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I didn't know about the average minutes played, that is good to know! Maybe this system will prove to be a good recipe then!!
My comment with SA was that IMO they had a more comfortable schedule with playing NZ first and after having only lower-tier teams to play, whereas Japan had the opening on their country (lowert tier team in front but game under pressure), and two top tier team (Ireland and Scotland) team to play, which lead me to think that they might not be as fresh as they should to play SA.
But it is a WC quarter final in the end, not much of the past matters and it is a direct elimination game so anything can happen. This will be an exciting week-end!!

I do not fully agree with you, because the Sunwolves system has its limits.
Playing with the same players all year, then add to that a world cup preparation, some very exhausting and under pressure games (Opening game at home, Ireland, and then Ireland) against opposition much topher than club rugby, also with the same players, is definitely IMO leading to a collapsing moment around quarter or semi-finals, and I believe South Africa should be in much better shape after playing their tophest game of the pool stage for opening.
Hear me well, I don't wish it as I very much enjoy the rugby they produce, the Japanese spirit, and they very well deserve the qualification considering their efforts, progression and the games they performed (even more after 3 wins and no qualifying last world cup) but it is just my personal point of view on their system.
Same with the Jaguares, perfomed well all season of super rugby, argentina collapsed during championship being exhausted showing an incredible poor rate for tackling of around 50% of tackles missed against NZ

Went for it on Aliexpress in the end, we'll see how it goes! thanks for the suggestion

I have seen the first half only, very impressed by Japan with the skills, execution speed, tactics and all.
To be fair to Scotland, the way Japan played yesterday they would have completely crushed many teams of the tournament. It seemed to be impossible to steal them the ball and the only times they got rid of it was with a well placed kick, must have been a nightmare to play against.

Quite unsure that they will be able to reproduce it against SA though (even if I would like them to because I quite dislike the mentality of SA rugby i.e. complete destruction of the opponent rather than actually playing rugby), I believe they burned high energy against both Ire & Sco.

Actually quite disappointed no to see Scotland go through instead of Ireland, I find them to have a much more exciting rugby than the very effective/pragmatic Ireland rugby (and I hate how Ireland is refereed with lot of freedom to operate in the breakdown). What's the team you will backup then?

Personally have not moved on about the incompetency of this ref of 2011 final either! We (France) did a shit tournament but a great final which IMO deserved a win. But hey, wouldn't have changed the world

Looking for cheap Bluetooth cordless earbuds (in pair, or preferably one side only, is for cycling and I like to have one free ear if it makes sense) on amazon, can't be bothered with Aliexpress delivery times (chinese are on break now on top I think). Any suggestions of cheap ones that work relatively well and have reasonable batteries?

Watched only small parts throughout the game but wasn't very pleased with the content, so much knock-ons and players that did not know where to go/what to do. Parts i've seen showed Raka to be Rakatastrophic ha ha ha but hey. Bonus point and victory is all of what's important

I really hope it is not the last ne because at the beginning they showed the process of choosing a completely bespoke interior with various propositions to GM, I really hope we will have detailed video close-ups of the final product! I really like their videos, I think adding just footage of other of their projects without any comments just the name of the car, good camera work and music is realy great to keep the video very entertaining! and in my opinion it is the fact that it does from far seem perfectly normal and not eye-catching that makes it really nice!

I hope it's not and we have another one with the reveal/full details/testing and actual review by Murray!

this one! https://www.motor1.com/news/369882/alpina-b3-touring-unveiled-frankfurt/

should have precised, so am I, far from able to afford either one of them haha

I was about to edit an add the difference M and alpina, you are quite right!

Alpina just revealed the B3 which is their take on the 3-series estate/touring!

Not sure, but I think E34 was the first touring version of M5

Agree with you on the comments regarding Scotland and Ireland, IMO if they suffer injuries early no chance they go till the end. Farell is important for England but man they have a very good players in some positions! But indeed if it doesn't go as they plan, are they able to adapt? I am not sure. However I like to think that they are really verstaile and can adapt if Farell is out, with either Ford (which admittedly is a little short but you can adapt the lack of size by adopting a defensive system similar to Australia last WC where the protected the smallest players) or Slade who is really complete
Wales is a good team but rely upon same players everytime which is not enough I think to perform. They are a bit up and down but Australia when on top of their game have a very interesting team! and for the AB, preparation I believe is the key we will know if it was enough to "rebuild" their team and if the change with Mo'unga/Barett and their centre association problem/question is solved

You are right I am being negative but the reason is that we have (I think at least) some very good players that play very well in the club, but for some years, we produced such crap international rugby that is is really really painful to watch.
Under Saint-André, all players seem to not know what to do with the ball, no game plan, poor attach except individual feats, poor technique, and nonexistent cohesion.
Noves was trying to change all on long term plan but Laporte king of the mafia interferred an placed his puppy Brunel to be able to control the French team. Brunel start was so crap it might even have been poorer than Saint André. With lievremont it was not so great, but we had players such as Servat Dusautoir Harinordoquy Nallet Yachvilli Rougerie that were guiding the team with true rugby spirit. Since them, seems like no real will to win was present...

However you are right, recently (this summer and the preparation matches) they seem to have began to play a little bit more rugby which is great news. U20 was/is high quality both in terms of players and games, why not possible on pro level? And the problem is more global, everytime there is a good game everyone is happy and erase the previous and global crap result but this doesn't solve the whole club/national team interactions and problems. But the preparation is a glimmer of hope even if the stage with Argentina and England will be hard.

I am negative on mostly Leroux tbh ; the rest of the selection seem (more or less logical). Lambey has been dropped probably because he lacks size but it is a good player have great spirit and is good in lineouts ; or as said he could have dropped leroux to take Cros in back row and put Iturria in 2nd (which is contrary to Brunel request to Clermont to make him change position but he is doing it anyway). Even Olivier Magne said Cros was destined to a great future in France's team, and it was quite a player.
Other main problem for me is Slimani, not him in itself because he is a good player except in defense, but mainly because he is too much penalized in games. Also some older players as Guirado, Picamoles are not up to their former "standard" but the competition (Aldritt/Ollivon and Chat/Mauvaka) might have done some good to them which is great.
I believe we have a good line of very complete and interesting players such as Dupont (huge attacking threat), Penaud (best back player), Ollivon Poirot and Iturria (very complete players), Chat (very strong but sometimes too crazy all over the place), Vahamaaina (if guided well) etc. It is good to have Medard on the back to guide the younger players, I hope the association Dupont/Ntamack will not be too targeted and lack experience, back row has a huge performance to do to protect them. Guirado/Poirot have to guide the pack in the right direction though.

On another side, Bastareaud was for me a different debate.
IMO it was a good player with some specific set of skills and a strong mindset, but never used in the position he should have been. Total nonsense to have it on outside centre in my point of view ; defending on 13 is really really hard and require to be quick and have speed to compensate and defend with the rest of the backline, which was not his strongest suit whereas obviously never suffered the front collision. Considering this, his size, power and skills on jacking the ball, it could have been really interesting to have him re-positioned on the blindside flank. Very similar profile as Steffon Armitage, but a lot more powerful and his previous knowledge of back position could have help him have an interesting game of passing creating gaps etc. Was mainly criticized on his weight but because mispositionned, which is a shame. I believe he's not a bad person and a bad player.

Upon reading all the teams and squads, it appeared to me that most team are really really competitive and that's really difficult to predict games. Australia has a very strong team, SA seem to have back some great games, AB are AB (despite IMO not having the best team ever), England is f*cking scary, and as outsiders other norther teams Ireland/Scotland/Wales (strong XV but maybe not enough bench for the whole competition), and pacific teams Japan/Fiji are quite contenders to make everyone revise their plans. Honestly not sure if France can pretend to be an outsider but in terms of player quality inherently, why not. I believe this world cup will be great to watch, lot of hard stages and competitive teams!

Fiji does have a great lineup, most of the backline would smash some of the competition forwards, and they have some strong pack players (nakarawa, wakaniburotu, yato), but the week point is their flyhalf.
Australia lineup is pretty good, it will be hard for fiji to battle against both Pocock and Hooper (as maybe not the most organized team whereas they improved that quite a bit since previous years), the pack is correct and they have strong attacking players if in right direction (Beale, Koroibete, Kerevi, etc.). I think their goal kicker on the wing is good and has long range.

Being French, very irritating to see some of the odd choices from the clowns we have in our rugby decision makers (don't think it's old timer moustache that is taking decisions but anyway): they made iturria move from 2nd row to back row with Clermont this season, to make him play in 2nd row for opening match. Vakatawa hasn't made the whole preparation but passes in front of Guitoune who has made the season of his life (maybe Vakatawa is very very good, I don't know, but good luck with group management with choices like that).
And don't make me talk about the presence of Le Roux in the squad, I disregard him so much the only quality he has is is physique, but as he isn't able to catch a ball he is useless in attach, and at international stage has proven that he was crushed by opposition so pretty much 100% useless. Dropping Cros from toulouse to have Le Roux in the squad is a total nonsense! however good to have Ollivon back in the team, he is probably the most complete player we have in the back row with Iturria

for those interested, seems like the old scirroco/gti platform does accept quite a bit of upgraded "factory" components haha
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeSuEx6gDkA

Talking about environment, if diesel has less impact on environment in terms of CO2 per mile (but only beneficial on the more global scheme if used equivalently to a petrol car, which is not the case because nowadays if it cost less its used more etc. but anyway), but is more harmful for humans, who are in general completely destroying the environment, is it not beneficial for environment in the end to use human-harmful technology ;)?
On a more serious note, both diesel and petrol (and almost any other technology we rely upon) are shit for the environment anyway

thanks for the info, but how did you choose the new bottom bracket when you swapped the crankset? is it a regular double crankset road chainline value?
Regarding the change of shifter, was there any problem to set up the thumb shifter instead of the gripshift-like shifter? Nice car btw!

Out of curiosity (potential future buyer), what is the chainline requirement for the Katu (to know what measurement to target if changing the crankset)?

I probably explained poorly but the website where I purchased the mudguards after explaining the problem told me that they will re-send a whole set (not just the rear blade) which is why I figured it would be a shame to bin a set of mudguards just for a damage on one blade.
Now that you tell that, this is really weird as they are supposed to be plastic (advertised as such) and they are bent like metal guards so they might even be alu ones, did not check as I did not unwrap. Will double check! if so it will definitely be worth trying

Here:


These are not great pictures but did not want to unpack before having confirmation that they will send a new pair (which is what they are about to). I believe this is the only area bent, around the chainstay fixing end

tbf I just checked on here but they might have I don't know! but I know many people recommend it so will definitely be the next one I try! thanks

Looked but I think they only come 30 (too narrow) and 40/50 (too wide), but thanks.
Ended up ordering Nifty Swifty 650x34B which is the closest to what I wanted I believe and they offer it on tanwall so will give it a try.