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RWC Semi Final: New Zealand - Australia (16-10-2011, 21:00)

Well compared to the rest of the New Zealand 10's [especially his own teams 10] McAlister had a good run.
 
Well in Dan Carter's case, Nick Evans was a definate option. It's a pity the NZRU did nothing to hold on to him because he would have continued to make an outstanding All Black if he had stuck around longer.

Nick Evans chose to leave NZ and an All Black carrier when he would have been welcome to stay and the contract he signed took him out of the 2011 world cup pretty much straight away. And it seemed pretty obvious that one of the reasons he left is that he didn't want to play 2nd fiddle to Dan Carter at the All Blacks. He obviously saw that his carrier was going to conflict with maybe the greatest 10 NZ has produced and rather than become another Tony Brown or Simon Culhane he took the money option overseas.

I don't think it's fair to Blame the NZRU for that.
 
Seriously though... if you have to ask who do you replace him with DURING the World Cup, then you really need to rethink how your coaches are operating! South Africa knew they needed a back-up fetcher in case brussouw got injured and they Brought in Francois Louw who did a pretty good job when he was on the pitch...

Mccaw's back-up should already have been in the damn squad from the start!!

If you guys choke this weekend, it will be your own dumb-ass fault this time!

I'm sure the plan for 2011 RWC was to have Dan Braid in the squad as McCaw's cover. But injury forced him out of contention the next best specialist options were too green so the Job was given to Thomson who's spent a lot of time injured, now it falls on Vito.

Win or lose I think the coaches have mostly done a good job with selections, using Todd or Braid would have been pretty risky. Waldrum was an option but he's spent a lot of time injured - was injured at the end of the super15. Latimer just isn't good enough.

If anything, I think they should have used Messam they way they have used Thomson, Adam is good at 6 but has never proved himself at 7 or 8. Messam is just as good at 6 but much better than Thomson at 7 or 8. Current squad should be Messam & Vito as backup IMO. At the very least Messam was error free when he was on the field and contributed to the team effort in a +ve way. Thomson has lost games with poor discipline and it was a bad missed tackle by him that lose the Brisbane test and the tri nations then he's spent a lot of time injured. Maybe they saw adam as a better lineout option though Messam can be used as well and though he wasn't used much he got the ball every time.
 
Seriously though... if you have to ask who do you replace him with DURING the World Cup, then you really need to rethink how your coaches are operating! South Africa knew they needed a back-up fetcher in case brussouw got injured and they Brought in Francois Louw who did a pretty good job when he was on the pitch...

Mccaw's back-up should already have been in the damn squad from the start!!

If you guys choke this weekend, it will be your own dumb-a55 fault this time!


Yep, cos its that simple to replace (arguably) the 2 best Rugby players on the planet.

We won't need any excuse anyway.
 
Steve Hansen is denying that Matt Todd will get a call up in this stuff article, but it also says that Adam Thomson has to pass a fitness test ... not too much of a stretch to see Todd replacing Thomson for the rest of the tournament if he fails the fitness test

http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/5778550/Hansen-denies-Todd-in-as-cover-for-McCaw

Canterbury openside flanker Todd yesterday joined the All Blacks at training as they prepare for Sunday night's World Cup semifinal against the Wallabies at Eden Park and is expected to be hauled in for more practices this week.
Captain and openside flanker McCaw continues to be irritated by the screw in the fifth metatarsal bone in his foot and his appearances at training ahead of the semi are expected to be limited to just a light run about during Saturday's captain's run at Eden Park.
Adding to the All Blacks injury concerns was the revelation that versatile loose forward Adam Thomson - who was selected as the back-up to No 7 McCaw - is also in doubt; he will have a fitness test this morning to ascertain whether his ankle problem will rule him out of the semi.
Thomson did not play in the quarterfinal win against Argentina last weekend because of the injury but Hansen said he trained yesterday.
If Thomson is declared unfit, Victor Vito is expected to be named on the bench as cover for McCaw when the team is released tomorrow.
"Richie McCaw's foot is fine,'' a bullish Hansen declared. "Matt Todd is training with us, as you all know.''
News that Todd yesterday joined the All Blacks squad inflamed fears McCaw could be in doubt for the semi and his tender foot has become the most talked about limb in New Zealand.
Todd, who started in the absence of McCaw when the same injury interrupted the majority of the Crusaders' Super campaign, is a member of the All Blacks wider training group.
This is a list of players who are on standby during the tournament.
Todd also joined the All Blacks at training when they trained in Christchurch before their pool match against France in Auckland last month.
International Rugby Board rules state players cannot be brought into the squad unless they are an official replacement.
This means Todd can only be used as a member of the opposition during trainings, although the closed sessions mean this is difficult for any outsiders to verify.
Todd, said Hansen, was staying with a sister of his girlfriend in Auckland.
"Matt Todd is in Auckland and it just made commonsense to have him here,'' Hansen added.
"Now that does not mean to say Richie's foot is worse than it was. It does not mean Richie is not playing on Saturday, it just means Matt Todd was in Auckland and we wanted to use him in training as opposition.''
But the fact that Todd has just rocked up to Auckland at the same time loose forwards McCaw and Thomson have been battling injuries ahead of this crucial fixture seems too much of a coincidence than to be just good timing.
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Dam straight Dizzy!

ABs all the way!!!
 

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Some good Odds for the Ozzies... Tempted to put a cheeky 100 on the Ozzies..
 
But you won't win it back so you might as well keep it lol
 
Hmm.. Dizzy... AFter losing countless hundreds when betting on NZ in previous RWCs.. You can understand my caution in putting too much on the ABs again..
 
i'm nervous...i really wanna see the All Blacks in the finals but i'm not sure man, i got the feeling that the Wallabies will take this one. they are such a unpredictable team and if Quade Cooper and theis backs decides to play if very hard to stop.


can't wait!!
 
But you can't compare the previous world cups to this match. If that is how it's going to be then the odds would be stacked against NZ. And, I'm sure the vbookie was only added recently, are you sure you've lost "countless hundreds"?.. Or did you mean in the real world?. Wow you must be stacked to be losing countless hundreds.
 
longest most nerve racking week ever. c'mon already, i just want to know the result.
 
Sheeez! Will the flippin' media ever learn? Talking up the Wallabies by saying in the Sydney Morning Herald by saying " Wallabies vow to put hosts to the sword"...... Mate ! I laughed myself silly reading this, I'm sure they put this stuff in just to stir up the controversy ..... It works!
 
I'm pretty confident. I believe the AB's still have an edge over Aussie despite the last test due to the circumstances surrounding that game.

- Aussie were fresh that game NZ had to fly back from SA and merge two squads, one from NZ one from SA.
- NZ were missing Jerome Kaino on Baby duty. He's arguably NZ's standout player this season.
- Read was injured early in the game.
- Thomson was injured early as well yet stayed on and played injured, before being taken off he missed a tackle badly which ended up being the defining moment in the game.
- Guildford had a bad day. Kahui will be a much better/safer option.

Even though Aussie had home advantage and all these factors went against the AB's it was still a close game. I Still believe the Auckland game is a much better barometer for where the teams are at. Though I don't believe home ground advantage is as great during world cups as the teams have been in the host country for so long and will be used to the conditions.

Much will depend on Cruden, he could have a bad day yet he could be the trump card, same could be said for Donald off the bench. because if things don't go Cruden's way in the first half I expect Donald to come on early.

I agree with the above though this week has been a very nervous time, being on the same flight as Colin Slade back to Christchurch didn't help. He obviously wasn't happy. Bring on Sunday already!

though the overwhelming factor is the simple fact that on the day it's not always the best team that wins. Last weekend is a prime example for that.
 
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in all fairness, Evans was on radio sport a couple of months ago and they asked him that, his answer was he didn't want to be someone elses back up for his entire career and that going to europe was the right decision for his family, he also said the NZRU did everything they could short of promissing him the 10 jersey (paraphrasing)

Personally i think it was his own fault, when he came south he made this big call "i'm a first five and i want to be the all black first five". this was at a time when Mils had yet to hit his straps at full back and the ab's were calling out for class back there. I think he could have easilly made the 15 jersey his right through until Dagg arriving on the scene and covered carter from there

Yes, I agree with that. From memory he did play a couple of tests at 15 and he was excellent. Regardless of what he says I bet he's kicking himself in head right now for deciding to go. I don't quite understand his logic in not wanting to be an All Black if it meant being a substitute for a significant period. Most players would kill to be given the honour of being in the squad and his inclusion after 2007 would have been a certainty. I just think of Byron Kelleher and how long he had to wait on the bench to get his shot at the number 9 jersey. Then again, if he was acting on behalf of his family you can't really blame him.
 
longest most nerve racking week ever. c'mon already, i just want to know the result.

You can say that again.

I don't think I've ever looked foward to not looking foward to a game this much. There's a genuine nervousness with everyone and it's not not an excitable one.
 
I like your starting team, I'd just swap Hore for Mealamu

Bench

16. Mealamu
17. Franks
18. A. Williams
19. Vito
20. Ellis
21. Toeava
22. SB. Williams
I prefer Mealamu to Hore. Mealamu is more brutal and that's what we need against these damn Wallabies.
 

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