Live Chat for Tonga vs All Blecks

[Scarfman]

So yeah, you can say NZ sunk to the oppo, but since when did the All Blacks do that? That's the sort of shit the Wallabies traditionally do.

Maybe this is the cunning plan. The Wallabies sink to the oppo but we also rise to the oppo. And we have more RWCs than the Kiwis.

 

[Worldcupnut]

I agree with Scarfman. ABs have finally been able to struggle through on a second rate effort. I truly think the ABs will finally realise that anything less than 100% will see them bundled out again. In years gone by they would've steamrolled Tonga 80+ but now they've got places to go, areas to improve.
If I was an AB fan, I'd be very happy with what I saw.

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

Just nice to see a pool match where we get hit hard. That's the toughest pool match we've had since England in 1999.

Sure, a bit disorganized, but on such a huge occasion for nzers, too be expected. We should settle into the tournament a bi better after a rusty start.

A rusty start where we won by 6 tries to 1, where we created countless more opportunities against an opposition that came within a bad bounce of beating the eventual winners in the last rwc.

 

[Gagger]

With your guys quality MR it'll probably work out that way.

But the other way to read it (and for those of us with vested interests!) is that this was the 3rd time in a row the AB pack has been bested. Can't remember last time we saw that

 

[Bullrush]

PS - Dagg and Kahui had belters

Jerome Kaino is f**kn rock. Whether he's laying on a hit or taking it up himself he just looks to get better with every game he plays in a black jersey.

 

[Blob]

With your guys quality MR it'll probably work out that way.

But the other way to read it (and for those of us with vested interests!) is that this was the 3rd time in a row the AB pack has been bested. Can't remember last time we saw that

Do you really think they were bested? Really?

 

[Athilnaur]

I agree Bullrush. Staggering how good he has been recently.

 

[Gagger]

Do you really think they were bested? Really?

What I expected to see when it all went to shit before half time, and then throughout the second, was that NZ would keep it tight and pick and drive, like they did at the biggining of the second half in Brisbane.

But they couldn't make it work. That together with the scrum getting owned - surely in anyone's book that's bested?

 

[Athilnaur]

Thought Tonga played exceptionally. Like Samoa the professionalism and match fitness was a lot better than PI teams of old. Hell, all the lower ranked teams have been playing much much better rugby.

The ABs, however, were definitely not playing with their usual authority. Maybe it was SBW, he creates a lot of opportunity and the team seemed to lose their shape.

It might have been one year late for him to gel in, shame because I think the ABs with him playing as part of a well oiled machine would be nigh on unbeatable.

 

[Athilnaur]

Re the scrums, thought ABs improved once Woodcock came off. Usual nfcbloodyscrums caveat tho.

Overall they did enough, had we achieved that scrum level vs Tonga playing like that I 'd have been pleased really. I reckon Tonga would have beaten England soundly on form this weekend.

 

[Blob]

What I expected to see when it all went to shit before half time, and then throughout the second, was that NZ would keep it tight and pick and drive, like they did at the biggining of the second half in Brisbane.

But they couldn't make it work. That together with the scrum getting owned - surely in anyone's book that's bested?

The scrum didn't get owned. The Tongans had a good series of scrums on the AB line but other than that the ABs shoved them back without too much trouble. If you look at the stats the Tongans lost 2 of their own scrums, the ABs none. The ABs also won the lineout battle and the turnover battle. They weren't bested by any measure at all.

 

[Beefcake]

Not so sure for Vito who was completely missing most of the match, Dagg who was out of sorts with his hands and probably too shy injecting himself into traffic and those tries he scored, just needed someone to fall over the line...SBW butchered two tries with support on outside

Kahui on fire, Carter still in first gear - sum1 remind him its the RWC, tight 5 not so dominating and McCaw unsure who was playing openside because that bloke wasnt Richie...

Tongan absolutely stepped up in 2nd half and their general development as well as other minnows is perhaps a highlight so far...

 

[Blob]

Not so sure for Vito who was completely missing most of the match, Dagg who was out of sorts with his hands and probably too shy injecting himself into traffic and those tries he scored, just needed someone to fall over the line...SBW butchered two tries with support on outside

Kahui on fire, Carter still in first gear - sum1 remind him its the RWC, tight 5 not so dominating and McCaw unsure who was playing openside because that bloke wasnt Richie...

Tongan absolutely stepped up in 2nd half and their general development as well as other minnows is perhaps a highlight so far...

Their play looked very 'Northern Hemisphere' to me, which isn't surprising. They're the least 'chuck it around' of the PI teams anyway I think.

 

[RedsHappy]

What I expected to see when it all went to shit before half time, and then throughout the second, was that NZ would keep it tight and pick and drive, like they did at the biggining of the second half in Brisbane. But they couldn't make it work. That together with the scrum getting owned - surely in anyone's book that's bested?

There's nothing quite so delicious in rugby commentary than when the British rugby press get into full flight as one wolf pack, see:

"British press smell blood after All Blacks struggle in opener":

http://www.theage.com.au/rugby-unio...blacks-struggle-in-opener-20110911-1k3q3.html

I especially enjoyed this morsel:

Sensing blood in the water, Peter Jackson of the Daily Mail went even further. "The All Blacks trudged off their garden of Eden to the screeching sound of the country's choke-o-meter careering towards the panic zone," he penned, somewhat hysterically. "[Tonga] embarrassed their hosts to one of the worst second-halves New Zealanders have had to endure for a long time. The all-fumbling All Blacks spent an unseemly amount of time in a desperately unsuccessful attempt to prevent Taumalolo scoring the try which made Tonga's night.

 

[proton]

Poms will be poms wannabe ABs with the black tops and disappering nos just like their team losers

 

[MajorlyRagerly]

What I expected to see when it all went to shit before half time, and then throughout the second, was that NZ would keep it tight and pick and drive, like they did at the biggining of the second half in Brisbane.

But they couldn't make it work. That together with the scrum getting owned - surely in anyone's book that's bested?

WE won the first half thent he foot just seemed to go off the throat - personally think that had more to do with the Tongans than us losing focus - they lifted, they pushed, they fronted up, same as they did in WC 07.

I stopped reading the british press years ago, and for jolly good reason too. If I want to get wound up by bullshit, I now read GAGR instead

 

[cyclopath]

Difference is that when the ABs have a poor half of rugby against Tonga, they only win 41-10. Quite a few other teams play badly (for them) against Tonga, Samoa or Fiji and they lose.
Anyone who thinks the ABs don't have a few more gears to select (not Hosea or Rico) is deluded.
Kudos to Tonga, but I doubt Graham Henry et al have removed the dust cover from the Big Red Button yet.