2019 Rugby WC

[Bill Douglas]

Haha, Mr. Douglas laughs nervously as he reaches for another drink.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by Bill Douglas

All Blacks will thrash them.

LOL Wrong, very wrong.

We were out classed and out muscled. Well played England!

[Mike Andrew]

Sorry, Bill. Tough loss.
England had a great game plan and executed it well. Lots of pressure and playing on the AB half of the pitch worked well for them. A couple of penalties on England kept it close as tries were overturned. I agree with the first but a ball moving forward during a maul is a tough call, even with TMO.
I am looking forward to tomorrow's match and hope to see an all UK final. Go Wales!!

[flatbutt]

My my my how times have changed! Not a thrashing but a very convincing performance by England. Still, I think England is never happier than when beating France.

[Mike Andrew]

Great day around here tomorrow. Rugby recorded when I wake and F1 in the afternoon. No wife to interrupt as she will be chased off by sports and watching a Housewives show in the den.

Now if my club can win their final season game today.....

[Bill Douglas]

haha, thanks guys.

It's interesting, All Blacks when they are winning they play a game of such precision, and execution of well planned maneuvers, but when they are out classed their game totally falls apart. VERY focused England guys.

[CA_WhaleTail]

England showed up ready to play. All Blacks looked flat.

Very interesting head game at the beginning where England did their best to surround the NZ Haka. They lost some confidence at the start and never recovered.

[Mike Andrew]

Set for next weekend. Not the most exciting match but hard fought by both sides. de Klerk is an amusing little badger whether WC or Premiership
Looking forward to the final next weekend. My money is on England.
Man, it is still dark here at 4:00 A.M.

[CA_WhaleTail]

Interesting- saw a post game conference where they asked the AB capt (Kieran Reid) if the England pregame Haka reply mattered. He said no.

Who's complaining about England?

[gulf908]

. . .Haka is a war dance, right? . . .

the haka is a ceremonial invitation to challenge your opponents
I believe there are a number of variations of this including one that ends in a throat slitting motion
the Maori players do this to much better effect than the Anglo players
BD to clarify / confirm
the South Africans always have great fire power but the English have been playing very well over the last year
England to win by 5 points

cheers
Dennis

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

Sanctioning body(ies) I presume - its been in the UK papers -

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2019/oct/29/england-fined-new-zealand-haka-world-cup

Ridiculous! No self respecting rugger would ever make such a complaint...well maybe a league rugger

[Mike Andrew]

Seems silly to me. War dance to intimidate opposition? Refusing to be intimidated and forming a V demonstrating a lack of intimidation? Just gamesmanship.

As one of my favorite refs used to say, "Quit *****ing lads and play the game."

Looking forward to an England victory.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by gulf908

BD to clarify / confirm

Yeah, something like that. I think it's just a publicity/marketing/signature thing. So everyone sees the haka and thinks New Zealand.

I never liked the haka until I saw an eight year old blonde girl doing it to impress her parents. It was pretty funny.

I've recently come back from Samoa and went to a few cultural evenings. I felt guilty that the other (random) kiwis and I didn't know the haka to get up and do a "reply" to their thing they do. It would have been a good laugh for all involved.

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by peteremsley

First time I saw a Haka that wasn't rugby related was in a delightful performance by boys and girls in the rose gardens in Parnell. Totally threw me and my mum.

Cool that you took your mum on a holiday to NZ. Sadly I was robbed of that experience. I wanted to take my mum to England to visit her old school buddy.

[Mike Andrew]

NZ did look good today vs Wales. Very likely the last time the world stage sees several of them. I guess third place is still better than fourth place in the scheme of things.
Very much looking forward to the final early tomorrow morning. Being replayed on NBC later in the day but by then my pals will have spoiled things via texts and emails.

[Mike Andrew]

WOW, just WOW!!

[Alan A]

Ugh

[Mike Andrew]

Ugh is right. Great game plan by SA and all those England penalties You cannot win most games at the club level by giving up that points on penalties. And, this ain't club level rugby. And Handre Pollard ain't a club level boot.
Darn good performance by SA even though they were not my choice for the Ellis trophy.

[Alan A]

Originally Posted by Mike Andrew

Ugh is right. Great game plan by SA and all those England penalties You cannot win most games at the club level by giving up that points on penalties. And, this ain't club level rugby. And Handre Pollard ain't a club level boot.
Darn good performance by SA even though they were not my choice for the Ellis trophy.

Well I must say that there were a few calls by the referee that I thought were - shall we say - favorable to the winners. But the better team on the day won.