Rugby World Cup

[Leehar]

And SA in the final after humbling the AB's in a duel to the death, but ofc the irb wanted to prevent that

[Chariot of Fire]

lol, have u seen the odds being offered by the bookies?

NZ 1:10
France 11:2

I don't think I've ever seen such one-sided odds for a competition final

[Lootifer]

lol. I might put down some happiness insurance lol, a tenner on the french to win, that way I can get really fucking hammered if we lose.

[General_Tao]

Why all the complaining about Wales playing undermanned? The red card on Warburton was fully deserved for his boneheaded, dirty tackle, notice the arm to the face at the end of the tackle, as if the lift and slam of his opponent's head on the ground wasn't enough:

http://www.rugbyweek.com/video/sam-warb ... d9dc4.html

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!

[Chariot of Fire]

The General

[oVo]

Watched the Aussies battle Wales for the bronze in the wee hours this morning. Maybe a Wales/New Zealand final would have been anti climactic.

[Gypsys Kiss]

Why all the complaining about Wales playing undermanned? The red card on Warburton was fully deserved for his boneheaded, dirty tackle, notice the arm to the face at the end of the tackle, as if the lift and slam of his opponent's head on the ground wasn't enough:

http://www.rugbyweek.com/video/sam-warb ... d9dc4.html

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!

You are a partisan d******d.

I am not arguing about the red card, I am arguing about consistency. There were at least 3 other tackles that were of the same nature in the tournament, including one by a typically dirty french fucker, and they had only yellow cards.

Good luck in the final. At least you aint playing Tonga.

[greenoaks]

Dear Kiwis

I write on a delicate matter.

It is this. We dinkum love you people. For gawd's sake, stop worrying so much about your World Cup semi-final match against the Wallabies tomorrow night in Auckland. How do we know you're anxious? Because your collective knee-knocking and teeth-gnashing have been keeping our children awake across the ditch.
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Look, we all know that the three great traditions of rugby are tossing the coin before the match, giving three cheers for the ref afterwards and the All Blacks crashing and burning in the World Cup semi-finals. (A tradition you only missed last time because you flamed out in the quarter-finals.) And it is true that the All Blacks have never beaten the Wallabies in World Cup encounters, suffering famous defeats in 1991 and 2003.

We are in agreement that in the absence of your champion injured fly-half, Daniel Carter, the two blokes who have taken over are more anonymous than wrong numbers and the rest of the back line now look like lost orphans. And all right, you've got us - we cannot argue that while the Wallabies back-rower David Pocock turned in the performance of his life last week, your own champion, Richie McCaw, has a crook foot and looks to be the ghost of Christmases past in football boots.

We Australians do understand all these things. We also recognise that last week the All Blacks struggled to put away a relatively lowly team like Argentina while our blokes played a shocker against the titleholders, the Springboks, and still managed to put the brutes to the sword with a compelling, comprehensive and conclusive … two-point victory.

And on that subject, you don't have to tell me that ever since the All Blacks won their sole World Cup victory, back in the inaugural tournament of 1987, when dinosaurs were still roaming the earth, it is the team that has beaten the incumbent world champions that has gone on to win the Cup.

As a matter of fact, we know that because the Wallabies have done it twice, beating your lot in 1991 - or did we mention that already? - and the Boks in 1999.

Please don't be haunted by the fact that the bloke you decided wasn't good enough to coach the All Blacks after their disastrous quarter-finals dismissal in 2007, our very own Robbie Deans, is now the architect of the Wallabies resurgence this year into winning the Tri-Nations and threatening in this World Cup.

Australians don't want to focus on such things. We barely talk about them at all, honest we don't. The point is that whatever happens, we implore you, in the silent watch of the night, when you're staring at the cracks in the ceiling, don't let any of the above factors creep up on you, get their fingers and then their hands round your throat, start to tighten … and make you CHOKE!

For you guys are like our beloved brothers and sisters and, though we do love beating you in sport, it is not quite with the same savage joy we love beating the Americans in a few things and the Poms in everything.

And always remember this. Over every four-year period, everyone knows that you have the finest rugby team on earth for three years and 50 weeks. Is it really so bad if we Australians snatch a fortnight, here and there?

It's only a game.

Enjoying your lovely nation, as we speak,

Peter Fitz

Auckland

P.S. On the off-chance you do win, you'll have all of Australia behind you for the final.

Thoroughly enjoyed reading this this morning.... after yesterdays match

As far as the ABs go they were brilliant. However they should have had the match out of Australias hands before half time. Should have scored another try, and a couple of penalties as well, but just failed to convert the territory into points.

Great game over all and muchos respect to the Aussie boys for their graciousness in defeat (clapping the lads off etc, good stuff).

he was right though.

on the off-chance that you'd win we will be supporting you, and i do.

gl in the final.

[Leehar]

Still, it seems teams rarely pitch for 3rd place

[General_Tao]

Why all the complaining about Wales playing undermanned? The red card on Warburton was fully deserved for his boneheaded, dirty tackle, notice the arm to the face at the end of the tackle, as if the lift and slam of his opponent's head on the ground wasn't enough:

http://www.rugbyweek.com/video/sam-warb ... d9dc4.html

ALLEZ LES BLEUS!!!!

You are a partisan d******d.

And you're not? I'd guess it's a combination of sour grapes from losing in the QF and basic british francophobia...

I'd take a meaningless loss to Tonga in group play over a loss to England in the QF anyday.

[Lootifer]

Aussie Wales was lackluster; i was expecting a far more open match

[JoshyBoy]

The final should be NZ v Wales, but either way, it doesn't matter.

My £20 is safe with NZ. I'll be collecting my £41.05 tomorrow evening.

[General_Tao]

oh well, close.

[Leehar]

Definitely a deserving final. I just feel sorry for the French it's not their 4th final and they're yet to win?

[Chariot of Fire]

Definitely a deserving final. I just feel sorry for the French it's not their 4th final and they're yet to win?

"It's not their 4th final"???

It's not Japan's 4th final either, and they have yet to win. You talk nonsense.

Great final though - talk about pressure. Can't believe after 20 mins (having wanted the ABs to win resoundingly) I was rooting for the French. Brilliant rugby. And I bet Joubert was thankful he didn't have to award a controversial penalty in the last 5 mins.

[denthefrog]

Well Done to the All Blacks
worthy winner
if u had told me before and during the world cup that we would be in final and loose by 1 pts
i would have say deal straight away
but now after the game feel a bit gutted
we were so close to win it

[JoshyBoy]

£20 = £45.50

New Zealand were lucky, shit final.

[BoganGod]

Shit final, still recovering from hangover. Been along time between wins for the All Blacks, f*ck my head hurts.

[oVo]

but now after the game feel a bit gutted

I understand that feeling... it was nuts and gut wrenching.

Congrats to the the ABs and the French side who proved to be up to the challenge
and a very worthy finalist. That was quite a match.

[Chariot of Fire]

I thought it was a cracker of a final. Talk about a tight game - no quarter given. Glad the ABs went on to win it (they have been the most-deserving team for the past few years, on top of being awesome throughout this tourney). I did switch allegiance a bit though after about 20 mins into the final and found myself rooting for a French score. I also think had the French managed to get ahead (e.g. converting that penalty) that it would have been a very different game and we'd have seen some classic Kiwi vengeance and they'd have managed to go on to win regardless.

So congrats NZ, and kudos to the French for playing a great game full of heart. I don't think Wales could have managed what they did yesterday, so this definitely made for the better final.

Roll on four more years!

[AndyDufresne]

I managed to catch the last bit of this game, and it looked pretty intense.


--Andy

[oVo]

Talk about a tight game - no quarter given. [...] found myself rooting for a French score. I also think had the French managed to get ahead [...] that it would have been a very different game and we'd have seen some classic Kiwi vengeance and they'd have managed to go on to win regardless.

I agree --pretty much-- and hoped to see a few lead exchanges
in the final 20 minutes. The final mins were definitely intense.

[Lootifer]

Ah, I can breath again!

[Begbie]

..shit final.....? i don't think so. It merely reinforces the pattern of earlier finals (bar the obvious and understandable excepetion of the amateur 87 final) that that they are arm wrestles dominated by defence, field position and refereeing. It was always going to be so and those who know their rugby will recognise that the game doesn't always have to be a free running try fest to be a compelling contest. I must eat some humble pie regarding my earlier comment about the French being undeserving....no other team at the RWC could have stretched NZ like that. Their loose forwards were immense. The breakdown and contact area was a war zone and all the loose forwards were outstanding. NZ may have been fortunate to win the match and were outplayed in most areas except the scoreboard. That said the NZ defensive effort and discipline in the final 15 minutes were outstanding. The French naturally are blaming Joubert in a similar fashion to the way we pilloried Wayne Barnes last World Cup. I felt Joubert may have been a little lenient at the breakdown however he allowed both sides the same latitude and saved the match from being a penalty shootout. Depsite this I feel that NZ are deserved winners given they were the best team at the competitioon, they were the only side not to lose a game in the tournament and they have been the best team in the world for the past 3 years. We (the ABs ) have been on the wrong end of some bad decisions and last minute losses and and think when all is weighed up the ABs are worthy champions.

There has been much comment on the lack of acknowledgement of the French team by the AB captain and management in the aftermatch speeches etc. Unfortunately this may expalin some of it

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all- ... e-released

I'm not a fan of post mortems however it seems that the French can not help themselves sometimes........anyways, bring on the next one!!

[oVo]

Whoa, that eye gouging video is not only blatant,
but also damning and indefensible.