Rugby World Cup Thread

are the kiwi's choking here!!

 

congratulations the all blacks...... chokers no more!

 

Wasn't pretty was it?

 

the frogs did better than expected wasnt that the same score we went out on ?

 

pretty brutal perhaps..... but ultimately effective.

France turned up and gave it one hell of a go.

Pleased for the country though as they have always been a rugby nation and held a great tournament. A great moment for their nation after the catastrophe of the earthquake.

 

They were, must make it worse for you Welsh boys,
they were there for the taking.

 

No complaints from me.... the Kiwi's deserved it and Wales proved they didn't!

 

Northolt, you are so right. Wales could have beaten this AB side. However, due to our own mistakes (missed kicks) and another "incident" that I'm not going to rehash, the records will show that New Zealand are the 2011 World Champions. Many congratulations to them.

 

glad it's over..

 

Well said Swan. The rules are there in black and white and Refs are told to send players off for a spear tackle. I, like all in the Home Nations, wanted Wales to win but with some of the arrogance that was posted on here about how Wales had the trophy all but wrapped up put me off a bit.

They had a good tournament but in the end they lost 3 out of the 4 games they played against ranked sides, beating only Ireland. Its another tale of glorious defeat I'm afraid.

 

Ivor.......We could have beaten the AllBlacks....... Yer right of course we could..

 

Hoopster, Wales might have lost those 3/4 games (by a combined margin of 5 points) but I think there were extenuating circumstances, I hope you'll concede. Many neutral observers agree that Hook's kick against the Boks was good - which would have been a win. The French game we all know about - the result decided by the whim of a referee who should never have been there in the first place. As for the rules, I'll point out to you as I did Swan, it was NOT a spear tackle. It was, at worst, a tip tackle. The guy was dropped, from fairly close to the floor and it came down to interpretation from a referee of French/Irish descent. He copped the fury, not only of we Welsh but of so many pundits, experts and ex-players, they are too numerous to mention here. But, to give you a taster; Francois Pienaar (South Africa), Brian Moore, Gerry Guscott, Lawrence Dalaglio (all England), Sean Fitzpatrick (New Zealand). They all made the point that, like many rules, those set out were guidelines. They went on to say that if all the rules/laws/regulations of the game were observed to the letter, it would be impossible to play a game of rugby and Rolland's decision was far too harsh in the circumstances, bitterly condemning him in the process. Are all these people wrong? If you and others decide to fly in the face of that sort of opinion, well it is your prerogative..........

As for arrogance, I didn't see too much of it. Delight at our performances; surprise that such a young team were doing so well; optimism because that's how fans are, yes, I agree and those posts far surpassed the odd one of arrogance. I suppose it's all the more galling because NZ showed that they were quite fallible in the Final and our 14 men gave France more problems than they did even though they eventually hauled themselves over the finishing line. Had they played like that against Wales, I think Wales could well have won - providing they nailed their kicks, that is.

Anyway, it's all set for an intriguing 6 Nations. If I was a rugby player I wouldn't fancy facing Wales. You can only stand so many "glorious defeats".

 

Dai, the French nearly did and they could barely handle our 14 men - would have lost, as you well know, had we got those kicks. I based my remark on the way the ABs barely squeaked home in the Final. Early in the tournament, and I have said as much in my posts, I made the ABs favourites and felt that they would be too much for Wales. But if they had played us in the Final the way they played against France, I feel that we could have been in with a good chance.

By the way, Dai, a little lesson in the nuances of the English language. I did say "could have", not "would have" and there's a world of difference. One more thing, as you know, I never object to anyone disagreeing with me, we are all entitled to our opinions and debate is the essence of this Board but in future I suggest you keep your sarcasm to yourself.

 

we could have don't wash, the fact is we didn't and that's what counts at the end of the day. to win you must be good in all departments and we were lacking in the kicking department and because of that we lost 3 games against the better sides on the day....France looked good against the AB's but not good enough to win the game, It has been an amazing world cup throughout and wales played their part. If we only had a kicker we may have had a better one, but there you go we didn't and we finished as semi finalists which is bloody good.....

 

Thought i would leave it a few days for the dust to settle on this weekends result..
After waiting all this time the team did us proud even though they only won by 1..
Always good to see the best team win..
Why does the losing team always blame the ref.

Anyway enough about the mighty QPR.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who responded to this thread..
Normally i only get two or three replys to my threads, even the kids were wanting to know how many views it got..

As sad as it is to say the abs probably deserved the win although there were lots of kiwis praying in the last 20 mins (pretty sure they would have thought it was the worst ever game of rugby ever if england had won 8-7)

England were hopeless
Ireland played better and got further than even they expected
and wales were kind of unlucky (i dont think they would have beaten the ballbags in the final.even with 15 men...didnt beat oz for 3rd) although having said that i think they will win the 6 nations for the next couple of years..

Musty you are mid table in the prediction table,,,dont forget to put your predictions in

 

A mega thread Kiwi, well done

 

excellent thread but as in 2003 when i was working at the WC in Bris I am glad its over

 

lol which prediction league, i am in so many

 

oh do come on musty..
you have 1 point in the qpr prediction league

 

6 weeks for a 20 team tournament is a bit long
32 teams at the real world cup and its over and done with in 4 weeks
even the olympics is finished quicker than the rwc