Eye-gouging claim levelled against French

Cry me a river ...

They'd be thirty yards back gasping.

You're dreamin'. And the game is a lot harder and a damn sight faster now. Those so-called old hard ruckers wouldn't get to a ruck in time to do anything in today's game.

Give it a break, Andrew. Richie baits just as much as he is baited. What really concerns me is the suggestion of eye-gouging - which cannot remotely be classed as 'baiting' or 'niggle'. Why isn't it being reported? Too often this is ignored by teams because they know that tit-for-tat citing could uncover dodgy things they have done. Its sortof an unspoken agreement. And in many cases that might be fair enough. But eye gouging is dangerous - it should be reported.

Quite a lot, thanks, Bazza. We are the 3N champions and remain so until next year, just as you are RWC champions!

Theres a Tear Swell coming in! Surfs up!

Touche, The slow disintegration of the knee joint through a previous knock. Richie made a mistake though, it lasted a week longer then expected.

Well said Andrew. Pantellas I suggest you give it up because you cant touch us now you are just digging a bigger hole for yourself. We are "upset because we didnt thrash France"????....um.... I would say we are OVER THE MOON we are World Champions! Win the World Cup by 1 point or 25 = same feeling!

How many times has Dusautoir been cited for foul play in his career?

LOL? There's no LOL in that incident. Quade is now on crutches....with a bung knee. How "sir" Ritchie got away with that one is a disgrace. er, lol?

Panatellas "Four head high tackles", "Punch and knee attack from McCaw", Seriously? Get over yourself. As much as you want to contrive to make everyone believe that this was some deliberate attack from Richie McCaw, you're just grasping at straws. It was CLEARLY accidental. And as a matter of fact, I don't think for one second you even believe what you're writing, the vindictiveness of your posts bleed off the screen. Richie McCaw may break a huge number of rules at the breakdown but he has NEVER been a dirty player. He gets baited every single game he plays, Cooper, Hartley, Powell just at a start. What has McCaw's response been? Have you heard him whinging? I know you all love to hate him but don't try and smear the facts, or make insinuations to support your clear need to bring someone down. "Mean spiritedness". What exactly are you referring to? The fact that a sports analyst highlighted a bout of eye-gouging? Or is it your backwater opinion of anything a Kiwi does or says? You are either that naive to believe that the media or one individual represents the sentiment of the country or the more likely scenario is that you are just ignoring this. You can make all the derogatory comments about watching or playing rugby in King County you like but why not just unmask the premise completely, you don't like Kiwis. Admit we were lucky to win? We were lucky that Joubert refereed atrociously. Our fault, no, he had a poor game. Just like it wasn't France's fault that Barnes had a poor game in 2007. Were the French not lucky to win the week before? The Wallabies not lucky to beat South Africa? What purpose does it serve? We all watched the match. Are you insinuating that the AB's didn't deserve to win? I suppose that because the French turned up (as any non-inebriated rugby fan would expect) they earned it. I guess us kiwis should feel guilty that we won a tight game. I guess we're not allowed to celebrate like other teams do when they win. Do you actually know how much flak Kiwi fans cop every year? How about in just this last week? Every country has ungracious winners and sore losers. We're no different from the French aristocrats you aspire to associate with.

Er Winston According to Quinn - 'Dusatoir made no effort to console McCaw' and 'as a recipient of the illustrious fair play award, which surely involves elements of fair-play' he should have. Above from a kiwi blogger I read it was clear that Rougerie raked McCaw but Quinn wants us to believe it's Dusatoir. Parra had to leave the field for the rest of the game from the 30th minute as a result of McCaw's punch and knee attack and I didn't see St Ritchie console him or Dusatoir - McCaw a three time winner of the IRB player of the year award - I suppose only this year it's for fair play. McCaw stayed after his injury break five minutes before the end of the game and he certainly didn't look worse for wear in the parades the next day as opposed to Parra. Parra had kicked 3 from 3 against the Welsh and could have won the game for the French but St Ritchie decided to take him out. Fair play as Keith Quiin would say. I don't condone eye-gouging, kneeing to the face, punching to the head or twisting legs to maim a player for life. Why be so sanctimonious when you won a match with as much brutality as your opponents offered? The French didn't lie down and they scared you. You were lucky to win. Admit it I didn't start this conversation. It was Keith Quinn - the doyen of NZ commentators.

sounds like someone is upset cause the ABs are the world champs. so eye gouging is ok? Did you read the headline or did you just want to vent at kiwis

Well said. In the good old days cheats like McCaw would have been rucked into oblivion. He would have been carried off the field looking like he'd been dragged off the Somme across a sea of shrapnel. Live by the sword, die by the sword. McCaw's offside play was so obvious in the final that I think his heydays are gone. No way referees will turn a blind eye from now on.

So Saint Ritchie is in the clear again. Well what about when he deliberatly head butted Quade Cooper's knee - LOL

French Surrender monkeys? That's nice coming from a nation of green pacifists.

Please NZ fans. Four head-high tackles by NZ in the first half not penalised, Parra smashed out of the game by St Ritchie (a punch and a knee to the head) and now St Ritchie who was offside at every ruck complains that he is rucked off the ball (which NZers want to bring back) and now a gouging claim from veteran NZ commentator, Keith Quinn. He who has never mentioned the greatest thug who played the game 'Sir' Colin Meads and that other great thug 'Sir' Richard Loe. I think that special love affair France has with the All Blacks is all over. No thanks to France for allowing them to play in the their precious black jumpers when France won the toss. I think these claims are retaliation by Quinn for a non-NZer to have won the IRB player of the year award in a year NZ won the World Cup. . Oh Kaino or Nonu should have won - even though they were totally outplayed in the final by Bonnaire and Mermoz. As well NZ lost the Tri-Nations so they weren't the dominant country in the world leading up to the cup so spurious claims that Dusatoir didn't deserve it are a load of hogwash. Duasatoir's play in the final was the greatest I have ever seen by a single player in a match and as he said in his speech after the match he was determined to show that France could rise above all the insults of the NZ media and people which were inflicted on them with in the week before the match. Quinn implies that Dusatoir attacked McCaw. Wazza - you make me vomit - to 'NZ's credit they didn't cite him'. Because St Ritchie would have been cited by the French in response for his attack on Parra and suspended. I don't think the French will be put off by the juvenile booing that you inflicted on Quade Cooper. France is the richest rugby country in the world and to play and watch rugby in 'l'ovalie' makes watching rugby in the back blocks of King County the ultimate in banality. I suggest Ritchie retire now as all this carry-on will now see his 'what me ref' whenever he is penalised - no longer work outside of the land of the the long white cloud. KIwis are upset because they didn't thrash France which they thought was their right and haven't got the recognition internationally that they craved as they were the second best side on the night and are now responding as they normally do - blame someone else - Kieran Cowley in 1991, Suzy in 1995, Jonah Lomu in 1999 - because he was the only All Black to stay on the field to congratulate the French on their win, Carlos Spencer in 2003 because he is Quade Cooper's uncle, Wayne Barnes in 2007. and now even though they won - Thierry Dusatoir, a French engineer, who displayed such magnaminity in defeat compared to the All Blacks' mean spiritedness in victory.

I thought he was a saint

Just saw the footage on Reunion (rugby show here in NZ). MCCaw was at the bottom of the ruck - prone - and Rougerie dives in head first, and head butts McCaw. He then eye-gouges McCaw, raking his fingers across McCaw's eyes. Malicious intent and cowardly. To NZ management's credit, they didn't want to take the shine off the victory, and didn't cite him. As for Parra, he's picking his head up after a tackle and McCaw is the arriving player, trying to remove Dusautoir, who is over the ball. No intent from McCaw (his eyes are on Dusautoir, not Parra) just the wrong place at the wrong time.

I was absolutely stunned on Monday to find that the French captain was named IRB player of the year......what a joke! . On Total Rugby John Eales said that the the year was broken into percentages as to the performance of the player with the world cup taking center stage , and especially the semi and finals which would deem who scored highest.So .... 1. the French were rubbish in the 6 nations and did nothing of note. 2. the team behaved liked amateurs in the tournament , spoilt babies that should have been captained on and off the field by a proper leader not disrespecting their coach.They are supposed to set an example to young kids around the globe! 3.And once again the dirty play thing raises it ugly head with the French.Doesn't anyone remember John Eales face after the 1999 final ? That year I lost all respect for French rugby .They are poor losers and for their captain to have a go at McCaw in his side and again with the knee was disgraceful. So how does he get more points than Pocock or McCaw. As a leader of men on the field , to set an example of ethics , fair play and team cohesion and sportmanship he doesn't deserve the title of IRB player of the year . The incident with Parra was accidental and McCaw is not a dirty player who has lead his team with distinction this year (with a lot of pain) and is an example to all of how to play the game.