Australia re-lives nightmare

[frontrow]

Congrats to the English and French, as for the Wallabies, i can't find the right term for that performance, somewhere between dismal and f***ing atrocious...Dunning, Baxter and Holmes have to be the biggest pussies playing frontrow in the RWC....Plenty of room for a few cups of HTFU, get rid of them now and start working on real talent for the future....As for Connolly, don't let the door hit you on the arse on the way out, your decisions to play players out of position, and your political favouritism determined that we would struggle in the big games, and the proof is in the pudding (sorry TG)...
All credit to the English for outthinking us, reminds me of the Mundine-Green fight, the smarter fighter beat the better fighter...
Personally i hope Scotland win, or the French, just not England or SA...
Remember these are only my personal opinions, cheers....

[Happy]

might be worth getting up to watch the scotland game me thinks - a newly adopted team!!!

[Em-Forcer]

Welcome, Happy, nice to have you on board!

[Jess]

I'm going for anyone bar the Saffas and the English.

I have the highest hopes for Argentina.

[Sagerian]

The saffas have been playing the most attractive style of rugby... wait..

*smacks head*

Come on Argies!

[jono]

i hope fiji win. there the only team left that came in expeting nothing.
they might just do it as well i reckon.

[tdevil]

What can I say....GUTTED!!!

France to win the final

[Ecky]

During the match I was thinking that neither of the teams would be in with a show against the ABs in the semi.

Awoke to the most pleasant news that I was wrong! BUt I don't think the poms will be any match for the frogs. Although I think they'd prefer to play France instead of NZ.

[Evie]

After being at the Final in 2003 I didn't think I'd ever feel that bad again after a game of rugby but I think I was wrong. I still remember getting on the bus back to where I was staying and about half the bus load was crying and the other half looked like they wanted to.
I couldn't watch the last 15 minutes, I just knew it was going to happen again.... and the tears were flowing again. (And my parents just laughed at me! )
But I haven't seen any burning of the flag over here...

[blueandblack]

I'd like to see Argentina do well.

[JediKnight]

I'd like to see Argentina do well.

[The InnFORCEr]

After being at the Final in 2003 I didn't think I'd ever feel that bad again after a game of rugby but I think I was wrong. I still remember getting on the bus back to where I was staying and about half the bus load was crying and the other half looked like they wanted to.
...

Me too Evie, bought back all those horroble memories from Stadium Australia of extra time and "that" bloody kick....not to mention the bus ride back to the city, that really hurt.....can't believe it's over really.

[jargan83]

After being at the Final in 2003 I didn't think I'd ever feel that bad again after a game of rugby but I think I was wrong. I still remember getting on the bus back to where I was staying and about half the bus load was crying and the other half looked like they wanted to.
I couldn't watch the last 15 minutes, I just knew it was going to happen again.... and the tears were flowing again. (And my parents just laughed at me! )
But I haven't seen any burning of the flag over here...

i remember how i felt that nite in 2003, and saturday was just as bad. i came close to it myself, i just slumped into my chair, didnt speak or move for about 10 minutes. To lose to a team that can't even score a try (and i'm well aware of the debate about how we shouldnt give away penalties in range etc etc etc) sucks. What a lovely advertisement for the game we love, a game which involves the theory of tries being scored (regardless of what any englishmen will tell you this week). English version of the game, get it down their end of the ground (generally through the forwards) and get a penalty from somewhere and kick said penalty.
I know that penalties are apart of the game, it's just that i prefer expansive attacking running rugby.

Credit where credit is due, the poms did throw the ball around a bit.
our forwars are crap, someone put the trestle table (and his mates) away and find forwards with some backbone (and scrummagind skills).

[gustafsl]

Alright, now I know this thread is 70 posts in and that what I'm about to say has already been said multiple times but just want to get my word in and then I can get over it and start thinking about The Force. So here goes.

Possibly one of the worst games that I have ever seen. How is it that 14 guys (Latham played well) show up and put in performances well below par? Guess it all starts in the forwards but the backs should have been able to do more then they did. The front row is a disaster, so bad that Baxter looked good when he came on. Sharpe, Vickerman, Smith and Elsom were invisible and Palu might have been the worst on ground. Gregan was too slow getting to the ruck and Barnes, other then a brillant play to get the try, showed his inexperience and age. Giteau and Mortlock couldn't get a break all day. AAC is a waste of a selection and Tuqiri's continued shityness is well documented.

Can't really blame the coaches for the loss because the players on the ground, although not everyones first choice, should have been good enough to win, but Connolly f***** this one up big time. How he could sit there and wait so long to make changes is ridiculous. And I think the stupid 5/2 split on the bench finally bit them in the ass. The decision to start AAC on the wing meant there was no coverage for the centres. Personally I think they needed a centre on the bench and then when it was all falling apart (around the 60 min mark) they could move Giteau to 10 and put in a new centre, as well as Mitchell on the wing. When they did bring Mitchell on I think the others were too tired to keep up with him. They needed to have someone in there who could keep up and get an off load.

Feel bad for Mortlock a bit. He's blaming himself because he missed the kicks but the one at the end was one of the hardest spots to kick from. And I don't think you can say if he had hit the early ones Australia would have won because the game could have been totally different - i.e maybe England would have gone for a try and got one, who knows.

It'll be interesting to see how the team changes with a new coach. Hopefully it's someone that actually picks on talent and ability rather then what state they play for.

BRING ON THE FORCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[shasta]

I didn't feel anywhere near as bad in 2003. The opposite. I was proud of the Wallabies that day. They threw absolutely everything including the kitchen sink at the best pommy side I've seen and were pipped at the post by a freak droppy by a freak kicker. They were beaten but not by aside who played better. Plus they'd unexpectedly beaten the "invincible" AB's on the way thru.

If Sterlo had manufactured a last gasp win on the weekend the best team on the day would have lost. And i'd have taken it gladly. We are probably feeling so down at the moment because we expected them to go close this time. Other years we maybe were not so confident and took the wins as a bonus rather than a certainty. The Kiwis always expect their team to win everything. That's why the get nationwide depression when they don't. They've given the AB's an even bigger monkey to piggy-back all the way to 2011 in the process.

This time they just didn't turn up ready to play. But I bet i don't feel as disappointed as the Wallabies themselves. Hoping for Argentina in the Final over the Saffas. Roll on next season.