World Cup
Respected sport scientist and long standing friend of RuggaWorld, Dr. Ross Tucker, offers his views on the Rugby World Cup and specifically referees and how their performance is damaging the game’s credibility.
Article originally published on The Science of Sport website
Thanks Morne & RuggaWorld. Some of the responses will be brought over to appear under the comments. I found this article to be one of the very best I have ever read. Warning it is long, take your time and read the comments too.
New Zealand’s Rugby World Cup winning coach Graham Henry has indicated that he would be interested in working with the RFU in England in the future.
Samoan captain Mahroni Schwalger has blamed his team’s World Cup failure on a lack of professionalism and a culture of alcohol abuse in the team management.
All Blacks manager Darren Shand says the French rugby team should not have been fined for confronting New Zealand’s Maori haka or ceremonial challenge in the tense moments before kick-off in Sunday’s Rugby World Cup final.
Hundreds of thousands of jubilant New Zealanders packed central Auckland for the All Blacks victory parade on Monday, celebrating their “ultimate achievement” in winning the Rugby World Cup.
It may be New Zealand’s moment in the limelight, but the Springbok victories in 1995 and 2007 will be honoured as the captains and coaches of World Cup winning teams are inducted into the International Rugby Board’s Hall of Fame tonight.
International Rugby Board chairman Bernard Lapasset says that Wales cannot be certain of hosting Rugby World Cup matches when the tournament moves to England in 2015.
So the world cup is over, and what have we learnt?There were some controversial issues, some very close matches and some really angry fans.
All Blacks (5) 8 / France (0) 7 (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and France did battle in the Final of Rugby World Cup 2011 at Eden Park, Auckland at 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 held out a very galant and determined France side… and wins Rugby World Cup 2011 by 1 point.
Yip, that’s right… only 1 point!
The concept of the X-factor actually comes from racehorses, specifically from a horse called Eclipse. An extremely large heart is a trait that occasionally occurs in Thoroughbreds, linked to a genetic condition passed down via the dam line, known as the “x-factor”.
Eclipse, the horse, was necropsied after his death in 1789. Because Eclipse’s heart appeared to be much larger than other horses, it was weighed, and found to be 14 pounds (6.4 kg), almost twice the normal weight. Eclipse is believed to have passed the trait on via his daughters, and pedigree research verified that arguably the best racehorse ever, namely Secretariat can trace in his dam line to a daughter of Eclipse.
In the 20th century, the heart of Phar Lap was weighed and also documented to be 6.35 kilograms (14.0 lb), or essentially the same size as that of Eclipse.
Now you might ask what this has got to do with the All Blacks and the Rugby World Cup final.
Wallabies (7) 21 / Wales (3) 18 (Final Score)
The Australian Wallabies and Wales did battle at Eden Park, Auckland at 09:30 SA Time (20:30 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 Wallabies take the spoils and the Rugby World Cup 2011 Bronze medal in a match which promised so much at the start and then deteriorated into a scrappy affair.
The best passage of play in the match was probably the last 28-phase possession play by Wales, leading to Leigh Halfpenny’s try after full time was well over.
New Zealand coach Graham Henry on Friday named his team to play New Zealand in their Rugby World Cup 2011 Final against France at Eden Park, Auckland on Sunday 23 October at 10:00 SA Time, 21:00 NZ Time.
I still just can’t get over that quarter final loss.
The more I think about it the more I feel we were robbed. Yes, the referee was bad and wrong and yes we contributed to our demise with how we approached the game and by the appointment of a puppet as Springbok coach 4 years ago. However, all of that (poor referee, game plan, coach selection) and the Pool construction process at this year’s Rugby World Cup is part of an insidious virus, in my opinion, which is destroying Rugby Union as we know it. It is this virus which orchestrated our demise in the Rugby World Cup quarter final match against Australia.
Former All Black coach Laurie Mains has not been happy with the standard of refereeing at the Rugby World Cup.
“I’ve been appalled by the refereeing, especially how they have decided games with scrum penalties,” Mains said.
“Games have been won and lost from scrum penalties when the wrong decision was made. You should not have a situation in rugby where games are won and lost by the referee’s guess,” he said. Continue reading
While Australia and Wales arrived at the Rugby World Cup with different goals but have ended up with the same intention: To go home with something tangible to show.
It took South Africa years of humiliation to become a title contenders in Super Rugby.
During those dark days, New Zealanders and Australians even suggested South African teams should be kicked out of the Super 12 because its teams couldn’t cut it at that level.
Players from the Vodacom Super 14 finalist Bulls and Stormers have unsurprisingly monopolised the nominations in the race for the title of Vodacom Super 14 Player of the Year award, the South African Rugby Union announced on Tuesday.
Our own poll will be up on Sunday
Go ahead, nominate your players, closing date for nominations Saturday after the last Test of the day.
While SANZAR ponders whether any steps should be taken against Stormers captain Schalk Burger and coach Allister Coetzee, statistics have been released that reveal just how silly they were for criticising match referee Craig Joubert.
From SA Referees website
Bulls (16) 25 / Stormers (3) 17 (Final Score)
The Vodacom Bulls hosted the Vodacom Stormers in an EPIC Final at the Orlando Stadium, Soweto, South Africa at 17:00 SA Time. This is the match thread for discussion of the game. The match was broadcast live on SuperSport 1 on DSTV in SA.
The Bulls won a thriller in Soweto….
Bulls retain the much sought after trophy, what a champion team!
Final score Bulls 25 / 17.
Supersport dot com Teams of the season and Awards
‘Gore Them!” The legend was in Afrikaans but for those unable to decipher the language, the caricature of a raging bull was a dead giveaway. This was not a message of goodwill.
There was a time when he walked a disciplinary tightrope, but Schalk Burger appears to be on course to succeed John Smit as Springbok captain.
Continue reading
The Waratahs have vowed to batter the Stormers’ iron-clad defence with strong ball-running and physical play at the breakdown in this Saturday’s Super 14 semi-final at Newlands.
Is this what Grootblousmile meant? Well this story wont go away. And heaven forbid us the Bulls lose this semi-final. Then we will hear it another 10 years or longer.
If the Crusaders players can persuade their jumbled body clocks to forgive them the tortuous regime of the last few weeks, the New Zealanders have a famous victory within their grasp in Soweto this weekend.
THE Stormers have wasted little time in engaging the Waratahs in psychological warfare before this weekend’s Super 14 semi-final in Cape Town.
Adriaan Fondse, Steven Sykes, Gerhard Mostert or Flip van der Merwe?
That is the big question the Springbok coach will have to answer in 2012 when he considers who will succeed Bakkies Botha in South Africa’s No 4 jersey.
Continue reading
Rugby Heavens,s
Scenarios heading into the final round of the Super 14 rugby competition starting on Friday (team, competition points, points differential and final-round fixture):
This will be my last article about the downgraded North vs South clash we all looked forward to. At one stage i hoped that we came second in the Super14 to give us a chance of playing the Super 14 final at Newlands versus our arch-rivals the Stormers. Only time will tell whether the Bulls played a masterstroke or made the biggest cock-up this decade.
De Wet Barry’s punishing defence has won South Africa a rugby Test against Australia at Newlands, but the Stormers have no doubt that Juan de Jongh will stand his ground against the veteran Springbok in Saturday’s Super 14 clash.
A load of bull has been uttered about the Bulls. So what if they rest up to 13 top-tier players for the final round match against the Stormers this weekend? That is the privilege of finishing well ahead of everyone else. That allows them certain luxuries.
Article by Greg Growden on Rugby Heaven, Australia
Too many nice words about our Rugby are spoken from that part of the World lately. I start to feel uneasy. Is it a concerted effort to build us up as favorites? Do they try to earn the underdog tag? Articles like these make me wonder.
What will be the minimum points be to make it to the Semi Finals? With the Bulls almost there with 43 points they only need 2 more bonus points to be guaranteed a home semi final. 45 will be the number to guarantee a home semi final.
The battle of the Wooden Spoon, History at the bottom of this article.
Next Games
It may have been Richie McCaw’s 100th Super rugby game, but it was the Stormers doing the celebrating in Cape Town as they completed an historic “Kiwi sweep” with a clinical victory over the Crusaders.