New Zealand

Storm says...

By any measure Graham Henry is arguably the most successful rugby coach ever. Therefore, his opinion in his biography should be acknowledged as just that and given the due respect it deserves, whether you agree or not.

Love him or loathe him, the man has views on the game worth listening to. He supports his hypothesis regarding the officiating of the 2011 RWC SF vs France with factual and statistical data.

Could his timing have been better? Sure, but once we start oppressing those whose opinions question authority or injustice.....well....need I say more?

Posted 06:17 31st July 2012

safehands says...

To all saffas out there...understand this...SA are NOT the sworn enemies of the All Blacks...far from it. Our main rivalry (and usually respectful too, unlike bok fans towards the kiwis) is with our cross Tasman mates, the Wallabies...yes we respect the talent of the Boks and know it is fierce competition on the pitch, but that is where the rivalry ends...I doubt many kiwis hate the Boks (there may be a few I accept), it is mainly one way traffic from your side!!

It is that weird mentality of many saffas that should a nation be better than yours at a particular sport, you take umbrage and immediately create this fantasy that that nation sees SA as the enemy....what a crock!! You live in a dillusional world in which you rile yourselves up, thereby creating that hatred for others...which shines through quite obviously with clowns like darthbok, bokavenger, bokbevok and a couple of others on this site!! Some of you others have a little bit more up top and are more subtle, but usually somewhere along the line the ingraciousness can be picked up in a comment.

Riddle me this, why do most saffas hate Aussies (and many of you have never even met an Aussie) at cricket? I'll tell you....it's because they are better than you at cricket....you are known as the perenial WC chokers and you can't stand it.

Why the hatred for the AB's? Oh yes, cos we are universally viewed at the best rugby nation in the history of the great game of rugby, pure and simple. Most saffas have never even met a kiwi!! Being married to a saffa and visiting there frequently gets me a unique and more real insight into what most really think of other sport teams (when you are not hiding behind false smiles and comments during matches), and frankly the lack of respect is quite dazzling on times...a bitter spiteful race with a false sense of prowess is how I sum up bok loving saffas in SA.

Posted 02:26 31st July 2012

ruckingkiwi says...

munster30, the Irish were penalised for screwing the scrum and not pushing straight. Easy stuff. The second drop goal opportunity came up because the first one was touched in flight by an Irish player. Learn the laws of the game.

Graham Henry NEVER actually accused anyone of match fixing, he is merely translating his thoughts from that period. He wondered how the hell a result could have come out given the statistics from that game. Quite simple Graham, poor officiating, nothing more.

So he is telling us he thought there may have been more. I applaud his honesty.

It's believed the food poisoning was set-up by a mafia style betting syndicate, because the ABs were practically unbackable favourites for the title. They bet on SA and came up trumps. It's not an inconceivable concept and no one has ever suggested SARU had a hand in it. It's difficult to explain 13 of the starting 15 vomiting on the side lines before the game while the only 2 not ill had snuck off for takeaways..

A lot of people make a lot of excuses in life but I think you'd be hard pressed to find 30 All Blacks and their staff lie about being sick to save face over a lost game of rugby. Whatever the reason behind it, they were sick.

Posted 01:38 31st July 2012

Wolfgang says...

I am kiwi living in OZ and i can say this that GH is a sore loser just like Laurie Maines in 1995' and I've lost my respect for him for blaming others except himself...i admire and proud of wat the new All Blacks coach(steve hansen) says..."the Ab's lost to a very good France team in '07 and were very lucky to win the cup last year...he says that he only look to the future and not dwell in past like poor old GH...please everyone dont buy his crap book

Posted 00:09 31st July 2012

olepete says...

Good article (for a change...) but the comments make tiresome reading. The statistics in the Fr-NZ match were astonishing, but recent economic events have taught us that such extremely unlikely things can happen without being rigged. Barnes was poor on the night in question, but every ref misses some forward passes and the odd one or two of these will be crucial. Good on Henry for being honest enough to tell us how he felt at the time, though it would probably help him more to forget it.

Posted 23:26 30th July 2012

Melkiwi says...

I can safely say this is not the only biography that has some sort of controversy to it. This will def help sell the book. But remember people this is the words of one man not a nations, I can't speak for everyone but most of us are over it.

@bokavenger Trust me all the kiwis were hoping you guys win because we had a better chance of beating you rather than the ozzies, they did beat us in the tri nations and the boks last year were so average it wasn't funny.

Posted 22:25 30th July 2012

StunTheMullet says...

"Bob Francis, who appointed Barnes to referee the match at Cardiff"

No self interest or attempted arse covering there...... No siree....

Accountability has always been in short supply at the IRB and they took none following the PistonWristedGibbon Barnes and 2 Blind Mice display in Cardiff.

The match statistics say it all and I'm sure the betting agencies creamed it that day plus the host nation got to stay in the RWC beyond the QFs.

Posted 21:19 30th July 2012

7ton says...

@startledwombat

Very well said!

Posted 18:23 30th July 2012

SACanuck says...

Interesting how when teams lose it is always someone else's fault, and the ref is always the bad guy. We also know that all teams play or should play to the ref. They all know what ref's will or will not whistle, before they get on the field. However when you really look at it, it is really a different story. I seem to remember that GH took a lot of flak for his rotation policy during that time and dropped the whole process after 2007. Maybe his team just got beat by a better team on the day. No different to the Boks in 2011. That team was not going to win the WC, they had not being playing well for 2 years. They had no game plan, just a lot of caps on the field, thinking that that was enough to win it. Even if they beat the Aussies in that game, it was not a forgone conclusion that they or the AB's in 2007 that either of them would win the WC. Basically both teams need to take responsiblity for their own mistakes.

Posted 17:22 30th July 2012

Trader2 says...

Ah envy such a petty emotion, is best defined as a resentful emotion that "occurs when a person lacks another's (perceived) superior quality, achievement or possession. Usually represented by persons who feel inferior, are socially inept, still get their Mum's around to cook them dinner and sit in front of a computer screen at 1:00 am writing stupid blogs. What oh sh... goodnight and go the AB's.

PS @APV1 this is nothing to do with Rugby but great effort on the Olympic Opening shindig, fantastic and if nothing else has finally stopped the bloody Aussies from going on and on about Sydney 2000, how it was the best etc etc, thank you God. Suggest England RFU sign up Danny Boyle, Twickers with smoke stacks, that is going to confuse the hell out of the opposition.

Posted 15:54 30th July 2012