Dagg was excellent (don’t forget he created the match’s only try as well) but Corey Jane deserved to be named man of the match. How many high balls did he take in the air? After four or five I thought the Wallabies must have realised that that tactic wasn’t working for them but they persisted with it to the bitter end.
Overall I was impressed by the All Blacks performance except for one person - Sonny Bill Williams. He was on the field for two minutes and did one thing, a blatant shopulder charge for which he was rightly sin-binned by the referee. Not only was it a cheating, cowardly shot (Dagg had already wrapped up Cooper’s legs) but it was unforgiveably stupid. It gave the Wallabies a line-out five meters out with seven minutes to play and them needing two converted tries to level the score. Personally I’d be quite happy to never see him in an All Blacks jersey again. Hopefully the judiciary will be consistent with their ruling re Warburton and suspend Williams for at least one game.
Well, that was disappointing, but we Aussies can’t complain; the Wallabies were simply beaten by a better team. I think the All Blacks would have beaten any team in the world today, and i think they would have beaten most of them by at least 20 or 30 points.
The Aussies didn’t help themselves with some poor execution and some mediocre tackling, especially in the first half. Some of the running decisions in the backline were hard to fathom; too many times, they would cut back in when it seemed that they would have a better shot by continuing to spread it wide. And, like Wales yesterday, they suffered from some poor kicks at crucial moments, as well as some forced passes that led to turnovers.
If both teams play like they played this weekend, next week’s final will be a yawner, with the Kiwis winning by at least 20. I think France has the potential to improve and mess up some of the All Blacks’ rhythm, but if i were betting my money would definitely be on New Zealand.
Can i also take this opportunity to complain about the FOX Sports commentary team (Greg Clark, Phil Kearns, Greg Martin) and their excessive homerism. I really prefer my commentators to stick to calling the game, rather than acting as cheerleaders. Every time the Australians did something bad, there would be an audible groan from at least one of the commentators (usually Kearns). I was groaning, too, but that’s not the point. The commentators should stop the barracking and just call the game.
I watched it on Maori TV and with Buck Shelford and Peter Fitzsimons doing the colour comments and Te Ahi Maipi doing the play by play. And they were great. All of them were up front about their biases but it was more of a conversation between them rather than a shouting match.
Absolutely terrific performance by the All Blacks - right from the very top shelf. And I’m an Aussie crying in my wheaties this morning, let me tell ya! Just a superb demonstration of power, strength, skill, and commitment mixed with a very low error count.
One thing’s for sure… the Board of Directors at Parramatta are glad the Quaalude didn’t make the code switch now.
But I have to say, I still think the performance by the All Blacks against the French in the first half of their pool game is their best performance to date - not dissimilar to Brazil in a Football World Cup when it’s plainly obvious that they’re head and shoulders way better than any one else.
I’m from the other side of the ditch, so I may be a little parochial, but to us this has ALWAYS been the mark of Australian commentators, no matter the sport.
Very disappointed to have missed the game, all the more so that I am so far from home - and what’s worse, I may have to watch next week amongst soccer supporters, with no cold ale.
If the French win, I think there will be a day of national mourning in NZ and in the United Kingdom.
I am no Rugby expert, but from what I could tell, the AB’s were really too good. Smart money is on them for the Final, but then again I have seen far too many sports tournaments where the better team has had turned out a magnificent performance in the Semi Final, and then seems lost in the Final.
The bookies seem to have the point spread at NZ to win by 16. I am very tempted to buy that, but the form book does often go out of the window in finals and it could be quite a tight game in practice.
True, but isn’t the merest, faintest glimmer hope that we might see “les bleus” play with outrageous elan, a slice of luck and win the bloody thing so exquisite?
“24 years just waiting for a chance,
We’re thrashing everybody
Then we go and lose to France …”
My theory is that the coaching staff have sat the All Blacks down and made them watch every World Cup match that the French have beaten them - multiple viewings, just to emphasise that failure is NOT an option on Sunday.
Hmm, the ABs are precisely gonna be playing this game in black because the French team had the sportsmanship to let them play in black . Not bad for bad guys (wow, this is getting too complicated).
I was under the impression that all potential colour clashes were resolved by coin flip prior to the tournament starting. So, again, I am under the impression that it is less to do with the French letting them play in black and more that they incorrectly called heads or tails about 6 months ago.
And just because the good guys dress in black, doesn’t mean that the bad guys are the French. At least, not for me. But I would really like NZ to win this tournament now - basically because they play better rugby.
Hey, no problems, I think it was proper rugby behaviour (you know, fairplay and sportsmanship). Colours to the host.
I just hope the Bleus did it for that, and not to score some brownie points to diminish the backlash for when they get slaughtered by the ABs.