Knockout Stages

[sideshowtim]

The C word will come out a lot now, and rightly so.

 

[sideshowtim]

Gah, shocking performance from the Wallabies. Credit to England though, smashed our forwards again and controlled the entire match barring that last 10 minutes of the First Half. Gregan was also rather ordinary, his delivery was on a whole dire.

Great stuff from the French as well, their defence was outstanding! Once again the All Blacks have a massive choke when the games was there to be won. How old is that Evans bloke? It's the first i've seen him play and he looked like he has a bit of talent. Made a few good runs in his short time on the field.

Yep, England were just plain and simple a better team than us on the night. Their game was the perfect antithesis to ours and they deserved to win.

 

[HeathDavisSpeed]

Great stuff from the French as well, their defence was outstanding! Once again the All Blacks have a massive choke when the games was there to be won. How old is that Evans bloke? It's the first i've seen him play and he looked like he has a bit of talent. Made a few good runs in his short time on the field.

It looks like 75% of this all blacks team will be heading to Europe after the World Cup, but fortunately the young talent coming through - Evans, Leonard at the World Cup and the plethora of talented players coming through this year's NPC will give the All Blacks another great chance of losing in the knockout stages with extreme talent in 2011.

 

[Francis]

Gregan was also rather ordinary, his delivery was on a whole dire.

Can't really blame Gregan, Australia's forwards made it damn hard for him. It was slow ball. Australia couldn't maintain any continuity after the second phase. It's quite glorious really, it's all entirely down to their forwards and there was nothing they could do about it. I knew when Australia had an important scrum feed they'd blow... just beautiful.

Nothing's as beautiful as watching New Zealand lose... that people in New Zealand are suffering brings new life to my soul and fills it with grace.

 

[chaminda_00]

So gutted when i saw Australia lose to England. Then i saw the All Blacks lose to France and i didn't feel as bad.

Argies to win the WC btw now.

 

[Athlai]

Mum put money on the French TBH.

 

[BoyBrumby]

What a day of Rugby.

The northern hemisphere strikes back. I could see England beating Oz (called it in the tipping comp) given the Australians' lack of a pack, but for the French to down NZ as well... Man.

What can New Zealand do? They're in the same position now as they were four years ago; palpably the best team in the world (more so now than then) but choke when it matters. Mitchell got the arse so I suspect Henry will too.

 

[Perm]

Continues to amaze me how **** the Australian scrum is.

 

[BoyBrumby]

Continues to amaze me how **** the Australian scrum is.

Quite. Hats off to Roland for not falling for any of the Oz front row's crap either. Sheridan & co absolutely tore them a new one. What was just as impressive was how we dominated the break-down too; we must've turned over at least half a dozen Oz balls.

We could even afford Jonny to be able to kick like a drain today.

 

[cbuts]

It looks like 75% of this all blacks team will be heading to Europe after the World Cup, but fortunately the young talent coming through - Evans, Leonard at the World Cup and the plethora of talented players coming through this year's NPC will give the All Blacks another great chance of losing in the knockout stages with extreme talent in 2011.

Only Hayman, Oliver, Jack, Kelleher, Macalister, Howlett, Mauger going. Only position we would struggle to fill right now would be second five, but after next years super 14 someone will put up their hand.

This was always gonna be the game we would loose. I was not worries about Australia/England/South Africa. But France so often pull something specail out. 1987 against the Wallabies, very nearly in 1995 against the Boks, of course us in 1999 and now 2007.

I think at the same time as the french defended amazingly, the ref was poor. Macalister to the bin was a big call. Frances second try came from a massive forwarrd pass, and we should have got a penalty for the french turnover in the 75 minute.

But full credit to France, they deserved their win, i dont think its fair to say we choked - its just finals football.

In my books this All Black squad 2004-2007 still goes down as probally the greatest since the Invincibles. They won an amazing 39 out 44 games. Swept the Lions, Won the grand slam, were unbeaten at home (world record).... the world cup was the only thing missing!

 

[sideshowtim]

Only Hayman, Oliver, Jack, Kelleher, Macalister, Howlett, Mauger going. Only position we would struggle to fill right now would be second five, but after next years super 14 someone will put up their hand.

This was always gonna be the game we would loose. I was not worries about Australia/England/South Africa. But France so often pull something specail out. 1987 against the Wallabies, very nearly in 1995 against the Boks, of course us in 1999 and now 2007.

I think at the same time as the french defended amazingly, the ref was poor. Macalister to the bin was a big call. Frances second try came from a massive forwarrd pass, and we should have got a penalty for the french turnover in the 75 minute.

But full credit to France, they deserved their win, i dont think its fair to say we choked - its just finals football.

In my books this All Black squad 2004-2007 still goes down as probally the greatest since the Invincibles. They won an amazing 39 out 44 games. Swept the Lions, Won the grand slam, were unbeaten at home (world record).... the world cup was the only thing missing!

Yet the World Cup is the most important thing. And it's one of the biggest black marks you can have on your record.

Dunno why England beating us surprised many people. Their pack is great, our pack is ****. We're the perfect team for them pretty much. Most people who follow rugby a fair bit would've been able to pick it.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

What a **** game the Wallabies/England was. I have absolutely no idea about rugby half the time (the rules do confuse me) and I only really ever watch when the Force or Wallabies are playing - but jeez that was crap.

Though happy to see the French win (or rather the Kiwis lose).

 

[cbuts]

Yet the World Cup is the most important thing. And it's one of the biggest black marks you can have on your record.

Dunno why England beating us surprised many people. Their pack is great, our pack is ****. We're the perfect team for them pretty much. Most people who follow rugby a fair bit would've been able to pick it.

there is far to mush emphasis on the world cup. and it is ruining rugby for the other 4 years. The IRB need to do something about it

 

[age_master]

Can't really blame Gregan, Australia's forwards made it damn hard for him. It was slow ball. Australia couldn't maintain any continuity after the second phase. It's quite glorious really, it's all entirely down to their forwards and there was nothing they could do about it. I knew when Australia had an important scrum feed they'd blow.

No, Gregan was dire, not as dire as the forwards though. Our lack of class in the front row was humiliating. England's forwards had all the answers (if you could even say the Aussies asked any questions of them...).

 

[age_master]

Dunno why England beating us surprised many people. Their pack is great, our pack is ****. We're the perfect team for them pretty much. Most people who follow rugby a fair bit would've been able to pick it.

Did you see any of the other English games, they were abysmal across the park for the most part. They weren't far of getting beaten by Tonga and not being in the quarter finals either.

 

[ohtani's jacket]

The All Blacks didn't play badly.

They had 72% possession and were outstanding in the line-out.

France were awesome in defence, but the ref let them get away with murder. They were offside the entire game and there were plenty of hands in the ruck. The ref only focussed on the All Blacks at the breakdown. I guess he reads the English papers.

The All Blacks should've adapted, but they didn't. Hard luck.

As for the Aussies, I said their scrum wasn't good enough and it wasn't. The English were lucky enough to get a ref who called them on it. England play ugly rugby, though. My God.

 

[sideshowtim]

Did you see any of the other English games, they were abysmal across the park for the most part. They weren't far of getting beaten by Tonga and not being in the quarter finals either.

I know. But as I said, regardless of how poorly they'd played in the tournament, their game is simply suited to ours. They were always going to be very tough opponents.

 

[Sir Redman]

Haha. Suppose the only thing to do is laugh really. Same old story - we've got pretty much the best team in the world and the greatest depth yet despite that (and all our endless 'preparation') we still can't produce a team with any mental toughness. Looked like we just didn't know what to do when we went behind so started panicking, throwing 50/50 passes and going for that drop goal from about 55m out. We had 72% possession ffs but looked toothless on attack in the second half especially.

Without trying to sound like a sore loser, the ref was ****. Was only interested in reffing one team.

Anyway, now it's time to enjoy watching the aftermath. I imagine there will be lots of people practicing demolition today, or possibly arson, and I'd also recommend putting some rugby heads on suicide watch. It's also always good fun watching our moronic rugby media get their comeuppance for the squillionth time - like Chris Rattue, who said the French have 'absolutely no chance' - they never learn. Just hope that now we're out of the WC we can have something other than rugby on the news (fat chance).

Will be supporting the Argies from now on. Would be great to see a non-powerhouse country win, especially considering some of the **** treatment they've had from the IRB etc over the years. I'ver also been impressed with the way they've handled themselves after losses against us in the last few years - they just seem like a decent bunch. I'd also like to see Fiji up there but realistically I don't think they've got a chance of beating the Saffies. Wouldn't know what to do if it was an England - SA final. Run away and cry probably.

 

[Perm]

Just had a look on the TV guide and I'm not happy. The only ****ing game I really cared about, Argentina vs Scotland, is on at 8am tomorrow, my first day back at bloody school! Grr, damn scheduling.

 

[Cricket_Fanatic]

Thrilled for my lads that we've knocked over the Wallabies and are still in with a hope of retaining the Cup! Once again, it's shown you need a tough scrum to get ahead in the world of rugby.

As for the All Blacks v France game, France tackled their hearts out, but I can't agree with some of the comments here, particularly in regards to the referee:

Refereeing evened itself out, as it usually does.

How did the refereeing even itself out? Barnes was only penalising one team at the breakdown!

James;1344286Some players need to actually work on playing rugby rather than marketing underwear, etc..... Good to hear a lot of these All Blacks are leaving to France & England now

So as a New Zealand fan, you're glad that players of the calibre of Carl Hayman are leaving? You're happy that a solid base of the All Black team is up and leaving? You can't be a rugby fan!

DWTA. Definitely took him out. Not too au fait with union rules so I don't know if it should have been a sin binning offence but as he was binned I assume it should.

Strange that the exact same thing happened in the second half, but the French didn't get penalised, let alone carded!