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

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TSR

Mark Ella (57)
While there is no doubt Pocock was MOTM, how good was Douglas? Nothing flashy, just hard, tight footy, hitting rucks and malls hard, getting off the line and tackling hard, just going at it for 80 minutes game after game. Saw him about 2 minutes from full time, he looked absolutely fucked. I was one who couldn't understand why he was selected ahead of Horwill, but Cheika obviously knew exactly what he was getting.
I'm struggling to think of any of Cheika's judgement calls which havent been a success.
 

Viking

Mark Ella (57)
Things they're better at:

● Attack (see France)
● Lineout
● Goalkicking
● Haka (especially the one with the throat-slitting gesture)
● Forming arrowhead formations
● Being very serious

Things we're better at:

● Defence
● Scrum (if Scotty Sio's fit)
● Breakdown
● Winning World Cups in the United Kingdom
● Sex
● Mining
● Rugby foruming
● Self-deprecating humour


We are not better at defence. Did you not watch the South Africa game? The All Blacks were ruthless on defence, the only thing going against them was their discipline by giving away silly penalties.
 

Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
We are not better at defence. Did you not watch the South Africa game? The All Blacks were ruthless on defence, the only thing going against them was their discipline by giving away silly penalties.

I did watch that game! I'm an enthusastic follower of World Cup games. :)

Are we better at anything, Seb?
 

redstragic

Alan Cameron (40)
Speaking of rugby foruming, I just broke the habit of a lifetime (well, a couple of months) and went onto that Kiwi one. Woo. A combustible mixture of swagger and terror.


We are better at bleeding, mateship (the inclusive, non patriarchal, non mysogonistic kind) and wearing green and gold and proudly belting out an ordinary national anthem. How much blood have the Wobs spilt in the name of rugby in the Championships and RWC? Must be all the ACDC the boys are on ATM that makes them want to run through brick walls.

We are also better at eating pizza after the match, the change room is piled high with them.
 

Groucho

Greg Davis (50)
Eh? Did the Wallabies not just miss 30 odd tackles in the semifinal?

In all seriousness, I can't believe you guys are talking down our defence. Apart from the obvious mistakes against the Scots, it's been heroic. That Argie attack out-scored New Zealand in Pool C, and put 43 points past Ireland, who had the equal best defence in the pool stages. We kept them tryless by outstanding scrambling defence.
 

cyclopath

George Smith (75)
Staff member
Eh? Did the Wallabies not just miss 30 odd tackles in the semifinal?

They did indeed. Missed tackles as an isolated stat is a bit limited sometimes - it probably varies significantly with the structure of the defence. Obviously, if you miss no tackles, it's probably awesome, but what if you also allow 3-4 clean overlaps where a player never gets close to being tackled but scores? It would be more meaningful, but probably a massive pain to code, to look at the outcome from each missed tackle in terms of metres and / or points subsequently gained.
I'm not saying missing 30 tackles is good, but it might not be the whole story. The lack of tries scored by the Pumas is probably of some significance. The Wallabies have obviously scrambled well at crucial times, which has to be some positive metric in defence terms.
In any event, I haven't seen anything in this RWC to say we have a better defence than the ABs, but it is pretty damn good.
 

Shelts89

Tom Lawton (22)
Any thoughts on who the non-AUS or NZ fans might be getting behind for this one? Any NH fans on here able to chime in on which team is hated less?

I genuinely hope they swing throughout the match and just get behind good Rugby no matter who is producing it.

Tough one to call... I'd say the ABs will be the more popular choice though. They're just good fun to watch when on song.
 

Redsman

Allen Oxlade (6)
Well according to the dozen kiwis or so I happened across today in downtown QLD - Aussies may as well not even show up... the bleating tracksuit pant wearing kiwis (thx marto :D for that reference) have it in the bag already... or do they... ??

I think aussie supporters should just take the opportunity to stir the kiwis' anxiety levels this week as much as possible... as it really is quite hilarious...

odds are that AIG will prevail (or will they???)

Im sure the kiwis are sad poor ol joubert thrown under the bus by IRB...

:D :D :D :D
:D :D :D :D
 

Redsman

Allen Oxlade (6)
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.


would prefer to see To'omua at back with KB (Kurtley Beale) off bench... KBs defence = suss
 

Spruce Moose

Fred Wood (13)
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.
Agree here but think to help defence wouldn't mind Mitchell starting 15 and Horne coming back to the wing (if fit) to sure up defence, then bring Kurtley off the bench.

But hopefully Falou continues to improve and he gets back some of that magic. Any word on Gits? Assume he was injured if coming off that early.
 

Tahspark

Ted Thorn (20)
Things they're better at:

● Attack (see France)
● Lineout
● Goalkicking
● Haka (especially the one with the throat-slitting gesture)
● Forming arrowhead formations
● Being very serious

Things we're better at:

● Defence
● Scrum (if Scotty Sio's fit)
● Breakdown
● Winning World Cups in the United Kingdom
● Sex
● Mining
● Rugby foruming
● Self-deprecating humour


To add to Groucho's almost comprehensive list of things we're better at:

David Pocock

Is there a better example of a player missing two injury enforced seasons then returning at international level to be such a dominant force? I'd like to see that. This bloke wants to hold Bill aloft big time and it's going to take many staunch ABs to stop him.
 

Dewald Nel

Cyril Towers (30)
How is it that Grant Fox, a current All Black selector, is told the identity of the referee before it is made public? And why does he then make it public? Was he told officially? Does he have a deep throat within the referees appointments ranks?

It all sounds a little odd to me.:rolleyes:

Fox says that the All Blacks were informed before the semi-final that Owens would be in charge of the next weekend's finale.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/rugby/rugby-news/nigel-owens-referee-rugby-world-10326695


The real question is, why does it matter? It was the worst kept secret of the world cup - if the Aussies didn't know it by last week Tuesday, I'd be more concerned with myself if I were them than I would about the All Blacks already knowing who the ref is.

Besides, I'm guessing Aus got the same information at the same time. Fox just felt compelled to out it for some reason.
 

Samson

Chris McKivat (8)
It's going to be a very very long week. Let the darkness talk it up, keep our powder dry and hope we can detonate it come the wee hours Sunday morning. I know we are the underdog and don't deserve to be on the same paddock as them ( a kiwi told me) but I can dream of glory.....quietly.
 

Pfitzy

George Gregan (70)
Absolutely salt of the earth at all other times, but rugby triggers some masochistic morose response that just isn't warranted.

Poor buggers, best in the world and struggle to truly enjoy it.


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.
 
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