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Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview

Eng Shaun Perry - 02Scrum
By Kath 6/9/07
September 6 2007
England vs USA 8th September, 2007 - IRB Rugby World Cup - Match Preview. At long last the Rugby World Cup is about to kick off and the excitement of the occasion is now definitely starting to build. Many of our viewers and posters will be travelling to Lens this weekend to support England and we wish you all a fantastic time.

IRB Rugby World Cup 2007

England v USA

8th September - kick off 17:00 (BST) 

England will start the defence of their Rugby World Cup title this weekend and really must come away with a good win to start their campaign. 

The USA who are made up of mainly semi professionals and come from a country not really interested in the oval ball game must feel they are up against a mountain face.  However,  as they prepared for this Saturday's opening game against England, their flanker Inaki Basauri put out a rallying call to his side to stand up to their big name opponents.  Basauri said his side are not just in France to make up the numbers and has asked his team-mates to be courageous when taking on the World Champions.

Inaki Basauri, USA

Inaki Basauri, USA - Barclays Churchill Cup - Bowl Final - USA v Canada - Twickenham 2007

"We are all going out there to show the world what we have and what we have been preparing for the past four years," Basauri is quoted as saying by The Daily Mirror. "It will be a great experience. I think we just have to play what is in front of us and do our best, be courageous, make tackles and make plays.  "It is about making everything happen."

England's Head Coach Brian Ashton has had his fair share of problems this week with Jonny Wilkinson out injured yet again, this time sustaining a right lateral ligament sprain in training.  I do think the Australians cursed him in 2003 for that last minute drop goal (my own opinion I hasten to add)  So Olly Barkley will start at fly half for England against USA, the Bath and England fly half said, 

“I’ve had my ups and downs throughout the last few years but I’ve always worked very hard through all of them.  “I’m happy to be here now and I’m a big believer that these things make you stronger.”  “I’m loving the experience of being in Paris.  This is a very happy squad with a huge amount of characters.  They’re a great bunch of people to be around and this is a time I’m really looking forward to.

England have made six changes from the side that lined up to face France in Marseille last month.  Lawrence Dallaglio is in  replacing Nick Easter, while Jamie Noon and Mike Catt combine at centre with Andrew Sheridan taking over on the front row from Perry Freshwater.  Leicester's Ben Kay meanwhile comes in to replace Steve Borthwick and will start alongside Simon Shaw in the second row.   Congratulations will go to Josh Lewsey who will be winning his 50th cap this day.

Regardless of Wilkinson's absence Ashton was in a optimistic mood saying

"We've picked a XV that we think will do a job against the USA,"

England Team:

1 Andrew Sheridan - Sale Sharks 2 Mark Regan - Bristol Rugby 3 Phil Vickery - London Wasps (Captain) 4 Simon Shaw - London Wasps 5 Ben Kay - Leicester Tigers 6 Joe Worsley - London Wasps 7 Tom Rees - London Wasps 8 Lawrence Dallaglio - London Wasps 9 Shaun Perry - Bristol Rugby 10 Olly Barkley - Bath Rugby 11 Jason Robinson - Unattached 12 Mike Catt - London Irish 13 Jamie Noon - Newcastle Falcons 14 Josh Lewsey - London Wasps , 15 Mark Cueto - Sale Sharks

Replacements:16 George Chuter - Leicester Tigers 17 Matt Stevens - Bath Rugby 18 Martin Corry - Leicester Tigers 19 Lewis Moody - Leicester Tigers 20 Peter Richards - London Irish 21 Andy Farrell - Saracens 22 Mathew Tait - Newcastle Falcons

USA Team:

1 Mike MacDonald, 2 Owen Lentz ,  3 Chris Osentowski, 4 Luke Gross, 5 Mike Mangan,  6 Louis Stanfill, 7 Todd Clever, 8 Henry Bloomfield, 9 Chad Erskine, 10 Mike Hercus (Captain), 11 Takudzwa Ngwenya, 12 Vahafolau Esikia, 13 Paul Emerick, 14 Salesi Sika, 15 Chris Wyles   

Replacements:  16 Blake Burdette, 17 Matekitonga Moeakiola,  18 Alec Parker, 19 Inaki Basauri, 20 Mike Petri, 21 Valenese Malifa, 22 Albert Tuipulotu , 22 Albert Tuipulotu       

 and so to our famous battle cry..............

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'

Henry V (1599) Act3, Scene1

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Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: Unofficial England Rugby Union (IP Logged)
Date: 06/09/2007 17:02

Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: lesser white (IP Logged)
Date: 07/09/2007 13:09

The problem for US is not so much "The USA who are made up of mainly semi professionals and come from a country not really interested in the oval ball game must feel they are up against a mountain face" but more that they have an inordinate interest in another oval ball game. Did I read this week that most of the US players have started off playing American football but were either too small or not drafted?

Anyway - I'm looking forward to seeing whether Mike Hercus can cause some embarassment.

Allez les Requins
http://vidahost.com/smilies/ups/DeNiro/jaws.gif

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: DaveAitch (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2007 07:35

I do think that both the USA and Canada have gone backwards in the last few years. Well not so much gone backwards as failed (understandably) to keep pace with the top nations. Lesser white there seems some truth in what you say.

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: DuncanS (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2007 09:20

I'm really interested to see how Mike MacDonald goes against Vixster. About 2 years ago I was working for an I.T. company up in Wilmslow, Cheshire, and stayed at the Marriott hotel, Manchester airport during the week. One Thursday evening I got back to the hotel to find that the Worcester Warriors had checked in in readiness for their game against Sale the next night. The following morning, as I was tucking into my breakfast in the restaurant, a huge shadow fell over me. Said shadow was cast by a certain Mike MacDonald, who took a seat right next to me. Further inspection revealed that half the shadow was cast by his breakfast plate! A huge layer of 'full English', topped by a layer of selected pastries, topped further by another layer of 'full English'. No wonder he's such a big boy, but I really wouldn't have thought his conditioning could be up to much if that's his diet!

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: Rarua (IP Logged)
Date: 08/09/2007 21:39

Well, a combination of English incompetence and American tenacity made a horse's Årse of predictions.

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: Gillies 4 England (IP Logged)
Date: 09/09/2007 08:05

I predicted 28 - 10. Not a horse's @rse in sight!

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G4E
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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: DaveAitch (IP Logged)
Date: 10/09/2007 09:30

Rarua,

Certainly the one thing England lack is the consistent competence of NZ. Few teams manage that. In fact possibly no other team. I think it is just a fact of life that rugby (and big yacht sailing?) matter more to to Kiwis than to most, if not all, other nations, and this always gives them a head start. England managed to prove for a short time that it could out-muscle NZ on the rugby park, with the game in June 2003 being the clincher.

As regards the USA, we have to hope that they never take rugby too seriously. If they do, watch out everyone.

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: Rarua (IP Logged)
Date: 10/09/2007 10:42

Dave,

Oz and SAf manage it quite regularly. But then they see us routinely year in year out. Only SAf are as passionate in not losing at rugby, although Oz is motivated in snotting little bro.

I might say that usually it is a given that to be beaten by England or France is sack cloth and ashes time and to be beaten by anyone else is unthinkable. I have a queasy feeling Pampas beef might be about to upgrade to Frogs and Kippers status.

My prediction was ~45 to ~15 but was let down by ineptitude.

My own for not seeing the writing on the wall.

But if British clubs persist in buying SH players instead of breeding their own, well we can expect the SH to win the WC for eternity. The French are doing the same.

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Re: Rugby World Cup 2007 - England vs USA Preview
Posted by: DaveAitch (IP Logged)
Date: 10/09/2007 11:17

Rarua,

In terms of bringing in 'foreign' players, I think this helps those countries as well as hindering us. When Oz, NZ or SA come here many of their players have turned out for European clubs over a few seasons. That is the only reason I can give for Argentina becoming a world power. They have little meaningful competition as a country and yet are able to take on the 'medium boys' on an equal footing. I feel it will not be too long till they give the 'big boys' a real run for their money.

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