Who will have the choker tag if NZ win the cup

[shtove]

Pretty much all Kiwi's are huge fans of World Rugby. Heck, my worry this year was that we would trounce everyone and make the game look like a joke. But boy was I wrong, and you know what.. in a way I'm not overly concerned now as the game is showing a real sense of unpredictability which is what it needs.[/b]

It was beginning to look that way. But you can't beat cup rugby. And on the unpredictability bit - brilliant, except I'm an Ireland fan.

 

[fcukernaut]

It's kinda like...a school prom. Do you take the good looking girl, hope you get lucky; she puts out and you score big? Or, do you take the ugly one and shorten your odds for climbing that final hurdle?

In this case NZ appears to have been gunning for the f@#*&ng head cheerleader?!

Me personally, I think we should have maybe just stuck to the highschool slut style.

More like South Africa or England?

Go with a sure-fire method where you know exactly what you're gunna get. And apparently get some good old fashioned action when it counts![/b]

Wait..so where does the case of beer and bottle of roofies come into this analogy?

 

[Prestwick]

I've read an interesting article in which the number of people playing rugby in New Zealand is falling by 5,000 a year, the NZRU are so worried that sports like Rugby League and Soccer are taking too much of a hold in the minds of young Kiwis that they are allocating millions of dollars in direct funding to schools to stem the tide. Also, for the first time ever, there were a sizable minority of people texting and phoning in saying that they're unhappy at the coverage Rugby gets in the media. Also, the Wellington Phoenix soccer team average crowds of 12,000 a game, more than some of New Zealands domestic sides.

This does sound rather chillingly like how Football is slowly fading in British schools and in the national psyche of the home nations. The English FA is terrified of the many sports, from the traditional Rugby and Cricket all the way to the very modern Ice Hockey, Basketball and even Aussie Rules are drawing the youngsters away from the falsely called 'beautiful game'. What really terrifies them is that the ECB is paying for artificial cricket pitches to be installed in the most deprived council estates in England & Wales, right on top of the fields which used to be used by kids to play headers and footers with a football.

Now, I honestly don't know if the above in the first paragraph is true or not, but I want to know what the situation is there without tearful denials, outrages at me insulting maori culture and generally not very accurate answers...whats happening down there?

 

[I Bleed Black]

I've read an interesting article in which the number of people playing rugby in New Zealand is falling by 5,000 a year, the NZRU are so worried that sports like Rugby League and Soccer are taking too much of a hold in the minds of young Kiwis that they are allocating millions of dollars in direct funding to schools to stem the tide. Also, for the first time ever, there were a sizable minority of people texting and phoning in saying that they're unhappy at the coverage Rugby gets in the media. Also, the Wellington Phoenix soccer team average crowds of 12,000 a game, more than some of New Zealands domestic sides.

This does sound rather chillingly like how Football is slowly fading in British schools and in the national psyche of the home nations. The English FA is terrified of the many sports, from the traditional Rugby and Cricket all the way to the very modern Ice Hockey, Basketball and even Aussie Rules are drawing the youngsters away from the falsely called 'beautiful game'. What really terrifies them is that the ECB is paying for artificial cricket pitches to be installed in the most deprived council estates in England & Wales, right on top of the fields which used to be used by kids to play headers and footers with a football.

Now, I honestly don't know if the above in the first paragraph is true or not, but I want to know what the situation is there without tearful denials, outrages at me insulting maori culture and generally not very accurate answers...whats happening down there?
[/b]

From what I know from when I was living down home, there was genuine concern over the state of support of the game. Crowd numbers were down, viewing numbers were down, not sure about young players - but my ex preferred her son to play football due to it being skill over size.

In my fathers day living in rural NZ- playing rugby was ok if you were a skinny white man(I only state this because a higher proportion of Caucasian males are not built like brick shithouses). The skinner you were, hopefully the faster you were, and you were put out on the wing.

Now in my day (not too long ago) when I played under 21's briefly for Weymouth (Auckland region) , at a weight of 67 kgs, I realized, that it was not conducive to my health to keep tackling +90 kg (sometime +100) rugby players. The majority of the big powerful players were Islanders, and they say white men can't jump... well skinny white men struggle at that level. As in basketball if I am not mistaken through my limited knowledge, it seems African Negro's have the natural physique for B-Ball, There is a similiar situation in rugby as well. Physique dominates and in NZ a higher proportion of Island lads fit the bill.

So with the game changing from an everymans game to muscle clad, gym junkie, I can see what parents see more benefit in there children playing football (Soccer) than rugby.

I wonder if the new Stellenbosch rules might start to move the emphasis away from massive physical requirement for the game, and let the smaller quicker guys back into the game?

FYI - David Bechams LA Galaxy is travelling down to NZ to play the Wellington Pheonix sometime in the next year I believe. Will be massive for soccer NZ and great for the fans. Will produce a sellout at the caketin, which I believe is around 35000.

 

[ama1]

I do feel that the All Blacks are guilty of trying to play creative rugby most of the time. This style of wide,flamboyant, attacking rugby, put them ahead at halftime - but when the French got ahead and then went into defensive mode - the All Blacks tried to change and play a slow,grinding, close quarters style of rugby. They had an opportunity to take a drop goal - but only took one shot in the dying stages.