Throng

campgrrls

TV Blogger, I agree a team can't claim to be world champions if they can't win the world cup. The ABs being ranked #1 in the IRB world rankings is not a "claim" to be number 1, it's a fact. It also means that the ABs are most of the time better than other teams. But it's a major weakness that they can't win the world cup.

The IRB world rankings are adjusted to give more points to the teams for winning games in the knock-out rounds.

Lucas73

Bad ref... BAD REF!!! All I can say is I hope ARGENTINA win it now!

TV Blogger

Sorry campgrrls gotta agree with MrCynical on this one... Can you really be No.1 if you can't win a World Cup? Surely if you buckle under World Cup pressure and you're beaten by another team then you're not the best?
I agree though, that ref was hopeless / practically a fetus.
But the AB's had enormous possession and did very little with it!

TV Blogger

Hehe, "Lol. TV3 = /wrists"
Yup, I'm guessing there's some management at 3 pretty weak at the knees over this one, not only over the hundreds of thousands in lost revenue... But could they also be regretting taking Sky to court, particularly since they now have to live with sky watching every single clip they use on 3News for the rest of eternity (or at-least the life-span of FTA). I'm definitely not a huge fan of John Fellet, but I'm guessing it was a champagne brekkie over at his place this morning.

campgrrls

The ABs are better than other teams most of the time, except at world cups. That's shown by the fact that the ABs have consistently been #1 in the International IRB rankings over the last few years/decade.

MrCynical

No, we are just not as good as the other teams

jhjh2000

we are Curse?

DevilDodo

Lol. TV3 = /wrists

Everyone was so focused on the final we forgot that we actually had to get there first...

ell

I'd also like to see Deans - he's won so many pressure games and been such a great coach.

campgrrls

Yes, I think Steve Hansen was set up as Henry's heir. I'd like to see Deans, and to have a management that isn't just focused on trying to win a world cup - just focus on developing a good team and trying to win each match.

ell

G henry was going to call it a day either way so either Steve Hansen, Wayne Smith or Robbie Deans I imagine.

campgrrls

OK, thanks. Still there's some good games to come. If people only watch to see their team win, then rugby's the loser, I like to watch rugby and I love a close contest, whoever's playing. Let the games continue.

The ABs will live to play, and win, another day.

Whose gonna be the new coach after the World Cup?

ell

nope, only the losers of the semi's play off for 3rd.

campgrrls

It really didn't surprise me that much that France won. It was actually quite an exciting match IMO. I'll be watching the rest of the games. I want to see the Fiji team do well, France beat England (and hopefully Sth Africa), and for Argentina to do well.

I enjoyed the England-Aussie match - glad England won. Now don't we have to play Aussie for the 5th and 6th best at the competition?

TV Blogger

Hehe "Always look on the bright side of life" isn't bad...
But when I was doing sport for Prime, Wide World Of Sport & Sky Sport I used to use "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" By 'The Beatles'

Ronnie Spinks

How come no drop goal attempt all that time in Frances 22 with 10 mins to go? Please! The ref made bad calls on both teams!

Rachel

TV3 just played "Always look on the bright side of life".

Lisa

It is very sad. The ref made some bad calls, but I don't think it is entirely his fault that we lost. Am still proud of our boys.

moochie0106

And Giggli.co.nz Publishes their story about AB's loosing at 9:31 A.M.
By my recollection they were still playing then, what a way to show faith in the team guy's!

MrCynical

Yeah its always funny when the excuses come out, worse when they go into "well the french government provided more money for trainng" and just blah blah blah.

apparently "France was better" is not a valid reason.

regan

And now all the analysis and whinging at the ref by poor losers...

Here's my analysis. The French played better. If all the penalties and drop goals had been scored it would have been a 35 - 23 win to the French.

Forget the bad calls. It's about scoring points which the All Blacks didn't do enough of. End. Of. Story.

Scap

I'm so glad france won
but I guess it is sad for the ab's.

MrCynical

And complete strangers will stop asking for your opinion on it after a couple of days.

Rachel

10:04am: TV3 plays a government anti-violence ad!

falconernz

TV3 sure won't be happy!!! - I don't have any stats but I'm sure no where near as many people will be watching games without the All Blacks

Rachel

9:50am: Stuff updates their homepage
9:59am: NZ Herald updates their homepage

MrCynical

urgh, any tips on what to say when complete strangers ask you to talk about the game and you just don't give a crap.

cos apparently asking them if they spent more money on "support" all black merchandise than they have given to charity, because I wasn't aware that all blacks needed to fundraise, just makes them all cranky.

Rachel

14 half time ads:

(Promo: CSI Miami, Numb3rs)
BNZ
Coca Cola Zero (with All Blacks)
Ford (with All Blacks)
Mitre 10 Mega
Adidas (with All Blacks)
AMI
Harvey Norman

(Promo: Kath & Kim, Sea Patrol)
Toyota
Versatile
Air New Zealand (with All Blacks)
The Warehouse
VISA
Weetbix (with All Blacks)
Telecom Mobile