By Craig Muncey
September 19 2015

The morning after the night before, England are up and running with a bonus point victory, after a very stop start affair at Twickenham last night, plighted by poor refereeing performance and numerous interventions from the TMO.  First half took 51 minutes to complete, and bearing in mind there was no real lengthy stoppages for injuries, the main instigator was the TMO, this just shows how much action he saw and the length of time it took to come to a conclusion, not helping the flow of the game and certainly not aiding the viewing experience for spectators or millions watching around the world.      

Maybe someone out there as well can help me understand an interpretation it seems in the laws, when it comes to competing for an up and under in general play and competing for a cross field kick in the in goal area in particular? 

Seems to me you cannot compete at all anymore in the air when it is a up and under in general play, if both players are trying to catch the ball, with both players with eyes on the ball and genuinely competing, and there is an aerial collision, then this is penaised and more often than not the player who has made the contact will get a yellow card, sometimes evan a red, mainly due to player safety.  However, when comes to a cross field kick, especially in the in goal area, both players are allowed to get off the floor and compete in the air, and even if there is a collision whilst in the air, nobody seems to get penalised, when surely the safety element is exactly the same?  It seems a completely different interpretation for one to the other.

Based on that English performance last night Wales have nothing to fear, but no doubt England will improve following that opening night's performance.  But I really believe if Wales play to their potential we can go to Twickenham next weekend and get a victory.

Anyhow I have digressed, I have just put up a new poll on the 1876 Cardiff Rugby website asking the fans what stage they predict Wales will get to in this World Cup.  Do you think they will not advance from the so called group of death? Will we get a Southern Hemisphere giant in the quarter finals and end the journey there? Will they get to the semi finals as per 2011, and come up short? Or will they get to the final and become World Champions, so we can see John Inverdale cry on national television?

If you can make your vote in the coming days, and I will then publish the results and let's see what we all think.  

Just as a reminder for those reading this on Twitter or Facebook, the website page is 1876CardiffRugby.co.uk

Thanks all.