Carter and McCaw are injured

Fair enough, they may seem minor injuries, but are these the signs of what is to come in the knock out round? Could minor injuries become more serious? Is this the start of the choking?

If the All Blacks cant win the World Cup without 2 of their best players, they don't deserve to win it.

Oh dear Carter and MCcaw injured.

Oh well i guess they can always try and win the 2015 RWC instead of this one.

Not sure whether McCaw will make the '15 WC maj. Nor Carter for that matter. Imagine they will have gone for the big payout in Europe by then, or be on the decline in terms of playing ability.

I don't buy this quasi injury stuff from NZ one bit. I think they think they have the game in the bag even with their third team so no need to risk injury to the key NZ pair.

No team would have won the world cup with their two best players and or captain missing....whether its the number of points they kick (Grant fox, Wilkinson, Lynagh, Burke, Montgomery) the number of tries (Campese, Habana, Kirwin) or the leadership that drags the rest of the guys onto win (Johnson, Eales, Pienaar).....games and world cups are won and lost by small margins, you lose one star and its a massive blow...you lose two players and you lose the world cup !!

Imagine the outcome of the world cup if the teams below missed these players !!

1987- Grant Fox and John Kirwin
1991- Michael Lynagh and David Campese
1995 - Francois Pienaar and Stransky
1999- Matt burke and John Eales
2003- Johnny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson
2007 - Brian Habana and Percy Montgomery
2011 - Dan Carter and Richie McCaw ???

at least when they lose it this time they will have something to blame it on as opposed to the usual excuse making, bad stomach etc etc

Gloating about another nations injuries is terribly poor form. This has just made me hope NZ do win it now.

IF and I mean IF, NZ lost Carter and McCaw - they become one of the Rest. It has been proven in the past that they are internationally average without them - at the High-End. Their whole team is built around them. They are what makes the AB's special. And they could be taken by 4 or 5 teams at this RWC without them. Like Ireland without BOD or POC - but x 3.

They will be OK. Niggles will not stop them playing. And I pray they play too. I want to see the best players in the World play at this gig. Otherwise, whats the point?

Mccaw and Carter injured, my,my is it the truth? or are they just getting their excuses in early, because one way or another they ain't gonna win this WC, because one of the AB's 3 Bogey teams, will kick their cheating assess in to the middle of next week, and i for one will be really, really sad. No honestly, really sad!!

Every team has to cope with injuries. It's a shame when it happens to anyone.

sirtidychris wrote:No team would have won the world cup with their two best players and or captain missing....whether its the number of points they kick (Grant fox, Wilkinson, Lynagh, Burke, Montgomery) the number of tries (Campese, Habana, Kirwin) or the leadership that drags the rest of the guys onto win (Johnson, Eales, Pienaar).....games and world cups are won and lost by small margins, you lose one star and its a massive blow...you lose two players and you lose the world cup !!

Imagine the outcome of the world cup if the teams below missed these players !!

1987- Grant Fox and John Kirwin
1991- Michael Lynagh and David Campese
1995 - Francois Pienaar and Stransky
1999- Matt burke and John Eales
2003- Johnny Wilkinson and Martin Johnson
2007 - Brian Habana and Percy Montgomery
2011 - Dan Carter and Richie McCaw ???

Except that I think NZ would still have won it in 87 without those 2 anyway. They were 20 points better than any team through the entire tournament.

Losing those two wouldnt have wiped out a full 20 point deficit from every match. There were many great players in that team.

If we are all honest it's only a shame if it happens to players who are playing somebody else rather than the team we support.
Do I want Pisi to recover by Sunday no I don't because I believe he is one of their key players.

Cymroglan wrote:If we are all honest it's only a shame if it happens to players who are playing somebody else rather than the team we support.
Do I want Pisi to recover by Sunday no I don't because I believe he is one of their key players.

Speak for yourself Cymro not for me. This is only a game at the end of the day and serious injuries are sad no matter who it is.

Big difference between a serious injury and somebody not being available for the next game or two.

Dan Carter is a great player, and i believe a great and honest sportsman and i for one hope he recovers to play a major part of the Kiwi campaign!

However, Mccheat couldn't lie straight in Bed and i don't for one minute feel that he is injured at all. Therefore i think that this news of 'Injuries' is nothing but a Hoax!!

EW will you shut up about McCaw. He needs the game time and I'm frankly cheesed off he can't make the game. I'm sure Henry is too. He's missing out on his 100th test. But the Cup is more important.

New Zealand may not have two Carters and two McCaws, but their replacements aren't as bad and won't affect their performance to the point where they have to fear many teams either.

Some of these comments are more wishful than anything else. How would it affect your own respective nations if you lost two of your top players?

Probably not so nice when you think about it that way, eh?

Gatts wrote: at least when they lose it this time they will have something to blame it on as opposed to the usual excuse making, bad stomach etc etc

Can you imagine Graham Henry, having to sit there and say to the New Zealand public,Well, we would of won it this year, but hower best players was injured after all.

Yup Biltong, people like the schadenfreude aspect of NZ conking out of Cups, but making fun of injuries isn't cool. Just because Juan Smith could have been instrumental in knocking NZ out doesn't mean that I'm not gutted for the guy and for the rugby that he won't be there. Ditto for Sheridan, Wallace, Bekker etc

People on here really hate NZ! Arguably the 2 best players in the World are injured and you're celebrating? I think that is poor form. Hope they recover,think the Aussies can still win the RWC though.

Not worried about those two at all.

If they are ruled out then I think the others will compensate motivation wise. Still think our problems come knockout is around ability to execute- regardless of who we have. We've had ample talent in 07, 03, 99, 95 and 91. On every occasion we were prepared, had the best players available, and failed to execute.

I actually prefer us to have struggles through pool play for that exact reason- dominating pool play completely and utterly- has got us nowhere other than in 87. So a struggle for some in pool play will hopefully lift others. AB's work best with their backs to the wall.

Shaun Edwards Quote of the week.. The best way to prepare for a tough game is to have a tough game.

Taylorman wrote: AB's work best with their backs to the wall.

Unfortunately not in this particular tournament traditionally mate! But now's the best time to start again hey.

No-one on here hates NZ in fact i really like our quaint Colonial cousins, no its merely the cheating so and so's Rugby team with its precious Haka, combined with their self righteous attitude that gets my Goat, but no real dislike of the people!

But wouldn't you rather win against the best side the oppos can put out than against a weakened side?

I can say I do. Got very little satisfication beating the boks at home this year in the 3Ns, but felt much better playing the full side in SA. the WC should be the best against the best of each nation. I know that's an almost impossible wish, but I think that's the ideal.

If my side is not good enough to beat the oppos with their best side, then so be it, but how great the kudos winning against the best?

My 2c worth

mckay1402 wrote:Gloating about another nations injuries is terribly poor form. This has just made me hope NZ do win it now.

Exactly. And I'd just like to congratulate Botha on recovering for the Springboks, I was doubtful he'd recover from an achillies injury which can be tough and time consuming to sort out. He's done well. World cup rugby can be dire enough without world cup rugby without its stars.

Luckily for England, this is not something that they'll have to contend with, not having any star players.

OzT, unfortunately it happens rather too often these days, injuries do play a big role in why countries these days use more players to represent them than ever before, and even though we all want our best 15 against the opposition's 15, it is no more a regular occurence

NZ v Japan is one of those un-winnable games for NZ.

Win by 100 points and everyone will say "so they should".

Win by 10 and they'll be crucified.

Losing is simply unthinkable. Now that Japan have rotated the squad, were GH to roll out the top 15 and aggravate a niggle to Carter, McCaw or any of the other first picks and he'd be kicking himself for another four years.

Frankly nobody is going to learn anything about Mils' form from watching him play Japan A.

The see-dos are now over. It's time for pragmatism.

I'm the first to whine about a whiff of rotation, but let's be honest here, NZ should be able to put out a super 15 side and walk away with a bonus point win. If we can't then we don't deserve to win the world cup.

OzT wrote:But wouldn't you rather win against the best side the oppos can put out than against a weakened side?

I can say I do. Got very little satisfication beating the boks at home this year in the 3Ns, but felt much better playing the full side in SA. the WC should be the best against the best of each nation. I know that's an almost impossible wish, but I think that's the ideal.

If my side is not good enough to beat the oppos with their best side, then so be it, but how great the kudos winning against the best?

My 2c worth

Right On, Oz.