RWC'15 Final Weekend Build Up Thread

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Interesting piece from Murray Kinsella. With all the talk of how NZ will be losing so many leaders after this WC it's interesting to note the media team are pushing all the new boys into the limelight this week.

http://www.the42.ie/new-zealand-smith-milner-skudder-retallick-2410837-Oct2015/?utm_source=shortlink

efb

efb wrote: »

http://bbc.in/1GmbGpn

BBC1 Wales 10.35 tonight

(See sat forum for tuning on sat)

It was excellent

shrapnel222

thebaz wrote: »

no dountt the 2 best teams , BUT I feel really blaahh towards the final - if Argentina had reached the final , or Wales , Soctland (or us) - but someone different , something new - this WC started off so brilliantly with Japan , and in the end it is the old predictables - hopefully in Japan '19 something new will happen - its been all so predictable since the quarters.

Funnily enough, there has never been an Aus-NZ final, and any other final
(ie arg, sco, etc) would've been so one sided, it wouldn't have been as good. At least this way you just know it's going to be close!

nehe milner skudder

Zzippy wrote: »

The irony of denigrating a country for having foreign-born players, when your own country does the same, and pretty much every country in the WC does too. Unless you're Argentinean, of course.

People in glasshouses etc......

Don't see any denigration in my post?

Zzippy

nehe milner skudder wrote: »

Don't see any denigration in my post?

Why refer to foreign-born players as poached then? You need to consider your use of language, because it definitely comes across as denigrating to Japan.

nehe milner skudder

thebaz wrote: »

and no one else is poaching - shame really

It's scandalous world wide

nehe milner skudder

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Interesting piece from Murray Kinsella. With all the talk of how NZ will be losing so many leaders after this WC it's interesting to note the media team are pushing all the new boys into the limelight this week.

http://www.the42.ie/new-zealand-smith-milner-skudder-retallick-2410837-Oct2015/?utm_source=shortlink

I always find it funny how journos are surprised at the rise of Milner skudder et al.
They don't watch enough rugby south of the equator and the first time they see these players is when they pitch up on tv3. It's myopic.

The RTE boys were the same.


Jeremy Kaino the other day.........I despair.

subfreq

I hope South Africa take the shackles of this Friday. Should be an easy team talk for Heyneke, just send out the young generation and tell them this is game one towards winning the cup in four years. Channel the pain into this game and put it to bed.

Will be a cracker if both teams go at it.

NZ - Aus has the hallmarks of being one for the ages. I still think NZ have a little bit extra in the attacking sense in the back three if half chances are created, and this game is likely to come down to which team converts a half chance. Aus will settle there scrum and look to dominate but NZ have just destroyed two great Line out nations in France and South Africa so set piece dominance looks split.

As a Wallaby fan I am delighted that we have a battle hard team that will front up but go into the game giving NZ a 7-10 point advantage. The boys in Gold will need to do something very special to take it.

nehe milner skudder

subfreq wrote: »

I hope South Africa take the shackles of this Friday. Should be an easy team talk for Heyneke, just send out the young generation and tell them this is game one towards winning the cup in four years. Channel the pain into this game and put it to bed.

Will be a cracker if both teams go at it.

NZ - Aus has the hallmarks of being one for the ages. I still think NZ have a little bit extra in the attacking sense in the back three if half chances are created, and this game is likely to come down to which team converts a half chance. Aus will settle there scrum and look to dominate but NZ have just destroyed two great Line out nations in France and South Africa so set piece dominance looks split.

As a Wallaby fan I am delighted that we have a battle hard team that will front up but go into the game giving NZ a 7-10 point advantage. The boys in Gold will need to do something very special to take it.

All I hope is one way or the other , regardless of who wins, we are not talking about the ref.
I want it won fair and square.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

nehe milner skudder wrote: »

I always find it funny how journos are surprised at the rise of Milner skudder et al.
They don't watch enough rugby south of the equator and the first time they see these players is when they pitch up on tv3. It's myopic.

The RTE boys were the same.


Jeremy Kaino the other day.........I despair.

To be fair NMS has only appeared on the Super Rugby scene this season. Unless they were watching the ITM Cup, and I doubt journos in NZ are watching the UBL here, how could they have known about him.

Murray Kinsella has a fairly good knowledge of players from Super Rugby and even before they're signed to SR teams so they're not all useless.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

subfreq wrote: »

I hope South Africa take the shackles of this Friday. Should be an easy team talk for Heyneke, just send out the young generation and tell them this is game one towards winning the cup in four years. Channel the pain into this game and put it to bed.

Will be a cracker if both teams go at it.

It'll be interesting to see if South Africa do go at it. Will they play a different team, give the fringe players one last run out at this WC or will they send out all the old boys who are retiring. The result is pretty irrelevant, really, so it'd be fun to see them both play BaaBaas style

Kiwi_knock

nehe milner skudder wrote: »

I always find it funny how journos are surprised at the rise of Milner skudder et al.
They don't watch enough rugby south of the equator and the first time they see these players is when they pitch up on tv3. It's myopic.

The RTE boys were the same.


Jeremy Kaino the other day.........I despair.

To be fair it is NMS first year in Super Rugby and International Rugby so it is understandable that a lot of journalists will not have heard of him. It certainly is not comparable to how TV3 reacted to the Savea hat-trick against France, saying that is was his arrival on the international stage. Now that was bad punditry.

sydthebeat

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

It'll be interesting to see if South Africa do go at it. Will they play a different team, give the fringe players one last run out at this WC or will they send out all the old boys who are retiring. The result is pretty irrelevant, really, so it'd be fun to see them both play BaaBaas style

argentina beat south africa off the park only 3 months ago

Meyer will put out as strong as side as he can, and they wont need any other encouragement than that.

im expecting a high scoring open game here.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

To be fair it is NMS first year in Super Rugby and International Rugby so it is understandable that a lot of journalists will not have heard of him. It certainly is not comparable to how TV3 reacted to the Savea hat-trick against France, saying that is was his arrival on the international stage. Now that was bad punditry.

TV3 commentators struggle with the Irish players never mind the foreign ones.

pickarooney

Kiwi_knock wrote: »

To be fair it is NMS first year in Super Rugby and International Rugby so it is understandable that a lot of journalists will not have heard of him. It certainly is not comparable to how TV3 reacted to the Savea hat-trick against France, saying that is was his arrival on the international stage. Now that was bad punditry.

Good lord, are they not embarrassed with some of the stuff they come out with? If it takes 38 tries to arrive on the international scene Tommy Bowe will be a while waiting.

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

Pocock's looking rough...

efb

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Pocock's looking rough...

Still would 😝

subfreq

nehe milner skudder wrote: »

Jeremy Kaino the other day.........I despair.

That actually made me laugh out loud when he said it in commentary, but when he then said Matlock my brain locked up like I suddenly didn't actually know the names of the players and had slipped into a parallel universe.

pickarooney

It's cause he's a lock. And really old. If it were deliberate it would be funny but I kind of doubt it.

Shurimgreat

And the NZ lock is called Whitelock. So maybe confused the two. Its hard to mistake Matfield however, he's iconic in the sport.

Is there any plans to start a "team of the world cup" thread by the way?

pickarooney

Shurimgreat wrote: »

And the NZ lock is called Whitelock. So maybe confused the two. Its hard to mistake Matfield however, he's iconic in the sport.

Is there any plans to start a "team of the world cup" thread by the way?

Whigfield you mean?

I was going to start a tops/flops of the WC thread but I said I'd give Read and Folau a chance to redeem themselves in the final.

Ayerza/Coles/Malherbe
Whitelock/Retallick
Hooper/Louw/Pocock
A. Smith / Biggar
DTHVDM/De Allende/Nonu/Imhoff
B. Smith

TICKLE_ME_ELMO

pickarooney wrote: »

Whigfield you mean?

I was going to start a tops/flops of the WC thread but I said I'd give Read and Folau a chance to redeem themselves in the final.

Ayerza/Coles/Malherbe
Whitelock/Retallick
Hooper/Louw/Pocock
A. Smith / Biggar
DTHVDM/De Allende/Nonu/Imhoff
B. Smith

Kriel deserves a place on the flops team.

Journeyman_1

Bridge93 wrote: »

Do New Zealand have a better scrum? They were battered on Saturday and if Scott Sio is fit I would back the Aussies in that department.
Lineout is NZ for sure
Backrow is fascinating but I'll go with Australia
Halfbacks are NZ comfortably
Centres I'll say even
Back 3 NZ marginally

Will be a great game

I have to disagree here. Nonu is probably the best centre in the world by a distance at the minute. I don't think Kuridrani has been great this season either and goes missing more than you'd like.

I agree with the rest though.

pickarooney

TICKLE_ME_ELMO wrote: »

Kriel deserves a place on the flops team.

I'm trying not to include players carrying injuries in mine so I have only about three players so far. Kriel was anonymous though. Habana managed to score 5 tries despite playing like a drain for most of the tournament so can't very well include him. Unfair to put the Namibians and Americans in.

Actually, if you apply a handicap system so players who perform above their or their teams' level are rewarded it might make a more interesting exercise.

techdiver

subfreq wrote: »

That actually made me laugh out loud when he said it in commentary, but when he then said Matlock my brain locked up like I suddenly didn't actually know the names of the players and had slipped into a parallel universe.

Believe it or not, Lawrence Dallaglio made the exact same mistake on ITV. I'm actually surprised more people didn't hear it.

It was when Whitelock and Matfield were competing for a lineout.

sydthebeat

keeping it to tier 1

healy / youngs / lee
pape / maestri
wood / Billy V / robshaw

youngs / farrell

cutberth / burgess / barritt / Nakaitaci
mclean


id be basing this on perceived promise coming into the competition.
i didnt include players who came in for others due to injury.

Shurimgreat

Could possibly include Bastareaud or most of the French backs. He did nothing against the Irish and can't even remember if he came on against the All Blacks.
Michalak too, I don't think his injury deprived France of much against the ABs.
France did not really turn up at this World Cup. France and England the two biggest teams to flop.

pickarooney

Adjusting mine for handicaps, my best XV. I end up with 0 NZ players though, which is a bit silly.

Sio/Creevy/Malherbe
Henderson/Lavanini
Lam/Mafi/Pocock
Lobzhanidze
McGinty
DTH/De Allende/Bennett/Cordero
Goromaru

efb

Healy?

sydthebeat

efb wrote: »

Healy?

Absolutely