Knockout Stages

[PY]

Howlett gets himself arrested..oops.

[ohtani's jacket]

Originally Posted by Clapo

Oh boo hoo, they had 70% possession. They should've put 30+ points past the French with that amount of possession, and that amount of talent in the team, offside or no offside.

How? You don't get points for driving off a pick and go. This match has been talked about to death, but it's not easy to break the line when they're offside & the French have guys killing the ball in each ruck. The All Blacks usually score off turnover ball. Barnes was all over us at the breakdown, so they tried to build it up patiently. We should've had more shots at goal for our efforts, but somehow France managed to defend the entire second half without conceeding a penalty. If the ref had reffed a normal game, NZ probably would've won by 30 points. What really let us down was our defence. We missed tackles and our cover defence against France's tries was ****.

[BoyBrumby]

Thousands of jokes doing the rounds, but these three made me laugh (even if I think the second one is at least 4 years old):

An Australian DIY chain has bought out a new furniture range called "The Wallabies" - it comes in a flattened pack.....

Condom sales in Australia have hit an all time low. As England's rugby team showed on Saturday, you only need one Jonny to **** 15 Australians.

Richie McCaw was walking dejectedly past the changing room doors after the French game when he came across a mobile phone. After picking it up and taking a brief look at it he knocked on the Wayne Barnes's door.

"Here you go mate, I found your phone."

"Cheers," says Wayne. "But how did you know it was mine?"

"Look for yourself - 15 missed calls."

[PhoenixFire]

Originally Posted by BoyBrumby

Thousands of jokes doing the rounds, but these three made me laugh (even if I think the second one is at least 4 years old):

An Australian DIY chain has bought out a new furniture range called "The Wallabies" - it comes in a flattened pack.....

Condom sales in Australia have hit an all time low. As England's rugby team showed on Saturday, you only need one Jonny to **** 15 Australians.

Richie McCaw was walking dejectedly past the changing room doors after the French game when he came across a mobile phone. After picking it up and taking a brief look at it he knocked on the Wayne Barnes's door.

"Here you go mate, I found your phone."

"Cheers," says Wayne. "But how did you know it was mine?"

"Look for yourself - 15 missed calls."

[PhoenixFire]

Originally Posted by ohtani's jacket

How? You don't get points for driving off a pick and go. This match has been talked about to death, but it's not easy to break the line when they're offside & the French have guys killing the ball in each ruck. The All Blacks usually score off turnover ball. Barnes was all over us at the breakdown, so they tried to build it up patiently. We should've had more shots at goal for our efforts, but somehow France managed to defend the entire second half without conceeding a penalty. If the ref had reffed a normal game, NZ probably would've won by 30 points. What really let us down was our defence. We missed tackles and our cover defence against France's tries was ****.

No. NZ deserved to lose, even if France didn't deserve to win. NZ played poor rugby, and aided by some poor reffing desicions, they lost. Even without the ref, they still would have lost.

[James]

Good to see Zinzan Brooke stand up and tell it how it is.

[ohtani's jacket]

Originally Posted by PhoenixFire

No. NZ deserved to lose, even if France didn't deserve to win. NZ played poor rugby, and aided by some poor reffing desicions, they lost. Even without the ref, they still would have lost.

Without the ref they would've won 18-13. They didn't play their usual style of rugby, but to say they played poorly is taking it too far. Under normal circumstances they wouldn't have lost, because team's don't usually lose with 72% possession & teams who have 72% possession aren't deemed to have played poorly. Usually. We're supposed to be all stoic and not blame the ref. Even the ref has admitted he made poor decisions. The IRB ought to acknowledge the fact that appointing Barnes was a mistake. They've sent him to the side lines for the rest of the tournament, but appointed him to the Six Nations. Nice.

And Zinzan Brooke was in two of our World Cup losing sides. You'd think he'd have more perspective than that, but he's working for the English press.

[nate-d]

On that given day, the Allbacks lacked composure and effective leadership. Once Dan Carter & Nick Evans left, the entire backline had their tails between their legs. They should have tried an array of tactics. 1) Play through the backs 2) make drop goals in their 22. .. The damn fools only had the pick up and go in their minds. Richie was ineffective as a captain.

If the beheading trend continues for the AB's, Henry, Hansen, Smith and Mcraw should go, Mcraw remains as a player, but not as captain.

[nate-d]

AB's should have never been in that situation of letting the ref screw things up. If only they'd hammered in right in the start, some 30 points in the first half. I do realize that France is no clown. This was evident from the defence they put aganist the AB. England will have a difficult time scoring tries. Perhaps, drop goals are in order. If I was a betting man, I would France to win by under 12.

South Africa should take out Argentina.

[vogue]

...ok, come on England....lets see you play some great rugby ....

[vogue]

a great start then...5-0 to England!

[Jono]

6-5 to France.

I know absolutely **** all about rugby, but Chabal is so awesome!

[PY]

Haha, he's a legend isn't he?

[vogue]

England 5 France 6 ....half time score

[vogue]

yesss.....England 11 France 9