RWC

[bazza]

 Stu do you think Firko is nervous, Picking on Sir Richard Loe .Compared to last game we have Keno and Reid back,Carter kicking about 65% last year only,is Piri rattling the big boy of love? Any way it should be a good game and another tee shirt wont go astray.

[bazza]

Australia or Unzud has nothing to fear from crjavascript:void(0);ap French!!!!

[EML]

le Coq wins, my prayers are answered so far.... though by the look of it, Firko and I could have played better and would have won that game in a jog. What was Wales thinking ?

[dalesween]

EML i thought you said red/yellow final ,any way whoever wins tomorrow wins ,i did'nt know we had soccer refs here either,red card my arse, yellow card and warning at worst.

cheers Dale.

[EML]

Dead right Dalesween, if it was state of origin they would have knighted him AND made him man of the match.
Very untidy rugby from both but similar to what the nthrn hemisphere play, but Wales promised to play a more expansive game with more running of the ball. 

[dalesween]

Dead right,Wales with 15 would have put the frogs away ,that red card took the shine off the game for me anyway in the bloody 15th minute or there abouts ,and what a player to lose

cheers Dale.

[Curly3]

The best way to improve Rugby is to take the PEA out of the f-ing whistle.
That'll be our biggest concern, REF.
I certainly don't think the final's gunna be a laydown for whoever wins tomorrow.

[EML]

No, they'll play 2 different styles of rugby and the ref will decide who wins-prolly the frogs by a penalty kick

[firko]

The Irish ref with the French name Alain Rolland stuffed up big time by red carding the Welsh skipper. It was certainly a dodgy tackle but it really only deserved a yellow card and perhaps a fine later through the judiciary. Having said that, Wales missing 6 kicks is what cost them a berth in the RWC final. They did enough with 14 players to deserve to win but to miss such vital kicks in such a vital game is unforgivable. Both Wales and France were ordinary at best in the dullest game of the RWC. France played the defensive game slowing the ball at the breakdown, not allowing Wales good quality backs to get a clear go. In my opinion France won't be much match for whoever wins today...Australia and NZ have too many quality big game players and on field flair.

Has anybody noticed that there's a Rugby League test on today as well? This would have to be the first time in my memory where Rugby is overpowering its sister game in the media and in peoples minds. Unfortunately the ARU will not follow through with that popularity and Rugby will once again slink back to becoming our country's # 3 code when it really should be #2. The ARU lost its best chance ever of winning over millions of fans after the amazingly successful Australian World Cup when Rugby was on everyones lips. Over the next four years instead of pumping money into expanding the sport and educating the Aussies who'd become fans during the cup, they pissed the millions of profits up against the wall with stupid promotions and not getting the Super 14 free to air TV which would have put the code in every house in Australia......I'm still grumbling about it after 8 years!

[EML]

Firko, my son was playing rugby at grammar school at that time and all I can say is they turned into a bunch of big-headed big mouthed louts.
He won "most improved player" in his first season but when he refused to go up a grade becuase he wanted to stay and play with his mates, which is really what the game should be about at that stage, they kicked him off the team-so much for talent spotting
They spent more time telling assembly about how the 1st 15 had an unlucky loss than how Masons Tournament of Minds team won a national prize. 
What a bunch of block-heads

[firko]

I played rugby for 26 years and know exactly what your saying EML. The old school tie, pukka leather patch culture is still there, especially at schoolboy level. The fact that most of the quality players come from the private school system cries out to me that the ARU aren't spreading their wings far enough. How many great league players come out of the state school system? Pretty near all of them I'd suggest. Imagine if Rugby could draw on the talent pool that goes directly to League..the Wallabies would be almost unstoppable. Imagine also if Rugby super 14 was competing with AFL and ARL on free to air TV instead of being tucked away on Fox Sport 3?

I played both league and rugby at school and the differences in culture and "snobbery" were amazing. It's getting better though. The sooner they realise that rugby isn't the 'game they play in heaven' but is a business competing for the Aussie punters arses on grandstand seats against AFL, League and Soccer, the better the sport will be. It's the major truly international team sport that we're really good at which is the advantage we have over the other codes (league's only played in 3 countries and we're like #16 or something in Soccer). Rugby Union should be the #2 code in the country, it'll never top AFL in the southern states and WA but should be rivalling league for the dollars in the rest of the country.
I love the game but the heirachy running it and the 'old chap' culture shits me no end.

[EML]

I agree whole heartedly, the fact that the Storm have done so well in Melbourne proves that ARL do it so much better than ARU.
The fact that Aus is playing NZ for a spot in the final proves how strong we are down here. Also , imagine if the pacific islands could stgop trying to eat each other long enough to form a team in either code-shit we all be in for it then

[firko]

Also , imagine if the pacific islands could stgop trying to eat each other long enough to form a team in either code-shit we all be in for it then   

Remember the Pacific Islanders (Coconuts) team comprising of players from Samoa, Tonga and Fiji that toured here a few years ago? They were extremely strong, a genuine threat to the big boys. Any hope of making the team a regular player in world rugby was thwarted by the IRB because they "weren't truly represntative of one nation''.....a load of old school bullshit. The real reason was that the best players in the team were playing in NZ, Australia and Europe and their club teams wouldn't release them for non NATIONAL representative tests...no doubt supported by the IRB. They produced the best rugby I'd seen in years...an awesome side.

[EML]

black and blue, thats the Aussies and the final!!

[Marc.com]

looks like NZ will walk over France in final..... I would scalp my ticket now

On the topic of the IRB the 50% of NZders who don't give a shit about the clearly rigged outcome would like to have the 40 million this is costing the tax payers back.