Rugby Union World Cup 25 Everything Thread

[Hutanjia]

NATIONAL RUGBY UNION SQUAD
of THE REPUBLIC OF HUTANJIA
'The SPIDERS'

Coach: Jaunders Malaptra
Assistant Coach: Bentley Reraptke
Trainer: Giancarlo Wziputala

First Team
Forwards:
1: Jean-Luc Tarepka - Loosehead Prop
2: Francis Yosepgka - Hooker
3: Emmett Jelego - Tighthead Prop
4: Manuel Edeptka - Lock
5: Harrison Fengelu - Lock
6: Rhys Pentagke - Blindside Flanker
7: Townsend Vagatu - Openside Flanker
8: Vladimir Sokota - Number Eight

Backs:
9: Monterrey Apegku - Scrum Half
10: Weston Ketsangu - Fly Half
11: Grendel Lintanu - Left Wing
12: Johannes Charopa - Inside Centre
13: Samson Wakala - Outside Centre
14: Harold Nepedku - Right Wing
15: Benson Vitagu - Fullback

Subs
Forwards:
16: Matthew Pitaga
17: Gregor Demagzu
18: Henson Imegka
19: Fernand Ranago

Backs:
20: Mitchell Zangaka
21: Janson Paqate
22: Thompson Bishulo
23: Manchester Paloktu

HOME

AWAY

RP PERMISSIONS
Godmod scoring events: Y
RP injuries to my players: Please TG me first for OK
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Hand out yellow cards (sin bin) to my players: Y
Hand out red cards (sending off) to my players: N
Godmod other events: Please TG me first

[Neu Engollon]

“Good evening, Neu Engollon and to our International viewers. You’re watching the NETV 7 Sports Update. I’m Karl Demais, and you know my co-host, Magda Wertauer."

"Hello, everyone!"

"We’re coming to you live from the Federation of Free Republics where the 25th Edition of the Rugby Union World Cup is about to be held. Just within a few hours in fact."

"It's so nice to be covering rugby again, Karl."

"You mean because you couldn't find any more young Olympian lads to corrupt back in Electrum?"

"That, and...it's a relief to not hear you drone on about winter events and foreign athletes no one cares about and generally bore our audience to another channel."

"And because you have new locker rooms to explore...Excuse me...Go cougar mode through?"

"That, and it got pretty tiresome seeing your body being racked with convulsions at the slightest touch of culture or taste of foreign food, holding diarrhea off by the narrowest of margins..."

"Alright then. Let's get back to focusing on the upcoming events...as our producers are all frantically waving for us to do...So, the Goats have returned to defend their title as World Champions of the Rugby Union world."

"It's quite a veteran crew, too, who is doing the defending."

"Indeed, Magda. Rumors are no longer rumors but confirmed facts that a good amount of the veteran Goats as well as Coach Cosento himself are retiring after this Cup, having done a good long stretch in service to the Confederacy."

"It's definitely going to be a radically different team come next Cup and the end of an era, with the current crew who fought so hard to bring the Webb Ellis Cup to the Confederacy passing the torch on to the next generation coming up."

"I think it will also have an effect on many of them who have gone overseas in order to earn more in foreign leagues than they could here. We may see many foreign contracts coming to their eventual end here in the next year."

"What is reassuring is that they have so many marketing contracts that they can continue to fulfill and fall back on."

"That is true. Most of the veteran players have solid advertising contracts here in the Confederacy, around the region, and around the multiverse, or other avenues to keep busy, such as advocacy, philanthropy and politics."

"Oh yay! That's all we need is more Paul Quiront's right now."

"I have to think most of these guys have more sense then that."

Let's hope so. So...When we come back, we'll look at the opponents that the Goats will have to face in the Group stage.
Stay tuned after this sponsor break..."

[Lisander]

Catarina Scott, from Tarita, Quartona, Free Republics.

Is the NSRB "restart" the most important stage in the history of the LRU?

In theory, yes. Now is the time to show what this team has come up with. Of course, the dynamics of the XV is different from the dynamics of the sevens, where many of the players come from, but we hope good things from them. It's a team that will probably not return to the sevens team, but it needed international experience, and it did. The LRU has so far been able to reap the rewards of partnerships with sponsors and the Ministry of Sport.

LRU presented their "New Logo". I expect
lots of creativity from the team. Or at least,
their creativity must be more than this.

The professional revolution promoted by Andreas Vins and his young advisors displeased some at first, but now that the nation is establishing itself securely among the members of the NSRB, even former supporters of amateurism are lending a hand. The national league is full steam, with at least two divisions this year, and even the junior team is winning tournaments.

From overseas, the forecasts are also positive. The specialized media indicates that Lisander is booming. Dave Carrey of the elejamian Drop Goal presents Lisander as an up and coming nation that's destined to be a rugby powerhouse. Our partners from THERUGBYZONE Alice Bay recently reported that ABRU is based on lisanderian plans to professionalize local Rugby.

But as the saying goes, "reach is easy, keep is difficult". Of course reaching top is not easy at all, and the Irises still have plenty of grass to eat before they reach top of the world as the Union wants. But staying at the top is even harder than you might think. The culture of rugby is once again strong in Lisander. The challenge, not only of the LRU, but of the entire nation, is to keep it strong and active. It is necessary, besides the World Cup, to get some friendlies with selections of greater expression, even if this matches would be disasters. At Sevens, the Irises will have the mission to remain in the world elite and with evolving results.

But does not stop there. It is no use looking at the top and forgetting the "middle of the pyramid". Although the national team will grow, it will not help if the regional clubs, leagues and unions do not resume growth either. We must support them. The media have turned their eyes back to rugby, which is not to say people will return to play. Schools have returned to field teams, but this does not guarantee that young people will continue to play after the end of the years as students. Rugby as a whole has to grow, not just the top teams.

It is through all this that resuming the activities of the NSRB is vital to the sport in Lisander. It's this new phase that will tell you what level Lisander's rugby really is. Once the euphoria of the first season of the 10-season pla have passed, the difficulties and limits will be clearer. The diagnosis will be more realistic, and the longer term will be sharper now.

Assen seeking the golden age before the definitive goodbye.

Patricio Bernauer in 1997, playing for the
now defunct Soria Barbarians

Leonard Assen is one of the most important names of rugby in Lisander. As a coach, he has been training the national team as his top priority in recent years. Since the first URSA Sevens, he does it exclusively, having been "discharged with honours" from the Saracens. But age is coming and he has decided that after reaching the goal of bringing Lisander to a major international title, he will accept a board position at the LRU and hand over the duty of select the Irises to his most illustrious pupil and now his first assistant, Patricio Bernauer, former Victoria Rugby coach.

Bernauer is just 44, with six years of experience as a coach, and another eighteen as a player in the amateur league, for Linville Athletic, Soria Barbarians and Victoria Rugby. He still needs international experience, so he'll probably be looking for a contract with a team outside of Lisander for the next Seasogs.

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© 2017 TRZ Alice Bay and TRZ Lisander are brands of Newport Rugby Media Holdings. Alice Bay and/or Lisander laws may apply. Dale a tu cuerpo alegria macarena. For further information and commercial contracts, contact promo(at)trz.ls or ad(at)trz.ab.

[Alice Bay]

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The Crux, Rugby World Cup 25 General Info

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Modifier: +1

Alice Bay Games in RWC25

Group Stage
MD1: Alice Bay - Purple Rabbits
MD2: U.S.A.R - Alice Bay
MD3: Alice Bay - Darmen
MD4: Free Republics - Alice Bay
MD5: Alice Bay - The Fair Republic

Starters

1. Betrand RHETT (PR)
2. Yorick LINTE (HK)
3. Casey DARRIN (PR)
4. Arlan MIKLOS (SR) (Captain)
5. Pierce MARKIS (SR)
6. Marian WEBSTER (FL)
7. Keaton TEL (FL)
8. Athan VALERIAN (N8 ) (2nd. Captain)
9. Nick BENZ (SH)
10. Skylar COHEN (FH)
11. Leo VALERIAN (WG)
12. Chris GAUTHIER (CT)
13. Harry McCANN (CT)
14. Mathieu GROVER (WG)
15. Hartley WELDON (FB)

16. Aiden LEVAN
17. Aston COLE
18. Victor SARIAN
19. Giorgios PETROS

20. Ferdinand FARON
21. Joffrey DALEY
22. Scott MOLTEN
23. Giannis VERSIDIS

Coaches:
Coach: Cyrus ANDRIJA
Assistant Coach: Darin CAELAN
Team Doctor: Jesse REYNARD

You are free to do anything, following this principles:
1. Godmod is okay, if funny enough.
2. If one of my players is injured, expect one injury in your team.
3. Something in mind, TG Lisander. You know, me and Lisander player are the same player.

[Barunia]

Barunian National Rugby 7's Team
"The Waves"

Rugby is one of the smallest sports in Barunia, although it is growing in popularity. Part of it's growth has been a six-team National Rugby Union Championship, as well as a ten-team 7s league. The all-male NRUC has been dominated by one team, the South Havenia Bucks, and many Bucks players find themselves called up for the 24-man squad. 5 of the 6 teams are represented here, representing the two states on Barunia's largest island, Barunia Island. The team from Marion State, the Vikings, miss out on representation, which is somewhat understandable having managed only a single win last season. Because of the small league size and dearth of talent in the country, the current national team is almost identical to the team that competed in the 24th RUWC, many of whom also play in the National 7's team.

#  Name                 Position        Club
---Starters---
1 Glenn MacDonald 	Loose. Prop 	Newland Power
2 John Crawford 	Hooker 		South Havenia Bucks
3 Dominic Fraser 	Tight. Prop 	Western Storm
4 Kane Romilly 		Lock 		South Havenia Bucks
5 Graham Peers 		Lock 		Western Storm
6 Findlay Martin	Blind. Flanker 	Avon Knights (Elejamie)
7 Andrew Mortlock 	Open. Flanker 	South Havenia Bucks (captain)
8 Matt Neachtain 	Number 8 	Newland Power
9 Lachlan Stirling	Scrum-half 	South Havenia Bucks
10 Monty O'Shea    	Fly-half   	Sheppardton Knights
11 Joel Murray		Left Wing 	Western Storm
12 Adam Burns 		In. Centre     	South Havenia Bucks
13 Nathan Babcocke 	Out. Centre 	Sheppardton Knights
14 Tim Groundman   	Winger     	Porthaven Lions
15 Mike Rogers 		Full Back 	South Havenia Bucks
---Reserves---
16 Jeremy Sale      	Prop       	South Havenia Bucks
17 Lyndon Fox      	Hooker     	Western Storm
18 Ollie Bell 		Lock 		Newland Power
19 Alex McInross    	Flanker     	Porthaven Lions
20 Andy Cullen 		Scrum-half 	Newland Power
21 Ben Woodward 	Fly-half 	South Havenia Bucks
22 Dominic O'Guinn  	Centre     	Western Storm
23 George Moore 	Right Wing 	Western Storm
24 Nathan Saint    	Fullback   	Western Storm

Coach: Jack Strutton

Kits
Home: Blue and white
Away: Red and white


Play style
Barunian players tend to look for the gaps rather than plow through the opposition. They'll use the full width of the pitch, and will often use long passes to catch opposing players out of position. They favour a kicking game too, and will take any opportunity for a field goal. Penalty kicks are preferred over a scrum, and they'll also chase after balls kicked forward in regular play.

Style: +1.5
Should my opponent RPs first, he/she may do the following:
Godmod scoring events: N
RP injuries to my players: Y
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Sin bin my players: Y
Send my players off: N
Godmod other events: N

[Lisander]

Dear friends and fellow ruggers.

We, from Valls Rugby, have this sport in our heart, and we are working day and night to have the best rugby apparel in NSRB. We believe the rugby deserves it, and we keep giving our best.

Unfortunately, a system failure in our main factory in Brax, Lisander, delayed the presentation of the official uniforms for our 5 partners in this Rugby World Cup. The engineers and designers our factory in Cap Navarre, Alice Bay, have worked the entire weekend in some temporary apparel for Alice Bay, Kecrazia, Lisander, Tobiasia and United Socialist Alpine Republics. These uniforms are based in the requests made by the national unions, but made in our sublimated XT template, not listed into Valls main catalog.

These uniforms are temporary, and their design is experimental. Depending on the acceptance of this model into the rugby community, it could even replace the current models, National and Union.

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Valls Rugby storefront is still open, and the official apparel deliveries will be made in the next days.

Sending best regards;

Danil Valls
Valls Rugby, CEO

OOC: These are temporary uniforms for Kecrazia, Tobiasia and USAR. Their correct requests will be fulfilled ASAP. Lisander and Alice Bay have final uniforms for RWC, due to insufficient time to redo these ones.

[Free Republics]

This is your Matchday 1 Cutoff presented by RepublicSoft Doors 13 Anniversary Update! Doors 13 Anniversary Update: Only Opening Doors to Where You Want To Go!

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MD1 Results

AllMart Group
Tobiasia 6–10 Unified Sunrise Islands
Ko-oren 16–0 Audioslavia
Bvriana 22–14 Barunia

  AllMart Group                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Bvriana                                  1   1  0  0   22  14  +8   0    4
2 Ko-oren                                  1   1  0  0   16   0 +16   0    4
3 Unified Sunrise Islands                  1   1  0  0   10   6  +4   0    4
4 Tobiasia                                 1   0  0  1    6  10  −4   1    1
5 Barunia                                  1   0  0  1   14  22  −8   0    0
6 Audioslavia                              1   0  0  1    0  16 −16   0    0

Citrus Computing Group
Mattijana 3–25 Neu Engollon
Islartic 3–16 Ethane
East Saintland 9–3 Kecrazia

  Citrus Computing Group                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Neu Engollon                             1   1  0  0   25   3 +22   0    4
2 Ethane                                   1   1  0  0   16   3 +13   0    4
3 East Saintland                           1   1  0  0    9   3  +6   0    4
4 Kecrazia                                 1   0  0  1    3   9  −6   1    1
5 Islartic                                 1   0  0  1    3  16 −13   0    0
6 Mattijana                                1   0  0  1    3  25 −22   0    0

Dixon Light Group
Yesopalitha 7–23 Aquitayne
Lisander 10–24 Abanhfleft
United States of Devonta 10–14 Juvencus

  Dixon Light Group                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                               1   1  0  0   24  10 +14   0    4
2 Aquitayne                                1   1  0  0   23   7 +16   0    4
3 Juvencus                                 1   1  0  0   14  10  +4   0    4
4 United States of Devonta                 1   0  0  1   10  14  −4   1    1
5 Lisander                                 1   0  0  1   10  24 −14   0    0
6 Yesopalitha                              1   0  0  1    7  23 −16   0    0

FreedomCola Group
Furby Islands 0–17 Hutanjia
Racao 19–0 Natanians and Nosts
The Iron Syndicate 13–3 Greater Vakolicci Haven

  FreedomCola Group                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Racao                                    1   1  0  0   19   0 +19   0    4
2 Hutanjia                                 1   1  0  0   17   0 +17   0    4
3 The Iron Syndicate                       1   1  0  0   13   3 +10   0    4
4 Greater Vakolicci Haven                  1   0  0  1    3  13 −10   0    0
5 Furby Islands                            1   0  0  1    0  17 −17   0    0
6 Natanians and Nosts                      1   0  0  1    0  19 −19   0    0

Miktondo Flip Group
Darmen 10–10 The Fair Republic
Free Republics 10–7 Union of Socialist Alpine Republics
Alice Bay 20–10 Purple Rabbits

  Miktondo Flip Group                    Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Alice Bay                                1   1  0  0   20  10 +10   0    4
2 Free Republics                           1   1  0  0   10   7  +3   0    4
3 Darmen                                   1   0  1  0   10  10   0   0    2
  The Fair Republic                        1   0  1  0   10  10   0   0    2
5 Union of Socialist Alpine Republics      1   0  0  1    7  10  −3   1    1
6 Purple Rabbits                           1   0  0  1   10  20 −10   0    0

RepublicSoft Group
Jeckland 0–30 Elejamie
Sublimany 0–17 Nova Anglicana
New Lusitania and the Algarves 6–10 Savojarna

  RepublicSoft Group                     Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Elejamie                                 1   1  0  0   30   0 +30   0    4
2 Nova Anglicana                           1   1  0  0   17   0 +17   0    4
3 Savojarna                                1   1  0  0   10   6  +4   0    4
4 New Lusitania and the Algarves           1   0  0  1    6  10  −4   1    1
5 Sublimany                                1   0  0  1    0  17 −17   0    0
6 Jeckland                                 1   0  0  1    0  30 −30   0    0

[Mattijana]

Mattijana Beaten On Debut By Neu Engollon

Mattijana 3-25 Neu Engollon

World number 1s Neu Engollon saw off Mattijana in their first ever international Rugby Union World Cup, but were denied a bonus point victory as Andre Callenzo, Ernst Urbach and Andino Pattici all scored tries for the favourites.

Mattijana's best hope of victory would arguably be gained from making a strong start, but Neu Engollon soon showed their class as a barrage of weighty attacks began to edge them deep into Mattijanan territory.
A knock on by Left Wing Julian Latrent as he tried to collect a slightly underthrown pass was enough to earn the debutants some respite, but a short foray into the Neu Engollon 22 was ended swiftly by a turnover, putting the pressure back on the Mattijanan forward line.

This time the Neu Engollon attack was more clinical, with quick links between the two centres, Lichtmann and Urbach creating a two on one situation on the right wing. Urbach had only to make the pass to Callenzo, who dived over in the corner.

A missed conversion was registered from the tough wing position, but the Mountain goats were back just minutes later, and extended their lead as a penalty for not rolling away was punished by fly-half Wilhelm Hoerner, making the straightforward kick to move Neu Engollon 8-0 up.
With 10 minutes of the first half remaining, Mattijana were looking to at least get points on the board, but an intercepted half just 15 metres from the line would prove costly as fullback Marino Riazzi broke the Mattijanan line, joined by centre Urbach, who collected a low grubber kick to bypass the Mattijanan fullback Mika Vastasic and score under the posts.

Despite the late try, the first half score of 0-15 was not entirely embarrassing for a team undoubtedly thrown into the deep end by their draw in the Citrus Computing group, also containing ranked teams Ethane and East Saintland.

The general sense of "it could be worse" was improved in the 50th minute as a bright start to the half saw a penalty deep into the Neu Engollon team's territory awarded. An ambitious quick penalty was thwarted well by lock Marius Joos, but a backwards pass to kicker Dominik Kunikov allowed the in form Revinka player enough time to plant a drop goal attempt between the posts.
Neu Engollon eventually got their second half into gear however, and were within sight of the bonus point as a heaving maul following a deep lineout was eventually hauled over the line with Andino Pattici claiming the try. A good swinging kick in a fairly substantial wind at the Nail Frolov Colloseum was enough to claim the conversion and move to 22-3.

Yet despite the bonus point try seemingly a case of when rather than if, the Mattijanan defence dug in well conceding only a penalty as the number 1 ranked side saw out a fairly drab last 15 minutes, punctuated only by a Mattijanan try disallowed for a forward pass.

Mattijana can take positives from the match, having conceded relatively few points against the statistical best side in the world. The group's other ties may also draw optimism, with Ethane defeating fellow debutants Islartic 16-3 in Albertope and East Saintland winning a dire slugfest 9-3 in New City against Kecrazia, the third Citrus group debutants at least claiming a bonus point for finishing within 7 points of their opponents.

Head Coach Marko Vinzanic will at least feel that the two other new teams are there for the taking, alongside a potentially underachieving East Saintland Side. But wait is a potential concern, particularly with the evidently tiring nature of the group's third tie, both for players and spectators.

They next take on Islartic, with Vinzanic determined to look on to their second game, despite what was undoubtedly a memorable day in the Free Republics.

[The Iron Syndicate]

The Rugby War

Chapter One

This was what it was like to be a modern day gladiator. Luxus Automotives Stadium was like a modern day Coliseum, and the rugby players that ran up and down the massive grass field and put on a hard hitting show for the crowd that was seventy thousand people strong were like the fighters of the old days, that fought to the death in a brutal spectator sport. This game wasn't quite one to the death, but it felt like it, as the Luxus Kingfishers welcomed their rivals, RFC Independent.

Independent was in their traditional white and red, the Kingfishers were in their classic purple and black, and the eyes of the entire nation seemed to be on the matchup of old enemies who had played with bad blood since the creation of the Rugby Syndicate, the league that would make rugby union one of the most popular sports in the country. And even though Independent had been holding a lead late in the match, they were feeling the pressure from the home crowd and having a hard time holding on all the way to the end. As the Kingfishers forced a scrum deep down the field, the entire crowd seemed to rise to their feet, and the players all realized the pressure of the situation if they hadn't done so already.

When the scrum started, the Kingfishers were the ones to get a strong push. The ball was quickly won and passed backwards, and twenty three year old Shaun Draco was the one who ended up catching it and starting to run with it. The scrum broke up, the other team’s defenders started flying towards Draco at breakneck speed, and this was when the pressure was turned up to eleven again. “I could use some cover,” he stated to nobody in particular, before flinging the ball back to the other halfback, the younger Karim Spike. The defenders were still rushing through the gaps in the formation, Karim found himself under pressure quickly, and the others desperately looked for a chance to get into better attacking positions.

“Over here!” shouted outside centre Mia White, who moved up on the left side and allowed Karim to toss the ball in her direction before grabbing it and tucking it under her arm to run with. The lock and flanker were coming in like a tank, but Mia squared up and resisted the tackle from the lock long enough to pass the ball back to Shaun, who saw an opening by now. The opening, between the lock and the flanker, wasn't huge, but it was big enough that he'd be able to make a decent run and put his team in a better position than they were in now.

He tucked the ball and took off running, jump cutting around Mia as the lock failed to turn around to make a spinning tackle on him. Ana Cosma, the other lock, was charging towards him and waving the fullback away to tell him that this was her tackle, but when she grew close enough to dive out to reach him, Shaun did another jump cut to the left, towards the touchline, and left her to fall on her face. With nobody back to defend now, he easily crossed the goal line and pressed the ball down for the try, bringing the Kingfishers within a few point of the lead. It was 11-14 in favor of Independent, but now, the full crowd had awoken and hanging on would be a much harder task than they had expected.

When Luxus made the conversion kick, they were only down by a single point. And as they ran back to their positions to get back in the game and take their shot at the late comeback, there were purple fireworks lighting up the black and starless sky already. Maybe it was too early of a celebration, but it just proved that this place had a party atmosphere that was hard to match. The smell of fireworks was still strong in the air as the players resumed the match, the ultras on the south side terrace and in the corner section were still willing their team to victory, the fans in the rest of the stadium were watching intently and it didn't seem like there was a single person that wasn't focused on the match right now, and the adrenaline rush that the players were feeling was one that would rival any in their career.

After all, this was the clash of the Kingfishers and the Reds, two classic powers that for now, had the attention of not just their own fans, but the entire league. They were seventy minutes into the match, and it looked like Independent was going to do everything they could to keep their possession of the ball and burn time from the clock, but after they'd held the ball for a few minutes and not gained much ground against a desperate Luxus defense, the last thing they expected was for Karim Spike to come out of nowhere to lay a huge hit on the centre and force him to drop the ball. He turned around, looked for options, and saw Mia making another promising run into a gap in the defense.

The angle of the pass wasn't great, but he was able to spin around and deliver the ball backwards to her, and once she had it, she accelerated and showed her rare speed for a rugby player. She was already smaller than the others, but that speed was the thing that allowed her to compete with the best, along with her strong passing ability and her ability to read the movements of other players very well. Mia focused all of her energy into acceleration, and once she hit her top speed, there was nobody that was going to catch her. Not with the angles that they had, and the prime angle that she had near the touchline.

The fullback was lurking around the goal line and waiting for her to get close enough to make a tackle. Instead of letting him do so, Mia went airborne and leapt over his head, landing on her shoulder and rolling to a stop before pressing the ball down for the try. There was more noise in the stadium, there were more fireworks, and her teammates immediately ran to crowd her and celebrate. Now, they had the lead, and they hadn't even gotten the conversion yet. “That should shut them up for a bit!” she shouted, referring to the way Independent fans had been frequently bringing to mind the fact that the Kingfishers might not be a club last season.

“Nothing ever shuts the Reds up. The only thing we can do is grab the win here and try to make a late season push to jump them in the standings, that would help,” said Shaun Draco, walking with Mia towards the terrace and saluting the fans there as the sky was once again lit up by purple fireworks.

The atmosphere here was one that the players couldn't help but appreciate. Maybe it was because of the adrenaline, maybe it was because the game was being played under the massive floodlights of the stadium, or maybe it was because it was a rivalry, but everything today just seemed… Sharper. The players felt like they were noticing every detail, from the thin layer of smoke that was drifting from the stand as a result of a flare being set off, to the contrast between the faces of their fans and opponents, to the different things within the stadium such as flames shooting up from behind the goal after the Kingfishers scores. Maybe, though, they appreciated it all more because they knew that soon, there was a chance that it would all go away.

And that was in the back of the minds of everyone, even in this moment of euphoria after they had taken the lead.

~

“Our biggest threat is not football, not basketball, not tennis or any other sport that is growing along with the entire sector, but the second code of the game that we specialize in, rugby. Rugby league at anything more than an amateur or semi pro level is unheard of on the islands, but in the space colonies and on the stations, it's the national sport. The population of the colonies continues to grow and is projected to overtake the population of the islands if countermeasures are not taken, and as those colonies grow, their sport may overtake ours. Now, we have no teams based in the territories. You may ask why that is a bad thing,” said the CEO of the Rugby Syndicate, Maximilian Darkell. “Well, while we do not currently have any overlapping interests with the territories, the growth of their game could mean that it expands into our territory, splitting our market and costing us hundreds of millions of coins in the long run. My suggestion is to do everything we can to maintain our monopoly, but you already know that. We're all here to talk about ways to do that.”

“Obviously the biggest thing is going to be maintaining our position as the one with the good TV contracts and keeping the Territorial Championship off of the good channels such as I-Vision. Our current deal with them is an exclusive one, but as you know, the deal is set to expire and the time to negotiate a new one will be here quickly. My suggestion is to put our attention into renewing our partnership with I-Vision that says we are the only rugby league that they can broadcast, and creating a similar contract with the Red Hill Broadcasting Company. I-Vision and RHBC have the largest combined share of sports viewership, meaning that a deal with both of them practically secures a monopoly over the channels that would make the territorial competition competitive with us,” suggested one of the board members.

“We already have a deal with I-Vision. We already have a smaller contract with RHBC,” countered another board member from the other side of the table. “What you’re suggesting is… A bandaid fix on a problem that's too big for that. We need to accelerate our growth, not just keep it at the same pace that it's already at by renewing our existing contracts, and I believe that we need to try something new to do that. I propose expanding into the stations and colonies and invading their market before they can do the same thing to us. After all, we are the bigger league for now and there's a good reason why they don't exist in our market.”

“I don't think you know Territorial fans, they're loyal to their teams and to their sport by extension. You're going to be hard pressed to get them to jump on the bandwagon of a newly created team with no history or connection to the area. If anything, we'd lose money on that and the teams would have to go into debt to stay around for more than a few years. If they aren't successful, you can expect them to go bust, even.”

“I do believe that we need to try something different, but I think that we need to go about it in a different way,” another board member interjected. “I think that we should contact Syndicate Rugby about the possibility of creating a national team that would compete in the upcoming World Cup. It's a very popular competition, obviously, and its viewership numbers here are already very high despite us not having a team. Now imagine the advantage we would have over league if we were able to start and maintain our own national team that's exclusive to union? Little kids are going to grow up and want to play union because it will give them a chance to represent their country.

“League won't be able to give them that. Plus, more fans will be brought in by the publicity. Imagine the marketing campaigns! It's the Syndicate against the world, literally! We’ll draw newcomers in through the adventures of the national team and then remind them that they can only keep watching their favorite heroes between World Cups by tuning into our league… Which will conveniently have a bigger TV contract at the same time.”

There was silence at the table, before Darkell spoke up again and slowly clapped his hands. “I believe your proposal is worth looking into. You've put the idea brilliantly, now it's just a matter of doing some market research and seeing how much growth we can actually get from a national team. Do you really believe that it will draw in fans who don't already follow union?”

“I think that they'll watch because it's the Syndicate against the world, and because the World Cup already has higher viewership than the league. They don't have to be diehards of the sport, just interested casuals that want to see their nation beat up on the rest of the world. We’ll work on making them into true fans afterwards, when it's time for the domestic season and we have more games on TV. We’ll make sure that there's interesting storylines to create interest among casual fans, too. Now, does anyone else have any objections to this proposal?”

Nobody at their table raised their hand, and Darkell nodded. “We’ll make an inquiry to my brother about the feasibility of this, then. Consider the project to create a national team one that is now… Ongoing. Next up on our list of things to accomplish today, I believe we have some talking to do about the future. More specifically, the future of the Luxus Kingfishers after the death of owner Lars del Cerium…”

[Bvriania]

AllMartDome

"Good evening Bvriania, you're watching the 25th Rugby World Cup live from the Free Republics! I'm Joe Murray, and with me is a new voice to your ears, Mick Jennings. Say hi Mick!" Mick did just that. "Sadly my old buddy Ray is off pursuing his mystical passions in the Transylvanian mountains, but he sends the team his love. The local time stands at 6:30 PM, of course this being the third and final match of today's AllMart Group."

"In case you missed them," Mick butted in, "our fellow debutants Tobiasia faced the Unified Sunrise Islands in the first match of the Cup this morning. It was a tight affair for these two young teams, but in the end experience won out, the sun rising to a 4 point victory. Tobiasia came away with a losing bonus point to show for their efforts, so their hopes are far from dashed. Next up came Ko-oren, runners up last year, who will have wanted to show that that was no fluke. A heck of an introduction to test rugby for Audioslavia saw them kept scoreless, while 16 points were put past them. A sound victory, but you can't help feel Ko-oren would've been searching for that bonus point. Nonetheless, they now lead Group AllMart."

"Thank you Mick, back to me now. Or rather back to the field, here comes the teams! On the right you will see Barunia, far from veterans to this competition. Our well researched sources tell us they've one tournament under their belt, and two wins from four played. A few botched tries may have been the difference for reaching the next stage. I'd wager my belt they'll be wanting to go one further this time around.

"And on the left, they need no introduction but here's one anyway, the warriors of the waters, crash ball kings, best team who no one plays, Bvriania!"

Sam Jones emerged strolling from the tunnel, followed by Max Moodley and the rest of the team. Opposite them ran Andrew Mortlock, Barunian flanker. The crowd wasted no time in starting to cheer. A group of fans in jerseys commenced singing with a few playing along on their kazoos before security took them away. The stadium seemed evenly enough split between the teams, although one side was a tad more visual about their support. Flags and facepaint and rude signs dotted the Bvrianian supporters, while the Barunians took a less active role. All the horseplay quieted in time for the anthems.

---

"Always gets the blood flowing that anthem of ours," began Joe again. "It's got our boys flowing for sure! Bvriania won the coin toss, and have opted to kick first. Here's Aidan Scully with the kick off, let's go!

"Mike Rogers waiting for the ball with an excellent take, and now up the field he goes. Here comes the defense, will he kick? No, off he passes to O'Shea, off to Burns, who is going straight for the arms of Umaga. Off the ball goes to Groundman, and here he goes with the chip and chase! No shortage of action so far! Moran catches that, and he has found Buck Jackson on the right wing. Bit of a run up, and Jackson is going to give that one hell of a belt down field! Lineout time!"

The opening portion of the game proved formulaic enough by both sides. Bvriania kicked and kicked, while the Barunians were on the lookout for a gap. A scare came at six minutes, the Barunian 9 Stirling firing a cheeky no-look pass into the arms of Rogers who made a run for the line. Great cover and turnover work from Moodley saw nothing come out of it. The game was slow to start, until the ninth minute.

9': "Here's a lineout once more, to Barunia again, this time parked well on their 22 line. If we can steal this, points can't be far away. Up they jump, and Donworth steals that beautifully! Bvriania taking quick ball now, Decko to Scully, to McKnight, to Umaga who's going to crash forward sucking in defenders...and get high tackled in the process. Penalty to Bvriania! Must take this one."

"I'm with you there Joe, it's early game, we need to get ourselves on the board."

On the field, Jones nodded to Scully, and pointed to the posts holding up three fingers. The crowd cheered as the kicking tee was brought out, along with some water Scully swished around then spat out. Lining the seam of the ball with the posts, he walked five steps back at an angle to the ball, and took his ever so familiar hunched position with hands together. A few seconds of booing and breathing later, he ran at the ball, thumping it high and straight, putting Bvriania 3-0 into the lead.

22': "And so we draw ever closer to the twenty five minute mark, one penalty all that graces the scoreboard. Thoughts Mick?"

"Oh how kind of you to ask. A lead is a lead, but you'd like to see it bigger wouldn't ya, Barunia could awake at any moment."

"Sadly true, might even happen now, here's Rogers with a run up the left side and he's drawing in defenders! Offload to Burns and he's away up field, but here's Jones catching up to make that tackle, but he can't stop it coming off to Crawford! Someone land a bloody tackle! And Moodley smashes the Barunian hooker back, sending that ball loose, their scrum-half collecting, and he'll get it off to the captain Mortlock! Back inside now to Burns, to Rogers! He has men outside him, he doesn't need them, Mike Rogers scores the first try of the match!"

Rogers was swarmed by his teammates and cheers from the crowd, the Bvrianians getting some yelling from Jones. The kick was from trivial, O'Shea putting Barunia 4 points ahead with eighteen minutes in the half left.

29': "Times like this you wonder, how can we reassert ourselves? Points down, and pinned in our half for about five minutes, I mean where do we go from here?" A ruck on the field had, after some great work by Moodley, found itself coming up on the Bvrianian side.

"That's how Mick, that's how. The ball is back to Bvriania, and Scully's kicking it upfield! And it finds touch after a bounce, beautiful! Lineouts have been solid enough for us today, but this one will find itself going to Barunia. Out it goes to Adam Burns, fumbles, and knock-on! Scrum Bvriania!"

Bvriania's scrums had been solid that day, and that one proved no different. O'Leary put a huge shove in on MacDonald, and soon the scrum was rising and collapsing. The ref's arm was out and Bvriania had the penalty. The ballboy was coming on about two seconds later. Scully ran through his routine once again, and now Bvriania only trailed by a single point.

37': Play was more even from then on, neither side getting starved of possession for too long. One Barunian 22 visit was shut down by an intercept, Rogers stopping a sure try with a sneaky ankle tap. The momentum was Bvriania's, and bit of the ol' crash ball soon saw them within kicking range of the Barunian posts. Failure to roll away by Findlay Martin saw yet another penalty go Bvriania's way.

"Discipline is costing Barunia, another mistake and now they could lose their lead. I say 'could', although I don't realistically expect Scully to miss from such a straight kick."

"He's an accurate one alright," chimed in Mick, "Must be this graceful peacockesque build up. Looks like he's doing his morning yoga more than kicking."

"I'd smile and let him do a bloody squaredance if he never misses, like now, we're in the lead! 9 points to 7, woo!"

40': Halftime tends to be kickout time, not when you're in the zone however! Barunia's botched kick off was followed up with some decoy running by Umaga and Ryan, opening the space for a grubber through to be collected by an out of position Jackson. Catching his own chip and chase, Jackson gained another fifteen metres for the side.

"Back on the front foot again, just what we like to see! Going into the half with a more than 2 point lead is the kind of thing you need for confidence, and to really set up for the second half. Oh, ref's playing advantage for offside. Here's the ball now for Jones, who is going to have it pilfered, and we're going back for the penalty. Scully's been perfect today from the boot, and... he stays perfect! Halftime score at the AllMartDome, Bvriania 12, Barunia 7."

---

"And we're back for the second half! Monty O'Shea kicks off for Barunia, who will want to make a statement soon to get back into this. Thor Colbert comes on for Oliver Troy at six, and Joshua Malli replaces one Dan McKnight who limped off at halftime. Excitement awaits, and here we go again!"

44': Barunia got straight to making their statement. Jones caught the restart ball, and send it straight back upfield. George Moore got his first taste of the ball, taking a pass from Rogers, running it back up to halfway, and off once again to O'Shea. Much improved from the penalty machine trainwreck they had become by the end of the first forty. In fact it was Bvriania who penalized ten metres out from the tryline. O'Shea took a quick tap, dummied, and offloaded to the ever-present Rogers, the fullback flying over for try number two.

"Nein! Ladies and gentlemen, if you have some snake oil or real estate to be selling, hit up Shane Moran on Westwind Road, by the looks of that, he'll buy anything. Sake! On the bright side, the conversion is from forty metres out... nevermind, O'Shea slots it. Score at forty four minutes, Bvriania 12, Barunia 14."

61': For the next fifteen minutes, opportunities decided to become extinct. Both ways fortunately. Bvriania made phase after phase of physical, tiring play, until Umaga was able to break to within eighteen metres, with options both sides. A few more passes and scoring looked close, till a sideline flag went up. 'Late shoulder charge by red fifteen' was the call, to the TMO went the ref, and to the bin went Moran. O'Shea lobbed the resulting penalty downfield, swinging the pressure completely in the span of a minute.

"Barunia really looking to seal the game now, their passes are getting flatter and flatter, and these gaps are opening up. Bvriania playing a man down remember."

"As if we'd forget," remarked Mick.

"They're edging closer with every phase, Rogers is lurking back there, will he be looking for that hattrick? Of course he will! Something's got to give, somewhere, soon. Here's Mortlock with the ball, urging his players on, out it goes to Moore, out to O'Shea, will this be the try that ends our hopes!?"

"No it won't Joe! There was a late hit in there, penalty to us! Decko's taking that quickly, to Moodley, crashes into Moore and offloads to Jones on the outside! Jones is away, coming up to Rogers, but he's just running around him! Clear run for the line, across the 22, Jones is going to score!"

The ref's whistle blew, and the stadium just about exploded. Jackson was the first to get there, and leaped straight onto Jones' lanky body, followed by Decko, then Umaga who sent the celebrators to the ground. They cleared the tryzone to leave Scully with just enough time to convert, bringing Bvriania back in front to a not-so-safe 5 point lead.

76': Penalty number five came fifteen minutes to the second after Jones' try. Substitutions happened on both sides, with varying degrees of effect. Joseph Rasolo cut through the Barunian's defence with his one touch of the ball, Ollie Bell won his one and only lineout, and Alex McInross ended any hopes of a Barunian victory. Not rolling away twenty metres from the posts is a death sentence, and was there's that day.

"Scully moving up from fullback to take this kick, to seal victory. This has been a grindy match, back and forth, and the time has come to name our Man of the Match. Thoughts, Mick?"

"Aidan Scully has been all over the pitch today, keeping Bvriania in this with his faultless boot. Then there's Duncan Donworth, that stolen lineout got the scoreboard rolling, and he's been unmovable at scrumtime."

"Both valiant choices. Can't leave the Barunians out of this though, Mike Rogers has been the best attacker on the pitch today. Two tries, God only knows how many metres ran, punishing us with every single high ball he happened to catch. There's a lot to say for him. But my 25th Rugby World Cup Man of the Match is Max Moodley. He's been simply outstanding, landing tackle after tackle, making turovers and securing possession, and a beautiful offload to set up the try that won the game, I can't look past him for the award."

"Once again, I agree with you Joe. Oh look at that, Scully got the kick."

"Indeed, I think 'The Waves' can wave goodbye to any chance of winning."

That they could. The last four minutes were sucked up by a bit of ruck to ruck to more ruck, and one scrum for good measure. The battered Barunian pack fell back, the ball spilled out to Anthony Coetzee, who shot it back to Malli, who sent it flying up into the stands. The ref's whistle went, and that was that.

"This has been one heck of a start to our World Cup journey! Downing a far more experienced team to go top of our group, good signs going forward. Final score is Bvriania 22, Barunia 14! Next week we take on Audioslavia, so till then, from me and Mick, goodnight Bvriania!"

[Ko-oren]

Ko-oren - RUWC 25

Starters
Props
August van de Zande, Burton Nagle

Hooker
Meindert Bovendaan

Second Rowers
Truman Corbeld, Einegan Myldoerhim

Flankers
Leomatis ae Thorades, Neasill Ueabheil

Number 8
Herman Fullmore

Halves
Berend Bruinkool, Krijn de Leem

Centres
Godfrey Thorebourne, Coloabhor Uolhaenim

Wingers
Ambrose Sullivan, Marinus van Schal

Fullback
Goachill Duinphoim

Style: -3
Godmod scoring events: N
RP injuries to my players: Y
Godmod injuries to my players: N
Sin bin my players: Y
Send my players off: Y (1 max)
Godmod other events: N

[Lisander]

Catarina Scott, from Tarita, Quartona, Free Republics.

"The little ant, so little ant, works everyday without a stop
The little ant, so little ant, works everyday hearing this bop"

10-24 was a great result. Do not fool yourself only by the scoreboard, or by the retrospect against Abahnfleft (0-0-2). We made it great against the fourth team in the NSRB! The PLAYERS did not belittled themselves in any moment. They worked like the proud worker ants in that childly song. The song valours the work of the ants. And we must valour the work of the Irises today.

Lisander National Team in the field this afternoon.

The Church of Technicology Stadium received a fairly good game today. Lisander entered the field wearing white, because the apparel manager, Filipe Wurz, is a superstitious man. Their official excuse was "Abahnfleft could wear green, so we must not clash". But he made that before. When the new season begins and new uniforms are presented, he prepares "the green jersey to start winning", and against Fleftic team, it wouldn't come. To avoid "bad luck", the alternate uniform was prepared, and the main jersey will be seen only against Yesopalitha, what we believe that could be a strong win.

Ants and superstitions aside, let's talk about the game. It was an attack versus attack game. Abahnfleft scored first, in minute 15, after much pressure in the earlier minutes. A beautiful try in a very smart play made by the Fleftic backs that ended with Till Solverman diving between Lisanderian posts. The easy conversion for Nawwaz Wahhab settled the scoreboard in 7-0.

Lisander was fighting for space in the half, and after a knock-on by Archie Wigglesworth, Lisander had a scrum near the Abahnfleft goal posts. The mention of "scrum" was not a ood thing, especially, after the problems in the AVBF Sevens. But the backline of the scrum have shown potential. Martelli, Domani and Florian kept the scrum alive, without collapsing from Lisander side. But what a surprise: Abahnfleft side collapsed, two times. The referee set a penalty. Matthew Gear to the Kick and we had 7-3. Lisander was alive in the game, with only 29 minutes played.

But the ability of Fleftic players was evident. Lisander, an attacking team themselves, could even try to hold, but it would be vain to try blocking the stronger and pushing Abahnfleft attack. In the last play before halftime, we saw Dev Nasuggi leaving Sebastian Livon behind and scoring another try, halfway between posts and corner. Wahhab only had to set the target and the first half finished 14-3.

In the halftime, the players probably were informed of the oher group results. Aquitayne was making a good 13-0 against Yesopalitha and Juvencus was winning 7-5 against Devonta. The final results proved good news to Lisander, that can go for playoffs with a 3rd position in the Pool. And this information made the team return to the field in a better shape. Unfortunately this shape only lasted 4 minutes. A high tackle by Mariano Valente, a penalty to Abahnfleft, Wahhab expanding the difference to 17-3.

But the marching ants did not rested. Looking lost after the penalty, the forwards opened space and it was everything that Abahnfleft needed. They were still running and working like ants, but not in a ordered formation, like ants do. Another try by Solvermann, another conversion by Wahhab, 24-3, 61 minutes played, game set.

Assen noticed that, and decided to scare the team a little. Without any explain, he replaced Valente for the younger Cesc Gasteiz (who played last U-20 Rugby Cup), and Kevin Armada for Christian Bonnevue. He also sent Tomás Salvatti to warm-up. Damian Skye was about to be replaced, his head was in the line, and he needed to do something. Luckily for him, the opportunity appeared. The passing worked, the advance worked. Everything worked. And the ball found Guilherme Morian to the first Lisanderian try in the World Cup, at minute 74. Matthew Gear converted the extra ponts, giving final score to match.

After the match, Bernauer praised the team. "They were able to hold on to a stronger team, and despite the distraction in the second half, it was a good result. If we consider that we have already started our Cup facing a title contender, and that our direct opponents in the road to knockout were not that well, I can hope good news in the next days."

---

---

© 2017 TRZ Alice Bay and TRZ Lisander are brands of Newport Rugby Media Holdings. Alice Bay and/or Lisander laws may apply. Dale a tu cuerpo alegria macarena. For further information and commercial contracts, contact promo(at)trz.ls or ad(at)trz.ab.

[Darmen]

NO TRY!
Darmen denied game winning try after questionable decision by TMO

The TMO delivers his decision.

REPUBLICA - Darmen settled for a ten all draw with The Fair Republic in their opening match of the 25th Rugby World Cup, following a disappointing decision by the TMO to disallow a try attempt by Darmeni prop Kipling Reiter in the closing stages of the match. Reiter, who dived into the try zone as the hooter sounded, was deemed to have knocked-on while touching the ball down, the ball squirting loose from his fingers as he did so. The call from the TMO, which surprised many, was most certainly wrong, as Reiter should have been awarded the try for applying downward pressure in the proper manner, the knock-on occurring afterwards.

In an uncharacteristic response from the Darmeni captain, Ingvar Wilkins, and several other squad members, rushed the referee, Mattijanan Lucija Kranjnik, and begin remonstrating rather aggressively with her. Seemingly overwhelmed, she blew her whistle to end the game and rushed from the field, flanked by her touch judges. Wilkins and the more angered members of the team pursued after her, stopped only by the Darmeni coaching staff at the entrance to the hallway that led to the dressing rooms.

After the match, Head Coach Marcel MacLeod apologized to Kranjnik, saying, "Our boys shouldn't have responded as aggressively as they had. Certainly expressing a frustration at the disappointing decision of the TMO, and indeed Ms. Kranjnik's decision for the referral to the TMO itself, would be fine. But... and this is key, there is no room for any of our players, or members of the coaching staff for that matter, to attack the officials of a match verbally, and certainly not to pursue after them in a matter that may lead them to think that a physical assault is imminent. I apologize to Ms. Kranjnik on behalf of the Darmeni Rugby Union, and promise that a situation like this will not happen again. The players and coaching staff have been warned."

When asked what he thought of the call that denied Darmen a World Cup opening victory, MacLeod responded, "I thought it was the wrong decision. A player does not need to maintain perfect possession of the ball when touching down to score the try. Downward pressure is the only requisite, and Reiter did what was needed to score the try and win the match. But, what's done is done, and we must move on. We have an important match against the hosts to focus on."

Aside from the drama that ended the match, the contest was rather dull. Fair Republics' No. 8 Ted Meyer scored the first try in the 17th minute, Fly-half Victor Peterson quickly followed up with the conversion. Darmen responded with a penalty goal in the 38th minute just prior to halftime, Ingvar Wilkins splitting the uprights for the three points. The penalty had been awarded following a high tackle by opposing Scrum-half Brett Adams on Darmeni Fullback Nicholas Ó Ceallaigh. Adams was not sin-binned for the offense.

After returning to the field following the break, and down by four, Darmen unleashed a series of furious attacks. Stringing together a double digit amount of phases, the Fair Republics' were soon fatigued, and Hariwald Abrahams finally broke through the defensive line to score Darmen's lone try of the match in the 45th minute. Wilkins added the conversion, and Darmen took the lead, 10-7. Unfortunately, both teams were tired after the outburst of stinging charges and tackles, and much of the second half was filled with sloppy play.

With time winding down, Peterson kicked a drop goal from 22 meters out in the 78th minute to draw the score level. The Fair Republics' captain, Peter Lazarus, had looked visibly nervous from the 70th minute on, and yelled at Peterson to kick for goal when the opportunity presented itself. It proved to be a good decision, as the 6th ranked team in the multiverse salvaged two points from a match both teams will most likely be dying to forget.

Darmen plays its next match against the hosts, the Free Republics. The Free Republics won their first match against the Union of Socialist Alpine Republics in another low scoring affair, 10-7.

[Abanhfleft]

It's been two years since the last rugby union world cup. Two years that the rugby union players of Abanhfleft had, well, nothing to look forward to other than their games in their respective national leagues. The only other entertainment they've had during that time was watching rugby league and rugby sevens. In the time that rugby union lost some of its popularity due to the curious suspension of the Rugby Union World Cup, rugby league managed to take its place as the top rugby code in the country, especially after the national rugby league team finally got out of their mediocrity and barrelled their way through to the final where they were finally defeated by Ko-oren (again) but still managed to pick up a runners-up medal. It was much better than the whole lot of nothing that the national rugby union team got when they lost the third-place playoff against Uitbregen by a drop goal. It was a scenario which none of the players liked to dwell on, especially John Borisov, who was supposed to be marking the Uitbregen player who made the game-winning drop goal. Rugby sevens as always was very fast-paced and a lot of sevens series had come and gone with Abanhfleft winning some silverware in some competitions and going home empty-handed in others.

Finally though, the Rugby Union World Cup came back. Two years seemed an awfully long time, but the RUWC was finally back after two years. In those two years, though, some sides who were well known in rugby had come and gone. Aels was gone, Uitbregen was gone, The Royal Barangay was gone. There were still a few familiar faces, of course: Ko-oren (who could ever forget Ko-oren, Abanhfleft's constant tormentor in rugby), Baruna, Hutanjia, Neu Engollon, Racao, and The Fair Republic. There were also some new faces in the mix, although it could be said that some of these new faces were now familiar after the Fleftics had seen them in action in rugby sevens: Bvriania, Lisander, and Alice Bay, among others.

But enough about the others. This story is about Abanhfleft, and Abanhfleft alone. The players have all aged two years since their last taste of international rugby union. The taste was still bitter after their last-minute defeat against Uitbregen. That year was supposed to be the year that they won it all (well, after they were defeated by Ko-oren as always, it was supposed to be the year when they finally won something in rugby union). Instead, all they won was a place in the rankings as the fourth-best team of the tournament. Boy, did that defeat against Uitbregen sting. All the Fleftics needed to do was to hold on tight on defense and not let any of the long-range threats get enough space to ramp up for a drop goal. But John Borisov got complacent. He eased up on his marking just a teensy-weensy tiny little bit, and that tiny little bit of space was enough for the Uitbregen back to line up his sights and make the drop goal. But even as the ball flew away from the hands of the Uitbregener (?), John Borisov was still hoping that the guy had got the angle all wrong, that the wind would suddenly pick up and steer the ball away from the posts, but it wasn't to be. The goal went in and Uitbregen won.

But that was before. Now was now. Abanhfleft was back and were looking to continue the winning ways that they had established in the 24th Rugby Union World Cup. Their first opponent would be Lisander, one of the new faces who were really into rugby. This was still early stages, and who knows what's going to happen (will the veterans take the first game or will the plucky newcomers pull off a great upset to start off their first ever RUWC campaign?) but one thing was for certain: Abanhfleft's back, and this time they will win it all come what may.

Could they do it, though? Almost every player in the national team were on the wrong side of twenty and thirty already. Prabhesh Nayyar, John Borisov, Wesley Nakamura, Paul Abcede, Neil Kalatarang, Kirk Wahlberg, Joaquin Hope, Zack Mosquito, Sikaruchabamba, Nawwaz Shareef Wahhab, Till Solvermann, Jack Wiley, Dixon Cochabamba, Dev Nasuggi, Archie Wigglesworth. These were the fifteen players who almost won it all in Aels two years ago. They were all getting long in the tooth and not getting any younger. But they say great sportsmen are like fine wines: they age very magnificently. And these fifteen sportsmen are still as strong and fast as they were when they first started on the road to rugby glory. They should still be able to keep up with the rest of the competition. Should they? Of course they should. They're Fleftics. Hinding-hindi susuko kahit anong mangyari. Mabuhay ang Abanhfleft. Puso!

*(Hang on a minute. Puso! is usually reserved for basketball. But whatever. Every sportsman needs a good rallying cry, a war cry to get his troops and fellows motivated. Why not make it the unofficial motto of every Fleftic sports team there ever was? Yeah, that should work. Puso! Puso! Puso!)*

[Neu Engollon]

“Good evening, Neu Engollon and to all of our International viewers. You’ve got on the NETV 7 Sports Update. I’m Karl Demais.
Magda Wertauer is out working on an interview. So we're continuing to follow the Rugby World Cup in the Free Republics and the Goats did not disappoint in their first match with Mattijana at Nail Frolov Colloseum. An incredible fight and we saw a textbook play to get Callenzo over the line for the first try.
Hoerner missed the conversion, but took a penalty kick to boost up the score to 8 for the Goats.

Urbach was able to chase the ball down into their zone and touch it down, and this time, Willi's magic foot put the conversion through.
it was answered by Mattijanan kicker Kunikov getting their first points on the board with a penalty kick. Soon after, Paticci was able to capitalize off a maul that pushed back the Mattijanan defense and kiss the rock down onto the Mattijanan try zone for the Goats third try.

Much of the Confederacy held their breath as it looked like the Mattijanans had finally got a try on the board, but it was not to be as a forward pass negated it. Soon after that, Julien Latrent was able to drop another penalty over the posts and seal the match with the last points, leaving the final 25-3.

Once again, we are reminded with this match that nothing is going to be a given in this Cup and that the Goats will need to fight every match as if it may be their last. While the Mattijanans had trouble scoring tries, they were by no means pushovers.

When we come back, Magda should have that interview lined up with one of the Goats.
Stay tuned after this sponsor break..."

[Free Republics]

This is your Matchday 2 Cutoff presented by Sporting World Magazine! Sporting World: Covering the World of Sports as We See It!

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MD2 Results

AllMart Group
Unified Sunrise Islands 3–21 Barunia
Audioslavia 0–9 Bvriana
Tobiasia 0–10 Ko-oren

  AllMart Group                          Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Bvriana                                  2   2  0  0   31  14 +17   0    8
2 Ko-oren                                  2   2  0  0   26   0 +26   0    8
3 Barunia                                  2   1  0  1   35  25 +10   0    4
4 Unified Sunrise Islands                  2   1  0  1   13  27 −14   0    4
5 Tobiasia                                 2   0  0  2    6  20 −14   1    1
6 Audioslavia                              2   0  0  2    0  25 −25   0    0

Citrus Computing Group
Neu Engollon 5–3 Kecrazia
Ethane 9–23 East Saintland
Mattijana 33–14 Islartic

  Citrus Computing Group                 Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 East Saintland                           2   2  0  0   32  12 +20   0    8
2 Neu Engollon                             2   2  0  0   30   6 +24   0    8
3 Mattijana                                2   1  0  1   36  39  −3   1    5
4 Ethane                                   2   1  0  1   25  26  −1   0    4
5 Kecrazia                                 2   0  0  2    6  14  −8   2    2
6 Islartic                                 2   0  0  2   17  49 −32   0    0


Dixon Light Group
Aquitayne 3–13 Juvencus
Abanhfleft 25–0 United States of Devonta
Yesopalitha 13–41 Lisander

  Dixon Light Group                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Abanhfleft                               2   2  0  0   49  10 +39   0    8
2 Juvencus                                 2   2  0  0   27  13 +14   0    8
3 Lisander                                 2   1  0  1   51  37 +14   1    5
4 Aquitayne                                2   1  0  1   26  20  +6   0    4
5 United States of Devonta                 2   0  0  2   10  39 −29   1    1
6 Yesopalitha                              2   0  0  2   20  64 −44   0    0


FreedomCola Group
Hutanjia 6–0 Greater Vakolicci Haven
Natanians and Nosts 16–26 The Iron Syndicate
Furby Islands 10–37 Racao

  FreedomCola Group                      Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Racao                                    2   2  0  0   56  10 +46   1    9
2 The Iron Syndicate                       2   2  0  0   39  19 +20   0    8
3 Hutanjia                                 2   2  0  0   23   0 +23   0    8
4 Greater Vakolicci Haven                  2   0  0  2    3  19 −16   1    1
5 Natanians and Nosts                      2   0  0  2   16  45 −29   0    0
6 Furby Islands                            2   0  0  2   10  54 −44   0    0


Miktondo Flip Group
The Fair Republic 12–3 Purple Rabbits
Union of Socialist Alpine Republics 8–13 Alice Bay
Darmen 10–7 Free Republics

  Miktondo Flip Group                    Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Alice Bay                                2   2  0  0   33  18 +15   0    8
2 The Fair Republic                        2   1  1  0   22  13  +9   0    6
3 Darmen                                   2   1  1  0   20  17  +3   0    6
4 Free Republics                           2   1  0  1   17  17   0   1    5
5 Union of Socialist Alpine Republics      2   0  0  2   15  23  −8   2    2
6 Purple Rabbits                           2   0  0  2   13  32 −19   0    0

RepublicSoft Group
Elejamie 20–10 Savojarna
Nova Anglicana 32–20 New Lusitania and the Algarves
Jeckland 9–7 Sublimany

  RepublicSoft Group                     Pld   W  D  L   PF  PA  PD  BP  Pts 
1 Nova Anglicana                           2   2  0  0   49  20 +29   1    9
2 Elejamie                                 2   2  0  0   50  10 +40   0    8
3 Savojarna                                2   1  0  1   20  26  −6   0    4
4 Jeckland                                 2   1  0  1    9  37 −28   0    4
5 New Lusitania and the Algarves           2   0  0  2   26  42 −16   1    1
6 Sublimany                                2   0  0  2    7  26 −19   1    1

[Savojarna]

PLAYSTYLE

Savojarna's players are comparatively tall and strong, and many have good physical training from early on. However, while they excel at power, stamina and in some cases also speed, their technique usually isn't the best. The team is rather conservative, but not afraid from attacking. Because rugby is not a professional sport in Savojarna, the team is not expected to do extremely well.

STYLE: -1

SQUAD

#1 Valeri Kravchuk (23, Pawlograd)
#2 Simon Hjalmarsson (29, Landsmark)
#3 Jacob Bengtsson (31, Linder)
#4 Terje Nilsson (23, Frisks)
#5 Valtteri Ojanen (28, Hovikkära)
#6 Johan Kristensen (24, Sjoedrhavn)
#7 Kjell Arndtsen (28, Thorsborg)
#8 Sergey Borisov (29, Savojagrad)
#9 Alexander Newarov (24, St. Andrei)
#10 Kristjan Niskanen (27, Virkaja)
#11 Rolf Eythorsson (21, Storevik)
#12 Fridtjof Lindberg (20, Thorsborg)
#13 Mika Ranttanen (18, Virkaja)
#14 Harald Akeson (30, Kjefla)
#15 Lars Neyman (27, Jarnstad)
Substitutes
#16 Grigori Smichov (26, Pawlograd, Prop)
#17 Aksel Johanson (25, Thorsborg, Scrum-half)
#18 Jesper Groen (32, Sjoedrhavn, Hooker)
#19 Petter Alexandersson (23, Landsmark, Wing)
#20 Victor Lundholm (24, Sjoedrhavn, Lock)
#21 Ivan Lavrov (20, Savojagrad, Flanker)
#22 Denis Milvanen (19, Orjalahti, Fullback)

KITS
designed by Meski

[Barunia]

Mike Rogers was Barunia's leading scorer in the last World Cup, and he looks set to continue that trend. Against Bvriania he crossed twice, his two try the only score for the Waves, who could not stop the Bvrianians from storming through with the win.
Ironically, while it was Rogers who scored the tries, he was not the one converting them, despite being Barunia's kicker in the last World Cup.
Barunian rugby fans who miss the Alpen Brew 7s tournament might have been surprised to see Monty O'Shea stepping up to the tee instead, but the Barunian fly-half was impressive off the boot in that tournament. As Barunia look to improve their kicking game, Jack Strutton looks like he is going to be giving more players an opportunity to hone their kicking skills. O'Shea made the best of it, nailing both conversions.

Rogers got his first after teaming up with centre Adam Burns to get inside the twenty-two. Passing off to Crawford, the ball was almost lost, but Lachlan Stirling saved the day with quick thinking and even quicker hands. He tossed the ball to Mortlock, the captain passed off to Burns, and Burns teamed back up with Rogers, the latter finding a clear path to the line.
That gave the Barunians a 4-point lead after an earlier penalty, but the lead didn't last as another three penalties to Bvriania saw them go into the break with a five point advantage. Jack Strutton was visibly upset at the Waves lack of discipline, and no doubt he took that into the changeroom.

However it was Finlay Martin (the Bvrinain coach, not the Barunian flanker - no "d") who was wearing the worried expression just after the restart, as his team gave away a penalty just ten metres out. O'Shea tapped it, passed it to Rogers, and Barunia had another try. The Barunians had started that run with some excellent work from George Moore, the only Barunian debutant in this tournament. His first taste of international rugby was one to remember, setting up the attack that almost saw O'Shea score. The defence was a bit too desperate for the referees liking, an over-eager Manning coming in from the side, and the penalty was awarded. The Barunians surprised everyone by breaking their usual gameplan and playing on rather than take the kick, a decision possibly motivated by the desire to reclaim the lead. That decision was made in a split second, and Rogers was ready and waiting, unlike Moran, the helpless Brivanian fullback who was completely fooled by the dummy, letting Rogers run in easily. Then it was back to O'Shea for the kick.

Earlier, the Barunians had gotten a good look at Aidan Scully, the Bvrianian kicker, and his ritual, described by Brivanina media as "peacockesque". Barunain fans now got a chance to see that O'Shea repeated his actions from the first kick, in what looks to be a ritual of his own. He walks to the ball, takes four steps back, crosses himself, points his arms straight ahead, takes a half step backwards, and then kicks the ball, straight through the uprights.

O'Shea looked to have a try set up on his own, but a controversial call ended their run. Late hit was the call, apparently on Moore, who collided with O'Leary after offloading to O'Shea. The Barunians were up in arms and
surrounded Lisanderian referee Henri Collere, with Mortlock heard to ask repeatedly how a call of "late hit" could be called against the side carrying the ball. Mortlock was then shown a yellow for vocalising the thoughts of all Barunian fans, in regards to Collere's intelligence.
On the back of that debacle, Jones scored for Bvriania, and to cap off what was turning into a debacle, Findlay Martin (with the "d" - the Barunian flanker this time) was trapped under two Bvrianian players and unable to remove himself from the tackle. The referee handed Bvriania the penalty, three points, and a final margin of 8, robbing Barunia of a bonus point in the process.

[The Iron Syndicate]

The Rugby War

Chapter Two

“The Luxus Kingfishers, one of the most historic and popular rugby clubs in the Iron Syndicate, is still left without an owner and with heavy debts as more and more team owners in other sports look at the team and then decide that the club situation is just too grim for them to touch. Popular businessman and Luxus Automotives CEO Lars del Cerium was keeping the Kingfishers afloat and slowly chipping away at the large debts accumulated by the club, but after his surprising death last year, the interim ownership of the team has put out a bleak outlook; the only options are to find someone who can take over and pay the debts, or risk seeing the club lose its license for next season,” said the female newscaster from Iron Sport One, who was providing the morning recap of the biggest storylines of the past day and the week. “The Rugby Syndicate has been doing everything it can to shop the club around for an owner and prevent it from going bust, however, league rules prevent clubs from accumulating too much debt and not making any moves to pay it back. Fans have started their own campaign to rescue the team, but with how much the club owes, it's unlikely that a serious difference will be made.”

“Fourteen days ago, the Kingfishers defeated their historic rivals from the north side of Portus, in a classic match that saw them come back late and use the amazing energy of the crowd to get back into a match that looked done and decided. It was their most viewed match of the season according to the numbers released by I-Vision, and it was also the third most watched rugby match all season for the entire league. Why the increase in views? Well, fans know to value the Kingfishers while they're still here, because next season, you may see them gone from the league entirely, with a future that's more likely to be grim than it is to be positive. Luxus has a stretch of home matches to end the season, and surprisingly, those matches are all sold out already despite being weeks away. The price for the cheapest ticket on the second hand market for the season finale? Four hundred coins. That's by far the highest pricing of the season, but again… If you're in Luxus and you miss that match, you may not have another chance to see your team play,” the newscaster continued, before looking directly at the camera and shrugging.

“Everybody but the most diehard Independent fan wants to see the Kingfishers back in the league next season, but the question is, can they find an owner in time to keep from liquidating? The league’s CEO, Maximilian Darkell has stated that he is actively looking for potential owners, but the one who was believed to be the best fit for the club, Sporting Ceres owner Ricky Eaststar, has just publicly said that he will not be buying the Kingfishers. With most of his businesses based in Ceres, Eaststar doesn't want to put himself into a position where he can't eventually buy the local rugby club there, the Loons. One name that's being thrown around as the next best option is Quinn Kelly, the forty one year old technology mogul that owns IronSoft Technologies and is responsible for being the largest computer producer in the Syndicate. Kelly is from Ceres, but already owns the Luxus Dolphins basketball team and has transformed them into a championship contender that has produced national team players such as Dustin Durant and Mara Horacek. If he buys the rugby club, expect to see them rise back to their previous status; contenders for the championship,” said the newscaster, before pausing dramatically.

“The key word is if. Kelly hasn't confirmed his interest, and these reports are based off of rumors that may or may not be true. Ricky Eaststar was heavily rumored to be interested, and that didn't turn out very well for Luxus fans. However, they won't have to suffer for long as they wonder what will happen to their beloved club. The end of the season is in sight, and the league rules make one thing clear: this saga won't drag into next season. The club will either find its owner, or it will disappear… Now, changing subjects but staying in the same sport, the newly formed national rugby union team will be taking a trip to the Free Republics for its first competition, the twenty fifth Rugby Union World Cup. Can we crash the party and upset some of the big dogs in the silver anniversary edition of the tournament? Find out next, when we have interviews with staff members and fans to help you get a feel for the team’s chances-”

Shaun Draco flicked his hand in a gesture to dismiss the holographic screen that was floating in front of him, and finally climbed out of bed after looking at the clock and seeing that it was nearly time to head down to the stadium. The team would get to the stadium in the morning for an afternoon match and would have a few warm up sessions before they actually got started, and if he didn't hurry up, he was going to get left by the rest of the squad. He went through the rest of his morning routine, taking a quick shower and getting dressed and then stuffing his backpack with a few cans of already brewed coffee and with a few other snacks that could be consumed on the way to the stadium, and then he swiped his hand in the air to bring his list of messages into his field of view. That was the benefit of Syndicate tech… You could do everything that you could do from your phone, without ever actually touching it.

“System, send a message to Apollo Black: I'm on my way to the bus, don't leave without me. I stayed in bed a little late, but my ETA is two or three minutes,” he said, and then confirmed when the automated voice asked him if he wanted to send the message as he had wrote it. After sending it, he flicked the panels of the HUD away to clear up his vision and then stepped out of the hotel room, heading down the hall and getting into the elevator to go to the lobby floor. What he didn't expect was to find that there were tons of fans who had traveled and were actually waiting for the players to head to the bus. They were a new team, after all, but Ironite citizens were really willing to get behind their nation and travel hundreds if not thousands of miles to get to the Free Republics and support them on the road.

“Up the Birds!” shouted someone, causing Shaun to turn in that direction and wave to and grin at a man that had come all this way to show support with a purple Kingfishers shirt. He wasn't the only player in the lobby, Mia White was there too as well as Eric Hammer, the Red Hill centre that had been the best player in the league up to this point in the season. All three of them were easy to recognize by the fans, with their familiar faces and easy to spot navy blue and white warmup jackets. And so, before they could leave to the bus that was parked outside across the street from the hotel, they ended up taking many pictures and signing many shirts with the fans who had staked them out and stayed around despite most of the team being on the busses already.

“Wait a minute, who are those people outside?” asked Shaun, pushing the door open for the other players before stepping out himself and noticing the pink clad crowd that was gathering around the team bus. “Are they with the Feminist League and their allies?”

Of course, the Feminist League was the bloc of political movements within the Iron Syndicate that were against the hyper capitalist state because they believed that it exploited women and didn't treat them equally, who were known for being friends with the secessionist movements from the space colonies because of mutual enemies. They weren't taken seriously by everyone, but their coming here was still alarming because they did have a large extreme contingent that wasn't afraid of using violence to achieve their goals. Previously, the Feminist League had been made up of peaceful protesters, but with the rise of the Pink Front faction five years ago, the rates of violence caused by them skyrocketed and continued to grow every year. They weren't necessarily popular, either, with the government having relatively high approval ratings and with most citizens being content with their leaders, but the people who did associate with them were some of the loudest lobbying groups in the Syndicate. That was an impressive feat for amateur activists that didn't have the funds and support of corporations, like every single other political party in the Syndicate did.

“Yeah, those women look like they're from the Pink Front… Other members of the League don't feel the need to wear masks and they usually wear white with their pink instead of black,” stated Mia, glancing back and forth between them and the others. “I used to be one of them, that's how I know what each group wears. But that was years ago, when I was still hanging with the liberal college crowd from Portus Park College. I quit when I realized how stupid it all was and how many people the Pink Front were hurting because of their political differences. And when they started aligning themselves with secessionists because of a mutual enemy-”

As they neared the bus, the crowd in pink recognized Mia as being formerly one of their own, and they started flinging insults in her direction. They called her every name in the book, from more specific insults like traitor and spy to more generalized ones like bitch and cunt. When she replied by showing her middle finger to them, they just roared in anger and acted like they hadn't just been insulting her and her friends with the most colorful language that they could muster. “Fuck off!” Mia shouted, having to shove one of them out of the way as the three players stepped onto the sidewalk and tried to get to the bus door. “The next person to get in my way is getting punched. I'm not starting trouble, but I'm not afraid to finish it, either.”

“You sad women need to all find nice men, that'd solve your problems!” Eric shouted in the crowd’s direction, inflaming the situation more and causing a few rocks to start flying towards the bus and towards the players. But Eric, not one to be messed with, picked one of the rocks up from the ground and threw it back where it came from, nailing a protester in the head and causing her to drop to the ground in pain. That was enough to make them disperse for long enough that the bus driver could quickly open the doors and let the players onto the bus, where it was safe. It still wasn't a good idea in the long run, though, because now there was a crowd of angry protesters that would be carrying a grudge and that now had motivation to target a specific group of players rather than the whole team.

“Which one of you is behind the Pink Front showing up here and deciding that our team is a good topic to protest about? They're using some excuse about rugby promoting hypermasculinity and sexism or something along those lines, but I feel like one of you did something to draw their ire today. Why'd they feel the need to fly all the way out here instead of protesting at the federation offices in Portus?” asked head coach Apollo Black, who had seen enough of this and was ready to get out of this spot. “Whatever you feel about the Pink Front, provoking armed groups is never a good idea as a pro athlete-”

“It was me, but I didn't even say anything until just now,” admitted Mia, taking her seat near the back of the bus. “Just me existing is going to provoke them, they hate me because I used to be one of them and I called them out and left. That's why they were yelling at me and calling me a traitor and a spy back there, before we got on the bus. But if they're going to act like this even though I never publicly attacked them after I left, they can expect me to return their treatment as soon as the chance arises. Sorry, coach, I can't sit quietly for this matter.”

“I heard them calling you a lot worse than traitor,” remarked Dre Martins, who had been sitting by the window as the whole ordeal took place, and who had been able to get the best view of what had went down. “Nobody is going to fault you for lashing out, just remember that these people are armed and that they're crazy. Don't think they won't take an argument too seriously and come after you later because of it. That's kind of been their way, since the Pink Fromt started getting uppity.”

“Then help them God, because I'm not holding back at all next time they come after me like that,” Mia replied, and with that, the bus went silent and the driver pulled away from the curb before the protesters could regroup and block their path once again. Still, even as they left, the atmosphere was certainly tense. Nobody quite had a good feeling about heading to the stadium after knowing that an armed group was here and against them, and they also didn't feel great about staying in this hotel now that the protesters knew where they were.

This trip, which was the first of its kind for the Syndicate, was quickly turning into a real adventure…

~

“My name is Dana Solas, and I am the founder and leader of the group known as the Pink Front. Five years ago, I founded this organization because the Feminist League wasn't a good fit for me and my friends, who preferred to take direct action rather than spending our time lobbying and relying on a broken political system to bring about change. Now, we have grown to a powerful army that has members across every island and colony of the Syndicate and that has been declared the most powerful feminist organization in the entire country,” said the woman who was on the screen of the TV in the conference room that the players were gathered in, that they were all watching. “I'm saying this not to brag about my success, but as a warning.”

The video on the screen cut to a scene showing masked Pink Front soldiers marching down a suburban street on one of the islands, followed by a convoy of armored trucks. “I say this as a warning to the Syndicate government and to the sports teams that are sponsored and paid for by them, that promote the patriarchy and consist almost entirely of male athletes, who behave as ‘players’ and regularly use women for their own gains. We have been told that the Syndicate government does not take us seriously. In that case, we think that we have to take action to prove our threat to them. This is an official notice; withdraw from the Rugby Union World Cup and from the Independents Cup, or there will be serious consequences.”

There was a dramatic pause, and the video cut back to Dana, who was flanked by two masked women in black fatigues and pink combat vests. “We have already made our presence known in Free Republics, so do not think that we are bluffing or that this is an empty threat. In case you didn't get it the first time, let me repeat my warning to the national teams that will soon be competing; withdraw, or face the full power of the Pink Front and risk your lives. We won't say when or where we are coming, but we are already on site, and when we strike, you will know who to blame. We implore the Syndicate government to end their sponsorship of toxic masculinity, but if they will not go along with our request, we will have to take things into our own hands to achieve our goals. That is all. Choose wisely.”

The screen went black, and the players looked around at each other and the staff. It had just been released half an hour ago, but it had already gotten thousands of views online and went viral. The original video had been deleted by now by Iron Net, where it was posted, but it had been copied and posted on dozens of other sites, which was how the team found it. “So, are we still playing or what?” asked Eric Hammer, standing up and turning towards coach Black. “I didn't come all the way to Free Republics just to sit because a bunch of edgy college students want to threaten us with their extreme ideology.”

“I'll have to talk to Jean Darkell about this and see what the best course of action is… But yes, I believe that we will still be playing,” sighed Apollo Black, and a small cheer rose from the players. After all, a little bit of danger always made things more exciting...

[Bvriania]

Try Time
TV's #1 Source for Rugby News and Discussion

"Good evening to you Bvriania, and what a good evening it is; two wins from two games played at our very first World Cup! Were you expecting this, were any of us expecting this, no! We should make today a national holiday, haha, woo!" Duncan Mara continued waffling on before his mic was cut, and Damian McKnight took over.

"What my partner is trying to say, is that today victory number two came against Audioslavia. A fellow nation new to this tournament, they got off to a tad worse start than we did. Ko-oren, runners up last year, clocked up sixteen unanswered points throughout the eighty minutes, leaving Audioslavia dead last in the AllMart Group. Afterwards we downed Barunia despite claims of referee bias. To that I say, maybe don't cheat if you want to stay on his good side."

"Cheers to that! Actually, keep the cheating up, penalties just make the game all too easy! Which brings me back to today's spectactular second win in a row, three penalties the difference betw-", another mic cut let Damian take back control.

"Perhaps a little introduction first? Finlay Martin named a side with four changes to last week's winning squad. Dan McKnight's failure to get over a calf strain saw Joshua Malli upgraded from bench to starting inside centre, twenty year old Matt White taking his bench spot. Meanwhile Isa Umaga was out with a stomach bug, Buck Jackson moving from wing to outside centre to cover, and what better starting right winger than Joseph Rasolo? I just can't agree with Finlay there."

"Questionable at best," Duncan added in after getting his mic working, "the boy's not a defensive mastermind, and he's a natural born left winger. Richie Meyer got the bench spot, but he should have been starting I say! Might've scored a try with one of his signature intercepts."

"Impossible to know Duncan. But you are right, zero tries scored in this nine point affair." At that the TV turned on, showing the short highlights of the match. "Aidan Scully kicked perfectly with his two attempts of the afternoon, first at twenty four minutes, and a fair while later at fifty eight minutes. Malli took over kicking duties as Matt White picked up his first cap, not quite matching the preceding performance."

The TV cut to his first attempt, 66 minutes on the clock. A half minute build up and mighty run up came to nothing as the ball drifted left of the posts. At 72 minutes, his pre-kick ritual extended to near a minute, complete with a staring contest with the ball and posts. All for naught as the ball drifted right this time.

"Not his best attempts, but he found his feet just as the clock ran into red, and was able to deny the scoreless losers a bonus point." On screen Malli lined up the ball, and ran at with a thump five seconds later. As the ball bisected the posts, the scoreboard read 0-9, and the ref's whistle went.

"Got there in the end at least. Elsewhere in the AllMart Group Barunia enjoyed an eighteen point victory against the Sunrise Islands this morning, and should confidently go in next week against Audioslavia, who are left as the only side yet to register a point on the scoreboard. Group favourites Ko-oren won ten nil just hours ago against Tobiasia. Currently fifth in the group, they'll need a major turn around if they want to make it to the Round of Sixteen. However they're next foe is us, so I wouldn't be betting on it.

"Looking elsewhere, world number one Neu Engollon were almost on the wrong end of an upset. Playing their second ever World Cup game, Kecrazia put in a heroic defensive effort to keep the reigning champions to just one try throughout the eighty minutes. One penalty, I believe, from their kicker saw them lose by just two points. Could the champions be rattled? Time will tell. East Saintland may smell blood, and will surely be on the hunt come matchday six.

"Many more results, but that's all we have time for tonight. Make sure to tune in next week, when a top three group finish could be assured by a victory against Tobiasia. Hear that? Assured! Don't miss it, you could miss history. From me and Duncan the mute and all the audience, goodnight Bvriania!"

[Tobiasia]

Tobiasia 6–10 Unified Sunrise Islands
Unlucky match ends in defeat for the Tobiasians

This match didn't go completely to plan but added a welcome bonus point to Tobiasia's finals chances. The campaign kicked off today, with Tony War-la scoring a try. However, the Unified Sunrise Islands managed to clutch a 10-6 victory. There was a horrendous but accidental high tackle against Jake Pol-gan. The loss was expected but still upset a few. Tomorrow Tobiasia face 2nd ranked Ko-ren in the next match. Can they pull off the impossible?

Tobiasia 0–10 Ko-ren
Loss against world number two's

Tobiasia suffered another blow, losing to 2nd ranked Ko-ren. However, a strong defence was praised by the manager.

Meanwhile in the Tobiasian Domestic Union Rugby League, these were the match results:

Arkford Angels 18-6 Southshore Seals
To Warriors 16-0 Manside Rangers
Northern Giants 6-32 Mountain Tigers
City Sharks 16-12 East Elephants

To Warriors 21-12 City Sharks
Mountain Tigers 32-0 East Elephants
Northern Giants 12-3 Southshore Seals
Manside Rangers 6-6 Arkford

Team: Matches Won: Draws: Points scored: Points conceded: League points
Mountain Tigers    2    0    64    6     +58  6
To Warriors          2    0    37    6     +31  6
Arkford Angels      1    1    24    6     +18  4
City Sharks           1    0    28    33   -5    3
Northern Giants    1    0    28   36   -8 3
Manside Rangers  0    1    6     22   -16  1
East Elephants      0    0    12    48   -36    0
Southshore Seals   0    0    9     30   -21  0

[Elejamie]

---

JM: Good evening and welcome to Rugby Tonight with me, Johnny Murran. With me for tonight's episode is Nick Dabrowski, former Knights, Wyverns and Birch Trees scrum-half and former Elejamie head coach. And tonight we'll be discussing a potential return of the short-lived and possibly one-sided Elejamie/Ko-oren rivalry, if regional rivals Lisander and Alice Bay will end up facing each other here in the Free Republics and the rise of Bvriania, a team with a long history of rugby entering their first tournament. Trust me, you're in for a show tonight.

But, before we get to all of that, let's go over all the big games today. Reigning champs Neu Engollon could only manage a single try in a disappointing 5-3 win over Kecrazia; Audioslavia were shut out twice in a row after three penalties from Bvriania gave them a 9-0 win; and Lisander came back from a disappointing defeat in fashion as they thrashed Yesopalitha 41-13. However, let's start off with the Elejamie-Savojarna game, where Pablo Cartagena's boys managed to provide a second win in a row as they beat their opponents 20-10. Phil Rainier has the story.

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Voice-Over

It was a sunny afternoon at The Soccer Palace stadium in Petrograd, which saw an audience of 80,000 spectactors, as Elejamie faced off against Savojarna. Both sides were hoping to get their second win of the tournament as the previous day, Elejamie had shut out Jeckland 30-0, with tries from Eddie Campbell, Diego Peguero and Terry Huang, as well as conversions and penalties from Doug Westwood. Savojarna, on the other hand, grabbed a very narrow 10-6 win over New Lusitania and the Algarves over at the RepublicSoft Stadium in New City, Orlandiana. Coach Cartagena made only one change from yesterday, with Diego Peguero being benched and replaced on the wing by Phil Holloway; his Savojar counterpart, however, kept his squad largely the same.

Elejamie managed to take the lead 13 minutes in when Savojar eightman Sergey Borisov tackled Elejamian winger Armando Tavarez in midair following a lineout. Fortunately, Tavarez managed to land on his back, got up and dusted himself off. Not to mention that TMO Anaëlle Florian ruled that it was a fair challenge, meaning that referee Matej Djanić didn't need to give out a card. As a result, Doug Westwood was called up to kick a penalty from 32m. He lined up the shot and gave Elejamie a good 3-0 lead.

However, Savojarna would quickly equalise 30 minutes in when Chris Onuoha entered the ruck from the side, resulting in a penalty. 27-year-old Kristjan Niskanen, a flyhalf from Virkaja, stepped up to kick it from 34m. After making sure all his calculations were correct, he provided a mighty kick and celebrated as the ball easily went in between the posts. As a result, the score was now 3-3 and it was anyone's game.

Now we skip ahead to just after the 40 minute mark, with Elejamie being on the attack. After Adam Gates went down, Brandão tried to make an attempt but was quickly brought down by Savojar prop Valeri Kravchuk. Phil Holloway tried again but was brought down by Simon Hjalmarsson. In the end, on the 10th phase, Doug Westwood ended up running into position and booting the ball towards the posts, resulting in him scoring a drop goal from 30m to make it 6-3 to Elejamie at the end of the first half.

Nine minutes after the start of the second half, it was Savojarna that was on the attack. After Aksel Johanson was tackled by Bruce Hernández, Fridjtof Lindberg managed to snag the ball up and boot it up the pitch. Brandão just managed to get his fingers to it but, as he was reaching up to grab it, he accidentally tapped it forwards, resulting in a knock on. After play restarted with a scrum, Johanson kicked the ball upfield. Harald Akeson managed to catch the ball and make his way to the try-line, relatively unopposed, before sliding it down past the Elejamian try-line. A bit of sloppy defending from Elejamie had let the Savojars scored their sole try of the match to take the lead. Niskanen would successfully convert, despite having a tricky angle to work with, to make the score 6-10.

However, Elejamie would get their big break. 55 minutes in, Savojar lock Terje Nilsson was sent to the sin bin for a particularly bad tackle on Diego Peguero. Starting again from a scrum, Elejamian captain Ben Oldaker offloaded the ball to Brandão, who immediately passed it to fellow centre Eddie Campbell. This ended up kickstarting the Elejamian comeback. Eventually, Adam Gates would receive the ball from Armando Tavarez, run underneath the posts and slam the ball down for a try. Roughly two minutes after play restarted, Elejamie had regained the lead thanks to a try from the Elejamian fullback. Westwood would kick the ball from 27m out between the posts to make it 13-10.

A second try for Elejamie came just six minutes later. Ben Oldaker managed to steal the ball during a Savojar line-out and quickly offloaded it to Diego Peguero. Peguero would then give the ball over to Eddie Campbell. Campbell would later get brought down but Terry Huang managed to get the ball and hand it over to Doug Westwood. Elejamie managed to push on until they were in the Savojar 22. After Westwood went down, the ball was offloaded to Brandão, who managed to run past the try line and slam it down on the ground to not only extend the Elejamian lead but to also make up for the knock-on that lead to the Savojar try. Westwood would convert again to give the home side a 20-10 lead.

Five minutes from time, Niskanen was given a penalty, following a bad challenge from Gregory Miller. Although there was little to no chance that they could recover and grab a shock win, if they make this penalty then they would get a losing bonus point, which could decide if they'll make it through or not. Niskanen stepped up from 39m out and booted the ball, hoping it would make it through. Unfortunately, the ball sailed past the post and into the crowd, denying the Savojar's a chance to close the gap and, thus, get that much-needed losing bonus point. Eventually, past the eighty minute mark, George Finney intercepted a pass from Petter Alexandersson and booted the ball into the crowds, giving Elejamie a 20-10 win and four more points on the board.

Now that's all said and done, let's go over to the tables. And, as a result of the bonus point they got in their 32-20 win against New Lusitania and the Algarves, Nova Anglicana are top of the table with nine points, followed closely by Elejamie with eight. Despite their loss earlier today, Savojarna still remain in third place with four points. Jeckland move up to fourth place, also with four points, as a result of their 9-7 win over Sulimany. New Lusitania and Sulimany both occupy the bottom two slots, with a single point each thanks to those bonus points, although New Lusitania are ahead on point difference; -16 to them compared to Sulimany's -19.

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JM: So Nick.

ND: Yes, Johnny?

JM: Thoughts about this game?

ND: Cartagena's a good coach, I will admit. I've seen his stuff with the Commandos and the Knights, he chipped in with a lot of suggestions when I was at the helm and I recommended him for the job when I decided to step down last year. However, we could've been a lot better in that game. We should've been more ruthless and cut down their chances while creating more of our own. After all, they scored their try because they had a plan and they, we had too many men up front and they had a lucky kick. Fortunately, apart from that, we played fairly well, had a couple of good tries and I have to give props to Savojarna for how well they're doing so far; if they keep this up then maybe this could be the start of a Savojar rugby championship.

JM: And what are your thoughts about the upcoming Sulimany game? Do you think we'd get our bonus point in that game?

ND: It's possible. Sulimany haven't really been that great so far. They got shutout in that first game against Nova Anglicana and they could only manage a single try and conversion in the game against Jeckland. Meanwhile, we came close to a bonus point against Jeckland and bagged a couple of tries here. We might get 30-something points if we're lucky, 40+ points if we're really lucky, but us getting twenty-something points is the more likely result. We might keep them scoreless or at the very least, allow a single try or penalty. But the point they won't be getting a lot past us. A definite win for sure.

JM: Alright, we'll be speaking to Nick again later on in the show but, for now, let's take a quick look at all the rest of the day's games...

[Natanians and Nosts]

[in a radio]

-Alright rugby supporters,our team is doing really poorly.They can't even score in all games.Comparing to the last RUWC they're awlful,not to mention that they've been playing for all this time,it's not like they were just doing nothing and wre called because they know the manager!They lost to Racao,alright.They lose to the Iron Syndicate,by more than ten points,it's not a good sign!I just think that we have to at least draw aginst Hutanjia and win the other games if we want to at least have a chance in qualifying!But the team is not doing well!They are doing really,really,really poorly!It doesn't matter if they change coach or nyone else,they did not get even a little better,they stagnated if not worse.So this was our Three Minutes of Rugby at your favourite radio station that's "legal".Stay tuned at Desportos FM in English.

[Abanhfleft]

The Rugby Rundown
with Graham O'Doherty

49 points in two games. Not bad for a bunch of old-timers.

In a way, though, playing against Lisander had been a much more enjoyable experience, both for the team and the fans, than the game against the United States of Devonta. I certainly enjoyed the game against Lisander, by the way. You could see that Lisander really tried their best to get a result out of their opener against Abanhfleft but they just didn't have the experience yet. Devonta, on the other hand, while they were the 49th best team in the multiverse, simply didn't show up, plain and simple. Obviously they didn't show up at the field what with their poor performance at the game, but some could say that they hadn't even showed up physically. No one could really remember who the last Devontan players to participate in the RUWC were, but they certainly weren't these players. Perhaps that explained why this Devontan team played all sorts of out of sorts (if that even made sense).

The Devontan failure to compete against our team aside, we really did give these Devontans a good showing. Shame we couldn't land four tries or more and get that sweet, sweet bonus point, but a win's a win, I've always been told. Till Solvermann and Dev Nasuggi were the winning combination last game and the same was true again today. Of course, last game Till scored two tries and Dev scored one but today it was the Dev Nasuggi show although like I said before, Till Solvermann played his part by making the final passes to Dev which allowed the Indian Superman to break through the Devontan defense and land the rock three times. Nawwaz Shareef Wahhab, ever the dependable kicker, nailed two out of three conversions perfectly. Some people would say that we should have gotten 27 points but perhaps Nawwaz Wahhab was feeling a little bit gallant and decided to miss the final conversion on purpose. Well, it was either that or the wind shifted right as Nawwaz was taking his run-up. Either way, we still have 25 points on the board to the Devontans' none.

I'd love to say something about the Devontan way of playing but I have nothing to say, to tell the truth. It was just bland, plain and simple. Not even I with my magnificent skills with the written word can liven up the dull Devontan way of playing. I really hope they do shake themselves up and do something worthy of their rank, though, although I have to say that it's pretty hard to have any sort of expectations when you're down in 49th, but you never know. We were pretty shitty in rugby league for two World Cups straight and then we managed to nearly make it all the way in Racao (Ko-oren as always defeated us then but that's another story for another time).

Anyway, that's all for me tonight. Tune in after our next game for my next post-match thoughts. And if you're interested in what my other cousins have to say with regards to Gaelic football or soccer-football then have a look around the website. Stay safe. I'll be here watching musclebound men in tight shirts and shorts crash into each other and grab each other in all sorts of inappropriate places. Good night!

- Graham O'Doherty

Try: Nasuggi (3) 5', 14', 78'
Con: Wahhab (2/3) 6', 15'
Pen: Wahhab (2/2) 23', 47'

[Lisander]

Notes.app

Patricio Bernauer | 01:13

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Lisander 41, Yesopalitha 13

We had a really positive game today, and I can see the unity on the team. Part of the team was already training together to the Sevens, so I really feel that this "Core Team" made up of Linzmeyer, Skye, Armada, the Gear brothers and Sebastian Livon are a reference. To this group of six players I would also add Florian and Domani. And I would say that these eight players are vital to the development of the national team, and would recommend that they always be kept in the starting fifteen in the long run until a rotation is possible. The process of professionalization is still recent, with only four years it is impossible to refine all the talents. Traditional teams, such as Linville Athletic himself from where I come from, form great players from the base. Investment in the base is necessary, it is he who generates the future.

Assen also thinks there is much to be tested. So he asked me to train the Lisanderian Barbarians in the next cycle by testing players. And so he also seems intent on making many changes in the team for the next games. After the difficult match against Abahnfleft, I would say he gained courage. I'd say he's moping inside because he did not bring more U-20 people. But now he is extremely positivistic, especially for the next match, against Aquitayne. The last result of Aquitayne turned off the yellow light. The yellow light about Devonta also had been turned off after Abahnfleft beat the crap out of them. He believes Lisander can qualify as second place in the group. The only stone on the way seems to be Juvencus. I'll have to research a little about them.

*** DO NOT FORGET ***

1. The last Pro12 spot will be decided between the Hárpias of Grivnia and Stade Lernaise next Sunday. I need to remember watching this game, which will be early morning in this time zone.

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