The All Black team for the Rugby World Cup Final.

First topic message reminder :

All Blacks: Israel Dagg, Cory Jane, Conrad Smith, Ma'a Nonu, Richard Kahui, Aaron Cruden, Piri Weepu, Kieran Read, Richie McCaw (capt), Jerome Kaino, Sam Whitelock, Brad Thorn, Owen Franks, Keven Mealamu, Tony Woodcock. Reserves: Andrew Hore, Ben Franks, Ali Williams, Adam Thomson, Andy Ellis, Stephen Donald, Sonny Bill Williams

Thomson in. Suppose his more physical presence is a bonus on the bench but to be honest I hope we don't see him and Donald.

The great performance last week is rewarded. Cruden has the reins. Come on boys, one more big push. Let's do it.

mystiroakey wrote:

dubh_linn wrote:Presuming nz win as expected tomorrow does anyone have any plausible theories why nz cannot win rwc outside of their own country?
especially as england (in oz), south africa (in france), australia (in england) have won it outside their countries......

no extrodonary reason - the world cups dont happen often enough- some people say they choked at the time.

the other reason is also quite simple- its the fact the above nations were the best teams at the time and proved it by winning the wc

fair enough although i thought nz had the best team at the last rwc

dubh_linn wrote:

mystiroakey wrote:

dubh_linn wrote:Presuming nz win as expected tomorrow does anyone have any plausible theories why nz cannot win rwc outside of their own country?
especially as england (in oz), south africa (in france), australia (in england) have won it outside their countries......

no extrodonary reason - the world cups dont happen often enough- some people say they choked at the time.

the other reason is also quite simple- its the fact the above nations were the best teams at the time and proved it by winning the wc

fair enough although i thought nz had the best team at the last rwc

so you think they choked?

its fine your entitled to your opinion. and most people agree anyway

Not sure ' choked' is the correct term..if memory serves me correct i think it was a mixture of things...nz came out of a pool where they had no really tough games and came up against a french team who were battle hardened...that combined with a few key injuries and an inability to take drop goals instead trying to score tries against an extremely good french defence undid you in the end....
You have learned from that experience and will not make those mistakes tomorrow!


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Not a lot can be done now, the build up of preparation over the last few weeks has been done.
There are no weaknesses in this team,many of them are the best players in the World.They wont be beaten,besides their brilliance as individuals there is also their collective brilliance and its the sum of these two parts that will produce theirmaximum level of ability and subsequent performance.
We must start off well and dominate as early as possible and take full advantage of the pattern of early game penalties.
As long as they play well as they can, they will never be beaten.

Kia Ora....

Yep.
Good luck abs.
Good luck France.
Im off to go watch at gamezone or somewhere in wellington.
And I sure hope others enjoyed their time if here and the matches if not.
We certainly enjoyed having you all.

aucklandlaurie wrote: ...........besides their brilliance as individuals there is also their collective brilliance and its the sum of these two parts that will produce their maximum............

Laurie, mi amigo.
Its the collective brilliance. Its always that. Can't see you lose. Methinks the trophy is yours. Have a great evening.

Good luck New Zealand. Let's do it. As Gandalf said, 'It's the deep breath before the plunge'.

One more big push boys.

Is this going to be the match thread?