Four More Years

[Craig(NZ)]

Sorry Australia, we'll take it from here

Looks like a French/ Kiwi Theme for this Sundays RWC Final. Who is drinking what?

For me some Bordeaux and NZ Bordeaux blends, and some Sauvignon Blanc!!.

[orpheus]

Forget the French. They stumbled into the final by accident. The ABs, on the other hand, have planned their campaign with absolute precision, injuries notwithstanding.

If the French put half the effort they put into making wine into rugby, it might be a different story.

[Craig(NZ)]

thrashed by NZ and beaten by Tonga in pool play, edged past a stodgy boring poms team that had more interest in the tourist attractions of queenstown than palying and just scraping past a 14 man welsh team who couldnt kick on the night.....

.....if there was anytime to be over confident before a final??

20-6 last night could have easily been 32-6 if prime minister weepu had kicked as he usually does

[dave vino]

We won 42-6 was there another game on? Russell Packer is a grub.

[DaveB]

With our past RWC results against the French and the fact they always have at least one good game in them per tournament, I hope your post doesn't come back and bite you on the arse

French for me....three various bottles of Coche-Dury lined up for the final and hopefully some Champagne if the result goes the right way.

[Craig(NZ)]

I hope your post doesn't come back and bite you on the arse

oh so do I!!! If it does I will just make sure i don't read this forum before throwing myself off the bridge

they always have at least one good game in them per tournament

they had that. they beat canada

[dlo]

It will be a walkover. Congratulations to New Zealand on their second World Cup victory. They last won in 1987, didn't they?

[GraemeG]

The ABs need to be careful. They played 30-points better than the Wallabies, but the scoreboard only showed 14 of them...

I'm a bit baffled with the Wallabies myself.
I mean, the little chip kick over the top didn't work AGAIN. Who'd have thought?
Gosh, it worked for Campese once twenty years ago; surely we're due again?
It's not like we haven't tried it three times a game ever since.

And even though we kicked the ball as much as we could, somehow we never seemed to score a try. Completely mysterious.



GG

[Sharkey]

Well done All Blacks. Hopefully you have one more good game in you.

A Kiwi friend of mine set up this web site to sell his "Choke on This" T-Shirts that he came up with for the world cup.

http://www.chokeonthis.com.au/

[Craig(NZ)]

[url]The ABs need to be careful. They played 30-points better than the Wallabies, but the scoreboard only showed 14 of them...
[/url]

I will settle for even one on the scoreboard this weekend

[Craig(NZ)]

As I said I will settle for one point

both in the rugby and the netball

[Mahmoud Ali]

A Kiwi friend of mine set up this web site to sell his "Choke on This" T-Shirts that he came up with for the world cup.

http://www.chokeonthis.com.au/

Seems like a perfect t-shirt to send to the NZ coach. In the post game interview I saw he was right to be proud of his team and supporters as well as being a New Zealander but was completely classless in not mentioning the opposing team. I would have liked to have seen the French win just to see the look on your friend's face.

Congratulations to the New Zealand team on winning the World Cup but on the night the French team almost stole the show. They were more exciting to watch and on the night were a slightly better team.

Cheers......................Mahmoud.

[Mahmoud Ali]

The ABs need to be careful. They played 30-points better than the Wallabies, but the scoreboard only showed 14 of them...

I will settle for even one on the scoreboard this weekend

Looks like you needn't have worried. Sometimes it works the other way around.

Cheers..................Mahmoud.

[Craig(NZ)]

Congratulations to the New Zealand team on winning the World Cup but on the night the French team almost stole the show. They were more exciting to watch and on the night were a slightly better team.

The AB's played a lot of rubbish last night but were good enough and disciplined enough in defense. So France goes home having lost 3 games at the tournament (twice to the All Blacks just to get the message through). All Blacks clean sheet, no losses and the final was the only one that was even close. We won by one point yes, but the french won by one point in the semis to get to the game too so hey...that's life sometimes you end up winning ugly.

"4 more years" and you can argue again

[SueNZ]

As I said I will settle for one point

And that's all we needed! Well done ABs.

[orpheus]

Congratulations to the New Zealand team on winning the World Cup but on the night the French team almost stole the show. They were more exciting to watch and on the night were a slightly better team.

The AB's played a lot of rubbish last night but were good enough and disciplined enough in defense. So France goes home having lost 3 games at the tournament (twice to the All Blacks just to get the message through). All Blacks clean sheet, no losses and the final was the only one that was even close. We won by one point yes, but the french won by one point in the semis to get to the game too so hey...that's life sometimes you end up winning ugly.

"4 more years" and you can argue again

Craig, I think it is harsh to say the All Blacks played "a lot of rubbish". A bit too much use of the boot (high kicks, travelling a short distance, and almost always simply giving possession away), and a mixed game from Weepu (but he was placed under pressure by a very good, committed, French team), but otherwise, I thought it was just a great, committed performance from the French, who justified their presence in the final.

Very even game, could have gone either way. Both teams wayward with their goal kicking, but otherwise very high standard.

Excellent rucking from the French, great, attractive running game, and they really do have the best line-out in the business at the moment.

[Craig(NZ)]

Line out average
Scrum average
Kicking below average
Defense Awesome

If Dan Carter had been there it would have been more comfortable. Piri handed the goal kicking duties over as soon as Donald arrived.

But at end of day its a win. If you want to remember All Blacks for flair just replay their pool match vs France
All Blacks won every game and didnt trip up. Can't ask for much more.

losers can blame the ref (we did in 2007 and still do) but it doesnt change the name on the cup. Winners are grinners...

[GraemeG]

... A bit too much use of the boot (high kicks, travelling a short distance, and almost always simply giving possession away)...

Yes, I thought it very odd that the ABs were adopting the Wallabies' tactics.
Perhaps they were trying to show that just because it never works for us, doesn't mean it won't work for others...
cheers,
GG

[orpheus]

Line out average
Scrum average
Kicking below average
Defense Awesome

If Dan Carter had been there it would have been more comfortable. Piri handed the goal kicking duties over as soon as Donald arrived.

But at end of day its a win. If you want to remember All Blacks for flair just replay their pool match vs France
All Blacks won every game and didnt trip up. Can't ask for much more.

losers can blame the ref (we did in 2007 and still do) but it doesnt change the name on the cup. Winners are grinners...

Credit to the French. They have the best line-out in the business. I agree about the scrum, the French exposed some weakness there. Though the French copped their fair share of penalties from scrum infringements.

Goal kicking below average. Kicking in general play excessive and often pointless. Interestingly, however, Weepu's kicking in general play was reasonably good, and generally when the kicking was for field position, rather than high balls designed to break-up play, but inevitably (literally) playing into the hands of the French, it was good.

Defence on both sides was awesome. Great commitment from both sides in the ruck, and that is what I think made it a great game.

[orpheus]

BTW, I think that the ref had another good game, in that he kept out of it as much as possible.

This meant some infringements in the ruck went unpenalised on both sides, but I don't think either side had a basis to complain.

If there were a RWC for refs, I'd give it Joubert.

[Mahmoud Ali]

Congratulations to the New Zealand team on winning the World Cup but on the night the French team almost stole the show. They were more exciting to watch and on the night were a slightly better team.

The AB's played a lot of rubbish last night but were good enough and disciplined enough in defense. So France goes home having lost 3 games at the tournament (twice to the All Blacks just to get the message through). All Blacks clean sheet, no losses and the final was the only one that was even close. We won by one point yes, but the french won by one point in the semis to get to the game too so hey...that's life sometimes you end up winning ugly.

"4 more years" and you can argue again

Craig, I think you've misunderstood my post. I'm not "arguing" anything.

What I was trying to say was that NZ deserves to be congratulated on a winning performance. Though both teams played terrific defense as can be seen by the score I felt that the French played slightly better. No big deal, as you said "that's life", it happens all the time. The French came into the final winning by a point but on that night I thought the Welsh played better. The winner is the one with more points on the board regardless of who one thinks played "better" or "worse".

What I do disagree with is this notion that "winning ugly" is somehow better, or justified, based on other considerations, like the number of games won at group level or, for instance, world ranking going into the tournament. French supporters could say that France deserves to win the cup because this is the third time they've made the final. I would disagree. It really doesn't matter what has happened in previous games. Sure, if a team wins all their previous matches they may be more likely to continue winning; and if they've played poorly or have lost games along the way their chance might be slimmer. In this case NZ were the odds on favorite because of their performances and France were the underdogs because of their lack of form. However, both teams have done what was needed to advance and have won the knockout games to reach the final and the winner takes all.

In every match, including the final, all you can take into the game is your form and the confidence and reputation as it affects you or your opponent, positively or negatively. In a knockout game all the chips are on the table. Unless you don't believe in the tournament format it is mere partisanship to take a position whereby you say a NZ win is deserved based on what they did before they got to the final. You seem to be saying that the only deserved champion is the one who is undefeated in the group matches. In that case even if Wales were to be in the final their loss to South Africa would make them less deserving of the World Cup. If the French won they would be the champions, and deserved because they got to the final and won, end of story.

France played well, but not well enough to win, simple. Rather than acknowledging that the French upset pre-game predictions of a whitewash and made NZ work hard for the win, supporters prefer to look beyond the game for justification of their "deservedness".

This is what Dusautoir the French captain had this to say about the match: “I don’t feel like criticising the ref, he’s one of the best. We probably didn’t do enough to get the vital penalty at the end, but we couldn’t do more. There were 30 players on the pitch and everyone was scared. We were lucky in the previous round, tonight we were not lucky, that is sport.”

Cheers...........................Mahmoud.

[orpheus]

Yes, Mahmoud, the French captain pretty well summed it up.