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Kiltedjedi t1_iw4gg20 wrote

This gives me the fear. If Italy are now beating Australia then Wooden SPoon for the 6 Nations incoming for Scotland

405

FaultyTerror t1_iw4zpsl wrote

It's a world cup year so Scotland, Wales, England and Ireland will be battling for it.

81

evildicey t1_iw6ocyf wrote

As a welsh person…you have nothing to worry about!

17

Perpete t1_iw7mb89 wrote

Scotland was fiercely battling against New Zealand today for more than an hour. The level at top of rugby nowadays is extremely dense.

6

harrybo93 t1_iw6wm7p wrote

This will be interesting, because isn’t there a lot of Italian history/ancestry in Scotland? Will be a helluva clash! In a civil manner over a beer or two of course…not tribal and violent like football.

0

[deleted] t1_iw4z2ad wrote

[deleted]

−24

YurtYurtBaby t1_iw56yz1 wrote

They've been playing rugby union internationally since the 80s, they're far from shit. Australian rugby isn't in a great place right now due to two different codes clashing, but both teams are exceptional.

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TheBigCore t1_iw5avbc wrote

Australia favors Rugby League and Aussie Rules Football, so Rugby Union is a distant third there.

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duckybahh t1_iw5x8ru wrote

Rugby Union is almost at the point of it even being a top 10 sport in Australia and has extremely low viewership numbers

4

Pons__Aelius t1_iw5ze9q wrote

The move to pay TV killed Aus Rugby.

Same with Cricket.

6

kocknocker19 t1_iw5vzlu wrote

Union is behind Cricket, soccer and perhaps even basketball too. It's a joke compared to where it was 20 years ago

2

Mosh83 t1_iw6c6qb wrote

Wait, I moved away from Australia in 1996, and I remember Rugby League being the more popular? Or does memory fail me, it's been a long time.

2

[deleted] t1_iw6q1ej wrote

[deleted]

1

Mosh83 t1_iw6q6jd wrote

Just he said Union is a joke to what it was 20 years ago, did Union have some spurt of popularity in the early 2000s or has it been a constant downhill?

2

chattywww t1_iw601jg wrote

How come it seems (may be mistaken) but Union players are paid better than League

1

Aussiechimp t1_iw6343b wrote

Not in Australia, plus there are 17 fully pro league team, 18 Pro Aussie Rules teams and dozen of semi pro. There are 5 Pro union teams.

3

sinixis t1_iw4ab4r wrote

Wallabies have been shit for years, it’s embarrassing.

330

iama_bad_person t1_iw4egok wrote

As dogshit as the All Blacks are rn I'm glad the Aussies have fallen even harder.

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gurudoright t1_iw4j1x2 wrote

Just keep kiwiing hard bro

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RichBitchRichBitch t1_iw4pcdf wrote

They have to have something to live for those fuckers 😂

Might as well be rugby

28

neutrino71 t1_iw4u3bp wrote

"God loves New Zealand, he gave them boiling mud" 🎶🎵

12

stogie_t t1_iw50a2j wrote

Dogshit for NZ is different to everybody else’s dogshit. You bastards can still beat any team on your day, even with Foster in charge.

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matti-san t1_iw7n6hi wrote

> s dogshit as the All Blacks are rn I'm glad the Aussies have fallen even harder.

Unfortunately, neither situation is all that good for the sport long-term

1

blacklite911 t1_iw85gwo wrote

Why not though. It’s not good that other countries win?

2

matti-san t1_iw87eho wrote

While Italy getting better at rugby is good, it's not good if two of the biggest rugby nations are getting worse. Most casual fans will start looking for their sporting fix elsewhere if it goes on too long - and given rugby vies for attention with some of the most popular sports on the planet (along with some very popular regional sports), it's not ideal.

1

FlagmantlePARRAdise t1_iwn59qe wrote

Cause all the best rugby players in Australia play league. We need a kangaroos vs all blacks one off match with hybrid rules please.

1

IngVegas t1_iw6grz8 wrote

No they haven't. They're a good team. That was effectively their B team and Italy played really well.

14

mlhender t1_iw576gi wrote

Or Italy played really well? What a GREAT game by Italy!

10

MissorNoob t1_iw4b0nf wrote

The title of this post makes it sound like they've never won anything ever against Australia

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paloaltissimo OP t1_iw4bali wrote

Yes, it's Italy first ever win against Australia.

158

impactedturd t1_iw4i9i4 wrote

it's literally italy's first ever win.. (i really like this alliteration)

−51

Beastplex t1_iw4vrc2 wrote

That’s not an alliteration champ

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AlphaElectricX t1_iw6k8uq wrote

Yeah how silly of him.

Did you know that dad and racecar are both examples of a parallelogram?

3

ravingwanderer t1_iw6inxx wrote

It’s what’s called a malapropism.

−1

Blewfin t1_iw6kle4 wrote

Not even close. A malapropism is a mangled expression, like 'bone apple tea' (instead of 'bon apetit'.

2

impactedturd t1_iw52lbf wrote

I like how it sounds together. It sort of rhymes. Haha who knew r/sports was so big on words

−12

tobymurphy24 t1_iw5hcb6 wrote

Why down vote this, who cares that he used the wrong word we all know what he meant and it was a pretty cool point

−9

thore4 t1_iw4muzb wrote

Let's not go into times Italy beat Australia with a world cup coming up or I'm gonna get mad again

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IngVegas t1_iw6h02j wrote

I don't know about Australia but New Zealand drew with Italy at a World Cup not too long ago. That's got to be massively embarrassing. In fact, New Zealand was unbeaten during the entire tournament.

2

Blewfin t1_iw6kntd wrote

Only drew because of a diving Daniele De Rossi as well. Should have beaten them.

2

raindog_ t1_iw4sbwi wrote

A match dominated by Italy, and an absolutely moronically stupid tackle from Lucas Neil, yet every single one of us dumbasses believes it was a robbery.

−8

HeyMrKelly t1_iw4xad1 wrote

Dogshit take.

Dominated by Italy? Wtf? Did actually you watch the game? Aus played a stellar game, strong movement up the the pitch and looked genuinely dangerous for most of the match.

It was a robbery. Bad tackle from Neil, but a blatant dive by Grosso. There were two distinct movements, him jumping over Neil, then dragging his back foot and deliberately falling over. Soft penalty if ever there was one.

21

hal2000 t1_iw63x7l wrote

That’s exactly it. They “looked dangerous”. They were never a true danger to Italy. You admit that they had the appearance of one but not quite.

−5

HeyMrKelly t1_iw64t52 wrote

It's a figure of speech, nimrod.

Ooft. They needed a dodgy last minute penalty to get past us, but Oz were 'never a true danger'. Seems legit lol.

6

thore4 t1_iw4x3tu wrote

Oh yeh and you probably think the moon landing was real and the Earth is round. Get out of here with your conspiracies mate

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raindog_ t1_iw4xi4u wrote

What fucking conspiracy? If anyone thinks there's conspiracies it's the people who think this match was "RIGGED BY THE REFS CAUSE FIFA WANTED ITALY IN THE QUARTERS".

We can't as a nation admit that lucas fucking neil made a dumbass tackle that ALWAYS should have been a penalty. You cannot make those tackles inside the box.

−6

CA_Orange t1_iw4bkhd wrote

Almost seems like no one has ever won against Australia...at anything.

18

MissorNoob t1_iw4bq3w wrote

It's all that Australium, they're a superhuman nation

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neutrino71 t1_iw4ufze wrote

We eat spiders for breakfast, skip rope using venomous snakes and wrestle 5 metre saltwater crocodiles rather than pay for gym membership. Harden up, buttercup

6

MrSquishypoo t1_iw4dwfk wrote

As an Italian/Australian, can confirm.

I sweat pasta sauce and can crush beer cans with my sweat.

I am immortal.

/s

4

J_Shinguarto t1_iw4gkuo wrote

Shouldn't you be half immortal then?

6

PuTheDog t1_iw4raof wrote

His mortal half just beat his immortal half, thus becoming full immortal

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orangutanoz t1_iw4lkk7 wrote

It was a big win for Australia when the Italians came.

1

Ok_Calligrapher_8199 t1_iw7qxbd wrote

It’s not a sports thing. Bill Gates released a statement that he likes Parmesan cheese better than he likes koalas.

1

FunneMonke1 t1_iw4kojy wrote

Wow I’m just a casual but that’s crazy they’ve never bested them!

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paloaltissimo OP t1_iw4mkff wrote

Rugby is a sort of elitist sport.

To get the idea, Wales have not beaten the All Blacks (NZ) for like 70 years.

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derneueMottmatt t1_iw4zo7f wrote

It seems to me (as casual a Rugby fan there can be) that the dominance of the southern hemisphere is slowly diminishing. Would you agree?

45

stogie_t t1_iw50nz3 wrote

Only NH teams in great form right now are France and Ireland. We only look weaker now cause Aussies keep dragging us down (lmao) and NZ still have the best players but are stuck with poor coaching and management. Don’t forget Argentina too, they’re on bloody great form.

I would agree though that we aren’t really dominant over NH right now, it’s pretty balanced all over the field.

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[deleted] t1_iw51old wrote

How can you talk about all the Southern Hemisphere teams and forget about the World Champs?

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stogie_t t1_iw54b9o wrote

My bad lmao, that’s actually my country. Kinda forgot I wasn’t on the rugby union sub with my South African flair on.

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[deleted] t1_iw54s8x wrote

Lol that actually makes sense why you'd forget them. It's all good bro.

7

YurtYurtBaby t1_iw575an wrote

Japan is highly competitive now too, which is good to see. Australian rugby has been poorly managed due to the two major codes clashing for the same demographic

11

EatThatPotato t1_iw6w7t7 wrote

I missed the England-Japan game yesterday cause ironically I had to sleep early to catch some live rugby today. I checked the score and Japan seems to have received a drubbing. Such a shame, a strong Japan is in the best interest of Asian Rugby. I wonder what happened between almost beating France and yesterday

3

Barforama1 t1_iw51ulw wrote

I mean if Scotland could actually play rugby for 80 minutes they would be alright. (Obviously this is the case for most teams but as a Scot it hurts so much)

3

LostKeez t1_iw5e9fo wrote

I dunno, NZ’s talent stocks have never been weaker looking at Super Rugby form. I really don’t think NZ is in the position it was previously and if the Wallabies didn’t have yet another inept coaching setup they should have been an actual threat. For once, NZ isn’t running deep in world class talent across the park.

2

IngVegas t1_iw6gv0n wrote

Yes. France will win the World Cup in France next year.

2

DroppedD94 t1_iw5dffc wrote

I don't think it's elitist anymore. I also don't see why elitism has anything to do with that.

Regardless, Ireland only beat the All Blacks for the first time in 2017. And we've beaten them a few times since. I'm hoping we go up against them in the quarters. If it's between All Blacks and a home-playing, undefeated French team, I'm picking the Kiwis

4

ShibuRigged t1_iw74ttc wrote

It’s not really the elitism. It’s because it’s such a high scoring sport that small differences can still result in predictable score lines.

It’s part of why upsets are rare.

0

Zakkar t1_iw4z0iw wrote

I think the only major nation they are now yet to beat is NZ.

8

lewger t1_iw52kcr wrote

I mean they'll play rarely in the world cup or occasionally on the spring tour. It's not a set fixture. Plus I'm sure Australia would rather be playing England / France / Ireland.

7

zombyboy10k t1_iw4qx0p wrote

Finally Italy and emu’s have something in common

27

WickedSlice_ t1_iw4krcw wrote

Meanwhile, the Australian rugby league team is going into the Rugby League World Cup Final against Samoa.

I don’t understand why anyone follows Union in Australia when it is in such an awful state.

21

Zakkar t1_iw4xiy8 wrote

It's OK to follow a sport you like, even if you don't win all the time.

63

WickedSlice_ t1_iw4xrr3 wrote

Never said it wasn’t my guy, I just don’t understand why people support an inferior product.

−45

Zakkar t1_iw4yg9m wrote

It's not an inferior product. I personally find league boring, particularly international league which is mostly Australians pretending to be from other countries. But, it's all eye of the beholder stuff.

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WickedSlice_ t1_iw4zfxj wrote

It is an inferior product, if it was a better product it would be more popular than league.

On top of that, how a Union fan can say that league is more boring than Union is nuts to me.

−37

Zakkar t1_iw4zy5q wrote

Well then league is an inferior product, because it's internationally much less popular.

I find league really boring, struggle to get through 10 mins. But I don't go on Reddit threads about league to go on and on about it.

37

itsalonghotsummer t1_iw528eb wrote

>It is an inferior product, if it was a better product it would be more popular than league.

lol

You do realise union dwarfs league globally?

(And football dwarfs union.)

28

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfpozo wrote

Yeah, Union is played by almost every country in the world, League is only played by a handfull of countries.

3

WickedSlice_ t1_iw55ikr wrote

Yes, I do. Except in Australia, it is a shit product and the organisation is terrible.

−8

tobymurphy24 t1_iw5hrh5 wrote

How about doing some research into the history of the organisations before saying stuff like this. League is more popular than union because the working class of the early 1900s wanted to get paid for sport and league was the sport that came in and paid them. Along to this union lost a lot of its players after WWI and ever since league has dominated union. Now union pays players, so I don't see how it has anything to do with this

−1

stogie_t t1_iw50wcc wrote

Only place where League is more popular than Union is in Australia cause they suck at Union lmao. By your logic League is the inferior product.

8

WickedSlice_ t1_iw55od0 wrote

It’s not because they suck at Union, it is because league has a long storied history in Australia.

5

Ingr1d t1_iw58ube wrote

You literally just disproved your own inferior product claim.

9

zboyzzzz t1_iw55y8g wrote

Literally only 2 out of 6 states in Australia

−1

bigloudbang t1_iw59q5v wrote

Worth noting that half of Australias population lives in those 2 states

3

hazardous_situation t1_iw5i2cn wrote

I'd hazard a guess and say Union isn't more popular than League in any state, and League is probs only the third most popular sport in the country behind cricket and Aussie Rules.

1

Zakkar t1_iw5x28m wrote

No, union is definitely more popular than league in Western Australia, and by players numbers is more popular vs the rest of the AFL states. Minuscule compared to Aussie rules though.

3

bigloudbang t1_iw5kiio wrote

Cricket isnt usually in the convo as its a summer sport. But yeah AFL is larger, league 2. I dont think the gap is as large as people think though

Union is a distant afterthought

2

hazardous_situation t1_iw5lpzw wrote

Yeah, being from Brissy I'll hear about the Broncos, Lions, Heat and even the Roar, 1000x more often than I'll ever hear anyone mentioning the Reds or whoever the Union team is lmao

2

zboyzzzz t1_iwft7pj wrote

I reckon union's more popular in every state except those 2. Doesn't mean it's popular overall, just *more. * Other states have a general disdain for league but respect union. Purely anecdotal of course, couldn't find any stats

1

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfpfe1 wrote

Oh fuck off

2

WickedSlice_ t1_iwfvz5k wrote

Ahh no?

3

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfx3nn wrote

Ok

3

WickedSlice_ t1_iwfx5u8 wrote

We good?

3

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfx9k9 wrote

Sure, but Union > League

1

WickedSlice_ t1_iwfxau0 wrote

Agree to disagree?

3

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfxiu7 wrote

Sure

1

WickedSlice_ t1_iwfymrx wrote

A beer and biltong then?

3

Nicholarse_Angle t1_iwfz03n wrote

I would love a beer and some biltong. It's hot as Hell in the part of SA I live. I would love a beer.

1

WickedSlice_ t1_iwfzwme wrote

Early for it to be so hot! I live in a cold part of Aus and am wondering where spring is!

2

chaosarcadeV2 t1_iw4sat2 wrote

2 reasons -I’m Australian -I like rugby union Admittedly it is hard to watch

45

taspleb t1_iw56cbg wrote

So for the NRL do you wait until like three quarters of the way through the season and then just barrack for whoever is on top of the ladder?

10

notj43 t1_iw68s8a wrote

No need to attack Storm fans like that

11

IngVegas t1_iw6h3hv wrote

Nobody plays rugby league though and it's boring and predictable.

3

RichBitchRichBitch t1_iw4phy6 wrote

Like watching rugby league “World Cup” when SAMOA makes the final 😂

It’s a joke of a competition

−19

raindog_ t1_iw4sh5i wrote

I don’t get the comment. Are they not allowed to make the final of a World Cup after beating England to make it there?

21

anth9845 t1_iw4ubue wrote

Clearly Italy winning is legitimate but Samoa? That's where we draw the line.

14

WickedSlice_ t1_iw4vg6i wrote

Right? Borderline racist!

3

stogie_t t1_iw50z8r wrote

Don’t think it’s about race but how tiny the population of Samoa is.

2

RichBitchRichBitch t1_iwkudbl wrote

Nothing to do with racism you test - when your sport’s world cup has less depth than the average domestic league in pretty much any other sport (rugby league) - you don’t have much ground to stand in criticising another (union)

0

itsalonghotsummer t1_iw52f72 wrote

I suspect the dig is because the Samoa team is mainly Australians.

So the final is Australia v Australia C, or something along those lines.

7

Aussiechimp t1_iw63mgc wrote

Of the squad 2 were born in Samoa, 9 in Australia, 13 in NZ

5

raindog_ t1_iw52za4 wrote

Ah yeah - I didn't think of it like that. Probably fair enough.

3

mlhender t1_iw4edfy wrote

Alright way to go Italy! What an accomplishment!

14

Unforgiven89 t1_iw6jhw8 wrote

The 12 union fans in australia will be devastated.

14

PugWithAGun t1_iw4k9z4 wrote

As a nation we're only just getting over the 2006 world cup round of 16 loss and now this... give us a break.

7

greywolfau t1_iw4zwdr wrote

The Old God Fruit 'N' Nut are having a rough old time this year.

3

SkarredGhost t1_iw6nsfl wrote

Oh my God, as an Italian I didn't think it was even possible!

3

Aqueousflow t1_iw5j53t wrote

Dedicated to Leno. Iykyk.

2

FlotsamOfThe4Winds t1_iw6riv1 wrote

"Italy beats Australia in important match"

2006 flashbacks intensify

2

BaconSoul t1_iw8cztx wrote

Last time Australia lost in Italy it was a pretty massive deal, so this might sting lol.

2

Decent_Preference_95 t1_iw5clgw wrote

I don’t know about you but this kind of sounds like an insult “dude you just made history you never won before but now you did”

1

RuggerJibberJabber t1_iw7sn0o wrote

Its a difficult and complicated game. It takes a lot of work and organisation to be able to compete with the best. People should be proud to reach that level.

I'm not just talking about the team itself, but the underage system, academies and professional clubs to develop the talent, along with quality facilities and coaching.

The game is probably more competitive right now than it has ever been as well.

3

No-Fee-9428 t1_iw5lmrs wrote

Never thought I would see the day!.

1

Neanderthal888 t1_iw60egn wrote

Does that mean Australia is going to get our first ever win against Italy at the FIFA World Cup? 😀

1

austin2step t1_iw5j7al wrote

Good to see them getting ready for the World Cup in Qatar. Gonna be a fun squad to watch.

−2

ConfidentVisit4629 t1_iw5fhp2 wrote

Italy can go back to wining after north Macedonia 🇲🇰 ended their World Cup hopes 🤣

−4

sweep_the_legs t1_iw4rhkk wrote

lol Australian Union, when will it finally die off

−14

TooLate- t1_iw4bd44 wrote

Spoiler, dick move op

−25