h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

stop baiting me - damn you LT!

and harbour lost to auckland, oh woe, but it was a good game - actually i had a really good time - the story of the match for harbour seemed to be knock-ons - we just couldn't get enough of them. that young parkinson boy (harbour loosie) is quite talented, and tipoki made a beautiful break down the middle to score - i was yelling at him to pass and it was just as well he didn't listen. and michael jones played his last match too, (surprise surprise) got man of the match. oh well, now i can totally back wellington for the final.

well if they want to come to this country and coach rather than play rugby, (we'll give £200,000 a year).


Although, Ian Jones is going to play for Gloucester after the world cup. But, please can you take Simon Mannix back to New Zealand, more importantly how did he ever play for the All Blacks?

Mannix played in a winning Wellington team with few stars and his kicking won some important games for them. At the time NZ had a shortage of 1st five eights (outside halves).

Ian Jones is setting himself up financially for life by playing a couple of years for Gloucester. British club teams don't need aging ex All Blacks, they need skilled coaches. Eventually these unrealistic salaries to foreigners will bankrupt the clubs.

The British/Irish international players should be contracted to the England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland unions, not the clubs. This is the successful practice in the southern hemisphere.

Some interesting games/results overnight. Even some good rugby.

It's looking increasingly like New Zealand and England meeting in the final. Although, Australia might prove to be a bit tough for England.

I'm not sure that England have it in them to beat South Africa, as they'll need to do to make it as far as Australia.

Oh, and LT&PP, just one try in it! And England are the top scoring side - at the moment...

So why is it that almost every team taking part this year has several All Blacks playing for them??
Japan have got 5 for crying out load!!!

Scotland have got SIX NZs in their squad. Wales and Argentina are coached by New Zealanders. England's assistent coach comes from NZ. The coaches of Fiji, Samoa and Tonga have played for the All Blacks.

A New Zealander, Laurie Mains, coached the South African Currie Cup (top provincial trophy)winner this year.

There must be something in the water (beer)?

They're all fantastic players, but the ones who've already played Test Rugby for the All Blacks really have no place playing for another country, and this is coming from someone who wants to see the smaller nations, such as Japan, do well. Same goes for Strauss and Noriega playing for the Ozzies. For Shaaaaaame!

Once you have played for a team at international level, you should not be eligible to play for any other international side (no matter how much money they offer). Although it's good to have these ex-All Blacks playing for sides like Japan because it improves their game, but the homegrown players are not getting the experience they need to improve the game within that country.

I was quite impressed by the stanadrd of some of the Japanese players, especially the one winger (can't remember his name).

I must admit I was also impressed by Argentina's performance against Ireland today. As soon as they went ahead their defence was solid, even when Ireland brought the girls into the last two lineouts!

At the moment I would say an England New Zealand final is on the cards, but England would have two tough matches in South Africa and Australia.

But preferably Wales win.

um i wasn't aware there were any women in the irish team, but then i haven't seen the game, so maybe i shouldn't comment - my law exams finish the day before the world cup final, but hopefully i'll be able to see some of next week's games (because i'll still be up studying). anyway, should someone alert farrah?

Trying to study round the world cup is becoming a bit of a problem, especially this weekend. Well you're in a pub watching the game so might as well have a drink, just to be sociable of course, 15 pints and a curry later, no chance of studying!

oh i am just missing SO much - and the America's cup (ok the Louis Vuitton) is on here at the moment - just a few miles from my house - i looked out the window this afternoon and i could see the little white blobs on the water - sigh - at least they called a late election(it would originally have been the day after my exams finished).

i can't believe argentina bet the irish - the only game of rugby i have ever actually played, i was the captain (and hooker - check obscene comments at the frontpage please) for the irish team in standard four at primary school in 1987, when the first world cup was on in NZ. i have had this fond attachment to them ever since (they got kicked by australia in the quarters i think and we only ever got to play one game at school, woe)

Well now Wales is out of the competition, looks like I'll just have to support NZ. I lived there for a year so it's allowed. Someone told me yesterday that Auckland won the NPC, How? Probably the same reason the Premiership is such a mess here (all the best players are on world cup duty, so the weaker sides have now started to win games).

Here is the http://www.rugbyheaven.com web site review of the final.

A 25-minute fitness test before Saturday's night's NPC grand final gave Auckland the fillip they needed to go on and bag another major rugby title.

Auckland prevailed over Wellington 24-18 to take their 12th NPC title, and the fifth in the eight seasons there has been a finals system. A grand record.

The vital fitness test was on Eroni Clarke, in doubt all week with a hamstring problem, who passed the examination at Eden Park late on Saturday morning. As usual, Clarke found a higher force by his side.

"It was my call in the end and I knew I was only around 85 per cent. I asked God, 'Will you make up that 15 per cent?' and he came through," said Clarke.

That fitness test may have been the play of the day, and may be more interesting to watch than at least the first half of an NPC final weighed down by the cause and effect of the tackled ball rule.

Players are so worried about getting caught in the tackle that the so-called tactical kick is left as the only safe option. The more important the game, the less inclined the players are to run with the ball, especially in their half.

Matches turn into aerial ping-pong as everyone waits for a mistake. The players are indulging in the old playground game of forceback, while the spectators are crying out for some bullrush.

Clarke and Craig Innes are the heart of this Auckland side. Defensively, they have no equal in the New Zealand game and work superbly in tandem. When Wellington tried to spin the ball wide, Innes and Clarke drifted across in unison then nailed their men if they tried to make a move.

When Paul Steinmetz did get way on a dangerous break in the first half, Innes made a lunging ankle tap to scuttle the move.

It was an imposing display by Innes in particular, who also knew just when to set off one of his midfield charges to settle Auckland down.

Auckland coach Wayne Pivac, asked to nominate the grand final game-breakers, quickly picked Clarke and Innes.

"Steinmetz and Jason O'Halloran had been the threat for Wellington in recent games," said Pivac of the Wellington midfield backs. "Craig and Eroni combine so well. We really wanted to get Eroni out there, and he led by example."

Wellington found an unlikely area of threat in first five-eighths David Holwell, who repeatedly wandered through the Auckland defence and set up Wellington's late rally, although he lacked the real pace to turn his breaks into something more profitable for the Lions.

The odd Holwell sortie was about the only memorable thing about the first half, in which Adrian Cashmore kicked three penalties for Auckland and Holwell one for Wellington.

Auckland were handicapped by a poor lineout, losing four of their own throws, which wrecked any momentum they may have gained.

They believed Wellington would turn a lot of pressure on to leaping Leo Lafaiali'i, so they changed some of their lineout moves, but they came unstuck.

Auckland's opening try in the 48th minute, which gave them a 16-6 lead, owed much to inept Wellington defending.

Referee Kelvin Deaker, who blew like a gale on his whistle in finding 26 penalties/freekicks, got in the way of an Auckland scrum move and called another scrum. He almost interfered again, as Orene Ai'i put through a grubber, Ali Koko lost the ball in an Innes tackle, Colin Sullivan appeared lost as he chased the ball, and Caleb Ralph pounced in front of Jason Spice.

Auckland's second came when Holwell tried to run and was smashed down by Steve Devine, who had just replaced Ofisa Tonu'u. Auckland ran the blind, with Charles Riechelmann finishing it off. At 24-6 with 13 minutes remaining the title appeared safe.

That was when the tension which should have run through the whole game appeared.

Holwell sparked the comeback when his opposite Ai'i kept drifting in defence, allowing Holwell to cut through in a superb run to the line. In the 77th minute, Filo Tiatia put on a double surge to drive over, although Holwell missed the conversion. It was 24-18.

But it came to a strange end. O'Halloran hoofed possession into touch with just a minute and a half remaining, Wellington knocked on at a ruck and Deaker missed a wild Wellington lineout throw which gave them one last chance.

"We showed a lack of composure," said Wellington coach Graham Mourie. "We knew Auckland would kick a lot. They did it 36 or 38 times in the semifinal ... but that's finals rugby.

"But we have got great spirit in this side and I'm very proud of what they've achieved."

Captain Norm Hewitt added: "The guys are very pleased to be where we are after the way we started this season. Of course we're not jumping up and down in the changing rooms ... but just to be in the final, to be competitive and to come back from 24-6 down. We just left it a bit late."

Oh...(dissapointed exhalation) Pthhhh! Some World Cup this is going to be, without any of the Home Nations in the semi finals. Sorry to fans from Oz, NZ or SA, your teams deserve to be where they are, but it's all just so depressingly familiar and inevitable. I guess I have sunk as low as an Englishman can get - I'm supporting France. Allez Les Bleus!

The home nations will be hopeless until they set up a competition similar to the Super 12 competition played by teams from Aus, NZ and SA.

The top players should be contracted to the countries, not the clubs.

France? Don't you want a team that will actually appear in the final?

The only country in the northern hemisphere not to agree to a European superleague was England. The english clubs have a lot of power, which is unfortunate because our internationals don't get to play enough games at a high enough standard.

The English premiership is quite strong, mainly due to expensive imports. Admittedly the imports draw in large crowds and their experience improves the skill levels at the clubs but it is at the expense of home grown talent (which ultimately you need to encourage if you are to improve as an international side).

Enough ranting, Gloucester to win the league and the All Blacks the world cup.

yes, I'm afraid NZ will win the the World Cup, but I'm supporting France because they're the last Northern Hemisphere team left in the tournament. Plus, I like them because they're so awful and will definitely lose to NZ, but then they just might turn in a completely brilliant one off performance and win. That would be typically French. God help us if they won the Final though, they'd be unbearable for the next 4 years.

Plus one other thing, I saw Nick Farr-Jones summarising on the TV before the Ireland-USA game: 'Tonight's referee is Scotland's Jim Fleming, he's a very technical referee,' What does that mean, Nick? You don't mean he actually referees the game according to the rules?

Lets face it if any northern hemisphere side won the world cup they'd be unbearable for the next 20 years.

I think technical referee's are the ones that blow their whistle every 20 seconds just in case the teams forget they're there. Where as a non technical referee lets the teams play rugby ( I know thats a terrible thought but occasionally you will find this type of referee).

can i vote for that derek bevan guy as best example of a technical ref? pretty please
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