Rugby World Cup 2011

[GVGjr]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Well we didn't get off to a good start and the All Blacks were way too good. Did anyone watch the game?

[The Doctor]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Well we didn't get off to a good start and the All Blacks were way too good. Did anyone watch the game?

All Blacks were just too powerful in the forwards. They smashed us in the breakdowns and in the scrum which made it hard for us to get any quality ball to the backs. i believe we had the advantage in the backs but it's hard to go forward when your forwards are getting pushed back.

The All blacks played mistake free low risk rugby and it worked. They relied on their power and greater stregth to set up their win rather than flair and enterprise.

Congratulations to them. They deserved it.

[Bornadog]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

It was a brutal game, the All Blacks just didn't allow Australia to use their fast running attacking game. Australia tried to kick more in the second half to try and break the All Balcks lines, but they were just too strong.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Well we didn't get off to a good start and the All Blacks were way too good. Did anyone watch the game?

Yes the Kiwis were the better team, but they were also cheating outrageously at the breakdown and the ref let them get away with murder. We also got pinged for various teaky touchwood ones.

I also don't remember teams being allowed to throw the ball diagonally in (as a couple of aerial shots showed) at line-outs, which the Kiwis did all night. The All-Blacks are the most overrated sporting team in history, and the fact that they may be winning only their second World Cup, again at home in NZ, says it all.

I guess that's the homeground advantage.

ps. I know we weren't the better team, but I think we're sometimes just far too noble for our own good in sports. We tend to win when we're the better team, but when we're not, we don't have the gamesmanship smarts to negate advantages and scrag our own space. We're like that in soccer too. I mean, the ref was too scared to make a call against the Kiwis -- how about putting some pressure on the guy? I don't know. Anyway. Better team won.

[Sockeye Salmon]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Lantern, we got smashed. If Weepa could kick it would have been by plenty more.


Had a very excited pup at home giving me plenty (until I cracked it with him and sent him to bed, sometimes it's good to be king)*.






* The bride is a Kiwi and the pup is a rugby fanatic and absolutely considers himself a Kiwi too.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Lantern, we got smashed. If Weepa could kick it would have been by plenty more.

Had a very excited pup at home giving me plenty (until I cracked it with him and sent him to bed, sometimes it's good to be king)*.

* The bride is a Kiwi and the pup is a rugby fanatic and absolutely considers himself a Kiwi too.

Hey, getting smashed is one thing. Getting smashed and just taking it lying down is another thing altogether.

We didn't fire a shot -- legal or cheap or otherwise. I know it's a professional sport these days but some passion wouldn't go astray: the Kiwis were fired up and happy to cheat at every opportunity.

I almost didn't care as much about the score as I did our insipid display. Too timid by far.

[westdog54]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Huge game today and it will take a near perfect effort to beat the All Blacks.

I was listening to the ABC and they indicated that the Haka today will consist of a throat cutting piece. It's the full on Haka.
Now I'm all for respecting other Nations Anthems and in this instance the Haka but I think it's a bit rich to expect sporting nations to stand there (after already respecting their Anthem) and respect a performance that has a part of it indicating that they are going to slit our throats.

I really hope we get off to a good start.

The throat slitting motion is used to symbolise "drawing the breath of life into the heart and lungs", or "hauora", and is not uncommon in other traditional hakas. Its use in 'Kapa O Pango' has attracted criticism since it was first used in 2005 but I have absolutely no issue with it.

[westdog54]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Congratulations to New Zealand. Thoroughly deserving World Cup champions.

[LostDoggy]

Re: Rugby World Cup 2011

Congratulations to New Zealand. Thoroughly deserving World Cup champions.

Yeah, nah, hard to bag them too much after the year NZ have been through, but seriously, the ABs are the biggest chokers in world sport.

If it was held anywhere but NZ they would probably not have won the title, which just speaks volumes when they are clearly the best team in the world by a mile -- until they win a WC on non-Kiwi soil they will still always remain underachievers: winning this one by 1 miserable point against a terrible team has done nothing to change that fact.