Rugby World Cup: And the Winner is...

[LDiCesare]

best scrum half of the tournament

I'd have voted Rauluni personally. Du Preez is a great player, but Rauluni manages to do extraordinary things with a suffering pack. A scrum half can't be said to be really good until you've seen what he's worth with a dominated pack.

[lightblue]

France were a touch embarassing tonight, or were Argentina just good...

[LDiCesare]

Argentina were very good, but France didn't play rugby. They played like 10 year olds. When you're 3-3, you kick the damn penalty rather than try to score a hypothetical try on a lineout. France didn't kick 2 or 3 penalties in the first half, resulting in a desperate need of points. Thus, they attacked from nowhere and the Argies understood that, and defended very well. The French hardly ever kicked over the defense or even tried to find lineouts. They ran around a bit like headless chickens while Argentinans knew what to do: They ran straight at their opponents to counter them. Very beautiful match from Argentina but really disappointing for the French, who'll need to find a leader that teaches them tactics and to read the game, for a change.
(edit) And most of all, Argentina acted like a team, like a whole, while the French were often disjointed and not together. They made a great show of rugby tonight and I hope they'll manage to get more players and maybe some competition for them to play in more regularly.

[finbar]

I agree with all of that. The Argies outthought and outplayed them. The French ended up settling for a version of 7s rugby.

Goodbye, B. Larporte, farewell and amen.

[kittenOFchaos]

This WC vs rankings debate, it doesn't take into account that for test matches English players don't actually play much together as a team. In the WC, we've had them together for a decent period, they've started to gel as a team and there has been improvement.

As for rankings, they ignore things such as the fact the Frenchies can't beat the Argies and yet get a higher ranking.

For those that think the WC robs the NZers, they didn't show anything great this WC that made me think they were odds on winning - this in part as their group didn't challenge them, at all.

[Barnabas]

Altough I am not an argentina I live in Argentina

Rugby here is played mainly by high class kids who study in bilingual irish or english schools

This past tournament has helped to make rugby more massive, I heard obn the radio that there was something like a wave of kids calling rugby clubs wanting to play rugby for their first time.

Something I ve heard many man say times is "I feel like a woman watching soccer" because for most people watching rugby, it was their first time and didnt understand well the rules

[LDiCesare]

It's great to hear more poeple are interested in rugby, particularly in Argentina, whose team has long been good but lacks international recognition.

[finbar]

Meanwhile, Italy bumbles along.

[Agathon]

The final is a disgrace so far. Almost as bad as the SA vs NZ one in the 90s.

[Barnabas]

Very boring final

[Agathon]

Utter rubbish. It looks like SA will win, but I'm done with the game. What a waste of two hours. It actually made the football world cup final look entertaining.

Rugby sucks now. It used to be good.

[LDiCesare]

I thought this was a nice game to watch. Of course, neither team looked like they wanted to score tries, which is a problem, but the forwards play was great.

[kittenOFchaos]

A brave effort, a nice try that didn't get recogised, ultimately a match won by an awesome SA lineout.

[finbar]

Close call on the try but I thought the foot definitely touched the line before the ball was grounded. What clouded the issue was that the foot lifted again after grounding. Anyway, brave decision by the Boks, I thought, to play England at their game. Others have tried in this tournament and failed. England brave, Boks too good. Fascinating match.

[Joe Kick Ass]

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