Congrats guys!!!! Look forward to playing you next week :D

:lol: Gotta beat Argentina first.

I think in this situation I'm allowed to be cocky about us winning :lol:

Its New Zealand in a World Cup, I wouldnt be getting cocky until the trophy's in their hands.

It's against Argentina though =;

It's against Argentina though =;

It was only France last time too ;)

France>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>Argentina. Just saying.

Semifinals
[edit] Wales vs France
15 October 2011
21:00 NZDT (UTC+13)    Wales    v     France    Eden Park, Auckland
      
[edit] Australia vs Winner Q4
16 October 2011
21:00 NZDT (UTC+13)    Australia    v    Winner QF4    Eden Park, Auckland
      

Kevin Muscat

is it just me or is their something fundamentally wrong with rugby? seems like the objective isn't even to score tries rather to force your opposition to give away penalties

This. There is way way way to much incentive for teams to just force penalties, and that's all down to them being worth 3 points.

but even then... like tonight with australia, they had the ball 5yards out from the try line, behind by i think 6 and they kick a field goal without even attempting to score a try, brainfuck

World cup $1m short of revenue target

JOHN HARTEVELT Last updated 17:33 17/10/2011

Friday night's clash between losing Rugby World Cup semi-finalists Australia and Wales will need to clock up $1 million in sales for organisers to meet their final revenue targets.

Prime Minister John Key this afternoon said the $268.5m ticket sales revenue target was within one million with just two games left to play.

Only a few extra tickets to the final between the All Blacks and France would be available from any unused by the teams competing in the final, meaning the vast bulk of sales revenue would come from the bronze final.

Key was confident the $1m remaining would be sold and the target revenue met. Exceeding the revenue target would help keep the projected $39m loss on the tournament to about what was budgeted.

''I'm not overly hopeful the loss will be substantially reduced,'' he said.

It would take time to establish the exact costs but the tournament had been well worth the cash spent.

''Yes, the country has spent quite a bit of money upgrading its stadia, but they're long term assets and I think for the marketing of New Zealand, the promotion of New Zealand, it's been well and truly worth it. ... At the end of the day, I think it's $39m well spent.''

Meanwhile, Key said 58,000 people had filed through Fan Zones at Auckland's Queen's and Captain Cook Wharves.

Figures released by TVNZ from AGB Nielsen showed an estimated 1.9 million people had watched the All Blacks semi-final win. The audience accounted for 48.7 per cent of the entire population aged over five, with only 11 per cent of those watching television last night not tuning in to the rugby.

In a bet on the result of the match, Key's Australian counterpart Julia Gillard promised to crunch in to a New Zealand apple if the Wallabies went down to the All Blacks.

Gillard last night tweeted that she would make good on the bet and Key said he had received a text from her confirming it.

Ad Feedback - The Dominion Post

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/5800569/World-cup-1m-short-of-revenue-target

I'll watch it

Cup fails to deliver tourism boost

By Paul Harper 2:03 PM Thursday Jan 5, 2012

More than half of tourism operators say the Rugby World Cup didn't provide the tourism boost promised, a survey has found.

A Tourism Industry Association New Zealand survey among its members found 46.6 per cent of the 121 respondents felt the tournament period was better or much better than the same period in 2010.

However almost one-fifth (18.2 per cent) saw no change, while around one-third (33.9 per cent) considered the tournament period to be either worse or much worse.

TIA policy and research manager Simon Wallace said the results reflect anecdotal feedback.

"They told us that while operators in the main game centres did well, other regions did not reap as many benefits as they may have expected from fans travelling around the country between games," Mr Wallace said.

"There was also a definite shift with the business end of the tournament moving to the North Island in early October."

The survey also found business related to the cup was not spread evenly among sectors.

The motel sector generally had a rough ride during the tournament as normal domestic and corporate customers stayed away. One business said "we got a few more camper vans for this time of year but our motel and backpacker trade dropped considerably".

Some tourism operators who responded to the survey said domestic tourism was down, games were too far away to provide any significant boost in business, or business dropped off dramatically between games.

However one operator said their turnover for September was up 260 per cent from the year before.

Although the immediate benefits of the tournament were not reaped by all tourism operators, it is believed the long-term benefits will follow.

"The tournament itself was a fantastic success and we have numerous reports of visitors going home to rave about the great experiences they had in New Zealand," Mr Wallace said.

"Word-of-mouth recommendations are the best marketing tool we can ask for, so we are looking forward to hosting many family and friends of RWC 2011 fans for years to come."

Mr Wallace said the survey will help efforts to build on returns for the industry in the future.

"The 2015 FIFA U-20 World Cup will provide a major opportunity to showcase New Zealand to a wide range of visitor markets. We also have the 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup being jointly hosted by New Zealand and Australia."

By Paul Harper | Email Paul

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=10776880

Rebels trounced by Chiefs in Super trial

Melissa Woods
February 3, 2012 - 5:44PM


Wallabies fullback Kurtley Beale showed flashes of brilliance in an otherwise lacklustre performance by the Melbourne Rebels in their first Super Rugby trial against the Chiefs in Geelong on Friday night.

The Waikato side cruised to a six-try 36-0 romp at Simonds Stadium, building on a 17-0 halftime lead with the match played over four 20-minute quarters.

With Beale and his Australian team-mate James O'Connor joining Melbourne this season, big things were expected of the Rebels, who finished with the wooden spoon in their debut season in 2011.

But they failed to deliver in front of the crowd of approximately 3000.

They started well and controlled possession for the first 10 minutes of the match but were unable to convert that pressure into points.

That was something the Chiefs, who finished 10th in the competition last year - bottom of the New Zealand pool - had little trouble with in a solid performance.

No.8 Alex Bradley crossed for two first-half tries with his forward pack driving him across the line on both occasions.

Beale and O'Connor came on in the second quarter, with the fullback only playing limited time as he manages his workload after returning from a hamstring injury picked up at last year's World Cup.

During that period the 23-year-old made two breaks and combined well with Mark Gerrard, however the Rebels were still unable to break through for that elusive try.

O'Connor scrambled well to stop a likely Chiefs try in the second quarter and defended well but otherwise failed to shine with his team starved of quality ball.

Both sides were let down by some poor handling, which is expected at this time of the season, but the lack of combinations in the Rebels outfit was more exposed.

An upbeat Beale wasn't bothered by the scoreline and said the match gave them a lot to work on.

"We went out there to try a few things that we worked on in the pre-season and a few things we pulled off and a few we didn't," he said.

"It's back to the drawing board and get everything right for round two."

Beale said his hamstring, badly damaged at the Rugby World Cup, had held up well.

"The body felt good," he said.

"I had a few little bursts out there ... knocked the cobwebs out."

Coach Damien Hill said he wouldn't "sugar-coat" the performance just because it was a trial.

"Overall it's disappointing, you don't like to be beaten by 36 points whether it's a trial or not.

"It highlighted a few areas in attack and defence we need to work on which is what these trials are for."

© 2012 AAP



Read more: http://www.watoday.com.au/breaking-news-sport/rebels-trounced-by-chiefs-in-super-trial-20120203-1qxv7.html#ixzz1lJd6Ftgf

Brumbies hold off Western Force

Crystal Ja
February 24, 2012 - 9:39PM

The Brumbies' new SUper Rugby era under Jake White began as planned with a hard-fought 19-17 victory over the Western Force in their season-opener on Friday night.

Trailing 12-9 at halftime, the Brumbies came out revitalised in the second half, scoring two tries and holding the Force back in the final minutes.

It was their first game and first points under White, who took over at the ACT franchise at the end of a disappointing 2011 campaign.

Fielding a new-look and largely green side, the Brumbies had the most to prove in the opening round clash and didn't disappoint the 14,211-strong crowd.

The Brumbies will now be able to start round three with eight points up their sleeve given next weekend's bye - the best possible start to White's new reign.

The opening half was a gritty tug-of-war between two sides keen to start well, but neither could claim an edge in either possession or territory.

The scoreboard was only troubled courtesy of the ref's whistle; the Force's James Stannard finishing the half with four penalties and the Brumbies' Nic White booting three.

Arguably, the Brumbies had the most to prove in the game but, apart from White's on-song penalty goal from 53m out and some impressive breaks from debut winger Jesse Mogg, the home side didn't appear to be delivering.

It took until the second half for the Brumbies to look dangerous and Mogg was the beneficiary five minutes in after accelerating onto a White pass from close range.

It gave the Brumbies back the lead, while another running try to fullback Robbie Coleman just five minutes later gave them back some confidence.

A try to Stannard kept the Force within reach, but they couldn't breach the Brumbies' defence again.

© 2012 AAP

http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news-sport/brumbies-hold-off-western-force-20120224-1tu84.html

Reds steal last-gasp win over Waratahs

Ben Horne
February 26, 2012 - 12:00AM


WARATAHS 21 REDS 25

Winger Dom Shipperley scored a runaway try on the stroke of fulltime to give Super Rugby premiers Queensland a remarkable victory over NSW at ANZ Stadium on Saturday night.

MATCH STATS

The Waratahs looked to have the game won when South African recruit Sarel Pretorius scored with 13 minutes remaining, but Shipperley was the hero for the Reds when he dashed more than 60 metres to give Queensland an incredible 25-21 triumph.


NSW replacement halfback Brendan McKibbin had kicked the ball away with seconds left, enabling the Reds one last chance to shift the ball right and 20-year-old Shipperley dashed away to beat a last-ditch tackle from Bernard Foley before being swamped by his jubilant team-mates.

McKibbin box-kicked into the right corner attempting to close the game out, but the Waratahs gave the Reds just the room they needed to fight their way out of jail to prove the magic from last year is still alive.

NSW had scored the only two tries of the game up until that point and looked set for a hard-fought victory with several of their stars sidelined with injury.


Wycliff Palu crashes over for the first try for the Waratahs. Photo: Getty Images

Queensland five-eighth Mike Harris booted six penalty goals from as many attempts as well as the final conversion and his faultless kicking performance proved the difference.

New Zealander Harris certainly didn't have the spark of the man he's deputising for at No.10, Quade Cooper, but his nerve under pressure saw the Reds succeed in their first baby step towards a title defence.

Despite Wycliff Palu's first-half try, NSW trailed 15-14 with thirteen minutes left on the clock before crafty No.9 Pretorius darted from close range and reached out to touch down to give the Waratahs a 21-15 lead.



..Harris cut that back with a penalty shot shortly after and then Pretorius was replaced - bringing McKibbin into the action.

Daniel Halangahu's selection as NSW captain was questioned during the week but the 27-year-old led from the front with some incisive second-half runs and a good clearing kicking game - but ultimately was left devastated at the death.

Wallabies stars Berrick Barnes, Drew Mitchell, Lachie Turner and Rocky Elsom were among the throng of injured Waratahs watching from the stands, but the home side overcame poor discipline to capitalise better than their opponents.

However in the end it wasn't enough and the pain of this defeat won't wash away easily.

QUEENSLAND REDS 25 (Dom Shipperley try Michael Harris con 6 pens) bt NSW WARATAHS 21 (Wycliff Palu, Sarel Pretorius tries Daniel Halangahu con 3 pens) at ANZ Stadium. Referee: Jaco Peyper. Crowd: 32,071.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/rugby-union/union-match-report/reds-steal-lastgasp-win-over-waratahs-20120225-1tvk4.html#ixzz1nOf9ecif