The Final: France vs NZ

[Howe_zat]

Evidently, Dan Carter has just been holding New Zealand back all this time.

 

[straw man]

What a good world cup. Thanks everyone for coming

 

[Zinzan]

Evidently, Dan Carter has just been holding New Zealand back all this time.

Precisely, especially considering that Donald's penalty was effectively the difference. It was a ploy

 

[Somerset]

Sheesh bit close for comfort. Fortunately the French kickers, who had been brilliant all tournament, were just as inconsistent as ours. Don't know why I ever doubted Stephen Donald.

 

[Somerset]

Somers should have stuck with his 1 point victory prediction.

Thanks for reminding me. Ah well, nothing lost when you compare it to the guy that put down $50,000 for the first scoring play to be an All Blacks penalty (All Blacks: Betting agencies are backing us to lift Rugby World Cup - National - NZ Herald News).

 

[flibbertyjibber]

The whole finals will be remembered by a lot of nations for the missed opportunities they had with kicks that could/should have been got. Plenty of close matches which could have gone another way on a different day due to poor kicking by some extremely experienced players.

Well done NZ on coming through it in the end.

 

[Burgey]

NZ are a bunch of homers then. We will wait for another 24 years for another victory for them when they host it again.

Seriously though, they need to win it away from home soil now to earn the full respect worldwide like the Aussies, SA and England have done.

Mate, England have won it once. They need to do it again to show it wasn't a fluke.

Spare me if you think England is a better rugby nation than NZ. It's comical to even suggest it.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

My dry cleaning bill has doubled as a result of the last 10 minutes of that game.

 

[Somerset]

The whole finals will be remembered by a lot of nations for the missed opportunities they had with kicks that could/should have been got. Plenty of close matches which could have gone another way on a different day due to poor kicking by some extremely experienced players.

Well done NZ on coming through it in the end.

Kicking seemed to be a real issue throughout the whole tournament though, going back to the opening weekend with the England vs Argentina match. I'm sure some statistics will eventually come out but it'd be interesting to see if the kickers were statistically poorer than in previous WCs.

 

[Somerset]

Just clicked that the last time the ABs won the World Cup was in 87'. Score tonight? 8-7.

 

[flibbertyjibber]

Mate, England have won it once. They need to do it again to show it wasn't a fluke.

Spare me if you think England is a better rugby nation than NZ. It's comical to even suggest it.

Yeah but to be fair we aren't a rugby nation and we have only ever had 1 good team and they won it.

Point i was making is that winning it away from home has more kudos and earns more respect than at home. Like the way Brazil were revered in football for winning it away from South America and being only side to win football WC away from own continent for so long etc...

When it comes to it in about 20 years time this NZ side won't be ranked as good as say the England side of 03 or SA of 07 and most of that will be because they won it away. It would actually be a good discussion as to which world cup winners were the best team of all time.

 

[Hurricane]

People are discussing the French response to the haka - it basically set up the whole game.

The French will be fined and punished for crossing half way but it was worth it for them and it nearly worked.

Nisbett's commentary on the event was predictably understated.

 

[James]

Well done the All Blacks.

France had the better of the game you'd have to say, but Wales had the better of France, so you don't always get what you deserve and the All Blacks had gone through the tournament unbeaten.

As other people have said, I'm sure a lot of nations will be working on their goal kicking over the next 4 years!

 

[weeman27bob]

Out of interest, what would people pick as the best game of the tournament?

 

[Somerset]

Yeah but to be fair we aren't a rugby nation and we have only ever had 1 good team and they won it.

Point i was making is that winning it away from home has more kudos and earns more respect than at home. Like the way Brazil were revered in football for winning it away from South America and being only side to win football WC away from own continent for so long etc...

When it comes to it in about 20 years time this NZ side won't be ranked as good as say the England side of 03 or SA of 07 and most of that will be because they won it away. It would actually be a good discussion as to which world cup winners were the best team of all time.

I'm not sure I agree. I see the point you're making but home conditions can be both a helping hand and a pressure intensifier, particularly given New Zealand's passionate but rather expectant public. England 03 was a great side who played to their strengths and ended up beating the hosts in the final. SA 07 also deserved their victory although I'll comment that their run was assisted when Australia and NZ both got thrown out before the semis. NZ 11 played a different style but learnt to adapt to shut matches down. I don't think we trailed on the scoreline for more than 15 minutes throughout the entire tournament (5 minutes vs Canada and about 10 vs Argentina). Plus we lost our best player who played in a position where we've had depth issues. Basically what I'm saying is not to count out a side as one of the best just because they played at home; theres plenty of other factors to consider.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

When it comes to it in about 20 years time this NZ side won't be ranked as good as say the England side of 03 or SA of 07 and most of that will be because they won it away. It would actually be a good discussion as to which world cup winners were the best team of all time.

Whatever, bro.

 

[Athlai]

Well done the All Blacks.

France had the better of the game you'd have to say, but Wales had the better of France, so you don't always get what you deserve and the All Blacks had gone through the tournament unbeaten.

As other people have said, I'm sure a lot of nations will be working on their goal kicking over the next 4 years!

No way IMO. They never looked like scoring besides for Weepu's stupid mistake. They never got any decent kickable penalties and Weepu missed a handful of kicks. The All Blacks played better, looked better on offense and were better on defense. The last 20 minutes were just us backing we could hold out a 1 point margin and not going for any offensive rugby. It was a risky strategy but it paid off, France couldn't even get over the halfway.

 

[Scaly piscine]

Yeah but to be fair we aren't a rugby nation and we have only ever had 1 good team and they won it.

Point i was making is that winning it away from home has more kudos and earns more respect than at home. Like the way Brazil were revered in football for winning it away from South America and being only side to win football WC away from own continent for so long etc...

When it comes to it in about 20 years time this NZ side won't be ranked as good as say the England side of 03 or SA of 07 and most of that will be because they won it away. It would actually be a good discussion as to which world cup winners were the best team of all time.

Also important is the England and SA sides had a degree of control and deserved to win. South Africa were pedestrian attacking-wise but there was an inevitably about England and South Africa winning. They earned those tournaments. New Zealand have won this final because of the home advantage. They may have upped their performance in different circumstances, but the fact is that was not a champion's performance, particularly in the second half.

 

[Athlai]

Yeah but to be fair we aren't a rugby nation and we have only ever had 1 good team and they won it.

Point i was making is that winning it away from home has more kudos and earns more respect than at home. Like the way Brazil were revered in football for winning it away from South America and being only side to win football WC away from own continent for so long etc...

When it comes to it in about 20 years time this NZ side won't be ranked as good as say the England side of 03 or SA of 07 and most of that will be because they won it away. It would actually be a good discussion as to which world cup winners were the best team of all time.

The edited in portion is atrocious.

 

[Somerset]

People are discussing the French response to the haka - it basically set up the whole game.

The French will be fined and punished for crossing half way but it was worth it for them and it nearly worked.

Nisbett's commentary on the event was predictably understated.

I loved their response to the haka. The IRB ruling about being behind the 10 metre lines is a joke, IMO they should let the teams do what they want with regards the pre-match challenges (well besides a stand-off a la Wales vs NZ about five or so years ago)