosts in spectacular fashion; of course, I'm not really big on RL and only went because RubiFaman couldn't make it. Then there were the two Sevens tournaments - the first in Londinium and the other in Burgenden - where the ERF tried to drum up support for a domestic Sevens tournament (spoiler alert: they didn't) but it was a bit hit and miss; we did well in Nova Anglicana and could've made it to the cup if we didn't miss out on point difference (but, on the upside, we won the plate so I guess it balances out - DC), yet we slacked a bit in Neu Engollon and clearly could've won an easy game against Semarland. And now, after much waiting, we now arrive in Aels for the Rugby Union World Cup. And I must say that, as always, I'm pretty damn excited.

Head coach Nick Dabrowski, seen here
looking professional

Taking a look at the team roster I found on the official website, I will admit that Nick Dabrowski knows what he's doing, although I do have do have a couple of concerns with a few of his choices. Maetonal may have a few flaws (namely a bit of a hot temper) but, from what I saw in that opening game against the Bullfrogs, he gets the job done; Bruce Hernández would've been the better choice - meaning we would've brought the double team of Bruce and Chris [Onuoha] to the world stage - but sadly he got that injury in practice and he'll be out until at least early December. Retocil's not a bad pick either; inexperienced but looks like he could make it big. Riley Kroger's arriving from the Sevens team, which is an excellent choice considering how well he did in that match against N&N. If I were to make any changes, I would've put Debenham in the starting XV and Oldaker on the bench; don't get me wrong, Oldaker's not a bad player, but Debenham's brilliant with the ball and got a strong pair of legs, meaning he's more of a match for the opponents. Now that I've tangentially waffled about the team, let's get to work on naming our opponents:

So, to begin, we have Aloquirbe. I was going to write about them before the competition started but I was putting it off. Mostly because I couldn't think of any way to describe them. Oh well, at least we beat them. And it was our very own Dan Mitchell who scored the first Elejamian try of the tournament; check out this beauty now available in GIF form. Then, Doug Westwood stepped up, took a deep breath and... booted it just wide. Ah well, at least he made up for it twenty minutes later with a fabulous try - outrunning all of the Aloquirbic backs with the ball in hand before elbow-dropping himself onto the ground - followed by a spectacular kick that sailed in between the posts. Eventually, when it came to half time, the score was 12-0 to Elejamie.

In the second half, they started to catch up. Five minutes after the start of the half, they very nearly scored a try; unfortunately, their winger just ran outside of the line. However, after the line-out, they got the ball and scored a try. And got it converted to make it 12-7. Although we were starting to feel the heat, our goose wasn't cooked yet. In fact, not long afterwards, we managed to get a penalty because their fullback didn't let go of the ball when he was tackled; Westwood easily made it 15-6 with a spectacular penalty 20m out. Sixty minutes in, Chris Onuoha just made it to the try line, however there was some controversy when it didn't look like the ball crossed the line. However, after a quick chat between referee Ion Mihai da Silva and TMO guy Vukani McCarthy, the try stood, Onuoha was credited for it and Doug Westwood made it 22-7. Eventually, just past the 80 minute mark and in the final play, Ben Oldaker looked like he was going for a fourth try. So imagine our surprise when he scored a goal to secure a 25-7 victory, a great start and a great way to raise spirits.

After our match day two bye, we have Albaie. So far, the only things I know about them is that we'll be playing them in Llanislwyn and, as of writing, they're in last place. Of course, since we have that bye day, we're coming back refreshed after such an amazing win, whereas they'll have played Aloquirbe, with both teams trying to make up for their losses. Not to mention that, since we arrived earlier, we probably would have gotten used to the pitch. In other words, we definitely have the upper hand and will pretty much cruise to victory.

Bruce Hernández, who sadly
couldn't make it to Aels. We
here at Drop Goal want to say
"Get well soon!"

On our fourth match day, we have Kaboomlandia, who will be making a return to the competition. Last time, back when they were the Kings, they were in the former Royal Barangay and the former Ingla Terra, where they came third in their group (just behind The Fair Republic and Riysa) before losing 23-16 to Nova Anglicana in the Round of 24 (who in turn were knocked out in the Round of 16 by Ko-oren). Although a couple of players will be making a return, namely Fischer and Villegas, the team consists mostly of fresh faces. In fact, Frederic Allemande from 23 has been replaced by Marshall Hayes; I'm guessing that the coup has affected more than the government, the capital and the Avon Stars.

Oh, right, you want a prediction. Either a loss or a very narrow win. They, meanwhile, will probably be making it to the next round.

And, finally, we have Aels. The thorn in our rugby side since Londinium. First, they beat us there 29-5; although, thankfully, the Natanians and Nosts avenged us twice, first in the group stage and then in the cup final. Secondly, we were drawn against them again in Neu Engollon. Where they beat us again, although I will say that a 24-10 defeat is more of an improvement. Of course, it probably helps that we were both knocked in the cup quarter finals; we lost 33-7 to N&N - who eventually came fourth - and them 24-14 to eventual runners-up Racao. And now, not only are we against them for a third time but they're also hosting the tourney. So I'm predicting that we'll turn the tables and pull off a well-deserved win.

And that's practically it for the group stages. The top two teams in each pool will be going through to the round of 16. Kaboomlandia's definitely going to be one of those teams if their previous performance is anything to go by, although we'll have to wait until tomorrow's game against the hosts to see if they've kept that magic But the big question is who will be joining them there? Will it be Aels? Or will it be Elejamie? Will it be some other team? I guess we'll have to wait to find out. Either way, you'll be sure to see plenty of exciting rugby action, so I recommend that you stay tuned to Channel 3 (or whichever channel's showing it back home) and cheer for coach Dabrowski and his boys.

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More from Dave Carrey:

• Dave Carrey's Guide to Elejamie's 24th RUWC team
• Dave Carrey's Guide to the 24th Rugby Union World Cup
• Dave's Blog: Downtown Drefhill aka Aels According to Dave Carrey
• Bullfrogs 1990 vs Bullfrogs 2015

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Apologies to Aels (or, rather, their main account Liventia) if I seem a bit rude here. Any animosity here is strictly IC but, if you want me to, I'll edit it to tone it down.

[Ko-oren]

OOC: Short one because of a lack of time

Great start against a messy Frenline Delpha

Ko-oren's backs are back in action as usual with a fantastic performance against Frenline Delpha. Both starting wingers scored a try, the fullback did as well, as did Salomon. Two forwards were added as well: Sven van Loon got lucky in the second half for five points, and Nuno Araullo represented the big guys in the scoreline. Yoann Chauvin had a great day as well, but missed two conversions. He hit four out of six as well as two penalty kicks.

The team had every opportunity at doing great against a very messy opponent. The Frenline Delpha staff misnumbered most of the jerseys, and there were two options: playing with half-fitting jerseys or just playing with the wrong numbers. The Dragonflies saw no problem in the latter so that is what the officials went with.

Scoreline:

0-7 Try - Cyrille Salomon (Conversion - Yoann Chauvin)
0-14 Try - Leonardo Braga (Conversion - Yoann Chauvin)
7-14 Try - Eros Hilaire (Conversion - Titus Creeks)
7-17 Penalty Kick - Yoann Chauvin
7-22 Try - Theodore Darwin
7-25 Penalty Kick - Yoann Chauvin
7-32 Try - Sven van Loon (Conversion - Yoann Chauvin)
10-32 Penalty Kick - Titus Creeks
10-37 Try - Nuno Araullo
10-44 Try - Damian Allen (Conversion - Yoann Chauvin)

[Kaboomlandia]

Phoenix Gearing Up for First Game against Hosts

Getting a gift in drawing four unranked teams to join them in Group C, the Kaboomlandia Phoenix weren't going to sit on luck. "We got lucky with the draw, but we're still in with Elejamie, who keeps beating us in ice hockey, and we're still in with the hosts, Aels," pointed out head coach Marshall Hayes. "We can't let our experience let us coast through. We've got to play our game." The focus will be on Kaboomlandia's best player, outside centre Drew McMaster, as well as Jüssi Brylîn, who is the first-ever player from the Kaboomlandian Foreign Territory to compete for Kaboomlandia in a major sporting event.

[Ethane]

ENTV
It was 1am in Ethane when the matches began. Many people had gone to bed, tired after a hard-working day and willing to wait until the morning to find out the results. Many lights had been switched off, as most of Ethane had gone to sleep, hoping for Ethane that the rugby team would do well in Aels. Only the dedicated fans had stayed up for the match, which there were many of. Many of the pubs had been allowed by the government to stay open throughout the world cup, to celebrate such a historic game. James Mcgarth, a 22 year old male university student, was sitting at the bar, a bitter shandy held in his right hand, resting on the bar surface, with his eyes trained on the large screen rested on a stand in the corner of the pub. The teams were just walking out of the tunnel and onto the pitch. James smashed the drink down his throat and smashed his glass down on the surface, demanding another drink, his eyes never leaving the screen. The national anthem of Ethane began on the tv, and everyone sat still, singing along to the well known song. The voices raised, shouting as loud as they could. A dog barked in the garden next to the pub, and if everyone had been silent, they would have heard the shout from across the street, yelling at them to keep the noise down otherwise they would call the police. No one could hear the person shouting though, as everyone was too busy belting out the national anthem. The singing died down and the referee blew his whistle. The match had begun.

James Mcgarth, having been focused on the screen throughout the build up to the match, was distracted by the pub door opening. He had been expecting his mate to arrive for half an hour now. He had called him when the rugby tv program had begun, signalling 15 minutes to the game start, and found out that he had fallen asleep, and was running to the pub now. He was glad to see that his friend was the one that had walked in. He would've been surprised if anyone else had been coming, as they would've been leaving their arrival too close to the start of the match, as the pub was full apart from the seat next to James.
''Hi James'', his friend exclaimed as he rushed across the room to embrace him in a hug.
''Hello Samuel'',James replied back, glad to see his friend had returned from holiday safely. Samuel had been on holiday for the past 3 months, exploring the world, James had been so jealous. They both sat down at the seats that James had saved for them. James ordered a strongbow and Samuel decided on a cider. As the drinks were being made, they turned their attention to the screen, discussing the game as time progressed.

By the time they settled down and started watching the game, 3 minutes had already passed. Both of them were relieved to find out that no one had scored yet. They both began to discuss what was happening on screen, as the sound was not on loud enough for them to hear it from their position at the bar. The match was in the Condors Ground, which was a 17000 stadium built for the Condors rugby club, but was being used by the rugby union for the world club.
''That was a good turnover by Ben Darling wasn't it?'' James exclaimed as Ben snatched the ball away from Devonta on the Ethane 22.
''yes it was, Ethane was getting into a bit of trouble there as the opponents were getting a bit of momentum in their game''. Suddenly, the referee whistle blew, and Stefan Elvar announced that he would be referring to the TMO, for what was unknown. The TMO, Sol Van Der Brei, repeated the same piece of video over and over again, then announced that there was no reason for a penalty to be awarded, as there was no knock on.
''That is a terrible call from the referee. Shocking. We were on the attack, potentially going to get a try, but then the ref called it back for something that never happened. That is terrible play from the referee.'' shouted Samuel.
'' I agree. We now have to replay from a scrum, which puts us in a lesser position than we were on the attack there. We have possibly lost a try because of that''.
As time passed on, they raged at the referees bad decisions, and criticised the bad performances of the players.
On the 23rd minute, Ethane managed to get a try. James was sipping on his third StrongBow, and as Samuel Garrot, the 18 year old lock playing his debut game, flew across the try line to score his first try in his first international game, he smashed his glass on the bar, sending liquid flying all over, and jumped to the air, screaming in delight. He danced around the room, obviously drunk, screaming out ''Samuel, Samuel, our hero Samuel''. Samuel, who was sit at the bar, smiling and cheering inside, ran across the bar to James and pulled him back to his seat. ''Stop being such an idiot. You're drunk, already'' Samuel exclaimed. ''Yeah'' James slurred back, unable to string a sentence together properly. ''Damn it Sam, they're so good. I missed you, why did you go away for so long''. ''Can we focus on the rugby game please J-J'' Samuel pouted. ''But I wanna talk about what happened before I left for the holiday'' James exclaimed. ''Not Now!!!!!!''. James fell silent and stared back at the tv screen, half watching the rugby match, half in his own thoughts.

At half time, the score had remained the same, so Ethane was ahead at 7 points to 0. Samuel had been intently watching the game, praying inside that Ethane won and managed to hold off the wave after wave of attacks that were battering their defence. He was so glad when the half time whistle blew as an Ethane player kicked it into touch, and they all strolled off the pitch. The pundits and commentators on the tv, which could not be heard in the pub came on screen, and Samuel turned his head to James, who was still staring at the screen, not focusing on anything, just staring. James drink that he ordered 20 minutes ago was sat on the side, untouched. Samuel grabbed the drink and handed it to James, whose hand was shaking as he took it.
''Are you ok James?'' Samuel asked. ''You don't seem very well''
''Yeah, i'm fine'' James replied, a tear forming in his eye.
''No you're not, you starting to cry. Seriously JJ, tell me, what is wrong with you''
''Nothing'' James snapped back. Samuel turned his head away from James, feeling rejected. What was wrong with James. Had he done something wrong? James got up to go to the toilet, obviously upset, so he left him alone to go sort himself out. Samuel turned his head back to the tv, trying to work out what the pundits were saying. Even though he could not hear them, he was glad that he lived in Ethane, because of the national tv service. In other countries, you would have lots of adverts at this point, but in Ethane, there were no adverts, because the broadcaster ENTV was funded by the government. There were some other tv channels, but ENTV1, the channel which the rugby was showing on, was the best channel so far, as it was one of the only channels without adverts and had the best programmes.

The whistle blew as the second half started, and James walked back in, sitting at his seat at the bar, immediately looking at the screen and avoiding his friends eyes. Samuel looked at his friend for a second and realised that he was still upset, but saw by his actions that he didn't want to talk, so reverted his eyes back to the screen. He was so glad that Ethane was in the lead right now, but straight away, Ethane didn't seem to be doing so well in the second half. Within 2 minutes of the start, Devonta had begun a deadly attack. Samuel was hoping that it didn't lead to anything. As the Devontians edged closer and closer to the line, Samuel started to worry more and more that this was when the dam broke, and Devonta went on a scoring spree. He knew that Devonta were the better team, and were expected to win, but he hoped that Ethane would be able to pull off the first upset of the tournament. Unfortunately, to Samuel's dismay, Devonta managed to edge over the try- line, after a mistake from Thomas Winston, and scored a try. They also managed to score the conversion easily, which meant that Ethane and Devonta were equal on 7 points a piece with 35 minutes to go.

James watched in horror as Devonta scored. What had been a loud pub suddenly descended into silence, shocked at what had just happened. Then there were cries over the replays of the try, which visibly showed that there was a forward pass just before the try, but the referee didn't car, and the TMO wasn't going to say anything about the mistake without being called by the referee. The whole pub was shouting in protest, including Samuel, who James had been looking at out of the corner of his eye. He wondered why he had ignored Samuel throughout half time and rushed off to the toilet crying, leaving Samuel there dumbfounded. It left him feeling so bad to see Samuel looking so upset about him leaving for the toilet at such a time, while James was crying, but James did really need the toilet. James was silent throughout the controversy of the try and the conversion. However, when Devonta scored the second try in the 77th minute, he was devastated. He knew that Ethane did not have enough time to get back into the game with 3 minutes left, and Devonta had surely won the game, being a converted try away from the. With 1 minute left, Ethane charged everything at Devonta, but it just wasn't to be, as Devonta kicked the ball into touch as it passed into overtime. It was all over. Ethane had lost the first rugby world cup game, denting the slim chance they had of doing well in the group stages. Their game against Oisinistan just became a lot more important, as well as the very highly ranked teams, which would be even more difficult to beat that Devonat. Ethane would just have to hope.

The captain, Greg Laider, was interviewed at the end of the match.
'So how do you feel about the result?''
''I am so disappointed about that result, especially after the first half, where we were doing so well. We were doing so well in the first half, surviving wave after wave of their attacks, before countering and managing to score ourselves. I was so proud of our first half of our performance, and so was our manager. However, in the second half, we just collapsed. Everyone wasn't playing to their best, and a group of mistakes from the start led to Devonta getting the ball and scoring that try, after the mistake in the back. We then didn't manage to complete a good attack, and mostly played on the defence, due to our poor execution on attacks, and our clumsiness in giving away penalties while on the attack. Letting them score another try so late in the game was also very disappointing for us as well, as we managed to hold them off for so long in the second half, before letting them in in the final few minutes of the game.''
''And what do you think of your chances for the rest of the world cup?''
''We can still go on and do well i think. We have to rally together after this match and build up for our other matches. we can't let this performance dishearten us. Tomorrows game against Oisinistan is a key game for us, so we have to be fully focused on that game''
''Thank you''

[Aels]

Aels 24–6 Albaie
DRAYFILL— Hosts Aels recorded a comfortable win over Albaie in their opening match of the Rugby World Cup, triumphing 24–6 at the national stadium.

Prop Alun Williams and left wing Hywel Llewellyn both touched down and Aels were awarded a late penalty try as the home side looked to leave an early imprint on their return to full international sporting action.

Things did not look like going to plan early on when Albaie took an unexpected lead through a penalty after number eight Daffydd Pryce was adjudged by Uitbregeni referee Joachim Heeren to play the ball from an offside position.

Aels levelled the scores on 10 minutes through a Gareth Trevor-Phillips kick when an Albaie player was penalised for entering the ruck from the side.

The hosts dominated both possession and territory but a firm Albaie defence held out until the 26th minute when tighthead prop Alun Williams crossed over following a remarkable run from halfway.

Trevor-Phillips slotted the resulting kick over to put the Aelsh seven clear, although that lead was cut to four shortly before half-time in an incident which saw lock Rhodri Tudur sent to the bin for a dangerous neck roll.

It took Aels a full 15 minutes after the restart to find the scoreboard again when Llewellyn finished a classy move that was 11 phases in the making, barging through a resolute Albaie defence in the corner. Trevor-Phillips converted from a difficult angle to give the hosts breathing room.

There was to be late controversy in the match when Albaie's replacement right wing appeared to knock the ball on out of play from an Aelsh attack.

After a brief consultation with his television match official, referee Heeren sent the number 19 to the bin and awarded a penalty try, from which Glyn Tudur slotted over the extras.

The hosts went forward again from the restart searching for the bonus point, but substitute fly-half Aled Selwyn lost the ball forward in a tackle to end the game on a disappointing note.

---

Match summary
Aels: Morgan; Rees, O Price, I Evans, Llewellyn; Trevor-Phillips, G Tudur; James, T Evans, Alun Williams; Maddock, R Tudur; D Price, A Lloyd, Pryce

Replacements: Rhys-Jones for Rees 58', Selwyn for Trevor-Phillips 76', Anthony Williams for James 47', Tomos for R Tudur 61', A Howells for D Price 76', Edwards for Pryce 65'

Unused: Jones, I Howells

Tries: Alun Williams, Llewellyn, penalty try

Conversions: Trevor-Phillips (2), G Tudur

Penalties: Trevor-Phillips

Sin binned: R Tudur 38'

Albaie: No 15; No 14, No 13, No 12, No 11; No 10, No 9; No 1, No 2, No 3; No 4, No 5; No 6, No 7, No 8

Penalties: No 10 (2)

Sin binned: No 19 78'

Referee: Joachim Heeren (Uitbregen)

Attendance: 38,162

[Nova Anglicana]

Nova Anglicana Rugby Union World Cup XXIV Roster

Nickname: Lions
Head Coach: Errol Anderson

Starting XV

1. Kristopher Beard, loosehead prop, 29
2. Ben Brady, hooker, 33
3. Samson Abasi, tighthead prop, 30
4. Tim Poole, lock, 30
5. Dan Bridges, lock, 31
6. Myles Sheffield, blindside flanker, 32
7. Damien Clemens, openside flanker, 31, captain
8. Atticus Joiner, eight-man, 25
9. Julian Lee, scrum half, 31
10. Quentin Foray, fly half, 30
11. Jean-Marc Aubert, weak-side (left) wing, 29
12. Alec Alba, inside centre, 28
13. Garrett Morgan, outside centre, 28
14. Eric Clark, strong-side (right) wing, 30
15. Graham King, fullback, 28

Subs

16. Roger Wood, inside centre, 32
17. Cole Fair, half, 27
18. Nate Jefferson, wing, 27
19. Roland Brady, fullback, 26
20. Franck Terrot, loosehead prop, 33
21. Merlin St. Clair, eight-man, 33
22. Jacob Grant, second row, 31




Kit (thanks to Fair Republic for link):

Schedule (Group B)

Nova Anglicana (11) vs Greater Vakolicci Haven (UR)
Saintland (10) vs. Nova Anglicana
Nova Anglicana vs Barunia (UR)
Royal Kingdom of Quebec (UR) vs Nova Anglicana

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Choose my scorers: Y
Godmod scoring events: N
RP injuries to my players: Y, nothing serious
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Y
Hand out red cards to my players: Y, only if you also give a red to one of your players
Godmod other events: N

[Natanians and Nosts]

Natanians and Nosts loses its first game at the 24th RUWC by one point.Polaaskan gave the kick-off,the match officials were Kakuei Okura(Ko-oren), Joachim Heeren(Uitbregen) as the assistent and the TMO Walter Tramell(New Engollon).On the third minute mr. Okura awarded us a scrum after a supposed forward pass.Mihai Kaeso fed the scrum fastly,and when he passed the ball to Mihai Ricardus,he ran untill the 22 metres line and passed back to Miahi Kaeso,he passed to Cáius Március,he ran some metres,passed to Ion Viktor dos Santos who saw Mihai Kaeso runnign,and passed to him,Mihai Kaeso kicked and scored a goal!Natanians and Nosts 3x0 Polaaskan.The game was hard,both we and them were a few strong on the tackles,we were having good chances,but on the twenty-fifth minute,their winger scored a try,followed by a good conversion,Natanians and Nosts 3x7 Polaaskan.One minute later Numa Nínnio North almost scored a drop goal,but the ball hit the post,their full-back kicked the ball,but Octavius Caeso took the ball,passed to Gheorghe Márcus he ran to the in-goal,but he was tackled,Cáius Március recovered the ball at the ruck,he passed to Gheorghe Ion who scored a beautiful diving try!Mihai Kaeso made the conversion from a distance of 30 metres.Natanians and Nosts 10x7 Polaaskan. Two minutes later they almost scored twice,but Cáius Mihai and Iohannis made good tackles,later,we almost scored a try,but the referee and the TMO said that wasn't,even everyone saying the opposite.The detail of the talk between mr. Okura and Numa:
"Senhor,não foi try!O TMO confirmou o lance,a bola não tocou nem a linha nem o in-goal!"(Mr.,it wasn't a try!The TMO confirmed the move,the ball did not touch neither the line nor the in-goal area!)
"Senhor Okura,tem certeza que não foi try?"(Mr. Okura,are you sure that wasn't try?)
"Absoluta!Se continuares a reclamar,poderás ganhar cartão!"(Absolutely!If you keep complaining,you'll be awarded a card!)
Nothing more happened on the first time.They scored again with their inside centre,and converted.Natanians and Nosts 10x14 Polaaskan.The teams appeared to be more stopped on the second time,but we scored a drop goal with Numa,and the result is Natanians and Nosts 13x14 Polaaskan.

[The Fair Republic]

Gideon Patrick is in a good mood. He knew that Cata Larga had the ability to upset the Toucans if they were off their game, and he stressed that to the team before the match. The Toucans took the offensive from the whistle on and didn't let up. Peter Lazarus and Victor Peterson scored a try each in the first ten minutes to make the score 14-0. Carta Larga struck back in the 33rd minute after Paul Weaver foul making it 14-7. Carta Larga, Patrick noticed came to fight. They were hustling for loose balls and in scrums, they got back quickly on defense and prevented the Toucans from running their set pieces. Patrick noticed that George Lipton wasn't hustling, so he substituted Peter Kanie in for him. Kaine took the opportunity and ran with it he drew a foul that set up a penalty that was converted by Ross Lynch in the 53rd minute. He later converted a try of his own 3 minutes later to make it a 28-7 game. With a three try lead, Patrick substituted in the reserves for the last 24 minutes. It was an uneventful rest of the game. Jayme Gawdye scored a try, but missed the conversion in the 87th minute to give the Toucans the bonus point and a 33-7 victory. Despite the result, Patrick was still tinkering with the game plan. He told Lipton that Kaine would take him out again if he wasn't hustling. Patrick hoped the message was noted, but now it was time to sleep.

[Frenline Delpha]

(OOC Note: I have corrected my roster.)

Frenline Delpha vs. Ko-oren

FND    7  3   10
KOR   17 27   44

First Half

3': The exact meaning of Bang! Bang! play was the first score by Ko-oren. Reynaud recovered a fumble by Frenline and strparted off towards the touch line. Not after five meters was he smothered by three Frenlinians, though. He quickly shoveled it back to Spence, who managed to push forward the Anacondas' defenders. Just before he hit the ground, Spence tossed the ball back to Darwin. Darwin started running it, but he began to feel pressure from behind. Just before it reached him, however, Darwin gave a little squib kick past the Frenline line. Salomon ran onto the ball and dragged a Frenlinian player all the way into the end zone, planting the ball for a try. Chauvin's conversion was good. Ko-oren leads 7-0

5': Ko-oren wasn't quite done yet. A clumsy tackle by a Frenlinian player led to a scrum close to the Ko-oren touch line. Ko-orwn was awarded a scrum, which they won. Spence recieved the ball out of the scrum, and shoveled it back to Chauvin. Seeing a golden opportunity, Braga called for the ball. Using a well timed block, Braga managed to find an open gap and take off. It was a foot race to the touch line. A Frenlinian player caught up to him at the five meter line, but he quickly shoveled it off to van Loon. However, van Loon was met almost instantly. Braga picked up the ball again, and this time he took it into the end zone, planting the ball for a try. Chauvin's conversion was good. Ko-oren leads 14-0

27': A tripping foul at the 24' on Kajiwara left him in the sin bin, and Ko-oren down a man for ten minutes. Frenline Delpha would capitalize on the mistake three minutes later. After winning the resulting scrum, Creeks tossed it back to Hilaire. After gaining about seven meters, Hilaire went ot the ground. He pushed it back to Jocelyn, who managed to get all the way to the 22-meter line. Another quick playback to Autune saw a suib kick bounce over the hand of a Ko-oren man, and right into the waiting arms of Hilaire. Diving for the goal, Hilaire planted the ball into the end zone, scoring the first points for Frenline Delpha. Creeks's conversion was good. Ko-oren leads 14-7

36': Ko-oren would strike one more time in the first half. After a penalty was called on Frenline for collapsing a scrum, Ko-orwn elected to have Chauvin try for the penalty kick. The ball crossed through the uprights, and that was all the first half scoring. Ko-oren leads 17-7

Second Half

47': Ko-oren came into the second half just as pumped as they were in the first half. After Ko-oren won their line-out in Frenline territory, the ball was dropped to Spence. He quickly shoveled it back to Darwin, who broke one tackle on his way to the touch line. A second tackler tried to drag down Darwin, but he just kept trucking. No one could stop him, partly thanks to some clever blocking by Ko-oren, and the try was scored. Unfortunately, the try was at such a weird angle that Chauvin missed his conversion. Ko-oren leads 22-7

49': It didn't take long for Ko-oren to strike again. Frenline was awarded a srum off of a dangerous tackle, but Orbans was called for collapsing the scrum right in the middle of the posts in Frenline territory around the 22-meter line. Ko-oren elected to take the penalty kick, and Chauvin's kick increased Ko-oren's lead again. Ko-oren leads 25-7

54': Ko-oren still wasn't done scoring, yet. After Frenline lost control of the ball in their own territory, Fletcher was there to pounce on the ball and quickly shovel it back to Faria. Faria started sprinting, but he was stopped short of the five-meter line. Ko-oren wasn't leaving without a try, and they shoveled it back to Reynaud. Reynaurd blasted past the five-meter line, but the ball didn't touch down in the end zone. He shoveled it back to van Loon, who lowered his shoulders, charged straight through the Frenlinian line, and placied the ball down for the try. Chauvin's kick went straight through for the conversion. Ko-oren leads 32-7

57': Freline Delpha wasn't done yet, as they recovered a Ko-oren mishap in Ko-oren territory. After a foul by Ko-oren, Frenline Delpha was awarded a scrum. A Ko-oren player intentionaly collapsed the scrum, and Frenline Delpha was awarded with a penalty kick oppurtunity. They took it, and Creeks found the uprights, splitting them for three points. Ko-oren leads 32-10

69': After Ko-orwn managed to strip the ball from the Frenlinian carrier, Russell took off. He managed to drive all the way to the 22-meter line before he had the ball stripped from his hands. However, Araullo managed to run onto the ball and recover it. Seeing an open field, Araullo took off. He was met from the side by a Frenlinian tackler, but not before he planted the ball in the end zone. The pressure caused him to place the try near the touch line, making the kick nearly impossible for Chauvin. Ko-oren leads 37-10

75': Ko-oren nailed the final nail in the coffin when a scrum inside Frenline territory fell into the hands of Allen, a substitute for Spence. Allen took the ball straight through the defenders and placed the ball down for the try. One successful conversion later, the scoring had came to an end. Ko-oren wins 44-10

Next, Frenline Delpha will play against the 1-0 Polaaskan squad at New Free Stone Stadium.

[Uitbregen]

Hummels defends 'second-string' selection against Kernansquillec

Stadiwm Pentref, Aels

Uitbregeni Head Coach Frank Hummels has defended his selection of the Uitbregeni side after their 25-0 shut-out victory of Kernansquillec.

Hummels, who took the coaching role three months before the commencement of the competition from Gelk Niuestaad, selected a side which boasted seven changes from the 'Strongest XV' which he named four days before the game. Captain Johannes Tholberg retained his place, but flanker, Kain Bolgaard and lock Terenti Arntenzius were both rested in place of Kliment Rasmussen and Koen van Althuis. There were two changes in the front row, with Gelen making way for Rooiakkers and Hooker Bekkering being replaced by Milosz Abels.

21 year old Mark Aldenkamp stared, but outside him was the even younger Heinard du Plessis, who played well, and Staas Barends came into Outside Centre in place of Lukas Varden. The final change was on the wing, where Matthias Roggeven replaced Sebastiaan Abrahamsen. Hummels argued that he was going to rotate all his players throughout the group stages, and the first game of the group stages was no different from the last.

A lively local crowd, eager to see some rugby, was joined by an equally raucous division of Uitbregeni fans - crossed between expats and travelling fans - to sell out the some 20,000 seats at the Stadiwm Pentref in Pentref-ar-y-Bae, and Hymn van het Lande was belted out with aplomb.

Uitbregen started well, going left to right in their all-blue strip, with two good running moves in the opening ten minutes which were only stopped by good Kernansquillecian defence, which was as heavy as it was organised. The first serious chance came when 20-year old Heinard du Plessis chipped over the Green-and-white defence to put in Roggeven, but he couldn't quite gather the ball cleanly enough and fumbled 10 yards out.

du Plessis got Uitbregen on the board on 14 minutes, when he slotted a straightforward penalty after flanker Yer Oliveri was penalised for killing the ball - something which would become regular until he was sinbinned in the 55th minute. Uitbregen again came close after a sustained period of pressure on 22 minutes, but Abels wasn't able to burrow his way through and was held up on the line.

Just as frustrations were beginning to grow, full back Quinten Muyskens showed his class to punch a clean hole through the Kernansquillec defence and set up the first try. A line-out on just up from the 10m line set-up an attacking line, and a neat switch move between Muyskens and du Plessis allowed the full-back a yard of space, where he broke the tackle of Thelma Quan and accelerated away into space. He was closed down by two defenders, but got the pass away to the Laurie Penners, who dotted down in the corner. Du Plessis couldn't add the extras, but it was 8-0 to Uitbregen. From then Uitbregen started to dominate the fixture, with Kernansquillec, champions six editions ago, could not keep up with the physicality and speed of Uitbregen. Gaps began to open up shortly before half-time, and Varden almost ran in on 37 minutes, but a great last-ditch tackle from full-back Reena Mullenax halted him before the line and the Blues couldn't scramble it over. Du Plessis did add another penalty before the half, to make it 11-0 to Uitbregen at the break - a scoreline perhaps not reflecting the comfortable nature of the game.

The second half was a mere formality after Uitbregen's second try on 46 minutes, added by Tholberg. A penalty for offside was put into the corner by du Plessis, and the subsequent rolling maul rumbled its way through the Kernansquillecian 22m, with Tholberg marshalling things at the back. It takes a real effort to bring down the Uitbregeni rolling maul, and you sensed their opponents weren't up to task, with players constantly falling off, and Tholberg was able to score as the maul rolled over the line.

The second try came from persistent attacks on the Kernansquillec defence, and after 13 phases, Lukas Varden managed to slip a tackle 10m out from the line and was able to use his strength to bundle over the line. Heinard du Plessis recalibrated his boot and slotted both the conversions to cap a very strong debut performance, and providing Hummels with plenty of thinking to do before the next fixture.

[Aquitayne]

Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Choose my scorers: Y
Godmod scoring events: N
RP injuries to my players: N
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Hand out yellow cards to my players: Y
Hand out red cards to my players: Y
Godmod other events: N

STARTERS

Position:                                  Height                        Weight
Loosehead Prop: Dudre Dudeirsson           5'11"                         175 lbs   (CAPTAIN)
Hooker: Jan Oseiki                         5'7"                          160 lbs
Tighthead Prop: Matthew Thakkar            6'1"                          185 lbs
Second Row: Yuri Tukhvatulin               6'5"                          205 lbs
Second Row: Neil Hynsen                    6'3"                          203 lbs
Openside Flanker:Preston Manseg            5'11"                         196 lbs
Blindside Flanker: Daniel Ithrig           6'0"                          199 lbs
8-Man: Harrison Vadlamenti                 6'3"                          207 lbs

Scrum-Half:Arthur Rolvsson                 6'1"                          200 lbs
Fly Half: Erik Chlebek                     5'9"                          175 lbs
Inside Center: Sjurd Haugen                6'0"                          190 lbs
Outside Center: Vanja Janowski             5'11"                         193 lbs
Left Wing: Bernard Danielson               6'2"                          198 lbs
Right Wing: Longin Kasprzak                6'1"                          201 lbs
Full Back: Jaropełk Makewski               5'11"                         188 lbs

COACHES

Head Coach            Killiam Chlebek
Assistant Coach       Serafin Golmoka
Assistant Coach       Ludwik Wiater

KIT

Home:

Away:

[Aels]

Matchday Two

Pool A
Lauranienne 14–14 Welcomzia
Neu Engollon 44–3 Borxinoia

  Pool A                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Lauranienne                   2   1  1  0   34  21 +13    6
2 Welcomzia                     2   1  1  0   26  24  +2    6
3 Neu Engollon                  1   1  0  0   44   3 +41    5
4 Aquitayne                     1   0  0  1   10  12  −2    1
5 Borxinoia                     2   0  0  2   10  64 −54    0

Pool B
Saintland 0–9 Nova Anglicana
Barunia 9–14 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec

  Pool B                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana                2   2  0  0   36   3 +33    8
2 Saintland                     2   1  0  1   36   9 +27    5
3 The Royal Kingdom of Quebec   2   1  0  1   14  45 −31    4
4 Barunia                       1   0  0  1    9  14  −5    1
5 Greater Vakolicci Haven       1   0  0  1    3  27 −24    0

Pool C
Albaie 12–3 Aloquirbe
Kaboomlandia 12–13 Aels

  Pool C                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Aels                          2   2  0  0   37  18 +19    8
2 Elejamie                      1   1  0  0   25   7 +18    4
3 Albaie                        2   1  0  1   18  27  −9    4
4 Kaboomlandia                  1   0  0  1   12  13  −1    1
5 Aloquirbe                     2   0  0  2   10  37 −27    0

Pool D
Polaaskan 13–9 Frenline Delpha
South Donese Union 9–6 Natanians and Nosts

  Pool D                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Polaaskan                     2   2  0  0   27  22  +5    8
2 Ko-oren                       1   1  0  0   44  10 +34    5
3 South Donese Union            1   1  0  0    9   6  +3    4
4 Natanians and Nosts           2   0  0  2   19  23  −4    2
5 Frenline Delpha               2   0  0  2   19  57 −38    1

Pool E
Eura 10–54 The Fair Republic
Gregoryisgodistan 0–21 Shytysle

  Pool E                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 The Fair Republic             2   2  0  0   87  17 +70   10
2 Eura                          2   1  0  1   29  60 −31    4
3 Shytysle                      2   1  0  1   27  19  +8    4
4 Gregoryisgodistan             1   0  0  1    0  21 −21    0
5 Cata Larga                    1   0  0  1    7  33 −26    0

Pool F
Kernansquillec 3–10 Lymantatia
Gim 3–23 Uitbregen

  Pool F                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Uitbregen                     2   2  0  0   48   3 +45    8
2 Krytenia                      1   1  0  0   14   3 +11    4
3 Lymantatia                    2   1  0  1   13  17  −4    4
4 Kernansquillec                2   0  0  2    3  35 −32    1
5 Gim                           1   0  0  1    3  23 −20    0

Pool G
The Sword Bloke 6–12 Racao
Burthnas 14–20 Pey

  Pool G                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Pey                           2   2  0  0   39  24 +15    8
2 Hutanjia                      1   1  0  0   41   3 +38    5
3 Racao                         2   1  0  1   15  47 −32    4
4 Burthnas                      1   0  0  1   14  20  −6    1
5 The Sword Bloke               2   0  0  2   16  31 −15    1

Pool H
Ethane 7–3 Oisinistan
Abanhfleft 35–20 United States of Devonta

  Pool H                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                    1   1  0  0   35  20 +15    5
2 Ethane                        2   1  0  1   14  17  −3    5
3 Ekoz                          1   1  0  0   23  10 +13    4
4 United States of Devonta      2   1  0  1   34  42  −8    4
5 Oisinistan                    2   0  0  2   13  30 −17    1

[South Donese Union]

SDU After Match Report

Matthew Euler: Hello, welcome to the SDU Radio Broadcast with me, your host, Matthew Euler and John Dereaux.
John Dereaux: Hello
ME: Now, John, the SDU played their first international game today against Natanians and Nosts, what did you think?
JD: Honestly, it was a enthralling game of rugby. Granted, there wasn't any tries scored but the complete conviction with what the teams played with really set the tone of the game.
ME: I have to agree, but I think we need to address what happened at the opening of the match.
JD: Definitely, while Natanians and Nosts lined up for their national anthem, the South Donese formed in...what was that a bulls head with horns?
ME: I think it was.
JD: But when it came to the SDU's turn for their anthem...they just started this war dance.
ME: According to the Xulhos, the main tribe in the SDU, it is the 'Tika Taki' and apparently its a challenge that the tribe did before a battle, which the SDU RFU took to be this game.
JD: If it was a challenge, it certainly worked. The sheer blood cries that the team members displayed in the 'Tika Taki' rattled the Natanians and Nosts massively, you could see them shifting on their feet while it happened, and I think that may have been the cause of the sloppy ball work in the beginning of the match.
ME: Sloppy it may have been, but it didn't stop them from racking up two drop goals in the first 30 minutes of the match.
JD: Yeah, that could be blamed on the over excitedness of the backs because this is their first international appearance. Can we get a video of the first Natanians and Nosts drop goal?
ME: Yeah, here.
JD:Ah, you can see right there the scrum half and fly half, Benjamin Wood and Richard Shoats, are leaving that massive gap in the backline for Ion Victor Molnár, the Natanians and Nosts flanker, to get that beautiful drop goal in, right through the center, beautiful piece of rugby.
ME: You can practically see the disappointment in Benjamin Wood and Richard Shoats faces, they know they messed up and they ain't proud of it. Those are not mistakes you want to make at the 18' minute mark.
JD: Yeah, but after all of this, you can see them getting cheered on by the visiting SDU fans. Now, the SDU bounced right back after the drop goal. As soon as Natanians and Nosts kicked it right into the hands of Micheal Kerser who charged forwards, Nelson Votterdam and Cameron Henderson supporting and they go straight into the N&N lines, gaining some much needed ground there. The SDU win the ruck and the ball gets passed down the line to the hands of Jaime Theron, who was only a few metres pass the 22 metre, went for the kick and watched that ball sail right over the posts at 28' minute mark
ME: Absolute pride on the boy's face as he gave the SDU its first international point in any tournament. However, as we came close to the 40' minute mark, the ball was close to the SDU try line and the N&N scrum half, Mihai Kaeso Marão, grabbed the ball and just blindly went for the kick and watched as the ball just scrapped past the posts bringing the score to 6-3 to Natanians and Nosts at 35' minutes.
JD: Honestly, that first half was great rugby and, honestly, I was expecting Natanians and Nosts to capitalise on that lead in the second half but I was happily surprised.
ME: Couldn't agree more, 10 minutes into the second half and we're in a similar situation to the first half. The SDU is just past the 22 metre line and having the game break down to a ruck. Taking pointers from the Natanians and Nosts team, Benjamin Woods grabs the ball from the ruck and kicks it, except it sailed right through the posts, bringing the score to a tense 6-6 between the teams.
JD: The poor boy was trying to make up for earlier with that I'm guessing
ME: I can't help but feel you're right.
ME: Now, we HAVE to talk about the penalty
JD: Of course we would, that call by Alexander Schuylens was controversial to say the very leasy.
ME: Aye, you could see that even the SDU players were confused by the call.
JD: Yes, can we see the tackle?
JD: There, Cáius Március Moura goes in to tackle Luke Taganak, from the refs angle, dangerously high. See, from behind here it looks like he went for the throat and upper-body area, a high tackle in every sense, but from this side, it it a normal tackle.
ME: I see, but Alexander Schuylens angered the crowds by refusing to go to the TMO for his decision and, honestly, that's just not good refereeing.
JD: Regardless, the Springboks, the SDU for foreign listeners, have the penalty behind the 22 metre line but directly in the centre of the field.
ME: It was a beautiful moment, the stadium came to a complete standstill as Marcus Cueto, the Left Wing, came to take the kick.
JD: I know, I remember sitting at home holding my breath as he went for the run up and then standing up and celebrating with my family and friends as the kick went through the posts, scarily left however. The team exploded in celebration, the staff running onto the field and SDU flags being waved furiously by supporters and the team.
ME: Yes, but I think the best part was the tunnel formed by the SDU for their Natanians and Nosts counterparts walked off the field with nothing but applause coming from the SDU. This is why you have to love rugby.
JD: So the final score was Natanians and Nosts 6 and the South Donese Union, 9.
ME: Come back in two days to catch the report on as the South Donese take on the Frenline Delpha.

[Welcomzia]

Welcomzia 14-14 Lauranienne: Welcomzia draw with fellow newcomers in even game

In the end, we probably had a fair result between two disciplined teams. Both sides needed a win in a tough group, but they ended honours even, a rarity in rugby. No penalties were conceded in dangerous positions, as both teams played an attacking brand of rugby. The opening try went LUA's way (let's just use their trigname) when Welcomzia overly committed to the breakdown and LUA's scrum half spotted space out wide for their winger, who ran over the try line. However Welcomzia struck back moments later, after flanker Patrick Daniel grounded the ball following a driving maul. The decision was subject to the TMO's approval, but McMahon was allowed to slot the conversion over. The teams went in level at 7-7.

Following a dangerous neckgrab, referee Rangi Burgon sent Welcomzia's lock Albert Wallace to the sin-bin. Just five minutes later LUA capitalised on that when they made full use of a two man overlap to score their second try of the game. Ten minutes from time, with LUA frantically defending, Wallace made up for his yellow card by forcing his way over the try line, after many phases of attack. Again, the decision was subject to the TMO, Vukani McCarthy's approval. After several minutes, or what seemed like several hours for the players, the referee awarded the try. The game finally ended in the 89th minute as both teams took turns attacking, neither wanting the game to end, but eventually it did when an LUA player was tackled into touch. Both teams went home slightly disappointed in an important match, but still relieved at avoiding defeat. Final score, in a tense game, Welcomzia 14-14 Lauranienne.

"Yeah, we could've done better, but we could've done worse as well" said the Welcomzia manger after the game. "I'm proud of the lads for giving their all, we still have a decent chance of making the last 16". "Next we have a very tough match against the world number 4's Neu Engollon, they'll be a real test, but we're resilient, and if we work together you never know what can happen".

Pool A
Lauranienne 14–14 Welcomzia
Neu Engollon 44–3 Borxinoia

  Pool A                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  Pts 
1 Lauranienne                   2   1  1  0   34  21 +13    6
2 Welcomzia                     2   1  1  0   26  24  +2    6
3 Neu Engollon                  1   1  0  0   44   3 +41    5
4 Aquitayne                     1   0  0  1   10  12  −2    1
5 Borxinoia                     2   0  0  2   10  64 −54    0

In Pool A's other match New Enbollon destroyed Borxinoia 44-3, a warning sign of things to come in Welcomzia's next match.

[Ethane]

ENTV

JT: Hello and welcome to the second match in the Rugby Union World Cup 24. I am your host today, James Terriano, and your co- host, who is one of the leading heads of Ethane's rugby union, Sarah Bullding. Today, Ethane will be playing against Oisinistan, a nation unknown on the international rugby stage, like Ethane. Ethane will be looking for a solid win at the Free Stone stadium today, to secure their position as a viable contender for the group. Many people have been very critical of Ethane's performance in the world cup so far, haven't they Sarah?
SB: Yes, I have to say so. Even though this is Ethane's first time on the world stage, many people have placed high expectations on Ethane, and many people felt that Ethane just didn't perform to their best in the first game against the United States of Devonta.
JT: What did you think of Ethane's performance in the first game?
SB: Well, i do believe that there are parts in which Ethane can improve. They need to look at taking advantage of tryscoring opportunities that are given to them, as i felt that they were a bit wasteful on that front. However, Ethane were resolute in defence, even with the very strong attacks from the United States of Devonta, and only letting them score two tries, even though they had 75% of the possession, was a very good result. The fact that they managed to pick up the bonus point in that match is a testament to the defensive mindset of Ethane's rugby game.
JT: Well, that's very good, picking up the bonus point, but will that help in the group?
SB: It will. Ethane, have 2 very important games coming up, and will have to look at really focusing on the next 2 games, to place them in prime position to advance onto the next stage. This will be a difficult challenge for them, but hopefully they will find the strength to pull through. The result against Oisinistan in the game that will soon be starting is vital for Ethane, as they are closely matched, and the one that wins this is the only unranked team that has any chance of reaching the group stages. Their game against Ekoz tommorow is also very important for Ethane. This will put them ahead of Ekoz by just over 1 win. This is very important for Ethane, as well as trying to pick up as many bonus points as possible from further games.
JT: Ok, lets focus on the game now, as the Ethane team comes out of the tunnel next to the Oisinistan team. They are all running up to form a line, and prepare for their national anthems.
*Ethane's national anthem plays*
*Oisinistan's national anthem plays*
JT: The players now take their positions on the field, and prepare for the referee to blow the whistle. This is going to be a close game between these two closely matched teams, no one can be sure of the result at the moment, with Oisinistan's attacking style of play vs Ethane's very defensive style of play.
SB: Yes, the manager of Ethane, James Blunt, will be looking for a good start from the Ethane national rugby team, nicknamed the Red Kites after their national animal. He said to the press in the pre- match press conference that he will be looking for a 'solid start from the players' and wants them 'to do their best'. He reiterated that this was a must win game for Ethane, and winning this game would put them in good stead to advance, as long as they had the right mindset to pull off an upset.
JT: The referee has blown his whistle and the 80 minutes of gameplay has begun. The flyhalf has begun the game by kicking it to the Oisinistan team. The lock, Samuel Garrot, who is playing his first capped game for the Ethane rugby union squad, tackles the receiver of the ball, Evan Furlong. Samuel Garrot will be looking to impress in this match.
SB: Yes he will, considering this is his first game. He will want to show James Blunt that he was the right choice to bring to the rugby world cup, with his inexperience. He has shown himself so far though, in the first game against the United States of Devonta, he did play a major role in scoring that try, even though he didn't score it himself.
JT: Yes, he will be looking to consolidate his position further today though. With that turnover, he will certainly be doing just that. In the 2nd minute, Ethane have managed to turn the ball over, and are now back on the attack. The Oisinistan attack just couldn't get anywhere, and a load of Ethanian players rushed in and overwhelmed them, snatching the ball.
SB: And that fine bit of play. Ethane have managed to pass it out to Timothy Ednod, the left flanker, who sped down the flank, only to be cut off by Ben Murphy on the right wing 10 metres from the line.
JT: That is such a wonderful start from Ethane. Exactly what the nation wants to see at the start of the game, Ethane going straight in and amost scoring a try. They just have to keep that momentum up for the whole game now.
SB: The Oisinistan team managed to turn the ball over, and have passed it back to their fly half, Liam Howlin, who has kicked it right down the pitch, and gained the Oisinistans a whole load of territory.
JT: Great defensive play from Ben Murphy there, tackling him down when he was getting so close. Any later, and Timothy would have been reaching the try line, and that would not of been the start they wanted. The Oisinistan players then all rushing in and turning the ball over showed their determination to keep Ethane away from the ball as well.
SB: The ball has gone for a lineout just outside the Oisinistan 22. With 30 minutes of this first half to play, a long time is still to go, so how much will Ethane score. The ball is thrown into the lineout, and Ethane mess it up. It goes over the lineout, and Oisinistan mop up the loose ball, and carry it.
JT: What a terrible line out from Ethane. They were in a great place to take advantage of Oisinistan, and played a scruffy line out, letting them reclaim the ball. The manager is sighing and shaking his head at that disappointing line out. I'm sure he'll have something to say about it at half time.
SB: Oisinistan have now got the ball inside the Ethane 22 and are looking to exploit the small gaps appearing in the Ethanian defence. The hooker Scott Bryne, carries it through a few men, before being tackled. He threw that ball straight back towards his own team.
JT: That is shocking. The number 8, Evan Furlong, scrambled to get the ball, and knocked it on, handing Ethane a penalty. The Ethanian team chose to kick for touch, and manage to get it just inside the Oisinistan half.
SB: I don't know what they were playing at there, that was an easy ball to recover and he messed it up, by being sloppy and stupid. Looking at his performances in this world cup so far, i am surprised he was even allowed to play for this team.
JT: Ethane take the lineout, and carry the ball down the pitch. After 10 phases, Ethane are given a penalty for a dangerous tackle. The full back, Jake Murphy, is luck not to have been sin binned there. That was a terrible tackle, the ball had left his hands and Jake came smashing into Ellis Stevens there. The referee chose to take it to the TMO, but he decided to just offer a penalty.
SB: That was the right decision there. While it was a very dangerous tackle, very desperate, he didn't have time to pull out of the tackle from when the ball was passed away, so therefore, it doesn't deserve a card. TMO'S have become very important in this game. While they can be controversial sometimes, and they have been accused of slowing down play too much, they can punish people for extremely unfair and dangerous tackles, and can back up anything that the referee is unsure about.
JT: Greg Laider steps up to take the shot at the posts. This guy takes ages to take his kicks. In his professional career so far, his average kick time has been about 100 seconds. While this is a long time though, there is nothing wrong with it, and if it gets him the points, then so be it.
SB: He runs up, and takes the kick. Just Wide! The wind pushed that kick just wide of the posts.
JT: Unlucky for Greg there. That was a really powerful kick in the right direction, it just wasn't meant to be with that large gust of wind that came just as he was taking the kick that threw him off a little bit.
SB: Yeah, that was a great strong kick. Oisinistan take the drop out, and then charge in and immediately reclaim the ball out the air.
JT: That is one of Oisinistan's strong suits. They have very fast, attacking players, so can look to charge down the balls, and take quick kicks over the top of Ethane's defence and look to get behind them. Oisinistan will have to look to exploit this if they want to beat Ethane.
SB: Oisinistan like to keep the ball in hand, and take advantage of the flanks and gaps, making runs through any gaps that appear. They are a team full of pace, and will look to use this more in the second half.
JT: Well, with 5 minutes left of the half, Ethane have given away a free 3 points for Oisinistan. A penalty for a high tackle that gives the fly- half, Liam Howlin, the simplest kick of his career. He slots that away for 3 points, giving Oisinistan the lead 0-3.

'35: PENALTY: ETHANE 0-3 OISINISTAN

SB: 2 minutes remain of the half now, as Ethane drop kicks it to Oisinistan.
JT: Giving that penalty away was scruffy from Ethane, they are going to have to look at tidying up their game after that, giving away free points like that isn't going to help them win the game. With both teams not being able to break down the other ones defence, every point counts, and those 3 points were just a silly Christmas gift for Oisinistan.
SB: Going into half time, Oisinistan should be really chuffed with themselves, after their defence stayed resolute throughout the first half, and then just forcing Ethane into a penalty in the last few minutes, giving themselves the slight points advantage.
JT: They can't be too unwary though, because Ethane isn't likely to give up going into the second half, and will push with all that strength for that try they so want.
SB: That's the half time whistle everyone, so in 15 minutes, we will resume the coverage of the match, but for now, we will let our pundits analyse the match so far.

*ENTV theme tune plays, then the pundits come on screen sitting on sofas in another room overlooking the stadium.*

SM: Hello, my name is Samuel Moffat, this is Steve Frederick and this is Harriet Hargreaves, and this is your half time analysis.
SF: Yes, we will be analysing this match over the next 15 minutes.
SM: First, lets look at that piece of play at 2 minutes.
SF: I have to say that was some quality play from Ethane, turning it over straight from the drop kick and passing it out to the flank, almost making it to the tryline for a wonderful try scoring opportunity.
HH: Yes, i have to agree with you there, that play showed great intent from Ethane, and really showed where they were going in this match. It definitely intimidated Oisinistan, which is why they struggled to get any decent attacks flowing, as well as Ethane staying in their face and not letting them move with the ball in hand.
SM: I have to credit the defence of Oisinistan though. What a wonderful tackle that was, to stop the player there, and then clear their lines and gain territory. Lets have a look at the replay of that sequence again.

*replays on tv*

SM: Look at that, wonderful play from the middle, turning over the ball, then straight up to the overlap on the left wing, charging down towards the try line in the massive gap that had opened up, and then look at that tackle. What a beautiful tackle, to take the player straight down, then turning over the ball, straight back to the flyhalf and kicking right down the field to clear their lines.
HH: That shows you the intent of Oisinistan, they really are straight in their aims of stopping Ethane scoring. Beautiful defence, even though they have an attacking mindset, they have a really resolute defence as well to guard the fort.
SF: I disagree. That was a good defence play from Oisinistan, but they just created further holes in their defence, and the Ethane player failed to notice the back pass overlap he could of done whilch would of led to a try. I wouldn't say it was good defnce, because it wasn't, it was just bad awareness from Ethane at the time.
SM: Let's take a look at the penalty now. That was messy play from Ethane, wouldn't you agree>
HH: Yes, they were just taking too many risks with their tackles, leading to that silly penalty.
SF: We've run out of time, lets send you back to the match commentary.

*ENTV theme music plays, switches back to commentators box*

JT: Thankyou, lets begin this second half. The players have just come back onto the pitch and are in their positions. Oisinistan take the drop kick, and Ethane gets the ball, immediately on the attack. A kick is played into the gap behind the Oisinistan defence, Adam Bailey is running onto it, almost gets there, but Ben Murphy gets there first, and Adam tackles Ben.
SB: What a great start from Ethane. They were straight on the attack there, showing awareness of space. That ball over most of the defence showed great precision, and the pace of Adam almost gathering the ball shows the promise he is for the team in this world cup campaign.
JT: In the last match, Adam didn't really show his strengths, because there wasn't much room to show pace in, but there are plenty of gaps for Adam to sprint through in this match, so he is really playing to his strengths.
SB: I would like to see more of him playing like this throughout the tournament, this really shows what he is capable of.
JT: Oisinistan are now back on the attack, Shean Corrigan passes to Tiernan Carr, runs through a hole that has appeared, but is tackled.
SB: 10 minutes into this second half, and both teams have mounted good attacks. Cracks are beginning to show in both teams defence though, as the players get exhausted. Oisinistan are leaving many questions to be answered on the field, as many holes are showing, and Ethane keeps finding them. Luckily for Oisinistan, theirt back three is strong and has pace, so Ethane hasn't been able to find a way through yet, but if this continues, it is only a matter of time before Ethane scores a try.
JT: Ethane is making another run towards the Oisinistan defensive line. Ellis Stevens sidesteps past 1 defender, dodges another, and is left with plenty of space. Another Oisinistan defender comes up and tries to make the tackle, but Ellis flicks it across to Adam, who carries it across the line, and runs it into the middle, placing it down in the middle for 5 points.

'62: TRY: ETHANE 5-3 OISINISTAN

SB: What a wonderful play there, ripping through the defence, then passing it off to Adam on the left, who has plenty of space, who carries it across the line and sets it up for an easy conversion.
JT: And Greg scores 2 points from the conversion on the 70th minute. Ethane only have to hold off for 10 minutes now to win the game.

'64: CONVERSION: ETHANE 7-3 OISINISTAN

SB: Ethane are straight back on the attack again with another nice kick over the top of the defence, which Adam Bailey runs onto again and collects, only to run slightly wide to avoid a defender, and give the Oisinistan team a line out, which they use to clear their lines.
JT: I have to say, i think i know who the man of the match is going to be. Adam has shown great intent throughout the match, running onto every ball and collecting a lot of them, as well as scoring the only try.
SB: He really has done well. Oisinistan have opted for a scrum for the high tackle in the middle of the pitch. They play the scrum well, and take the ball, only to be tackled, and have the ball turned over.
JT: Ethane quickly kicks the ball into touch and cheers, as the referee blows the whistle for the end of the match, declaring that Ethane had won. What a game. The scoreline does not reflect the game, where there were so many great attacks from both teams. The scoreline just shows the quality of the defence of both teams.
SB: Credit to Oisinistan for such a great match, but Ethane did play wonderfully out there, with that amazing try, but also Adam Bailey turning the ball over, and there constant, resolute defence holding on after every wave of Oisinistan attack. Wave after wave battered them and they did not let up.
JT: Lets go down to the players box now, where we have Adam Bailey being interviewed.

*ENTV theme tune plays, screen turns to player in front of camera*

I: What a wonderful game that was for you?
AB: Yeah, the team was so great out there, all working together to hold the Oisinistan attack off. We were a little scruffy in the first half, but we cleaned up our act in the second half and managed to pull of that try.
I: And what about you man of the match?
AB: I don't think it should of gone to me really. I feel that this was my best game so far, but the impact of Greg Laider on all of these attacks went unnoticed, when he pretty much fabricated the whole attack.
I: What about the other team?
AB: All credit for them, their wave of attacks was difficult to hold off and they managed to create so many amazing opportunities. I just think that our defence played so well to hold off their brutal attack.
I: What do you think of Ethane's hopes for the world cup?
AB: We do have a chance of progressing from the group stages, although it is a long shot. Our bonus point against the United States Of Devonta will help us. A really important game for us is tomorrows game against Ekoz. We are going to have to pull off an upset to win that game, but if we win that game, that will put us in contention to getting out of the group stages, as long as Ekoz don't gain too many bonus points from their matches. This game has placed us second in the group, and we just have to hope that we can win against Ekoz, then play a great game against Abanhfleft and hopefully gain a bonus point from that game as well. We will have to wait and see.
I: Thank you Adam. That is all we have time for tonight Ethanians, make sure to tune in at the same time tomorrow for the penultimate match of Ethane's group stages, and the most important match for Ethane. Now, it's time for the Ethane News.

*The screen fades away, replaced by the ENTV logo, while the theme tune plays. A women dressed in a dress comes on screen, sat in a studio at a desk. The lights come on, and a timer counts down from 10. Then ''ENTV NEWS'' flashes on the screen, and the women starts to talk about the daily news. 25 minutes into the show, she announces it is time for the ENTV SPORTS*

NA: Today, in the rugby world cup in Aels, Ethane won their game against Oisinistan by 7-3. The Oisinistan team scored a penalty in the remaining few minutes of the first half from a dangerous tackle, but Ethane rallied together and scored a try in the '62 minute, with the conversion completed by Greg Laider in the '64 minute. Oisinistan continued to batter the Ethane defence, but they held resolute and managed to hold on until the end.

*clip of winning try comes on screen*

The man of the match, Adam Bailey, was extremely influential throughout the game, running onto the ball. He denied this though, saying Greg Laider should of been man of the match

*cLIP OF HIS INTERVIEW COMES ON SCREEN*

AB: I don't think it should of gone to me really. I feel that this was my best game so far, but the impact of Greg Laider on all of these attacks went unnoticed, when he pretty much fabricated the whole attack

*RETURNS TO STUDIO*

NA: Tomorrow night, Ethane will be playing Ekoz, in their most important game of the group stages. Winning against Ekoz would put Ethane in good stead to progress.

*Switches to ERU team leader*

''The most important game of the group stages is tomorrow, against Ekoz. Winning this will be good for our progression chances, as well as trying to gain as many bonus points as possible. We are going to have to pull of an upset against Ekoz to win''

*switches back to studio*

NA: The game against the Ekoz will be difficult for the newcomers, who are ranked much higher than the United States of Devonta, who beat Ethane 14- 7 yesterday. Ethane played well, and got the bonus point, but couldn't quite find the try to put them level. Ethane will have to be at their best tomorrow night to progress.

[Kaboomlandia]

Phoenix Upset by Hosts in Opener

It was a heartbreaker of a game, with the 38th-ranked Kaboomlandia Phoenix coming into the game expecting a victory over host Aels. But it was not to be, as a last-second goal kick resulted in a 13-12 loss by the Phoenix. The Kaboomlandians led all game and scored early with a try by right wing Jüssi Brylîn of the Kaboomlandian Foreign Territory. Another try by fullback Darren Hayden made the score 12-0 at the half after the conversion on the second try was missed. The Aels squad stormed back, though, to make it 12-10 late in the game. With only five seconds remaining:

"Trevor-Phillips gets free, to try the drop goal! It's up...and through! Aels shocks Kaboomlandia to win 13-12!"

After the shock loss, the Phoenix will look to get back on their feet against unranked Aloquirbe.

[Barunia]

Mike Rogers became the first person to score for Barunia in an international rugby match (not counting 7s of course) when he slotted a field goal through the uprights to score the opening points of Barunia's clash with the Royal Kingdom of Quebec.

Unfortunately, Barunia's lead was short lived as a defensive error saw the Quebecoise side cross for a maximum before the end of the first half.

The Barunians came so close to scoring a try shortly after play resumed, but Findlay Martin's final pass missed Cephas Matthews and was picked up by the Quebecoise defense. They didn't get far though, as the ball carrier was quickly taken down. The ball carrier did not roll away though, and Barunia were awarded a penalty, which Rogers made easily to put the Waves within a point of the Quebecoise lead.

63 minutes in, the Barunians set up a promising drive, but constantly pushed back by the Quebecoise defence, they once again fell back to their reliance on the safe boot of Mike Rogers, who didn't dissapoint. The score was 9-7, and Barunia had the lead.

It was 9 minutes later that the Royal Kingdom of Quebec, deep in Barunian territory, dashed the Waves hopes with a series of quick passes out to the right wing, followed by a pass back to the Outside Centre, who cut in behind the Barunian defence and sailed over the line. The resulting conversion a mere formality, it was nethertheless good, and the score was Barunia 9, Royal Kingdom of Quebec 14. Barunia couldn't make any more in-roads into Quebecoise territory, and ended their first ever match with a 5-point loss.

Rogers therefore becomes not just the first Barunian to score in a Rugby International, but he is the only Barunian to have scored at all. Here's hoping that that record, at least, changes in the near future, and Barunia provide a stronger attacking force to bear against the world number 11, Nova Anglicana.

[Cata Larga]

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Translated Transcript - 21:00 Cata deǐ Aureǐ Standard Time, October 23, 2015 CE Broadcast - Lit Post-Match Report - Lit Sports

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Cerile Ciereħante: Well, welcome to Lit's Post-Match Report for the big Cata Larga - Fair Republic match here at Lit Sports HQ in Puerte-de-Liberete, and, well, we've got the final score up on the screen for you. Cata Larga 7, The Fair Republic 33. It's the result we all expected, but none of us wanted.
Erike Nwora: Indeed, Cerile, indeed. The Stallions came in expecting a narrow defeat at the least, and, well, they sure were humbled tonight. Was it a fair match? Of course. Is it a reasonable result? Of course. But none of the Catalarguense fans are feeling satisfied tonight.
CC: Indeed. It's a rude awakening for Paliemiere's squad. They came in thinking they'd go far, and that they wouldn't meet so much resistance, but, well, this match serves one big purpose for them - it makes clear that if Cata Larga wants to get silverware, they're going to have to work for it.
EN: And I'm surprised Enrie Paliemiere didn't know that going in. I underestimated how light and how overly optimistic he was, and while that's beneficial sometimes, too often optimism turns into hubris and that's exactly what happened here.
CC: But it wasn't just Cata Larga's shortcomings that created the result we got - The Fair Republic's skill needs to be commended, too, and Cata Larga had a few sparks of brilliance that Paliemiere will want to capitalize on in later matches. Let's head to the highlights, straight from Trechoid Park.

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EN: The match started off strong for The Fair Republic, with their own right winger Peter Lazarus and fly half Victor Peterson each scoring a try. Cata Larga soon regrouped and left winger Veneite Spalka scored a post-foul try in the 33rd minute with the Stallions nailing the ensuing conversion, making the score 14-7. Cata Larga ended the half strong with their strengthened defensive play denying The Fair Republic any offensive movement. However, the Stallions failed to capitalize on this, with attempts at tries by Catalarguense backs falling flat. Despite Cata Larga's best efforts, the first half ended with The Fair Republic leading 14-7.

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CC: The Fair Republic came cruising back to crush Cata Larga's revitalized team, with a key substitution on TFR's side switching outside center George Lipton for benchman Peter Kanie. This quickly paid off for The Fair Republic, with Kanie drawing a foul which was converted by TFR for another try in the 53rd minute, quickly followed by a try of Kanie's own. With TFR firmly in the lead, they rotated in benchmen, who easily held off a disorganized and demoralized Catalarguense side. With Catalarguense passing play failing and the chances of CLG even getting one more try dwindling, TFR scored one last try in the 87th. The last nail in the coffin hammered in, the final score read Cata Larga 7 - The Fair Republic 33.

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CC: So, what lessons do the Stallions need to take from today's match, Erike? Because, let's be honest - they need to start bucking up if they intend to go anywhere this Rugby Union World Cup.
EN: Well, there are two key things I think Enrie Paliemiere needs to be thinking about - bravado and discipline. Firstly, the Stallions came into this World Cup too confident for their own good. We were too relaxed, too easy-going to really meet The Fair Republic. What made the Glorious Defeat in RUWC 22 the Glorious Defeat was that we knew we had to fight, and we knew we wouldn't have an easy road ahead of us. And you know what? We worked for it, and we nearly won against one of the best teams in the world. That brings me to my second point - discipline. Paliemiere's team is too loose, too lacking in communication, and too amateur-ish. I saw them out there against The Fair Republic, and I thought I was watching schoolkids playing rugby. Passes were going to no one in particular, and players were just running about aimlessly. I think some of this might be because of some key player switch-outs in the roster, but honestly, his team just isn't disciplined enough, especially considering how his strategy is so reliant on passing and running play. What he needs to do is take the bye day to build up vital communication links among they players so they can create cohesive offensive plays that will get Cata Larga tries.

CC: Very well-said, Erike. Now, Lit Sports will continue coverage of the 24th Rugby Union World Cup even through Cata Larga's bye day on the 25th, with live reports from all of Matchday 2's Pool E matches and result readouts from all other pools. Cata Larga's next match against unranked opponent Eura will take place at Condors Ground in Aberwood on the 27th, with live coverage beginning on both Lit Sports and Lit 1 at 17:00 hours for viewers in Kapa-Trinieta, 18:00 hours for viewers in Puerte-de-Liberete, and 15:00 hours for viewers in Cassarinia, and pre-match reports beginning one hour beforehand. Stay tuned for World Sports Highlights - but otherwise, from all of us at Lit Sports and the RadioLit network, we'd like to thank you for spending your evening with us and we hope to see you right back here on October 27th for Matchday 3!

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