Rugby World Cup 2007 - Twiddling Our Thumbs!

[finbar]

Andydog gave us that little gem last week.

It was more 50-50 in the bad taste jersey contest.

But what's happened to the good old coloured jerseys? Everyone seems to be playing in these silly stylised versions, with the colours bearing little resemblance to the country's real colours.

[Caligastia]

Originally posted by finbar
Well, I don't know. I think England have forgotten how to play well. I think they also lack a genuine on-field leader, someone who can kick ar*es when the need arises. The first half looked promising against the Samoans, a sad shadow of their former dynamic, dangerous selves. There was some rhythm and fluidity. M. Tait was proving why he should always have been picked ahead of J. Noon.

I can't imagine J**** having put up with the drivel of most of the second half. Mindless kicking, disorganisation, even drop goals for goodness sake. The couple of late tries resulted in a flattering scoreline.

Tonga are, currently, playing much better rugby than the Samoans, who are waiting for the Tuilagis to win matches for them. I only saw the last 20 minutes of their match against the Boks. Looks like the Boks took them too lightly. I think there was also an accusation of Bok biting.

Agreed, the Samoans looked to be in it until the very end. By the way, was anyone else irritated by that band that was continuously playing? Even during play we had to endure a cacophony of toots and crashes.

[finbar]

I did ask LdiCesares to track them down for me and drown them. He didn't reply. He's obviously fond of a brass band.

[Havak]

Well look on the bright side Finbar - if we do beat Tonga then we have a better tight five than our opponents in the QF.

Fear the drop goal?

No mention of the ridiculous TMO decision that gave Samoa a 'try' then? "Control" and "Downward Pressure"? I don't think so - Mr Luger would spin in his grave (were he dead).

[finbar]

You win some - courtesy of Mr Luger - and you lose some - courtesy of a TMO! Anyway, the TMO part of the equation was irrelevant. The ref should have called back the forward pass leading up to the TMO's invovement.

[Barnabas]

Chabal said the irish will not miss their opportunity against Argentina, because the Irish are Anglosaxons.

- I thought the irish were celts, not germanic

- Even if they were anglosaxons, that comment makes no sense, do anglosaxons never miss opportunities?

[Havak]

Alun Lewis is not my favourite ref Finbar so I wasn't suprised by yet another shaky performance.

As NZ were atypically error prone and Scotland simply ridiculous it's the Haka that drew more attention from the media here. It was that new one they made up last year but with the silly throat slitting removed (being 12 months old it stills counts as a 'tradition' so I am told).

I can just see Andydog getting apoplectic in Murrayfield as a section of the Scottish crowd very audibly heckled during the haka.

[Andydog]

No burst blood vessels from me my friend. If a small selection of Scottish fans don't understand the honour of facing the Haka and wish to heckle it, well, Scotland is a free country.

And I feel rather silly pointing out that the Haka as a tradition is more than 12 months old..

Anyway, after that game, I'm more worried than ever about the NZ prospect of securing the cup. The first half was much better than the second for the ABs. 20 handling errors and a high number of wrong options as the game progressed is a big worry when we have stronger teams to face shortly. ABs should have notched up another 20-30 points.

McCaw, Sooialo and Masoe all went very well. Unfortunately for Masoe he will remain in Colin's shadow. Hoare made a big impact when he came on and I rate him ahead of Oliver now, but Mealamu is my number 1 hooker. Hayman and Woodcock are great and Willliams and Jack are the obvious locks for the big games (I like Robinson too, but he is a risk now, having lost so much time through injury). Kelleher is clearly a notch above Leonard and Leonard will have Ellis breathing down his neck now. Carter isn't quite back to his best yet and had a bad day with his kicking. McAllister is a worry. He has tons of skills but often takes the wrong options and takes unnecessary risks. I would put Mauger ahead of him. Smith was safe at centre and seems to be building, so I would stick with him in preference to the other options of Toeava or Muliaina. I think Muliaina is better at full-back, although I think they should give McDonald more opportunity there. It is good to have Evans as a versatile utility/back-up too. Sivivatu had a shocker and he is better than this, but I rate Howlett and Rocococo higher.

So far I'm not confident the ABs can win the cup. It is unfortunate they have only been playing the minnows - this isn't good preparation as we all agree. However, they should have been much more clinical in their approach and the error rate is really inexcusable against much weaker teams. Let's hope they get it together from now on.

[Havak]

I was talking about the specific routine performed as I suspect you well know. The Haka is tradition - but new routines are introduced periodically. It's a little contradictory whether you see it or not.

Traditions are not safe in our game anyway (just look at the on field changes in the last twenty years) - but I'll not wind you up anymore.

[finbar]

Caligastia is, presumably, tucked up in bed asleep dreaming of All Black cup glory. I've started a temporary thread:

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=170495