New Zealand did not lose to France with their best side, only a complete numbskull would even suggest that!

“and Graham Henry concerned that the spectators didn’t see a good match of rugby because the Italians didn’t throw the ball about.” Of course he was, any rugby loving person would. With a game like that I don’t see ANY Italians are going to be interested in supporting a sport that seems dull boring. Remember in Italy, football is king. “Maybe the 80,000 Italian spectators actually were more interested in seeing Italy beat NZ,” If I had paid money to watch the match, I would be too with the way the game was being played, at least there is something to cheer about. For your information, I’ve ONLY supported the All Black’s since I started playing and watching rugby at 12.

“If any of you believe that NZ had the dominant scrum against Italy in Milan you must believe in Santa Claus – it was a massacre.” I don’t know about you but to me everyone else seems to think that NZ doesn’t have the dominant scrum, just a scrum that isn’t as weak as what the Northern Hemisphere folks are building it to be. I hate to be mean but I seriously wouldn’t be surprised if you didn’t know what half the rules of rugby were or how the game is played. NZ certainly has to improve ALOT to win the next WC, but other than that, everything else you said seems like bollocks to me (in my honest opinion).

There are 3 statements of fact in that sentence, 2 of which are wrong. Italy briefly got within 7 points in the second half for about 2 minutes and in the end lost by 21. And about half that AB side was second string. But the match was in NZ so you got that bit right.

Of couse, they would have loved to seen have seen the All Blacls beat Italy by 70 points as in 1987 but since NZ had picked 15 no hopers it would never have happened. Maybe the 80,000 Italian spectators actually were more interested in seeing Italy beat NZ, which they nearly did.

Gosh NZ, you lost to France in NZ with your best side, almost lost to Italy in NZ with your best side, and were very lucky to win this test against Italy. If any of you believe that NZ had the dominant scrum against Italy in Milan you must believe in Santa Claus – it was a massacre. You will certainly lose the next World Cup in NZ if you go into it with this attitude – Woodcock, Hore, and Hayman not withstanding – and I expect France to give you a premonition in Marseilles next weekend.

Mind you, I suspect he may come to regret the phrase “If the referee is not accurate we’ve got to put our hand up”. I am sure there will be a number of coaches keen to take advantage of this new transparency, especially if a refereeing decision actually affects the result of a match. It didn’t in this case, so if he is prepared to publically censure a match referee over what was ultimately a meaningless passage of play I would expect he will need to be at least as forthright once a match outcome is affected.

Yes, he is the IRB’s referee’s boss. Yes I agree, they usually tend to make mistakes, but USUALLY on the field – where you have to make split second decisions and not having the benefit of pause and playback. Which obviously Paddy O’Brien had the benefit of doing. Alot of people who SEEM to know about rugby, many people think that they do (especially on scrummaging but sadly its not that easy to interpret). You would think that a man trained in the IRB laws and regulations, with around 72 hours to review a DVD of the replay, would be able to see what was going on. His move, the apology and reprimanding Dickinson, would have to be a pretty big gamble to his reputation and position as a boss if he was wrong wouldn’t you think.

“If it was so straight forward you think he could take all the refs aside for a minute and tell them how to referee the scrum, then we would never have this discussion again.” This again SEEMS moot to me, if it isn’t straightforward, how can you still argue with the point: “but alot of other people who seem to know about Rugby disagree with him”. Like I said, decisions made on the field and those made with the aid of playback and time are 2 totally different matters. I can calculate 1297 to the power of 3 with the help of a calculator or manually given the time I need accurately, but under the constraints of time and need for an immediate answer, I would probable give you an inaccurate answer.

I totally agree with Gosling on his point where many people are “confounded” how Dickinson didn’t award a penalty try after awarding so many penalties in favor of the Italians. What I can’t understand though, is why they never thought about it that he was unsure of his decisions and although repeatedly penalized the All Blacks, it SEEMS pretty clear to me that he was still sure that the Italians did not deserve the penalty try.

These are my opinions, and I agree with you that everyone has a right to disagree!

The IRB rankings are based on collective, ongoing performance – not seasonal.

If the ABs beat England and France – then they fully deserve their No1 spot

He is a referee or referees boss. They make mistakes. Alot. In every game. In his opinion Dickinson was wrong, but alot of other people who seem to know about Rugby disagree with him.

If it was so straight forward you think he could take all the refs aside for a minute and tell them how to referee the scrum, then we would never have this discussion again.

If you want this article taken off you should go back and take off every one where Paddy Obrien disagrees with a point in it. Rugby thinker disagrees with Paddy OBrien, thats why it says “Sports Opinion”!

Rugby has a history of rule changes whenever the All Blacks are dominant. We can go all the way back to the 2-3-2 scrum and see that the racist Gerrymander, aka IRB, fears the loss of Bleetingish and Oilyish face. Time for the formation of the FIRB and a truly representational Federation of International Rugby Boards. One country one vote!

If South Africa were indeed the best in the world then they would hold there ranking?
(Though I did see a few SA fans suggest that the Boks drop games when its not in their interest such as the Lions last match, the tri-nations pounding by Australia, etc).

Still, one would think that world ranking would be enough motivation to get out of bed (they seemed pretty happy to get the ranking, now strangely, its all of a sudden not that important). That PDV and his funny old bunch of merry men…

Very strange for Paddy to publicly belittle his own ref?!! He must have been highly piss## with Dickinson’s performance (he’s pretty mute about Barnes’ reffing).

ENGLAND ARE THE BEST TEAM IN THE WORLD OMG! The ABs will have their work cut out for them this weekend.

Shockers for folding like an accordian if they don’t get their hit just right!

Oh, wait – that’s right, he actually said he thought Barnes did well and told NZ rugby fans to ‘grow up’.

Before anyone goes all Stephen Jones on me and says that I’m promoting “basketball Super 14″ rugby, the All Blacks until Carl Hayman’s departure north for the filthy lucre had the best scrum in the world, yet still managed to play attractive running rugby. Even now, with their best frontline of Tialata, Hore and Woodock they are as competitive as any nation.

The All Blacks have regained their number 1 IRB world ranking, they are still the biggest drawcard in the sport and once some of their frontline troops return to the fold (Hayman from the northern hemisphere and Ali Williams and Keven Mealeamu from injury), they will be a scary proposition.

Whether that will be enough to win a world cup, who knows? I’ve learnt over the years from many bitter disappointments that anything can happen in a four-yearly knock-out.

You really should’ve looked at the team list before writing this article, not to mention what constitutes a penalty try. A penalty try would’ve been like the Carter suspension — complete bollocks according to the laws of the game.

Nevertheless, you have a point about the All Black scrum. It hasn’t been the same since Hayman left and it’s gotten worse without Greg Somerville around, but it’s not simply a case of the tighthead. The All Blacks have a lot of young or inexperienced locks who don’t provide the same push as Williams and Thorn. This was a problem in the Tri-Nations last year whenever Boric came on. It’s something that Henry and Cron will have to work on.

What does that say about a) His knowledge or scrummaging or b) His honesty?

If O’Brien hadn’t been so transparent then we’d all be wondering what exactly had been going on in those scrums.

Probably because, unlike you and the ref, they know what they’re talking about.