http://www.rugbyheaven.com.au/news/news/th...1695874557.html
This is quiet sad!!! As it is coming from the the people who should be setting the example. Instead of congratulating the French they keep on blaming the ref. Accept defeat and learn form it as it makes you stronger, sometimes I think it is the root of the problem for the kiwi's in the world cup.
If they actually accepted defeat and not blame others for their losses they would have corrected the problems and solved them. According to the leaders in the game they have no problems as it is someone else who has the problem.
The French were better simple!! There are always small decisions that influence big games no matter which sport.
First Suzie and now the the Ref!! I hope they accept defeat this time and then they won't have to blame anyone in 2011 as they will win it. [/b]
Daily Telegraph today:
All Blacks choke on arrogance
By Brendan Gallagher in Paris
Last Updated: 12:48am BST 09/10/2007
Where did it all go wrong? And even more importantly, why does it always go wrong? Those were the questions being asked by the shell-shocked, angry New Zealand rugby public yesterday as
their beaten team headed home yet again without the World Cup, or even a sniff of it. Their fall from grace could not be more painful.
How can it be that the self-styled greatest rugby side on earth, championed by Adidas as the template for teamwork and success across the sporting world, yet again failed to deliver when it counted? No longer can they dismiss the 'choker' taunts â€" time after time the All Blacks redefine the term at World Cups.
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Only once have New Zealand won the World Cup and that was when they hosted the inaugural competition in 1987, a tournament in which they were effectively the only professional team. Most of the other 'amateurs' pitched up for an end-of-season jolly and were not entirely sober for the duration.
If New Zealand are ever to regain the trophy which they believe is their birthright, they have got to get over themselves and take a long look at the way the rest of the rugby world perceives them. It will hurt, but the reward could be the Webb Ellis Cup.
The All Blacks are day in, day out probably the world's best rugby players but they have a fatal character trait â€" a pure, unattractive arrogance that trips them up every time. Occasionally some PR guru encourages them to show their nicer side, and in fairness the class of 2007 have tried hard, but it rarely lasts long and their administrators do them no favours.
To win sport's biggest prizes you have to absorb and learn, not lecture and preach. You must be humble. The All Blacks have never been humble, it is not in their DNA. They are told they are special from the moment they first pull on the famous shirt and they expect special treatment from the rest of the world at all times. The All Blacks ethos is their Achilles heel.
They are huge fish in a minute pool and everything they do or say goes unquestioned. If Graham Henry and the New Zealand Rugby Union want unilaterally to rip up the Super 14 and take their top 22 players out of the competition for special fitness training for two months, they plough right on ahead. If you happen to be Sky television, or the Australian and South African rugby unions, it is just tough. The All Blacks have spoken.
It was that arrogance and insularity that made them blindly defend Tana Umaga and Keven Mealamu when they nearly maimed Lions captain Brian O'Driscoll. They would have done the New Zealand game a much bigger service by banning the duo for two months apiece. Dream on.
There is extraordinary arrogance and pettiness over their commercially-driven haka, as though they were the only nation on earth allowed to express their individuality. So, too, the arrogant assumption that they always know better than the law-makers and referees. Unbelievable. Arm yourself with a law book guys, take an honest look at the match tapes and see just how much the All Blacks get away with.
They raid the Pacific to replenish their player stock, yet have New Zealand ever played a full international at Apia against Samoa by way of encouragement or even, perversely, a thank you? I think not. The truth is New Zealand are terrified that Samoa, Fiji and Tonga will get their act together and become competitive international teams who can hang on to their star players. On the evidence of France 2007, their worst nightmares could soon come true.
New Zealanders slag off the Six Nations incessantly but, bless them, miss the point entirely. Yes, the Tri-Nations is inherently more athletic and skilful, and produces some very watchable rugby, but the Six Nations is played on an epic scale, in giant stadiums packed with up to 80,000 mad, half-drunk partisans.
It embraces six rugby cultures, differing stadiums, climates and playing standards. The Six Nations breeds hard-nosed sporting brutes who regularly quarry out winning performances and learn how to win 'ugly'. Australia, with a wider sporting culture than New Zealand, also know how to win ugly, which is why they have taken two World Cups. In contrast when the lights go down and it comes to Showtime, New Zealand suffer horribly from stage fright.
It is their isolation â€" mental as much as geographical â€" that makes New Zealand so vulnerable. If they came down off Mount Olympus and joined us rugby serfs more often they would get everything in better perspective. And the World Cup would almost certainly be their reward.
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Any comments? It certainly explains their attitude.
Is there some reason why, when I paste articles into the forum, they have big spaces between the paragraphs which I haven't originally put in?
