Even When Schaulk wanted to take the pub sign home. Its now being auctioned anyway

good on you Frank, Wishing Wallabies best of luck on your December tour. Wales will be tough.

Hang on,but Ian smith from the same group of news paper said this ” Craig Joubert was excellent, firm and calm in both the semi and the final. Best of all, he also let both games flow. David Pocock, Kurtley Beale and Frans Steyn were my top three scene-stealers.”

Spiro
It was a great article and a couragous one.

I agree that Joubert did a reasonable job, there was no forward pass uncited like that in the third and fouth playoffs. He set the tone on how he was going to ref the game and let the game flow.

French played well in the final, no doubt about it. But they were not good enough to deserve victory. None of the knockers seem willing to accept that it was the chances that France didn’t take cost them the match. In addition to your observation. I would also add the following:

France made a tactical blunder by making a substitution of the half back with a rookie in the 75th minute, whose only contribution was a knock on which gave all blacks possession and the All Blacks held on that possession to win the match. Yes The French played with passion, Even though the French forwards were outstanding but they never had the attacking threat in the backs to match the power of their pack. and Yes I agree that they wanted to milk a penalty rather than trying to score a try.

AB only deserves to win the touranment, but they also deserve to win this match. To quote Keo’s column in Business Daily

“It is easy to forget the obstacles New Zealand had to overcome because of France’s effort but it would be doing the defensive quality of this final a disservice.

France had offered nothing at this tournament. They had been awful and had been beaten twice in the league stages. They were told they were a disgrace to the romance of French rugby and the World Cup heroics of their predecessors. But they are France and with the French you never know who gets out of bed, let alone who pitches up to play a game of rugby.

McCaw and the All Blacks deserved the win. Not just because of their defensive effort on the night, but because of what they have dealt with at this tournament — expectation, pressure and injury setbacks.

Home-ground advantage is big in any tournament but in World Cups it has been a curse. New Zealand are the first host nation to win the World Cup in the professional era and they did it with their fourth choice at flyhalf, Stephen Donald, for the final 45 minutes.”

And to add to that they did with Weepu playing through the last match with a groin injury.

Wayne,
I dont know if you have reviewed the footage independently or you are just watching Matt Williams clips. When I review the videos around the 75th min mark. Jerome Kaino was definitely on his feet when he picked up the ball. This part is conveniently cut off in Matt Williams videos, Kaino then got tackled and lost his footing and spilled the ball forward. and the ref gave a knocked on. In the 76th min, McCaw got there just before a ruck was called and was entitled to tackled the player with the ball. Of course he calculated his timing perfectly so that when ref called ruck, he would already be there and not considered offside as long as his hands were not touching the ball. This is also the same moment he was eye gouged by Rougerie. The correct decision would have been sending Rougerie with a red card and award a penalty to the AB.
Matt Williams appears to curve fitting footages to his pre-formed views. Wasn’t he the one who says it was alright swap the ball for a penalty kick?

Louis
Your team played very well but you lost. Why didn’t the French nail those two penalties when you had the chance to, then you would have won. and you wouldn’t have to go on web sites to vent your frustration. Can you
(1) name the precise footage that an injustice have been committed, (2) the rules that was breached but not referreed, and the reference to the clauses in the IRB rule book so that we can check independently and (3) How that breach would have impacted the game. I heard you the first time, just repeating your accusations ad infinitum does not make your argument more pervasive.

I’m glad it turned the way it did. It wasn’t one of AB’s best games, but it was good enough. No team has ever won the cup and lost a match. It might happen some day, but fortunately it didn’t happen this time. I know people say France deserved to win the match, but I say All Blacks played well through out, deserved to win the tournament. At the end of the day, we won not because we deserved to, but because we were good enough to, we were desperate enough and we wanted it more.
I predict this one point victory will become a blessing in oncoming years. Winning by just one point, AB are crowned the Champions of world rugby, we got that monkey off our backs. New Zealanders can look on brighter side of things. More importantly, the wafer thin margin would keep us planted firmly on the ground, keep us humble in our success. Because we know being ranked number one in intervening years means nothing in the world cup. We will not take anything for granted. Being humble and working hard, we might be blessed with this little gold cup in NZRU’s trophy cabinet more often than we expect.

I watch on the Fox as well. I would like to have a selective mute button on Kearns and Martin’s commentaries. The other two are not too bad.

mfree
I have no issues with the Wobblies. In 1999 and 2003, I supported them after AB were knocked out. I would be here to congraduate their fans should they win a world cup in the future. It was about time that you follow the lead of your Wallabies such as Ioane and O’Coner and be more gracious. While AllBlacks have never won a world cup away, your beloved Wallabies have never won a world cup while being host. They lost to France in a semi in 87 and in 03 lost to England in a final, both matches were played in Sydney. They would be desperate to win at home which goes to show how silly your argument is. It also implies that your team were not worthy champions because they could NOT even win on home soil.
Your rants about kiwi is so out of order. During the Victorian bush fire two years ago. New zealander fire fighters were the first to cross the ditch, standing shoulder to shoulder with victorian fire fighters. They are highy respected and appreciated by all Victorians. Your are such a sour grape.

If there was to be consistency, then fines would have to be imposed if players past the 10m line. If players were allowed all the way to halfway line. Then you might as well allow them to kiss each other as well.

McCaw was eye gouged around the 76th minute. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/5845375/Richie-McCaw-eye-gouged-in-final-Quinn.

Quinn said: “McCaw received medical attention for several minutes and then gets up, you can clearly see it on TV, he speaks to the referee, which looks like reference to the incident.

He said while the incident could be seen, the video didn’t reveal who was responsible, but his information came from someone “very close to the New Zealand team”.

He thought it explained why New Zealand and French players didn’t embrace at the end of the game or trade pleasantries in the speeches.

“There was little to no contact between the two teams at the end of the game. They might have been concerned about what had happened, I don’t know.”

To those who accuse McCaw of cheating, just remember this. If McCaw was playing for the Aussies, he would have been made Australian of the year. if he was playing for South Africa, a statue would have been errected in his honour. All sevens worth any money at all, they have to operate at the boundary of the law.

So Where was your team when AB was playing the final?

Yes:) I am saying it ahead of 2015

Johnno
Four years ago when we lost to France by two points I said if All Blacks were good enough, they would have won despite Wayne Barnes poor decisions. Today I say this to you. If your team WAS GOOD ENOUGH, your team would have been in the final. If the French was good enough, France would have won the final even if Refs decision was’t always on their side. But they didn’t, AB did.
McCaw coped a lot of physical brutality for 80 minutes, I saw stomping on his foot, kneeing on this back and his head. Though you seem to think the French were saints. There was no evidence that Parra didn;t cope one by accident. Rugby is a blood sport and collisions result in injuries
History doesnt remember whingers, only champions and this title belong to the All Blacks for 4 more years.

Johnno
Four years ago when we lost to France by two points I said if All Blacks were good enough, they would have won despite Wayne Barnes poor decisions. Today I say this to you. If your team WAS GOOD ENOUGH, your team would have been in the final. If the French was good enough, France would have won the final even if Refs decision was’t always on their side. But they didn’t, AB did.
McCaw coped a lot physical brutality for 80 minutes, I saw stomping on his foot, kneeing on this back and his head. Though you seem to think the French were saints. There was no evidence that Parra didn;t cope one by accident. Rugby is a blood sport and collision results in injuries
History doesnt remember whingers, only champions and this title belong to the All Blacks for 4 more years.

I know people have been saying AllBlacks vs Wallabies was the grand final. I reckon it is bullock. This French side, if they had played Australia, would have beaten them.
1. The french players are battle hardened, many of them were in the 07 world cup, the Wallabies are pubs by comparision.
2. They have strong scrum, strong lineout and strong back rowers. Wallabies have only Pocock and Stephen Moore
3. They are good under the high ball.
4. They have shown they could pressure the All Blacks for at least 10 minutes in the pool game and probably more. Wallabies have not.

Wallabies have better wingers. But they were not used much. On the other hand, the French backs will have plenty of touches.

I dont believe what the press is saying, they will be up for it, at least for 40 to 50 minutes. AB shouldl win because we are more desperate, more accurate, more tenacious, more powerful and most of al we are playing at home. We might even win by a higher margin than the semi, not because the French is less of oppenents, because we will kick better and play better. But it will take more from AB than when they played the Aussies.

That was an awesome game. AB dominated all aspects of the game for the 1st 60 mins. It was a 9 out of 10 for me. I heard from the Interview on Fox sport that Weepu was ill. Can someone from NZ provides an update? That would explain why his goal kicking was a bit off.
I didn’t see it on TV but I heard from commentary that AB forms a guard of honours for the Wobblies and the Wobblies return favour afterwards.
Aussie are always good losers but bad winners while we Kiwis are the other way around. So it works in perfect harmony when AB keep winning.

We want to watch a good game, not a game fixed my ref’s decision. The red card was not warranted. In one game (AUS vs SA) it was free for all, in another game it is heavy handedness. Poor ref decision spolt the game. He tried to make it up by giving Wales more penalties. But Hook was poor, and stephen jones not much better.
There is one more game for Wales next week, the losers final.

Not only Beal has x factor. He is also good under the high ball. ASC is adequate but he was not assertive under the high ball in the past and hasn’t played in that position for a long time. AB should pressure him with high ball just outside the 22 with chasers running after their kicks.
Of course all blacks would have to kick well especially if it is going to be wet. Is that the current forecast for tomorrow?

oneteam,
Determined to enjoy the game even if the All Blacks lose. But I’m quietly confident. If they beat the wobblies, it would be so much sweeter. No team that loses a pool match has ever won the final……Wobblies should have done better against Ireland, they are not called Wobblies for no reason. If 2003, we had Carlos Spencer. In 2011, you have Carlos Spencer II. Both being coached by the same bloke. Its been a few games since Cooper threw a no look pass. Its about time he does it again.
The longer it takes to win a world cup, the harder the celerabation would be.

A different perspective here:
http://tvnz.co.nz/rugby-world-cup/aussie-trash-talk-plays-into-all-blacks-hands-4463241

If history counts for nothing, then the two games that the Wobblies won against AB in world cup counts for nothing.
If history counts for something, then the statistics that no team with a loss has ever won a final should count for more, as there has been 6 world cups and plenty of matches played, and all Aussie fans should be reminded of that.
Take your pick. I dont care.