In NZ?

Decided not to go due to the idiotic England squad selection and the morons coaching the team. Not to mention the tw@ts who seem happy to play like a bunch of girls on the pitch and senseless idiots of it.

France seem to have picked one of the best packs on paper of any team in the tournament, yet a scrum half at 10 again? 50-50 game for me.

Wales vs Ireland - What a game this will be, but i have to say, the Welsh have to be favourites. It's not often, as an Englishman, i get jealous of a Welsh player, but Warburton is pure and utter class. I think Wales will reach the final and then it depends on who they play. They can't beat NZ, SA and Australia, maybe.

NZ vs Arg - Big win for NZ. Carter being out will only effect them in the semi and final. Apparently McCaw has a foot injury. The Blacks lose him and they could struggle.

Aus vs SA - The best defence in rugby in SA who seem to have woken up from the game vs Wales and the Aussies with the best attacking backs in the world. I fancy the convicts.

Are you going to any of the games? NZ must be a very strange place at the moment.

 

Sounds great, won't get started on my feelings that NZ should be one of the last countries who should be hosting the tournament, save that for another day !!

Depends how much you love you're rugby. World Cup i only every 4 years and hopefully unlikely to return to NZ for a very long time.

Enjoy it !

 

What?

All the best,
Andrew.

 

Maybe, but you cannot spell..

 

Not exactly surprising when you have a head coach who has never coached in his life before and three coaches in Ford, Wells and Smith, the first two who have been abject failures for since 2006 and Smith who's only noticeable impression on the team is how worse their ball skills are when they are with England.

MJ should never have been given the job, the three coaches mentioned should have kicked out on their arse's after the last world cup, when player power took us to the final. We then need every dickhead in the RFU thrown out, they only care how many VIP tickets they can get for their tweed and barbour wearing chums and get some people in who understand how modern rugby works.

My choice would be Venter. He's exactly what English rugby needs and exactly because of that, he'll never be considered.

Mallinder, Henry, Barnes, Richards would also be decent appointments.

English rugby is arrogant, ignorant and governed by a few stuck up old men desperately clinging onto power they believe is their right to have. Perfectly highlighted by the Range Rover brigade who attend rugby matches at Twickenham. I'm willing to bet 70% of the crowd are clueless about rugby and simply there because their mate Chumley Warner gets tickets and it's in their social calendar.

Rant over.

 

Arghh shame about Wales, a great display even with a man down.. Very proud of them.

 

Up your bottom, seriously.

Every country should be allowed to host the comp. South Africa and Australia has, NZ has now twice and England will the next time ...

And as expected NZ is doing a great job.
Pete
ps: A proud New Zealander.

 

I doubt they would have beaten this unstoppable Black machine, the Aussies really did give it good shot, real tough bloody battle great stuff.

PSK your right NZ put on a great show, my sister lives there, keeps mithering me to go.
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Oh stop being so precious, seriously. It's nothing personal about New Zealand. Top tier rugby nations should be the last places that World Cup's go to. So before you get all sensitive again, that goes for England too. The IRB should be doing whats in the best interests of the sport and had they done what's in the best interest of the sport they would have handed the world cup to a country that really needs it to help develop interest and support. NZ or Japan was the choice for the 2011 WC and i simply cannot believe anyone could offer one reason why NZ was the choice that was in the best interest of the sport.

The only reason England have the next world cup is that it's the only place that can host a world cup and turn profit. That should be irrelevant. Japan, USA, Canada, Argentina, Russia, etc are all countries that should be hosting a rugby world cup so that they can seriously develop the sport in their own countries.

 

Don't agree. New Zealand is the spiritual home of rugby and this World Cup has been fantastic. Why the heck would we want it to be in a country that does not give a toss about the game?

I don't want the IRB to be run like Bernie runs F1, only worried about money and increasing markets. I want the love of the game to come first. No country loves the game of rugby more than New Zealand, nobody.

Next time fill in the gaps before you make such sweeping statements.
Pete

 

Plus 360stimo if you think New Zealand is raking in the cash from this tournament you are very wrong:

But even though NZ has lots of problems to deal with presently such as Christchurch, and now this ship incident, all New Zealanders will agree that a loss of $30 or so million is well worth it for the love of the game, and our beloved All Blacks. Nothing lifts New Zealand better than an All Black win .

But saying that the rules that do not allow sponsorship, while I support in principle, need to be re-investigated. I do hate the crass sponsorship of professional rugby league though they have in Australia (where I now live) ... it's billboards running around the field.
Pete

 

NZ is the spiritual home of rugby and no one loves the game more than NZ. Its this level of ignorance and arrogance in the game that i despise and loath so much. Such a pile of steaming turd. Get over yourselves. Comparing the IRB to Bernie Ecclestone and the F1 set up is idiotic in the extreme.

The love of the game means growing awareness and interest around the world and giving more people the opportunity to play and watch the game. It's not about money and it never has been. Everything that could be done should be done to develop the game and standards around the world.

The World Cup has not been a success. It has not been an even and fair tournament for all. The refereeing has been appalling. Some of the decisions have been a joke, and the non-refereeing of the contact area by some refs has been scandalous. Rolland and Lawrence should never be allowed within 50 miles of a rugby pitch with a whistle ever again. But i guess your little insular 'the world cup has been a success' focuses solely on your little island and how well the fish and chups were served in the stadiums, not on what actually matters and what's best for the sport.

You clearly know nothing about rugby, you know nothing about rugby in Japan and you have made it perfectly clear you do not love this game and simply care about New Zealand. Insular to the extreme.

Let me guess, you were outraged about England using black as their second strip as you feel NZ has a monopoly on the color black right?

 

Try to learn how to read before making a fool of yourself.

 

Nope.

And you can't tell me how I am supposed to love the game. That is but your opinion, just like I am entitled to my opinion. And yep, could not give a flying fnck about rugby in Japan, why should I? Their national team does have an excellent coach ... who by the way is one of my All Black heros: John Kirwan.

So I suggest you take your bigotted views and f-off ... on to my ignore list.

Again your view. I could not careless about spreading the game. If other countries want to play the game, great, but they have to earn their stripes just like Australia and New Zealand have to earn their stripes with Soccer.

Heck if only the current countries, ie. the 5 nations and the southern hemisphere nations continued to play I'd be perfectly happy.

Oh and of course eventually the IRB would make more money if they spread the game. They didn't and I doubt very much whether they are making a profit with this tournament, which has been great ... with rugby you always get the occassional dodgy decision, it happens to all sides and you just have to take the way the luck flows. It's life. Happens in all sports. BTW: One of the refs has been sacked (I believe).
Pete

 

Never in my life have i encountered a rugby supporter with such arrogant and insular views as you. You think rugby starts and ends with New Zealand.

Please, stick me on your ignore list so i don't have to read another clueless and ignorant load of bile and tripe from you.

Prize winning bandwagon jumping clown.

 

Oh I love a good bit of niggle!

For my 2 cents, it's great to passionately support your team (like I do with the Wallabies) but having lived in many parts of the world I have to agree that there are a lot of emerging rugby countries that would benefit hugely with a little more input from the IRB.

You only have to look at the success of Bledisloe Cup games in HKG, or go to Chichibunomiya in Tokyo & watch a local game; or go to any of the various 7's tournaments (be it HKG, Dubai, Singapore, Tokyo, Bahrain, USA etc) to see that rugby is growing in popularity around the world.

The IRB and the supporters of the established rugby nations need get behind the initiative to grow the sport in the far reaches, not because of the $$ but because it will be good for the sport in the long run.

And sorry Pete, no country is bigger than the sport, & nor is there a spiritual home. I've been to Twickemham, Lansdowne Rd, Eden Park, Cardiff Arms Park & Ellis Park, & if passion were the criteria, all could lay claim to the title. One thing is for sure, rugby is the winner.

 

Brilliant post ! I agree with everything you have said.

Like you i travel to watch rugby all over the world and was at the Bledisloe game in Hong Kong last year. It was absolutely superb. Great atmosphere, not far from being sold out and they even come and refill your beer in your seat for you so you don't miss the game, which is great as it's also cheaper as you don't need another cup and saves on clearing up.

http://i1005.photobucket.com/albums/af179/cjsphotos/74091_10150304337100324_727825323_15191821_516017_n.jpg

I was even flying out of the airport the next morning with the NZ team. Had a good chat with Nonu. He is such a softly spoken person, which being the size he is you don't expect. Also kept calling me Sir which i also found far too polite and respectful. Didn't take much notice of my plea to go easy on England.

 

I agree with this, but did you grow up in New Zealand? The passion for rugby extends far further than just watching games. The success of the All Blacks affects the mood of the whole country and I would not be suprised if they actually affected our stock market . Also the provisional competition is just as passionately followed.

And 360stimo I do not think rugby starts and ends with New Zealand, but I'm not going to sit back and have somebody cr@p on about how the World Cup should not have been in New Zealand and how the competition has been rubbish. It hasn't and New Zealanders involved have done a great job.

Best
Pete
BTW: My high school principal was Graham Henry ... so yeah rugby got a lot of attention