RWC 2011: THE FINAL!!! France vs. New Zealand

[smartcooky]

Poor New Zealand. They finally win the cup, yet other events (Simoncelli death, 6-1 Manchester Derby, Libya) mean they barely get a mention on the BBC website!

Who's Simoncelli
What's a "Manchester Derby". Is that a horse race?
Whats Libya?

 

[Groundhog]

its offensive to horses to compare them to football players

 

[Scrum1980]

The ABs finally got a hard game for the first time in this tournament and thankfully they won it! But respect to the French side they played a good and strong match and if Trin-duc scored that penalty i think it would be the French celebrating the world cup. Nobody believed the French would get to the final but they did and they played like they had nothing to lose. And they brought it to the kiwis. But why complain about bad refereeing etc. the French lost period. And if you look at the whole tournament the best team won! I think if the French keep playing like they played in the final the 6nations are up for the grab. So all you French supporters stop complaining about the ref i don't think the ABs won because of bad refereeing they were just the team with the most points on the board at the end of 80min....;-)
The French are second in the World that's not bad am i right??

 

[Scrum1980]

its offensive to horses to compare them to football players

Nice one!

 

[Gavin]

Who's Simoncelli
What's a "Manchester Derby". Is that a horse race?
Whats Libya?

Simoncelli, fantastic character on the motorsport circuit (MotoGP) died in a crash this morning in which himself and two are racers were involved. His helmet came off in the accident and most likely died on the track. Must admit I'd prefer more news about Simo than the World Cup champions.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

its offensive to horses to compare them to football players

I like this. I like this a lot.

 

[igorBastia]

The ABs finally got a hard game for the first time in this tournament and thankfully they won it! But respect to the French side they played a good and strong match and if Trin-duc scored that penalty i think it would be the French celebrating the world cup. Nobody believed the French would get to the final but they did and they played like they had nothing to lose. And they brought it to the kiwis. But why complain about bad refereeing etc. the French lost period. And if you look at the whole tournament the best team won! I think if the French keep playing like they played in the final the 6nations are up for the grab. So all you French supporters stop complaining about the ref i don't think the ABs won because of bad refereeing they were just the team with the most points on the board at the end of 80min....;-)
The French are second in the World that's not bad am i right??

No one complain about the refs. Plays is the plays you win: felication, we lost i'm sad but as Janis Joplin sing"tomorow is another day" and the adventure continue. Maybe one will win next time orin hundred year but it's was for me a "Grand moment" de rugby. Full with emotions; dreaming and yet tear. That's belong to my russian soul!! We like to be sad!! Yes thank you for the 30 players; thank you for the AB fan; i hope they enjoy their victory and well. I continue to drink my beer and tomorow go to work!

 

[austingtir]

I think the ref was reasonable in this game. He had just as many calls go against the AB's as against france. France imo were offside alot and there were one or two glarring instances where a frenchman was on our side of the maul and was messing with the ball from an offside position. The calls that went against france were probably in the last 30 minutes or so when they had there tails up. But really if we werent down to our 3rd or 4th choice goal kicker the game should not of been within frances grasp.

The first 30minutes won us this game. France played really well in the second half but made some terrible kicking decisions. Thats what lost them this game not the ref. Our tactical kicking beat theres in the second half.

 

[igorBastia]

I think the ref was reasonable in this game. He had just as many calls go against the AB's as against france. France imo were offside alot and there were one or two glarring instances where a frenchman was on our side of the maul and was messing with the ball from an offside position. The calls that went against france were probably in the last 30 minutes or so when they had there tails up. But really if we werent down to our 3rd or 4th choice goal kicker the game should not of been within frances grasp
The first 30minutes won us this game. France played really well in the second half but made some terrible kicking decisions. Thats what lost them this game not the ref. Our tactical kicking beat theres in the second half.

more and more drunk tomorow headache and aspirin!!

 

[igorBastia]

I think the ref was reasonable in this game. He had just as many calls go against the AB's as against france. France imo were offside alot and there were one or two glarring instances where a frenchman was on our side of the maul and was messing with the ball from an offside position. The calls that went against france were probably in the last 30 minutes or so when they had there tails up. But really if we werent down to our 3rd or 4th choice goal kicker the game should not of been within frances grasp<br>
The first 30minutes won us this game. France played really well in the second half but made some terrible kicking decisions. Thats what lost them this game not the ref. Our tactical kicking beat theres in the second half.

more and more drunk tomorow headache and aspirin!!

 

[shtove]

The French are going to blame the referee now

Well, the ghosts of 2007 appear to have left New Zealand shores, and are taking up residence in France.

The shoe ain't so comfortable when its on the other foot, aye?

Karma, I say. Karma!!

Actually no - looks like the French accept it. But the UK press may be about to go to town on this.

I couldn't see the Setanta arse ripping of Joubert. Saw ITV highlights, but they're always "ra-ra what a spectacle!" kind of cheerleaders. They had a cam on Sean Fitzpatrick when Donald stepped up for the kick - he buried his head in his forearm and looked up in amazement when someone said "he got it".

 

[Black Heart]

Actually no - looks like the French accept it. But the UK press may be about to go to town on this.

I couldn't see the Setanta arse ripping of Joubert. Saw ITV highlights, but they're always "ra-ra what a spectacle!" kind of cheerleaders. They had a cam on Sean Fitzpatrick when Donald stepped up for the kick - he buried his head in his forearm and looked up in amazement when someone said "he got it".

(rolls eyes) That would right.

 

[smartcooky]

Actually no - looks like the French accept it. But the UK press may be about to go to town on this.

I couldn't see the Setanta arse ripping of Joubert. Saw ITV highlights, but they're always "ra-ra what a spectacle!" kind of cheerleaders. They had a cam on Sean Fitzpatrick when Donald stepped up for the kick - he buried his head in his forearm and looked up in amazement when someone said "he got it".

Well I could take the performance of ANY referee in any match, no matter how good he was, and rip him to shreds for not calling this thing or missing that thing or failing to apply this Law or that Law. What's more, I could tailor my report to suit either side's blame-quest for losing.

The problem with that though, is that I would have to deliberately ignore an underlying and vital principle of Rugby Union Refereeing, a principle that media idiots in the ITV have no knowledge of...

Materiality!!!

 

[erwan]

I think the ref was reasonable in this game. He had just as many calls go against the AB's as against france. France imo were offside alot and there were one or two glarring instances where a frenchman was on our side of the maul and was messing with the ball from an offside position. The calls that went against france were probably in the last 30 minutes or so when they had there tails up. But really if we werent down to our 3rd or 4th choice goal kicker the game should not of been within frances grasp.

The first 30minutes won us this game. France played really well in the second half but made some terrible kicking decisions. Thats what lost them this game not the ref. Our tactical kicking beat theres in the second half.

This is NZ point of view. I won't give you mine about the ref.
Never mind, you won this game which is good, you clearly deserve to win this WC and we clearly deserved to win this game.
Most of french people are not sad today like we were after the semi final. Because our team played such a good rugby, because we love the ABs and New Zeeland and also because the past year have been terrible for your country.
So, this was the perfect scenario, you won the game against a tough team that can still be very proud of itself then your victory is even more delightfull.
Enjoy.

The French are second in the World that's not bad am i right??

My opinion if you do mind is that the second place is the worst place.:huh:

 

[james5000]

I will give credit where credits due, France outplayed us in the Final, but you can give us credit where credits due.
We deserved to be winners, we played a smarter game plan and we showed a lot of heart and commitment.

I think we can safely say that a lot of AB's didn't have their best games of the tournament, but every single AB gave 150%.
Every single AB is a deserved champion.

That ref had absolutely no influence on the outcome of the game, nuff said.

 

[M Two One]

What can I say? What a match.

New Zealand deserve the cup, but France proved so much in this match. They outplayed the All Blacks in the second half and had it not been for some poor calls, that I think aren't a big deal, it may have been different. No matter, I'm not mad about any ref mistakes and I won't even consider it down the road. This was an New Zealand victory in a dramatic final that was fantastic from start to finish.

Enjoy the cup my friends!

 

[ret]

Sky 423 21:40 tonight - apparently Joubert gets ripped in an analysis on Setanta.

I'll watch it so see if the criticisms are justified. Can't say I thought he did a terrible job on first viewing, but we had a busy house so I was a bit distracted.

Press criticism is building, including Stephen Jones - seems Joubert was all the talk in the press centre afterward.

Did they give Wayne Barnes the same treatment in 2007? Honestly the anti-AB (and to a lesser extent Aus) bias that exists in much of the UK media smacks of pure envy. Ignore these bitter little clowns.

 

[j-dawg]

If you have actually read a UK paper today they were all saying how the AB's deserved their 'moment of glory' and how they are so much better than the rest of us. Then they go on to Mike Tindall blah blah blah. It's more awe than envy.

 

[igorBastia]

The ABs finally got a hard game for the first time in this tournament and thankfully they won it! But respect to the French side they played a good and strong match and if Trin-duc scored that penalty i think it would be the French celebrating the world cup. Nobody believed the French would get to the final but they did and they played like they had nothing to lose. And they brought it to the kiwis. But why complain about bad refereeing etc. the French lost period. And if you look at the whole tournament the best team won! I think if the French keep playing like they played in the final the 6nations are up for the grab. So all you French supporters stop complaining about the ref i don't think the ABs won because of bad refereeing they were just the team with the most points on the board at the end of 80min....;-)
The French are second in the World that's not bad am i right??

No one in France don't complain about the refeering, we are proud about our team. She was hardly criticized as the badest team, "the shame of the rugby" , and object of mockery "80 minutes of laughing" as it was the ***tle of one of your tabloid newspapers. They had faced three times to the defeat. They have could abandonned after the the defeat against the Tonga,doubted after the small victory against the Wales. And in Aukland in the hot heart of your Nation, face to the best team in the world very motived to win and which never lost, the french have never failed in the fight and at the end could win "if".... but they were unlucky , so is the sport.
But escuse me, such players are really greats players even in this small defeat, not just for their games but also for their mental strongness and that it's our biggest victory. the victory on youself. Yes we have a bitter taste in the mouth, paradise where not so far. But we will never complained about the referee or the state of the grass; the direction of th wind or the position of Jupiter or what ever stupids reasons. "Kopf hoch" as the germans say. Yes Heads Up and we accepted fully your victory even small it was. We doesn't contest your victory (may be some french).The Maori God was with you, thank Him and enjoy your victory with all the People of News Zealand, it's great!!. You don't imagin how we respect your team, your country and your people. Please in your legitime fest have litlle thought to the frenchs supporters and over all to the frenchs players just a glass of beer it will be nice.

 

[france]

Just finished watching the final on NBC in the US. Great match between (much to my surprise) two very evenly-matched teams. Congrats to New Zealand on the win. Not much else to say. As far as France is concerned, I hate to be hard on our boys since I thought they were going to get crushed and lose by 25 pts. They did play their hearts out and were oh so close... The problem is a *great* team would have found a way to take this one, especially after our long period of domination in the 2nd half. We didn't and we remain second class citizens in rugby World Cup. I stand by my earlier words (post 238 in this thread). We have a losing culture in world rugby--that we couldn't shake this off today when we had a golden opportunity to do so is a real shame.