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2007 Irb Rugby World Cup


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LOL, I am not surprised.

French bashing, especially when it comes to Rugby, is part of English way of life (as I always say, England gave Fair Play to the world because they had no use for it).

This being said, the Pumas did deserve their victory.

Ouch, harsh. Sounds like you're still smarting from 1991 and 2003.

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New Zealand has just beaten Italy 76-14 in an impressive 20minute display at the beginning of the game. In the end New Zealand were just too good for Italy and have got their campaign away to a flying start. Currently Australia leads Japan 23-0 after 31 minutes!!

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This from www.tvnz.co.nz

ABs stage Marseille massacre

Sep 9, 2007

The All Blacks produced a sublime piece of rugby to destroy Italy 76-14 in the opening game of pool C at the Rugby World Cup.

In scorching conditions at Marseille's Stade Velodrome the All Blacks were too hot to handle, winning the try-count 11-2.

Richie McCaw led from the front and he was ably supported by the rest of the men in black and the size and scale of the victory should send shivers down the backs of their rivals in France.

Graham Henry's men did everything right - they spotted the gaps, made all the running and did the basics well, but they were helped by a flat-footed Italy.

And after Argentina's victory over France on Saturday, the win also restores the "old guard" of rugby.

It took all of one minute for the All Blacks to get off the mark. A New Zealand line-out found Ali Williams with the ball, he offloaded to McCaw and the inspirational skipper ran straight through the Italian defence for the opening score. Dan Carter converted and NZ were sitting pretty at 7-0.

Just four minutes later and McCaw was across the line again thanks to great work from Byron Kelleher, who picked up the ball from the bottom of a maul and he spotting the captain making a break.

Carter kicked a penalty for a 17-0 lead and soon it was out to 24-0 when a well-worked team move found the ball coming out to Doug Howlett and the winger sped over for try number three, much to the shock of the Italians.

The shock became despair when Carter kicked up field only for Italian David Bortolussi to misjudge the ball, Mils Muliaina didn't, and 16 minutes into the game, the All Blacks led 31-0.

Try number five was a carbon copy of number four as Carter kicked, the Italian defence froze, Sitiveni Sivivatu touched down.

The Italians found themselves in unfamiliar territory on 21 minutes, INSIDE the All Blacks' 22 but the attack came to nought.

Normal service resumed when Leon MacDonald darted through the defence, passed to Williams, who offloaded to Sivivatu and there was no-one stopping the big winger. Carter, shockingly, missed the conversion but the scoreboard showed a stunning 43-0 lead to Graham Henry's men.

Just before half-time there was finally some relief for the men in blue when a Kelleher pass was intercepted by Marko Stanojevic and the winger ran in unchallenged for Italy's opening try. David Bortolussi's conversion meant the All Blacks went into the break 43-7 ahead.

After half-time and some more hope for Italy after Carl Hayman was sin binned for punching prop Andrea Lo Cicero. That hope was snuffed out as Chris Jack found a yawning gap and the lock eased over the line.

The scoreline became more and more embarrassing as Howlett grabbed two quick-fire tries to give the New Zealanders a 62-7 lead with 20 minutes remaining. The brace also meant Howlett now equals Christian Cullen's All Black try scoring record of 46.

The New Zealanders refused to relax and continued their ruthless assault with two tries in a minute for Jerry Collins, just his third and fourth ever in an All Blacks top.

A huge roar went up in the crowd when a miskick from McAlister resulted in Italy's second try on the day thanks to Stanojevic. In fact it was the Italians who were finishing the stronger and Ezio Galon nearly got their third try but the video ref cancelled it out.

In the end it was a very easy win for Graham Henry's men and next up are minnows Portugal.

All Blacks: 76 . Tries: Richie McCaw (2), Doug Howlett (3), Mils Muliaina, Sitiveni Sivivatu (2), Chris Jack, Jerry Collins (2). Conversions: Dan Carter (7), Luke McAlister (2). Penalties: Dan Carter.

Italy: 14. Tries: Marko Stanojevic (2). Conversions: David Bortolussi, Roland de Marigny

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Oh, we're so gonna get squashed... :D

The commentator on BBC 5 Live reckons NZ will play their reserves against both Romania and Portugal as long as they beat Scotland in their second pool game. So it might be closer than that! I didn't even know Portugal played rugby though!

Didn't sound particularly inspiring from England in Lens from what I heard.

Nope, we need to up our game a lot. Mind you, I heard an interesting thing on the radio today. The USA are just starting to play rugby professionally (this is the last team we'll see in a WC from them made up of semi-pros and amatuers). And the guy on the radio reckoned American football players who don't quite make the grade might make the switch to the new professional rugby leagues in the US. He thinks they could be quite a force in a decade or so.

As they say, watch this space...

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Yea England didnt look good. On another note new zealands Steve Hansen has returned home to New Zealand because his mother is extremely ill so one of New Zealand's coaches has left. I wonder how that will affect the team especially when Hansen doesnt no when he will return.

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September 8th final scores.

New Zealand: 76 - Italy: 14

Australia: 91 - Japan: 3

England: 28 - USA: 10

Wow. Talk about a blow out in one of those matches.

Anyway, here are tomorrow's matches.

- South Africa vs. Samoa @ Paris (4:00pm)

- Wales vs. Canada @ Nantes (2:00pm)

- Scotland vs. Portugal @ St-Etienne (6:00pm)

- Ireland vs. Namibia @ Bordeaux (8:00pm)

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September 8th final scores.

New Zealand: 76 - Italy: 14

Australia: 91 - Japan: 3

England: 28 - USA: 10

Wow. Talk about a blow out in one of those matches.

Anyway, here are tomorrow's matches.

- South Africa vs. Samoa @ Paris (4:00pm)

- Wales vs. Canada @ Nantes (2:00pm)

- Scotland vs. Portugal @ St-Etienne (6:00pm)

- Ireland vs. Namibia @ Bordeaux (8:00pm)

big day tomorrow. The pick of the games looks like it will be South Africa v Samoa and Wales v Canada. The other two games should be comfortable victorys to Scotland and Ireland

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By the way, what happened to the Japanese team? And, did someone suggested that Japan is the favorite to get the 2015 Rugby World Cup bid? If that is the case, then today's performance didn't help matters in their favor there.

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The commentator on BBC 5 Live reckons NZ will play their reserves against both Romania and Portugal as long as they beat Scotland in their second pool game. So it might be closer than that! I didn't even know Portugal played rugby though!

We do - since 1935. But as it is a completely amateur team (well, two or three play if professional leagues), results worthy enough to put us on the spotlight - together with rugby heavyweights - are nearly impossible to achieve. Nonethelese, we're an European second-tier team and play in the 1st division of the European Nations Cup, which we won in 2003-04.

I think that globally we're ranked 20-ish...

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The commentator on BBC 5 Live reckons NZ will play their reserves against both Romania and Portugal as long as they beat Scotland in their second pool game. So it might be closer than that!

Well I mean lest be honest, NZ's 3rd teir would most likely steam roll Portugal. But they made it to world cup and that itself it a great feat for Portuguese Rugby.

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42-17 might sound comfortable for Wales, but don't be fooled. I thought Canada were excellent for 50 minutes as Wales struggled to get into the game. They cut loose in the second half, but they will have to improve big time to push Australia in Cardiff next Saturday.

Next to the Parc des Princes as South Africa face Samoa.

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By the way, is the 2011 World Cup, in New Zealand, is going to lower the amount of qualified teams from its current France 2007 one to just 16 teams? Here is an article I just found.

Link: SportingLife-> Charron: Smaller World Cup Is A Mistake

Quote: "The IRB have discussed the possibility of cutting the number of competing teams for the 2011 tournament from 20 to 16, in order to eliminate one-sided matches and shorten the event."

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