You see, he's nervous lol

 

I'd say that the World Cup is as open as it has ever been, in terms of who can win it. Everyone here is saying All Blacks vs England final, but I personally think it could be won by England, All Blacks, Aussies, the Irish, South Africa and never, ever should be discounted, the French.

Should be a great contest.

It was nice to see that England have once again proved that they no longer bottle in big games, and lived up to their Number 1 status in the world.

It's also good to see that the "gap" between Northern and Southern hemisphere rugby no longer exists.

 

Duck_pond - you are absolutely right. Not sure about the Irish - they can certainly compete in one-off games, but may not have the consistency to win a tournament. All the others are potential champions though. The French in particular are perhaps the hardest team to plan for as no-one (including the French players) knows how they are going to play on the day. Nobody gave them a chance of beating the All Blacks last time, but look what happened. (I figured I might as well mention that as no doubt Dan would mention it otherwise ) So it should be a cracking tournament.
Still, plenty to watch this Saturday. New Zealand to beat Wales by a record-braking margin and Jonny Wilkinson to beat Australia, with a little help from his 14 assistants!

Steve

 

 

The All Blacks have to beat the Aussis, and the Yarpies if we want to get into the final. As i've said before, if we win the cup, then we will be the undisputed champions.

If Johnny Wilkenson had rolled away from the tackler and not been lying on the All Black's side of the ruck blatantly killing the flow of our attack, then he wouldn't have got the nice piece of footwork that he did. Same goes to that Fullback who got a little scratch in the eye

 

who are the yarpis?

[retires embarrased]

 

Boks.

 

i still think the all blacks will win the world cup

 

Ok your call mate but what did i expect from somebody from wales...England for the World Cup never boyo!

 

Jonny Wilkinson MBE (correct spelling Thescooby)and his 14 assistants..I personally don't care how we winand that tw@t David Campese (todays papers) can stick a rugby ball where the sun don't shine

 

Ah Campo, loves to stir up the pot doesn't he?

What exactly did he say??

[Edited by TheScooby - 19/06/2003 23:16:36]

 

The normal cr@p he spouts out about England.

 

Its nice being English today and i bet Campo wished he kept his mouth shut

 

Savour that, you only get to say it a few times a decade

 

Lewsey' tackle on Rogers!!

Campo you **** and they call us whinging Poms, that self righteous moron has done nothing but whinge since he retired.

Grow up

 

13 times and counting

 

Thescooby i bet you enjoyed being a kiwi last weekend

If i was only there

 

Breaking news!!!...Campo reckons we ARE the best rugby team in the world and we can play running rugby ,i haven't finished yet and we are the clear favorites for the world cup

Btw i heard Campo has put on 2 stone in weight due to all the humble pie he's had to eat this weekend

[Edited by planky - 22/06/2003 13:50:20]

 

"New Zealand to beat Wales by a record-braking margin and Jonny Wilkinson to beat Australia, with a little help from his 14 assistants!"

Dont you just love it when you make predictions like that!
If I were an England fan I would be pretty worried now - if Daniel Carter can keep playing like that then the All Blacks undoubtedly have the best set of backs in the world. He can kick which takes the pressure off Carlos and allows him to concentrate on his own game. Hopefully Leon Macdonald should be fit soon aswell so there is some real competition for places.

England did look very impressive against Australia. Obviously the aussies were struggling without a proper fly half but the 2 aussie wings caused a few problems. I guess Matt Rogers wont forget the game in a hurry! All credit to England though - they do deserve to be named as the second-best side in the world

My prediction for NZ vs France - slow start from the All Blacks, keep the French pack contained, then open up in the second half to win by a clear 20 points.

Steve

 

Ok which prediction did you get right??...The Wilkinson one was way off,not his best game IMO but i do agree his 14 assitants were world class

Btw the all Blacks looked good cos the Welsh looked bad so if your so called world beating backs couldn't pass our 'dads army' forwards last week,it doesn't looked good for the World Cup does it

Anyway i should congratulate the All Blacks for beating Wales and hopefully we will see this Carter fella kicking the goals(that what he does?)in the WC,anything better than Carlos the Jackel or of course you could bring Merthens out of retirement

 

ooh touchy!
In all seriousness though, the last 2 games just show how closely matched England, Australia and New Zealand are. All 3 have the ability to win the cup. Though it pains me to say it, England seem to have the upper hand at the moment, and are playing superb rugby, which is great to watch. The English forwards are the best in the world and the backs are pretty close. The biggest problem seems to be where to play Robinson - he lacks outright speed. Most of the time he makes up for this with his acceleration but he isnt quick enough to chase down opposing wingers. I personally think he is better as a centre but then you would have to leave out Tindall or Greenwood and I cant see that happening. Still, its a nice position for the England management to be in, having so many players to choose from.
I still fancy the Blacks for the cup, but will admit to being totally biased. It will all come down to who plays well on the big occasions.

Steve

 

Edit double post..Its bloody slow on herewhy bother with broadband!.

[Edited by planky - 6/23/2003 9:16:00 PM]

 

I personally think this World Cup will be the best ever with the All Blacks,Australia,S Africa?? and now the mighty All Whites all having a good chance to win but i must say that England is my Favourite to win (not biasedhonest) cos they have shown in the last few matches when theres serious pressure England can now handle it and come through victorious..Only a few years ago i would be cursing the team after blowing it again!.

I agree about Jason,he doesn't seem to get the space against the top teams but thats not all bad cos while they are watching BillyWizz the other top class backs will find the space to break through.

Anyway when Jason's forward play is not firing,he can always use hes world class defending which he picked up in his rugby league days.

Btw i see the Tri Nations is coming up,i hope the All Blacks don't get too many injuries and if you don't mind make sure them bragging Aussies get a good hammering and do us one more favour,do the same to the Bok's for us

 

Never fear, it's all part of John Mitchell's master plan.

He's gone and done some rather interesting moves in naming the side to face france. The front row that was used against England replaces the one against Wales. And Richie McCaw is back in. Unchanged back line. I have absolutely no idea what he's up to, but I think he has better judgement that me

I've got to agree with RB5320, slow start from the Allblacks, grinding the french down first half before letting lose in the second with a 20-30 point win.

As for the Tri Nations, injuries aren't a problem, we have depth in EVERY position, so no worries there. And the aussis don't get Mortlock, or Larkham back until after, so the aussis will still be depleted. As for SA, judging by their Super 12 performance, they still need a bit of time to get their combos right.

 

The French were beaten twice by the Argies..So it should be a walk in the park for the All blacks.

They should easily win by atleast 30 points and a minimum of 6 tries (anybody fancy a bet) anything less and it will be very disappointing for Mitchell and confidence in the camp will be even lower than it is already after Englands victory IMO

 

on paper it looks like an easy win, but the French are too unpredictable. Laporte has admitted that he is not particularly bothered about the result, he is just trying out players for the World Cup. So the French have nothing to lose which makes them pretty dangerous. Its a shame Castaignede isnt playing though.
A defeat by the French would be a disappointment but I cant really see it happening. And who really cares about the Gallaher Cup?
You may be right about the 6 tries - I reckon 2 to Howlett, and one each to Rokocoko, Devine, Collins and Brad Thorn.
And you dont really think there is a confidence problem after the mishap in the England game do you?

Steve

 

Yep

 

*sarcastic mode*Oh no!! We lost to england, our confidence is gone!! We shall never ever get it back! What ever are we going to do??*/sarcastic mode*

 

but its true!

 

planky - if you look at the official figures detailed below, you will see that there is no reason for any lack of confidence -

All Blacks number of games played - lots
All Blacks number of games won - most of them.
England number of games played - probably more than All Blacks
England number of games won - a lot less than All Blacks

These are official figures but I cant reveal my sources so you will just have to take my word for it.

The words "All Blacks" and "confidence problem" really do not belong in the same sentence. England beat the All Blacks by the smallest possible margin. If, as some people say, England are the best team in the world at the moment, then NZ has nothing to fear - they could so easily have won the game on the day. But they didnt, so fair play to England. It was a deserved victory. But they shouldnt start making room in the trophy cabinet just yet!

Steve