Rugby videos of tackles, tries, funny incidents and more: All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup with convincing win over Australia

Sunday, August 07, 2011

All Blacks retain the Bledisloe Cup with convincing win over Australia

There was a special feeling at Eden Park as the All Blacks defeated the Wallabies 30-14 in front of an expectant Auckland crowd, retaining the Bledisloe Cup and putting themselves in a great position to take the 2011 Tri Nations title.

Yesterday there were a number on internationals taking place, with some sides looking more impressive than others. In fact, perhaps the All Blacks (of the New Zealand variety) were the only side that looked like anything worthy of taking the big title in a few months time. They're yards ahead of the opposition at this stage.

But, that is what these warm up games, and the Tri Nations, are all about.

The Wallabies were outplayed, and despite scoring a brilliant try through Digby Ioane, and a consolation try to flatter the scoreline, they were off the pace. New Zealand on the other hand, looked possessed, tackling everything that moved. They made 116 tackles, missing just 21.

Conrad Smith was playing on another level, while for Australia, Will Genia and Quade Cooper seemed anonymous behind a pack that wasn't getting much go-forward.

In many ways it looked like a dress rehearsal for the World Cup for them, and if they play like for the next two months, will be very tough to beat in front of their home crowd.

Maintaining that level of intensity will be the challenge, and a fascinating prospect for rugby fans around the globe. For now though, they're in the driving seat of this Tri Nations campaign, way out in front on 9 points having played two and won two.

They will play South Africa in two weeks time, before returning to New Zealand to face the Wallabies again on 27 August. We'll have highlights of the rest of yesterday's games shortly.

Time: 04:05

New zealand are streets ahead of everyone at the moment just like they were last world cup, and we all know what happened there...

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:34 pm
You can keep having a go but this side is one of the greatest of all time. The semi-final against the boks is going to be epic, albeit potentially disappointing for us SA fans :(

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:41 pm
is sbw playing no.14 here??

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:43 pm
I think McCaw is just really good at stretching the rules as far as he can, more than being a cheat.

Good game.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:47 pm
too much brumbies for the wallabies, that is the problem

By rooney, at August 07, 2011 6:48 pm
any1 else catch coopers sneaky attempt at kneeing mccaw in the face when he had sealed off a ruck at 1.50 in the vid

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:53 pm
we are looking at the 2011 champs right here tough to see who is gonna beat em

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 6:56 pm
NZ is a formidable team, with true depth on the bench, clearly a step above everyone else. But what will happen if France stand in line and grin at them during the haka? Will they start to self-doubt right then, like they did in 2007?
I think the pool decider vs France will define the rest of the tournament for NZ. If they stomp on the French, then they'll go all the way. If the French give them a really hard time, or even beat them, then it's open season.
ps: McCaw was actually quite clean this time around, in the NZ-AUS match (unlike vs RSA)

By moddeur, at August 07, 2011 7:06 pm
lol mcCheat? pocock was far more sinister than McCaw was yesterday. Lying over the ball, not releasing the tackler, detaching from scrums early and clearly offside half the time. McCaw was guilty, guilty of showing that he is the best no7 around even when he isnt at top gear. Catching kickoffs, making big tackles and runs, and just being a pest. All in a days work for richie. PS All Black trio i believe is the best one I've ever seen, Read and Kaino just playing out of their skins. And of course, nonu/smith and king carter, you wallabies can cry all you want about cheating, two of our tries should of been penalty tries for cynical offside tackling.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 7:09 pm
@ anon 6:56 PM
If that was sposed to be a knee to mccaw's head cooper would be probably the world's worst person in doing that. He missed mccaw by about half a meter and the speed of the knee was much too slow for it to hurt anyone

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 7:09 pm
i know it is just the highlights, but the pace of the game is incredible. it shows why these are the two best teams in the world. NZ still well ahead though, I can't see them not winning the WC. Especially if the refs keep helping them out, I'm sorry, but sivivatu's try was off a knock-on.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 7:23 pm
my theory on the all blacks is the reason they are always no.1 during regular season is that they play every match like its a world cup knockout game, super intense. their problem comes when they cant step it up in the actual tournament because they are already at 110%. then the other big nations step things up a gear and you got a level playing field. dont know what you guys think? that said, infront of their home crowd, man they are gunna be tough to beat!

By Will, at August 07, 2011 7:28 pm
This doesn't get mentioned much but the All Blacks' defence was very solid as they shut down what is a very dangerous Australian backline for most of the game. Their line speed was good and they drifted very well, shepherding the Aussies out to the touchline. Quade Cooper in particular was shut down effectively although Ioane and O'Connor looked dangerous all night.

If this Australian team find it so difficult to break down the New Zealand defence, I can't see anyone else even getting close to them at the World Cup if they choose to play an expansive style of rugby.

Lastly, you guys down in the SH are incredibly lucky to get to watch entertaining rugby of this standard; NH rugby is so dull in comparison and lacking in imagination. Instead we use words like 'high intensity' and 'physicality' to cover up for it...

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 8:07 pm
"Lastly, you guys down in the SH are incredibly lucky to get to watch entertaining rugby of this standard; NH rugby is so dull in comparison and lacking in imagination. Instead we use words like 'high intensity' and 'physicality' to cover up for it..."

As a NH rugby fan (English), I'm sorry to say I wholeheartedly agree with this. Shame.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 8:27 pm
carry on giving english passports out and you too will soon have this quality of rugga;)

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 8:53 pm
Last week, I was perturbed by NZ pretty much constantly offending at the breakdown. Hardly a single legal ruck between the lot of them.

This week, it was a complete 180. They simply outclassed and outplayed Australia by a mile. Quade Cooper was made to look like a fool, too.

Was there not a replacement flyhalf on the bench for Australia? I wonder if Deans is regretting dropping Giteau at all. Not like he would've won the match for Australia, but he certainly couldn't have done worse than Cooper, who feels he needs to do a Carlos Spencer every time he touches the ball.

By red, at August 07, 2011 11:04 pm
Wasnt that much in it, if Justin Bieber had kicked those 3 penalties and that Kiwi knock-on resulting in a try was called, the scoreline would read 23 - 23

By Ben Bell, at August 07, 2011 11:07 pm
Australia's first try was the result of weepu getting held which led to the gap that Beale ran through. The second try they scored was after the AB's had cleared the bench and they knew they had won the game. Getting tired of this "the scoreline would read 23 - 23" crap. The wallabies were outclassed, simple as that.
Hoping next time their media and fans dont talk themselves up as the greatest thing since the wheel after winning just one match.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 11:36 pm
NZ ALWAYS look this good and dominant pre-world cup.

It's been the same story for about 20 years.

The All Blacks better be stocked up on cough medicine because I'm predicting another CHOKE.

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 11:41 pm
Here's hoping the AB's media and fans don't talk themselves up as the greatest thing since the wheel before CHOKING AGAIN

By Anonymous, at August 07, 2011 11:48 pm
Ignorant people. Sivivatu's try may have been a knock on (undoubtedly)BUT if you actually watched the game, you would have seen about four-five forward passes from quade cooper that werent called. 4 or 5... easy forward passes. unlucky for the Wallabies they couldnt capitalize on the refs mistakes.

By DC = god, at August 08, 2011 12:16 am
Ignorant people. Sivivatu's try may have been a knock on (undoubtedly)BUT if you actually watched the game, you would have seen about four-five forward passes from quade cooper that werent called. 4 or 5... easy forward passes. unlucky for the Wallabies they couldnt capitalize on the refs mistakes.

By DC = god, at August 08, 2011 12:16 am
Conrad Smith has to stay fit if New Zealand are to win the world cup. In attack and defence, his decision making is absolutely incredible. Good thing is no one mentions him so hopefully he won't feel the pressure much.

As for Australia, well they looked tired frankly but their achilles heal has always been the pack who lack the aggression needed in full on matches. They're a team that should really focus on trying to be a counterattacking team, that pack atm is just not good enough to do the hard yards.

By draculaquin, at August 08, 2011 12:34 am
Gotta say, worst reffing at the breakdown I've ever seen. Both teams were just charging in, straight off their feet, belly flopping on, etc. 80% (not exaggerating) of breakdowns had players off there feet, sealing off the ball and preventing competing.

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 1:28 am
RD WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?!? where the hell is my comment?!?! IT WAS THE FIRST DAMN COMMENT AND IT WAS DAMN WELL RELATIVE TO THIS DAMN VIDEO AND YOU GO AND REMOVE THE MOTHERFUCKER!!!

FUCK YOU RD, FUCK YOU!

You some kinda Hussain motherfucker, think you can rule the damn blog. What the hell is this shit, you want people to bring in their damn influence and their damn opinions on these motherfucking videos then you go and remove that shit?!?! WTF, you some kinda tyrannical despotic motherfucker, i hope for the sake of your damn country you stay the hell away from the political system, otherwise your country gonna be more fucked up than it probably already is, they gonna be starving people paying taxes whilst you sat curling one out in your golden toilet made from the blood of your people whilst uploading some damn videos on your damn expensive people blood laptop!

Damn you cold! you fucking ruin this shit for me!

MY COMMENT WAS JUST AS RELEVANT AS ALLLL THESE MOTHERFUCKING COMMENTS, YET MMIIIIIIIINE GETS REMOVED?!?!?! FUCK RD, WTF!

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 2:17 am
I laugh at all these CHOKING comments everytime an all blacks video appears on this site. Its just an attempt to make yourselves feel better about your teams getting hammered year after year.

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 4:22 am
@Anon 2:17 AM...

Calm down dude, If you swear that much its gonna come down. I think you might need to stay off the caffeine...

On the game, I thought Dan Vickermans contribution off the bench was very positive, he really smashed the rucks and moved bodies. Showed how much that was missing in the first half

By Ned2or3, at August 08, 2011 4:29 am
Wow, one or two comments in there that aren't emotional ramblings anyway.

The All Blacks were excellent, particlularly thier defence which was outstanding. The Wallabies had close to 60% possesion and didn't score a point until about 10 min into the second half. Considering how dangerous the Aus backline is, that's incredible work from NZ.

Carter was composed as always, Conrad Smith was outstanding, in fact pretty much the whole NZ team (which was histroically the most experienced test team of all time, from any country) was excellent.

For Australia the forwards weren't laying the platform well enough, and when that happens few teams win. Mcalmun needs to go to the bench for Higginbotham, Polota Nau needs to come back (though Moore was one of the few forwards who did his job well), and Palu wouldn't be a bad option either. Vickerman left his run too late and looked right off the pace. Sharpe and Timani should be the back up options at 2nd row.

Cooper had one of those games he has every now and again where his risk taking isn't rewarded (credit goes to NZ's defence on that).
Genia and Ioane both looked good, but didnt get the support they needed.

Still, I remember 2003 when Australia got towelled by about 50 points in Sydney right before the WC, then knocked NZ out in the semi, so there's still hope for the Aussies.

It was a high intensity game also, very fast and intense, very physical, alot of skill by both teams (though Australia made some bad handling errors at times which they don't normally do).

These two teams would put on a hell of a World Cup Final.

By N, at August 08, 2011 4:33 am
so was there there loads of ppl goin into the breakdown again, and gettin away with it (ie off the feet etc) in this match? Comments and clips seems to suggest it a bit.

(Like Rugby 08 before the new take on the rules spend the ball up again)

Will this carry through to the WC?

Ollie

By Mise, at August 08, 2011 4:33 am
Mise, no not at all.
The rucks were fairly clean.

In fact the ref was very strict on the rucks. He wasn't allowing any cheap stuff, was penalising players for it alot, so that might give the uneducated who doesn;t have a firm grasp on the rules (like alot of people) the impression that more stuff is happening than usual.
But it's just not the case. It was a clean game. Aus vs NZ games usually are.

The only thing I'd say to critisize the ref was that he missed wuite a few knock ons and couple forward passes, NZ scored off a knock on. But Aus also got away with a couple things, so it evens out in the end i guess.

Interestingly, Australia's scrum actually edged the battle against NZ's. They didn't dominate, but they won two or three penalties against NZ, without giving up a single penalty of their own.

Not that it mattered in the end.

By N, at August 08, 2011 4:38 am
Is Carter also playing flanker now? He's tackling everyone everywhere!

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 5:26 am
Agree with N - The Aussie scrum looked good and if this sort of progress continues to be made then they are going to be dangerous off the set piece WC time. Good game, classical high octane Bledisloe match.

The Aussie outsides are outstanding to watch.

ABs are building nicely.

By running rugby, at August 08, 2011 7:18 am
During the live broadcast the "knock-on" was also replayed from a different angle than shown on this video clip and it didn't look nearly so cut-and-dried. The AB seems to hit across the Oz player's arms and may not have touched the ball at all. The ref was in the perfect spot in front and a few feet away and the touchie was right there too. Anyway, as a couple of people have pointed out the Ozzies got away with a couple of forward passes that were so blatant you sensed some players almost stopping in anticipation of a whistle.
Enjoyed the game, I love watching these two teams play. State of the art rugby in my opinion. Fast, tough, creative, intense.

By Manuel, at August 08, 2011 8:02 am
It was a knock on by Reid. His right arm hits the ball.

But it happens. Australia had a couple forward passes let go, NZ knocked it on a few times and the ref missed it.
The ref should have picked up a copuple of those decisions, but it evens out usually.

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 9:04 am
@the lunatic @2,17....so what was the comment? :)

By SA won't make the semis, they're crap, at August 08, 2011 10:33 am
^^^^^^^^^^^
"First", probably... :)

Whatever it was I'm glad it disappeared, so we got to enjoy the 2:17 rant in all its glory.

By Von, at August 08, 2011 10:57 am
moddeur said...
I think the pool decider vs France will define the rest of the tournament for NZ. If they stomp on the French, then they'll go all the way. If the French give them a really hard time, or even beat them, then it's open season.

I disagree with your logic. In 2007, NZ romped through their pool without really getting out of second gear. They had not warmed up at all when they met the battle-hardened French in the quarter-final and I think that was a crucial factor in their exit.

A tough test against France in the pool - regardless of who wins - will help NZ in the knock-out stage far more than another stroll.

By Von, at August 08, 2011 11:30 am
a dissapointing performance from Ref who I really rate him as one of the top officials. ( He is not Bias and gets the calls right about 95% of the time).
Defensively NZ are well on top particularly in the back line.. Carter is fearless and tackeled amazingly as well as got some penalties for fetching the ball in the rucks. his kicking was also on song which makes him very dangerous. Wilko has this kind of defensive strength and kicking but I dont know if he still has the decision making in attack- we will get to see. As for Australia the kicking was bad and cooper as a playmaker is great when he is great but detremental to the team when he is off. his defense is also terrible. Now for my team we have this Steyn character who is usually alright at defense and amazing at kicking but this year he has not been great at anything. by playing him the team really has to rely on the fowards earning penalties for him to kick which does not work against NZ or AUS. It will be a great world cup but I wont make any predictions.
-Bloodfya (aim does not work)

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 2:51 pm
1 -- I agree, quite surprised, but the Aussies edged the scrum battle. Crockett probably now loses his slot to Woodcock

2-- Dan Carter. What can be said? Just a masterclass that Cooper was forced to watch. He's the best rugby player on the planet right now. Simply does not have weaknesses as a player.

3 -- The All Blacks clearly felt disrespected going into this match, and came out and defended like absolute madmen. One of the great defencive performances I've seen.

4 -- For the Aussies: they musyt start Higginbotham, I thought he was their best loose forward for the 20 mins he was on

By Douglas, at August 08, 2011 4:06 pm
Also re: the All Blacks feeling disrespected, McCaw came out firing, clearly tired of hearing about how Pocock has surpassed him. McCaw's all around game -- taking kickoffs, running w/ball in hand, putting in huge tackles, breakdown work -- is far superior to Pocock's. Pocock was also way more penalised on the night.

By Douglas, at August 08, 2011 4:10 pm
"@the lunatic @2,17....so what was the comment? :)"

I can't actually recall what it was I said, something to do with McCaw poking people in the bum and proceeding to get away with it as is customary in that land of New Zealand.

ACTUALLY VON, I DIDN'T EVEN FINISH MY DAMN COMMENT WITH THE WORD "FIRST" OR START IT FOR THAT MATTER!!!

"I laugh at all these CHOKING comments everytime an all blacks video appears on this site. Its just an attempt to make yourselves feel better about your teams getting hammered year after year."

AS for this bitch ass comment. Well I would somewhat agree that the damn bum pokers will infact win the motherfucking RWC this year, but the fact still remains that whilst these damn people keep their goings on about NZ choking their damn chickens, they still make a point about how the recent years those motherfuckers would be bashing all of the other damn teams and be the damn favourites. yet still get their chickens choked during the rwc!

Time will tell, time will tell!

By Anonymous, at August 08, 2011 5:46 pm
Not quite sure about the Aussies "winning" the scrum battle. Sure the Crocket got penalised a couple of times, but those are frankly a lottery.

But in no way were they ever pushing the AB's around and by the end of the match the aus front row was being marmalised.

By RememberTheMer, at August 08, 2011 7:23 pm
Marmalised?
They won three penalties and gave up won. They also own a free kick.

So while they didn't dominate, they certainly edged the scrum battle.
They definalty weren't beaten by NZ's scrum in any way, which was probably largely down to Crocket (it wasn't a lottery, he kept slipping his bind and ending up flat on his stomach - the penalties were deserved).

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 2:40 am
Sorry, not 'won', one.

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 2:43 am
shit, and not 'own', 'won'

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 2:44 am
As a wallabies fan i knew in the back of my mind that we woulod loose this one. However i dont mind that much, the All Blacks would have known they were in a test match unlike previous weeks. Throw in a few more successful kicks and the score would be alot closer. AB's D was to good.

Backing the wallabies for a win in SA and to clinch a classic at Suncorp in a few weeks time.

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 4:30 am
So you missed how the Wallaby front row were being lifted up and out of the scrum?
Did you miss the Aussie tight-head when he ended up looking straight at the overhead camera?

By RememberTheMer, at August 09, 2011 8:14 am
I suspect that Australia will lose to a fired up SA this weekend. Have tickets to see the AB's V Aus at Suncorp, am looking forward to that one.

By JG, at August 09, 2011 9:18 am
Rememberthemer, There were certainly a couple scrums where NZ put on the pressure. One led to a penalty.
There were also a number of scrums where Australia put on the pressure. These led two penalties and a free kick. Both penalties were against Crocket, who slipped his bind, lost his footing and ended up on his stomach both times. This is something that's happened before at international level for Crocket. The free kick was for an early engagement.

For the most part though the scrums were very even. A couple time NZ pushed the front rowers up a bit (though NZs guys were coming up at the same time - the ref said Aus came up first but it was debatable), but Australia's scrum never went back more than a foot or two. NZ's didn't go back much either, maybe a foot or two once or twice. But they collpased two scrums (or Crocket did).

So in the end you'd say Aus edged it, because they won two penalties to NZ's one and a free kick.
NZ just had the one penalty to show for their scrummaging.

As an Aussie I'm happy with that, considering the way the Aussie scrum went last season (in 2009 we were doing good, then fell back again in 2010).

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 10:12 am
I'm sorry to hear that scrumming has been reduced to winning penalties.

A free kick for an early engagement = dominance? Two on engagement = dominance? Poor technique on Crocketts part sure, but Australian dominance?

What about the way the AB scrum barely moved except go forwards?
How they casually twist a defensive scrum 45 degrees so that all the wallaby loosies are pinned against the touch line, unable to break for the five-eighths?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KoWHtOMyx3A#t=5m13s

Forcing all the opposition to remain bound so you can spring a move off the back like this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzFqcRMfD78#t=8m02s

The game was full of instances like this. Controlling the scrum is about creating a platform.

Don't get me wrong, the Wallaby scrum is a mile ahead of what it once was. Its good enough that it will not cost them the game, which is really all it needs to be. But this talk of "dominance" smacks of "Pocock > McCaw" or "Cooper > Carter".

By RememberTheMer, at August 09, 2011 1:53 pm
When did I say dominance?
You said that.
I just said Australia edged it.
But that it was basically even.
You're arguing with yourself on that one.

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 2:01 pm
Fair enough then. Maybe I confused an anonymous with another anonymous. We'll just have to disagree about what constitutes "edging" in the overall scheme of a game.

By RememberTheMer, at August 09, 2011 3:19 pm
LOL Mer... you're a tool....

Go argue with yourself......again...

By Anonymous, at August 09, 2011 3:36 pm
just my 2cents as a neutral, "edging" would imply a close battle that just barely swung Australia's way...sort of a long way from dominance.

As much as I would love to see Ireland doing something miraculous and actually playing their best even if it's not against England, I can't see anyone but NZ winning the world cup this year. It's theirs to lose given present form. They deserve one to be fair.

By I hate ppl who write "First!", at August 09, 2011 4:28 pm
Nice one NZ

By kaibishin, at August 09, 2011 7:11 pm
Interesting to hear G. Henry's comments about the scrum, was claiming Alexander illegally was binding on Crockett's arm and pulling him down and in or something to that effect. So he at least was (publicly) unhappy with Crockett's performance.

By Tim, at August 09, 2011 11:19 pm
Why not show the whole buildup to NZ's first try? Where Owen comes around the ruck tackling a defending Cooper and allowing Weepu to break down the lefthand touchline? Ab's are good enough but still cheat as much as they can.... And why not if the refs turn a blind eye? 50 50 calls also seems to always go their way as with the Reid knockon. No tears for you when you crash out of the world cup this year.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 12:47 am
^
Saw what you're whining about. 5 rucks and 60m before the try. Pity the other eye was still closed for first Wallaby try when no.4, lying on the ground, kept holding on to Weepu's foot, creating the gap Beale ran through.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 1:53 am
The All Blacks do hold defending players in at the edges of the ruck. They do it all the time, they pretty much invented it.
Old pillar and post.
Then they run guys straight past the player being held into the ruck.
Everyone does it now though, not just them.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 3:15 am
I think that is what we as a rugby world are sort trying to get at when we talk about NZ being a bit "naughty" we know that NOW all teams do naughty stuff, and we know that NZ has not won every game off CHEATING... but the point i think we are trying to make is that NZ has a slightly dark history of doing the sort of naughty ruck stuff...

.....as well as bum poking!

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 3:37 am
I think the real point i that Nz are so often at the cutting edge, constantly inovating.
They do this in every aspect of the game, defensivly, in terms of skills and attacking rugby etc.
Part of it is that they are often the first to use techniques you might call cheating. Like their dominance of rucks. Most of their tricks are now done by all teams (and there are plenty of tricks that they certainly didn't invent. England mastered the art of sheilding the ball by lying in front of it when you're trying to retain posession for example.) But they invented alot of stuff. They are the masters of pillar and post.
Which when you have a guys tanding on either side of an offensive ruck, draggin defenders into the ruck to open holes for the runners.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 7:39 am
wait until both scrummages meet wales, england and ireland, then we'll see.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 11:44 am
Gilby

I agree with Von's post regarding the French. I'm sure that NZ will smash them at the pool stage, however if they meet them again in the knockout stage it may well be a different story.
Let's face it this is NZ's WC to lose. There are only a few teams that could pull off the upset (SA, Aus and France).
As an England fan I'd like to say England could beat them but I just can't see it. We could out muscle them up front but their backs are so far superior that I cannot see any way passed them. I just hope that everyone has a great tournament, enjoys the atmosphere and we can all get plastered together.
If NZ win then quite frankly for the rugby that they have been playing for the past 4 years they deserve to.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 2:49 pm
wallabies need barnes in the team. he is the real deal inside centre. not that mackay. and he also can be a very good replacement for cooper.

By Anonymous, at August 10, 2011 8:01 pm
It's Mcabe, but it's a fair point. Barnes is a much better player than Mcabe.

By Anonymous, at August 11, 2011 1:31 am
Could we please put Englands forwards with Australia's backline? Some attacking flair is a real miss in the England set-up. Back to the video. As someone has already said I think this is NZ's WC to loose. Every highlight video I have watched shows their creativity, timing, control and skill levels. Carter in just awesome. It smacks of 2003 where a well drilled and reliable England team (who had built up a relationship together)were so comfortable with each other that it all came instinctively. Really looking forward to seeing how teams try and cope with them. COME ON ENGLAND!

By jimbo1, at August 14, 2011 10:01 am
^^^^ Wow.... did that last comment left by Jimbo actually resemble the old RD?!?! did I just click on a video from a few years ago?!?!

Wow...how incredible...

I think the sad thing is, England fans have been on the receiving end of abuse ever since 2003... I think England won the RWC in a way people hated (as the Aussie media made us all aware!) and so ever since they lost their key players to retirement etc they have been slated and abused...

By Anonymous, at August 14, 2011 3:36 pm