Rugby World Cup

FANTASTIC!!!

If the conditions had been better, England would have put 4 or 5 tries on the 3rd best rugby country in the world (after England and France).

Referee was a bit dodgy. I don't think he could quite believe how much better the England forwards were, so he decided they must be cheating

All those dangerous looking (against the ABs) Aussie backs looked, well, pretty ordinary really.

Maybe it's time the ABs got back to playing 15 man rugby?

ENGLAND WORLD CHAMPIONS. Sounds great, doesn't it.

I only saw the second half but I must say I enjoyed it immensely. Kind of ironic that the most exciting game of the tournament was played by the two most dour defensive and tactical sides with the game decided by a number of crucial kicks.

Also I never cease to be amazed at Aussie sporting excellence -- they were completely overmatched in terms of talent and yet still comeback from the dead and very nearly pull it off against a much superior side for the second match in a row. If only the Wallaby Sporting Nation hadn't been even more arrogant, overbearing and generally mean spirited than even their usual not inconsiderable standards you'd almost feel sorry for them.

Many congratualations to Woodward and his team. They were clearly the best side in the tournament and deserved to win.

Matthew

PS Yes, Dave, I feel an utter twat now. How unlike an English Rugby Union fan that your first thought in victory is to call someone a twat.

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very nearly pull it off against a much superior side for the second match in a row.

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Except that against the ABs THEY were the superior side, Matthew.

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PS Yes, Dave, I feel an utter twat now. How unlike an English Rugby Union fan that your first thought in victory is to call someone a twat.

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Guess Dave calls it as he sees it really: difficult to disagree with his analysis though .....

It must be true England crowned Champions in classic Test - Rugby World Cup 2003 - RugbyHeaven !

"The saying is don't get into an butt-kicking contest with a porcupine and last night Australia faced up to the spiny form of Jonny Wilkinson in a game ready-made for a kickfest, and paid the ultimate price."

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<Rests case>

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Sadly, not a very good one.

Yes, Congratulations!

England were much better and presumably made all those mistakes in the second half so that everyone could write their Wilko headlines.

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PS Yes, Dave, I feel an utter twat now. How unlike an English Rugby Union fan that your first thought in victory is to call someone a twat.

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Far from it. One of the sublime pleasures of winning.

We are the champions of the World. I think I heard Freddie Mercury sing that about 19 times today and loved it every single time. I don't want to go through that again, next time win it in style, please.
John

"Is that all you've got!!" I think they must be regretting saying that now...
John

Great match, but I remember now why they only hold the RWC once every four years - I really don't think I can go through that kind of stress again for some time, however anaesthetised by Guinness.

One question remains outstanding, was the ref bribed by the Aussies, or was it the organisers/TV companies to keep the tension up? Not to take anything away from a stonking Wallabies' second half performance, but some of his decisions were perverse to say the least.

Timo

Terrific final to end the tournament.

England have worked longer and harder for this trophy than any other team and that superb conditioning showed. It'll be interesting to see how competitive they remain once the expected crop of retirements happen. The forward pack will need a major re-build in time for France 2007.

I was hoping that the Wallabies would prevail but England always (apart from the first 15 mins or so) looked like they had enough up their sleeve to get home. Huge wraps to the Aussies though...the AB's wouldn't have even been able to force extra time.

My man of the match...Martin Johnson. If NZ had a skipper with that sort of grit and leadership abilities things would look a lot rosier for us in the future.

Anyway, congrats to all. Best team won for sure. I still have issues with the mentality behind the way they play but there is no arguing with the results.

We need a coach, wonder if Clive could be bribed??

Enjoy the victory


red

Well, what can I say

CONGRATULATIONS to Clive Woodward, the whole squad, the back room boys et al

What a day - what an atmosphere - what a celebration.

Some strange decisions in the second half???

World Champions (that has a nice sound)

Mike

Myself and my boss have had a string of e-mails last week from our colleagues in Australia. They have been upping the ante on the banter. Monday will feature a conference call, a rendition of Swing Low.....and liberal helpngs of humble pie!!

Best of all those that know enough about the game saw all of the positive rugby come from England in extra time. They should have no complaints.

What a weekend!

Milan

I hear Westminster Council (Such Nice People) have given the go ahead for a Victory March in Whitehall upon the boys return. They obviously deserve all the praise and honour the Country can muster, so let's hope at the Downing St reception the PM doesn't take over the show and make it into a Political smartie point Circus excercise, "Political Free Sport", is the way ahead innit. This new era in British Rugby will hopefully bring many new youngsters into the game, the real prize of winning it seems to me.

Fritz.

Graham Ricketts

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The forward pack will need a major re-build in time for France 2007.

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Not like NZ then, eh redeye?

Agree with you about Martin Johnson though, he was immense and England will really struggle to replace him.

Our second team aren't bad though. They only lost by one point to France's best - away - in the last minute - just before the World Cup.

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Originally posted by MichaelC:
Prediction:
Australia: 23
England: 24
I see it being a tight, forward dominated, game with Australia outscoring England on the try front but a certain Mr Wilkinson kicking the points (maybe a drop goal in there).
A nail-biter definitely.
Mike

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Mike:

Holy shit! Will you please start buying my lottery tickets?

Well done, England. And Matthew, this is obviously a great triumph for Britain.

Alan

This weekend was definitely a weekend to remember.

Jonny Wilkinson cool under pressure, kicking England into the record books.

Credit to Australia for their second half performance.

However, it feels good to see England win another World Cup.

1966 was a long time ago, and it feels good to see

ENGLAND WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS

again.

Congratulations to England and English supporters. Unquestionably the best team in the world - with the best supporters too. Enjoy and savour your moment and the ability to be called "World Champions" for the next 4 years!

My World Rankings are:

England
Australia
NZ
France
Sth Africa

I can't for one moment accept Patrick's assertion that France are No 2 in the World - this is wholly unsupported by the results of the tournament - and I'm not just talking about the playoff game for 3rd and 4th! England totally outclassed France - and won convincingly and easily. England deserved to beat Australia - but it was certainly anything but easy! How can you then assert that France are better than Australia? I'm not even totally sure how you can say France are better than NZ - although I concede this one is more open to debate - given NZ hasn't faced France's number 1 side on the 2 occasions we have beaten France this year.

England are a team that constantly play up to their (significant) potential. Australia constantly play above theirs - but even that wasn't enough on the weekend. NZ and France play a style of game that does not lead to consistent winning rugby against the very top teams (ie: England and Australia). This means that we are always going to struggle to win a Tournament like this.

But on the upside for NZ (if there is one) is that we got to witness 3 games this season where the AB's did play sublime running rugby and made Australia and Sth Africa look a joke. Sadly for us - the 50 pointers we scored against Aust and SA in the Tri nations -and the convincing quarter final thrashing of SA (who let's not forget gave England a tough time in the pool) will be forgotten and all we will ever remember is the woeful display against Austalia which denied us the chance to play England in the final (where I concede we almost certainly would have lost).

But I digress - this moment is all about a wonderful English team, led by a great skipper and possessing the most dangerous man in World rugger "Jonny Be God"!!!

The rest of the World (NZ included) are envious indeed! Well done!

Richie T

Well said Richie.

The world rankings are obvious..

1 England
2 Aust
3 NZ
4 France
5 who cares?

The English are happy. Who can blame them, its been aeons since they even had a sniff of winning anything (esp against Australia).

Unfortunately they will spend the next 4 years telling anyone who will listen that they're champions. That'll wear thin pretty fast.

The good news is that this will be a tremendous fillip for Southern Hemisphere rugby. We now have something foreign and irritating to take aim at

I'll long range pick England to finish 4th at the next World Cup. I say this as a half English, half Welsh Kiwi btw.

red

As a Wallaby-supporting Kiwi I can only say well done England, thoroughly deserved victory and a game fully worthy of a WC final. If a certain Mr Sailor had not disappeared into that bermuda triangle of the park usually inhabited by a Mr R Thorne, the result may have been different, but there's no doubt that the Poms had the Aussies on the back foot pretty much all of the game.

I also object to this "boring" nonsense about England. That game was anything but, and the fact is that at this level, and with the defensive patterns and video homework these days, scoring tries ain't easy.

There's a certain completeness that the nation who invented the game have (finally) won the Cup. Four years of tenure, however, will be quite enough!

Agree totally and dont think it has eluded anyone that we (All Blacks) were actually spared the ignominy of a final drubbing that would have made the hatred of messrs Mitchell, Deans and Thorne back here even more vitrolic.

We were instead given a final treat that did the great game enormous credit and will undoubtedly result in scores of 5 year old English school boys tearing down their Beckham bedroom posters and replacing them with Wilkinson in squatting position before potting yet another impossible penalty or conversion.

As the saying goes, Rugby was the winner.

Roll on 2007.

Fantastic.
Such a long wait.
Such a good feeling.
Such a brilliant ending.

For the first time in my life I didnt watch an England rugby match cheering their every mistake and fumble and urging the other team to crush them. I think this means that this particular team have won over even the most biased of hearts. I give them my grudging admiration and think they thoroughly deserved the title. I trace the key moment when they became a truly winning team back to last years 6 nations decider when they could have easily slipped up against Ireland but instead calmly stuffed us out of sight. Roll on six nations for us and the Welsh to punish the English hangover!

John

ps Considering what an absolute **** Will carling is, I felt he was quite an astute tv pundit?

How's this for a conspiracy theory: Mitchell was in cahoots with his old pal Clive to sabotage the AB's campaign, in return for..God knows what, maybe Mitch had been a naughty boy in Blighty, maybe he's now set for life.

Sound crazy? Reflect on the inexplicable omissions from the side: Mherts, Cully, Taine Randell, the latter a vastly more skilled ball player than "suitcase" Thorne.

Why wasn't Umaga played in the crucial semi? We know now that he was fit (played cricket on the weekend).

Why wasn't Carter subbed on sooner?

Why did Mitch sit there impassively as the game turned to shit?

Why pick McDonald, who's off to play for his pension, what was Ralph doing in the team?

Remember Hansie!