Comments on: All Blacks square series in gruelling battle

By: ABMAN

ABMAN — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 12:03:01 +0000

Its still a little scary how easily NZ dispatched their rivals. Namely Australia in the S/F and England in the final 7 tries to three. 44-26 and it could’ve been more had Aaron nailed his kicks

By: westy

westy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:48:31 +0000

Better learn to spell!

By: westy

westy — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:47:55 +0000

Congdadulations to the NZ U/20 IRB World Rugby Champions .Two in arow. You build from the bottom up . Well done to the junior Blacks and also to the losing finalists England. Somebody is doing something right in both countries at this important level.

By: van der Merwe

van der Merwe — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 01:29:04 +0000

To be frank, I think the winning the trophy was the furthest thing from the players’ minds.

By: Hayden

Hayden — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 00:36:41 +0000

Katipo – take whatever comfort you can from the drawn series. Congrats to France on fronting up, congrats to the ABs for squaring the series when the heat was on. Hopefully the French have one more good game in them next week. BTW, OZ don’t have a snowball’s of winning back the Bledisloe. God, a couple of wins over Italy and all of a sudden they’re on top of the world.

By: ohtani's jacket,

ohtani's jacket, — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 14:11:41 +0000

It would be great if the DGT becomes a tradition.

By: katzilla

katzilla — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 13:48:25 +0000

Test Series aren’t won on aggregate. Drawn Series.
Congrats to France though, deserve the trophy, makes it worthwhile trying to get it back now.

By: ohtani's jacket,

ohtani's jacket, — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 11:22:54 +0000

Yeah, there’s no way I wanted France regaining possession on a missed drop goal attempt or turnover. Could you imagine the consequences if someone had thrown an intercept pass? I guess that’s not particularly courageous, but the forwards worked too damn hard to spoil that Test victory.

I don’t know who’s saying France won the series. Hell, I don’t know where they came up with this idea about how the trophy could change hands in a draw.

Anyway, it was a fantastic performance from the forwards.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:29:53 +0000

Personally, I didn’t give a monkeys that the trophy was lost if the match was won. When I first heard they had to win by 6 to retain, I said if they were ahead by less with time up they should kick the ball onto Aotea Quay and at 80 minutes I was yelling for Weepu to do just that.

By: Frank O'Keeffe

Frank O'Keeffe — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:23:11 +0000

I have – it was on the news this morning that because NZ didn’t win by more than 6 points, the SERIES went to France. I have a real problem with that, it doesn’t sound right.

By: Katipo

Katipo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:21:36 +0000

Hey Jerry,
I see it is being widely reported as a drawn series. So I guess it is. The French definitely won the Trophy though. I know Graham Henry doesn’t place a high value on trophies. So I imagine it will be OK if Australia win the Bledisloe?

And you are right not telling the players what they needed to do was not an oversight. Henry did know. It was his decision. But a stupid decision right? I hear that is what the All Black players are saying anyway… Piri Weeps is quoted here:

“Those sort of things you’ve got to know or be told. For us coming into the changing rooms and finding out that we lost a trophy because we didn’t score six points was kind of stupid to some of us.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jKeK8zdt3tnfwdBdV0C0aDSBtRfg

I’ll just add this to the list of Henry clangers like the reconditioning policy, world cup performance and so on. I have to ask you, is there any accountability for lost trophy’s in NZ rugby these days?

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:20:30 +0000

I don’t think winning the trophy constitutes winning the series and other than this thread I’ve not actually heard anyone saying otherwise.

By: Frank O'Keeffe

Frank O'Keeffe — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 08:59:08 +0000

A phenominal result for France.

I don’t like that France are one of only six teams to win a series on New Zealand soil when they only won one Test. It doesn’t feel right to me.

All the same it was advertised as a series, called a series, there was a trophy, and it went to France.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 07:07:03 +0000

No, it was a deliberate choice rather than an oversight. He felt worrying about winning by a certain margin, rather than just winning the game, would detract from the performance.

And despite France winning the trophy, this doesn’t qualify as a series victory.

By: Katipo

Katipo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:42:34 +0000

Isn’t that a glaring oversight by Henry?

Congratulations to France again for lowering the NZ flag in the series. I think they are only the seventh team to achieve a series victory in NZ. Great effort by them.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 05:36:11 +0000

I heard a bit of talkback with some callers (and that moron Murray Deaker) bagging the AB’s for kicking it out at the end instead of going for a score to win the trophy. Utter bollocks, win the test first and foremost. Apparently Henry didn’t even tell the players the formula to win the trophy as he wanted them to concentrate on winning the match by any margin necessary.

By: Katipo

Katipo — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 04:58:27 +0000

Hey Chris,
Shouldn’t your headline be “All Blacks lose series in gruelling battle.”

The Dave Gallagher Trophy is now held by France for the first time.

Congratulation to France for winning the series.

By: Nick P-G

Nick P-G — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 03:39:24 +0000

Latimer was awesome. Big Kev Mealamu impressed me too.
They are both clearly fetcher type players who did exactly what they do best, cause trouble at the break-down.
They proved the break-down won the game for the French last week by winning it this week and turning the tables of the score board.

That being said neither France nor NZ really impressed me. I dont fear them in the least come Tri-Nations.

By: johnno42

johnno42 — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 01:00:09 +0000

i’m just a bit amused by the headlines here in OZ. last week the abs were “comprehensively beaten” by 5 points and this week “ab’s lucky to narrowly avoid a series whitewash” by 4 points…i’m just hoping that the french can repeat their performances next week…

By: katzilla

katzilla — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:53:37 +0000

Probably the best game i’ve seen Thorn play in the Black jersey.
All three Loose forwards were outstanding and it was very heartening to see Latimer step up to the 7 role. Read was excellent with Ball in hand and Kaino provided the physicality that we needed at the breakdown and in close quarter defence.
Thorn was so fired up he was taunting the french in close to run it at him.

There was alot of flopping on the ball to protect it from both teams, and in this regard i’m not too fussed at Jonker because at least he was consistent across both teams.
Mills had a shocker and if not for CJ on two occasions that game was lost.
Donald………….enough said.
Cowan too slow and not threatening at all, Weepu is obviously our best halfback by a country mile.
Nonu strong, Smith consistent, Rok career over.

By: CronullaKiwi

CronullaKiwi — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 00:05:21 +0000

Agreed, france did not dominate the scrums Chris you need to watch the tape again. And Jonker was a disgrace he misses so many things. | thought the AB pack was awesome, especially Thorney, Kaino and Tialata. Worst game Donald has ever played in the black jersey and there are serious question marks over him. He could easily have lost it for us.

By: Jerry

Jerry — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 22:50:08 +0000

I wouldn’t say France dominated the scrums. They had the early going, but after about 20 minutes I’d say the AB’s had the edge if anything.

I thought the countback system for determining the trophy was odd – not that an aggregate points system was used, but that it required the AB’s to score MORE points than the French to retain (I figure it’s probably something like ‘if points are even, the winner of the first test gets the trophy).

And how crap was Jonker? Letting both teams flop all over the tackle and play it on the ground, missing multiple knock ons and seemingly completely lost. Good to know it’s not just when the Sharks are playing that he’s awful.