Henry sticks with winning combo
20 Oct 2011
All Blacks coach Graham Henry has named an unchanged starting line-up for Sunday’s World Cup final against France.
Unlike the 2007 tournament where the side was changed from game to game, Henry has coveted consistency and built some momentum with the existing combinations. Adam Thomson is the only change to the 22, and will replace Victor Vito on the bench.
The All Blacks boast an impressive win record under Henry, but they are yet to win a World Cup. Henry admitted that this would be a motivating factor.
‘I’ve been with a lot of these guys for a long time and although they may be ranked the leading team in the world, they’ve never been world champions,’ Henry said. ‘It would be just marvellous to have that title because they’ve had every other title that’s going in rugby apart from this one.
‘So for Richie [McCaw] and the boys I think that would be fabulous and you don’t deserve that title till you do the job. I think they’re good enough and that would be the icing on the cake.’
The All Blacks coach said the team would not underestimate France.
‘This French team, we’re not sure who’s going to turn up, quite frankly. So we’ve got to prepare that they’re going to be the best in the world. They’ve certainly got the individuals to do that, it’s just whether they can produce that as a side. All the word is that they’ve prepared well and they’re very focused and they’re enjoying the underdog tag.
‘They feel that they’re not being considered in this final by a lot of people. We don’t think that. We think they’re a very good rugby team.’
If the All Blacks win the final, they will retain their No 1 world ranking.
New Zealand – 15 Israel Dagg, 14 Cory Jane, 13 Conrad Smith, 12 Ma’a Nonu, 11 Richard Kahui, 10 Aaron Cruden, 9 Piri Weepu, 8 Kieran Read, 7 Richie McCaw (c), 6 Jerome Kaino, 5 Sam Whitelock, 4 Brad Thorn, 3 Owen Franks, 2 Keven Mealamu, 1 Tony Woodcock.
Subs: 16 Andrew Hore, 17 Ben Franks, 18 Ali Williams, 19 Adam Thomson, 20 Andy Ellis, 21 Stephen Donald, 22 Sonny Bill Williams.
165 Comments
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20 Oct 2011, 20:51 pm
Winning Dragons ?
20 Oct 2011, 20:57 pm
Go All Blacks, do it for the Southern Hemisphere. Destroy them.
Richie deserves that trophy. Legend. Right up there with Lomu.
20 Oct 2011, 20:57 pm
He knows what his A-team is.
20 Oct 2011, 21:01 pm
I will give credit to GH. Did not buckle under the pressure to pick shoulderboy.
20 Oct 2011, 21:17 pm
The AB’s will walk this.
They just mustn’t let the occasion get too big for them.
20 Oct 2011, 21:40 pm
So this is the team that’s going to walk the WC final stroll in the park….
20 Oct 2011, 21:56 pm
like taking candy from a baby…
20 Oct 2011, 22:16 pm
An ideal ending to a wonderful campaign of the greatest coaches under one roof, no one comes close!!!!
20 Oct 2011, 22:17 pm
Transie: hiya ku http://www.iloverugby.co.za ufunde I-article ethi “Wayne Smith: The Revolutionary”.
20 Oct 2011, 22:38 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-9: am THERE like a bear!
20 Oct 2011, 22:50 pm
With the ABs in their mind already World Champs, the French would be making very smart plans to disrupt NZ
And they will look no further than Aaron Cruden.
He is the man they will target and Piri Weepu’s service to him. The ABs will then take the play back to the forwards but if French stand up in the collisions we may well be in for a surprise!
There is no team like the French who would NOT hesitate to put the ABs away.
A motivated and focused French team arguably one of the smartest on the planet.
20 Oct 2011, 23:01 pm
You know I sense a little tickling in the throat region feeling a coming on
fark me silly if this f’ng no hoper bunch of froggy french ragamuffin outfit fcks this glory grandiose AB rugga machine up Saturday there is going to be moerse sack cloth and ashes deviation of dysfunction on those couple south sea Islands, I reckon the waves might just part and swallow em up rather than face the wailing and torture that might overcome the frail psyches of a nation in absolute destitute expectation and fear of failure once more…
Could the gods of ruggadom be that misgiving.. ooh my frail beseeching heart.. I dunno how the likes of Tackler will take it if the bounce of ze oval ball decide to flutter and falter in the wrong direction this last hope of a time on her own godly given soil… devastation and desolation won’t cut the air of gloom engulfing a nation … we could be mistaken for hoping it don’t come to this, because even the most ardent of fair French fan would not wish such a hopeless state of destitution and diabolical denial hitting the streets of Wellington and Auckland if by merciless incantation Paddy’s regime of whistle blowers don’t save the last throw of the dice show its last beseeching spoils…
20 Oct 2011, 23:14 pm
If the AB’s lose because the Froggies play better rugby, it’ll be a horrible day, but it will pass.
If the AB’s lose because of bad calls al la brycie, you can expect a similar reaction
to 2007, and to SA a short time ago.
I am expecting the frogs to play out of their skins, and they would need to to be able to win.
I don’t think Joubert would make too many bad calls, he’s pretty good.
on a level playing field however, I just can’t see these frogs match the AB’s.
Still nervous as all he11 tho. more nervous than the semi.
20 Oct 2011, 23:17 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-12: i forsee the ABs turning up the heat in the 1st 15min & unleash a flurry of manny pacquiao-like punches from which the french won’t at any point recover.
but if the french rogues survive that initial onslaught then it’s dog fight!
20 Oct 2011, 23:23 pm
Craig Joubert will blow it for the AB’s just like he did last Sunday vs Wallabies.. he’s a home town ref just like the best of them.. Paddy got him well and truly taped… and he simply won’t have the balls to blow AB’s out their last hope of reclaiming their long lost national prestige and pride in front of a nation of hopeful hearts expecting the walls of Gethsemane to eventually pass over the judgment of dooms day forever…
If French wanna take this thing they gonna have to do it in spite of every last negating sentiment and dare to dream air of expectancy like a nonchalant Cassius Clay knocking over a cocksure Sonny Bill Liston in round one of this here scheduled heavy weight crown bout…
20 Oct 2011, 23:26 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-14: pretty much correct.. if they survive the first onslaught and pull a sucker punch of their own.. could turn out into a dog fight which like 99 could turn nasty and ugly… though its a real long shot from where any pundit would even dare to dream that the plucky little cockerels can pull it off again this time.. especially on AB home soil..
20 Oct 2011, 23:28 pm
Despite whats been said, I look at it this way.
We only scored one try against Aus, Nonu. Yet we bullied them all night long, still didnt really penetrate though.
The French were able to defend a 1 point lead against Wales by doing nothing other than, well, defending
If we do not rise above last week, or fall short of last weeks effort, and the French did what we know the French can do, we could be in poo.
Its easy to say we should smash em, but if we get rattled and they get confident, its a whole new ball game, it really is.
They may have looked ****, but at times, like the first 10 against us in pool play, and the 12 minute patch against England, they performed. So we we know they can do it, its whether or not they can sustain it, and how we cope with it.
20 Oct 2011, 23:32 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-16: Well this pundit has chanced Lady Luck’s arm with 100 quid on Parra and the Paddas.
20 Oct 2011, 23:32 pm
French use ’95 Bok victory as inspiration
by Brenden Nel 20 October 2011, 12:32
France will use the memory of the Springboks 1995 upset win in the Rugby World Cup final as inspiration when they meet the All Blacks at Eden Park in Auckland on Sunday.
The Boks came up against a rampant All Black side, and upset the odds by winning the final, a day that still echoes in rugby folklore as one of the greatest days of the game.
France, now staring down the barrel against a fancied All Black side this weekend and given no chance by anyone at snatching the World Cup for the first time, have invoked the 1995 memory as one they will use as they motivate themselves for the match.
The French admitted to “cocooning” themselves against the one-sided media coverage and barrage of support for the All Blacks, and are drawing from the siege mentality to try and gain strength ahead of Sunday’s final.
“A sense of history is important and we understand all too well why the All Blacks are favoured. Someone has to be favoured and it is not a given. They are playing at home and this is the dream final for us. For them, they will have a stadium jam-packed with New Zealanders,” French winger Vincent Clerc said in reference to the memory of 1995 as opposed to this weekend.
“But we have not played the match yet. They are not world champions yet.
“I do not feel I am in the skin of a future loser, someone who can’t win. That is not how I feel at all. But we are in the Final and it does not matter what happened before. It is what happens now that counts.”
Clerc said while his side had been criticised across the globe for making the final, and while some thought they were not worthy of their place, the French knew that their fighting spirit will give them a chance.
“This is the World Cup Final and we are not here by coincidence. You can put some of it down to chance but I don’t think it is coincidence,” he said.
“We will have to be committed and we will have to fight. We can’t fall into the trap of just doing any old thing. We have to be extremely lucid and we will have to make sure we manage the match, take the opportunities that are given.
“They have weaknesses as well and we just have to make sure we just don’t do any old thing. It will be a huge, huge rugby match. We will have to put the heat on them and we will have to be extremely defensive in the way we were against the Welsh.
“There is nothing better than a World Cup Final. It is the summit.”
The French winger said his side had used their strength as a group to shut out the media frenzy that has shook New Zealand before this weekend’s final.
“I have not turned the TV on all week so I am not sure what is going on in the outside world. We do not need motivation and we do not have to look at what others are doing. We are in our own bubble so it does not matter what the New Zealanders are doing in terms of their preparation.”
Clerc said his side didn’t fear the All Blacks and knew what they had to do to “write French history.”
“I think we are drawn to difficulty and I think it allows us to bring out the best in ourselves and it allows us to believe in the impossible.
“When you always see them as winners it is a logical thing when you lose against them. It is up to us to bring out the best in ourselves. It is a French default but I think in some ways it allows us to upset them. We have not always played perfect rugby but we have beaten them in the past.
“We will try to write French history. It is not easy but we have the tools. You can never predict what will happen.
“We know we can destabilize the All Blacks and we can do some exceptional things. I experienced that in 2007 and we experienced (it) in Dunedin a few years ago so it is a great source of inspiration for us. I think all the French team has under-performed in respect to the All Blacks and they have gone on to improbable victories.
“We have a greater desire and we need to be realistic. We can’t miss any opportunities.”
20 Oct 2011, 23:33 pm
french such an emtional side, no matter how good or bad can be terrible or sublime
20 Oct 2011, 23:34 pm
@JL1(JL1)-19: Maybe they’ve been watching Invictus.
20 Oct 2011, 23:37 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-15: yeah it’s unfair that NZ can have the same ref for the Semi-final and Final, I’m not sure that’s ever happened at a World Cup before. Certainly not in the pro era.
France will have to be twice as good to see this one home.
20 Oct 2011, 23:43 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-18:
100 quid is a big gambit Herr Gephoefler .. puttin yer money where yr heart is for one last throw of ze dice .. good for you.. .. how much did you back Barney to win his back to back WC vainglory fckup of a me first hollow dandy derriere campaign?
Thank the good Lord of good mercies he weren’t allowed to ride his luck that far.. can just imagine the size of that vainglorious head if karma had designed to spoil his f’ng over sized ego as much as she allowed him to grow his over-sized gat…
20 Oct 2011, 23:44 pm
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-21: They are going to it for Carla Bruni
20 Oct 2011, 23:48 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-22: But I thought Joubert was one of the best?
I guess the only way that NZ can ever truely “win” a game is if there is no ref?
What a crock of *****.
I betcha the AB’s would have been happy with any ref, apart from barns.
Why must people persist in blaming refs? yes, they may miss calls, and make bad calls. but this is true of ALL refs, bar none.
If not Joubert, then who? Name one referee who has not made a bad call? There isn’t one. They are a “necessary evi1″.
Joubert was chosen by a panel because he had the best performance of the tournament. what can be fairer than that? Pick someones name out of a hat?
unripe wine fruit is what it sounds like.
20 Oct 2011, 23:50 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-23: a big fat zero schmackeroo was placed on Barney and his Boks… Odds weren’t schweet enough…
However odds on Sunday are very tasty… 8/1 Tricolores win. Got 100 quid to spare so I thought why the hellnot.
Never has there been a more one sided final in the history of the World Cup… This tells me one thing – the Rugby World Cup bubble might implode come Sunday…
20 Oct 2011, 23:50 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-22: They gonna have to beat the AB’s in front of their baying hoping praying beseeching fans AND take Joubert out the equation which if he has anything to do with it he’ll be hoping he don’t stand in the way of the avalanche of despair if by chance France are ahead at the final chapter.
There is so much expectancy laden sentiment here it will take a brave ref to blow it without considering the repercussions if by chance AB’s must lose.. and Joubert may just be too much of a goody two shoes nice guy IRB sucker to actually stick it to them if the occasion insists it..
20 Oct 2011, 23:50 pm
@JL1(JL1)-24: Liberty!
20 Oct 2011, 23:52 pm
@hashi(hashi)-25: I suspect if Australia had won the semi Barnes would have refereed the final, instead he has been shunted to 3rd/4th place play-off while NZ get the same ref for the semi and the final.
20 Oct 2011, 23:52 pm
I have to all intents and purposes thrown 100 quid away…
But, nothing like betting on a miracle…
20 Oct 2011, 23:53 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-22: trust you to have bone to pick
bloody geordie
20 Oct 2011, 23:54 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-27: yes, if NZ lose the ref leaves the stadium in a hearse, guaranteed.
I read some of the bookmakers have already paid out on a NZ win, one of them to the tune of £600,000. I hope the French can invoke the spirit of ’99 but sadly, I think this one’s already a wrap.
20 Oct 2011, 23:56 pm
@hashi(hashi)-25: is your nic in reference to a horse?
20 Oct 2011, 23:56 pm
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-27: Y’know, that may be true. I think you are right! What’ll happen if jourbet “cheats” and the AB’s lose the game is that every person named “Craig Joubert” in south africa will be subject to abusive phone calls from angry fans. Fair too! Absolutely. Only stands to reason doesn’t it. its happened before. Only a short time ago in fact.
Cyclopian troll.
I hope the AB’s win. They may not. If they do lose, I hope they lose to a brilliant french effort. Not to a string of bad referee calls.
20 Oct 2011, 23:57 pm
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-29: Paddy said, noway to Barnes for the Keewee final, the wounds of 2007 was still not healed
21 Oct 2011, 00:00 am
@hashi(hashi)-34: But a man with both eyes open would have to admit Justice4Bryce if Joubert rediscovers his roots and goes all French in the Final… That would be the absolute schweetest thing…. French will be Laughing
21 Oct 2011, 00:03 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-32:@hashi(hashi)-25: there’s NO way joubert is going to cheat against the all blacks on sunday, he has flown his parents to be at the stadium on the night! nope forget it he’ll be aiming for a stellar goodie-two-shoes, how do you love me now Paddy performance
21 Oct 2011, 00:03 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-29: Do you think it fair that referees should be held accountable for their performances? I assume so, you may have heard about the campaign to stop BL from reffing another game again. So, is the reverse not also applicable? As well as “punishment”, should there not be a “reward”?
If Joubert is not “fair”, then who is? There cannot be a french ref. There cannot be a NZ ref.
even you must admit barnes would be unseemly. So who else? What other referee is there that everyone can agree on who is not biased?
Why not offer reasonable and fair suggestions? I tell you why. Because there cannot be.
21 Oct 2011, 00:03 am
@JL1(JL1)-35: On the contrary I believe that Paddy thought that having Barnes ref the final would be too obvious in terms of bias…. Overcompensation… The French would have to pass the ball 10m back to avoid being blown to kingdom come with forward passes.
Nope, I reckon Paddy thinks he is clever by making Joubert whistle. However if all does not go to plan Joubert might suddenly pop a hammie at half time and Alain “Buck” Rolland will take over.
21 Oct 2011, 00:07 am
@Big Hit(Big Hit)-32: “guaranteed”
u’re a funny guy big hit.
21 Oct 2011, 00:07 am
@hashi(hashi)-34: you got too much of a persecution complex.. Joubert isn’t one of yours.. he’s actually one of ours.. and unbeknown perhaps to you there is likely far more pro AB support here than there is anti… so better you try grow a spine before Saturday because if your team is feeling anyway like you are they on a hiding to nothing Frenchies will have their guts for garters for sure…
@Heavens Game(Heavens Game)-30: miracles do and are know to occur… nothing like a miracle to blow some hope back into a stale and preconceived air of expectancy … and right now I reckon Nallet and Harinorduquey are banking heavily and are actually chomping at the bit on one… Craig Joubert just better get the fck out the way if it starts blowing through though… else he’s likely to get hurt..
21 Oct 2011, 00:07 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-15:
“If French wanna take this thing they gonna have to do it in spite of every last negating sentiment and dare to dream air of expectancy like a nonchalant Cassius Clay knocking over a cocksure Sonny Bill Liston in round one of this here scheduled heavy weight crown bout…”
Maybe not such an apt analogy; rumour would have it that Liston took a dive in that fight. (The phantom punch, and all that.)
21 Oct 2011, 00:08 am
@hashi(hashi)-25: Don’t talk through your back side
When the ABs suffered in the scrums against Italy, Paddy phoned the ref and lambasted him, and then did it in the media
Then Graham Henry accused a ref of not being fit enough, I think it was because the ref blew the forward passes of the ABs
The refs on international level are a bunch of clowns run by a clown. Do you want to tell me that these are the best there is?
21 Oct 2011, 00:08 am
BL hasn’t been held accountable for his actions, thats for sure.
A few hundred phone calls is nothing compared to being investigated for match fixing.
21 Oct 2011, 00:11 am
@Thucydides(Thucydides)-42: I personally prefer the French Cinderella men against the All Black Max Baers.
21 Oct 2011, 00:12 am
@Transformation(Transformation)-37: You mean his mother
21 Oct 2011, 00:12 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-41: lol HASHI is freaking out
hahaha
21 Oct 2011, 00:14 am
@ashampoopaloo(joel1yahoo)-41: French are talking brutality… Could be a couple of cards… Oh well, if you plan to spoil a party, spoil it big time…
They also have a little plan for the haka too it seems.
21 Oct 2011, 00:14 am
I for one don’t think barnes cheated in 2007. I don’t think the AB’s were “robbed”. I think barnes made way too many mistakes and bad calls, but he didn’t cheat. But it was a bad enough game that he does not “deserve” to ref a final.
I think Lawrence had a similarly bad game, and should not be able to ref a final.
I can’t think of too many glaring errors that changed critical games made by Joubert though.
Any i think that anyone who genuinely claims conspiracies with the refs, or the IRB, well, thats just a crock. SOMEONE must always be ‘in charge’ of a group. You may make claims against O’Brian. fine. Name someone who has suitable credentials that would be better…and who cannot also be accused of “corruption” or bias.
21 Oct 2011, 00:14 am
Paddy did you tell them or not, cause Bryce and Nigel and Allain never seem to have listened
O’Brien will tell the 10 referees chosen to officiate that they need to be stricter in their interpretation of the laws.
In a presentation to the officials on Tuesday in Auckland, he will highlight five areas – the breakdown, scrum, offsides, mauls and foul play. O’Brien said he was particularly concerned at a recent relaxing of standards, particularly around the tackle ball and offside line.
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