Wallabies edge sterile sideshow
21 Oct 2011
RYAN VREDE watched Australia stutter to an uninspiring 21-18 victory over Wales in the World Cup bronze medal match at Eden Park.
Naturally this contest lacked the intensity and compelling appeal of a match where the result was meaningful. Consequently it descended into a structureless, error-strewn and utterly unpalatable sideshow to Sunday’s final.
It would have been more bearable if either side had earned the right to play expansively by showing some appreciation for building a platform. Instead the strike runners in either pack were rarely deployed often enough to achieve this, with the showmen in the back division asked to enthral and entertain the 60 000 poor souls who paid to be punished.
Handling errors abound and Australia’s lethargy in sending cleaners into rucks often resulted in turnovers in the Welsh 22m. Their troubles were compounded and cause undermined when key play makers Kurtley Beale and Quade Cooper were injured before 25 minutes had elapsed. The latter, did, however, craft a try for Berrick Barnes with a deft offload, before his exit.
Australia looked a better side than the impotent Welsh, whose struggles were rooted in their inability to impose themselves at the gainline. They also missed suspended captain Sam Warburton’s ability to stifle the opposition’s attacking flow through his breakdown work. Indeed Warren Gatland’s side played with the verve, accuracy and innovation that suggested they’d had spent their week working their way through Auckland’s pubs and nightclubs.
Wales missed three goalkicks but still trailed by just four points (7-3) with with 30 minutes to play, before scoring courtesy of a clear forward pass. On the evidence of that incorrect decision, it appeared referee Wayne Barnes and his assistant had been lulled into a slumber themselves.
James O’Connor kicked two penalties to regain the lead for the Wallabies before Barnes took the Wallabies eight points ahead with a drop goal. Stephen Jones set up a tense final 10 minutes with a three pointer.
Adam Ashley-Cooper should have sealed the result with six minutes to play, but he grassed the ball in a tackle a metre for the goal line. Ben McCalman, however, made no mistake shortly thereafter. Wales would score after the siren had sounded, but were undeserving of victory.
The Wallabies thus finish in third place, which is much like almost bagging the hottest girl at the party, then having to settle for her ugly friend.
649 Comments
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21 Oct 2011, 14:09 pm
i have an idea, why don’t Sonny Bill challenge bakkies to a boxing match LOL … Sonny Bill will be no more!
21 Oct 2011, 14:11 pm
The All Blacks were playing South Africa, and after the half-time whistle blew they found themselves ahead 50-0, Nonu getting eight tries. The rest of the team decided to head for the pub instead of playing the second half, leaving Nonu to go out on his own.
“No worries,” Nonu told them, “I’ll join you later and tell you what happened.” After the game Nonu headed for the pub where he told his teammates the final score: 95-3.
“What!!!!” said a furious Richie McCaw, “How did you let them get three points??!” Nonu replied apologetically, “I was sent off with 20 minutes to go.”
21 Oct 2011, 14:11 pm
@Helen(Helen)-345:
poor hurri.
lamer than a donkey in a wheelchair.
21 Oct 2011, 14:12 pm
@Helen(Helen)-345:
yeah it wasnt a joke, really happened.
21 Oct 2011, 14:12 pm
Weepu & Jane walked to the team bus before the semi final vs Aus. Weepu sees a dog licking its balls …. He says to Jane, f*ckit bro! don’t you wish you could do that?? Jane says : hell yeah! but what if the dog bites??
21 Oct 2011, 14:13 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-350:
Even though it is not funny, that is a clever one.
21 Oct 2011, 14:13 pm
@Gunther(gunther)-353:
read 354, wasnt suppose to be funny.
21 Oct 2011, 14:13 pm
You’re trapped in a room with a tiger, a rattlesnake and a Bokke rugby fan. You have a gun with two bullets. What do you do?
A. Shoot the bokke fan – twice.
21 Oct 2011, 14:14 pm
@Lions_is_kak_kak_honde_honde_kak(suffer_guy)-355:
Bwhahahahahhhaaa…… NOW, THAT is FUNNY!!!!!
Hurri, you can take some humour lessons hondekak here
21 Oct 2011, 14:15 pm
Only another 2 days telling this one…
Why is a bra bnetter than a kiwi?
A bra has 2 cups!
21 Oct 2011, 14:15 pm
@Helen(Helen)-359:
why, thats old cr@p. I heard that when i was a kid. An english said it.
He use to call the boy little johnny.
21 Oct 2011, 14:15 pm
What is the epitome of TRUST
2 Maori cannibals doing a 69
21 Oct 2011, 14:16 pm
Breaking news :::: Richie McCaw in doubt for the final !!! ::;
NZ herald!!!
Richie McCaw might miss the final! – He woke up this morning and realised one of his balls were missing! — Apparantly Heinrich Brussouw stole it!
21 Oct 2011, 14:16 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-361:
“little johnny” is what we call kiwis.
21 Oct 2011, 14:16 pm
@Helen(Helen)-360:
Ok the 1st time was sort off funny but after the 12th time you sort of dont laugh anymore.
21 Oct 2011, 14:17 pm
Why does Sean Fitzpatrick shagg his sheep on the edge of a cliff?
It makes the sheep push back harder
21 Oct 2011, 14:18 pm
@Helen(Helen)-359: you thought that was funny? seriously, that jokes so old…
21 Oct 2011, 14:18 pm
What is the difference between a bowling ball and a kiwi p*****?
If you had to, you could eat a bowling ball
21 Oct 2011, 14:18 pm
@Helen(Helen)-364:
Is that right. Seen as your family lives in NZ, they would probably know but i have never heard of it before.
21 Oct 2011, 14:19 pm
@Lions_is_kak_kak_honde_honde_kak(suffer_guy)-363: how could brussouw steal it when hes been back in Suid Africa for two weeks already?
eish… do you know what movie they watched on the flight back?
21 Oct 2011, 14:20 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-369:
Having family in NZ is like having a brother in prison.
You think about him a lot, but you never talk about it.
21 Oct 2011, 14:21 pm
@Helen(Helen)-371:
So you have a brother in prison as well?
Is that HG?
21 Oct 2011, 14:22 pm
Would this game have been a “sterile sideshow” if the boks had been onvolved ?
21 Oct 2011, 14:22 pm
Anyways, peeps, I am outa here.
If the kiwis win, I hope it is close until the end.
If the Frogs win, I hope they run away with it.
I will be reminding myself this weekend of the Tortoise and Hare story.
21 Oct 2011, 14:23 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-370:
Well for a start Brussow would had to have been offside to do it, so yeah probably did happen.
21 Oct 2011, 14:24 pm
@DocNZ(DocNZ)-373:
We don’t do that in SA.
We are unable to unvolve. We can involve, we can even evolve, but unvolve is like being unscrewed. You can’t unscrew someone, no matter how hard you try
21 Oct 2011, 14:26 pm
@Helen(Helen)-374:
cool cya Helen. Make sure you slide some food under the cell door for HG. I dont think hes eating.
21 Oct 2011, 14:31 pm
Wat ‘n klomp kuk
21 Oct 2011, 14:33 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-378:
which bit
21 Oct 2011, 14:33 pm
I hate bad jokes
21 Oct 2011, 14:35 pm
@Dawn(Dawn)-378: pocahontas, hi
21 Oct 2011, 14:35 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-358:
Only because the Bok fan is the most dangerous of all the species in the room.
21 Oct 2011, 14:36 pm
300:
Is TRUTH ever the all important aspect to life that it should be to you?
I know it is not but you can at least pretend it is or is your state of being exposed to the state of being naked making you so desperate that you totally have to disregard TRUTH.
Every claim you make is devoid of truth, unfounded and wild and there are so many that I refuse to deal with them by ignoring them. But I will handle a few today to further teach you a lesson in life.
Your most recent wild claim is found in your words ” obsessed with ethnicity “. I will expose that.
Did you not years ago refer to Josephs and Davids, two persons that I again do not know. For what specific reason/s did I have to answer for their misdeeds whatever it was(and I still do not nor care to know) Was it because they are supposedly mixed race persons and compromised? – strike one.
Who gave you the need late one Fri. night to refer to my wife as “a coloured lady” when she is not and has never perceived herself as such other than just being a human being? If you do not know why use a specific ethnic tag? Why is her ethnic status ever a question to you especially if you are non-racial and more so if you have never had to ever deal with her in any form not even in dicussion with me? – strike two.
What was the expressed purpose of mentioning, specifically to me, the deeds of one Rajan Moods., again a total unknown to me, other than that he is not a black enough black? This one seems even more mischievous when a far bigger perpetrator of worse misdeeds is his potential Boss from the same city whom he clearly knows as do you? – strike three.
See that consistency in idea over many years in your line of thought? There are more but you only need three strikes to be out and outed.
Do you still want to know about being “obsessed with ethnicity”.
As for bringing Sacos into it begs another explanation of your intent as NO society or organisation needs to answer for any of its members as they all have many good and a few bad apples.
No doubt TRUTH escapes you.
Without consistent truth your every word is irrelevant and worthless.
21 Oct 2011, 14:36 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-227: Ndifuna uba wena ubhale I-article pha!
21 Oct 2011, 14:37 pm
@Helen(Helen)-376: Thank you grammar nazi .
21 Oct 2011, 14:44 pm
@ET.(ET.)-383: you’re right about one thing, to me “every word is irrelevant and worthless.”
21 Oct 2011, 14:45 pm
@mpundulu(mpundulu)-384: ngantoni mhlekazi?
21 Oct 2011, 14:46 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-352: Based on this, world cup victories should be a walk in the park.
21 Oct 2011, 14:47 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-387: Private conversation?
21 Oct 2011, 14:48 pm
@Hurricane(Hurricane)-352: Obviously not a WC game.
21 Oct 2011, 14:49 pm
@willievz(willievz)-382: agreed, theyd hit you with their wet tissue before so much as look at you
21 Oct 2011, 14:49 pm
Look the Boks will beat this French team by 35+ …. so if France keep it under a 35 point win, Boks are still true world champs — right?
21 Oct 2011, 14:49 pm
@Bismarck Burger(Bismarck Burger)-389: not at all, what do you want to know?
21 Oct 2011, 14:51 pm
@Transformation(Transformation)-393: Teach me..what are we discussing? Rest of thread looks dull
21 Oct 2011, 14:51 pm
@Lions_is_kak_kak_honde_honde_kak(suffer_guy)-392: only in your limited mind… they couldnt beat the wobblies even… fail…
21 Oct 2011, 14:53 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-395: sjoe, jy is lelik!
21 Oct 2011, 15:01 pm
@Bismarck Burger(Bismarck Burger)-394: wayne smith
21 Oct 2011, 15:03 pm
Ex AB coach? He available?
21 Oct 2011, 15:03 pm
@Bismarck Burger(Bismarck Burger)-396: as ugly as Burger or Bismarck?
21 Oct 2011, 15:05 pm
@poppa69(poppa69)-399: Both are a beauty to behold. Ugly as a Richie McCaw post WC interview
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