It’s the biggest match in the world and the Boks aren’t in it….Thanks Heyneke.
Kick-off at HQ is at 6:00pm South African time, or 4:00pm if you’re in the UK.
May the best team win.
Australia: 15 Israel Folau, 14 Adam Ashley-Cooper, 13 Tevita Kuridrani, 12 Matt Giteau, 11 Drew Mitchell, 10 Bernard Foley, 9 Will Genia, 8 David Pocock, 7 Michael Hooper, 6 Scott Fardy, 5 Rob Simmons, 4 Kane Douglas, 3 Sekope Kepu, 2 Stephen Moore (captain), 1 Scott Sio.
Replacements: 16 Tatafu Polota-Nau, 17 James Slipper, 18 Greg Holmes, 19 Dean Mumm, 20 Ben McCalman, 21 Nick Phipps, 22 Matt Toomua, 23 Kurtley Beale.
New Zealand: 15 Ben Smith, 14 Nehe Milner-Skudder, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Julian Savea, 10 Daniel Carter, 9 Aaron Smith, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (captain), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Samuel Whitelock, 4 Brodie Retallick, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Dane Coles, 1 Joe Moody.
Replacements: 16 Keven Mealamu, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Charlie Faumuina, 19 Victor Vito, 20 Sam Cane, 21 Tawera Kerr-Barlow, 22 Beauden Barrett, 23 Sonny Bill Williams.
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Go………. oh who the f%#£k cares!!!!!
@JD (Comment 1) : oh no wait go OZ don’t want RM touching the trophy again!!!!!!
This should be a cracker! 😎
Dan Carter gets the first points of the day.
New Zealand 3 – 0 Australia
8 minutes.
Foley strikes back.
New Zealand 3 – 3 Australia
14 minutes.
Australian loose forwards turning the ball over at will now.
Carter slots another penalty.
New Zealand 6 – 3 Australia
27 minutes.
Carter slots another one.
New Zealand 9 – 3 Australia
36 minutes.
New Zealand very lucky. Ref and his assistants missing a forward pass right before the penalty.
Milner-Skudder scores in the corner. Great play from the All Blacks.
Half Time
New Zealand 16 – 3 Australia
Nigel Owens may as well be wearing a black jersey today. As well as what the AB’s are playing, they are also the beneficiaries of poor officiating by Owens.
@KingCheetah (Comment 16) : Yeah, All Blacks have been very lucky on two occasions already.
@Ben (Comment 17) : Owens missed the forward pass before their penalty and didn’t call accidental obstruction just before they scored their try.
Australia also unlucky with injuries in the first half. Losing both Kane Douglas and Matt Giteau early on.
Second half is under way. Sonny Bill Williams replaces Conrad Smith for the second half.
Ma’a Nonu scores a beauty!
New Zealand 21 – 3 Australia
44 minutes.
Carter missed the conversion.
New Zealand with almost 70 percent possession.
Just pisses me off to think we could have been playing aus for the cup today. So within reach but one man cost us all of it. Just some clever replacements at half time….but no.
Aus don’t seem to be in this. I’m tuning out. NZ will take the cup. That’s it for rwc 2015.
Gee this effort puts our match vs. the AB’s in perspective. The Aussie, are not in the same league. We weren’t pretty, but we weren’t as pathetic as the Wobblies.
Ben Smith yellow carded for a dangerous tackle.
David Pocock scores off a driving maul.
New Zealand 21 – 10 Australia
54 minutes.
Poor play from Australia. Nine phases and into the New Zealand 22 and then they fail to commit numbers to the breakdown.
Twenty minutes left. All Blacks leading by 11.
Kuridrani scores. Game on!
New Zealand 21 – 17 Australia
64 minutes.
Ben Smith comes back on. Australia scoring 14 points while he was in the bin.
Drop goal from Carter!
New Zealand 24 – 17 Australia
70 minutes.
Carter nails a long range penalty.
New Zealand 27 – 17 Australia
75 minutes.
Barrett finishes Australia off.
New Zealand 34 – 17 Australia
79 minutes.
New Zealand are the champions! Well deserved.
FULL TIME
NEW ZEALAND 34 – 17 AUSTRALIA
Dan Carter is the man of the match.
Owens was poor. After Craig Joubert’s public humiliation after a call, that was marginal at best, and very tough to call in real time, this effort by Owens was really poor. No doubt the old farts will remain silent.
HM, the coach who did so little, with so much available talent. And we have him for another 4 years ????
@knock on (Comment 46) : Really sad.Feel sorry for Lambie. He is clearly the better flyhalf but Heineke has already pronounced Pollard as the next Carter and doesn’t like admitting when he is wrong and doesn’t like to go back on his word. Had Lambie started the semi-final we would have played Australia in the final and who knows.
@GreatSharksays, have to agree, Lambie just gets shunted around by HM, lets hope that he has a sustained, injury free run in SR next year and displaces Pollard, fair and square.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 47) : The next carter? He just got out shined by Sanchez, the argintinian flyhalf. No comparing Pollard to Carter or even thinking he is in that league is an injustice to Carter. Pollard jas a big body with which he can ” attack the line” otherwise known as crash test rugby. Which under the HM regime is exactly what is expected of players. But up against real thinking flyhalfs he doesn’t measure up. Carter Giteau smal guys yet so much better. But never mind let’s go with the bigger is better crap. That how we lost a world cup.
@KingCheetah (Comment 45) : Agree. Besides the forward pass he penalised Aus for not rolling away when Smith blatantly milked every opportunity to fall over the player lying on his side. When Genia did the same thing Owens just waved play on.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 47) : @coolfusion (Comment 49) : I think the only person that would have made a big enough difference for us to win the world cup would have been Superman. We were never going to win the world cup with Heyneke at the helm.
@GreatSharksays (Comment 47) : Lol, Let’s re-phrase. “In my opinion, Lambie is clearly the better flyhallf”
Pollard has miles to go before he can ever be compared to Carter, and that may never be. However, lets get some perspective. Pollard is what 21? Where was Dan Carter at 21? Did he light up the rugby world at 21?
So yes Lambie is class, and has battled to nail down a starting berth. Maybe not due to any fault of his, but it is what it is. By contrast, Pollard was given an opportunity, and initially he made the most of it.
If Pollard was as crap and useless as many on here claim, why are so many analysts, including ex Sharks players backing him? Surely they would also rather punt Lambie?
Pollard definitely has the talent. He has only played 20 tests, and is only 21 yet has already scored 188 test points.
So apart from some really glaring errors, which he can learn from, I think he certainly has shown potential. I doubt very much if Lambie would have made any difference, as it was the team that was misfiring, and believe me Lambie had a few shockers too.
@Ben (Comment 51) : Lol, ain’t that the truth!
I watched a few games from way back. I wonder what was the turning point for SA rugby. When did we stray off the path of evolution? Sure the easy answer is HM but did de Villiers do so much different? Is HM not just the continuation of what was already stagnating and going downhill?
@KingCheetah (Comment 52) : I think SA is bladdy lucky to have 2 flyhalves the calibre of Pollard and Lambie and i think they both can play a big role going forward. Lambie can most definitely establish himself as the no.1 but he needs to get through next season uninjured and produce some good performances. Pollard needs to take this experience and grow from it to become a better player. I would still like either 1 or someone else with good decision making playing at 15 a i feel Leroux is a bit hit and miss and if we want to play a more expansive game he could be costly at the back.
@SheldonK (Comment 55) : I would venture to say with the new bulls coach he will be expected to adapt and play a different game to ludeke Meyer plan. It may be very good for his growth. I also agree with Naas Botha that it won’t do any harm to get him to play centre to expand his skillset.
@coolfusion (Comment 56) : It will be interesting indeed. Marais indicated that Serfontein needed a n adjustment period when he rejoined the Bulls from the Bok camp as he didnt just want his 12 to bash into the opposition every time. With paige, Hougaard, Pollard, Serfontein, Kriel, Odenadaal, Swanepoel it will be interesting to see how the Bulls line up. Im hoping that Lambie can stay injury free nd have a good run in a Sharks side desperately needed some direction on the field. But for me he needs to start taking the ball to the line again and not just sitting deep and shifting it.
@Spirit of Rugby (Comment 50) : On the other side of the coin the Aus no 3 was lucky not be carded – he put in two very late tackles on Carter.
@SheldonK (Comment 55) : Absolutely agree. The future is bright for SA Rugby, despite all the doom and gloom. We have quality players in almost all positions coming through the ranks. Agree that Lambie should be used only as a 10 by the Sharks, so he can play his way into the team. Ditto for Pollard. He is young, and made some real shockers, but he also did some good things in between.
If you look at our options for the future, we shouldn’t complain. We just need more skills and change in mindset at Bok level.
LH: Kitshoff, Oli Kebble, Nyakane, Pierre Schoeman, Jacques van Rooyen
Hkr: Strauss, Malcolm Marx, Mark Pretorius, Jacques du Toit, Ntubeni, Joseph Dweba
TH: Thomas du Toit, Malherbe, Ox Nche, Wilco Louw, Marcel vd Merwe
Locks: Eben, Lood, PSDT, Ruan Botha, Mostert, Kleyn, RG Jansen, Jason Jenkins
Flanks: Jaco Kriel, Lappies, Whitely, Vermeulen, Philip vd Walt, Haro Liebenberg, Arno Botha, Kolisi, Boom, Minnie, du Preez twins, Paul Schoeman
SH: Paige, Piet van Syl, JP Smith, Faf, Reinach, Ross Cronje
FH: Lambie, Pollard, Brandon Thomson, Fred Zeilinga, Marnitz, Tiaan Schoeman,
Centre: Esterhuizen, Francois Venter, Harold Vorster, Stokkies Hanekom, Dries Swanepoel, de Allende, Serfontein, Kriel, Ruhan Jv Rensburg, Burger Odendaal.
Wings: JPP, Mvovo, Rhule, Ulengo, Ismael, Combrinck, Sergeal, Volmink, Leolin Zas, Ngukana
FB: Willie, Gelant, Andries Coetzee, Grant Hermanus, Curwin Bosch
The biggest challenge is going to be to meet the national transformation targets!! Think therein lies our challenge.
So players like Nyakane, Dweba, OX Nche, Ntubeni, Abongile Nonkontwana, Kolisi, Carr, Paige Zas, Ncgukana, Galant, Ismael and Ulengo will need to step up to the plate.
@SheldonK (Comment 57) : Looking at the respective backlines. The Bulls and Lions look very strong. Bulls need their pack to man up again.
Lions: Faf, Marnitz/Jaco vd Walt or Elton,Combrinck/Volmink, Mnisi/Harold Vorster, Ruhan/Stokkies, Skosan, Andries Coetzee/vd Walt.
Bulls: Piet van Syl/Paige, Pollard/Schoeman, Ulengo, Burger Odendaal/Serfontein, Dries Swanepoel/Kriel, Travis Ismael/Houghaard, Gelant
@KingCheetah (Comment 59) : The other trick is getting the majority of those guys fit and firing at the same time.
@KingCheetah (Comment 60) : 100%…Bulls pack need to come to the party. Lions need to figure out how to defend whilst playing their expansive game.
Birdie tells me the signing of Ruan Botha seems to be a done deal
@sharks_lover (Comment 63) : Yes, I also heard that it was fait accompli.
Will be a great signing for the Sharks. Cheetahs have the same problem. We are great when Lood and Carl Wegner are fit, but up a strong creek with no canoe when they are injured.
@KingCheetah (Comment 64) : or when the Sharks sign Lood! ;-P
@sharks_lover (Comment 63) : @KingCheetah (Comment 64) : hope your info I’d correct as it will be good news after the whole Chili-saga!!!!
@JD (Comment 65) : Lol, that may happen, but only after 2016. I am fairly happy that Franco is developing from within, but there don’t seem to be many promising young locks in the Cheetahs structures at the moment. Lots of everything else, but not many locks.