Why we lost?

[Darren]

Written by Tainiwha Rugby
Monday, 08 October 2007
The Silver Fern
Well, all week I have had this feeling in the pit of my stomach, all week listening to those talking about Australia the following week; about those bloody jerseys, but all week I have had that bad feeling inside of me.

So why did we lose?

Are the French better? Are we chokers? Was it the rotation? Was it the reconditioning?

I’d say no to all of those; once again the French came back against NZ, once again NZ failed to execute the basics right, and once again NZ were on the wrong end of the score board come full time.

Sure the ref was the biggest muppet this side of the biggest Muppet city in Muppetland; hands in the ruck constant off-sides, yellow card for doing something legal and then not issuing for the same infringement later, and we won’t even go down the whole issue of ‘that pass’.

I’d rather steer clear of criticizing him, because the AB’s ARE good enough to make an incompetent ref less influential.

We should look at the French, a stat I saw flash up as I was exiting stage left at 80 mins was they made 140 odd tackles to the AB’s 50 odd!!

That is staggering; for every tackle an AB made, a French man made 3, that is pretty much 10 tackles per man compared to 3 tackles per man for the AB’s; in my most humble opinion, this is where the game was won (or in our case...)

The French defence smothered the AB’s, gave them no room, legal or illegal, the French completely outplayed the AB’s at R & M time with more aggression and playing to the boundary the Ref had set for them.

What we need to do now, is take a step back, think about what happened here, before we lash out at those involved.

This was a one off match, sure the 4th 1 off match we have lost, but we have lost what, 5 matches in the past 4 years? This side will rank as one of the great AB sides, but in terms of RWC’s….The rugby gods have shit on us again, the 2nd loss of 2007 came at what would seem the worst possible time…or did it?

Had we beaten them in the dying minutes, would that have meant we’d have beaten a hugely confident England side? Would we then have beaten what is looking most likely a SA side in the final?

Or was this defeat just saving us 1 or 2 weeks of anxiety and then more heartache as we go down then?

NZ rugby will survive, and we will likely see them beat whoever goes on to be the 2007 Rugby World Champion in 2008, probably in 2009 and 2010 as well, but we still won’t hold that damned coveted trophy that is the ruination of our beloved game!

We need to realize these guys are just men like you or I (our few ladies excused) and are prone to being human like you or I, which also means they have feelings like you or I, so try not to be too harsh on them, I am sure they feel bad enough already.

As gutted as I feel, I know – as was plain to see – each and every member of that team was feeling it even worse!

I still feel ill now thinking about it, in fact I wish I could stop thinking about it, I doubt I will for a few days, I have seen some of the scathing comments from people in the Herald, people say some hurtful things when they are hurt themselves, don’t be too harsh, they deserve better than that.

Over and out

[shasta]

Now ain't that a refreshing change. And no side-barrage at the Wobblies either.

[GIGS20]

Well, from what I saw,the ref had a reasonable game, sure he let the frogs get away with a bit at ruck time, but no more than what Ritchie McCaw seems to think he has a divine right to get away with every match. I think the first paragraph of this missive is what they really feel, but it has been tempered by the fact that it makes them look like a bunch of pussy-whipped whingers.
They lost, they choked, they need to have serious questions asked at an organisational level. They probably need those questions answered more desperately than Australia, because Australia have not been the unbackable favourites for every world cup since the beginning of the tournament. I don't know what's wrong,all I know is you can rely on New Zealand not making the final every time. I also know theres a fair chance of Aus playing above their capabilities, but not this year.

[Jehna]

Mm good article Coach...

[OMS]

So the Ref missed a forward pass, its the old saying, "what goes around, comes around". The AB,s had their chance to pop a field goal near the end, but chose to go for the try(20 odd phases). Obviously the lights were on but no one home. Someone dont tell them 1 point wins!!

[travelling_gerry]

maybe they were after the bonus point??

[Jethro]

Well, from what I saw,the ref had a reasonable game, sure he let the frogs get away with a bit at ruck time, but no more than what Ritchie McCaw seems to think he has a divine right to get away with every match. I think the first paragraph of this missive is what they really feel, but it has been tempered by the fact that it makes them look like a bunch of pussy-whipped whingers.
They lost, they choked, they need to have serious questions asked at an organisational level. They probably need those questions answered more desperately than Australia, because Australia have not been the unbackable favourites for every world cup since the beginning of the tournament. I don't know what's wrong,all I know is you can rely on New Zealand not making the final every time. I also know theres a fair chance of Aus playing above their capabilities, but not this year.

Well besides the forward pass, no issues there the TJs were not allowed to call apparently and Barnes was in no position to note it, and Lucky's card, once again 50/50 there the writer missed the fact our Luke got a warning five minutes prior, Barnes managed not to penalise the French in the final fifty minutes of the game. Now I know they were sticking by the rule "behind the last man's feet" but we must have lost something in translation as the French decided that meant an AB players feet Once again no issue with the French if the Ref was going to let them get away with it then the mongrels jolly well should take advantage. The Saffas have been doing it for years.

Have another look at the game, in the entire second half the Ref spends his time watching AB players with his back turned to the French. Fair dinkum this bloke is worse than Kaplan.

For mine Barnes had a real bad day at the office, but considering this is only his 8th test match I would blame the muppet who assigned him to the game. And that muppet would be Paddy O'Brien ... foot ... gun ... achieved.

Whether or not the ABs might have won with a better Ref out there remains moot, we had 70% possession and couldn't overcome the French. We played dumb rugby which has nothing to do with Barnes ... it's called a drop goal lads.

On a personal note had pretty much by the end of the first quarter decided this wasn't going to be our day, aimless kicking and a knock on 2 metres from the line

So how was your Sunday morning ....

As to what's going wrong with the ABs, they need to get the mongrel back in them and start playing ugly in the big matches. Hate to say it but we may need one of those Southern coaches