Retirements, etc Thorn, Mils to Japan. DC & McCaw have both been signed on for another 4 years, most of the squad are reasonably young. Woodcock & Ali Williams may not last another 4, average age is 28 so you have to start looking at the careers of Nonu, Smith, Kaino, Weepu, Mealamu, Hore, Afoa, Flynn and Cowan, and say, will these guys be right for the AB’s in 2015 ?- probably not.

New coach will need to start building a new core out of the existing players, with some fresh meat to fill in the holes

For four more years! At least. Probably much more.

Heh heh !

Tackles jou plank, you are missing the point!

Besides, your little digs at your very own (yes, I will tell you again, you are one of us!) has zero impact, you lost your edge about 4 years ago…

They’re now all New Zealanders, living, working, earning and (mostly) thriving in NZ . Mostly backing black too. When the RWC visitors go home, they all remain behind. THEY don’t withdraw support for a RWC tournament because a handful of bad losers from SA are determined to spit the dummy and pack a fat sad. Even though they were 3N easybeats and really came in and played as no-hopers in anyone’s mind other than their inflated own.

A4Y, pilgrim. A4Y.

If you dish it out, be ready to suck it up.

For A4Y.

Such as wishing opponents get injured. You mean unlike the Kiwi mob who cheered when Cooper got injured?

Yip, filled by the same said visitors you were gloating about before…but you know and everyone else know I was referring to stadia outside of the World Cup i.e. most S15 games played in NZ and the ITM Cup.

There were NO “empty stadiums” — every single game met its target and most were sell-out packed at eye-wateringly high prices. But then, walk in crowds aren’t the money-spinners anyway — it’s the TV audience (which is why the main games happened quite late at night NZ time).

I see the magazine convenietly left out the 60,000 Saffas already living in NZ!

But you missing the point, I am not talking about South Africans only but a much wider audience that WILL move away from Rugby unless it is fixed.

Check out the empty stadiums in your adopted country for starters and accept the truth rather than using it as another opportunity to have a dig at your own…

But, then, in the rugby lawbook it is written — unambiguously — “the referee is the sole judge of fact”. NZ fans had to swallow that in 2007 and SA fans have to swallow it now.

It really ought to be far easier to swallow if you’d lost 5 out of 6 Tri-nations tests barely a month and a bit earlier and you were being bested by an opponent who’d spanked you six times in your last seven encounters. Home and away. You were, frankly, their bunnies.

Hate ref-bashing but, let’s face the facts; Barnes’s miss of a forward pass in the ’07 QF was ONE incident in a game. Lawrence missed probably 10 penalisable incidents and affected the entire flow of the game. A huge difference indeed!

On that note Kia, who is retiring from the ABs and when will the new coach be announced? I understand one of the sidekicks are all but a shoe-in for the job, do you think that is wise or should they have looked for some fresh blood instead? This will be years 9 to 12 for him, won’t it?

PS I assume Brad Thron will be there in 2015…

Kia, the WC won’t go away as it is the easiest and most money the irb can make and all they have to do is be wined and dined, select a nation and make sure all advertising funds go to them. All the hard work is left to the hosting nation…I see Millennium Stadium will be hosting WC games in 2015 because of its ‘convenient location’…

* Iconic venue to provide maximise access for supporters to RWC 2015

* Stadium will provide the gateway to Rugby strongholds in the West and
South West of England

Yip the 74,500 capacity has nothing to do with it!

But that is all water under the bridge, time to move on and for the real Kiwis to enjoy the moment. Yes you right Tackles, that does exclude you! They have been the best team for a long time and the WC is but the cherry on top of a massive cake.

In the long run I do hope that the irb understand that there is something amiss with the current laws and officiating and act quickly to fix it. If not they will lose many supporters from all over…

Well said Capt Fantail – the RWC is a farce of a tournament tho, yes its exciting, but doesnt reward the best teams.

Play as top 10 v each other, 4 days rest in between, squads of 45, top play off in a best of 3

But tell me, why do you talk about yourself in the 3rd person? We all know you as much a ‘yarpie’ as me…