D
Dreaming
Guest
Slade is not even the second best 5/8 in NZ - or if he is then they're in trouble: i can only assume he was picked for the future. DC is the best I have ever seen: he is a more complete footballer than Ella was. The injury was sustained in kicking practice: rupture abductor longus(?) tendon - n'er a prior niggle and no other degenerative damage in the region. he did rupture his achilles in France so he may have a connective tissue issue.
i think it needs to be acknowledged that the rugby world cup is the only contact sport, let alone collision sport, in which grown men compete in a finite period for a single crown. it wasnt/isnt designed to be played this way.
Hard to see NZ winning it without DC - but our loss to Ireland may now be their saviour: without DC in a final against Oz they would have choked (and no one can provem me wrong) in a semi - far less likely:'(
We don't always need the All Blacks to choke. The inconsistent Wallabies are due a return to form. We can beat them fair and square, and might have even with Carter there.