Tuesday, October 23, 2007

last words on RWC..

.. i hope. HAHA beware: LONG ENTRY. ok blogger is damn lag and so is the whole computer. and after i closed all the other windows.. it kinda became better. but i'm too fed up to do more spam.

ok firstly, this was what i messaged a few people while watching the first half-

"SA won 1st lineout with an england throw in. But first knockon by SA. Almost immediately, SA turnovers with England's possession at the ruck (england was really close to scoring a try). England loses lineout again. Penalty to SA in front of the pole. Habana does a humongous tackle on Sackey, but it is possibly the reason for penalty. Right at the corner, Jonny perfect kick. Habana another huge tackle on Sackey. suddenly another perfect penalty by monty. Apparently England tripped butch james when he chipped the ball. IMO-rubbish. Wilko missed first dropgoal. Tait playing badly (he slid and fell). SA get a penalty but at halfline. Steyn kicked well but missed. SA almost scored from chipping. England playing quite ok but still a bit of pingpong. SA almost scored magnificent try but apparently lost the ball. Smit few cm from tryline. 36min. E-SA: 3-6. Scrum at 5m. SA turnover almost sscored. Penalty to SA near try. HALF TIME 3-9."


"OMG. ENGLAND scores first try by 11 (cuerto)! Tait makes amends @ 42nd minute. NO TRY over vid's ref decision. he's aussie. PENALTY. WTF. Wait I support South Africa. Haha.. Successful penalty that hits pole."

Okay back to the 'controversial try'. I said and I remembered that i was really quite pissed la. Cos the replays were showed at least 20 times. but I realised that the ref made a really good call. BUT the rest of the referreeing was INCONSISTENT. that's the best word to describe Alain Rolland from Ireland. Even the more experienced commentators could not help but voice that view out REPEATEDLY.

"OH MAN. ROBINSON (england) is subbed! =( his last match ever! He looks like in great pain. Why catt go out?! But toby flood really cute."


[rugbyheaven]

Robinson was only talked out of international retirement in January by coach Brian Ashton, but this time he says there will be no going back. "The guys have been giving me stick about retiring but I'll have the last laugh when the temperature has fallen below freezing and the grounds are like concrete," he said. "I'll text them to tell them I'm sat in my slippers in front of a big fire, dipping a biscuit in my tea." Sadly for Robinson, his career could not quite end in the fairytale manner. "I would have said I was walking away from the game without any regrets - until last night," he said

Second final with NO TRIES. The last being 1995 when South Africa won (haha).

The part about monty smashing into camera was by toby flood. England chipped the ball, flood and monty chased and I don't know if it is because of momentum or what.. but flood shoved monty. Looked like it hurt bad. I don't really like monty because I can't stand the way he smoothes his hair, like baywatch. but this.. respect. he didn't like flare up or anything (at least I didn't see).



[rugbydump]

In a tight and tense affair in Paris on Saturday night, the Springboks came out on top to claim the William Webb Ellis trophy back from England - the trophy that they first won 12 years ago at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. In a game that was dominated by penalties, top points scorer of the world cup Percy Montgomery slotted four out of four, with young Francois Steyn successful at his second attempt from just inside the half way line.Wilkinson didn't have as big an impact as it was talked up to be for England, only getting two kicks over and missing two drops.

I have to specifically mention Steyn again. it was like WTF? he had 2 chances at the penalty from halfway, and he successful kicked the second one. it was seriously like amazing. haha.
[rugbydump]

The reality is that the team of the tournament won on the day. The Springboks were a lot of people's favourites from day one, and looked determined to complete their four year plan under coach Jake White. And they did just that. The didn't lose a game in the tournament and on the team have the top try scorer of the tournament and the top points scorer. Bryan Habana as also last night handed the pretigious IRB Player of the Year award.

perhaps I change my mind about the kicking thing. I was really rather frustrated by the pingpong strategy. But surprisingly there were a few good runs and possible tries that could have happened if not for several things - the ref's preference to give penalties, and one of jonny's dropkick when england were in their 7th phase (i think) of attack, quite a bad decision not just imo but in newspapers and stuff, and of course good defence.

[a comment from rugbyheaven i found relevant]

Yes, we would have all liked to have seen a lot more running rugby and you would have to wonder why England were still kicking the ball away in the final 10 minutes when they were nine points adrift. But in reality that should be no surprise. England have done that all tournament to reach the final. We can just thank our lucky stars that their method didn't take them all the way to a consecutive title. Any chance the game had of reinventing itself would have disappeared in a white tidal wave of glory.

i mean if we really want to watch a kicking game we might as well watch soccer/football. -.- that's why rugby fans are different from soccer fans, we want to see flashy side-stepping, lightning fast running, great passes, interceptions, massive tackles and magnificient touchdowns.
i think england made a fantastic comeback from being touted as the worst defending champions ever. of course no one likes to lose, but they should really be very proud of what they have achieved and where they have came from to reach the finals of the world cup.

[rugbyheaven] i really like this comment. http://www.rugbyheaven.co.nz/rugbyheaven/4246677a22459.html

England and South Africa employed virtually identical tactics in a match, that while absorbing for its importance, was mostly dull. The match was all about managing risk. Both teams had decided that tries were going to be virtually impossible to score, given the quality of the defence. Therefore both teams decided the best approach was to play for position on the field and hope something happened from there. Given the only thing that could happen was a drop goal or a penalty, in effect the teams said to the referee: "you decide who will be world champion".

So it was a game of managing risk and neutralising strengths. Both teams played not to lose and hoped for an opportunity to kick for goal or counter-punch from an opposition error.

It remains for the game's administrators to decide whether the style of rugby that has become the style needed to win a World Cup is good for the game.

The two teams who contested the final are not to blame for the dull, no-risks approach that has predominated at the business end of the tournament. This is the style that has proven to be a winning style and above all teams are at the World Cup to win. However the corollary of the "winning style" we now have in world rugby are fewer tries, more matches decided by penalties and drop goals, and more intense pressure on the referees.

Neither Australia nor New Zealand is particularly well placed to prosper with this style of rugby. Australia especially does not have the assembly line of 120kg props and second rowers that come out of England and South Africa. And both countries produce athletic loose forwards with ball skills and vision, not the 110kg battering rams that we saw at Stade de France in the World Cup final.

Backs continue to get bigger and bigger. Matt Giteau and Dan Carter are now at the extreme small end of the range of size and weight for test match backs. They are rightly acknowledged as two of the most skilful players in world rugby. I doubt however that either would have been more effective than the far less skilful kicking and tackling machines that played in the World Cup final.

oh and if you have time to spare, go to rugbydump and watch the argentina tribute video. it really makes you a fan.

back to the All Blacks for a moment. [rugbyheaven]

The All Blacks gave up control of their destiny; they started to hope instead of believe. They tried to get back control by playing faster and harder. Form became frenzy. Under pressure in big matches the only way back when you are struggling, behind on the scoreboard and with time running out, is to play the match one simple, accurate, ruthless step at a time. If the clock beats you, so be it, but at least you won't have beaten yourself. The All Blacks beat themselves.

it's past 2am and i'm really deprived of sleep. haha. maybe i'll comment more another day =) but while the world cup has been rather disappointing. there's 4 years for rugby to continue to mature.. and we can all wait in great anticipation (hopefully cos we're older we can like go pubbing for rugby matches together!) for RWC 2011 at NEW ZEALAND! =) can't wait. haha.