Will NZ win the World Cup??

this has to be the low keyest WC lead up ever

not much hype, excitement in the media

guess if the 24 games set out originally for NZ were going ahead there would be more of a buzz around


if NZ play's too there potential I'm confident we'll win easily

I kinda like the low-key build up...... Doesnt seem to be as much pressure being placed on our players in comparison to the 1999 World Cup.

I reckon there will be a few up-sets as a few countries outside the Southern Hemisphere have really improved there game.

However, I'm with you Fitzy.... I reckon we'll bring the cup back to NZ.

here here..... good call lads!

Im 110% confident of the AB's sending those sorry old poms back to their retirement homes as the worlds number 2 team where they can drink tea and eat biscuits and talk about how southern hemisphere rugby is too exciting and how the world should develop more 10 man techniques that will bore the other team into submission.

I HATE THE ENGLISH RUGBY TEAM MORE THAN AUSTRALIA, SOUTH AFRICA & FRANCE COMBINED.

boo hiss , do you hate them because you fear them?

I totally agree with you there Baynesy, I have a good feel about this WC, the team are looking sharp! and I reckon we will bring back the cup! OH LORDY that will be one happy day WHEN it happens!

No, I hate them cos they beat us by 2 points and think they are the best in the world but if they were the BEST why didnt they thrash us ? especially seeing as they have ALL the experience in the world blah blah blah...

They moan about Super 12 being to attacking and not being 'real' rugby.
whats 'real' rugby ?
isnt the goal in rugby to score more tries than the opposition ? sure penaltys are points BUT the goal is to score tries.

STEPHEN JONES. WHAT A WANKER.

I dont fear the English, no one here does and the AB's are going to run rampant in the final, an all out assault which will leave England stunned will be the look on their faces as Rocokoko schorches past for another try.

I'll be there cheer them on at the 1/4 finals! In november so they'd better win that game

Well, I guess nothing is ever 100% certain in sport, and especially at a world cup... on paper, we have the best team, and are best suited to the conditions. We've had the best build up (well, maybe equal with England).

But... a lot of those things might have been true about the '95 & '99 teams (probly not '91), but we didn't win....

Who's to say we won't go to extra time vs. England in the final, and lose by a drop goal? Or Australia start to play brilliantly in front of home crowds? Or Sth Africa rise to the occasion? Or France start causing some upsets?

Let's not jynx it

I don't think we will win, but for the reason people normally give, Remember, we finished 4th last time. That means to win we will have to play South Africa, Australia and England in a row... thats the hardest path of any team... I reckon by the time we make the final bumps, bruises and worse will have taken a heavy toll.

*but NOT for the reasons...

Have NZ played ANY games between thr tri nations and world cup?

No itchy. I think our draw for the quarters is great, a tough game but one we should win comfortably, then missing the french in the semis, a more dangerous opponent than the wallabies at the moment.

I still think we will struggle against england. Their players know its there last chance to win a world cup and players like martin johnson will have huge games. His leadership could well be the difference. If we have no significant injuries we would be slight favourites, but richie McCaw being out in particular and england would be favourites.

we will lose in the 1/4 finals

everyone has written off aussie,
but i reckon either then or nz will win.
england will do what they always do
fail

I'm glad to see that Ali Williams made it, he'll make a big difference when fully fit, you need that tall timber in the lineouts

It's still a risk though. If he doesn't come right we could be seriously in the shit. I don't think we would've lost anything by having Norm Maxwell there if there's any chance Ali won't come right. Norm's experience could come in handy in the big matches, and his form at the mo is bloody good. Also I'd say he's "tall timber" as well.

Mitchell should have picked 4 lock's in the first place instead of 3 opensides

Actually further to what I posted, I now see that if Ali doesn't come right he can be replaced. However there'll be a 48 hour stand down period before Norm (or whoever) could play a game...

Considering that theres 7 days between all of our pool games I'd say we should be ok there because its not gona be on game day " oh shit, Ali's hurt" they will determin a few days in advance if he will be fit.

On England- The English go on about how they beat us with their worse performance of the year, and claim that they will kill us if they play better. They also go on and on about how a 6 man English scrum held out close to their line. However, they seem to ignore a few facts:

1) The game against England was also the ABs worst game of the year, very new team in their firs outing and all.
2) There's a very good reason the Englisg had their worst game of the year, cause they were playing the All Blacks not some weakened Australian team, out of form South African team, or 5 nation teams who are still 3-4 years behind them.
3) As for the scrum, it's very difficult to overpower any scrum that keeps collapsing and infringing over and over. The ref blew 3 penalties in that sequence against ngland for scrumaging infringements. he reason the ABs gave up on the scrum was because England were doing a gra job killing every drive and wasting more time on the sin bin clock.

I'm not saying we've got it won, cause we don't, anything can happen in a World Cup. The English will stillbe very tough to beat, and anyone who right off the Aussies doesn't know what they're talking about. The Aussies have been hit by injuries all year and as we all know are fiercly patriotic, a home World Cup will inspire them to perform and they will be a very good side come the knockout stages. Plus we all know about the Aussies ability to pull one out of their ass.

I think newsboy put it best today when he said the AB's are like Brazil in football. They always have one of the strongest teams and play the most exciting rugby, however they can be beaten by teams who find both legitimate and not so legitimate ways to ruin their gameplan.

On our path to the final- I would argue differently I think the harder the road the better. We lost in 99 because we had such a soft run (England included) that when we reached France we weren't battle hardened enough to take the game to them. The harder the All Blacks run the harder they will be for their next game. Whereas going through a few featherweights followed by some also rans does nothing to strengthen a team, it builds misplaced confidence but that sort of confidence gets squashed when faced with a tough game where things don't go your way. Winning tough games however gives a team mental strength.

Nice one.....

I will be enjoying life if england win, gonna wipe the smile off all your faces

TONIGHTS THE NIGHT!

70-7 go the AB's

It's a concern that Spencer's goal kicking is so shit but luckily Carter was right on target. I hope Umaga recovers as he would be a significant loss and it looks like we're still having problems with our line outs.

Go the Springboks!! Things can only get better!

Tana looks like he out of World Cup

Who saw France Vs Fiji?

After about 60min there was a fight. Two frenchies were knocked flat on their arses and couldnt get up

The referee sent off one player from each team and gave France the penalty

Rupeni Caucaunibuca and Olivier Magne....naughty boys.

More importantly, don't ya'll think with what theyre wearing the French look more like theyre competing in the Tour De France than a rguby game?

Bloody girls.

i watched the SA game and abit of the england game and those jerseys made a big diff in tackles were u had to make a last ditch effort to grab something!

In order to tackle the player u need to get hold of the person and not just the clothes.

just remember the All Blacks started this and at least England SA and France didnt rip any jerseys

It was good to see a big victory on Saturday but theres loads to work on for the AB's....

If Umaga is not fit Nonu will be a fine replacement, especially against our pool d opponents and by time the big games roll around he will be fine pairing up with Mauger (if he's fit too!) if not he will be playing with Carter, which is still pretty solid.

Nonu is an ideal replacement, but the All Blacks will struggle to replace Tana's leadership,defenceive qualities, & expeirence.........


Figures crossed there's a slight chance he'll be OK, it doesn't look good tho

I wish they'd stop showing the bloody replay of it on TV, I hate seeing knee injuries on TV, having had one myself, I don't wish that on anyone

Hopefully mauger makes his come back shortly. It's good to see that they have Maxwell on standby as our lineout needs bolstering.

cauacauenbicas hit was disgraceful. If that happened in super 12 he would be out for more than 2 weeks, what a nutter.

The Fijian Rugby team are dirty, dirty filthy players.

NZ will be lifting the William Web Ellis Trophy.


Yahoo!!

Great Maxwell... A player worth 9 per game points to the opposition. Why not just put Flavell in we always play well when we're down to 14 players.

NZ team to play Canada

New Zealand: 15. Leon MacDonald (Canterbury), 14. Malili Muliaina (Auckland), 13. Ma'a Nonu (Wellington), 12. Daniel Carter (Canterbury), 11. Caleb Ralph (Canterbury), 10. Carlos Spencer (Auckland, vice captain), 9. Steve Devine (Auckland), 8. Rodney So'oialo (Wellington), 7. Marty Holah (Waikato), 6. Reuben Thorne (Canterbury, captain), 5. Chris Jack (Canterbury), 4. Brad Thorn (Canterbury), 3. Kees Meeuws (Auckland), 2. Mark Hammett (Canterbury), 1. Carl Hoeft (Otago). Reserves: 16. Corey Flynn (Canterbury), 17. Dave Hewett (Canterbury), 18. Richard McCaw (Canterbury), 19. Daniel Braid (Auckland), 20. Byron Kelleher (Otago), 21. Doug Howlett (Auckland), 22. Ben Blair (Canterbury).

Jono - last year I would have agreed with you. This year his discipline has been far better.

Poor Canada.

Did anone see the Namibia vs Argentina game ?

One guy (Namibian) lived 300km from the home ground and he has to travel there and back twice a week for training and the weekly game.

I liked the story about the guy who head butted a lion.

I don't think anyone has brought this up, but what did everyone think of Marshall's performance in the last game? I thought he showed why he should be our #3 halfback - incredibly high error rate, even when under no pressure. He has moments of brilliance, and can create tries, especially against weaker opposition, but he's not a percentage player.

I thought Marshall's clearances were piss-poor slow, putting Spencer under unnecessary pressure.
His line breaks were impressive but doubt very much he'll enjoy that much room against classier opponents.
I know he can pass quicker than what he showed against Italy; not sure why he didn't actually...

My impression of Marshall during that game was that he fucked up way too many times ...against a better team NZ cannot afford stupid mistakes.

He actually has the fastest pass out of our top 3 halfbacks.

There was a story on the sports page of the dom post about a month ago comparing our 3 with Gregan and Joost, and marshall was tops in almost all catergories tested.....

passing speed
velocity
avg steps before pass ect...

well they won't win if they drink than Steinlager shit - it's evil.

Are they still sponsored by Steinlager?

What's the deal with that and the RWC Heineken thing?

I dont think they have been 'officially' sponsored by Steinlager for about 2 or 3 years however Steinlager now say "unconditional supporters of the AB's".......

On the passing...you have to say Gregan has a sweet pass..he's held the aussie halfback spot for almost 10 years...that's impressive..Graeme Bachop had the same qualities in his pass....

Passing soeed and velocity don't count for shit for you take an age to pick the ball up, looks around for a while, and then take two or three steps before passing it. Quick ball is essential with such a talented back line talk all you want about rugby statistics but anyone can see just how slow Marshall's delivery is. Devine digs in, grabs, and fires. Whereas Byron basically burrows in and already knows what he's gonna do before he's got the ball whether he runs or passes he's off right away. Marshall has the best kicking game I'll give him that, but halfback kicks are rarely used unless extreme pressure is on and a clearance is needed.

Marshall is the 3rd equal most capped test player for NZ. He has bags of experience and is a great defender which will be crucial against the likes of Australia and England. If anything the ab forwards need to take more control up front and hold it in the forwards for a few phases and give quality front foot ball to Marshall and the backs. Marshall has an awesome running game as well.

Marshall is my #1 halfback for the reasons just stated above.

Experience
Toughness
Defence
Kicking
Running

were lucky that we even have 3 top halfbacks to choose from.

Yeah we are lucky with our half backs. I see that all of englands half backs are injured and that Austin Healey injured himself in club rugby in England although the poms might just playing media games.

as long as spencers in the team we will win.

There haven't been any postings about the RWC for a while so I thought I'd resurrect this little chestnut...

For what it's worth, I can't see the ABs losing to the Aussies this w'end, and I reckon the French are beat the Poms. Have thought from the start that it was gonna be an AB vs France final. Time will tell...

Don't wanna pick a winner of the final til I see both semis though.

France won't hold their form for 3 games. They will either put in a bad one against enland or in the final. Pleased to see the likely ref for the final is andre watson.

Yeah, I definitely think England will beat France. But don't count out Aus. They will be bloody tough. They haven't looked good all tournament, but they haven't lost yet either.

I'm picking us to win, but it's not going to be as easy as South Africa was. We're going to have to take all our opportunities this time.

If we're lucky, Marshall will be struck by lightening some time before the weekend, and won't be able to play ever again.... his error rate is stupidly high, and he takes the wrong option at least 50% of the time. Even if he creates 5 opportunities per game, I really don't understand how he can be the #1 halfback.

I think he has been outstanding in this world cup. He was inspirational in the last 10 minutes against wales and probably for the first time in his career I think he is definitely the right choice. He is playing as well as he ever has.

Yeah I agree with JAH. Marshall has been playing some of the best rugby of his career lately and now is the time for all the players to be at their peak.
And NO I'm not from Canterbury.

to be honest, i didn't see the wales game... (managing to miss a hell of a lot of the WC)... but just thought he blew a lot of oppotunities against SA, and in the earlier games

no umaga for the semi final

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/0,2106,2723103a10,00.html

If you had seen the last 20 of that game I think you would change your mind a little, he was inspirational and I don't use taht word lightly at all. He may not have won us the game but he certainly made sure we did.

I think we are beginning to peak and should be too good for Australia.

hopefully the lessons of '99 haven't been forgotten...

we looked pretty good going into the semis that time around... and started thinking about who we were going to play in the finals....

Looks like we may have to play France again judging by their performance against the Irish. Still you're right mutant we need to win the semi final first.

France look good, but haven't been tested- showed that the Irish were not up too standard ( how much did Aussie beat them by )

Eng Vs Fra is gonna be a cracker alright

Nz Vs Aus will be a good game but I think our skill & fitness will leave aussie behind in the 2nd half by 15 - 20 points


I think we have learnt our lessons from 99, we really hadn't been playing all that well in 99 & were out played & out scored by the scots in the 2nd half of our quarter final, the signs were on the wall.......

This year has shown a

better team
better fitness
more disciplined
greater confidence

France will win by 11

Abs will win by 22

I just wonder how all you doubters feel about Leon MacDonald now? I reckon he's definately shown that the selectors were right in picking him. Great QF for him.

Eng by 8-15pts

Ab's by < 12

All Blacks and France are the form teams going into the semifinals and that should be the outcome...

All Blacks 26..Australia 12

France 15..England 12

Eh seattle, I can't see any doubters of Macdonald on here. I had a few reservations initially but hes always been a good footballer and the only question marks over him generally has been his health and unfamiliarity with playing centre.

Abs by 20

england by 5

It's going to be a damn tough game against Australia as they will certainly raise their game big time. Go the abs.

Spot on jah....

The only reservations have been about his health, he's always ben a good player, he's versatile too, he can play fullback, centre and first 5/8, as he has done for Canterbury and the Crusaders.

I think we will dick the aussie's

Our creative backs will leave the league trio grasping thin air as we expose their defensive short falls.....

I cant believe that Australia are going into a semi final with the back 3 comprising former league players in their 1st year of international rugby.

NZ 33 - OZ 12
EN 26 - FR 29

Last week every one was talking up the springboks

this week no one is giving Aussie a look in, I think it will pretty close for a while........

yeah, i think it'll go down to the wire....

i hope we win tho.. i really wanna see George Gregan crying

I want to see kelleher go on for the last part and really get under gregans skin.

NZ won the toss to decide who is the 'home' team, so they get to use the normal Australian dressing room, and get a couple of other advantages

That should piss them off

Aussie are gonna be really fired up for this one. So anuthing whho thinks this is gonna be a push over is in for a surprise. I expect the game to be very close, even if I'd love to see us put another 50 on them.

Remember this is Aussie's world cup and the last thing they want is to be eliminated by a bunch of New Zealanders, even if they're expected to lose.

i think its fair to say that the answer is no.

was gut wrenching to see the boys outgunned

Looks like Wanker Mitchell's "Journey" came to a crashing stop, Maybe he can txt 468 and get $2 to keep going. hahaha

I feel the ABs Pain

It will be even better if england win as well, because that will really piss all the AB supporters off was loving it listening to radio sport this morning with myles (sp?)