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Australia vs New Zealand

The DVD of the final went on sale at a few stores this week. At the Warehouse the first batch sold out immediately. Hoping they will have the second batch in this weekend. I am not gonna miss out getting this DVD....because not many kiwis including myself would have bothered recording it lol! Apparently the DVD has the Aussie commentators which is excellent as they are a great team to listen to. Perhaps the DVD was originally meant to to be for the Australian market?????
 
Expect a few green and gold "World cup winner" t-shirts to be rebranded in the coming weeks.
 
Can't wait for the next time the Kiwis and Kangaroos play because somehow I think NZ has figured out the basic structure to halting the Aussie 50 pointers. I wouldn't say that NZ will win every test against the Kangaroos for the next five years but I do think it wil be close from now on. Competitive would be the word.

However I can't say if GB will be close when they play the Kangaroos. They are a great attacking team but defensively they might need to tighten up a bit. If they look at the Kiwis and how the Kiwis defended then they should do very well. Defence seems to be the thing that is letting them down.
 
I don't think England are, player for player, any worse than the Kiwis. That's the utterly infuriating thing for me. They just defended better as a team and didn't let their heads drop when the chips were down. And their coach isn't a clueless baboon.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (St Helens RLFC @ Dec 7 2008, 01:22 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
I don't think England are, player for player, any worse than the Kiwis. That's the utterly infuriating thing for me. They just defended better as a team and didn't let their heads drop when the chips were down. And their coach isn't a clueless baboon.[/b]
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Well I actually think player for player the English are significantly better.  I reallty enjoyed the way they attack.  They just did crucial Thurston/Slater/Lockyer moments of losing the ball when it mattered.  However more than anything they were not as determined in defence as the Kiwis were.  The Kiwis put all their eggs in the defence basket.  The Kiwi attack was never flash....just basically big guys running towards Lockyer and Thurston all day.
 
...and to add salt to the wound now we have Benji Marhsall hinting of a switch.  He wins premiership and World Cup medals and then he hints at doing something else....like Rugby League is not enough?

Doesn't this guy realise that many league immortals never had what he has?

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE </div>
Benji Marshall all but certain to quit the NRL and play rugby in England
By Chris Wilson
December 07, 2008 BENJI Marshall was just another touch football player in Port Macquarie on Saturday - a world away from Suncorp Stadium two weeks ago.

But it's Marshall's next move that will stun the rugby league world, with the 23-year-old poised to defect to rugby union in Europe.

The Sunday Telegraph understands Marshall has all but decided to quit and is likely to tell the Tigers within a week.

English Super League clubs have shown interest, but Marshall is set to cross codes, following former NRL stars Craig Gower, Sonny Bill Williams and Mark Gasnier to rugby union.

Despite a torturous run with injury, Marshall has already captured the biggest prizes in rugby league - a 2005 premiership with the Tigers and the World Cup with New Zealand.

Now the money is on him playing rugby union in England.

It was only two weeks ago that Marshall joined Kiwi teammates in kissing the rugby league World Cup and blowing raspberries at critics who said he was too scared to trouble the Australia team.

On Saturday, Marshall was back in a black and white uniform, this time with his Sydney touch footy club Wests.

Interestingly, Marshall represented Australia in mixed touch at the 2003 world cup in Japan, snatching the ***le back from New Zealand.

This weekend he is the star of the NSW State Cup in Port Macquarie, where the 5000 participants well out-number spectators.

Marshall has played with Wests since he was 17, but coach Tony Trad said his contract negotiations were not up for discussion. "We don't pry into that. Benji's one of the boys, we don't ask him about his work and he doesn't ask about ours," Trad said.

Marshall will leave Australia on Tuesday for a holiday with friends in Whistler, Canada. He's not expected to be back for Tigers pre-season training until the New Year.

The loss of Marshall would be a huge blow to the Tigers, who are also fighting to retain hooker Robbie Farah beyond next year.

Coach Tim Sheens, also off contract at the end of 2009, said he had been encouraged by Marshall's performance during the World Cup.

It consolidated Sheens' opinion that Marshall will line up for the Tigers at half-back next season.

"It's no secret I've talked about experimenting with him at seven," Sheens said. "I'm not saying that's where he's going to play, I'm just saying I've got an inkling to experiment with him there.

"I'm hoping next year will be an improvement.

"I'm hoping Benji will develop his game in the area of maturity and his skill around the halves to direct a game.

"I still think there's a lot of work for him to do, but he's come a long way in the last 12 months.

"I think it's a lot brighter, the prospect of his next season."

It might seem like a come down from World Cup celebrations, but Trad said Marshall enjoyed being back at the grassroots of touch football.

"The fans love watching his skill, his foot speed and his passing game. It's been a big boost to the tournament in general," Trad said. "I think the fans are pretty excited watching him play, but he's the same bloke to us. We've known him since he was a young fella. While we're very happy to have him, he's just another one of the team and we don't treat him any differently."[/b]
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http://www.foxsports.com.au/story/0,8659,2...3-23214,00.html
 
I dont want to make excuses, but us Queenslanders have had to put up with it for years now.. notice there were 9 NSW players to 8 Queenslanders? I thought Queensland won the last three years??? The backrowers Gallen and Topou are the most overated players I've seen, while Stewart and Watmough haven't got origin experience despite their success with Manly this season. How Dallas Johnson and Sam Thaiday both miss out on the starting team let alone the squad I'll never know, I'll still dumbfounded those two missed out after the seasons they had. Even if big overated Willie Mason wasn't injured he still would've gotten picked even though he's had an awful season which shows how bias the selectors are towards NSW.

I dont want to sound like a crybaby but greediness cost the Australians, stealing Topou from Tonga is an example of this - they could've picked Johnson/Thaiday and two players would've had world cup but they picked bloody Topou, meaning Tonga loses a player with NRL experience. Well done NZ, that win will do wonders for international league and league as a whole.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (wests_tigers @ Dec 9 2008, 09:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
I dont want to make excuses, but us Queenslanders have had to put up with it for years now.. notice there were 9 NSW players to 8 Queenslanders? I thought Queensland won the last three years???[/b]
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When I saw the Kangaroos squad had quite a few NSW players I knew NZ had a chance.
 
I knew we had a chance when Tate and Price weren't cleared to play. 2 key influential figures, one a key man out wide and the other arguably the best up the guts, who were sorely missed by that Aussie team on the night.

God I can't wait till the new NRL season starts, the Warriors 09 squad has me very exited.
 
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (Charles @ Dec 9 2008, 10:58 PM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}></div>
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE (candybum @ Dec 8 2008, 11:01 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Click to expand...
they're saying he might play in japan as the japanese rugby season is on during the NRLs off season so effectively playing in both codes

http://tvnz.co.nz/view/page/411749/2362960

doubtful but that would be cool i suppose?[/b]
Click to expand...

The japanese league is awful. Really a very low level of rugby.
[/b][/quote]
And we all know of course the standard of rugby is quite clearly top of his list of wants... :rolleyes:
 

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