“Wilkinson the superior 10″

gee, youre full of it.

Not 1 paper in print seems to agree with you. Wilko was cr@p, even DC on poor form makes Wilko look limited.

btw – its nb’ed that you dont even have the balls or grace to acknowledge when your team loses. Surely youre Big’er than just subjecting to the standard non-sensical abuse ?

very immature, BH, I actually expected better of you. Im not sure why, come to think of it

I didnt mean by the technical ranking system, I meant who deserves to be recognised as ‘the Best’.

No. NZ will retain top spot whatever SA do in Ireland, as long as they beat France, and even losing in France, if SA do the same in Ireland. Simple.

You would have been perfectly right, if each and every year started from scratch (i.e., zero) for every team in terms of ranking points. In that case, surely, South Africa would have been well and truly No1.

In reality, each team carries the baggage of accumulated points. So – when this season started, New Zealand were whopping 3.23 points ahead of South Africa thanks to a great 2008 season and contrary to the Boks who were wooden spoonists as usual. Remember, South Africa have been able to close the gap between 2 nations thanks to WC win where each win had a double worth of points (and SA had 3 wins more than NZ), while NZ rankings were hurted heavily by an early exit.

In a nutshell, John Doe may beat Federer 3 times in a row, it does not make him no1 at once if he was far behind in ATP rankings before those wins.

Plus – ok, SA – NZ 3-0, but SA-Aus only 2-1 while NZ-Aus 4-0. And NZ-Fra 1-1, while SA-Fra 0-1. Does it make France the no1 team? No, it doesn’t. However, SA triumph vs NZ gave them enough points to catch them and eventually overtake, until Frogs knocked them off.

I mean, if we compare only SA and NZ and in this year only, result definitely is in SA favour. If we take in account how both teams played previosly, say, in last 3-4 years (or even since 2003 when ranking points were introduced), the results is definitely not in SA favour, even those doubled WC points who gave them no1 spot where nullified the very next season and NZ regained top spot as usual.

Let’s see things in perspective, not just narrow head-to-head this year.

good result for what we all acknowledge is not a great AB side, yet..

as for your assumption Big Hit that SA should be number one, does the World Champions losing two games to club sides determine they SHOULD be number 1? surely the number 1 ranked side should be able to dispose of a club team? the fact that NZ have won so many now in the NH and with not one try conceded in all that time speaks VOLUMES…

I’m claiming that win
Put the mockers on Aus

It’s 33% more special than 6.

8)

“I don’t see NZ winning the World Cup waka, and that’s just being honest”.

We are in with a starters chance Biggles.

Your lot may as well stay home, the airfares will be a waste of good money.

England are injury riddled and suddenly oh yeah the result should be nullified. Ditto Jake White. Pathetic.

And just perhaps ………Stuart Barnes might know a thing or two more than Biggles, re #10.s

AB’s 8 wins on the trot against England now.

Moody ?!

youre taking the p*ss, as usual.

McCaw was named MoM and he was everywhere. Moody was fighting for scraps.

Perhaps this AB team is not a classic. But theyve gone 7 (?) consecutive matches against all NH opposition IN the NH and not only have they won em but the opposition havent scored ONE try.

deserve ? probably more than youre willing to acknowledge, BH.

Rankings should go year by year I think, they’re more credible that way, best team in a given year wins the IRB team of the year award and then reset the scores for the next year.

#104 Tbozknows: need to take into account injuries, ‘think’ the SA side Jake sent down to NZ/Aus in 2007. You just can’t expect to win with that many players out.

Perhaps, but that ‘Year’ isnt over yet.

Its fair to say that in that 2-month period that the Boks reigned supreme. But Rankings are supposed to indicate consistent form over a sustained period, not momentary flashes of brilliance.

If Boks dont beat Ireland and the Blacks beat France in France, there’s no doubt that ABs will deservedly end the Year at no1.

And if France beat the ABs there would be even less doubt that les Tricolors would be no1. No doubt whatsoever.

Mark Lawrence.

Im happy with Kaplan regardless but his best days are behind him.