World Cup of Rugby NZ 2011

[hausen]

For those of you who might be interested we had a World Cup held here in New Zealand over the last 6 weeks. Thankfully for the mental state of the country we won. Would have been a disaster of nightmarish proportions, literally had we lost. We lost in the quarter finals in last World Cup and the Coaches passport was almost revoked. Rugby here is like the NFL in USA or Football in the rest of the world. The winning parade was yesterday and I have some early shots in a set on flickr with link below. Estimates were there was 250000 people there, so most of the shots were taken upward because of space limitations.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/davidnewport/sets/72157627972976274/

 

[alan davus]

Yes, the longest choke in world rugby is finally over. The Kiwis probably played their worst game of the tournament in the final (and the French their best) but were still good enough to win. Well done guys, you've got a great team and a great skipper in Richie McCaw.

 

[tomalophicon]

Yes, the longest choke in world rugby is finally over. The Kiwis probably played their worst game of the tournament in the final (and the French their best) but were still good enough to win. Well done guys, you've got a great team and a great skipper in Richie McCaw.

Who likes to use his knees to his advantage.

 

[paulfish4570]

i wish i could have seen the televised matches. i absolutely love to watch world-class rugby. way to go, all blacks!

 

[ChrisC]

"Who likes to use his" ....... BORN OFFSIDE...... "knees to his advantage".

Fine manly knees they are though.

Meanwhile; I'm calming down from my Brave England boys betraying the talent some of us know they have, and failing miserably to bring their best game to the World stage.

Well done All Blacks; consistently the best team of recent years.

............. Chris

 

[peter_n]

Well done All Blacks; consistently the best team of recent years.

Absolutely. It would have been a travesty if any other team had won. The ABs have been dominant for years and it's also great for the Kiwis in general with the tragedies of the earthquake and the mining disaster.

England absolutely sucked and some of the players are a disgrace. They have four years to buck up...

For those who aren't particularly familiar with rugby, some South Pacific teams do a short war dance before their games. Here's a nice friendly haka by the ABs from the RWC tournament final vs France.

 

[Sparrow]

.... there are enough Englishmen to criticise the English performance thank you very much! but yes they could do better ... as could the US actually 🙂

 

[peter_n]

.... there are enough Englishmen to criticise the English performance thank you very much!

Born & raised in Manchester Stewart and played the game for years, first at school then at Davenport RFC (now unfortunately called Stockport 😡) then at Wanderers in Dublin when they played at Landsdowne Road. So I think I have the right... 🙂

 

[Sparrow]

Ah, that's OK then ... as a Lancastrian I suppose it's cricket you know nowt about 😀

 

[peter_n]

LOL. Actually as a lad I spent many happy hours with my dad at Old Trafford both for football and cricket and also played cricket; a decent bowler but a hopeless batsman. We always enjoyed playing Yorkshire (and beating them sometimes). 🙂

 

[Sparrow]

I would go to Bradford's Park-Avenue ground after school, free entry if one were in uniform, hell of a team in the 60s ... played cricket badly, but held a A team place around No12 with both school and the local rugby club for a few years

 

[FrankS]

I played prop for my championship high school, and my city teams.

That France vs NZ game was like a war with battles for meer meters of territory at times.
The final score was more like a Leafs hockey game than a rugby match.

 

[hausen]

Suppose had a to expect a little wind up from our western neighbours. The eye gouge on Richie (see on you tube now) evens out the knee incident I feel. No-One in NZ cares who was best team on the day, that would have been the French who were superb, but it is the final score that counts.

Aussies repeat after me. 'World Champion All Blacks'

 

[bgb]

Nice to have been on the winning side at last i thought it was never going to happen, had we lost it would have been flags at half mast and a grey cloud would have settled over NZ.
At times it wasn't pretty but what the hell ... it's ours now!
Arise Sir Ritchie 🙂

 

[peter_n]

Congratulations lads, long overdue! I used to make sure that I always had a ticket for NZ vs Ireland when they played at Landsdowne Road in Dublin. They were immense, literally & metaphorically. Probably ate raw sheep for brekky. 😉 You are both right, when it gets to the semi or final of any big tournament winning is all that matters. Often the latter games aren't the most entertaining; the stakes are too high.