posted Oct 10, 2007

Totally agree. The SH refs are a joke. Walsh who has a semi has twice been suspended for incidents with coaching staff. If the culprit had been the coaches they would still be banned now. It has been going on for years - before the SH would accept neutral refs on a Lions Tour in one of the tests the SA ref said "Penalty to us!" (Think it was Campbell-Lammerton's tour). Mind you they are still better than SH RL refs!

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posted Oct 10, 2007

maybe fixing the draw so that the all blacks always get at least two minnows to score 100 points on every four years doesn't work in their favour?

the french and the english both had very tough groups in which they had to raise their games just to qualify. i believe that both were 'battle ready' as a result of this and were better prepared for their QF's as a result, despite being underdogs.

the most memorable thing for me about this world cup is the massive improvement made by many of the 'minnow' nations, an indication that progress is being made in making rugby a global sport.

staging 100 point exhibitions for the all blacks benefits no-one. its of no interest to most viewers, and it surely can't help the all blacks either having games where they have to pledge to 'go easy' in the scrums to avoid hurting anyone?

england, for example, found the US much better than they were expecting, and got their heads out their @ rses following the mauling by the springboks........ but they had to, because samoa and tonga were plenty good enough to send them home. the french got a fright against the argies and knew they had to pull it out the bag against the irish,

the all blacks spent the pool stages trying to make sure everyone got their fair share of tries

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posted Oct 10, 2007

Wayne Barnes is not a good ref. He was whistling all the innocuous marginal stuff and then missed a very forward pass (which ultimately decided the game) as well as sin-binning mcallister for a very borderline indiscretion.

He reminds me of a schoolteacher who constantly has to assert his authority in the classroom by dishing out punishment. i was hoping the IRB might give him the boot at some stage but Paddy O'Brien appears to be a fan.

He's a poor ref who had another poor match. IRB, get rid.

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posted Oct 10, 2007

Manofmunster - get real you idiot!!! He is one of the better refs. New blood - if you're a Kiwi - deal with it move on - incidentally i am Bok fan so couldn't care who won. The AB's were 1 dimensional and got found out!! Allez le bleu!!

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posted Oct 11, 2007

Fact...he did make a mistake..want the footage.

As for so what. It diresctly resulted in NZ being eliminated.

WB performance was inept

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posted Oct 11, 2007

What's the difference between a jet engine and an All Blacks fan *?

The jet engine stops whining eventually.

* Not all of them, obviously, but there does seem to be a large percentage of sooks amongst their number.

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posted Oct 15, 2007

Very good point ManofMunster - Barnes never really had control of the game and his decision making was poor, regardless as to who benefited at the time. Why isn't it possible to contend that the AB's choked AND Barnes had a bad game? I think they both had bad games.

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posted Oct 15, 2007

"Barnes is from the Forest of Dean and he has reffed games between teams that make the ABs look a bit tame really.

"I suggest that if you have an issue then go to Cinderford or Coleford and let them know how you feel and then be prepared to be told exactly how it is."

Omg. We used to go there on tour many years ago. You've brought back memories I'd thought my psyche had buried for ever. Oh, my ribs.

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posted Oct 10, 2009

listen mate, you are coming across slightly arrogant. Looking at it from all angles, New Zealand were undercooked and played poorly, but Wayne Barnes DID have a stinker and yes it could be argued that he cost them a game they didn't deserve to win, nontheless a game they could've won so i think the kiwi's have a right to get upset. To the kiwi's, it's sport you win some you lose some the majority of kiwi rugby fans i know and speak to were good sports about the loss despite being ntremendously pissed off that NZ burned (i mean, rugby is their bread and butter, they're lost without it) though personally I think even with the ridiculous yellow card and the forward pass aside, the French got away with murder at the breakdown and to an extent New Zealand did too. I wish Australia had a rubbish referee we could've blamed our loss on but hey, we got you back the next year at Tickers :P

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posted Oct 12, 2009

platinumAussiePride - that's SOOOO 2 years ago....

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