All Blacks (14) 47 / 9 (3) Tonga (Final Score)
The New Zealand All Blacks and Tonga did battle in the 2015 Rugby World Cup at
St James’ Park, Newcastle, England at 21:00 SA Time (20:00 BST, 19:00 GMT, Saturday 08:00 NZ & Tonga Time).
This was the live match discussion Article.
The match was broadcast LIVE on SuperSport 1 & CSN on TV in SA.
*******************
Scorers:
All Blacks:
- Penalties – 0
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – Ben Smith (1), Tony Woodcock (1), Nehe Milner-Skudder (2), Sonny Bill Williams (1), Sam Cane (1), Ma’a Nonu (1)
- Conversions – Dan Carter (6)
Tonga:
- Penalties – Kurt Morath (3)
- Drop Goals – 0
- Tries – 0
- Conversions – 0
Teams:
New Zealand All Blacks |
Tonga |
| 9 October at 21:00 SA Time | |
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Expected weather: Partly cloudy with a high of 17°C, dropping to 7°C. No rain.
Referee: John Lacey (Ireland)
Assistant Referees: JP Doyle (England), Marius Mitrea (Italy)
TMO: Graham Hughes (England)
rebop75 wrote:
Sorry man.. my mistake.
At least if give you guys an extra day to feel good before reality kicks in 🙂
On a serious note.. its going to be a 50/50 match imo..
robzim wrote:
donotbet
it is 60/40 for Ireland
@robzim
believe it will not be a great match (but for the forwards)
but we will see
we can only improve 😛 😛 😛 😛
take care
and have a nice WC
@ rebop75:
@ Rebop 75
Cheers… good luck to your team, on their day they can beat anybody in the world, I never underestimate them.
@ grootblousmile:
Will they need to be much better for their potential 1/4 & semi’s opponents, Ireland scraped past Italy and the little fellas from Japan beat the Bokke, we are tracking nicely, Australia are now apparently favorites despite the massacre at Eden Park a few weeks back 😀
one of the main reasons I hardly post here any more is evidenced throughout this thread
the conspiracy theory is boring and only ever looks like sour grapes.
the ABs never win because of their skill or determination, but because refs are always in their back pocket.
what a friggin joke
all teams get away with things, and Smith was indeed fortunate to not see yellow. but to believe the ref purposely gave NZ an advantage is paranoia in the extreme.
its the same on every SA site these days. guess it dos ease the hurt some huh?
Paddy Power Odds on Cup winner:
New Zealand 6/5
Australia 11/4
South Africa 7/1
Ireland 8/1
France 10/1
Wales 16/1
Argentina 33/1
Scotland 66/1
Japan 400/1
NZ will most likely have to beat the Next 3 favoured teams. A big ask.
@ nga puhi:
Hi Pops.
😉
@ NZINCHINA:
@ cane:
I enjoyed the game and thought we made real progress today.
Whitelock was outstanding and Read starting to look like his old self.
Backs beginning to click.
We will miss Woody. Seems his W. Cup is over and a replacement will be needed.
Tonga played really well, there best showing of the Cup. We bring out the best in Some Teams.
🙄
@ cane:
Caner, despite the injury to Woodencock a great hit out, no tries conceded and DC kicking his goals.
I love reading the comments on RT for the first 40 it’s always the same when we play 😉
@ nga puhi:
@ cane:
@ NZINCHINA:
Just judging NZ on their WC games up to now, I would be slightly concerned if I were a Kiwi.
The amount of unforced errors is very unlike the AB’s we know and enjoy watching.
I truly believe that if they were to make 19 unforced turnovers against the sides they will face in the playoffs (yes, even one that lost to Japan 😀 ) will turn out very costly.
I know they Tier 2 teams play negative rugby and their only concern is to lose by as little as possible when facing the top sides, as opposed to trying to win the game, but what they have shown is that the AB’s look sloppy when faced with an in your face defense system.
I for one am disappointed in their last 3 games against the minnow countries and while I usually can’t wait to see them in action, I found myself switching over to other channels because it became painful to watch at stages.
Hopefully they pull themselves together from next week onwards, but I think they have lost some of the aura of invincibility we are accustomed to seeing in them after these last 3 games. During stages of the matches they looked just plain hopeless, and these things wouldn’t have gone unnoticed by their next opponents.
Good luck to your boys, they will always stay favorites to win the Cup come end of October, but they will have to sharpen up and cut out all those errors are they making at the moment
@ nortie:
Relax Norty everything is under control, they scored 50 pts and didn’t concede. Building nicely for the big boys next week.
@ NZINCHINA:
If you say so Noodles 😆
@ NZINCHINA:
I actually wish they did score 50 plus, I picked them to win by 46 and a margin of only 38 didn’t impress me one bit or do anything for my cause
@ nortie:
How many points would the Bokke or Aus have scored against Tonga, cricket scores don’t apply anymore. We got the job done and on a neutral ground now that the Poms are out its going to take a massive effort to beat this team, if you had to turn the TV over when we were playing Tonga, God only knows what you were doing when the Japs were slaying you 😀 😀
@ NZINCHINA:
Yep, the Japan game was quite a shock, we knew going into the WC that the Boks aren’t too flash, our record in the last 12 months attested to that, but even though we were playing poor no one expected us to lose to Japan. Was disgraceful.
Difference is NZ went into the WC as dead on favorites, with good reason. They managed to subdue Argentina eventually in their first game, but with a bit more of a struggle than was expected. The following 3 games they did win with scores that was quite comfortable, but the score line doesn’t show the sloppy handling, dropped passes, turnovers conceded in the tackle etc.
I still believe they are favorites, but then, IMO, they will have to play the way they did before the tournament started, not how they played these last 3 games.
Even though we lost to Japan and are not considered a too serious contender, if the All Blacks give our current side ( better due to HM’s favorites being injured ) 19 turnover balls, I would put my money on the Boks to punish them properly and win the game.
226 @ nortie:
To me it looks like the All Blacks stand a good chance to do their usual Rugby World Cup choke again, away from their own shores…
I agree with you, and to me they barely look a shadow of the massive side of the last few seasons and possibly earlier this year (bar the choke against the Wallabies to lose out on The Rugby Championship title).
It’s as if they have been treading water in this Rugby World Cup tournament thusfar….
I expect them to really stand up for the Quarters and further on though and be much, much better…. but there is a chance of Ireland or France upsetting the apple cart against them in a quarterfinal.
Like you say, their handling has been sloppy, their scrums have surprizingly been average to mediocre and they have made a heap of unforced errors! They have allowed so many ground ball turnovers against them, it’s scary!
I agree that they should still be considered favourites for the overall title though, simply because they know how to close out tough games!
@ grootblousmile:
Yep, they will always run out on the field as favorites, but I do think they have given their next opponents a glimmer of hope by not being their usual 80 minutes clinical selves.
They have struggled through periods so far, especially against Georgia they went through an almost 40 minute lull where they failed to score any points.
If you show weakness in a tournament like this it’s like blood in the water.
228 @ nortie:
I think you summed it up well, they struggle to adapt to the game the minnows played against them… but their sloppy error count takes is way further than that… so far.
229 @ grootblousmile:
And the fact that the ref had to warn Aaron Smith about the way he behaves and speaks to him shows that their is some other sort of frustration creeping in.
@ grootblousmile:
Bonzai 😉
@ NZINCHINA:
Noodles, if the 2015 dream comes crashing down in Flames against the Frogs or Boks, don’t say I didn’t warn you 😉
@ nortie:
Dead pan favourites, don’t be silly Nortie we lost to Australia and have had some very close encounters in recent years, favourites but not by much.
@ nortie:
Sure, it may happen but you should be far far more concerned with your own team mate, the losses are steadily mounting to 2/3 tier teams.
@ NZINCHINA:
Come now, one loss against Australia doesn’t mean anything, the Blacks have lost like 2 games in 3 years. No team has ever come close to those type of statistics.
They are in a different class and level to all other opposition, I just don’t see it at the moment though.
They don’t have much time to sort out those errors, it’s do or die from here on in
@ nortie:
@ grootblousmile:
@ NZINCHINA:
People are under estimating how much improved the Minnows have become over the last few years. Japan, Georgia, Tonga, etc, are Teams full of Professional Players.
i.e. Not one of those Tongans would currently live in Tonga. And the same goes for the Georgians (well maybe 2 or 3 Georgians, who knows?).
And Japan is Team full of ex pats.
The World is changing. Things never stay the same.
Samoa, Tonga and Fiji are mere dots on the map. So small they cannot be seen from the surface of the moon.
They will never be World 15’s Powerhouses.
But they have a lot of fun, trying to be,………………………………….and I love them for that.
But, as they spread out around the world……………………….France, England, Wales etc…………………….so do their genes…………………………..a gift to the Rugby World.
And NZ was the first Rugby Nation to benefit from this migration.
But it will not the last.
@ nortie:
And no team ever will but strange things happen in knock out comps, clearly if it was a 3 match test series it would be in the bag before kick-off.
@ cane:
The demise of NZ rugby, a favourite annua topic in the republic 😀
@ cane:
Agree, the days of the 100 point drubbings may be behind us, but that doesn’t excuse a side playing them from making 19 unforced turnovers due to errors Caner.
That’s what is concerning me about the form of the AB’s.
Yesterday Read missed 2 high kicks completely, the second one you almost got lucky with the bounce off his leg, but then Naholo completely fluffed it by dropping a simple pass with a 3 man overlap.
Those type of errors and play is so completely unlike the All Blacks we are used to seeing and admiring that it stands out like a sore thumb
@ nortie:
You turned it off it was so bad!
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