bring on the world cup

last saturday's final tri-nations game between the blackness and the crims was good. i didn't go back to brewerkz (on a hindside, i should have - i want to see them aussies wept after DC kicked his 7th penalty goals) but i watched it at home instead. it was a difficult condition in eden park in auckland with torrential rain before the kickoff and drizzle through out the game. i thought the wallabies had a better first half - they were full of confidence and they stole a lot of our line-out balls(what's up the line-ups, boys?) but in the second half, the ABs turned it up a notch, with a combo of powerful forwards play and accuracy DC's boot. final score 26-12, new zealand.

and speaking of forward play, i thought richie did really really well. i didn't write this - found at stuff from manawatu standard by peter lampp today (july 23, 2007)
"Daniel Carter might have been in the zone with his goal-kicking in the wet but the miracle man was Richie McCaw. He was in every TV frame doing something.
The All Blacks hit the rucks with venom but when McCaw hits them, it's like a hay- baler at work... Leonard's intercept turned the game. It led to Tony Woodcock's try and dented the Wallabies' morale. And at last we had a referee who pinged the Aussie props and George Smith for slapping the ball down. The wrongs of Melbourne were righted but overall, the Bledisloe and Tri-Nations Cups were McCaw's Cups."

freedom cup checked. bledisloe cup checked. tri-nations cup checked. now bring on the world cup.

and these are the boys who will be fighting for new zealand for the world cup glory



forwards: hayman, oliver, mealamu, hore, woody, tialata, jacko, ali, robbo, reuben thorne, captain tackles, rodder, sione lauaki (bolting from junior ab), jerry collins, chris masoe. backs: wazza, brendon leonard, andy ellis, DC, nick the sneak evans, lukey mcalister, aza, rocketman (joe rococoko), ice, conrad smith, dougie howlett, sitiveni sivivatu, rangi macdonald, mils

(sorry - rico gear (i would pick you,really...), piri weepu, troy flavell)