Indeed.....and on Grand Final Day too. I suspect a bumper weekend for the hoteliers and publicans of Manchester, given that the Etihad Stadium was apparently sold out back in October 2014 and that Old Trafford will be close to rammed.
I wonder what the Police will be charging each event, as it is very unusual for both stadiums to be in use on the same day and the centre of town will be packed both before and after the games.

Interesting article in this weeks email from Running Rugby
[urlhttp://www.runningrugby.com/marketing-and-sponsorship/land-rover-looking-for-return-on-eight-figure-rwc-investment/[/url

The use of the word "tens" points to this being a minimum of 20,000,000.....that's scary money from just once sponsor. How many discovery's will they need to shift to get a ROI?

I have to confess I watched the last 20 minutes or so of South Africa v Japan expecting the usual bore-fest. Was actually very entertaining (or at least Japan were). They decline two penalty shots at goal in the last 2 minutes to potentially earn a draw (one 10 seconds from the end of normal time) but chose to try to win it. They scored a try a couple of minutes later. I admit to jumping out of my seat. Never thought I'd do that watching RU. Wonders never cease.

At this rate New Zealand won't trouble the semi finals. Passing sideways isn't enough these days, they even had a 5 on 2 and couldn't manage to draw the tacklers. jesus what a shower of shat from so called world champions. luckily i've only wasted 8 minutes out of my life whilst eating dinner.
As for the way the game is officiated, it makes our video ref system look almost acceptable.

Well done England ... the only way we will be world champions is as serial penalty conceders.
And as for NOT going for a kick to try to level it at 28-28 ... the mind boggles.
Get level first worry about the win second.
They are the logical rules.
Scoring a try is perhaps a one in ten chance.
They deserved their defeat as much as Wales deserved their victory
Robshaw has history, bad history, in this poor decision making.
Pish poor, plus Ford and Wigglesworth are shoite and that is your choice Lancaster ... sums you up.

Had the game in the bag,then made too many substitutions (imo) while infront which distrubted their game management.

England will regret not selecting Burrell & Cipriani,no options in midfield.

Brad Barritt is truly shocking.

He offers absolutely nothing but is supposed to be some defensive powerhouse but his defence was woeful last night.

By no means a ru follower but caught the last 10 mins of the eng v wales game on Saturday.

Could someone with more knowledge of the ru game explain why eng chose to throw to the front of the line-out and not the middle or back? Is this the norm with lineouts close to the line or simply really poor choice of throw/decision taking by the hooker/captain that gifted the game to the welsh who piled in and pushed eng the 2 yards into touch?
Or am I missing something?

It sounds like a safe option as the Wales lineout is usually pretty strong, low risk to avoid them stealing the ball/disrupting the maul too easily. As it was it was yet another wrong option. I hope they don't even get 3rd, having to qualify for the net world cup would be hilarious!

Nigel the ref to Scottish player.,,if you want to dive like that come back here in 2 weeks time......,genius.....

Apparently it will be a disaster for "world rugby" if England crash out tonight. Given the undue influence refs have on the scoring I expect England to get a few kick able penalties early on to build up an unassailable lead.