Ireland suprisingly won

i don't think it was that surprising, the Aussies are on their way down now, their first choice struggled against Argentina and now they are beaten by Ireland, while an All Black B team come within 3 points of upsetting the Six Nations Champs. Aussie don't have the depth in Rugby like NZ, so it's definitely New Zealands World Cup next year :o (H) :mrpimp:

And it is a 'B' team because 19 of the All Blacks that won the Tri-Nations watched the game on TV at home in NZ.

Good on Ireland, even if all the points came from kicks, they kept the Aussies from scoring any tries so their defence must be pretty good.

Originally posted by Seán Denny
Ireland suprisingly won

Yes, and it was a great game. I wish australia would just go away right now :rolleyes:

Originally posted by g-14
Yes, and it was a great game. I wish australia would just go away right now :rolleyes:

hehe I bet their Newspapers don't even report the game...

Originally posted by rhizome17
i don't think it was that surprising, the Aussies are on their way down now, their first choice struggled against Argentina and now they are beaten by Ireland, while an All Black B team come within 3 points of upsetting the Six Nations Champs. Aussie don't have the depth in Rugby like NZ, so it's definitely New Zealands World Cup next year :o (H) :mrpimp:

And it is a 'B' team because 19 of the All Blacks that won the Tri-Nations watched the game on TV at home in NZ.

Good on Ireland, even if all the points came from kicks, they kept the Aussies from scoring any tries so their defence must be pretty good.

rhizome, do u really know as much about Rugby as u think u do?
That Aussie team was injury ravaged, and although we nearly lost to Argentina (we lost to them before the last world cup!), at home they are always hard to beat, non of our players were in top shape, and although we had a near full strength team, the players weren't at their personal full strength.

We will most likely lose to England in the upcoming test, but this will have no bearing on the World Cup results next year. Australia will be a 2nd string side against England, and when we take part in these tours we are always so under prepared. Because we have such a hectic home schedule each year with the Super 12 and Tri Nations, we end planning these tours as a rushed end of season thing, when half the players are recuperating from injuries sustained throughout the last year, and we arrive in the country play the match and leave, not time to get used to conditions or anything...

So dont look at this tour, and base the wallabies form for the world cup on it.

Cheers
sKIp_E

You are right, I know the Aussies will be the team to beat at the World Cup, I am just trying to find something positive for NZ sport. Sunlines gone, the soccer team was lucky to beat Australia, in that the likes of Kewell, Viduka, Tiatto etc. were not there, the basketball team came fourth at the world champs but then those sort of competitions are not necessarily good judges of capability etc. etc. and FYI when it comes to games against England i will support the Aussies.

BUT I will stand by my comments that NZ has a greater depth AT THE MOMENT than Australia. Australian dominance over the last few years has been a consequence not only of good players, but also investment, the end of career for a whole team of great All Blacks, who also played for the Auckland NPC team and the Blues Super 12 team, plus inept coaching and selection when it came to All Blacks, which is why the NZRFU has just had a complete overhaul. Canterbury have been able to get themselves into Super 12 position built on defence and the All Blacks have similarly played that way to nullify the attack of teams like the Wallabies, as Canterbury did against the Brumbies. The new management of the AB's appears willing to experiment finally with some players not from the Canterbury team.

So my comments in the above post were more toungue in cheek than anything, no offence meant. Our players also have a hectic schedule with Super 12 and TriNations, plus the NPC which is regarded as the most competitive provincial Rugby competition in the Rugby playing world. So personally I think it is heartening to see an All Black squad missing 19 of the players selected for Tri Nations push England so close on home soil. And it is also great to see an attacking mindset come back into the All Blacks.

So I am still predicting an All Black win in the World Cup, not simply based on parochialism but because I think that the new players will be up for it next year.

EDIT: And here are the english already moaning about the sort of attack pioneered by the Brumbies (and adopted by the Wallabies):

Dallaglio dropped as Woodward fumes at All Black tactics

13.11.2002
11.15am - By CHRIS HEWETT
If the world champions of Australia get away with blue murder at Twickenham this weekend - and they have committed sporting crimes without doing the time often enough in the past - it will not be for the want of an orchestrated pre-emptive strike by their English opponents.

English coach Clive Woodward spent most of yesterday bleating about certain questionable aspects of the All Blacks' performance in London last Saturday, but his words were aimed at two very different targets: the Wallabies, who are seeking a first win over England herein four years, and Paul Honiss, the referee.

Woodward's regime has frequently been described as the sporting equivalent of New Labour, and the England manager was spinning like crazy as he announced a side showing three changes, one of them positional, from that which started against the All Blacks: Ben Kay of Leicester for Bath's Danny Grewcock in the second row, and, rather more dramatically, Neil Back for Lawrence Dallaglio in the back row, with the eternally flexible Richard Hill moving from open-side flanker to No 8.

Far from concentrating on the highly significant, and no doubt painful, decision to bench Dallaglio, Woodward was more interested in drawing attention to the popular southern hemisphere tactic of running decoy lines in front of the ball-carrier, rather than behind him.

According to Woodward, this chicanery contributed handsomely to three of the four tries scored by the New Zealanders. "I'm raising this now because I don't want to find myself moaning about the problem when I fly home from the World Cup in 12 months' time," he said.

"A couple of years ago, the International Rugby Board banned decoy running in front of the ball. That was great, from my point of view. But they went potty down in the southern hemisphere, and after a cleverly coordinated campaign and a big punch-up at a meeting here in London, the IRB overturned their original decision.

"I argued strongly against the change, and I lost. I don't have a problem with that. But if referees are going to permit passing behind dummy runners' backs, it is vital that we're all allowed to do it.

"It is a essential that we know where we stand well in advance of the World Cup, because English players will not get to grips with this unless they are doing it week in, week out at Premiership level. My own view is that deliberate, off-the-ball interference with defenders should be penalised. But if it is not going to be penalised, we need to get practising."

As a piece of pre-test psychology, it was about as subtle as a brick. This form of decoy running is a Wallaby invention rather than an All Black one - the ACT Brumbies were the pioneers, under the guidance of Eddie Jones, who now happens to coach the national team - and England have been caught out by it on several occasions.

Woodward was transparently attempting to bring the subject to the attention of Honiss, himself a New Zealander, in the hope that he might go looking for any obstructive tactics, and, at the same time, make the Wallabies think twice about their approach.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sports/sportsstorydisplay.cfm?storyID=3004090&thesection=sport&thesubsection=rugby&thesecondsubsection=allblacks

btw, I also think that the Aussies have benefitted somewhat from the Super 12 competition more than NZ. It has definitely meant an increase in the amount of competitive Rugby that australian players are now involved in, whereas NZ has always been pretty well catered for by the NPC.

two things
Aussies injury ravaged. ..

we are touring after the end of our super 12s and tri nations series

Originally posted by maddog1983
two things
Aussies injury ravaged. ..

we are touring after the end of our super 12s and tri nations series

:rolleyes: :sleep: :kader:

Originally posted by maddog1983
two things
Aussies injury ravaged. ..

we are touring after the end of our super 12s and tri nations series

Same with new zealand. Hlaf their team have like 1 cap :mrpimp: