2023 RWC Buildup, Squads, Fixtures 'etc'

Yeah, there were 3 rucks after the lineout and before the try, so they went back 4 phases.

You can't base one game on another. Teams don't perform at the same level every game.

You do realise played most of that match last night with a man down? Despite missing a man in the forwards, they stood up to SA in every facet of forward play, and this is with people saying that their forwards would run straight through them. I'm really proud of how they performed.

Everyone 'blew it' bar SA.

You need to get over it. And watch more tournaments, you'll find this one was not a whole pile different from others.

I will be honest, I thought NZ did enough at the end to get a scrum penalty. They did to SA what SA do to other teams. Not sure if it was kickable, but couldve set NZ up deeper in the SA half for one last phase.

The lineouts were a complete shambles for both teams. More so SA.

And dear god, like 4 piss poor drop goal attempts? Keep the possession, dont just give the ball away cheaply. I would be pissed off if im a forward, killing myself to get the ball near the opponent 22 and the backs all want a piece of glory by trying drop goals. And not even good attempts either.

As for the red card, i didnt like that it happened, but dont disagree with the call either. Didnt look like it made much difference to NZ.

South Africa with 4 titles!!! Insane. Congrats to Rassie & staff. 2 for Rassie!! Certainly an all time great.

Going forward though, I feel both the kiwis and saffers will struggle to stay ahead of the French and Ireland.

For the kiwis. There's no more Whitelock, Rettalic and Aaron Smith. I think their run has ended. The bright spot is the new front rows.

South Africa have to find an out half. Replace a relatively elder pack.

France will struggle to find spots for the young bucks. They're falling over talented players, it's ridiculous.

Jeepers, don't tell some around here you won by making a few mistakes and with a share of luck and the bounce of a ball. Their wee heads will implode. 😁

Congrats Jacovs. Enjoy holding the Webb Ellis.

Worst winning team was SA 2007 they weren’t even a top 3 team IMO , best team 2015 ABs a bit of a debate where you rank the rest and I was too young for 91 and 87 so won’t talk out my …

edit - winning with a lesser team is also a compliment to the group of guys so don’t be offended any 2007 SA supporters

I think NZ should have had a pen off that last scrum. I also think they should have had a pen before that (not sure if it was the ruck directly before the scrum or the ruck previous). It looked in real time to me that a SA player (could have been Smith again!) had their hand on the ground while competing at the ruck. Can't find it in any clips on Youtube though.

I think there were a lot of ref calls which went SAs way. FdK bought a pen with the player on the wrong side, we've seen plenty of times where the ref dismissed that because of such theatrics from the SH. EE was lucky not to get a yellow for disrupting that pass in the 22, at least should have been a warning for cumulative pens.

The NZ try was probably the right call, was worth reviewing but wasn't clearly forward from the angles we saw. It was no more forward than EEs knock down v France so SA can't complain. The decision to disallow the other try has question marks over how far they went.

As said above, going for the long range kick was a bad call by NZ. It was a low percentage kick and I think they'd have had a better chance of winning by going down the line. They were the better team but circumstances often dictate in sport that the best team doesn't win.