Rugby World Cup - Sep-Oct 2007

[Dave]

belinda said:

OMG

Hayley i think will be supporting England as its her second homePoor Hayley is she to do it alone as half the forum have turned on their home team.

Belinda

Hi Belinda,

I don't understand it either! I'd have thought that whatever sport you do or don't have an interest in, it's natural to want your own Country to win? I was rooting for the All Blacks yesterday but of course, if they had won, I'd still have rooted for England in the Semi Finals. It will be of little consolation to you, but I think France made a short forward pass (which should have been penalised) in the build up to their second half try. Also, no way (IMO) should that NZ player have been sin binned for what he did but that's more a matter of opinion and I'm sure every French supporter will disagree!

The officials often have a big influence on the outcome of such close matches, just like in my favourite sport football (Man United 4-0 yesterday i.postimg.cc/9fYxy370/smilie-big-grin.gif ) and yesterday the decisions helped France but that's what makes top level sport so exciting - you can never be certain what will happen. Great rugby match anyway! England were lucky by the way, when Oz had a late penalty kick that would have won the match... and missed it!

So commiserations to Oz and NZ well done France and....

[glow=blue,2,300]Go England!!![/glow]

Cheers, Dave

[grant]

martin said:

Hi Grant
I didn't know that Hayley had the opportuntiy to go home prior to the Japan tour. That's just great for her and her family after just a very brief visit earlier this year.

Martin

Hi Martin

Perhaps you have not picked up THIS THREAD regarding a NZ Special Edition of Treasure which I suspect is partly the reason for her trip.

Best wishes
Grant

[Stephany]

Hi Dave,

I agree with you on the referee's decisions. But isn't it part of the game too? I have lost the count of how many matches France lost in different sports thanks to the "help" of referees. It's difficult to admit especially when you lose but what can we do? By the way, the referee of yesterday's match was English

Stephany

[Dave]

stephany said:

Hi Dave,

I agree with you on the referee's decisions. But isn't it part of the game too? I have lost the count of how many matches France lost in different sports thanks to the "help" of referees. It's difficult to admit especially when you lose but what can we do? By the way, the referee of yesterday's match was English
Stephany

Hehe, yes Stephany, it's certainly part of the game... all games, in fact!

I've been thinking about where my support would go if France should (horror of horrors! ) beat England in the semi finals. It would go to Scotland... but if they were also eliminated, I would want France to beat either South Africa or Argentina in the final!

Cheers, Dave

[fusilier23]

Forget it, after 2003 my support is definitely


GO[/size] ENGLAND

St. George for England!

[Stephany]

Argentina 18-13 Scotland (sorry to our Scottish members!) so the semi-finals will be :

England-France
South Africa-Argentina

I find it ironic that South Africa is the team that beat the English 36-0 and Argentina won against France 17-12 during the pool matches. How about a revenge match in final?

Stephany

[graemek]

Hi Sports Fans,
Have I missed it or hasn't anybody noticed that Hayley's
record of singing her Beloved Anthem, before victorious Allblack
games only, is still unbroken ?

Graeme

[Stephany]

You're right, Graeme - the record is still there. She did a great job when she last sang at the Stade de France and I'm sure she will want to come back for the next test match between France and New Zealand. If the Kiwi lucky mascot is present, the French team will have every right to fear the Blacks! Unless they are too 'westenwowed'

Stephany

[Nordly]

Wasn't there a NZ/other team game in the Cup today?? If not- ugh.

HayleyLynnFan

[graemek]

Hi Everyone,
This sort of article I always find sad. It comes from the Sydney Morning Herald. How do avid & supportive fans turn nasty so quickly after their teams have done their level best to win???
Graeme
Smell of death as rugby world turns turtle

Greg Growden in Marseilles | October 8, 2007

As the All Blacks fans left Millennium Stadium in Cardiff after their fifth successive failed World Cup campaign, a Scottish spectator called out: "Belts and shoelaces, please."

Well might the Kiwis be on suicide watch. Earlier, when the Wallabies departed Stade Velodrome in Marseilles after also being unceremoniously dumped from the tournament, a group of England fans pointed at the team bus, and chanted: "Advance Australia Fff … ha, ha, bloody ha."

Has there ever been a more horrible day in Australian-New Zealand rugby history? Probably not. In the first quarter-final, Australia ended their worst World Cup campaign by losing to a substandard England, suffering greater humiliation than they did four years ago when defeated by the same team in the final.

Losing a World Cup final is forgivable. Being defeated in a quarter-final by B-grade opponents isn't.

For the veterans Stephen Larkham and George Gregan it was a dreadful way to end their Test careers, while John Connolly's disappointing two-year coaching reign ended in disaster.

But this is nothing compared to the doom and gloom New Zealand is now suffering.

For 20 years, the All Blacks have supposedly been the best rugby team in the world. And all they have to show for it is one World Cup triumph - in 1987.

They were supposed to win the 2007 World Cup easily. Instead, the All Blacks were bullied out of the tournament in the second quarter-final by France, a team regarded by their countrymen as a complete embarrassment after their loss to Argentina in the opening match.

In New Zealand the cries for mass sackings have begun. The All Blacks rotation policy has been shown up. The head coach, Graham Henry, is doomed, as probably are his assistants, Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith.

The veteran All Black [censored] Anton Oliver aptly summed it up. "The feeling in the [New Zealand] shed is like no man's land. There's a sort of desolate decay and the smell of death," he said.

[graemek]

Hi Everyone,
Since Rugby events don't automatically flow in my blood here's the current status in chart form.
I constantly have to refer to it to stave off making a complete idiot of myself.


Graeme

[Stephany]

Hello everybody!

A new article about the All Blacks' defeat with a brief mention of Hayley's no-appearance at the Rugby World Cup was posted on Sportingo.

No excuses, the All Blacks fell to brilliant French tactics
By Hamish McBrearty
Mon, Oct 8, 07 00:20

After New Zealand crashed to their earliest Rugby World Cup exit ever, the search for scapegoats has already begun. But the blame rests entirely with the players.

This was supposed to be the All Blacks' year, the year they finally delivered on all the promise they have shown, the year they finally brought home the World Cup, the year they ended 20 years of frustration. Clearly nobody told the French.

Perhaps it is the hallmark of a genius that everybody thinks he is mad until he is proven correct. This was certainly the case for French coach Bernard Laporte when he selected Lionel Beauxis and Damien Traille to play a tactical kicking game against the All Blacks. Australia tried that in 2005 and were carved up by New Zealand's back three, so Kiwi fans were rubbing their hands in anticipation of another demolition.

Unfortunately for them, the All Blacks fell straight into Laporte's perfectly-baited trap. Instead of sticking to their own game plan, the they attempted to play the French at their own game which resulted in them needlessly kicking away possession.

At half time, the All Blacks switched to plan B, a forwards-based game, but Laporte's team also had a plan B: Defend, create a turnover and counter-attack. There was no plan C and it all fell apart for the All Blacks in the second half as teamwork broke down and players tried to win the game on their own.

The New Zealand public have, to a large extent, taken the loss in their stride but there are still remnants of the old knocking machine who are calling for heads to roll and looking for people to blame. The list of things being blamed is a long one: Referee Wayne Barnes, coach Graham Henry, assistants Steve Hansen and Wayne Smith, the NZRU for allowing the reconditioning process, the silver jerseys, no Hayley Westenra to sing the national anthem

[/color], George W. Bush (it seems fashionable to blame him for everything these days).

However, the one group of people who should bear the brunt of the blame are conspicuous by their absence: the players themselves. The warning signs were there for all to see for a long time. The dropped balls, the poor passing, the inability to break the line were all on show during the Tri-Nations but everyone seemed to expect everything to magically click into place when the World Cup started.

Even during pool matches against rugby minnows the lack of accuracy amongst the players was obvious. But nobody said anything, instead choosing to believe that this would all go away once the chips were down.

Like so many others, I got sucked in by the hype, assuming the All Blacks would win each game before it was played and focusing on the next one, never really giving their current opponents the respect that they deserved. I can handle the All Blacks being beaten by a better team on the day, and despite all the rhetoric going around, they were. The simple fact is they did not play well enough to win that game, and even if they had stolen victory in the dying moments, I doubt they could have beaten England the following week.

So once again the team have failed in their quest to win the World Cup, but they should not be made into pariahs just for that. It is time for New Zealanders to accept the fact that we will not win them all.

This team played one of their worst games of the season against a French team playing their best. That sort of thing happens in sport. If you want to blame someone, blame Laporte. He clearly didn't get the memo that this was the All Blacks' World Cup.[/size][/quote]
Stephany

[Martin]

Interesting and fair article, particularly this comment:

"This team played one of their worst games of the season against a French team playing their best. That sort of thing happens in sport".

That seems to sum it up!

Martin

[Stephany]

The article below will hopefully give a smile to everyone

Rugby, schmugby. New Zealand's got plenty of other reasons to be cheerful
By NATHAN BURDON - The Southland Times | Tuesday, 9 October 2007
Another failed All Black World Cup campaign getting you down? Well, cheer up, there's other stuff we are good at that doesn't involve dodgy English referees or debates about the rotation policy.

We might not have been World Cup winners since 1987 but, in the greater scheme of things, is it really that important? We might not be singing the All Blacks' praises, but we can sing.

Think Neil Finn and co and their Crowded House, or Kiri Te Kanawa, or maybe Hayley Westenra, who World Cup organisers banned from the event because her pure good looks and sweet voice had the ability to shatter opposition confidence like a crystal glass.

[/color]

Bigger, maybe, than the Webb Ellis Cup is the Booker Prize, the English-speaking world's most esteemed fiction honour and a New Zealander, Lloyd Jones, has been shortlisted for it for his Mister Pip.

No, haven't read it either, but it must be pretty good.

What is definitely bigger than the World Cup is King Kong and that was directed by New Zealander Peter Jackson, who is now one of the most influential movie-makers on the planet. He's not alone. Think Andrew Adamson (Shrek, Chronicles of Narnia) and Martin Campbell (Casino Royale, Goldeneye, Mask of Zorro). Think about Lee Tamahori, but not in stilettoes and fishnets.

On the small screen the Flight of the Conchords are hoping to win over Britain the way they have the United States. Starring New Zealand comics Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie, the show follows two musicians struggling to make it in New York. Also getting props on the box is Julian Grimmond, multi-Emmy Award winner as a producer for reality show The Amazing Race.

You see we can do it, and this is only scratching the outer mem-brane. Don't get us started on Valerie Vili launching a shotput into space, or our dominance over the Australians in badminton's Whyte Trophy. Go Kris Gemmell, who won a World Cup triathlon race in Greece at the weekend.

Rugby, schmugby. [/size][/quote]
Stephany

[david]

A shame that with Scotland being out there won't be the trio of England, France and Scotland taking part in the semi-finals but congratulations to all the winners anyway! Revenge would be sweet for England... though if it's ok with you all I won't say just yet who I'm backing!

Cheers

David