Incredible finish to the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong

That was intense!!!

Great finish to a game :)

Fair play to Australia, deserved win. For the ABs I hope, it's a good warning shot at the right time.
And, most importantly, I really hope, even the coaches realize, that Donald is probably a decent player, but not at test match level. I really hope we never have to see that guy in black again.
More or less he lost that game on his own. Every single kick was dreadful.

good game - Ozzies played a great game. Good win for them.

Australia really look like they have all the ingredients of a world cup winning side. Great team spirit, clearly playing for eachother out there.

What was cooper's beef with richie right at the end all about?

ALSO did anybody else notice Muliaina pointing to the black fern when he was talking to O'Connor?

Someone needs to punch Quade Cooper in the face. I've defended him in the past but that little dog act on McCaw after the try is out of line.

He's fortunate someone didn't run over and break his jaw.

Someone needs to let him know that pushing people isn't tough. Tackling is tough. He'd be better to focus on that.

this game reminds me of another...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xu4RPZFkmD4

try and o'connor's final kick at the siren, nudgee vs ippy final '07

View Video

Anyone see Cooper's push on McCaw (haven't watched clip yet, saw this in the match). Couldn't help but laugh.

Love it, suck on that Kiwis..

Downward spiral from here..

What a great game and one of the most thrilling final minutes of the game I have seen. I like the AB but they always seem to want to blame one person for their loses. Its a team sport only time one person can be blamed for a loss is when a coach selection is bad or have no games plan( pieter de villiers place take note of this). Guess australia just wanted it more. Hope the disicion to stick with Henry and not apoint deans doesnt come back to bite the AB in the ass.

ashley-cooper doesn't get enough credit. he's such a good player and always plays well regardless of the position he's in.

That was amazing. I really think the Aussies will win the world cup, and I don't even like them...As an Englishman, I can confidently say, we could never have retained so much ball under such intensity to score. As for O'connr, he's got balls and a centre of gravity in his studs.

Hope the kiwis aren't going to take it out on England next week....

dirt NZ

How good is O Connor?!!

Great Game !!!!

All credits to the Wallabies, they deserved their win.

As a Frenchman, I cannot believe how a NH team will be able to win the WC this year, even if there is still plenty of times before the start.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing the SH teams for the upcomings November tests.

Cooper looks like a right Tw*t at the end. Love the way he just scurries off with his mates when someone actually gives him a shove in the face.

It's a game NZ threw away not a game Australia won imo. Stephen donald's worse 3 minutes of international rugby? I really don't get why they persist with him he's so far off the pace internationally.

NZ line out starting to creak under pressure again it's fine have a great line out for the whole season only for it to fail when the real pressure came on - they'll never be world champions until they sort that out once and for all.

Anyway, well done Australia, and well done NZ for a cracking game of rugby - Intense, fast ambitious - everything I hope we see form you guys in the next few weeks when you tour up here.

A lot of people blamed to Donald for missed touch and high tackles but to be fair, the damage was done long before. Had the Wallabies had a decent kicker (they dropped like 7 points from missed kicks) people would not be talking Donald losing the game. That last tackle was careless what do you expect when 2 people outside got done and he had to make desparate cover?
Fact is, NZ is trying to find cover for fly half and mid field and that's the tiny crack in their armor.

Ahhhh such a good game! Thought it would end up the same old story with the wallabies just falling to peices in the end but was pleased to have seen them hold the ball and get over in the end. Yeah fair call - donald is brilliant in the ITM cup and didn't seem to play well at all but like mentioned before, had the wallabies slotted some of those penalties it would have been a different story. Wicked game though. Cant wait for the euro tour

Vinniechan, it was 11 points at least (6 Beale, 5 Giteau that I rememmber).

Watching the game I couldn't help notice the commentators frustrations at the scrum sequence. The impression I got from them, they believe its solely a NH directive to slow down the sequence. My understanding is that its supposed to be a worldwide directive. Its absolutely ridiculous whoever thought it up anyway. Its ruining so many games, 3 minutes at a time being wasted on scrums, then followed by a free kick for early engagement, no flow in most NH games this season.

Watching a game reffed by Wayne Barnes recently, I had to commend him, he stopped the clock at every reset, and called time on at the crouch command. This should immediately be followed by every ref in world rugby.

Oh great game too, I fear its another 1/4 final exit for Ire next year again.

yeah its bloody stupid how they call scrums. they added the word pause to add agap between touch and engage but now they have added pauses before and after the "pause".
Its funny how on countless forum sites how ab fans are accused of arrogance yet ive seen the majority congratulating the wallabies for the win and everyone else is giving them shit.

the abs subs left something to be desired, donald toeava and afoa came on and had poor games, hopefully this is a wake up call for the henry and co, slade, gear, ranger, owen franks, tialata. all better options i.m.o.

Hi. I'm an New Zealand international fly half. I kick goals and can clear the ball into touch when we're five points up with seconds to go. LOL joke I'm Stephen Donald.

Just fake an injury and go home. Slade wouldn't have screwed u either of those kicks.

If NZRU are serious about finding a decent Daniel Carter understudy, they need to get on the phone to Nick Evans at the Harlequins.

A great match and a well deserved win for Oz, full of character. But some fans are funny. The Kiwis finally lose a close game after a near record winning streak and suddenly some people think they're falling apart, while Australia finally beat NZ after ten losses and suddenly they're favourites for the World Cup! How long have these people been following rugby, five minutes?

cooper is really an A*&H*$#%. There was totally no need for that on mccaw.. I have to admit cooper is talented but he has a serious attitude problem.. I hope someone smashes him well and good and brings him back down to earth..
Great sportsmanship from the ABs. Great game from the Wallabies but totally disgusted with cooper.. Have always been disgusted with him. Even with his skills and talents..

when i heard people having a go at cooper i thought of adam ashley cooper, and was a bit disappointed at him because he is such good player. then i realised it was quade cooper, what do you expect from someone whole steals laptops lol

Glad to see Aussie break the curse, but if I'm Deans, my concerns are:

1) Cooper's tackling is atrociously bad. The ABs were clearly targeting him all game. On McCaw's huge run, he literally threw him to the ground with one hand

2) The Scrums. Rolland is awful at reffing this part of the game, but the Aussie scrum was wobbly

3) The forwards in general. I realize it's the ABs, but Read/Kaino/Franks were just going around smashing guys in the tackle. Didn't see that same intensity from the guys in gold.

Cooper and O'Connor are really, really mouthy, that's why Muliana pointed to the fern. Muliana is a class act, not so for the other 2.

this is the best thing that could happen to the ABs. If they manage to lose a game on the northern hemisphere tour it would be even better for them and they'd probably win the world cup.

Who cares if cooper pushed cheat McCaw in the back its rugby not soccer. I guarantee McCaw isnt sitting at home stifling over how rude it was. I mean seriously the wallabies could do with more mongrel like that. Knee the prick in the balls next time.

To be fair, everyone is blowing the Quade on Richie thing out of proportion. Richie is on of the best open sides in the world, and its his job to get in the fly halfs face and irratate him and make him make mistakes. Its also a commonly recognised way of beating Australia. So if over the whole game the ten has been taking agro from richie its hardly suprising he got annoyed

Just went back and watched it. I'm fine with an aggressive, hard game, but that was a cheap move by Cooper -- came and pushed McCaw as he was sitting on the ground, looking away. Such a little punk. That's why Muliana went after it, he saw Cooper's cheap shot.

The difference b/w McCaw and Cooper: McCaw is tough when it matters (see him throwing Cooper to the ground when Copper "attempted" a tackle), Cooper is tough when a guy is sitting down on the ground facing away.

As a neutral great game.

I think Quade Cooper pushed McCaw because if you look at the O'Connor try...perhaps he felt that McCaw came in late and smashed O'Connor's legs after he had scored. I think that was why Quade Cooper was pissed.

Lachie88.. They care because it is a complete lack of respect. A fair hit is enjoyed by all in the rugby world, a cheap petulant push like that is not. It's childish, pathetic and you can see Rocky Elsom after it happens and he's thinking the same thing.

"ALSO did anybody else notice Muliaina pointing to the black fern when he was talking to O'Connor?"

Pointing to his heart I think. JOC has heart. Good on Mils for being able to tell him that.

it was a good game, so the aussies FINALLY won a game against us. It just means we are going to have to step it up a notch again. I have never been a big Donald fan, i think he should not have been given a second chance. I think Cruden or Slade would be a better investment for the future.
Anyways Aussies did good didnt screw it up in the last 10 mins, which is where the game can be won or lost, and unfortunatly we lost.

Congrats Ozzies...thoroughly deserved. Despite the ABs losing I have to say..I really enjoyed that game...A pity we lost, but I think I will do BOTH Teams some good...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=go0FwuaduOM


Full match highlights :)

View Video

I've often defended donald and been a fan of his but that was just poor. under pressure and your mates finally turn the ball over and you DONT put it out? guy needs to go back to school and learn the fundamentals because although you can pick out many things in a game that lead to a loss, he fucked the goose on that one and i believe cost NZ the game.

well done Oz for sticking with it and believing. and for anyone who didnt know who james o'conner is, the cat had a hat trick in his debut and threw an 8man off of him to to it. special talent.

Stephen Donald throwing away his chances of becoming a regular on the All Blacks... two dumb mistakes (the miss on the posts and the miss to find touch) that ulimately cost the AB the match. He's a fine player but needs to have the mental edge every full international requires.

On a side note, James O'Connor wtf? That kid is 20 years old and has played 24 times for the Wallabies and becomed a sure option for Robbie Deans and a fan favourite (myself included). If he doesn't dissapoint he will be the next David Campese.

Can't wait for the Internationals and the World Cup!

What a moment for that young man O'Connor.

Who cares if cooper pushed cheat McCaw in the back its rugby not soccer.

----------

Dickhead, what Cooper did was a soccer move.

A rugby player doesn't push a bloke in the back after scoring a try!

He mans up and trades punches in the middle of battle. You pussy. What country are you from? Clearly you don't know much about rugby

well done wallabies!

How many times did the AB's cheat in that clip? When the pressure is on, they either cheat to get out of it or fold when the opposition is relentless. Not rolling away! Hands in every ruck! High tackles! Offside at every breakdown! Not releasing! Its ridiculous. Nice work Aussies...

It has been evident since the 2009 Tri Nations that Donald is simply not an international class player.

Delighted for the Aussies - I'm always impressed by their character. The Aussies can be absolutely terrible one year, and rebuild and be great again within 2. Impressive. I look forward to seeing them play Munster - last time, I was there when Munster won (I think it was 1992).

They peaked to early.

I agree with what Eddy M said.

The ABs have won the last 16 of 18 games against Australia. Every time the ABs lose, they re-gather and come back a lot better (so ironically, its better for the ABs to lose).

Lets not forget that this game isnt a pressure game like everyone makes it out to be. The Bledisloe was won by the second game and the 3N was over half-way through the competition. Its an exhibition match to generate money.

But give the WBs the credit they deserve. They played brilliantly at the beginning before conceding 24 straight points. But they never gave up and plugged away. Biebers kick at the end was incredibly high pressure, and I reckon hes found a home on the wing. The only blight on Australia is the disgraceful display of a pussy cheap shot by Quade Cooper on Richie McCaw right at the end. After missing 7 tackles during the game (including one on Richie where he fended him off a l Jonah), Cooper cant pretend to be the big tough guy. Really, he was lucky Rocky Elsom stepped in to stop him from being punched in the face.

i used to give my aussie mates shit about their best player being a born and raised kiwi but after that crap he pulled with mccaw, they can have him. childish and unneeded. you can bet hell be getting some extra attention next time they play.

If Mccaw pushed Cooper would you all be moaning about it? Of course not. Get over it.

If the aussies aren't convincing on their euro tour it will be a let down.

t0m0 and Chris..

might have been something to do with the attempted decapitations from ABs!

Ahh yes very good win. Been waiting for that one for a while now.

Wouldn't be suprised to see matt giteau get dropped to the bench next game and be replaced by berrick barnes though. I mean gits is still a very good player but he just doesn't have the same impact that he had a few years a go. I'm talking about his attacking skills here as well not just his kicking. Barnes may not have that amazing step but his ability to set up a player and his defense would go a long way with this team.

Not sure if anyone else noticed this, but earlier in the match, around 50 minutes or so, McCaw came into a rook from the side and Cooper cleared him out. McCaw then kicked Cooper in the leg. Not to mention, McCaw was, as always, playing just on the wrong side of the law throughout the match...

gotta say some great defense by the all blacks for keeping them out that long, but James O'Connor, he's going to be an Australian Rugby legend, what an athlete

peaking too early again, perhaps? well done Aussie! A thoroughly deserved victory which, if Gits and Beale had been on target, would have been a tad ugly for the ABs.

Stephen Donald, thanks for coming! We all knew he wasn't up to scratch at this level and he's shown it once again. Kiwis should be nervous knowing that there is literally zero world class cover for Carter and McCaw in the ITM cup at the moment. I said it as soon as Robbie Deans had taken over, that the crims would be the ones to beat come WC time and it's looking like that'll be the case. The ABs don't get a chance for revenge for another 9 months and the Aussie team will still have an average age of only 25 but a whole load more experience.

Quade Cooper is a monumental arsehole, yes, but to be honest he couldn't have done it to a more deserving player. Seeing Richie's face after the final whistle, with that "but....what?? we lost?...but...i.. cheated so well all game...and the ref didn't even touch his pocket until the 78th minute.. wtf?...how?..." expression, was just delightful.

Lachie_88 said...
Who cares if cooper pushed cheat McCaw in the back its rugby not soccer. Knee the prick in the balls next time.

Gosh Lachie, you're so tough. Silly little boy, nobody's impressed.

Cooper's push on Richie was no worse than the disgraceful high tackle a few moment before.

I'm not condoning it, but to all the whinging 'tough' kiwi's, let's have a little perspective here...

Plus you can try to convince yourselves as much as you like that a loss is good for the AB's, but it isn't.

- Andy

How come so many people are happy that the ABs lost? I guess it makes people feel better about their hopeless teams.

Well, 9 more of these wins in a row to Australia and they will have matched the ABs.

Amazing game. The Wallabies and All Blacks really showed why they are the two best in the world at the moment.

Regarding the Cooper push on McCaw at the end, those two were in each others faces most of the game. At exactly 46 mins in McCaw is penalised for entering the ruck from the side (surprise surprise) & is cleared out by Cooper (even bigger surprise) and McCaw then tries to kick Cooper in the knee after the whistle (dog act). So if I were Cooper I would have given him a push as well.

The reason Cooper pushed Mccaw is that Mcaw was being a prick all game. He stomped on Pocock's ankle during a scrum and kicked Cooper in the leg when Cooper cleared him out of a ruck.
Which is fine, he was doing it to get under Australia's skin. I'm glad Cooper responded the way he did, give it right back to the bastards, that's the attitude you need to beat the All Blacks. Get in their faces, disrupt them.
Amazing game, only bad thing about it was the ref. I say that as an Aussie, so it's not sour grapes, since we won the game.
Rolland is atrocious. He seemed to want to slow the game down, wouldn't let teams take quick taps, and his handling of the scrum... jesus christ, it's like he intentionally wanted to butcher the game as a spectacle and make sure there were as many scrum collapses as possible.
The pause between the commands 'touch' and 'pause' needs to be exactly the same amount of time (say two or three seconds) as the pause between the commands 'pause' and 'engage'. As a front rower, you assume the gap will be the same, and will insitinctivly engage when that amount of time passes. Rolland was waiting for a ridiculous amount of time, for christ knows what reason. He was the reason the scrums in this game were a shambles, no one elses fault at all.

But overall I'm stoked we finally took one home against the kiwis. We've come close heaps of times in the last few games.
Truth is, if we could have kicked easy points we would have been well clear (we missed fifteen points all told from missed kicks, and alot of those misses were from fairly easy positions).
O'Conner should be the kicker from now on. The guy's got bags of confidence and ability, so much so that you forget he's only just turned 20.

Fair play to the All Blacks as well, they played very well, and I have no problem admitting that if Carter had stayed on the field, Australia may not have been able to dig themselves out of that hole.

Andy said..
" I'm not condoning it, but to all the whinging 'tough' kiwi's, let's have a little perspective here."

Yes, let's have a little perspective. Looking around the rugby sites I see that the complaints against Cooper's action come just as much from Aus fans and others. One thing I can see very little of is "whinging Kiwis".

TheScarletBeast said...
"I like the AB but they always seem to want to blame one person for their loses."

I have not seen a single comment from an All Black blaming the loss on one person. If you mean AB fans then say so, but how that would be different from the hundreds (thousands?) of comments on this site and others from non-NZ fans blaming individuals for test defeats I don't understand?

Mccaw was being a dick all game.
He stomped on Pocock's ankle for no reason at a scrum, and when he was cleared from a ruck (a ruck he had entered illegaly) by Cooper, he kicked Cooper in the leg.
Then when O'Conner scored the winning try, he came in late and jumped on his legs.
Good on Cooper for telling him to fuck off, he was being a dick. He also got outplayed by Pocock at the breakdown, so maybe that's why he was being such a wanker.

Oh, and Deans came out after the game and said he was glad that the aussies were telling Mccaw to fuck off, and getting in his face.
He said it showed they 'respected what they were doing'.
Which is Deans-speak, pretty sure he means they weren't gonna back down in the face of Mccaw and his endless niggle.

Sorry but Pocock did not out play McCaw, he had a pretty average game for his standard. Pocock only got one or two turnovers, where as McCaw was everywhere.

We should get us a NZ coach too, then we would start winning more games as well.

So the All Blacks are beatable after all.

Mccaw did more in the loose, but at the breakdown he didn't effect s single clean turn over.
Pocock got at least three clear turnovers, he won the battle at the ruck.
If you can't admit that it's just sour grapes.
Mccaw was still excellent, and always will be, he's one of the greatest no 7s to ever play the game.
But in this game, despite some very good work in defence and runnign the ball, he wasn't effective at the breakdown and he got narky and acted like a wanker, by stomping on Pocock and kicking Cooper.
That's why Cooper shoved him and told him to fuck off.

A little gutted to see the ABs lose, even though it was a dead rubber match, but Aussies deserved that victory through and through.

Pocock was freaking amazing!

Tom said...
Mccaw was being a dick all game.
He stomped on Pocock's ankle
he kicked Cooper in the leg.
he came in late and jumped on his legs.
he was being such a wanker.

.. then Tom said...
Mccaw and his endless niggle.

... but wait, there's more...
he didn't effect single clean turn over.
he wasn't effective at the breakdown
he got narky and acted like a wanker
stomping on Pocock and kicking Cooper.

Calm down Tom, I think you're letting this whole McCaw thing get to you. Sometimes reading comments on All Black matches you'd think the Kiwi's only had one guy on the field.

Tom said
"Then when O'Conner scored the winning try, he came in late and jumped on his legs."

I watched the RD video of the end (hurts to watch) and didn't see anything malicious about McCaw's tackle attempt at Bieber. What I did see was clear daylight after the try was given when Cooper came in and gave him a push in the face. Now THAT is cowardly. Even the Oz captain saw that.

Sour grapes? The ABs lost and people are still going around calling McCaw a cheat.

PS: kiwis don't condone dirty play - even if it was done by the best player in the world in McCaw. NZ had a really good player once in Troy Flavell, but he was dirty. He got banned for a year for dangerous rucking and it took ages for him to get back into the ABs again because of that - and fans hated him.

That horrible McCaw. Always stomping and kicking and niggling and jumping and wanking and niggling (did I say that already) and all that other stuff. If I was out there I'd give him a push too and knee him in the balls and put a flea in his ear. What a rotter he is.

And why don't the All Blacks just let other teams win more between World Cups so they don't peak too early? Don't they know that being second rate is the only way to go? then no-one can accuse you of peaking too early. My team almost never peaks at all so I've always got something to look forward to. Those Kiwis just don't get it.

That McCaw 'kick' was nothing. Anyone know the time of the stamp on pocock?

Quade came off looking a douche, regardless of him being wound up from earlier.

James O'Connor is just brilliant. Still only 20 can you believe it.
Also Kurtley Beale should be given more credit for making Donald look like a bigger chop than he could have. Beale skinned two AB defenders to get down field.

Loads of talent in the Wallabies right now, but a last minute kick doesnt make them any closer to winning the world cup than they were before sadly. It will give them belief though, which helps.

Hello,
I am a mad AB supporter, and have a couple of thoughts:
1. Congrats to Australia - excellent win, and thoroughly deserved. I loved the game, and was impressed that the WB's were finally able to put in a second half performance. Very impressed with Kurtley Beale, David Pocock and James O'Connor. Burgess coming on in the second half seemed to be a masterstroke from Deans.
2. I don't think the AB's need to panic. The majority of our senior players stood out and had impressive games - Nonu, Read, Kaino, McCaw and Carter. Not to pin the loss on one individual, but Henry's decision to bring on Afoa, Toeava and Donald proved to be the matchloser. Toeava missed three crucial tackles, and Donald has already been critiqued above (not to mention his grubber kick from within the AB's 22!). Granted however that if Aussie had a kicker then the game would have been out of reach of NZ;
3. Quade Cooper is a chump. Regardless of whatever McCaw did (I didn't see anything except for McCaw being awesome), there is no legitimising off-the-ball hits. Hurt the opposition within the rules of the game, and don't be a pussy and hit a guy from behind (Quade). The same goes for any AB who does that sort of thing;
4. Seeing David Pocock at work reminds me of a young Richie. Both had great games, the only difference being that Richie gets the support of other world class loose forwards, whereas Pocock doesn't;
5. For all you "McCaw is a cheat" parrots, I can only presume you watch the game every week on Fox Sports, and your sole knowledge of rugby and the rules comes from and take the commentator's partisan and myopic views as gospel(if no penalty is awarded against McCaw - "that should have been a penalty", and if a penalty is awarded "that should have been a yellow card") and thus are unable to appreciate the legend you are witnessing.
6. As for Aus winning the World Cup - I think they will challenge well but will not win if they do not have a first choice kicker who is reliable.

that incident with pocock was nothing, mccaw was striking at the ball and got pocock, simple as that. and there was nothing late about his tackle on occonner at the end. look at elsoms reaction when cooper pushes mccaw at the end, it says it all.

Funny you guys mentioned cooper pushing mccaw...

watch the bit at 1:27+ 'cooper, o'conner tries to step' then o'conner gets tackle by mccaw and one other, and cooper comes in and grabs mccaw round the neck....

Good oz victory nonetheless!

That was a really decent intense game. The only problem I had was the refereeing. It was consistantly terrible. The scrum calls were awful, The hands off calls in the ruck didn't seem to apply to either Pocock or McCaw, there were a couple of fairly obvious forward passes missed. I now see why so many people get pissed when Rolland is running a game.

Hey guys I was actually at the game,it was amazing.

I noticed you're all commenting on the quade cooper shove on richie.

Richie Mccaw had been jawing off against quade all game, you wouldnt have been able to see it on tv

I think it was just a little bit of pay back.

Didn't you see the way he shit himself when he turned around and saw rocky standing there?

Nobody saw the 2-meters forward pass of Kurtley Beale to Drew Mitchell for the try?

@ Eddie M

"I have not seen a single comment from an All Black blaming the loss on one person."

did you not listen to Richie's post match interview? The reasons he gave for the loss were 1. missed penalty at the end and 2. not making touch in the final seconds.

Short of saying Donald's name, that's blaming the loss on 1 person.

+ Carter said that he should never have come off

Shame on them for singling out 1 player in a team sport.

Andy

@Andy. I haven't heard the interview so I'll take your word for it, and surely he's right about those final minutes. If he just stated the facts then I suggest you probably would have too in the same situation and not think you were "blaming" someone. That's just the way the game played out. Also, nobody likes to be taken off and Carter is no exception.

Incredible rugby!
Looking forward to a SH clean sweep this November. My prediction: The European boys will not win a single match against NZ, SA or AUS!

GUYS & GIRLS I THINK WE ARE ALL HAVING A GO AT THE WRONG PERSON.

Cooper, McCaw and/or Donald aren't the villains. Alain Rolland was the bad guy in this game, especially at scrum and ruck time. Touch, pause zzz engage IS NOT HOW YOU CALL A SCRUM!

Cooper proves once again that he is a lowly scumbag. He should go back to stealing laptops and kicking in apartment doors - oh wait he's as bad at that as he is at tackling.

Well done to both sides though for a very entertaining game.

"Looking forward to a SH clean sweep this November. My prediction: The European boys will not win a single match against NZ, SA or AUS!"

Hilarious dumb comment, will you be on the forum on Saturday evening?

Hey Andy,

If Carter had stayed on the ABs would've taken it by probably 20 or so points.

As for blaming the loss on one person, I think it's pretty fair considering how completely fucking shit Stephen Donald is. Everytime he touched the ball in the match it turned to shit.

The ABs put it in some incredible defence, camped on their line continuously for the last 5 minutes and they finally get a turnover with seconds remaining.
DID YOU EVEN SEE THE FUCKING TARD DONALD CLAP AFTER THE TURNOVER.
This idiot thought great we have the ball, we're gonna win.
GET THIS, WHEN THE OPPOSITION DON'T HAVE THE BALL YOU WIN BECAUSE THE GAME IS BASICALLY OVER.
WHAT DOES THIS IDIOT DO?
He kicks it back to them.
He fucking kicks it back to them.
Could've kicked it anywhere,
But of course Stephen Donald is tough, He likes defending on his own try line when his team is still within a converted try.
Stephen Donald kicks the fucking ball to the opposition's fullback because Stephen Donald doesn't have a fucking clue.

Oh wait, He isn't continually shit you say? Let's see, the all black forwards spend ages muscling up and driving forwards. They finally earn a penalty up close to put the game beyond doubt. LET'S NOT SQUANDER THIS NOW.
Oh shit, it's Stephen Donald.
He can't be entirely useless.
NO WAY!

Let's go back further now.
The ABs are 5 points in front in their 22. You get the ball with Australian defenders outnumbering you. Should you look for support, take the contact and retain the ball? OR DO YOU CHIP KICK ON THE GROUND. hmmmmm, it is tough.
But when the going gets tough,
Stephen Donald gets going!
*gets going = stabs the ball across the ground back to the Australians.
I don't know if he did anything right in this match.

But what I am grateful for is that he will never see a black jersey ever again. Unless, some All Black fans mob him.

Rant over.

I think a lot of the people saying that stuff about Cooper is taken way out of proportion, and the New Zealanders are a little bit angry, and can't vent it on the referee, they simply have to vent it on other avenues. If you see throughout the game, McCaw is playing slightly cheap, and the tackle was cheap on O'Connor, it doesn't really matter. Really a push is nothing, so get over it.

Very surprised Donald hasn't been cited for that tackle.

Berrick Barnes has really come good after being on the outer the last few years. He was the only one to put actual hits on Nonu and made good breaks and really organised the defence. He can actually make kicks as well (unlike Giteau). Its time for Gits to make way for Barnes and move to the bench.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://resources2.news.com.au/images/2009/12/06/1225807/509422-quade-cooper.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/sport/rugby/wallaby-charged-with-burglary/story-e6frey4i-1225807510517&usg=__Brv9OM_WgdAJOBxNj6wxSSEspR0=&h=421&w=316&sz=24&hl=en&start=0&sig2=BsrDdiTs_6JRucDgomHQHA&zoom=1&tbnid=31JLAOyJKyJS-M:&tbnh=140&tbnw=110&ei=IrvOTM22CY6UjAeInuDWBw&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dquade%2Bcooper%2Barrest%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DN%26rls%3Dcom.google:en-GB:official%26channel%3Ds%26biw%3D1106%26bih%3D757%26tbs%3Disch:1&um=1&itbs=1&iact=rc&dur=452&oei=IrvOTM22CY6UjAeInuDWBw&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=24&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0&tx=76&ty=48

lol some harsh comments directed towards just 1 player. It's a team sport and you can't lay the blame solely on one person.

The missed kicks at goal weren't just from Donald but also Carter, who only managed 1 out of 3. Also no one chased down Donald's clearing kick. And he wasn't the only one to miss tackles either.

As mentioned before, if all of the Wallabies' kicks were successful, no one would be blaming Donald. Four penalties and a conversion were missed by the Wallabies totaling 15 points!

The Kiwis also conceded 11 penalties at the breakdown. How many were by Nonu or McCaw? I'm surprised a yellow card wasn't shown earlier for infringing at the ruck. They also lost possession 14 times.

The AB lineout wasn't that spectacular either, losing 3 out of 4 in the first half.

It's a team sport. Whether you win or lose is determined over 80 minutes, not just the 30 minutes that Donald was on for.

Make that 20 minutes that Donald was on lol

Australia outeverythinged NZ......great game

what was quade thinking

ashley cooper consistently great

always need gits cool head

cant wait for palu, horwill, higginbothom all had fantastic super seasons

Finally a win against those bastards!

I'm not too worried about the burglar giving Richie a shove off the ball. We'll never know what went on between those blokes on the field. In the end they left it there, shook hands and walked off to play another day. I'm sure neither of them give a shit about what we say in blogs!!!

All Blacks already panicking about the RWC.

Gotta say, Pocock was brilliant that game. When he tackles, he basically bounces back off the surface onto his feet and goes for the ball immediately. He's like a fucking bouncy ball with limbs.

The push on McCaw was a cheap shot plain and simple, and I say that as someone is not in the least an AB supporter. Maybe Cooper was mad that McCaw went through him like a paper doll on that long gallop? From my perspective, Cooper is a great stepper, creative with ball in hand, but his tactical kicking is awful and his tackling pathetic. He's not Carter yet, nowhere near being a complete player.

And I have to agree with some of the other comments, Australia's forward pack just lacks real mongrel, if I'm Deans, that's my concern going forward. Kaino, Read, Woodcock, these guys were smashing into people all night with a smile on their face. I didn't see anything like that from the Aussies. What's happened to Elsom? H'e sno longer a physically dominant player, plain and simple.

A two point loss in how many wins and you think the All Blacks are panicking about the RWC?

You wish!

"Incredible rugby!
Looking forward to a SH clean sweep this November. My prediction: The European boys will not win a single match against NZ, SA or AUS!"

I notice you didn't have the balls to put your name to your prediction. So here's a prediction with a little more balls - there will be no clean sweep for the SH. If I'm wrong, I'll take it on the chin, but I'm 99% sure that I won't have to.

Lots of funny comments:

'ABs are panicking'

'SH clean sweep'

Come on guys, lets not forget SA v saracens....etc...


Scotland vs Australia etc...

im not saying it'll happen again but the SH is at the end of their season, maybe a little tired...so a clean sweep....i doubt it...the majority of wins? probably...

dont run before you can walk...

as for AB's panicking....umm with 1 very very close loss in how many games?....i doubt it...

Australia's forward pack has plenty of mongrel.
Elsom was huge in this game broke quite a few tackles, put on good hits.
Sharpe, Mumm, Pocock and Mcallmun all made good metres and put in good hits.
If the All Blacks forwards had actually been so dominant, they wouldn't have lost the game, and scored less tries and had less possesion than Australia.
Certianly the NZ forward pack is a great pack. Perhaps Australia's forward aren't as class across all positions. But I'd rather have Elsom than Kaino, and there's fuck all difference between Pocock and Mccaw these days.
Woodcock struggled in the scrum, there were exactly two penalties for collapsing the scrum, one against Robinson, one against Woodcock, and Woodcock didn't do anything exceptional in the loose.
Lots of All Blacks fans so used to winning they simply can't give credit where credit's due.

@ Joho,

Most kiwi posters on this site and others have given the aussies credit for the win. I thought that was an excellent display of heart, belief and from time to time high risk, high reward rugby from the aussies who I feel out all blacked the all blacks. I believe they are real rwc contenders. But no more than NZ, SA, France and the English who have this uncanny knack of performing above expectation at rwcs. Wales as the dark horse.

Yeah fair enough Ben, the vast majority of kiwis have been gracious, and I guess you always get the odd sore loser.
I don't think anyone doubts that the kiwis still have the best team going around.
It's jsut good to see the Wallabies getting closer to matching their quality.

Great game. The Wallabies played out of their skins to just get away with this. Showing how rugby is meant to be played, and definitely the two best Nations in the world.

Going into World Cup's NZ are always the form team. Maybe they should have a change.

Ron, I think you're getting a bit carried away there. I was delighted to see Aus win, but one swallow doesn't make a summer...

Panic.

To beat the ALL BLACKS you need a KIWI

"To beat the ALL BLACKS you need a KIWI"

...or a World Cup

@ Eddy M By AB's I did infact ment to say players and supporters dont forget 1 person Suzy was blamed for your 95 RWC loss. Or in some cases the chef at the hotel where the AB's stayed (serving bad fish). Then again we also blame 1 person in general Pieter "P Divvy" De Villiers. Only difference is he deserves it. lwould also like to make a prediccions no white wash for the SH because of above mentioned person P Divy not Suzy or the chef.

Jono, to be fair, when Rolland finally let a legitimate scrum happen (which granted wasn't often), the Aussies were going backwards more than forwards.

Re: Elsom, gotta respectfully disagree. The Elsom who rampaged up North has been nowhere to be found in the SH. As crazy as it sounds, I don't see there being a lot of difference between Kaino and him at this moment. Juan Smith remains the premier blindside in world rugby, in my view.

Juan Smith? Sorry, gotta disagree there.
Elsom was always gonna find it harder in the S14 and 3-nations than in European club competition.
And you're right, there's little between him and Kaino, except workload. Elsom just gets thru a bit more work, in my opinion.
In regards to the scrums, there were only two penalties the entire game that didn't relate to premature engagement. One was against Robinson, the other against Woodcock, both for collapsing due to no bind.
That's damn near equal.
All the other infrignments on both sides (there were four against Australia, two against NZ) were for engaging early.
And that was entirely down to Rolland's glaring incompitance.
He destoryed the scrums in this game, and the amount of times they just had to reset the scrum and wasted time, was atrocious. The stadium was openly booing the ref at every scrum.
The Aussie scrum isn't at it's best, but it's not particularly bad, better than alot of countries. The All Blacks are one of the best scrummaging sides going around and while they won the first half battle (with the help of Rolland) they lost the second half battle if you base it on infringments given.
At the end of the day if a decent ref had been in charge you could make a call about who had the better scrum. As it was, Rolland butchered any legitimate contest that might have occured.

TheScarletBeast said...
@ Eddy M. By AB's I did in.fact ment to say players and supporters dont forget 1 person Suzy was blamed for your 95 RWC loss. Or in some cases the chef at the hotel where the AB's stayed (serving bad fish).

Beast, your case isn't too strong if you have to go back 15 years for another example and then it doesn't even involve blaming an AB. Anyway, I still blame Suzy, or the chef or whoever, very fishy the whole lot of them :)

@Eddy M
Was stupid of me to say all the ABs and supporters. Obviously I havent spoken to all of you but the ones I did speak to seems to like to blame one peron when its a team gaame. Good luck to you guys still think you will win the next RWC seeing that its in your own back yard and very few teams beat you guys there.

@scarlet beast...

....everyone at some point blames 1 person, I understand that generally speaking its the supporters who do it and not the coaches...but its not just an AB thing....stupid stuff happens all the time in rugby....a mistimed kick, a funny bounce, a slip etc....they are all down to one person, it takes a lot of bite to avoid blaming one person, especially in a big match....

just watched the highlights again - this was a great game to watch

Completely agree with a comment earlier, Nick Evans is a quality fly half, probably the most consistent in the premiership i.m.o, why is he not carters understudy?

Because NZ doesn't pick overseas based players ever, for very good reasons.
Plus being great in the GP is one thing, but you need to be tested in Super Rugby to be picked.