RWC 2011 : The Final

[ruggerfan]

Deja Vu? A complete cycle for world cups? One more game first. The French 15 have burst our bubble on several well documented instances but this time it's different.
 1. History is on OUR side this time.
 2. We won't be taking the game lightly so less liklihood of an "upset".
 3. The French are crapper than ever before. (New technical term, there)
 4. We need this more than ever before.
 5. We have our "first-choice" player in nearly every position fit and in form.

Go the Black Juggernaut!

[Teach]

Craig Joubert will be the ref for the final joined by 2007 final referee Alain Rolland (Ireland) and Nigel Owens (Wales) as assistant referees and Guilio de Santis (Italy) as Television Match Official. Rolland is the reserve referee.

Wayne Barnes will take charge of the Bronze Final

Imagine if our mate Wayne was given this final    Realistically it was never going to happen but the opportunities for media beat-up still made me smile. 

[ruggerfan]

Absolutely stoked Joubert got the final - the stars are aligning...

[gluck]

France can't tin this three in a row can they, they really are a mediocre team. Goodness gracious me in fact all the teams except the All Blacks have looked mediocre really.

[swiss toni]

NZ by at least 2 scores, 3 penalties against a 14 man welsh side the only place the french are likely to score is in a Brothel.

If you can't win this one dear me the mind boggles, with the risk of sounding bitter the most undeserving team ever in the history of the tournament is in the final and I include the england side of 2007 in that equation, I am expecting the French to be on the end of a merciless hammering.

[BallBoy]

NZ by at least 2 scores, 3 penalties against a 14 man welsh side the only place the french are likely to score is in a Brothel.

If you can't win this one dear me the mind boggles, with the risk of sounding bitter the most undeserving team ever in the history of the tournament is in the final and I include the england side of 2007 in that equation, I am expecting the French to be on the end of a merciless hammering.

I can only echo the same
No different to the 2007 final where the mere fact that a team that got hammered 33:0 in pool stages played in the final spoilt the lot. Of course the AB's can only play what is in front of them next Sunday but agree that a final with the Welsch would have been far more entertaining.
Fact is that it will be one sided unfortunately, French will lose by 25 + 

[irishcure]

Ok OK... like everyone else I'm struggling to see how this French team have gotten anywhere near the final after so many abysmal performances. I have never witnessed a French team play anything like that performance against Wales. I can't even remember an attempt at a try against 14 men!

But someone has to play devil's advocate surely? Otherwise you guys will just hex yourselves - so consider that I'm doing ye a favour!

1) Always remember the French record for doing crazy things out of the blue when they are faced with black rugby strips (this is such a cliche so lets just leave it there).
2) Despite all the talk this is definitely NOT one of the poorest french teams (on paper). They have players up front and out wide that can do the business if things click for them. They have done it for years. But not recently. Some real quality nonetheless.
3) Everyone is talking about how France have only played 30 mins of rugby (versus England). But people seem to be forgetting the opening 10-15 mins of their game with the ABs in the pool. France were surprisingly physical and fluid and had a number of good attempts at scoring the first try. If that had come off then they may have played a very different game. But it didn't. The ABs scored first and (with Ireland having beaten the Oz), the French did that appaling thing that only they can do... and looked completely uninterested for the greater part of the game.
4) The Australians had a soft underbelly. Ireland had already shown that. NZ (credit to them and McCaw in particular) laid into them at every breakdown and bullied them out of the game. That was for me the crucial element. Perhaps they can do the same to France - but it is more of an open question than against the Oz.


OK. So I still think this game can be a walkover for the ABs. This may not be the poorest French team... but they are certainly the most fragile mentally I've ever seen. The way the Australians ripped them apart - IN PARIS and just a few months ago - shows that if the ABs bully them from the off and score the first two scores... well it could be a rout. But if the French stay in the game till halftime (as we all know must surely be their gameplan)... well then the ABs might look a completely different team to the semi.

Best of luck guys. I just want a great final coz (despite the intensity of the Oz-NZ semi) the knock-outs have been a little bit of a let-down.

[Teach]

.. Best of luck guys. I just want a great final ...

Yep there's the rub. If we have the "best of luck" then it won't go down as a "great final" because we will score a try early and then cut them to shreds. There won't be any intercept tries, red/yellow cards, illness/injuries, missed forward passes etc...

It might be nice to look back on a great final where we overcome these bogies and win a tense game in the last seconds. However in the interests of not shouting at the TV and waking the kids, I think I'll go with the best luck, thanks.

[jules]

However in the interests of not shouting at the TV and waking the kids...

You mean the Mcleish clan won't all be parked in front of the box for the final?!?

You should be able to convince 3 of them at least to watch it with you. If you need help with that then let me know and I'll be on the phone.

Cheers, Jules

[gluck]

for the sake of rugby I hope the AB's belt the French. Imagine if a team that lost twice in pool play then beat a 14 man team by one point being outscored 1 try to none wins the world cup. Its shocking that there here really. If they lose it ill be 4 wins and and three loses for the tournment, had they lost we were looking at a team that made the semi's losing more games than they won, jeepers.
ALL BLACKS NEED TO WIN FOR RUGBY'S SAKE.

[BallBoy]

Can't bet against history. No team that has lost a pool game has ever won the cup.

[Geeves]

Been running around all week and have only had time to post the predictions late yesterday on the blog here

[JJ]

No chicken counting until a 25pt margin at half time please!!       
                                                               jj     

[megweya]

.. Best of luck guys. I just want a great final ...

... might be nice to look back on a great final where we overcome these bogies and win a tense game in the last seconds.

I echo Irish Cure's "best of luck".
I won't mention that (urhhhh, urrhhhhh) unmentionable thing that I seen twice in person.

If you need a NZ 10 that has experience of winning a tense game in the _85th_ minute, have a look at this 5-min clip of Harlequins in the Heineken Cup. Evans opts for breaks twice in over-time, then finally decides (unlike Stephen Jones for Wales) that he should be able to get a drop-goal to win the game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i3StR2BNTGI&feature=player_embedded#!

Cheers

Megweya

PS
My brother said being at the semis was superb - Eden Park was really buzzing (and he has been to big/tense games at Twickenham, Cardiff, Paris and Dublin (old Lansdowne Rd, Croke Park, new Aviva Lansdowne Rd)).

Well done to the stadium of 4m for creating a great atmosphere throughout this WC.