Saturday, October 06, 2007
France vs New Zealand 1999 WC Semi Final
And halfway into the match they looked in control. Jonah Lomu was at his ultimate best, pounding the French whenever he got the ball. His two tries are absolute classics, beating numerous players with his speed, stepping and most of all, brute strength.
France came back though, and through some inspirational play and typical French flair, defeated the undefeatable and knocked out the best team in the world. A sensational result that shook the rugby world and was touted by some as the greatest World Cup upset of all time.
Fast forward eight years to the present. The All Blacks are once again looking invincible. They've once again played the best rugby and set the standard of world rugby, probably for the past 15 years. And once again, people are saying that the men in black are odds on favourites.
As for the French, they've started slow this year and had a hiccup against Argentina in the opening game. They came back strong though and found their straps against Namibia and Ireland. Unfortunately for the host nation they won't be playing in France tonight - the game is in Cardiff for some reason.
An interesting note is that after a coin toss which New Zealand lost, France will be wearing their dark blue and the All Blacks will be wearing grey.
That, combined with the unpredictable French flair could mean that we may see a repeat of that 1999 Semi final classic. For the neutral it's a very interesting prospect indeed.
Time: 3:56
Posted at 2:34 am | 52 comments
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Viewing 52 comments
Sea-Bass October 06, 2007 3:33 pm
As long as we get another great match like this one, the outcome wont matter anything to me. Though a final France - Argentina would be great, but thats wishful thinking.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 3:55 pm
Go on France! Beat the Blackness. They havent had a proper match yet, they dont know what competition is. Do em over. Allez les Blues!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 8:48 pm
HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHA 4 MORE YEARS BOYS!!!!!! 4 MORE YEARS!!!!!!!!! hahahahahahahhaa first time iv ever supported france in my life!!!!!! you hitching a lift with the auzzies boys??????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WOOOOO October 06, 2007 8:49 pm
OMG!!!! IM HAPPY BUT STILL I NEVER EXPECTED THAT!!! WELL DONE BOTH!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 8:50 pm
4 more fuckin years!!!!! ahahahaha! Southern hemisphere domination my arse!!! Come on Fiji, do us all a favour!!!!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 9:14 pm
i was so glad the Australians lost last night...but then i was absolutely dissapointed when the All Blacks lost to the French....It was the worst game ever and the ref was absolutely crap...i guess the French had some luck on their side..
Rugbydump Admin October 06, 2007 9:17 pm
Well, I eluded to it earlier, and I guess I wasn't far off. Incredible. I can only imagine the pressure that will be on NZ in 2011 at home. This World Cup is full of surprises this year!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 9:18 pm
i guess this world cup is all about the underdogs..unbelievable!!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 9:26 pm
"i was so glad the Australians lost last night...but then i was absolutely dissapointed when the All Blacks lost to the French....It was the worst game ever and the ref was absolutely crap...i guess the French had some luck on their side.."We're you watching the same game? The french were playing defense like animals.A good french victory.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 9:28 pm
It's a well known fact that All-Black supporters are the biggest wingers and the most one eyed and obnoxious fans in world rugby.Prepare to see a lot of posts complaining about referees etc.
Bziers 1970's October 06, 2007 9:29 pm
Such a counter-haka! they lost the game at this moment! all those pretentious comments about South crushing North must burn their owners, right now! France Vs England, let's the North do it, boys
Lemou October 06, 2007 10:02 pm
I was expecting an opposition of style, something like, 'french flair' vs 'we are the rugby'. I was completely wrong.The french have won the physical match. The game was incredibly tough, lots of contacts (around 200 tackles only on the french side). As the time was passing, more and more nz players were injured (OMG even Jerry Collins, this guy is supposed to be unbreakable)...I'd like to thank both teams for the show, it was terrific!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:04 pm
ah shut up southern will win..the all blacks were robbed i spose u didnt happen to see that foward pass that lead to a try did use..fukin bullshit..i hope south africa fuk use all up and they will
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:07 pm
Told you the All-Black supporters were bad losers and they always winge more than anyone else...
murphy October 06, 2007 10:09 pm
history repeats itself once again... unbelievable match, open to the last minute! Allez les Bleus!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:18 pm
France was beaten by a southern team already and will sure be beaten again.The match could've had some ref mistakes, but which didn't? Just stop blaming third parties and start playing rugby as it deserves to be played. YOU PITY FOOL!All in all, it was a great match and an incredible outcome. It's all about the underdogs now.Go Pumas!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:19 pm
yup the ref was hard on nz and missed the forward pass but nz has won harder games against shitty referees and better teams. AB,s choke again in true nz fashion. but it was unusal to here the english supporting the french in a calgary pub. dont you fuckers hate each other. at least i have saved $40 on door charges.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:28 pm
"We're you watching the same game? The french were playing defense like animals.A good french victory."do you call being offside half the game and handling in the ruck every 2 or 3 minute a animal defence?..come on, you got to admit it, it wasnt the greatest win the French would've liked. The ref WAS on the French side...i suggest people in France to watch the match again closely and see what an awful match it was. I mean, who would yellow card someone for a bump like that? this isnt soccer, its rugby its a contact sport ffs.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:39 pm
^^^^ hahahahahahaha text book example of NZ bitching!!! a bloody long one as well! id get to the airport early if you want to be able to be near the front to throw your tomatos!
Anonymous October 06, 2007 10:57 pm
quote- "do you call being offside half the game and handling in the ruck every 2 or 3 minute a animal defence?.."Well thats rich coming from a NZer! i'm not sure however that it was a yellow card offense, at least a penalty though. ah well, chin up.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 11:09 pm
hahahahahahahhahahahahahaha, what a day for rugby. unlucky graham henry, you moaning prick. and see you later aussies, enjoy the flight home with the kiwis. today was priceless
Anonymous October 06, 2007 11:10 pm
"I mean, who would yellow card someone for a bump like that? this isnt soccer, its rugby its a contact sport ffs."You don't play do you?It's the bloody rules.The ref was not on the french side. The French were NOT handling in the rucks. And that was NOT a forward pass.Face reality. NZ lost to a better team today.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 11:16 pm
Everyone is saying that the southern hemisphere is out but South Africa is still in (one of the big boys but who knows for how long, after today). Come on mates lets pull together, all is not lost.Anyway well done France.
Anonymous October 06, 2007 11:20 pm
"The ref was not on the french side. The French were NOT handling in the rucks. And that was NOT a forward pass."wow, you really did not watch the game carefully did you, so you are saying that the camera angle made the pass looked like it went foward? face reality, france didnt deserve it.even a 10 year old would know if a ball went foward in a pass.
Anonymous October 07, 2007 12:00 am
"face reality, france didnt deserve it.even a 10 year old would know if a ball went foward in a pass."I hate it when the Kiwi tastes bitter.
Anonymous October 07, 2007 12:21 am
New Zealand always reign in between the world cup but when it comes down to it they just cant perform. Now that NZ are out it opens out the competition more and any of the remaining teams have a chance, even Fiji because Delasau is a sicko.
mr. england October 07, 2007 12:25 am
lol i cant beleive how much these NZrs are living up to their 12yr old 'daddys little girl' not gettin their own way image! if your meant to be such an unbeatable favourite surely one or two decisions shouldnt stunt your path to world glory? grit your teeth and get the fuc* on with it! set of fannies. enjoy your flight home.
Vierge Rouge October 07, 2007 12:25 am
And we did it again ! as a french guy, i can hardly beleive that NZ were so naive. they didn't take the opportunity to score in the first half when french guys weren't tough enough, which wasn't the case during the second half of the game with Szarzewski and Chabal, the replacment of Carter, Kelleher, Collins and the help of the ref on the forward pass...A great thanks to scotland, romania, portugal and italy to have felt the blacks asleep...
Tom October 07, 2007 12:45 am
Got about 3 quarters of the way down and got fed up of people bitching about the forward pass! SO WHAT its rugby, it happens, im sure everyone has played in a match where the ref makes a decision and you lose the game, if the ref was to pick up on everything then maybe he would have picked up on all the NZ players diving over the top, pulling the scrum half into the ruck and all the other infringments! im sorry but thats the game and you lost! better luck in 2011, and have a safe flight home! NZ players are not exactly ones for their strictly legal play and legal passes....
Anonymous October 07, 2007 1:53 am
Great day for the boks to see their tri-nations rival go back home.... But still i guess this incredible victories put some pressure on the south-africa vs- fiji match... I'm loving this world cup
Anonymous October 07, 2007 2:48 am
Graham Henry: "We are realistic, the better side won on the day,""We've just got to get on with it and wait for next time we have an opportunity," "I think people will judge how they want to judge. I feel comfortable. I have done everything I can to insure we have done the best we can as an All Black side.""We built the game but didn't finish things off,"
Anonymous October 07, 2007 5:50 am
france only won because their forward pass wasnt counted. also because of that stupid call for luke mcalister. wayne barnes sucks. and it doesn't matter if we're the top team, it was still unfair and shouldn't have been counted.
French Doctor October 07, 2007 7:27 am
The only thing that makes France win this quater final yesterday is :France : 197 Tackles, 178 won, 19 missed. (90,4%)N.Z. : 47 tackles, 36 won, 11 missed (76,6%). THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE !This is HUGE! Men ! Stop blaming the ref ! He did mistakes for the AB's in first half-time too.
Anonymous October 07, 2007 10:09 am
Just one thing to say: IMPOSSIBLE IS NOT FRENCH !!
Sea-Bass October 07, 2007 10:16 am
The All Blacks lost fair and square. They spend alot of time in the French 22' and in the distance of a feet from the tryline. They kept playing over the scrum, which wasnt strong enough to win the match. French played very disciplined, hardly any penalties to them when it mattered.The first half was utter wack, but the second was great! Well done France!The other semi-final is going to be Argentina - Fiji, which would be a bloody good joke.
Anonymous October 07, 2007 12:48 pm
i can`t believe the AB`s didn`t go for the dropgoal in final minutes,they had a ruck on the french 22 and yet they had no balls to do it.later they tried but it was too late cause they were 50m away...what a mistake!it seems to me they were just too confident they`ll score a try and so they failed to realize that dropgoal would win it for them.i`m sure carter wouldn`t make that mistake
Tom October 07, 2007 1:54 pm
Guys still blaming the ref i see.....well get over it, you lost, there have been many matches where the refs havent picked up on stuff, if you had just beaten france and you guys had a forward pass you would be using your big heads to say "tough shit" its the way the game goes, you had plenty opportunities so yeh game over stop bitching, you lost its not gonna change a thing!
Anonymous October 07, 2007 3:18 pm
French Doctor dijo... The only thing that makes France win this quater final yesterday is : France : 197 Tackles, 178 won, 19 missed. (90,4%) N.Z. : 47 tackles, 36 won, 11 missed (76,6%). THAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE ! This is HUGE! Men ! Stop blaming the ref ! He did mistakes for the AB's in first half-time too.well, there was a lot of pick and go made by the ab's, which lasted 20 phases each, plus, France didnt attack like the All Blacks, therefore the All Blacks in the counting will have less tackles.Anway, France showed they got balls to play this type of games, and New Zealand...
Manuel October 07, 2007 3:44 pm
It will be great to have a final France-Argentina, though that is wishful thinking, it will probably be SA-France. NZ lost the game because they had a crappy strategy and their players, especially the half scrum and the fly hald took very bad decisions. I still don't understand why didn't they tried a drop goal when it was feasible, with 2 min to play and very close to the french ingoal. When they tried it was too late.Besides, I don't understand why McAllister was considered "Man of the Match": his yellow card allowed France to get 10 points, then he failed a key conversion, a penalty and a drop goal. Good player for the first half, but the great players are those that excel in the last 10 min, when the situation is really tough.
Arnaud October 07, 2007 4:02 pm
HAHAHA!How pityful are the NZ.How can you find such an excuse like "we lost because of a forward pass?"you ve been beaten all along the match. France was more aggressive.In all the past games between France and NZ, all blacks created nothing. they just made benefit of french mistakes.Problem : yesterday, there were no french mistakes. And European nation are at their top physcally. Frnach an English are not a surprise because the world rugby is made for the south nations.Now, the north nations had 2 month to set up. Nothing common wiht 2006 november games.Don't be such bad losers please.you lost, that s all.
Anonymous October 07, 2007 4:27 pm
new zealand are gona surely "sign" a load of the fijians that gave that heroic display 2day..rauluni rabeni delasau...pity NZ have no bottle tho, to say the ref gave it to france is a lie france deserved it still i fancy SA they will have the measure for france
Anonymous October 07, 2007 4:44 pm
nz r the biggest cheats in rugby so they cant complain about the french being cheatsglad the french won but i still h8 them
some _frenchie October 08, 2007 2:39 pm
Let's be honest: this was not the most briliant match ever... Because only option for french was to block NZ. They played this strategy perfectly and Blacks lost because they could not adapt to that (why they did not try to kick a drop goal in last minutes, instead of this "pick and go" attack?)I also think french took psychological advantage very soon. Maybe even during the Haka.Yes, the pass on second try is forward... But such forward pass are very difficult for refs to see... And the team that uses almost all the time this "near forward pass technique" is New Zealand. (look closely at NZ first try... almost the same action... and first pass looks forward to me too).Let's hope now that France-England will be a great show and (sorry, can't help it) that it ends up with France winning ;-)
Anonymous October 28, 2007 6:54 pm
new zealand are all mouth and no work, france kicks ass!
Anonymous January 29, 2008 1:10 pm
C'tait tellement beau! j'en pleure!It was so great! I cry!
Anonymous January 29, 2008 9:54 pm
there was a joke that appeared after the 2007 world cup in several British newspapers:Q-why do the All Blacks sleep in rooms of two at the World Cup?A-So that one can perform the Heimlich maneuver when the other chokes
AbbyNo7 January 31, 2008 7:14 pm
The French Fullback STEPPED OUT OF LOMU'S WAY for his second try. I mean that is pretty pathetic. Especially for an international player.
Anonymous January 31, 2008 8:05 pm
the best match in the history of rugby! yeah u hear that kiwis? up yours!
Anonymous June 19, 2008 6:57 am
mate dont mess with the maoris they will take you down, 2011 will be a Australia, South Africa, All Blacks and England semi final and an Australia New Zealand FInal But either Argentina or Fiji could nock out England
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