'NZ got it right on the button' (continued)

Sunday August 28 2005

Good to see the best team finally win a game. The referee kept SA in the game up till the last moment but justice prevailed and the deserving team came through eventually. 

The South Africans played to their best but showed that they are still a long way behind the Wallabies and the AB's. Ref's will no longer let them infringe so consistently and they will have to play the game according to the laws and will be found wanting.  The Kiwis dominate in the forwards and have far more skill in the backs but it still took till the last minutes for that to show on he scoreboard.  Thank goodness that they won, it would have been an injustice for South Africa to win and this offers hope to the wallabies who are also a better team that should have won last week. 
- Cam Wilton, NZ

I felt the ABs would have lost from this position so many times in the past, but just maybe we are finally seeing a world cup-worthy team in the making.

Still, it doesn't take a professor to guess who would be most likely to deny them come 2007. Several questionable decisions went against the ABs, but on another day that could have gone the other way. Regardless, the officiating wasn't the best I've seen thus far. Despite this, the ABs showed far less panic especially in the last ten minutes of the match, despite SA having them play into their hands for the most of the 2nd half. I guess the biggest highlight was the use of the fringes by the ABs effectively negating the rushing (offside) defences effectiveness, especially in the first half. SA persists with this as match officials do nothing about it, so it was great to see the secret to effectively overcoming it today.

Well, with all gripes aside, the two classiest teams on earth provided us all with an incredible spectacle. The ABs are finally gaining some big game composure and they will need if they want to win the Tri-Nations next week, because something tells me the Wallabies will not lie down come next Saturday, despite their injury/coaching woes& the attraction of denying the ABs Tri-Nations glory should be incentive enough!
- Philip Clegg, Japan

That was close and a step in the right direction for the ABs who looked to have lost composure after the charge down try late in the 1st half. Well done the Boks ,awesome pressure resulting in neatly wrapped gifts from the opposition. Still offside all day and while the refs don't seem to notice why the hell should you change that tactic.

(SH refs back please) Big Joe deservedly has his cousin worried and Mealamu the same for Anton Oliver. Both guys were second choice coming into the 3N and deserve a big pat on the back.

Australia next week should be a win for the AB's unless they do a WC SF special. Australia aren't as bad as the points say and desperately unlucky with injuries and I still put them above SA with a fully fit team. They ref certainly stole victory from them last week.

Stephen Jones hasn't had much to say in your opinion column lately . I wonder why. Perhaps he closed his only eye to rugby down under and can't see to write .
- Dave Burham, London

Frustration 1: To me, this match as a spectacle was spoilt by the quality of refereeing.  It's easy to lump the poor decisions on  Joël Jutge but let's face it, there were three international refs on the paddock, including the respected Chris White.  The touch judges tonight were pretty much like what I remember from high school matches where a substitute from each side manned the lines.  All you did was watched the line, nothing more. Test
match touch judges should be far more involved in the game. 

Perhaps its not officially part of their game but who better to be watching the offside line (like football)?  What about the monumental forward passes that went uncalled?  Two in one move by NZ!  Even when the bad calls go "evenly" both ways, it leaves a sour taste.

Frustration 2: The All Blacks nearly played right into the Springboks hands. Of the seven tries scored, New Zealand set up six of them with brilliant - and stupid - play.  The South African tactic of lazy running pays big dividends when the opposition is playing basketball.  I love watching All Black rugby but time and time again they demonstrate they do not have a Plan B. The All Blacks are the Harlem Globetrotters of rugby.  The Harlem Globetrotters never won the NBA.
- Steve Hona, Brisbane

As a long time Aussie supporter, it's great to see the All blacks triumph faced with typical South African cheating.  There is no team in world rugby that plays our beautiful that cheat as much as the Springboks.
- Michael Harris

What a game! As a Springbok supporter I am disappointed about the loss, but there is no need not to be proud. This was the clash everyone expected, and a encounter worth of the two best teams in the world.

Credits go out to both teams for an entertaining and intense Rugby game, we haven't seen for a long time. The win was well deserved, the game could have come either way. It is good to see a titanic clash like that between two teams that have genuine respect for each other but still won't give a meter in battle. So far the best game of the season by far.
- Stefan, Vienna, Austria

What a great advertisement for rugby. Both sides gave there all, Although a Bok supporter, and the fact that we lost, am very happy with there performance.Cant say there is much difference between the top 3 sides.
 
I think Australia, have really had unlucky breaks this tournament with all there injuries. If the game goes the All Blacks way, at least we would have won the same amount of games. It's a very young side and have shown great self belief in this tournament.

Previously when we were under pressure we just lay down and gave up. Happy with the quality from all three sides in this tournament.
- Varnie, Cyprus

The All Blacks are clearly the best team in the world and they have done that by beating South Africa convincingly. The South Africans played well using their defensive style but the All Blacks were able to cut them into pieces.

It was not a perfect game for the ABs thanks to the referee but they were still able to stay composed and win the game. The ABs tries came from their aggressive and skilful ball handling where as the SA got theirs from mistakes. Once again Habana proved he's the only SA player who can win it for them. Without him SA will never be able to win any of their games. Keep it up, ABs.
- Jack, New Zealand

What a match. All the underhanded gloating directed at the AB's in this forum three weeks ago has been silenced.

Despite a disgracefully inept referee and a hard as steel Bok side, the All Blacks have shown why they are world number one.

South Africans have nothing to complain about, the Bok side is playing brilliant Rugby and this game could so easily have gone ether way.

Australia is next then the northern 'powers' get a taste in November. GO BLACKS!
- Jason, Auckland

This was a tremendous test match but I was mystified by a lot of the referee's decisions. He seemed to allow anyone to stand in front of the last foot of the ruck- does the touch judge not have any say in helping him in this area? I believe in rugby league this area is policed from the touchline which makes a lot of sense in terms of where they are standing in relation to the action. The referee has too much else to watch- and I have to say I don't think he saw much of the relevant action. Januarie was onside for his own try but what was the ruling on Habana's?

Consistency was nonexistent - Burger hit Rokocoko in the air and was not penalised, MacDonald competed in the air against Montgomery (who was not airborne) and was penalised; Burger played the ball on the ground right in front of the referee and got a scrum against him for a knock-on, Carl Hayman (who was described by the referee as 'number 4'! ) was penalised - for what?
 
In these really close games it is an unfortunate reality that so it all seems to come down to the officiating and I am sorry but this guy just wasn't up to it.
- Jim, NZ

What a match!  One thing that is great to see is that the Boks are surely deserving of their 2nd ranking in the world.  This team had what I thought was a lucky year last year and this year I thought would be vulnerable after a line break.  How wrong I was!  Their scrambling defence is magnificent and it seems they have hit on a great combination of skills to challenge for the top spot.

The All Blacks are great fighters too.  I felt there wasn't enough pizzazz in the start of the second half but they really pulled it out in the end.  A great match between numbers one and two!

I hate to do this but I'm glad I can point this out after an All Black win rather than sounding like a moaning loser&  Jutge had a shocker of a game as ref.  Most of his bad calls seemed to go against the Blacks, especially in the first half.  His reffing was too great an influence on this game.

Finally:  the Sky New Zealand commentators were way too biased towards New Zealand. The calls were going against the All Blacks but one should try and stay a little objective. They made me cringe with embarrassment as they started calling every little thing into question. Get a grip boys!
- Mike, a Kiwi in Dublin