RWC 2015 Final - Australia v New Zealand, Twickenham, Sunday 1 November, 3:00 AEDT

[Hemsley]

Gotta say - I love being an All Black fan. Since Henry took over and even more do under Hansen, they have really embraced some of the best things about rugby and sport in general and make me damn proud to be a kiwi.

http://m.nzherald.co.nz/all-blacks/news/article.cfm?c_id=116&objectid=11534169

That's lovely.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

You know whose fault that is? Fuckwit Bandwagon Aussies from the period 1998-2001.

From 1998, Aussies who would barely give a knob of rancid goat shit about rugby suddenly found the kiwi in their office/school/place of work and decided to hammer the shit out of them about choking, after hearing some kind of news about some game in 1995 where they "choked" as well.

Now a whole generation of kids has grown into teens/20s with one purpose in mind: glorifying NZ rugby with a handy sideline in smashing anything Australian while they're at it.

At that point, everything else like underarm and all that shit came back up like an old corpse.

Who gives a shit, really....

 

[Dewald Nel]

Very. He's a real stand-up guy.

Do the ABs here think he'll stay on for another 4? If not, why not?

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

If Folau's not 98% fit I sincerely hope he's not selected. In that case Beale must start and a reserve back spot becomes available. The attacking capabilities of the ABs back 3 scare shit out of me, maybe Horne's the man for the job. He does cover 11/12/13/14 so he's a pretty useful reserve.

I am not a conspiracy theorist - but, given Cheika is not known for being a empathist;

How 'out there' is the possibility that the reason Folau has been picked so often, but played so unremarkably, is that this is exactly what his coach has told him to do - exactly in order to get the Kiwis thinking that Folau ' is little short of a liability' as some Kiwi said yesterday... I have no doubt he injured his ankle - but how bad was it?

I would not normally entertain such an idea, but it begins to explain odd selections at Eden Park, and also explains why he has been selected if he is so 'clearly' unfit... I just would not put it past Cheika to pull a stunt like this, and play the Long Game....

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Did Mitchell start all those games? And the so called 'Pool of Death' hardly lived up to it's name after all the hype. If France were 'woeful', Wales and England weren't too far behind.

65% is a pretty average stat and I would put NMS up against any of the wingers Mitchell has had to face so far.

Hardly Lived up to its name??? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THEY WERE PLAYING RUGBY IN THE UK?

Ask Wales & England their thoughts on that...

(and yes - I know Wales made it out - and they were rewarded with South Africa for their troubles)... I haven't seen a Welsh Injury toll like that since Isandlwada...

 

[Pfitzy]

Who gives a shit, really..

Well, I do, because there is one thing Hansen has got right above everything: Good men make good All Blacks.

Further: Good fans make for good rugby. And right now there are people who are not holding up that end of it.

We're unlikely to ever be as successful as this AB team, but we can be better rugby supporters for a fucking start. Sections of the AB fan kingdom have become utterly feral - rabid, even - and we should hold ourselves to a better standard.

 

[the sabanator]

Not sure it it's cropped up in the media or some stats guru has figured it out already, but is this game some form of record for number of combined test caps between the two teams? If they line up as expected I counted 2,596 games of experience with 4 centurions on the ABs and 3 in gold. That's insane levels of experience

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Well, I do, because there is one thing Hansen has got right above everything: Good men make good All Blacks.

Further: Good fans make for good rugby. And right now there are people who are not holding up that end of it.

We're unlikely to ever be as successful as this AB team, but we can be better rugby supporters for a fucking start. Sections of the AB fan kingdom have become utterly feral - rabid, even - and we should hold ourselves to a better standard.

Okay - they have... and we should - but at the end of the day, You are only responsible for Yourself. I can't see any point in bothering too much either way about that end of the Spectrum. Its Rugby World Cup week - lots of more interesting things to concern ones' thoughts with... If we want to be serious- there are far bigger crimes out there to worry about.

 

[Groucho]

You know whose fault that is? Fuckwit Bandwagon Aussies from the period 1998-2001.

From 1998, Aussies who would barely give a knob of rancid goat shit about rugby suddenly found the kiwi in their office/school/place of work and decided to hammer the shit out of them about choking, after hearing some kind of news about some game in 1995 where they "choked" as well.

Now a whole generation of kids has grown into teens/20s with one purpose in mind: glorifying NZ rugby with a handy sideline in smashing anything Australian while they're at it.

At that point, everything else like underarm and all that shit came back up like an old corpse.

I remember Spewl McCaggan making exactly the same point to me in the Sydney Uni Union bar in 1982, except it was to do with something relatively unimportant, like economics or perceived big-brother paternalism.

Edit: by which I mean Kiwi 'chippiness' about Australia goes back further than 1998, and has little to do with rugby, since that's an area where New Zealand consistently out-performs us.

 

[Bullrush]

Hardly Lived up to its name??? WHERE WERE YOU WHEN THEY WERE PLAYING RUGBY IN THE UK?

Ask Wales & England their thoughts on that.

(and yes - I know Wales made it out - and they were rewarded with South Africa for their troubles). I haven't seen a Welsh Injury toll like that since Isandlwada...

England was almost as crap as France and the Welsh injury toll obviously made them less of a threat.

Easy really

 

[The_Brown_Hornet]

This is all silly splitting of hairs. Fact is that the two best teams in the tournament (and on current form the best two in world rugby) are playing off in the final. I think that's great and that there are awesome match ups across the park.

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

England was almost as crap as France and the Welsh injury toll obviously made them less of a threat.

Easy really

No... right.... really convincing - good luck with that.

 

[Pfitzy]

Okay - they have. and we should - but at the end of the day, You are only responsible for Yourself. I can't see any point in bothering too much either way about that end of the Spectrum. Its Rugby World Cup week - lots of more interesting things to concern ones' thoughts with. If we want to be serious- there are far bigger crimes out there to worry about.

Agreed, but if pointing it out to someone on an internet forum gets people thinking about it, it will be worth the keystrokes.

 

[southsider]

England was almost as crap as France and the Welsh injury toll obviously made them less of a threat.

Easy really

doesn't take away from the one on one matchups that is actually the point we are discussing or the fact you are trying to say that the wallabies and AB's have faced a similar level of opposition.......YOUR TEAM PLAYED TONGA NAMBIBIA AND GEORGIA. Get them black tinted sunglasses off and see it for what it is, Savea has had a shit year defensively, doesn't mean his a bad player, just he has underperformed but propping up his stats by playing against these low level opposition is hardly grounds for a argument

 

[Dctarget]

This is probably breaking all GaGR laws and is heretical at the highest to ask this. But if I wanted to have a gander at a NZ forum, which one is the most popular and civil?

Is it the silver fern?

 

[ACT Crusader]

I am not a conspiracy theorist - but, given Cheika is not known for being a empathist;

How 'out there' is the possibility that the reason Folau has been picked so often, but played so unremarkably, is that this is exactly what his coach has told him to do - exactly in order to get the Kiwis thinking that Folau ' is little short of a liability' as some Kiwi said yesterday. I have no doubt he injured his ankle - but how bad was it?

I would not normally entertain such an idea, but it begins to explain odd selections at Eden Park, and also explains why he has been selected if he is so 'clearly' unfit. I just would not put it past Cheika to pull a stunt like this, and play the Long Game..

Yes I'm guessing the AB coach is thinking the same way as some random fan.....

Anyway the report from the Wallabies team celebration last night was that the ankle was badly swollen but nothing that he couldn't put some pressure on it. Barring a further twist in training this week, Folau will play.

 

[ACT Crusader]

This is probably breaking all GaGR laws and is heretical at the highest to ask this. But if I wanted to have a gander at a NZ forum, which one is the most popular and civil?

Is it the silver fern?

Yep. Come on over DC. It's good banter. Some posters offer good insights. There's the same level of looney tunes as here as well

 

[Hell West & Crooked]

Yes I'm guessing the AB coach is thinking the same way as some random fan...

Anyway the report from the Wallabies team celebration last night was that the ankle was badly swollen but nothing that he couldn't put some pressure on it. Barring a further twist in training this week, Folau will play.

Yes - i think he will too.
- as to Random Fans, it was some bloke called Chris Rattue - who is a 'columnist' on some toy newspaper in New Zealand - so yes, i guess he is...

Seems to me also that alot of Kiwis around about have a short wick on their Cranky Candle... cheer up - you have 5 days left to think of something!

 

[Dctarget]

Yep. Come on over DC. It's good banter. Some posters offer good insights. There's the same level of looney tunes as here as well

It's the one hosted on the Damien Hutchinson site yeah? Its format is a bit more rustic than GaGR's. It doesn't have team badges or likes displayed, or am I missing something?

 

[ACT Crusader]

Yes - i think he will too.
- as to Random Fans, it was some bloke called Chris Rattue - who is a 'columnist' on some toy newspaper in New Zealand - so yes, i guess he is.

Seems to me also that alot of Kiwis around about have a short wick on their Cranky Candle. cheer up - you have 5 days left to think of something!

Sorry I take that back. If it's Chris you are referring to its some "random".

All sweet here. Seems you are the one throwing childish remarks around, so maybe you need the cheering up.