[2015 RWC] Final: New Zealand vs. Australia (31/10/2015)

[Fard]

Australian and New Zealand under 20 may be a close game against the Lions.

 

[Sonic Kiwi]

Where did they come from?

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Didn't realise it'd already been bought up.

You put words in my mouth when you said "drum".

Give it a rest man

Your jokes are wearing thin......Good on the AB's

 

[RoosTah]

Yes, I think the ALLZACs would have done pretty well against the mighty British Lions.

Yeah, to be frank under Cheika I'd back the Wallabies to beat the Lions, let alone the All Blacks. Still, having an ANZAC composite team would have been a cool idea, but without any history behind it like the lions it would run the risk of feeling gimmicky.

 

[Sonic Kiwi]

Yeah, to be frank under Cheika I'd back the Wallabies to beat the Lions, let alone the All Blacks. Still, having an ANZAC composite team would have been a cool idea, but without any history behind it like the lions it would run the risk of feeling gimmicky.

It would never work, it's almost like saying if Fiji, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands etc etc had a comprised team they'd be the best?

It sounds almost like a Babas team. Logistics for a start wouldn't work least of all patrianism.

Why don't they USA join forces with the Canucks/Canadians for rugby? They reason why is culture, creed and values least of all the worth of the dollar.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

Yeah, to be frank under Cheika I'd back the Wallabies to beat the Lions, let alone the All Blacks. Still, having an ANZAC composite team would have been a cool idea, but without any history behind it like the lions it would run the risk of feeling gimmicky.

Interesting. To be fair peeps just see the quality of the players the Lions have and think that this automatically means they should be a great team; forgetting that most of these players do not play with each other regularly; like Australia and NZ do. That is the beauty of the Lions, that it is a team that has to be forged from 4 nations who don't particularly like each other; they are in fact set up to fail.

Pocock was the big miss for the Wallabies 2 years ago. As we saw v Scotland, take him out of the Wallabies' team and they become a more ordinary side.

 

[jomjom]

Interesting. To be fair peeps just see the quality of the players the Lions have and think that this automatically means they should be a great team; forgetting that most of these players do not play with each other regularly; like Australia and NZ do. That is the beauty of the Lions, that it is a team that has to be forged from 4 nations who don't particularly like each other; they are in fact set up to fail.

Pocock was the big miss for the Wallabies 2 years ago. As we saw v Scotland, take him out of the Wallabies' team and they become a more ordinary side.

I don't think it's fair to say that without Pocock the Wallabies drop massively in quality. Yes, against Scotland where Pocock was missing, they fared a good deal worse, but I don't think that was exclusively because of Pocock's absence - I think they were just having a bad day in general (Ireland v Italy comes to mind), Foley for example had a pretty sh*t game...

I think without Pocock they're still better than most NH sides, they have tons of quality players, but his absence is certainly felt. Anyways, bar that Scotland match I haven't seen Cheika era Oz play without Pocock so it will be interesting to see how do they fare in the future if he's ever not to play for whatever reason.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

I don't think it's fair to say that without Pocock the Wallabies drop massively in quality. Yes, against Scotland where Pocock was missing, they fared a good deal worse, but I don't think that was exclusively because of Pocock's absence - I think they were just having a bad day in general (Ireland v Italy comes to mind), Foley for example had a pretty sh*t game...

I think without Pocock they're still better than most NH sides, they have tons of quality players, but his absence is certainly felt. Anyways, bar that Scotland match I haven't seen Cheika era Oz play without Pocock so it will be interesting to see how do they fare in the future if he's ever not to play for whatever reason.

Ireland v Australia 2011 RWC;
Lions series win 2013;
NZ v Australia 2015 (although Pocock did come on for Hooper in the 27th minute)
Australia v Scotland 2015.

Certainly 5 big matches where Pocock was absent and for me he had a material effect of the Wallabies team. Don't forget he has been absent through 2 serious knee injuries for the last 2 years and the Wallabies were also poor during this period. I don't think it's any coincidence that the improvement in the Wallabies' scrum, Chieka and Pocock being injury free this year have all been major contributory factors in their improvement.

 

[RoosTah]

True, but you are forgetting that even without Pocock the Wallabies were one slipped penalty kick from winning that Lions series.

 

[smartcooky]

Yeah, to be frank under Cheika I'd back the Wallabies to beat the Lions, let alone the All Blacks. Still, having an ANZAC composite team would have been a cool idea, but without any history behind it like the lions it would run the risk of feeling gimmicky.

Actually, it does have some history... one match, played against the British Lions at the end of their 1989 Australian Tour. The match was played on 23 June 1989 at Ballymore, Brisbane. The Lions won 19-15

Seven New Zealanders were invited but only three accepted due to NPC commitments

The ANZAC XV was

15 Kieran Crowley (NZ)
14 Ian Williams
13 Dominic McGuire
12 Frano Botica (NZ)
11 David Campese
10 Michael Lynagh
9 Nick Farr-Jones
8 Tim Gavin
7 Jeff Miller
6 Simon Poidevin
5 Bill Campbell
4 Steve Cutler
3 Andy McIntyre
2 Mark McBain
1 Steve McDowell (NZ)

Here is the jersey and a close up of the logo

And here are some highlights

 

[RoosTah]

That's a great find - never knew they did that. Shame the Kiwis couldn't be more involved. Also, it's pretty hard to come up with a decent looking jersey clearly. Not a fan of the hoops.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

True, but you are forgetting that even without Pocock the Wallabies were one slipped penalty kick from winning that Lions series.

And you're forgetting Lee Halfpenny missed a last minute long range penalty in the 2nd test, which would have meant the Lions wrapping up the test series 2-0; swings in roundabouts. My point is Pocock is so good at the breakdown that he would have made a bigger difference imo to the Wallabies 2 years ago than Hooper or George Smith, although perhaps not the scrum where the Wallabies were still playing the two Bens.

 

[Leonormous Boozer]

True, but you are forgetting that even without Pocock the Wallabies were one slipped penalty kick from winning that Lions series.

More than that, they missed a ton of kicks in the 1st test with Lealeaifano's injury iirc! That Lions tour was rather pitiful, the Aussies didn't care and the Lions were ****. Had the Lions lost it could have been the beginning of the end of the Lions tour!

 

[RugbyTackle91]

More than that, they missed a ton of kicks in the 1st test with Lealeaifano's injury iirc! That Lions tour was rather pitiful, the Aussies didn't care and the Lions were ****. Had the Lions lost it could have been the beginning of the end of the Lions tour!

I have to agree, Australia were not particularly strong going into those tests and the Lions were fairly pitiful apart from a 20 minute spell in the final test. I believe they also lost a warm up game they never should have lost. Just in general I felt the selection was heavily influenced by Gatlands preferences and ended up putting on some pretty flat performances. It would be good to see a Lions team take a tour by the scruff of the neck and really go hell for leather into a series and blow someone away, given the amount of players at disposal I don't see why this couldn't happen.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Other than Ben Smith turning Drew Mitchell the wrong way up the All Blacks played a fairly faultless final an their ingenuity on attack, stoicism on defence and all round cool headedness under pressure saw them end up comfortable winners.
Aussie were the likely candidates to make the final after they trounced England and won their pool.
Who knows what would have happened if the Boks had met the Aussies but either way it was always going to be the top 3 in the semi finals.
Hats off to Argentina for proving their rise up the international ladder. The quality of the Pumas on the world stage is there for all to see and they will only continue to get stronger as they go forward in the RC.

I want to say how proud I am of the way in which the AB's played in the RWC, particularly at the business end of the tournament against France, against the Boks (always a tough one) and against the Wallabies in the final.
The selfless conduct of Sonny Bill Williams in the immediate aftermath of the RWC and the touching gesture of taking the RWC trophy to Jerry Collins grave.
You made me a very proud kiwi my wonderful AB's.
I couldn't be happier with the manner and the style in which you played the game and the behaviour and conduct of how you operated off the field.
I salute you All Blacks of 2015, a masterclass in international rugby.

 

[Bada-Bing!]

http://www.greenandgoldrugby.com/rwc-final-ruck-analysis-all-blacks-v-wallabies/

Interesting analysis of the ruck involvement from both teams in the final courtesy of the Forcefan from the G&GR website. Goes to show the ruck involvement of the front 5 for the ABs compared to the Wallabies. Plus Ritchie's stats are pretty impressive.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Thanks for that Blindside.
My God.
Richie McCaw is a scary creature when you look at those stats.
I saw him for the first time in a long time in the flesh at Wembley in the pool game against the Pumas and even with 10 minutes in the bin he was everywhere and such a presence on the field.

 

[The Jones Boy]

43-21 semi-final by France in 1999 happened on the 31 of October at Twickenham.
Umm isn't this the same day the Cup final is been played? Ghosts of games past?
Also are the AB's now based at Pennyhill park, now nick named as "camp looser" by the press after England, South Africa and Argentina have now moved out.

Followed by...

Just keep talking about the Eden park 40+ point victory, that's the way.

Followed by...

Be prepared for the Wallaby onslaught, Milner Skudder will get owned under the high ball, the AB's back row will be running around trying to knock out Pocock and forget about Hooper. The AB's scrum will be back peddling and their number 8 will be inserted up the back passage of their locks. It will be a great day for the Aussie team when one S Moore holds aloft the WWE cup at the conclusion of the game.

Followed by...

Maybe you can get Quade back and let him run your Haka.

...and so on...

Will the AB's blame the pitch as their cricketers have a walk off?

...and so on...

Don't choke on it Kiwis

Egg --- to ---- Fard face !!

Revenge is a dish best served cold.

The Aussie troll gets a beating, woohoo
All the French myths debunked.
All the Fard garbage debunked.

Thank you Lord McCaw.

 

[Fard]

Not an Aussie troll. Unlike some of your kiwi mate on this site. Well done the AB's well deserved winners.

 

[The Jones Boy]

Don't stress Fard, I was just joshing'.
It is funny though going back over the posts in this thread and seeing some of the things that have been said.
...and yes, there are a couple of Kiwi's on this site who could do with being in a room with most of the other Kiwi's on this site so we could slap their necks when they get outta line.
It's ok to be proud, it's not ok to diss the other members impolitely.
Banter is the key.

On Aussie, Cheika did a mighty job with the Wallabies and I can't help but feel that the overseas players have been responsible for the biggest change in the Wallaby approach and their ability to handle the heat under fire. It's been a real treat to see Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell back on the scene after the nightmare of Robbie Deans. The Argentine scrum coach has helped but they need to keep him on board for the next 4 years because the Wallaby scrum started to creak badly in the knockout stages.
Best game for Aussie at the RWC - the beating they gave England at Twickenham.
The Wallabies were superb that night. England couldn't touch them.

On the AB's, - pride, for the way they played and the way they conducted themselves off the field.

 

[smartcooky]

On Aussie, Cheika did a mighty job with the Wallabies and I can't help but feel that the overseas players have been responsible for the biggest change in the Wallaby approach and their ability to handle the heat under fire. It's been a real treat to see Matt Giteau and Drew Mitchell back on the scene...

100%. Giteau was already a class act anyway, but Mitchell has noticeably improved from his time at Toulon.

However, no way should we consider doing the same thing yet.

after the nightmare of Robbie Deans.

To be fair to Robbie Deans, he had a lot of back-stabbers working against him and undermining him in the background (as did Ewen McKenzie). Cheika doesn't have this problem and he won't because he has made sure of this by setting the conditions of his employment... he has total say over all aspects of managing and coaching the Wallabies

The Argentine scrum coach has helped but they need to keep him on board for the next 4 years because the Wallaby scrum started to creak badly in the knockout stages.

I always said they would be dangerous if they could get a decent scrum, and they did for a while, but you're right.. we definitely edged them the final, and with Faumuina, Moody, Crockett, Owen Franks, Coles and Taylor, our front row stocks are looking pretty good, especially with Nathan Harris and Nepo Laulala waiting in the wings.