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Rugby World Cup 2007
- Thread starter Blue Velvet
- Start date
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Ok, ok enough baiting.
I am amazed that you guys are out, though. Australia, England, even France have all looked pretty average at various times in the past two years (England and France have looked very average in the last month), but NZ had all that work, this massive long build up etc and looked incredible. The backlash has been pretty fierce against Henry and co.
South Africa should easily be in the final, but either side could win out of England v France.
I am amazed that you guys are out, though. Australia, England, even France have all looked pretty average at various times in the past two years (England and France have looked very average in the last month), but NZ had all that work, this massive long build up etc and looked incredible. The backlash has been pretty fierce against Henry and co.
South Africa should easily be in the final, but either side could win out of England v France.
It's definitely been an interesting weekend!
NZ were completely out of sorts - and out of kit, that gray thing wouldn't exactly scare anyone - and seem to have thought all they needed to do to get through is turn up... and you can't do that against France. They may not be the counter attacking genius of a couple of years ago, but they will always prove a surprise... good or bad.
The England/Australia game was intense. Watched it with a big group of mates in what has to have been the only pub in SW London which wasn't 90% Australian, although heading to the Walkabout in Wimbledon afterwards was a little tempting
. It was a masterclass in scrumming, despite the ref's stupid calls against us. Andrew Sheridan is a legend. Hard fought and played with heart, leaving the Aussies only jibes about not scoring any tries. Yawn.
Despite missing the Pumas/Scotland game, the better team of the tournement went through, they've really impressed me. Good luck against RSA Argentina!
The RSA/Fiji game was thoroughly entertaining, and proved to the world how to take on RSA - put them on the back foot and keep running at them! Shame it degenerated into a farse at the end. The final scoreline was flattering I think.
So... onto next Saturday... more shattered nerves and gray hairs await!
dumbest comment evar. At least on this thread
NZ were completely out of sorts - and out of kit, that gray thing wouldn't exactly scare anyone - and seem to have thought all they needed to do to get through is turn up... and you can't do that against France. They may not be the counter attacking genius of a couple of years ago, but they will always prove a surprise... good or bad.
The England/Australia game was intense. Watched it with a big group of mates in what has to have been the only pub in SW London which wasn't 90% Australian, although heading to the Walkabout in Wimbledon afterwards was a little tempting
. It was a masterclass in scrumming, despite the ref's stupid calls against us. Andrew Sheridan is a legend. Hard fought and played with heart, leaving the Aussies only jibes about not scoring any tries. Yawn. Despite missing the Pumas/Scotland game, the better team of the tournement went through, they've really impressed me. Good luck against RSA Argentina!
The RSA/Fiji game was thoroughly entertaining, and proved to the world how to take on RSA - put them on the back foot and keep running at them! Shame it degenerated into a farse at the end. The final scoreline was flattering I think.
So... onto next Saturday... more shattered nerves and gray hairs await!
dumbest comment evar. At least on this thread
I actually thought NZ played really well. The match stats demonstrate that - 70-something percent possession, territory, they won about 50% of France's own lineouts. It's just a shame there were so many injuries and penalties, and I'm sure I don't need to mention the referee. Who, incidentally, will NOT be refereeing any more matches in this tournament it was announced today. The IRB appears to have reviewed the poor chap's performance and have apologetically defended their decision to field him on the virtue of the game between the AB's and Italy which he also ref'd. It really should've been the TMO, Chris White, on the field that day. He might be a bit of a whistle blower, but he's fair. The main problem I saw with the All Blacks performance was the way they handled the last few minutes of the game. McAlister's drop goal attempt at 50 metres was really a massive error of judgment. They had the possession and drive to push the ball up to at least 35 metres where he would've had a much greater chance of slotting one over. But drop goal tactics don't come naturally to NZ teams - Daniel Carter for example has only ever slotted one drop goal in test rugby! But alas, the All Blacks will now be suffering for the next few years, since almost half the 1st-15 team are leaving for European club teams. This means they are no longer eligible to play for the All Blacks.
This game was nearly physically painful to watch. How many handling errors can one team make in 80 minutes? That's what Australia seemed to try to find out! But it is concerning that England never looked even remotely close to getting under the posts for a try. Pivoting the whole tactical angle on the boot of Jonny could bring about a similar downfall to the AB's try scoring obsession. (An obsession we love though).The England/Australia game was intense. Watched it with a big group of mates in what has to have been the only pub in SW London which wasn't 90% Australian, although heading to the Walkabout in Wimbledon afterwards was a little tempting
Seems a short-sighted and silly stance to me, especially in the professional era... I'm not sure if other unions have the same policy but other sports would suffer tremendously if they adopted similar policies.
Do you know what the justification is for this?
In Australia ARL and ARU the do the same thing with the Kangaroos and Wallabies respectively.
The justification is to keep the domestic competition strong.
Another reason may be that the governing bodies believe that if players are playing in the same competition then it is easier to judge them against each other and accurately gauge form.
Maybe the NZRU believes northern hemisphere competitions are weaker than the Super 14s.
They played well for any other team, but not to All Black standards... the rest of the world has higher expectations of them
Their ground play was phenomenal though. Their rooks/mauls were perfect, and they could have ground France down just by that as you rightfully pointed out - so that drop goal was against the winning tactic.
We'll get there
Problem is, I don't like this current trend of flat attacking back lines. Great if it works, terrible if it doesn't... and the doesn't is a good 90% of the time. Apart from Jason Robinson, no-one seems to be running onto a ball at full speed, which with the size (and previous experience of doing nothing else *Andy Farrell*) you would expect more of it. And we need to do this against France, and if we get past our Galic Northern Hemisphere Brothers, we definitely need to do it against RSA...
Uk Radio this morning (Terry Wogan)
2 jokes on Terry Wogan's show today:
1. There's a new 'All Black' sports bra being put on display in NZ today. It's all-black in colour (obviously) and is underwired to give lots of support - but - there's no cup!
2. Ikea is opening a new range from Europe in Oz today. It's green and gold in colour and is sold 'flat pack' for convenience!
BW
rtj
2 jokes on Terry Wogan's show today:
1. There's a new 'All Black' sports bra being put on display in NZ today. It's all-black in colour (obviously) and is underwired to give lots of support - but - there's no cup!
2. Ikea is opening a new range from Europe in Oz today. It's green and gold in colour and is sold 'flat pack' for convenience!
BW
rtj
rtjstevens said:
Whats flat pack supposed to refer to? Sorry, Im slow today.
NZ joke:
What the difference between NZ and Viagra?
At least Viagra gets you to a semi.
Ozzie/NZ jokes
Ikea furniture is usually sold in flat-packs - i.e you have to assemble it yourself. The joke refers to the way the Ozzie pack was flattened....
Now it's your turn as I'm not sure I understand your joke. How does viagra get you to a semi(final)?
BW
RTJ
Ikea furniture is usually sold in flat-packs - i.e you have to assemble it yourself. The joke refers to the way the Ozzie pack was flattened....
Now it's your turn as I'm not sure I understand your joke. How does viagra get you to a semi(final)?
BW
RTJ
Think about it.........
I'll add 2 more:
A gendarme in Marseilles last Saturday night pulled over a driver who had
been weaving in and out of the traffic.
He approached the car window and said "Sir I need you to blow into
this breathalyser".
The man reaches into his pocket and produces a doctor's note. On it
was written:
"This man suffers from chronic asthma. Do not make him perform any
action that may leave him short of breath".
The gendarme said "Okay then I need you to come and give a blood
sample"
The man produced another letter. This one said: "This man is a
haemophiliac. Please do not cause him to bleed in any way".
So the officer said: "Right, I need a urine sample then".
The man produces a third letter from his pocket.
It read: "This man plays rugby for Australia, please don't take the piss
out of him"
And:
Condom retailers in Australia have reported a dramatic downturn in sales after the England rugby team showed how you could **** 15 Aussies with only 1 Johnny.
Well we're through to the Final. Not particularly pretty but effective enough.
As I've said all along England's tactical kicking just isn't good enough - how badly is that going to affect Jonny? And by extension England?
England have played all the top nations (with the exception of the All Blacks) to get to the Final. Is that the key?
Sorry to all the Aussies, the Kiwis & the French but we're there. Who knows how but I'm gonna enjoy it
As I've said all along England's tactical kicking just isn't good enough - how badly is that going to affect Jonny? And by extension England?
England have played all the top nations (with the exception of the All Blacks) to get to the Final. Is that the key?
Sorry to all the Aussies, the Kiwis & the French but we're there. Who knows how but I'm gonna enjoy it
Urghh - just got back in from celebrating England's win. Bad head, but great result.
Took me until Wednesday to recover - a combination of far too much (and far too varied, I mean, what was I thinking when I downed 3 espressomartini's?!?!) alcohol, and getting older - can't process that alcohol like I used to evidentially
I've had to stop reading anything about the final. Heart rate increases and the nerves kick in. I know we're going in as underdogs, but I just hope we make a real game out of it... that 36-0 still sticks in my throat...
But the Safa's are a "complete" team...
Well done Argentina! I was very impressed by their performance.
The thrashing that SA gave us seemed to be a wake up call, and it obviously worked. England seem to be a completely different team now.
I think tonight will be very close. Come on England!
The thrashing that SA gave us seemed to be a wake up call, and it obviously worked. England seem to be a completely different team now.
I think tonight will be very close. Come on England!