He’s got that islander density. Like they put Lomu on a hot wash
Rugby Union 21/22/23 Discussion | RWC time!
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Really disrespectful by the All Blacks to steal Ireland's place in this final only to have a player sent off before the first half ends.
feck me we can’t win a line out
Only worry for SA is that they keep kicking for 3 when they could go for more and NZ sucker punch them a few times.
How are NZ so undisciplined to get a yellow and red?
Well I will believe it when I see it. I just believe that at this level with the speed of the game it’s very difficult to avoid this type of collision.
Why couldn't England have just held on last week only for NZ to be as insanely erratic with them in the final.... I think there would of been riots in Dublin. 
Sports continually change and you don't see the clear change until you watch games decades apart. Unless you genuinely feel this the final straw, then it's will happen, there's nothing to wait to see.... you had 2 fantastic quarter finals with players who are trying to re-wire their muscle memory with new rules and no reds in either, so yeah, it can and will end up working.
Shite weather and red card spoiling this as a spectacle, which is a pity. Still gripping to watch but so many mistakes. Fair play to NZ for taking it to SA with a man less and dominating most of that half but they’re gonna run out of gas soon enough.
I think you can though. All Kane had to do was get lower before making the tackle. Muscle memory means we’ll see a few more of these but most teams/players have adapted pretty well.
I don't think they've dominated, South Africa were on top for most of that half, but credit to New Zealand for keeping the score this close which means they're in it still given the individual talent they've got to break the game open in a moment.
We are limping. Losing our only hooker in the squad makes it a lot more even than it should be
Been a poor watch IMO but it’s a final.
They’ve dominated the territory and entered the SA 22 much more often than SA have entered theirs. At least that’s how it’s looked to me. I’m sure there are stats which can tell us for sure.
EDIT: Checked stats. NZ 67% possession but only 46% territory overall (55% in last 10 minutes, which is probably why I got it wrong). 28 carries over gainline vs 13 too. SA have made 105 tackles. NZ just 46. Fairly dominant overall.
The drops in discipline from NZ was unusual, some of it was pressure but there were moments were you'd almost say nerves got to them
Yeah more or less. We've softened to accept how football is... I mean the Beckham documentary truly highlighted this to me, Simeone barely makes a meal out of the kick compared to what Neymar would do now, yet the reaction to it was identical. We'd accept that as a clear red if it happened today, with absolutely no vilification of Simeone, or at least no way near as much as he got.
It's frustrating because these changes are pretty aggressively quick, but that's where the world is with concussions... but it'll be fine in the long run.
At least football isn't the only game being ruined by refs ATM
The truth is New Zealand are Rugby's true bottlers, not Ireland..... they went to 8 World Cups as massive favourites and came out with 3 titles, with some absolutely shocking losses thrown in there, now they've got themselves back to being the favourite going into this final and they mentally lost it with the line outs and discipline so far.
Still love their smooth handles however!
Still love their smooth handles however!
NZ dodged a major bullet just now.
That was ridiculous. Pity he didn't make it but what was the NZ player up to?
South Africa very unlucky not to have scored two tries already in this 2nd half.
Was that Will Jordan just casually watching that? What's he up too?
Sorry Will - it was Beaudan! Wow.
Sorry Will - it was Beaudan! Wow.
Think he may get away without a red there. Lucky
Wasn’t there a very obvious forward pass there? Or have the rules relaxed on that as well?
Both captains might be sent off, this one might just be a yellow given it's less directly to the head.
Send both the captains off
We've got a game. That's nailed on.
That’s going to be a red
Headbutt! It's a yellow, but that could be upgraded to a red card against Kolisi if we go by the same standards as they did with Cane.
He headed the ball first it looked like, will that save him?
Feck sake Kolisi, but hopefully there mitigation there to keep it a yellow.
they’d sterilise curry’s whole family for that.
That's a terrible knock on. The pass was fine
Hahaha I was thinking the same
To weather the storm of that initial 5 minute burst from SA and now get this 10 minutes at least.... New Zealand could turn this if they aren't mentally shot. So many errors from them after 2 very perfect weekends previously.
He dipped though. I think this will be yellow.
We can be thankful NZ are so undisciplined tonight, please more of it. Im still expecting NZ to have a 15 mins of all out blitzing. We need to keep the game scrappy.
I don't think the bent knees is enough mitigation, he's got enough time to adjust a bit more and he doesn't (imho)
Damn, neat footwork for a hooker
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