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

[nickdnz]

Well, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that this was one of the most complete games I've seen from the All Blacks. My highlights were Dagg's semi evil looking clap when Adam Ashley-Cooper was off side from a bad kick, and McCaw's piggy-back flip to steel the ball. Every man who went on the field was brillaint (except SBW, lol...). I'm not saying Cruden was anywhere near Dan Carter, but he was confident, calm and clinical, which is what you want. Two weeks in the All Blacks and he lands a drop goal?! Where did that come from!

Everyone was fantastic in their own way. Now it's time for France, a team who has admitted to being disjointed with the head coach calling them "spoilt brats". There is certainly a more positive vibe in the All Blacks camp, and after two losses in pool games (one to the All Blacks the other to Tonga) and a one point victory to a 14 man Wales, everyone is expecting the All Blacks to be too strong. So naturally, France will play fantastically. Regardless, if we play like we did today, I can't see us losing.

In every match though, it's important to think about the people who lost. The crowd chanting "four more years" in memory of George Gregan in 2003 was perhaps a tad harsh. Some of the players played extremely well and with such a young side, they'll be amazing when those four more years rolls around. A special condolence does to Ezeqial 100,000 vBookie cash.

 

[Saintjay]

I only just managed to watch the game due to having the most amazing hang over.

The All Blacks just seem to have far more balance than either South Africa or Australia when it comes to SH teams. I think the AB's and Ireland showed that if you win at the scrum and in the forward battle Australia can't cope with it. They have great attcking players but a poor forward pack other than prehaps Pocock, who when the ref is good struggled.

South Africa proved that they still have a very strong pack yet need a little more of a cutting edge in the back's.

The only other team who nearly had the balance right seemed to be Wales but even they struggled in the scrum against France.

 

[TRF_heineken]

Dear Australia,

Not a good day in sport for you...

Suck it!

Sincerely
South Africa

 

[Felipe Ramirez]

did anyone notice quade cooper making tackles?

 

[Saintjay]

Dear Australia,

Not a good day in sport for you...

Suck it!

Sincerely
South Africa

Love the Pocock quote, he said the same thing every time he took the ball off you in the quaters, it is also rumoured that he said the same when he waved you off at the airport

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

At least we didn't have to swim home

 

[Saintjay]

At least we didn't have to swim home

Ha true, There is a recession on in the U.K, money is tight at the RFU . It was just nice to see an England player swimming in liquid instead of pouring it down his throat and chucking a few small people about.

 

[smartcooky]

Is that right? So other than Joubert and Rolland who is there? Owens? Don't tell me Wayne Barnes will get it?!

I thought it would've been good to give the in form ref with a recent high pressure game under their belt the final. Joubert was more accurate and composed than Rolland was in the other semi.

Yes it right. I had a look back through the records. The final has always been referees by one of the quarter-final referees, and never by a semi-final referee

IMO, Wayne Barnes will get the final. Certainly I expect the pressure will come on from the RFU to pick Barnes.


By the way folks... I see a lot of posters here writing off the French..... DANGER, DANGER!!

They were written off at the quarter-final stage... and they won!

They were written off at the semi-final stage... and they won!

And we have history with them, and that history is not all beer and skittles!!

 

[Saintjay]

Yes it right. I had a look back through the records. The final has always been referees by one of the quarter-final referees, and never by a semi-final referee

IMO, Wayne Barnes will get the final. Certainly I expect the pressure will come on from the RFU to pick Barnes.


By the way folks... I see a lot of posters here writing off the French..... DANGER, DANGER!!

They were written off at the quarter-final stage... and they won!

They were written off at the semi-final stage... and they won!

And we have history with them, and that history is not all beer and skittles!!

Funny thing history depends on how you look at it, in 50 matches they have only beaten the AB's twelve times. That does not seem so bad now.

Then look at Wales, most people expected them to win but forgot they have a poor record against France, only beating them 3 times in about 10-11 years.

 

[Sam Owen]

Aussies losing = Bryceless!!

Yeah there was no surpBryce there!

LOL, remind me to send you a Bryce Lawrence voodoo doll for xmas.

 

[Larksea]

Remind again, the justification of leaving out Giteau from the world cup.

He was left out because he was a cocky Australian, well done dingo

 

[Dizzy]

Great game by the All Blacks. They had the game from the very beginning. The back three were outstanding as well were the backrow. Cruden silenced his critics and showed New Zealand why he should've been picked over Slade in the beginning. One thing I don't agree with is the shoulder charge by Sonny Bill. If he can get a yellow card for a shoulder charge then surely Sam Warburton should've got a yellow card instead of red. IMO a shoulder charge has more intent than a pick up tackle.
Dagg, showed why he was required over Mils and I bet even Mils will be thinking the same. He created opportunities for the people around him and was dangerous on attack when the Aussies were on the backfoot.
Well done to McCaw for stepping up when he needed to and pretty much kept Pocock out of the game. Read's return to form was exactly what he needed and Mr.Consistent Jerome Kaino showed more signs of being player of the tournament.

 

[Larksea]

I think if NZ goes on to win then Kaino should be player of the tournament or IRB player of the year. He's outstanding.

Kinda strange with the awesome depth of talented wingers in NZ that we have a center and a Fullback playing on the wings. But how good are Jane and Kahui? Both are superb at keeping the ball alive and in play, Jane was a monster under the high ball and Kahui was superb on defense and chasing kicks, and beating the first defender every time.

Also shows good selection from the coaches people say select the best specialists for every position but what these guys are doing is getting their most talented players involved even if they are not in their first position. Though it didn't work with Thomson it's been superb with Jane and Kahui.

 

[Larksea]

fricken love it

http://static2.stuff.co.nz/1318769672/214/5795214.jpg

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Congratulation to the all blacks who outplayed us. we never looked in it, I can only remember one instance where their defence was disorganised but they managed to scramble and tackle genia, i think it was. Our good players weren't good and I suppose we missed beale more than I thought. Again we gave the ball away when we had it and it was a case of the wrong Wallabies turning up. At least I still get to see them play another world cup match albeit not he final. best of luck to both NZ and france, i hope it goes down to the wire.

for NZ it's the fairytale ending for henry, mccaw and other players who have reached the end of their careers, go out on the ultimate high.

Where does this leave DC? Cruden played well and it's obvious now that DC is not indispensable

 

[InsaneAsylum]

Dear Australia,

Not a good day in sport for you...

Suck it!

Sincerely
South Africa

good to see you're still butthurt, deep breaths in and out... and release. let it go.

 

[Darwin]

YYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great game of rugby (from an AB's supporters perspective!). The AB's thoroughly deserved the win too - it wasn't pretty at times, but they showed that they may have (finally) worked out how to win big matches in Rugby World Cups. I was nervous that Australia might come back and win right up until the final 2 minutes though. The win was setup up by a strong forward performance, and some near impenetrable defense. As Robbie Deans pointed out after the match, against a lesser defensive team Australia would probably have scored a couple of tries.

A great performance from Owen Franks - he was dominant in the scrum, and made some crucial tackles. Mealamu also had a strong game. I felt before the game that he was under pressure from Andrew Hore, but I think his running close to the ruck is really irreplaceable for the AB's. His body position is so low that he almost always breaks the advantage line and creates go-forward ball for the AB's. It was good to see Brad Thorn have a strong game too -he made a pile of tackles, stole a couple of lineouts, and made a couple of big runs too. The loosies all had strong games too - Kaino played as he has all tournament (read: exceptionally), McCaw played probably his best match of the year, while Read again continued to show improvement after returning from injury (and his lineout work was very good too).

Weepu had a bit of a mixed game. He made a couple of mistakes and did miss a few shots at goal, but he did generally control the game well, and did kicks some important goals. I actually thought Andy Ellis looked very sharp when he came on - he certainly does speed up the game. Cruden had a pretty good game at 10 - his drop goal was beautifully taken. He certainly looks comfortable at this level. Nonu and Smith were very well contained by the Aussie backline, but were solid on defense. The outside backs all had strong games too. Kahui didn't get too many chances with ball in hand, but chased well, was solid under the high ball, and pulled off a couple of huge hits. I'm not sure whether the Aussies have worked this out yet, but JANE IS EXCEPTIONAL UNDER THE HIGH BALL! Why they continued to kick high balls his way is completely beyond me. Jane did have a bit of trouble containing Digby Ioane a couple of times (though he wasn't the only one who slipped off Ioane). Dagg showed his class again. He's certainly devastating with ball in hand, and his huge clearing kicks from the 22 are a real asset for the AB's. He did make a couple of handling errors (and did have a shocking drop-goal attempt), but the positives he brings far outweigh the negatives. As for SBW....that piece of stupidity may cost him a place in the 22 for the final, as we can't afford to have players coming on and doing that sort of thing.

Credit must go to Australia for their strong defensive effort. Their defense has been pretty exceptional all tournament - the only team to score more than one try against them this tournament has been Russia! The Aussie front row held up well at times, but did get pushed back on occasion. Vickermann really impressed me when he was on - I was very dubious about his inclusion initially (after being away from top class rugby for so long), but he was a vital part of Australia's effort. I felt the loosies were largely outplayed. Samo and Elsom both missed a few vital tackles, and were largely ineffective with ball in hand. David Pocock seemed like a one-man band at times - he made a pile of tackles, and was quite effective with ball in hand. He made a couple of steals at the breakdown, but was largely neutralized thanks to some good support play by the AB's, and (perhaps more importantly) some strict interpretations at the breakdown from the referee.

Genia was pretty quiet, and Cooper was very poor - Australia really needed them both to fire, but it would have been difficult behind a forward pack that was going backwards. The midfield of McCabe and Faingaa aren't really a threat in attack, but they do deserve a lot of credit for the way they can completely neutralize the opposition backline. Ioane was easily the pick the Australian backs for me - he looked deadly every time he got the ball. O'Connor and AAC were pretty quiet, but were generally pretty solid.

Overall a great result for the AB's - bring on France (again!).

 

[Larksea]

Cruden did a good job but the reality is the game was won by the guys in front and the back Three. And the game plan which prevented the Aussies from targeting Cruden and also all nut nullified the impact of Pocock at the breakdown.

If anything the All Blacks played how they always should. Much more like how the wallabies protect Cooper of the boks protect Steyn, I think I said about 5 years ago that the All Blacks game plan revolved around carter too much. Carter is brilliant and doesn't need protection, he thrives on being in the thick of battle and being "The Man" but it's too much to ask anyone else to come in and run the team the same way.

Cruden was never isolated on defense, always had someone on his shoulder to help him and never got the ball on attack with an Aussie defender anywhere near him, didn't have to kick for goal or do much ground kicking and had Kahui, Jane, Nonu and Dagg at times all came in to play first receiver.

Dont want to take too much away from Cruden because what he was asked to do he did well but the largest part of the responsibility that needed to me taken up with Carter out was shared around other players not given to Cruden. For the most part Cruden went through the game without any pressure on him.

 

[dragnetter]

As a game it wasn't as good as yesterdays. NZ came out the blocks at 1000mph and set the tone in that first 10 minutes. Apart from when Digby (Aussies best player btw) made that run they just didn't look like scoring. Cooper couldn't thrive as he wanted as the game had too much structure and he kept getting the ball to deep and on the back foot to do anything with it. Dagg was brilliant at 15, Mils who?


Don't get too cocky Kiwi fans, it's not over till the fat lass sings. You never know what the French can do (99, 07).

so true.....the french have as much right to the WC as we do and have proven themselves as our ultimate bogey team! I think the last thing kiwis will be feeling right now is "cocky" maybe more relief than anything else.

 

[ranger]

You get that from one game behind a totally dominant forward pack and a gameplan designed to protect him? Cruden never got the ball with a defender anywhere near him the entire game. And what has slade done so far to show he's better than Donald? Sure Donald was average in a few massive games against top teams. Slade didn't do much better against minnows.

Crudens drop kick really impressed me though, so did his defense. though aussies never got quick ball to test him on defense.

The all blacks gameplan around Cruden was absolutely perfect. If it was Aussies gameplan to target him the All Blacks as a team simply did not allow Australia to do that and they will need to do the same next week. Heck he didn't have to kick goals and he didn't even have to kick around the field much.

its the truth.