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Everything posted by Maximus Decimus
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World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
Right, I'm calling a truce. I'll let it go, I promise . -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
England were underdogs against Samoa! In hindsight, we clearly shouldn't have been, but we were. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
They decided to handpick it regardless of who topped their group. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
But it isn't that England will, unless you also fix the opponents for England's group. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
I generally don't respond to those that acknowledge it is a fudge because that is essentially my argument and i have no reason to. There are plenty of others arguing that this system is not a fudge at all and simply a result of ranking, and others saying it's a non-issue which I don't agree with either. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
We couldn't. In the football WC, there is not a single team England can only play in the final. This is very much the normal, default system. You can make it pretty unlikely, but Samoa being in our group made that especially difficult. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
It's a discussion forum, and I tend to talk about things that interest me. I'm not actually that bothered at all, although it will add extra annoyance if we lose today. What actually interests me and keeps me talking about it, is that people cannot see that this is unusual and almost certainly a fudge. This in itself isn't me saying they are bad or wrong for doing so, after all I've argued that it needs to fudged more and differently, but I'm not going to back down when people try to make out like it is totally normal and logical system. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
If we take the argument that the group order was based on rankings (which I don't think has been proven btw) then the idea is that, barring upsets, we were to be set up for a hypothetical semi-final with Tonga. If this was to be achieved through the normal system, the quarter finals would've had to have been organised completely differently, and had we lost to Samoa in the opening game would've faced a quarter-final against either NZ or Australia. I think it's reasonable to suspect that this was a factor in their decision to do the groups as they did, especially with the Emirates booked for the semi-final. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
It's also entirely a perfectly natural reaction for some to pretend like everything is perfect. If we lose today (a real possibility) will no part of you fell aggrieved that we've had a decent tournament but only had two on-paper competitive games against the same team? -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
There is no disrespect at all in acknowledging that Australia and NZ are and have always been our most dangerous opponents regardless of any temporary form blips. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
Do normal tournaments not have rankings? There is a false dichotomy being presented that it is either this system or a different convoluted system. As I've pointed out, it is literally only at the semi-final stage where a difference is noticeable. Rankings mean that if all teams win as they are supposed to, the top ranked team plays the 4th, the 2nd plays the 3rd etc. This is all well and good. The problem is that by finishing 2nd in the group, as is always the case in similar tournaments, Samoa should've been put in the other side of the draw meaning they couldn't have played England again until the final. This is where there is no logical reason as to why they weren't other than some form of a fudge, because after all had England lost that first game we'd have been put in that side of the draw with Aus and NZ. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
It's an obvious fudge, a small one but an obvious one. For all the arguments made about mixing the format up and rankings etc, literally the only difference if they'd have done it the normal way is the semi-finals would be: Eng vs Aus/NZ Aus/NZ vs Samoa There is literally no rationale to properly explain why we're playing Samoa again other than it being seen as a boost to England. -
World Cup Draw - very strange
Maximus Decimus replied to tim2's topic in The General Rugby League Forum
When this was first brought up, one of the things I mentioned was that I'd have felt very hard done by if England won the first game, had a decent WC and then lost to Samoa in the rematch. No wonder I'm feeling uneasy...