Rugby World Cup: And the Winner is...

[finbar]

Yes, well, it's the thought - and the effort behind the thought - that counts.

That Argie coach remains way too well dressed for Leicester. Pop out at lunchtime and buy an anorak for him.

[Havak]

If you don't mind I'll choose to read that simply as "good effort"?

In the meantime I suggest we pay more attention to Jonno's comments on the Beeb than to two boys who gave Josh Lewsey, Mathew Tait and Dayglo 7/10. Wasn't Dayglo's only contribution a knock on??

The time of year our new coach is arriving he will soon learn the dress code himself - it is raining in the City as I write.

[finbar]

Put it this way. You're a promising student.

As always, J**** talks sense. In all the euphoria, what no-one - apart from us sage ones - has observed is that, for all England's crushing forward superiority, and it was CRUSHING, they couldn't score a try. The England backs warranted a collective ranking of 3 or 4. Same old problem. Nothing has changed since that warm-up match against the Taffys when England enjoyed the same crushing forward superiority and the backs hardly bothered the scorekeepers. The French know how to scrummage. And they have a potent backline.

The depressing thing for me about the Wallaby effort wasn't necessarily the scrum. I expected it to cop a pounding, and the Wallabies have mastered the art of living off a back-pedalling scrum. What p*ssed me off was the pathetic effort at the breakdown, an area they're usually pretty good at. That's what really cost them.

[MikeH]

Originally posted by finbar
Living amongst such balanced, reasoned, charitable and unbiased people has obviously rubbed off on him.

Although I found the BBC's player ratings for the Wallabies-England match yesterday. Astonishing. Every England player scored at least 8, with A. Sheridan earning a 10. Fair enough for Sheridan. The Australians seemed to average 5, with S. Mortlock earning a 5 and criticism for ignoring an overlap. Euphoria can have its downsides.

The Guardian, which I find tends to be the least jingoistic paper in it's sports coverage, had much more realistic player ratings. I think Sheridan got a 9 but the other England players varied between 5 and 8, with the forwards scoring better than the backs. Australia's players mostly fell between 5 and 7. I can't find a link online unfortunately.

[finbar]

Thanks for that. God bless the Guardian, one of my favorite journals. I've found their online Cup coverage, I'll try to find the ratings.

[finbar]

Maybe Dougie thought it was Wayne Barnes' car.

[Havak]

What a bizarre story. I wonder what the deal is?

What p*ssed me off was the pathetic effort at the breakdown, an area they're usually pretty good at. That's what really cost them.

George Smith was expected to be key to the outcome - and in a way he was I suppose. He didn't get much help from seven of his team mates but even so his performance was very muted. Only George will know what happened there (apart from a ton of sweaty grunters walking over him regularly?).

[finbar]

I suspect that Dougie, p*ssed as a newt, kicked in the sides of a couple of cars or broke off some wing mirrors or similar. That's the standard footballer's trick. Or may be he wasn't p*ssed and someone needled him about the match result. Or maybe he was p*ssed and someone needled him. Anyway, seems out of character, not that I know him.

George and the other seven were equally culpable. They were just too slow to the breakdowns. It's not as if it was always a case of having to disentangle from a smashed scrum that delayed them. They were too slow to third and fourth phase breakdowns. I lost count of the number of times I saw G. Gregan in there trying to clean out. That's not his job. Result: turnovers or achingly slow ball.

It harks back to what I said in my first post-match post. They succumbed to the England bogey. You have no idea how much that 2003 final haunts Australian rugby. It's a big black hole in their psyches. Under pressure from the outset, they choked. They weren't mentally tough enough. When they should have been hurling themselves into the breakdowns, they were losing their cool and giving away stupid penalties. Hullo D. Vickerman, hullo N. Sharp.

[Joe Kick Ass]

Howlett didn't quite get his frustrations out when trashing the team hotel with the rest of the ABs last weekend then?

Kiwis are really making fools of themselves this week.

The Wayne Barnes stuff is a (sick) joke...

[kiwiman]

Tickets For Sale,
Being a disgruntled Kiwi, my Brother in Law now has tickets for sale for both semis and the Final. Anyone interested can call Steve on 64272805640 He will be in Paris from Wednesday. You will need to dial your international prefix first of course.
Regards Stewart

[Havak]

Every country has it's minority of psycho's - I don't for a minute believe that the death threat numpties are in any way representative of New Zealanders as a whole.

As for their generally being angry and upset with Barnes that I fully understand. In time most will realise that one bad reffing call did not cost them that game.

You have no idea how much that 2003 final haunts Australian rugby

Then the players need a collective kick up the jacksey Finbar. The Wallabies had lost one out of five to us since that final - and the game we won was at Twickers. The players should have been able to cast off that demon.

The Wallabies are getting as bad at Tigers against Wasps - we stuff them all the time in League and Pool matches then lose in the pressurised knock out games...

[Joe Kick Ass]

RFU, after Gatland, Havak?

[finbar]

They need their heads stuffed up their own jackseys.

I don't know anything about ABs trashing hotel rooms. I'm sure it would have made the news. On the whole, it's the idiot fans and the NZRFU who are the problem. The NZRFU in particular. Mr Hobbs, their boss, has laid all blame on the ref, claiming he cost them 17 points. He makes John O'Neill sound like a shy, retiring violet. This, on top of the NZRFU wanting to cut the number of teams for 2011 on the basis - they claim - that local crowds will walk out of one-sided minnow matches.

What crap. The reality is that they know New Zealand doesn't have the infrastructure to support a 20-team tournament. Not enough grounds up to standard, not enough accommodation up to standard, et al. Having screwed up their bid in 2003, they can't be allowed to screw up the event in 2011. The worrying thing is that the incoming IRU chief is making sympathetic noises.

[Havak]

I think Gatland is hawking himself for every job that might be going jka - he has already been linked to Wales as well (after the Scarlets egotitst that would be a very good move for Wales).

Many a slip twixt cup and lip Finbar - no changes have been made to the 2011 format yet and with any luck the majority view of keeping the status quo will prevail.

I don't know much about Hobbs although he sounds like an idiot. What is a Chief Exec of a national Union doing commenting publicly on an official? Bad form Mr Hobbs - please place the rattle back in the pram.

[finbar]

Can this Gatland cove coach? The Wallabies will have lost out on Robbie Deans now, and I'd rather see an import at the helm, someone untainted by the poisonous stew that is Australian rugby administration.