Proteas
Veteran Wales wing Shane Williams admits the lure of one last roar from the Millennium Stadium crowd in Cardiff may cause him to postpone his international retirement for another match.
France have moved up from fifth place in the IRB’s Rugby World rankings to third place knocking South Africa out of the top three making them the first northern hemisphere nation to occupy this position in nearly 16 months.
England also moved up from sixth place to fifth place as a result of Wales dropping from fourth to sixth place after they lost by one point to France.
This is a satirical look at South african rugby, it is not intended to offend anyone, so please read it with the intent in which it was written.
South African referee Craig Joubert will referee Sunday’s World Cup final between the All Blacks and France. It will be his first World Cup final.
Joubert, who controlled yesterday’s semifinal between the All Blacks and Wallabies at Eden Park, becomes only the second South African to take charge of a final after Andre Watson who has controlled two.
Though long have our Kiwi cousins walked in the shadow of the Valley of Death, through World Cup loss after World Cup loss, as an entire people plumbed the depths of despair, now, nowthe hour is upon them. The promised land is now just up ahead around the bend…
All Blacks (14) 20 / Wallabies (6) 6 (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and Australian Wallabies did battle in the First Semi-Final of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park, Auckland 10:00 SA Time (21:00 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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The All Blacks were ruthless and commited and deserve their place in next Sunday’s Final. It was however a brave effort by Australia but Quade Cooper should have clicked earlier for them to have any chance.
It began, again, somewhere around the 70th minute.
Jean-Baptiste Elissalde had just converted a Yannick Jauzion try, scored off a missed forward pass, giving the French a 20-18 lead in their 2007 Rugby World Cup quarterfinal against the All Blacks in front of a packed Millenium Stadium in Cardiff.
The All Blacks were the best team in the world. All they needed was a penalty, a drop goal, a try. Momentum, that age-old All Blacks’ drive.
No matter the outcome of tonight’s semi-final match and who eventually win this tournament this 2011 RWC will be remembered as the mother of all referee muck-ups.
If Australia and France where to play in the final I won’t even watch it because neither of those two teams deserve to be there. Roll that into a zoll Paddy O’Brien and smoke it.
A New Zealand victory over Aussie would ensure a pretty one-sided final which should see the All Blacks running away with it.
Controversy due to inconsistent refereeing has somewhat marred a homecoming of the Rugby world cup to its original host of 24 years ago and the home of the most successful rugby side in rugby Union history.
Wales (3) 8 / France (6) 9 (Final Score)
Wales and France did battle in the First Semi-Final of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park, Auckland 10:00 SA Time (21:00 NZ Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1, SHD & M-Net on TV in SA.
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France squeeked past a galant Welsch side who had to play for about 60 minutes with only 14 men after their captain, Sam Warburton, was Red Carded.
Tim Noakes has denied accusing anyone of match fixing or any claims that the Springboks’ quarterfinal match against Australia officiated by Bryce Lawrence was either ‘fixed’ or ‘bent’, as has been reported.
In a letter to Sport24, Noakes claimed that his statements had been misconstrued and taken out of context. Continue reading
Wallaby fullback Kurtley Beale has been named to start the Rugby World Cup Semi-final against New Zealand but will be given until l Saturday to prove his fitness.
The Russian Rugby Union (RRU) have revealed that they will bid to host the 2023 Rugby World Cup after making their debut last month in New Zealand.
The All Blacks made three changes in their side and included injured skipper Richie McCaw for this weekend’s World Cup semi-final against Australia at Eden Park.
James Hook has been named in place of Rhys Priestland at No. 10 for Wales in their Rugby World Cup semi-final against France on Saturday.
The French know their three straight victories over Wales will not matter one bit when the long-time rivals meet in the World Cup semi-final at Eden Park on Saturday. Continue reading
All Blacks assistant coach Steve Hansen has hosed down any speculation on Richie McCaw’s ability to play in New Zealand’s semi-final against Australia at Eden Park on Sunday. Continue reading
In this week’s exclusive column, former Springbok prop Cobus Visagie discusses refereeing decisions and key match-ups.
I promise this is the last article I will publish about this subject. Cobus said it all, I cannot add any more. This is a good analysis by a Professional player with many years of experience.
As a general rule I watch the rugby not the referee.
This of course doesn’t mean that I don’t shout at the referee (even in front of the TV knowing pretty well that he can’t hear me) when he makes mistakes. I can see when the referee has a bad game and of course I get upset but I am, as a spectator, more interested in how we play; what do we do with the ball; our structures and systems at the tackle ball; our game tactics; what is the script we are following; our defensive patterns; are we showing improvement on previous games in areas we didn’t do well; how is our scrum going; are we using starter moves; running angles of the backline; how well is No10 dictating the match and where does he take up position behind the scrums, at rucks and line-outs and so forth.
A consequence of all that is that I tend to reflect more on why didn’t we get things right or what went wrong and what can we improve on, independent of whether we lose or win after the match. Continue reading
Our friend and fellow blogger, Ashley, felt strongly enough about the issue to send me the following Article to publish… this is his view on the matter and he asks certain rather interesting questions.
Here are his thoughts:
Has the hierarchy at New Zealand Rugby at last lost faith in their team? Have they (or at least some powerful individuals) at last reached a stage where they no longer believe that their team can win the World Cup on their own steam?
Well, from where I’m sitting it certainly seems to be the case.
Wales are still sweating on Rhys Priestland’s shoulder injury ahead of their Rugby World Cup against France at Eden Park in New Zealand on Saturday.
France Rugby World Cup scrumhalf Dimitri Yachvili says he is recovering well from a thigh injury he sustained playing against England and is “confident” of playing in Saturday’s Rugby World Cup semifinal against Wales.
Australian fullback Kurtley Beale has a hamstring injury and is rated “touch and go” to play for Australia in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup semi-final with New Zealand at Auckland’s Eden Park.
Rugby World Cup history suggested successful kicking would play a key role in deciding the outcome of the weekend’s quarter-finals and so it proved in Saturday’s match-ups between the Northern Hemisphere teams.
Secret England training documents from the Rugby World Cup have been discovered in Ireland’s Rugby world Cup team hotel in New Zealand.
France coach Marc Lievremont has named an unchanged starting team to face Wales in a Rugby World Cup semifinal against Wales on Saturday at Eden Park.
Wallabies scrumhalf Will Genia says Australia will test the All Blacks new tarting flyhalf Aaron Cruden in their Rugby World Cup semifinal this weekend.
Ireland’s Alain Rolland and South Africa’s Craig Joubert will referee the Rugby World Cup semi-finals, the International Rugby Board (IRB) announced on Monday.
The “jackal at the tackle” has become common parlance at the World Cup, but it has never been better personified than in the shape of Australia flank David Pocock.
The All Blacks have called up fly half Stephen Donald and winger Hosea Gear as replacements for full back Mils Muliaina and fly half Colin Slade who have both been ruled out due to injury.
Retiring Springbok Captain John Smit and his outgoing coach Peter de Villiers have placed a large portion of the blame on New Zealand referee Bryce Lawrence for their Rugby World Cup exit.
Australia are sweating on key Rugby World Cup injuries to Kurtley Beale, Pat McCabe and Sekope Kepu who will all undergo scans ahead of this weekend’s World Cup semi-final with New Zealand.
As you read this, Bakkies Botha is back in Pretoria, leaving behind him New Zealand and the next 3 games of the Rugby World Cup which ends on the 23 October.
Cause: “Achilles Tendon injury”.
Halfway through a frustrating night -during which I slept little due to the massive disappointment of SA dropping out of the 2011 RWC- I started to see some reasons why the Springboks lost.
The thing that kept me awake most was the fact that the Springboks had 76% of the ball, dominated scrums and line-outs (Matfield taking 6 of their line-out balls), had territorial advantage for most of the match and had the Wallabies under massive pressure for almost the entire match and still lost the game.
Here are the 13 reasons I came up during my night of suffering. Continue reading
There are four main pillars to society, it establishes an order out of the chaos, the same can be said for rugby, this is perhaps the four major pillars of Rugby Union.