So.. to cardiff we roll

[uTired2]

Official Team Announcement

1 Tony Woodcock
2 Anton Oliver
3 Carl Hayman
4 Keith Robinson
5 Ali Williams
6 Jerry Collins
7 Richie McCaw (c)
8 Rodney So'oialo
9 Byron Kelleher
10 Dan Carter
11 Sitiveni Sivivatu
12 Luke McAlister
13 Mils Muliaina
14 Joe Rokocoko
15 Leon MacDonald

Replacements:

16 Keven Mealamu
17 Neemia Tialata
18 Chris Jack
19 Chris Masoe
20 Brendon Leonard
21 Nick Evans
22 Isaia Toeava

Wearing Silver jerseys, crap!

[Cereal Killar]

Sivivatu over Howlett o_0

[xor]

Originally Posted by Cereal Killar

Sivivatu over Howlett o_0

Fucking aye!

Sivivatu is weak under the high ball, which I think the French will target.

Still though, Henry has a plan. For he is the man

[Deff]

I get worried everytime I see Kelleher's name in a Ab side.

Good to see Rodney in and Joe well could go either way, if he is hungry enough he might just win the game for them.

[Rince]

Originally Posted by uTired2

Official Team Announcement

1 Tony Woodcock
2 Anton Oliver
3 Carl Hayman
4 Keith Robinson
5 Ali Williams
6 Jerry Collins
7 Richie McCaw (c)
8 Rodney So'oialo
9 Byron Kelleher
10 Dan Carter
11 Sitiveni Sivivatu
12 Luke McAlister
13 Mils Muliaina
14 Joe Rokocoko
15 Leon MacDonald

Replacements:

16 Keven Mealamu
17 Neemia Tialata
18 Chris Jack
19 Chris Masoe
20 Brendon Leonard
21 Nick Evans
22 Isaia Toeava

Wearing Silver jerseys, crap!

I get a shiver down my spine looking at that team

[slippers]

IMO thats THE strongest possible team we can name in every position especially if you take into account which players make the better impact off the bench.

CAN'T.FUCKING.WAIT.

We've been waiting for GH to roll this line-up out for years now, hes finally done it.

Howlett has been in good form, but IMO Sivivatu still is better in terms of the brand of football the All Blacks wants to play. Sivivatu isn't -that- bad on defence anyway and IMO he is the #1 winger in the world. (putting a couple shakey games in the RWC aside)

[blynk]

Originally Posted by slippers

Howlett has been in good form, but IMO Sivivatu still is better in terms of the brand of football the All Blacks wants to play. Sivivatu isn't -that- bad on defence anyway and IMO he is the #1 winger in the world. (putting a couple shakey games in the RWC aside)

Thats a big call. He is slow to turn and chase when needed to.

[pig]

Man i hope they are just giving Sivavatu a chance to show some form because i don't believe he should be starting ahead of Howlett.
Dougie gets so involved & does so much extra work as a winger, if Sivavatu's hands let him down again im sure Doug will be back for the semifinal.
I'm a little surprised that they have left Jack on the bench, i can see that Robinson is more of a starting lock than an impact guy off the bench but Jack has looked good so far, that run against Romania was awesome.

[mr selfdestruct]

Think of it this way. Let's say Siti or Joe didn't play in the Quarter Final.

If we make it to the semi-final, how nervous will Graham Henry feel about putting the one he leaves out into that semi-final having not played the week before when both have yet to really prove themselves in this World Cup?

On the other hand, the Brains Trust is extremely confident with Howlett and I'm sure will have no problems putting him in a semi-final having missed the quarter final. It actually makes a lot of sense. Howlett clearly doesn't need any more preparation and will mow the opposition down regardless of whether he plays this week. Looks to me like the final instance of rotation policy, obviously Howlett is the in form wing and would have been chosen if the above was not the intention of the selectors. This way Siti and Joe will be more prepared to come off the bench in a possible semi or final.

[Rince]

yeah - pretty sure GH has said "if Siti doesn't play in the QF he might as well go home - cos he wouldn't play for the rest of the tourney"...
Now he's not saying the same thing for Dougie - so I think we'll see Dougie again no worries.

GH also said he knows some people won't like the team, but, like they say in the back street of Paris, "tough titty"

[Ab]

That's a strong team. Holy shit that's a strong team.

My 2c:

Keith Robinson will have to step up and really justify his place in the team for this game, otherwise I can see it being Jack/Williams for the rest of the comp.

I'd pick Howlett over Sivivatu any day of the week, but the discussion above seems to have covered the pros and cons.

I don't give a fuck about playing in the alternate jerseys. It's the fern that's on it, not the colour of the fabric.

[herp]

Starting to feel a little faint about all this semi final talk, it's like 1999 all over again.

[Ab]

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/stor...ectid=10467392

France get to wear their first choice dark blue jersey in Cardiff, although the IRB was still determining whether a change of strip was required by New Zealand.

[Griven]

France team:

1 Olivier Milloud
2 Sébastien Bruno
3 Jean-Baptiste Poux
4 Lionel Nallet
5 Jérôme Thion
6 Serge Betsen (c)
7 Yannick Nyanga
8 Julien Bonnaire
9 Pierre Mignoni
10 Lionel Beauxis
11 Christophe Dominici
12 Yannick Jauzion
13 David Marty
14 Aurélien Rougerie
15 Clément Poitrenaud

Replacements:

16 Dimitri Szarzewski
17 Nicolas Mas
18 Fabien Pelous
19 Rémy Martin
20 Jean-Baptiste Elissalde
21 David Skrela
22 Vincent Clerc

Ibanez - squad Capt -> dropped. 1 average game vs Pumas & he’s OFF
Pelous - previous Capt and most-capped player -> dropped.
Jauzion - average vs Pumas & dropped. Now reinstated but in a different midfield combo (with Marty).
Traille - form was better than Jauzion but Jauzion reinstated and Traille dropped
Pieter de Villiers - their best prop and a regular under Laporte -> dropped.
Betsen as Captain - often penalised and doesnt even Capt his club
Dominici - the winger in a wheelchair. 99 was a lonnnnnnnnnng time ago mon amis
Mignoni at scrummy. Awful vs Pumas, Elissade steadied the boat vs Ireland, yet Elissade on the bench.
Haridorquanay - surely their best loosie ? not even on the bench.
Beauxis - at flyhalf. Has he played at this level before ? No Michalak ?

No contest, 30-50 point Ab margin. Bench to be cleared 10min after halftime to give everyone a run.

[Griven]

Ignore that french team, bad info from website. Still think its going to be 30-50 points to the AB's tho =)

[surreal]

This is shaping up to be the biggest rugby game for NZ in 8 years, maybe 12 years. And it could well be followed by 2 more games.
But in theory the first 10 minutes of each half will be the truely important parts - we need to be solid and accurate and even thrash them in the opening 10, and then after the break we need to finish them off properly.

[slippers]

Yeah Traille is in at full back.

That back line is pretty close tho.

[andre]

LE XV DE FRANCE :

Traille - Clerc, Marty, Jauzion, Heymans - (o) Beauxis, (m) Elissalde - Dusautoir, Bonnaire, Betsen - Thion, Pelous - De Villiers, Ibanez (cap.), Milloud.

Remplaçants: Szarzewski, Poux, Chabal, Harinordoquy, Michalak, Dominici, Poitrenaud.

[andre]

Looks like Laporte has chosen Beauxis for his powerful kicking, which they expect they'll need to ease the pressure and push the ABs back into their own half. Traille is in for Poitrenaud, who starts on the bench. Clerc has been pretty good so far and Rougerie hasn't really deserved a spot. I thought Pelous was injured, but obviously he's over it. Nice to see Chabal there, never a dull moment once he gets on.

I reckon 43-10 to the ABs.

[Rince]

Originally Posted by Ab

It's the fern that's on it, not the colour of the fabric.

[herp]

Awesome, third world cup in a row where we are playing our best fullback at centre.

Stoked.

[Spoon1]

I think MacDonald is our best fullback.

[fobski]

BRING BACK CULLEN!

AND JONO GIBBES AT LOCK!

[herp]

Originally Posted by Spoon1

I think MacDonald is our best fullback.

Fuck, even better then. Our 2nd best fullback playing centre. So it's even worse than 99/03.

[slippers]

It will be sweet.

[caffiend]

Originally Posted by herp

Fuck, even better then. Our 2nd best fullback playing centre. So it's even worse than 99/03.

Nah, Mils is a better centre than Cullen ever was. Plus he's got far better midfield support than Ieremia/Mehrtens, who never really gelled much as a combo.

And in 03 we played MacDonald at centre against Aussie in that... that... semifinal *weeps*, and he was outside Spencer/Mauger, so he was always going to struggle.

Bottom line is Mils at centre and MacDonald at fullback is far, far better than the 99/03 combos in the big matches.

However, I still think we should be starting Toeava at 13, with Muliaina on the bench. Only because it is the last "safe-ish" chance we have to really test Toeava's abilities in that role. Bringing him on at centre for the last 20 minutes with the game in the bag (if that hopefully happens) will not prove anything.

[Cereal Killar]

Could bring back Umaga.

[caffiend]

Pfft... bring back Joe Stanley.

[JERI]

I'm guessing 33-14

[Ard Righ]

What's the story with Lauaki now that his suspension was quashed, can the team be adjusted to put him on the bench if the coaches decided to ?

[caffiend]

Nope, I don't think so. Only if a late injury (Xenu forbid!) rules someone like Masoe out. But he can play in the semi now if needed.

[blynk]

Originally Posted by Ab

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/stor...ectid=10467392

What the hell. They may now get France to where the white under the conditions of us wearing the grey
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/event/stor...ectid=10468287
The IRB are complete knobs. Lets see, you can have Blue Vs Grey. Or White Vs grey.
Are they colour blind. I think the French may have said this other option, as they will hope the similar colours confuse NZ.
The problem against scotland was we had grey with some black, and they had an opposite pattern of Blue and grey. That is where the confusion came in.

Oh and my prediction now is 46 (6 Tries, 5 Conv, 2 penalties) -24(2T, 2C, 2Penalty/Drop Goals)

[caffiend]

Fuck Adidas. And fuck Nike.

None of this is about what the players, coaches or fans want.

[Ab]

Fuck the French management, fuck the IRB. This is all just a distraction. We're less than 24 hours away from gametime, and I hope the ABs are ignoring all this shit and focusing on the job. Fuck, run out shirtless for all I care, just do the job.

[TnT]

Originally Posted by Richie McCaw in that article

The jersey doesn't decide whether you play well or not, it's the guys that put the jersey on.

Richie McCaw for God.

[Ab]

I heartily endorse this product or service.

[Sp0nge]

i think the Abs should win this game easily...
especially since its not played in france.

pre-match im not excited by this game

...nz v oz im alraedy looking forward to.

[blynk]

Originally Posted by Sp0nge

i think the Abs should win this game easily...
especially since its not played in france.

pre-match im not excited by this game

...nz v oz im alraedy looking forward to.

Nah, England are going to drop goal there way into the semis, and leave Australia red faced,

[Ard Righ]

As much as I think England are a bunch of pretenders, I think they can beat Australia. The Australian forwards rate themselves higher than anyone outside the team does, and the English scrum must be looking forward to the match-up.

As for the jerseys, FFS why can't the IRB just say NZ in black, France in white, and the coin-toss can take a jump ??

[untouchable]

Originally Posted by Sp0nge

i think the Abs should win this game easily...
especially since its not played in france.

pre-match im not excited by this game

...nz v oz im alraedy looking forward to.

I wouldnt get carried away.

This article with Robbie Deans sums it up pretty nicely.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/4/...ectid=10468258