Your wish is Jonny Wilkinson's command.
I really don't believe the result, but I won't be able to see it on TV until tomorrow.
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Rugby World Cup 2007
- Thread starter Blue Velvet
- Start date
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Your wish is Jonny Wilkinson's command.
I really don't believe the result, but I won't be able to see it on TV until tomorrow.
Thanks for the laugh. I'm not a nerd (a geek maybe, for those who know the difference
) and I do know what I'm talking about. Most of the time anyway.Let's hope the rest of Blue Velvet's predictions are wrong, particularly tonights
Australia paid the price for years of underpowered Super 14 forward play. I haven't seen a scrum go that badly in years, despite the best efforts of Mike Foley & co.
Can't wait for the semi against France
Like the tee shirt says "I support two teams NZ and whoever is playing Australia". Well done Engrrrland.
Can't wait for the semi against France
Hmmm. We shall see... must admit to dozing off during England-Australia match while listening to it on the radio. Thought it was only half-time when I awoke.
Still, the Aussies are usually such poor losers, it gives me immense pleasure to hear the result.
Hmmm. We shall see... must admit to dozing off during England-Australia match while listening to it on the radio. Thought it was only half-time when I awoke.
Are you going to watch it or listen to it on the radio again?
Beauxis & Traille are a statement of intent from the French, although I'm not sure about Traille at fullback. He's better as a centre IMHO.
And the All Blacks are playing in that awful away strip - what happened to Kiwi design?
Still, the Aussies are usually such poor losers, it gives me immense pleasure to hear the result.
Are you going to watch it or listen to it on the radio again?
Beauxis & Traille are a statement of intent from the French, although I'm not sure about Traille at fullback. He's better as a centre IMHO.
And the All Blacks are playing in that awful away strip - what happened to Kiwi design?
I don't have a TV but will go out to watch it at a mate's or at the pub... The idea of keeping NZ back in their own half by kicking possession away and putting pressure on the line-out may turn out to be genius or extreme folly. And yeah, the away strip; the less said about that the better, but I'll take a one point win even if they played in chartreuse.
I don't wake up often greated by surprises... every now and then on Xmas and this morning. England beat Australia (and KSC beat Schalke in the Bundesliga).
Anyway, more important tasks at hand. Going into town to follow the All Blacks. Hopefully, no more surprises today: Last time I saw the All Blacks in the Sports Cafe in Wellington they lost to France in the '99 World Cup.
Anyway, more important tasks at hand. Going into town to follow the All Blacks. Hopefully, no more surprises today: Last time I saw the All Blacks in the Sports Cafe in Wellington they lost to France in the '99 World Cup.
Arrrrg. BUGGER!
Just returned from watching the game in a pub full of French men and women which was pretty entertaining, although not in a good way.
The All Blacks were loose, kicked away far too much in the first half, France played out of their skins and were incredibly disciplined. I'm pleased that the hosts are still in the cup. In hindsight, the biggest and costliest mistake was using a second 15 against Scotland. They just didn't have the cohesion that a settled side shows...
And I really wish my fellow Kiwis would stop being so arrogant before these tournaments. We're starting to become like the English football team, hyped at home, harking back to the glory of winning the tournament once on our home turf.
One down, two to go. And given the choice, I'd like France to win it.
Just returned from watching the game in a pub full of French men and women which was pretty entertaining, although not in a good way.
The All Blacks were loose, kicked away far too much in the first half, France played out of their skins and were incredibly disciplined. I'm pleased that the hosts are still in the cup. In hindsight, the biggest and costliest mistake was using a second 15 against Scotland. They just didn't have the cohesion that a settled side shows...
And I really wish my fellow Kiwis would stop being so arrogant before these tournaments. We're starting to become like the English football team, hyped at home, harking back to the glory of winning the tournament once on our home turf.
Blue Velvet said:
One down, two to go. And given the choice, I'd like France to win it.
pknz said:
@ this point it was so tense, I just thought France would mess up but they didnt!
Contrary to what Blue Velvet said I feel that in the 1st half France were the loose kicking team. I thought that, although their defense was good, they had too many gaps. They also lost so many chances and their 2nd try was off a forward pass so that should make some NZ supporters kinda angry!
Thanks. I didn't need a second stroke today.
The French defence was amazing, something like 180 tackles. So they deserved it. The All Blacks don't loose often with that much advantage in territory and possession (over 70% and 60%). The last time I can think of was just before the last World Cup against England here in NZ.
My S.A. colleague was questioning the IRB to appoint a referee that could influence which team his home nation plays next. He verbally abused the referee's decisions more often and louder than all Kiwis in the pub
satty said:My S.A. colleague was questioning the IRB to appoint a referee that could influence which team his home nation plays next. He verbally abused the referee's decisions more often and louder than all Kiwis in the pub
You talking about Kaplan no seeing that forward pass? Or some other bits of bad refereeing I never noticed?
Um, from what I remember Scotland played their second 15.
All Blacks were pretty much at full strength.
Wow. It's been an interesting weekend so far. Watched the England game in a pub with a lot of Aussies and a few English guys. Apart from one "Aussie Aussie Aussie" chant when the try was scored they were pretty quite.
And NZ loosing somehow (not seen the game yet as it was on at 5am here). What happened? They were my favourites to win the whole thing.
So I'm hoping for more of the same today: come on Scotland!
And NZ loosing somehow (not seen the game yet as it was on at 5am here). What happened? They were my favourites to win the whole thing.
So I'm hoping for more of the same today: come on Scotland!
I partly agree. There's still a big difference between the English Football and New Zealand Rugby though: The All Blacks win over 80% of there games.
Mitchell (coach at the last World Cup) was sacked with over 80% win rate, Henry increased it to nearly 90%. Maybe the All Blacks can only win the world cup if they achieve 100%
The expectations are simply too high.
Maybe the All Blacks can only win the world cup if they achieve 100%
Or just win the games that matter. Look at England. They've barely been able to win a game since the last world cup and only now have they started stringing a few wins together. The All Blacks seem to do the opposite: win almost every game that's not at the world cup then loose when it really counts.
Well, I think the All Blacks are far ahead enough in the world rankings to remain officially the number 1 team in the world, even after losing the World Cup quarterfinal! Now that says something to me. It's like Brazil in the soccer World Cup - they lost the final, but everyone knows they're still the 'team to beat'.
I'm one of many with the opinion that the Rugby World Cup is destroying the standard of rugby. The quality of the teams in non-World Cup years is very poor for the majority of countries, because they're only interested in building for one tournament. So you get 3 years of sub standard rugby followed by a burst of quality that lasts a couple of months.
Both the All Blacks and France played very well today. There was nothing in it. People who go on about how much better France were obviously didn't notice the 2 points difference in the scores, which simply came from a missed conversion after Carter went off injured. Having the ref miss a few 'obvious' things was very unfortunate, but is always going to be an aspect of the game. He's a very young, inexperienced ref, and this was his first big match. I'd rather lose a game and be able to say 'what if the ref saw this and that', than the horrible food poisoning scenario of 1995.
If anyone wants to talk about choking under pressure, you really have to look at the Australia vs England game. The Aussies made so many handling errors, it was truly painful to watch. The English simply had to stand around for a few seconds and sure enough, the Aussies would cough up possession. I don't know if I 've ever witnessed such a poor Australian display, and I really feel sorry for their fans. Not having Larkham on the field made quite a big difference, but that's just the nature of the game I suppose.
So what now? A Fiji vs Scotland semi final?
Yes please
Heh heh, I don't care who wins the World Cup now, as long as it's not England
I was living there when they won it in 2003, and it was too much to bear!Ironically, Fiji is the only country left in the tournament for whom rugby is the national sport. The rest are football/soccer nations.