IvanM

I enjoyed the rugby. channel 9 are more suited to league.

Between now and the inevitable pain of watching England in the Euros there is little for me on Foxtel.

papilon

Fantastic effort by the French, i bet there were more than just a few Kiwi's thinking here we go again. I have always said that if a team really has a go at the AB's they are not unbeatable. France started well then rode there luck until half time and then came right back at the AB's in the second half and at times they ran them ragged.

So really at the end of it all the gulf between SH and NH rugby is not so great at all. Wales gave the Boks are great game and very unlucky not to win, Ireland totally outplayed the Wallabies and last night in the final France could so easily have beaten the AB's.

Perthbum

Thought the ref was very biased toward NZ, France were the better side and deserved to win.

DeadVim

I was talking to a fellow sportsfan on Sunday about our mutual ambivalence regarding rugby and he hit the nail on the head when he said that the officials have too much influence on the result.

All this interpretation of the rules stuff doesn't help surely?

Just an aside, I still enjoyed the final but the observation resonated with me anyway.

General Tojo

And that doesn't happen in football? (Where it's a low scoring sport which makes things worse.....)

I don't ever watch Rugby League - how 'bad' is the reffing in that sport?

Beoz

There are few rules in Rugby League which makes it "the simple mans sport". The rules that exist are governed by video referees. Which is probably thankful as bogans would be complaining about refereeing decisions for weeks.

I guess the interpretation of rules is something Rugby has been battling for years. I certainly would not like to see each breakdown go for video analysis just to see if a number 7 was on or off his feet. It would kill the sport. Whilst it's not nice to be on the receiving end of poor refereeing decision it's quite nice to keep the human element of judgement as part of the game.

DeadVim

Football as in 'soccer'? Sorry, this is one of the reasons I don't mind not using 'soccer' around here.

Well yes, most sports are influenced by the officals but rugby seems to suffer from it more than most. Take my favourite, cricket, very influenced by the ump ... LBWs and all that.

I played rugby as a kid too so I should be more 'in tune' but I guess it just hasn't taken with me ... I like to watch it but can't get 'into' it.

scrubbedexpat020

France played well. Vast improvement on WWII.

Good game, glad Kiwis won.

DeadVim

The French have been fined £10,000 for confronting the Haka.

What a BS decision by the IRB.

Amazulu

It's actually GBP2.5k but still a load of bollocks. The IRB have this unwritten rule that the opposition cannot react to the haka, which is ridiculous. I think the the ABs should not be allowed to do the haka, but if they are then teams should be allowed to react to it however they like.

DeadVim

I sit corrected, it was reported as 10,000 earlier. I agree with your assessment.

don544

Did i miss something? I just saw the french all hold hands like a bunch of girls, not very confronting. (wouldn't say that to their face though )

Broad Shoulders

I don't think it has anything to do with reacting to the Haka. It was originally introduced to stop the ABs from advancing their Haka into the opposing team. You might recall seeing the ABs among the opposition team by the time they finished the ritual, which was deemed unfair and unsporting. So they introduced a rule whereby you could not come within 10 metres of the halfway line. So it had nothing to do with protecting the Haka and everything to do with protecting the recipients of the Haka.

DeadVim

Fair point, it wasn't a well co-ordinated advance.

Makes a change from a swift retreat though.

cresta57

That's why they held hands, it stopped the majority running away...........