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The New Zealand outcry at the refereeing is amazing. Barnes missed some forward passes, but missed more by New Zealand. One that would of given the French a scrum about 10 metres in front of the AB posts and certainly another when Ali Williams almost scored.
The French are very passionate and often unreasonable people, but I doubt they would have overreacted to the extent of the Kiwis if they had lost. Death threats, outcries by the foreign minister, even trying to trample the credibility and objectivity of wikipedia.
I think we now know why the ref's have been so biased towards the All Blacks in recent years, ie stuart dickenson, particularly when playing in New Zealand. An entire nation will be "after them" for every call they make against the ABs.
New Zealand has provided the world with great rugby, but the IRB should consider not having the World Cup there in 2011. Honestly, does anyone think it would be safe for the refs? Could they even check into a hotel w/o being harrassed by the staff?
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ROTFLMFAO. f***ing rich coming from a yank.
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Such a well thought out response, exactly the sort I would expect from a Kiwi
FYI, the French just lost, at home with probably their best world cup team ever (this was probably their best chance to win it all) .
Let's compare the reactions of these ousted squads(the french and abs) in the days to come. I'm sure if we look hard enough we can find a couple of calls or no calls Kaplan did or didn't make, which of course cost the French their entire world cup.
I doubt that we will see such great hatred of Kaplan.
On another note. We trusted our World Cup to Peter Thorburn, a kiwi, and paid him a very handsome salary which many people think was too high, but the decision was made to give him such a high salary to ensure that he would give us his devoted attention....Just one week after the USA ended their world cup matches, winning none, instead of communicating with the USA staff and addressing the positives, negatives, what the USA could do better in future world cups,etc etc. He writes an article blasting Referee Wayne Barnes for his display in the New Zealand v. France game.
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What response were you expecting on the basis of your well thought out comment on saying the RWC shouldn't be in NZ based on the fact refs won't be safe? That's just dumb, we might love our Rugby but we're not Football hooligans. We give the ref a little **** here and there but to say we are a threat to their safety is just insane. Your an idiot for even believing a site such as wikipedia, so I think the response I gave you was worth more credit than you actually deserved.
Once again, this post obviously displays you haven't a clue on the history of Rugby. You say this is possibly the best French RWC team ever? Oh my, where have you been. Remember the great French teams of '87 and '99? Your telling me a French which lost in it's opening game at home, in Paris, against the Pumas is great? A team that had a scrappy 2 point win over NZ in a 1/4 final, and a team which lost against England once again at home in Paris in a semi final, which as you said was their best shot at winning........ a great team?
And what's all this talk about Kaplan? He had a great performance, who apart from Barnes pulled 2 forward passes up from France. How did he cost France the world cup? Szarzewski gave a high shot right in front of the sticks which ultimately killed France. Are you saying that wasn't a penalty? If not, how did Kaplan's performance cost France the game?
