Potential for a Weekend of Shame Tri-Fecta

[RaoulDuke]

David vs Goliath coming Sunday morning.

All Blacks playing for a WC title at home, this should be in the bag. They have superior talent, speed and strength.....but, I sense something happened this week on our side. They were dragged through the mud, half rebelled against the coach and started basically managing themselves...the stage is set for an upset. We are pissed. If we come out guns blazing, and start knocking a few guys down, then we'll have a ball game.

In any case I expect us to play a lot better than in the semis.

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

David vs Goliath coming Sunday morning.

All Blacks playing for a WC title at home, this should be in the bag. They have superior talent, speed and strength.....but, I sense something happened this week on our side. They were dragged through the mud, half rebelled against the coach and started basically managing themselves...the stage is set for an upset. We are pissed. If we come out guns blazing, and start knocking a few guys down, then we'll have a ball game.

In any case I expect us to play a lot better than in the semis.

oh noez.

you've done it.

you've just gone through the "Jet fan in '09 and '10 playoffs" transformation.

from just happy to be there but expecting to lose to the better teams, and then after winning a couple of tough games, starting to believe you can actually win it all


i'll be rooting for France, but it's tough to see the All-Blacks losing at home

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

oh noez.

you've done it.

you've just gone through the "Jet fan in '09 and '10 playoffs" transformation.

from just happy to be there but expecting to lose to the better teams, and then after winning a couple of tough games, starting to believe you can actually win it all


i'll be rooting for France, but it's tough to see the All-Blacks losing at home

ZOMG what a match.

We lost 8-7, NZ gets a well deserved title, but we fell with honor. Wow, we had the All Blacks in the ropes. We played exactly the way we had to, but fell short. Even had an opportunity to win with a penalty kick at the end. Massive bummer, but proud.

Bravo les mecs.

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

ZOMG what a match.

We lost 8-7, NZ gets a well deserved title, but we fell with honor. Wow, we had the All Blacks in the ropes. We played exactly the way we had to, but fell short. Even had an opportunity to win with a penalty kick at the end. Massive bummer, but proud.

Bravo les mecs.

it was a great game, and France was very close to stealing the Cup from right under NZ's noses.

losing by 1 point must suck, but giving the All Blacks all they could handle, at home, in the WC final... wow, what a great effort by France.


chapeau, mon ami

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

it was a great game, and France was very close to stealing the Cup from right under NZ's noses.

losing by 1 point must suck, but giving the All Blacks all they could handle, at home, in the WC final... wow, what a great effort by France.


chapeau, mon ami

Opening Haka was awesome. French squand in a "V" then walking up to confront them...chills

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Opening Haka was awesome. French squand in a "V" then walking up to confront them...chills

that was great!!

i was half asleep right before the game started, didn't think i was gonna be able to stay awake as they're going through all the pre-game crap...


and then THAT happened and i was wired.

AWESOME

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by Dirtstar

that was great!!

i was half asleep right before the game started, didn't think i was gonna be able to stay awake as they're going through all the pre-game crap...


and then THAT happened and i was wired.

AWESOME

I was feeding my daughter, I got so pumped I almost shoved the spoon down her throat!

We usually lack a killer instinct and downplay losses,.Saying it was already an achievement to get to the final...etc.

For once I agree. You play a Final to win it, but in this case it doesn't sting that much. They left everything on the field.

[RaoulDuke]

French captain Thierry Dusautoir being awarded Man of the Match award ...and gets called Thierry Henry by the interviewer..LMAO

[Dirtstar]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

I was feeding my daughter, I got so pumped I almost shoved the spoon down her throat!

We usually lack a killer instinct and downplay losses,.Saying it was already an achievement to get to the final...etc.

For once I agree. You play a Final to win it, but in this case it doesn't sting that much. They left everything on the field.

lolz...

[RaoulDuke]

Gotta post this...written by an Englishman no less.

Rugby World Cup 2011 final: France lose but gain the respect of the world


They say that France lost the final of the 2011 Rugby World Cup, but we don't have to believe it if we don't want to. With everything stacked against them, they produced the performance that gave the tournament a most memorable climax.

All New Zealand did was win, which was presumably all they wanted to do in order to end their famous 24-year drought. They had hosted the tournament beautifully but when it came to the showdown they derived disproportionate benefit from home advantage, including a few free gifts from a referee who spent the first half infuriating even neutrals by giving virtually every decision to the men in black.

France's fans were unable to make themselves heard in a stadium draped in black but their team's display was full of spirit, generosity, creativity and adventure. Perhaps this was not the best France squad of all time, or anything like it, but they did full honour to the memory and traditions of their forebears and were hugely unfortunate not to become the first side from their nation to capture the Webb Ellis Cup.

The All Blacks were grim, pragmatic and joyless: a caricature of a stereotype. Nothing they did in the 80 minutes truly illuminated the game. Their try was a gimme, tinged with a hint of obstruction, and they never came close to scoring another. Their defence was impressive enough as France grew in self-belief during the second period but it would have been welcome, given the circumstances, had they felt able to take on France at a game of rugby involving more than the arts of attrition.

They could point out that they lost Dan Carter, their principal source of invention, before the tournament had got properly under way. But this is a nation of 4.3 million people obsessed by the game, and the absence of one player should not have caused them to go quite so resolutely into their shells on the big night. They appeared to be paralysed by fear of the consequences of another 1999 or 2007.

One or two first-half flashes apart, there was virtually nothing of the piercing movement that tore Australia apart in the opening phase of the semi-final. Perhaps Australia were not as good as we might reasonably expect the current Tri-Nations champions to be; perhaps, too, France were not nearly as bad as their earlier performances in the tournament had led us to believe.

Some Welshmen will no doubt suggest that last night's defeat by a single point represented a form of justice after France had reached the final via a similarly narrow victory a week earlier over a side controversially reduced to 14 men. But there can have been few among them who were not so seduced by this display into ending the evening nursing a sense of disappointment that, with 30 minutes to go after cutting the margin to that single, lonely point, the white shirts had failed to find the decisive touch.

If New Zealand won the right to call themselves world champions for the next four years, France resurrected a reputation grievously – but not, as it turned out, irreparably – damaged by the events of recent weeks. With four minutes left, Marc Lièvremont gave us one last bizarre decision by which to remember him: the replacement of Dimitri Yachvili, a normally dead-eyed kicker, by a player with zero caps at a time when a drop goal would have won the World Cup and changed rugby history. Yachvili was tiring, but still looked exasperated as he left the pitch.

On balance, however, Lièvremont's players assembled a performance that ensured they will be able to hold their heads up on their return home. This was not to be compared with the limp effort of Jacques Fouroux's side – including Serge Blanco, Philippe Sella, Pierre Berbizier, Daniel Dubroca and Pascal Ondarts – while losing 29-9 against the same opposition in the 1987 final. There was nothing anticlimactic about this return to Eden Park. At the end of a campaign in which he was endlessly ridiculed and vilified, Lièvremont could say that he had taken his squad closer to the title than any of his his predecessors.

"I'm tremendously sad but tremendously proud, too," he said during a dignified post-match press conference. He made no reference to the collision between Richie McCaw's knee and the temple of Morgan Parra in the 11th minute, which forced the early removal of France's own influential fly-half.

In many ways, even in defeat, this was the French at their best, slowly swelling in confidence through the first half and practically bursting with defiance in the later stages as they refused to accept the general assumption of their opponents' superiority.

The way they responded to the haka, with a novel formula devised in their hotel yesterday morning, provided the night's first drama. Forming up in an arrowhead inside their own half, with their captain at the tip, they waited until Piri Weepu was halfway through leading the All Blacks' performance before beginning a slow advance towards the halfway line and eventually, in contravention of the established protocol, a few yards across it.

In everything they subsequently did they were bold, they were brave, and they were nobody's idea of losers, even when the winners were queueing up to receive their medals. They were France, recalled to life, and you had to love them for it.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog...p-final-france

[sheptr]

Originally Posted by RaoulDuke

Prepare to be bored to death.

Yes, the red card was warranted though I find a red card in rugby way too penalizing.

So far from boring, and while I did not watch every match, this was my favorite and in my opinion, the best test. Rooting for the underdog, I was
amazed at how France handled their business, and honestly feel Les Bleus were fighting the All Blacks and the ref to some extent.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by sheptr

So far from boring, and while I did not watch every match, this was my favorite and in my opinion, the best test. Rooting for the underdog, I was
amazed at how France handled their business, and honestly feel Les Bleus were fighting the All Blacks and the ref to some extent.

There are mixed feelings on the refereeing...We knew it was going to be that kind of game, and McCaw is notorious for always hanging around the breakdowns. We should have blasted him in the opening minutes so he wouldn't dare leave his hands around the ball.

With 10 minutes left, there was no way, besides a flagrant foul, he was going to blow a whistle on NZ and get out of the stadium alive.

[The Turk]

Originally Posted by The Turk

Portugal - Czech rep - Croatia and Eire, we'll only stand a chance against Eire IMHO.

Originally Posted by The Turk

Dario Srna is in fact Croatian and he still plays for them I believe and I agree he's one of the best right backs on the continent. It's a shame he plays in the Ukranian league albeit for a ****load of money...

All I know of the top of my head is Srna, Luka Modric from Tottenham, Pletikosa the goalie, other than those guys I have no idea.

The problem isn't the Croatians, if our guys show up they are talented enough to beat anyone except probably Spain and Germany. But since 2008 they just have not bothered to show up for games. we'll see, our guys usually do play better when they're between a rock and a hard place so there's some hope but I still think the croatians should be considered the favorites.

I told you guys...lost 3-0 in Turkey in the first leg and it shoud've been more. Our team has no business playing these kind of teams until it's been totally revamped. Hiddink has been clueless and I think the main reason is he choose his assistants very poorly and gave them a lot of responsibility.

[RaoulDuke]

Originally Posted by The Turk

I told you guys...lost 3-0 in Turkey in the first leg and it shoud've been more. Our team has no business playing these kind of teams until it's been totally revamped. Hiddink has been clueless and I think the main reason is he choose his assistants very poorly and gave them a lot of responsibility.

I saw that, sorry man.

We're going to the Euro but have no business there either. I hope Blanc uses it to give young guys experience and leaving guys like Malouda and Ribery (yeah that's right) at home. They're not the future and bring more problems than solutions to the table.