Well written article albeit misguided
also as a neutral let me tell you what i saw.
I saw an absolute belter of a game of rugby. low score indeed but in a purist way that was real rugby. It was all about body's on the line. no inches given or taken. passion, respect and all the things that have made this great game great. Spoiled game.... not in this man's reality.
It will rank as one of the all time best finals hands down.
The ref did a fine job, and if you look at his stats you will find it flies in the face of you article being more or less 50/50.
If i had a complaint about the Ref i would direct it at the touch officials who for me, were anonymous when the man in the middle needed some guidance at scrum time. But all in all a ref you don't hear is a good ref.
I see your point of view but don't agree, and specially don't agree with this statement......
"It spoiled the match as France were the better side but were never allowed to really get into gear as New Zealand were able to haul them back by whatever means necessary."
That's a farcical statement. NZ were the best side for most of the game with France putting in an exceptional third quarter and indeed second half. That's not just my opinion but just about everyone saw NZ were the better side. Marginally yes but nonetheless true over the 80 mins.
I cannot fault the commitment and effort put in by the players. I thought, as you rightly say, it was an all or nothing effort from both sides with some bonecrunching hits both ways, good ball skills and some fine kicking for touch and territory.
However for me the referee was too one sided and did not allow the game to become the real flowing contest it should have become. I also disagree on the performance. I thought New Zealand were strong in the middle 15 minutes for the first half but aside from that France were the better team. But were never fully able to get into gear thanks to some questionable calls by the man in the middle.
Mate i would ask you to site an example. Fact is that the ref does not determine how a team plays. That comes down to to things. First your own ability. Second The ability of the opposition defence. Also as a game plan i saw no evidence that France wanted to play a wide expansive game. Certainly in the first half they kept trucking it up the middle most of the time they had the ball. Replays shown (on Irish TV) showed France passed up several opportunities to go wide when they had clear overlaps.
I think your beating a dead donkey with this blaim the Ref stuff. France simply didn't attack the space, and in the first half NZ were defending far too tight leaving acres of space out wide. France just failed to spot it. And even failed to spot it when there winger was screaming for the ball on a number of occasions.
France played it that way, Not the ref.
Even if France were 'robbed' or whatever by the official, you have to remember the only reason they were in the final was because they had the official on their side in the semi final, what goes around comes around.
Great final, never enjoyed a low scoring match so much.
New Zealand deserve it for being the best team or the tournament and of the past decade! Hope they enjoy the win because the cup has Wales' name on it in 2015!
Fantastic tournament! Thanks New Zealand!
"France played it that way, Not the ref."
-----
Pity too.
Both Rolland and Joubert had good games, so stop trying to blame others. Some decisions were not perfect but they never are, if you want to bring up specifics then how about eye-gouging:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0hXBoyGm7Y&feature=player_embedded
As for Warburton, it was the right call. People who know the laws of the game know this. The penalty that Halfpenny missed was a joke though. Actually the IRB decided that the red card wasnt severe enough and banned him for three weeks too.
Aristodemus (great name!)
Well i agree with you but i also sympathise with wales. I know if it happened to us (ireland) i would be beating my fist against the TV cursing the ground the ref walked on, and his immediate and not excluding his extended family :D
In a game of Rugby its unreasonable to expect a ref to get everything right considering the amount of things he needs to watch and the amount of things going on that he cant even see. E.G. Every single ruck, every single scrum etc etc, its amazing they see so much to be fair.
Sometimes you just have to build a bridge and get over it... as indeed i have with regard to the Philips try against us in the last 6 Nations.... no need to post video evidence of that as we can all agree that was a howler by the ref and or refs.
But anyway, those were obvious mistakes the ref made however the warburton card was not a mistake, despite my sympathy for the welsh, the ref can not and could not let a tackle like that go when the game was being broadcast to so many millions around. the IRB are trying to build popularity in the sport and want people to know its not a dangerous as they might think so they handed a mandate to the REFs and all managers before the world cup and that mandate said simple. That a red card WILL be awarded for such a tackle. Regardless of intent or perceived intent it was quite simple. do it and your gone. all the players knew it, all managers knew and all refs were their to enforce it. Roland did a good job.
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The Rugby World Cup Final
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posted on 24/10/11
Well written article albeit misguided
also as a neutral let me tell you what i saw.
I saw an absolute belter of a game of rugby. low score indeed but in a purist way that was real rugby. It was all about body's on the line. no inches given or taken. passion, respect and all the things that have made this great game great. Spoiled game.... not in this man's reality.
It will rank as one of the all time best finals hands down.
The ref did a fine job, and if you look at his stats you will find it flies in the face of you article being more or less 50/50.
If i had a complaint about the Ref i would direct it at the touch officials who for me, were anonymous when the man in the middle needed some guidance at scrum time. But all in all a ref you don't hear is a good ref.
I see your point of view but don't agree, and specially don't agree with this statement......
"It spoiled the match as France were the better side but were never allowed to really get into gear as New Zealand were able to haul them back by whatever means necessary."
That's a farcical statement. NZ were the best side for most of the game with France putting in an exceptional third quarter and indeed second half. That's not just my opinion but just about everyone saw NZ were the better side. Marginally yes but nonetheless true over the 80 mins.
posted on 24/10/11
I cannot fault the commitment and effort put in by the players. I thought, as you rightly say, it was an all or nothing effort from both sides with some bonecrunching hits both ways, good ball skills and some fine kicking for touch and territory.
However for me the referee was too one sided and did not allow the game to become the real flowing contest it should have become. I also disagree on the performance. I thought New Zealand were strong in the middle 15 minutes for the first half but aside from that France were the better team. But were never fully able to get into gear thanks to some questionable calls by the man in the middle.
posted on 24/10/11
Mate i would ask you to site an example. Fact is that the ref does not determine how a team plays. That comes down to to things. First your own ability. Second The ability of the opposition defence. Also as a game plan i saw no evidence that France wanted to play a wide expansive game. Certainly in the first half they kept trucking it up the middle most of the time they had the ball. Replays shown (on Irish TV) showed France passed up several opportunities to go wide when they had clear overlaps.
I think your beating a dead donkey with this blaim the Ref stuff. France simply didn't attack the space, and in the first half NZ were defending far too tight leaving acres of space out wide. France just failed to spot it. And even failed to spot it when there winger was screaming for the ball on a number of occasions.
France played it that way, Not the ref.
posted on 24/10/11
Even if France were 'robbed' or whatever by the official, you have to remember the only reason they were in the final was because they had the official on their side in the semi final, what goes around comes around.
Great final, never enjoyed a low scoring match so much.
New Zealand deserve it for being the best team or the tournament and of the past decade! Hope they enjoy the win because the cup has Wales' name on it in 2015!
Fantastic tournament! Thanks New Zealand!
posted on 24/10/11
"France played it that way, Not the ref."
-----
Pity too.
posted on 25/10/11
Both Rolland and Joubert had good games, so stop trying to blame others. Some decisions were not perfect but they never are, if you want to bring up specifics then how about eye-gouging:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0hXBoyGm7Y&feature=player_embedded
As for Warburton, it was the right call. People who know the laws of the game know this. The penalty that Halfpenny missed was a joke though. Actually the IRB decided that the red card wasnt severe enough and banned him for three weeks too.
posted on 25/10/11
Aristodemus (great name!)
Well i agree with you but i also sympathise with wales. I know if it happened to us (ireland) i would be beating my fist against the TV cursing the ground the ref walked on, and his immediate and not excluding his extended family :D
In a game of Rugby its unreasonable to expect a ref to get everything right considering the amount of things he needs to watch and the amount of things going on that he cant even see. E.G. Every single ruck, every single scrum etc etc, its amazing they see so much to be fair.
Sometimes you just have to build a bridge and get over it... as indeed i have with regard to the Philips try against us in the last 6 Nations.... no need to post video evidence of that as we can all agree that was a howler by the ref and or refs.
But anyway, those were obvious mistakes the ref made however the warburton card was not a mistake, despite my sympathy for the welsh, the ref can not and could not let a tackle like that go when the game was being broadcast to so many millions around. the IRB are trying to build popularity in the sport and want people to know its not a dangerous as they might think so they handed a mandate to the REFs and all managers before the world cup and that mandate said simple. That a red card WILL be awarded for such a tackle. Regardless of intent or perceived intent it was quite simple. do it and your gone. all the players knew it, all managers knew and all refs were their to enforce it. Roland did a good job.
Page 1 of 1