Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Kiwis get rugby World Cup 2011

Nickygoat

Nickygoat

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Dec 11, 2004
992
0
London
New Zealand win at the expense of Japan.
Personally I think Japan should have had it. It's great that the New Zealand have won, and they will hold a wonderful tournament - taking rugby back to it's spiritual home etc. etc. - but to help the overall state of the game Japan should have won. a population of 125 million, with very high disposable incomes, and a passion for sports. What the h*** where the IRB thinking? But this carries on a long line of weird IRB thinking (along the lines of funding for countries like Samoa, Fiji and Tonga who breed the best players only to lose them to better funded nations.)
Oh well - time to start saving.
(OT my heart says England on Saturday but my head says the All Blacks - by 30 points)
 
Nickygoat said:
(OT my heart says England on Saturday but my head says the All Blacks - by 30 points)
Click to expand...

They'll destroy us... but not by 30 points. ;)

All we can hope for is that the boys moony them, when they're performing that silly little dance of theres. :D
 
iGav said:
They'll destroy us... but not by 30 points. ;)

All we can hope for is that the boys moony them, when they're performing that silly little dance of theres. :D
Click to expand...
:D - just what we need - an enraged All Black. Actually it might work, make them lose discipline.
Did you see Jason Leonards comments in the Standard the other day, about RWC 2005 and the semi-final? They weren't worried about Lomu. They had a plan - that he wouldn't get the ball. Some plan:p
I'll stick with 30 points. Ever the optimist ;)
 
Hey! This is great news!

And at least most of the stadia will be full-ish... there aren't many places in the world where you'll get a good turnout to see Tonga v. Zimbabwe and that includes Japan.

All Blacks by 18 points on Saturday. Gotta find a pub to watch it in and get all tearily patriotic.


*
A ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!
Ka mate! Ka mate!
Ka ora! Ka ora!

Tenei te tangata pohuruhuru
Nana nei i tiki mai whakawhiti te ra!

A hupane! A kaupane!
A hupane! A kaupane!

Whiti te ra..!

Hi!

*


:D
 
Blue Velvet said:
Hey! This is great news!

And at least most of the stadia will be full-ish... there aren't many places in the world where you'll get a good turnout to see Tonga v. Zimbabwe and that includes Japan.
Click to expand...
That's true but how many new converts will that pull in? Most of New Zealand is already switched onto rugby (in either guise). A lot of Japanese are completely unaware of rugby - look at how they took to the football World Cup in 2002 (and I know that's a flawed analogy - football is the peoples game, so they say).
And I promised you I would eat humble pie before the Lions tour, if the All Blacks won so, Blue Velvet - the All Blacks are by far the best team in the world.
Still at 30 points. England will score but will be thumped (literally and figuratively).
 
Nickygoat said:
That's true but how many new converts will that pull in?
Click to expand...

Well, at least Japan and New Zealand are in fairly proximate time-zones so the Japanese viewing public won't be forced to stay up till 3am to see a match.

I'm extremely pleased about this. We've had it before, yes. But the first Rugby World Cup was a pretty small affair, really...

It'd be great to defend the trophy in 2011. :D
 
Blue Velvet said:
Well, at least Japan and New Zealand are in fairly proximate time-zones so the Japanese viewing public won't be forced to stay up till 3am to see a match.

I'm extremely pleased about this. We've had it before, yes. But the first Rugby World Cup was a pretty small affair, really...

It'd be great to defend the trophy in 2011. :D
Click to expand...
Similar time zones yes but it isn't the same as being in your own country. The Japanese might have been pleasantly surprised seeing a load of English rugby fans turning up after the football hooligans.
Defending in 2011? You don't think the All Blacks will do as they have done for the last 18 years - and peak too early? The French will just give every team some evil cheese and walk to victory if it's in doubt :D
And you can keep the haka - we have our carpark picnics :p
 
Nickygoat said:
With sour grapes as a dessert. Followed by hard cheese. :D
Click to expand...

Hahaha! Nice one!

But yeah, back OT: You're right. We have had a habit of peaking early and/or underestimating our opponents. That semi-final against France in 1999 left me ashen-faced...
 
Blue Velvet said:
Hahaha! Nice one!

But yeah, back OT: You're right. We have had a habit of peaking early and/or underestimating our opponents. That semi-final against France in 1999 left me ashen-faced...
Click to expand...
Depending on your point of view that was one of the best games ever played.
My point earlier was that the IRB has consistently refused to offer up the big money gained from RWC (I'm not talking about the money gained from Test matches) to the developing nations. The big countries point is that they bring in all the TV viewers and therefore deserve a bigger slice of the pie. The smaller teams point is that in many cases they groom the players only to lose them to (predominantly) Southern hemisphere sides.
Don't get me wrong but New Zealand and Australia would be significantly less successful if they hadn't been able to draw on players like Frank Bunce, Jonah, Michael Jones, Sivivatu, Loquiri et al.
It's not a bad thing - all teams do what they can within the rules but could you imagine what Test rugby would be like if the Fijians, Samoans and Tongans could hold onto their players?
This is why I think that, although NZ 2011 will be a fantastic spectacle, more could've been done by giving it to Japan. Bigger bucks from the Japanese as they realise what is involved, filtering down throughout the game.
OT -I'll have to serve the meal mentioned (including cold shoulder :p ) to my friends who ask for a traditional English meal - see what they make of it.
 
Oh jeez... not a sterling All Black display and a good one from the English. But still, we got away and escaped there with a hard-fought victory.
 
Blue Velvet said:
Oh jeez... not a sterling All Black display and a good one from the English. But still, we got away and escaped there with a hard-fought victory.
Click to expand...

The All Blacks looked stunningly ordinary... :eek: shame our team decimated itself after the World Cup, because we'd have walked that. :eek: And it's rare when you can say that about the Kiwi's. :eek:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back