RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks
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@Duluth Somewhere there's footage of George Bower interviewing Richie after that game.
At halftime he said he had to ask Aaron Smith how to put the ball into the scrum.
(Which was a bit surprising - I'd have thought that would've been a scenario they would have practiced for - but, RM may have been joking).
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Three hopes I have for the final:
1 - The team is not too emotional
It’s been an up and down ride over the past 4 years and with Fozzie’s fate having been sealed weeks prior to the RWC, this final of final matches will have the team feeling a range of emotions. Despite the rollercoaster ride, it is clear that the players have a positive relationship with Fozzie and have bought into his ethos to see themselves through some low moments when fans and commentators alike have heaped on. Being in the big dance already carries its own set of bright lights, world watching emotions, but this extra layer (plus retiring players) will bring an extra layer of ‘buzz’ on Saturday night. We need to enjoy the occasion, but get stuck into our work early to settle any of those extra emotions.2 - Discipline discipline discipline!
The thought of seeing Pollard knocking over penalty kick after penalty kick, or constantly kicking to the corner for attacking lineouts, makes me want to throw up. Our last two outings have shown a renewed commitment to discipline that we haven’t seen for several seasons. It will take every bit of patience, judgment and leadership on both sides of the ball to keep Barnes sometimes over eager whistle from having more influence than we all want. So more of the same please ABs!3 - 10 + 12 + 13 = victory
Maths was always been my strong point at school, but for many rugby aficionados out there they will try and tell you that backs can’t win you a game of footy. Rewind 8 years and the last time the ABs won the RWC final we had a world class 10-12-13 axis in Carter, Nonu and Smith. The mercurial, the experience, the dependability, the leadership. All three of them had a major influence in not only that match, but the success of our RWC campaign.This weekend the ABs have three very different players - much maligned players mind you - that are carving out their AB legacy forming a very formidable axis of their own. Individually they all have the brilliance and skill that would have any opposing defence worried. But as an axis we have yet to see them lift to the heights we have seen over the past couple of weeks. And it has not been surprising to see all of Mo’unga, Barrett and Ioane feature in TSF’s very own Man of the Match polling. They are all playing with confidence. Their defence is rock solid. Their linking play has been superb. When they take on the line they are proving a real handful. To all the old cauliflowered eared forwards watching this weekend, watch a little closer at numbers higher than 1-8 and see what 10, 12 and 13 will do to bring home the victory for the good guys.
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Absolute 100% confidence of the win here.
Foster's cunning 4 year plan of playing miserably so that the weight of expectation no longer lies on the team and every team going to to play them goes in as favorites is playing off richly.
Finally the AB's have entered a RWC with the mantle of being the underdogs and it's really paying off.
We can only hope that SA expecting a cakewalk will be surprised by a display of adequacy like the Irish were and we romp to a historic victory.
Can't wait for Fozzie to lift the RWC this year and next year receive his knighthood for services to rugby just like McCaw and Carter.
A brilliant tactical plan that no-one saw coming - not even Eddie Jones.
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It'll be a real shame if the weather is wet as forecast. Would have been great to see a spectacle of contrasting styles, you'd expect that contrast to be somewhat diminished if conditions don't suit.
I was quite keen to see how the rush defense in particular went against us - it was pretty noticable against Ireland that we used our midfield as crash runners, but against the Argies we looked more like Ireland with decoy runners in front and a deeper 2nd line.
I'm also keen to see how we defend - against Ireland we were so narrow, and almost got caught wide a few times - we spread a bit against Argentina, and I can't imagine we would want to be as narrow again against the speed of SA (assuming the ball ever makes it to their wingers).
Another tactic I noticed England do well last week was when contesting the high ball in attack, they often didn't actually try to catch it in the air (which can often result in a knock-on), instead just tried to get one hand to it and knock it backwards. They were then very good at having 2-3 forwards about 5m behind the play running forward at pace in the hope of regathering the knock-back. Worked a few times.
As always, my main hope is just that the players get to decide the outcome. I'm sick of talking about referees, and I really hope we aren't doing it on Sunday, regardless of outcome.
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The thing i like, man for man if you go through the players , they seem to have hit form
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@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@frugby said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Dan54 said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Stag said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Hooroo so we have become just another one of those teams that don’t care about results between world cups? Don’t thinks so, that’s never been the All Blacks. Win or lose the World Cup that doesn’t change the results over the past 4 years and Foster will still have one one of the worst records as coach of the AB’s. Credit where credits due if Fozz wins the WC, but the AB’s have always been about winning, wether at the World Cup or not, and that aura has been severely diminished under Foster.
You actually got it a bit wrong mate, Foster (as a coach)actually has the best results in competitions since he took over anyway, Won Tri nations, theRugby championships, held the Bledisloe and Freedom cup. This team is only one to do that in professional era under any coach So if results are everything you missing the point. I not arguing one way or another on his ability, just you may need to just redo your argument.
That is totally ignoring context though... in that Tri Nations series, we lost to Argentina and drew with Aussie, only won it because the other two sides weren't all that.
Don't forget that home series loss to Ireland either.
So when Foster wins it's only because the opposition were poo. When the ABs lose, it'll all down to Foster.
Who'd be a coach in a RWC Final eh?
Completely ignores the fact that Ireland has beaten EVRY major playing rugby nation in the last year or 2, so following frugby's logic, that means all these teams are coached by poor coaches?
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@voodoo I have noticed we defend quite narrow at times, but seem to back our speed to take on the wide pass? Also like we seem to be in general defending the ball. I still think against Boks, we will try to take them on in close and give a target for out forwards to hit, and then turn them in on defence. Only guesswork of course.
And on the players staying on ground and tapping kicks back, works if you have plenty of support of the first player, and still need usually a good bounce. But agree Poms did it quite well at times. -
All Blacks easily. First RWC final with the winning team scoring 50.
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@antipodean it is only Tuesday. Best ease up on the drinking if you hope to see the final 😂
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@antipodean said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
All Blacks easily. First RWC final with the winning team scoring 50.
This is where carrying that extra winger so we can get in more practice will really come into play and we can expect sparkling tries from all over the park.
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@antipodean said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
All Blacks easily. First RWC final with the winning team scoring 50.
Love the enthusiasm
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@voodoo said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
It'll be a real shame if the weather is wet as forecast.
My trusty Norwegians are saying a bit of drizzle at worst.
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@sparky said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
Wayne Barnes confirmed as World Cup referee:
South Africans will be pleased. They've only lost with Barnes as ref once in 10 attempts.
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@voodoo said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@gt12 not sure my wife operates on the same logic as you, but I appreciate the sentiment 😂
not sure she has a leg to stand on....
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@Dan54 said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Victor-Meldrew said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@frugby said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Dan54 said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Stag said in RWC Final: All Blacks v Springboks:
@Hooroo so we have become just another one of those teams that don’t care about results between world cups? Don’t thinks so, that’s never been the All Blacks. Win or lose the World Cup that doesn’t change the results over the past 4 years and Foster will still have one one of the worst records as coach of the AB’s. Credit where credits due if Fozz wins the WC, but the AB’s have always been about winning, wether at the World Cup or not, and that aura has been severely diminished under Foster.
You actually got it a bit wrong mate, Foster (as a coach)actually has the best results in competitions since he took over anyway, Won Tri nations, theRugby championships, held the Bledisloe and Freedom cup. This team is only one to do that in professional era under any coach So if results are everything you missing the point. I not arguing one way or another on his ability, just you may need to just redo your argument.
That is totally ignoring context though... in that Tri Nations series, we lost to Argentina and drew with Aussie, only won it because the other two sides weren't all that.
Don't forget that home series loss to Ireland either.
So when Foster wins it's only because the opposition were poo. When the ABs lose, it'll all down to Foster.
Who'd be a coach in a RWC Final eh?
Completely ignores the fact that Ireland has beaten EVRY major playing rugby nation in the last year or 2, so following frugby's logic, that means all these teams are coached by poor coaches?
Not at all, but you can't ignore that was a historic home series defeat. If it was one loss you probably wouldn't mind it, but after losing the first one, to drop the second and third, including that embarrassing first half in the third test was abysmal. I don't want to live in the past, but you can't rewrite history.
Long term weather forecast for Paris
