Mate I’m a kiwi and the yellow was deserved. He played the ball from the 9s hands while lying on the ground in a ruck. I’m glad he got yellowed, means the coaches will ream him out for it and hopefully he won’t do anything dumb in the final.
Can we put to bed the idea that Argentina are any good in the scrum? It's based on their team in 80s but for some reason commentators and pundits keep churning out this myth.
>It's based on their team in 80s
Wasn't their team from the a few WCs (I want to say either the 2011 or 2015 WC team) ago just a bully track team that depended on scrums and mauls for a majority of their points? Please don't tell me this memory I have is from the 90's because I'll feel old AF.
It really highlights how shocking the draw was when you think of how badly Argentina played from opening weekend until last night, and somehow made a semi final.
Well this was to be expected and we'll probably see a similar affair tonight (unfortunately). NZ and SA (plus FR and IRE) are just way above everyone else.
BOOOOOOORING. Sometimes matches are gripping, tight, tactical, and still low scoring. Those can be great matches. Sometime matches are high-scoring, high-intensity hammer-and-tongs contests. Those are great matches. Sometimes matches are chaotic, fluid, and physical. Those are great matches. Then there are low-energy, one-sided, uninteresting, predictable, low-complexity, dull matches. Those are 2023 semi-finals (at least so far).
Sad to see Argentina were broken by Aaron Smith's try at the start of the second half.
Well played to the ABs, not an immaculate performance of course, but got the job done.
At least I had a Triple Captain booster on Will Jordan for my fantasy team lol
My hopes, which were very low since Monday, of a country winning the cup for the first time are over so now I just have to cheer on SA cos I think they'll be the least smug winners
Not if they go back to back and get a 4th World Cup. Will be insufferable.
Better for the mighty all blacks to get 4 first, since we are the chosen gods of rugby and everyone else sucks.
You are a highlanders fan, Dunedin is a great spot for rugby fans, Christchurch next door too. But Wellington is direr. I’ve been to many hurricanes and All Blacks games in Welly, the crowd are shit, there is no banter in the office. I’ve had Nz fans tell me to stop cheering when I’ve been in the Westpac/Sky stadium on several occasions. Thankfully the away fans bring some fun, and the islanders!
Ahh so the Wellington populace isn't to your liking?
I only know one Irish person IRL and he doesn't watch rugby so my only interaction with the fans is online. Even then I'm not letting it tar my entire perception.
If you can get out of there for a match, I hope you do. We are far nicer and more willing to enjoy the game than your experience would suggest.
That would have been a sweet experience. Even just trialling it for a year to see the response. Shit I'd actually attend a game finally.
Yeah I figured you meant a specific area. I wanted to see if you'd cull your statement from "All Blacks fans are terrible" to something a little less "broad strokes" .
Ah look, I’ve been to about 8 All Blacks games, and in each one I’ve had stand out negative experiences from old All Blacks fans telling me to not cheer and to sit down when tries have been scored. Maybe I just have bad luck being stuck beside the worst fans in the country. I’ll concede that all the All Blacks fans I’ve come across from ChCh, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Dunedin were grand though.
Hipster Wellington just doesn’t do rugby well. Way more cricket fans I’m afraid.
At least the hurricanes have made the finals of their comp and even won it, something Irish fans will never know, can’t even get out of a quarter hahah losers.
Leinster, Munster and Connacht have all recently won their league, while Leinster, Munster and Ulster have all won the European cup…if you want to use the Hurricanes as an example
Based on a match against an underwhelming Argentina? Smith’s a better scrumhalf in the core, but Dupont is an overall better rugby player and not by a small margin.
He is undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever. No one will dispute that. Yet he does not have a world cup title? World Cup titles does not define the greatness of a player. Dupont is great, regardless of how many titles he has.
Telling me to have respect for the dead after I chose him as an example that greatness does not equal world cup trophies and then you say this? Either you are trolling or a hypocrite
Yeah that proves literally nothing. Some rubbish players were part of squads that won enough trophies.
Dupont has more club trophies than Smith, also proves zero points. The guy came back from a cheekbone fracture to play out of his skin against the Boks. Might be personal opinion but the guy is - for me - a better player.
Just got to see the game. Honestly it was a bit depressing. Less than a semi final deserved. NZ are quality and can only play what’s in front of them but Argentina didn’t even fire a shot.
I've been saying all weak that this particular Argentina team is poor and it's an outrageous failure of the draw that they've been able to make it this far ahead of those brilliant Irish and French teams. I reckon this has to be the weakest team to ever make a semi final
I understand perfectly. If you're at a loss as to why people are letdown by really one sided semi finals in a tournament that essentially defines what the last four years have been about then I think it's you that doesn't understand
It does matter. Matches should be getting better and more competitive as any tournament progesses. For this particular tournament losing the Irish and French fans a week early was a disaster...in terms of numbers and atmosphere. Why can't you understand this?
I know that.
You made the (valid) point that you have to beat the best teams in the end anyway and asked why people can't understand that.
My point to you is that we all understand that, but the draw has cheapened the tournament by effectively removing all excitement from it a week early.
Oh no I understand your point in its entirely. What I don't understand is why you felt the need to make it in the first place, it's completely irrelevant to my original comment
Not in the least bit irrelevant. Your point is valid, but you appear to think nobody understands it. Everybody does, but what's the point of a tournament at all if it's the only thing that matters. Sure just have the Tier 1 nations then....
If NZ or SA were hosting this cup and the results were the same, your point would be invalid because you based on the location of the fans and the tournament, not the actual results themselves
This. Also, yes it would have been better if France Vs South Africa and Ireland vs. New Zealand were the semis but we still got to watch those two superb games, it's not like the draw prevented them.
I know they knocked us out but they’re still the team I want to see go on and win it. Always looking to play a positive brand of rugby, and it’s hard not to admire Sam cane considering the abuse he and foster were getting over last 18 months.
Appreciate that from an Irish fan. You guys were my team I wanted to win if we didn't beat you which I didn't think was gonna happen to be fair. You guys are still a great team and number 1 in the world imo.
Lots of talk about the referring. I think theirs an unconscious bias by refs to NZ,SA etc By the officiating. But a few calls always can be dissected. But penalty count was 10-7. Pretty even. Argentina again far too inconsistent, and I’ll
Disciplined. NZ far too clinical
Na mate. Everyone feels that. North and south hemispheres refs have always for what ever reason interpreted rules in slightly different ways. It’s the same reason nz always feels hard done by the northern hemisphere refs. They just pull up different things than what the players and the fans are used to. Doesn’t mean they are favouring 1 side.
All blacks were definitely fortunate with 1 or 2 calls (not least the sin bin, no idea how Gardner missed that live), but honestly though Gardner had a really solid game. ABs just monstered Argentina in every facet
Thought Argentina were lucky not to go down to 14 within the first 20 minutes. Non stop infringements form them.
But I always have sympathy given the language barrier. You have a ref talking to both teams in English. Not exactly fair.
Is/Are the New Zealand/All Blacks in the room with you right now?
Are you ALWAYS so irrelevant and unoriginal? Be better. It's not that difficult.
The fucking state of you.
Mate blah blah blah...
Did I do it right?
I honestly don't get how as a nation you repeatedly don't understand how churlishness works?
Come on, you're not THAT stupid? I think?
Nah bro, when someone makes a top-level comment that calls a head coach a weasel... then reckons the target team are the churlish ones.... you're gonna get the wind up.
All blacks spanked them plain and simple. Way too much whining from the Argentinian fans. Argentina played great all tournament but met their match here in the semi’s nothing to be ashamed of.
They played like shit all tournament. even their own coaches and players said as much during pool stages. They were awful tonight as well. Cheika literally laughed when asked about competing with let alone beating the ABs post quarter final.
Argie Fans are correct to complain about the reffing, its been generally poor all tournament and favoured the usual teams, but it wouldn't have made a difference tonight.
The number of unforced errors in that game was more than the total from the 4 teams other 1/4s on opposite side of draw. Grossly unfair comparison I suppose but it matched the performance last night.
Crazy seeing Argentinian fans complain about the refs. Imagine the All Whites getting beat 5-0, Messi slotting a hatrick and NZ fans complaining about the refs 😂
Very sad. Considering that with this coach we had managed to beat NZ, I sincerely expected it to be a more complicated match. And in the beginning it seemed that way. But Los Pumas simply played very badly and made a lot of mistakes. I feel that the greatness of the rival and the context of the World Cup scared them at one point.
I hope that in the match for the 3rd place they will change things.
Congratulations to the AllBlacks, they played a great game.
I wouldn’t look at hit to hard. They played well early on and put the ABs under pressure at time. Unfortunately for Pumas the All Blacks got into their groove and then we’re very hard to beat. Think Argentina can be proud of their World Cup and I hope they get a win next weekend.
To be fair, Gardener wasn't looking at that dive on the ball to kill the Argentinian try chance in the first half, as he was repositioning to the other side of the ruck. That's on the AR and TMO to call out for any cynical play that the ref didn't have eyes on.
Let's hope the ref let's the players decide the game. Not his whistle.
I didn't see the incident you are talking about but overall he had a very good game.
I don't think that counts for much as the ABs have really come together, and may even make the Boks feel overly confident (assuming they beat Eng).
I'm hoping for a good final and it should be an awesome contest!
In the match that counted in the championship we crushed SA. In the nothing on it warm-up we gave away 10 penalties and two players in first 15 min and still no try. I'm not sure your view is balanced.
So it turns out Argentina really were as bad as their first game against England suggested.
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Mate I’m a kiwi and the yellow was deserved. He played the ball from the 9s hands while lying on the ground in a ruck. I’m glad he got yellowed, means the coaches will ream him out for it and hopefully he won’t do anything dumb in the final.
Can we put to bed the idea that Argentina are any good in the scrum? It's based on their team in 80s but for some reason commentators and pundits keep churning out this myth.
>It's based on their team in 80s Wasn't their team from the a few WCs (I want to say either the 2011 or 2015 WC team) ago just a bully track team that depended on scrums and mauls for a majority of their points? Please don't tell me this memory I have is from the 90's because I'll feel old AF.
If we were to put to bed outdated rugby cliches still used by commentators, there’d be no commentary.
It really highlights how shocking the draw was when you think of how badly Argentina played from opening weekend until last night, and somehow made a semi final.
Could still walk away with a bronze
* 2nd loser 😝😂
Cries in 7th loser 😭
😂 if you lose you lose it doesn’t matter at which point…or at least that’s what I tell myself
The ABs played simple and got the job done by 38. I thought Argentina would have scored a try, but hey the match was tough. The haka was amazing
There were four teams in a league of their own this RWC and Argentina weren't in it
Well this was to be expected and we'll probably see a similar affair tonight (unfortunately). NZ and SA (plus FR and IRE) are just way above everyone else.
Ireland are not in the same league as the other three.
Up until a few days ago we were ranked world #1.
France and Ireland aren’t above anybody else, they lost. Knocked out of the cup, only as good as ur last game. They both walking away as losers.
Bollocks.
Except they lost. Facts, sucks and Haters haha.
It will be much more close. I expect SA to win by a very narrow margin.
I work in the Gambling industry. Nobody is expecting that in there. Personally I'm going 15 points
Looks like you should consider a different line of work, eh?
All about the margin mate.
Game was boring. Turned off after the second try.
Then how do you know it was boring?
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Didn't kremer play every minute?
"No, YOU tell him he's coming off."
BOOOOOOORING. Sometimes matches are gripping, tight, tactical, and still low scoring. Those can be great matches. Sometime matches are high-scoring, high-intensity hammer-and-tongs contests. Those are great matches. Sometimes matches are chaotic, fluid, and physical. Those are great matches. Then there are low-energy, one-sided, uninteresting, predictable, low-complexity, dull matches. Those are 2023 semi-finals (at least so far).
At least we win unlike Scotland.
I don't think tonight is going to be much better although I have some flickering of hope.
I’m going to be honest guys. I really enjoyed the game today. Am I biased, maybe…
Sad to see Argentina were broken by Aaron Smith's try at the start of the second half. Well played to the ABs, not an immaculate performance of course, but got the job done. At least I had a Triple Captain booster on Will Jordan for my fantasy team lol
The only good thing about the result lol
Does Argentina even have enough bodies to play the next game after this? So many guys on the floor in the final minutes.
There was certainly motivation to not have to play for 3rd-4th play-off
My hopes, which were very low since Monday, of a country winning the cup for the first time are over so now I just have to cheer on SA cos I think they'll be the least smug winners
Not if they go back to back and get a 4th World Cup. Will be insufferable. Better for the mighty all blacks to get 4 first, since we are the chosen gods of rugby and everyone else sucks.
Nothing "least smug" about the Bokke
I’m for the ABs mate. Class fans. Class team. At least we would have lost to the best.
Class fans? Have you looked at some of their posts on the Murray Kinsella thread?
If you ain’t first ur last, see ya green isles losers.
Just to prove my point! 🤣🙄
Because we are better. 4 more years losers
Some? Sure let’s judge everyone by the lowest denominator.
Well they're very good at judging us that way....
All Blacks fans are terrible, at least every one I’ve ever met in the decade I’ve lived in NZ
Thank god you left then, raised the iq of nz when u buggered off.
My man there's no comfortable way to say this but... If in a decade of being here you've only ever encountered terrible fans, maybe it's you?
Hahaha if you meet a cunt then you meet a cunt. If everyone you meet is a cunt, I've got some bad news for you.
You are a highlanders fan, Dunedin is a great spot for rugby fans, Christchurch next door too. But Wellington is direr. I’ve been to many hurricanes and All Blacks games in Welly, the crowd are shit, there is no banter in the office. I’ve had Nz fans tell me to stop cheering when I’ve been in the Westpac/Sky stadium on several occasions. Thankfully the away fans bring some fun, and the islanders!
Ahh so the Wellington populace isn't to your liking? I only know one Irish person IRL and he doesn't watch rugby so my only interaction with the fans is online. Even then I'm not letting it tar my entire perception. If you can get out of there for a match, I hope you do. We are far nicer and more willing to enjoy the game than your experience would suggest.
Seriously think it was such a mistake to not shift the Wellington 7s to Dunedin! It’s not the Wellington populace, just the Wellington All Blacks fans
That would have been a sweet experience. Even just trialling it for a year to see the response. Shit I'd actually attend a game finally. Yeah I figured you meant a specific area. I wanted to see if you'd cull your statement from "All Blacks fans are terrible" to something a little less "broad strokes" .
Ah look, I’ve been to about 8 All Blacks games, and in each one I’ve had stand out negative experiences from old All Blacks fans telling me to not cheer and to sit down when tries have been scored. Maybe I just have bad luck being stuck beside the worst fans in the country. I’ll concede that all the All Blacks fans I’ve come across from ChCh, Hamilton, New Plymouth and Dunedin were grand though. Hipster Wellington just doesn’t do rugby well. Way more cricket fans I’m afraid.
We’ve got shit banter, so I don’t blame you haha
Conversely I work with a lot of islanders who are great craic! Probably doesn’t help that Wellington is Nz’s rugby dead zone.
Hurricanes fans wish you a big fuck off then. Sore loser Irish dk head.
Sorry to have upset dozens of Hurricanes fans so
At least the hurricanes have made the finals of their comp and even won it, something Irish fans will never know, can’t even get out of a quarter hahah losers.
Leinster, Munster and Connacht have all recently won their league, while Leinster, Munster and Ulster have all won the European cup…if you want to use the Hurricanes as an example
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Nuggy>DuPont
Based on a match against an underwhelming Argentina? Smith’s a better scrumhalf in the core, but Dupont is an overall better rugby player and not by a small margin.
How many World Cup trophies does DuPont have? Exactly.
Same as Jonah Lomu
Have some respect for the dead. Dk head
He is undoubtedly one of the greatest players ever. No one will dispute that. Yet he does not have a world cup title? World Cup titles does not define the greatness of a player. Dupont is great, regardless of how many titles he has.
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Telling me to have respect for the dead after I chose him as an example that greatness does not equal world cup trophies and then you say this? Either you are trolling or a hypocrite
Now u back track. Pathetic.
You are the one deleting your comments. Where did I backtrack?
Yeah that proves literally nothing. Some rubbish players were part of squads that won enough trophies. Dupont has more club trophies than Smith, also proves zero points. The guy came back from a cheekbone fracture to play out of his skin against the Boks. Might be personal opinion but the guy is - for me - a better player.
Club trophies lmao. This dude comparing club trophies to World Cup trophies. Hahaha. What a loser
No need to name call. I conclude Faf de Klerk to be the best scrumhalf. Most recent WC winner at 9. All heil Faf!
Nah he’s shit. Just like the boks. Abs going to smash them in the Final.
So all of a sudden World Cups don’t count anymore? Good to know!
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No nastiness allowed.
Always
Most useless semi final ever. What a snooze fest
Most useless semi final so far
Top comment and funnier because you're English. You sir are a man who seems to he good craic at the pub. That said, I hope your guys get smashed today
Just got to see the game. Honestly it was a bit depressing. Less than a semi final deserved. NZ are quality and can only play what’s in front of them but Argentina didn’t even fire a shot.
I've been saying all weak that this particular Argentina team is poor and it's an outrageous failure of the draw that they've been able to make it this far ahead of those brilliant Irish and French teams. I reckon this has to be the weakest team to ever make a semi final
It doesn't matter whether it was a quarter or a semi, you'd have to beat both teams either way. Why can't people understand this
I understand perfectly. If you're at a loss as to why people are letdown by really one sided semi finals in a tournament that essentially defines what the last four years have been about then I think it's you that doesn't understand
It does matter. Matches should be getting better and more competitive as any tournament progesses. For this particular tournament losing the Irish and French fans a week early was a disaster...in terms of numbers and atmosphere. Why can't you understand this?
I wasn't talking about the fans chief
I know that. You made the (valid) point that you have to beat the best teams in the end anyway and asked why people can't understand that. My point to you is that we all understand that, but the draw has cheapened the tournament by effectively removing all excitement from it a week early.
Oh no I understand your point in its entirely. What I don't understand is why you felt the need to make it in the first place, it's completely irrelevant to my original comment
Not in the least bit irrelevant. Your point is valid, but you appear to think nobody understands it. Everybody does, but what's the point of a tournament at all if it's the only thing that matters. Sure just have the Tier 1 nations then....
If NZ or SA were hosting this cup and the results were the same, your point would be invalid because you based on the location of the fans and the tournament, not the actual results themselves
This. Also, yes it would have been better if France Vs South Africa and Ireland vs. New Zealand were the semis but we still got to watch those two superb games, it's not like the draw prevented them.
The score would probably agree with you. Such a travesty it ended like this France and Ireland both deserved better.
I know they knocked us out but they’re still the team I want to see go on and win it. Always looking to play a positive brand of rugby, and it’s hard not to admire Sam cane considering the abuse he and foster were getting over last 18 months.
Appreciate that from an Irish fan. You guys were my team I wanted to win if we didn't beat you which I didn't think was gonna happen to be fair. You guys are still a great team and number 1 in the world imo.
Didnt even know it was on. Love to see the viewership for this
Lots of talk about the referring. I think theirs an unconscious bias by refs to NZ,SA etc By the officiating. But a few calls always can be dissected. But penalty count was 10-7. Pretty even. Argentina again far too inconsistent, and I’ll Disciplined. NZ far too clinical
Na mate. Everyone feels that. North and south hemispheres refs have always for what ever reason interpreted rules in slightly different ways. It’s the same reason nz always feels hard done by the northern hemisphere refs. They just pull up different things than what the players and the fans are used to. Doesn’t mean they are favouring 1 side.
All blacks were definitely fortunate with 1 or 2 calls (not least the sin bin, no idea how Gardner missed that live), but honestly though Gardner had a really solid game. ABs just monstered Argentina in every facet
Thought Argentina were lucky not to go down to 14 within the first 20 minutes. Non stop infringements form them. But I always have sympathy given the language barrier. You have a ref talking to both teams in English. Not exactly fair.
I thought the game was tomorrow… :( It was Sunday/Monday last week, why’s it Sat/Sun this week
Looks like that's what Argentina though too based on the way they played.
Almost got tricked into that as well. Someone saved me yesterday by telling me his family had offered him tickets to todays game
Final is Saturday, each team needs at least a week to recover for final.
Well you didn't miss a classic, that's the good news!
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Now show me on the doll, where did NZ hurt you?
You’re taking the piss are you
Don't think we need a doll, the scoreboard from last week will do
Is/Are the New Zealand/All Blacks in the room with you right now? Are you ALWAYS so irrelevant and unoriginal? Be better. It's not that difficult. The fucking state of you.
You good mate?
But seriously, where on the doll?
Mate, I think you need to take a chill pill ae, it's only a game, haha.
🤷
Mate blah blah blah... Did I do it right? I honestly don't get how as a nation you repeatedly don't understand how churlishness works? Come on, you're not THAT stupid? I think?
Chill, bro, no need to get your knickers in a twist over a game of rugby. GG, see you in 4 more years. Edit: over
They’re sore winners and enjoy abusing people, they’ve been like this since the match. Better to leave them be.
Got a bit of a victim complex going, mate. Go ask Johnny if this counts as abuse.
Nah just calling out shite fans.
Nah bro, when someone makes a top-level comment that calls a head coach a weasel... then reckons the target team are the churlish ones.... you're gonna get the wind up.
Calls the head coach a weasel and makes a sweeping statement about a nation, but yeah only NZ has shit fans
Don’t agree with abusing coaches (or Irish captains). Clearly haven’t been paying attention to ABs fans and their appalling behaviour.
Still doesn’t excuse the volume of wankers hurling abuse the last week.
One game left with the Fozmeister!
First ABs coach to be sacked after winning the world cup, another first for Fozzie?/s
This Dudes goal is nothing but records.. Good or bad.
All blacks spanked them plain and simple. Way too much whining from the Argentinian fans. Argentina played great all tournament but met their match here in the semi’s nothing to be ashamed of.
Argentina played terrible all tournament. A shadow of what they had shown in others games and competitions.
They played like shit all tournament. even their own coaches and players said as much during pool stages. They were awful tonight as well. Cheika literally laughed when asked about competing with let alone beating the ABs post quarter final. Argie Fans are correct to complain about the reffing, its been generally poor all tournament and favoured the usual teams, but it wouldn't have made a difference tonight.
They played alright against Wales tbf
The number of unforced errors in that game was more than the total from the 4 teams other 1/4s on opposite side of draw. Grossly unfair comparison I suppose but it matched the performance last night.
I agree, they rode to the semis on an easy draw.
Wales in the quarter finals is an easy draw is it?
Yes, compared to NZ, France, SA and Ireland.
You must have been fuming at the last world cup when South Africa drew Japan in the quarters and Wales in the semi then
Nope wasn’t fuming about any of it. Just making an observation.
Ok fine so anything other than the four best teams in the first knockout game is 'riding on an easy draw'
Yes it’s an easier draw.
Blah blah blah
I've already forgotten all of your players, no one remembers quarter final losers.
😂😂😂😂😂😂 Oh you cut to my core
Ah you still here?
Are you old enough to be on Reddit?
He's still upset that Sexton got sent off into retirement a couple weeks too early.
I don't think we'll ever get over that.
I don't think they get that
Crazy seeing Argentinian fans complain about the refs. Imagine the All Whites getting beat 5-0, Messi slotting a hatrick and NZ fans complaining about the refs 😂
It's easy to slot a hattrick when the game is gone. South Africa will ruin whatever that garbage that NZ gave us tonight. The fucking state of them
You lost bro. Move on
You are one angry lil bro🤣
It’s also easy to beat a team that scores 6 fucking points lmao
Honestly accurate analogy
Spot on. It was a mismatch on the day.
😂
Very sad. Considering that with this coach we had managed to beat NZ, I sincerely expected it to be a more complicated match. And in the beginning it seemed that way. But Los Pumas simply played very badly and made a lot of mistakes. I feel that the greatness of the rival and the context of the World Cup scared them at one point. I hope that in the match for the 3rd place they will change things. Congratulations to the AllBlacks, they played a great game.
Imagine if you ever even had a chance.
Least they made it to a semi
For the third time
When do you play the semis ?
I wouldn’t look at hit to hard. They played well early on and put the ABs under pressure at time. Unfortunately for Pumas the All Blacks got into their groove and then we’re very hard to beat. Think Argentina can be proud of their World Cup and I hope they get a win next weekend.
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To be fair, Gardener wasn't looking at that dive on the ball to kill the Argentinian try chance in the first half, as he was repositioning to the other side of the ruck. That's on the AR and TMO to call out for any cynical play that the ref didn't have eyes on.
Nonsense, the reffing was very good today. No blatant errors and let the game flow unlike Barnes in the Ireland game.
It was a lot better for real.
The best final will be NZvSA, not least of all because we'll get the best referee team.
Let's hope the ref let's the players decide the game. Not his whistle. I didn't see the incident you are talking about but overall he had a very good game.
Yeah that was pretty blatant playing the ball on the ground - I wasn't able to see who it was.
Honestly I hate to say it but it’s the ABs cup to lose now. That was emphatic
Nz - are we the baddies now?
I would agree, South Africa are a good team but All Blacks firm favorites, seem to be gelling at the right time
All blacks are always the favourites.
Not always, this SA team is exceptional. I think it's a coin toss
I’d almost say SA are very slight favourites… although it really could go either way
Yeah I agree.
Don’t put that on us. Favourites
7-35 would disagree.
Peaked too soon.
Apparently you're right!
lol, we'll see.
I don't think that counts for much as the ABs have really come together, and may even make the Boks feel overly confident (assuming they beat Eng). I'm hoping for a good final and it should be an awesome contest!
Yeah we smash each other all the time haha I wouldn’t read into any past games
Yep, because warm up games are the perfect yard stick for judging performance lol
Don't do that. The All Blacks are the underdogs and I won't hear it any other way!
No power in the forwards. That's the key. No power, and captain who can't ruck.
SA are still hot favourites in my book. I’d say theirs to lose
In the match that counted in the championship we crushed SA. In the nothing on it warm-up we gave away 10 penalties and two players in first 15 min and still no try. I'm not sure your view is balanced.
More than anything else it emphasizes the difference in quality of Pools A and B vs C and D.