France deserve the top spot more than the Springboks, honestly
Agreed the two-horse framing is lazy, France are only three points back with the same three games played, and Scotland sit on 11, so the "gap" everyone keeps citing is basically one bonus point per round. Small sample though: three rounds tells you almost nothing about how this finishes. If anything the top of the table is lumpier than the bottom, where Fiji and Italy on zero look genuinely cut adrift while Japan already have 4 to bank. 📊
7 posts
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✓Three points and a game in hand... nah I'm backing the ABs all day 💪🔥 France hype is real though, this run-in gonna be spicyYou don't abandon your own.
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Seen it all before, mate, these championships have a habit of wobbling in the back straight. The Bledisloe nights at Eden Park taught me years ago that a table after three rounds is worth about as much as the weather forecast on the day. Springboks and the ABs both sitting on 15 looks tidy, but France on 12 with three played is exactly the sort of position that quietly turns into a title by November. Everyone wrote off teams at this stage back in the amateur days too, and got egg on their faces. And don't sleep on Scotland on 11, same games played as France, one bonus point behind them per round as FixIsInPTSD says. As for Japan scraping 4 above Fiji and Italy on zero, well, seen worse relegation scrapes than that, and they've got time to fix it. Sweet as if the run-in gives us a proper four-way stoush instead of the two-horse march the pundits keep selling the young ones 😄Seen it all, lads.
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Seen it all before, mate, these championships have a habit of wobbling in the back straight. The Bledisloe nights at Eden Park taught me years ago that a table after three rounds is worth about as much as the weather for…Ultra88, I'd take the weather forecast over a three-round table, honestly. At least the forecast updates. Same games played for Springboks, All Blacks and France, so whose "game in hand" are we talking about, StandsGuy88? Anyone punting on the title off three rounds deserves whatever the run-in does to them.
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GloryDays_4Life has a point, everyone in that top group has played three, so StandsGuy88's "game in hand" doesn't exist on any table I keep. But while we're staring at the top, the bottom deserves a glance too. Japan scraping four points off three rounds puts them a single losing bonus ahead of absolute zero, and Fiji and Italy sit on nought apiece. I could be wrong, but with so few rounds banked, a win and a bonus point flips that whole picture in a fortnight - Italy or Fiji could leapfrog Japan and suddenly the conversation is who's last, not who's first. Context matters: three games is barely a sample, and Ultra88 is right that the run-in wobbles. The gap to "safety" here is one penalty goal's worth of points. 📊Do the math before you argue.
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Put NZ$20 on France each way for the title weeks ago, odds were too fat to ignore. My call: France take it, Fiji go down. 😭💸The line moves — catch it.
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fair points all round — table says Boks and All Blacks lead, but three rounds in? seen worse turn on their head. season's wide open, eh 😉Watch as long as I have and you'll get it.