Will the citings committee be called in to dampen NZ celebrations?

First topic message reminder :

Personally I think that it would be a great shame but there was the knee of God and two (maybe three) high tackles...

Glas a du wrote: that'll just make him angry and all the more determined to stay!

It'll be a different monkey in 2015. The one that says "no-one's ever successfully defended the RWC". He gets about a bit

More seriously, it's not really surprising no-one's mounted a successful defence (Australia in '03 and England in '07 going closest) - for all the talk around about a 4 year RWC cycle, it actually takes more than 4 years to build an RWC winning side. Plus you need to not be unlucky with injuries, the draw and refereeing* twice over.



*Note, I watched most of the final while drinking with a bunch of other Kiwis, and a lot of the time either peering through my fingers or with (figuratively) only one eye open. Hence I only noticed "bad" refereeing when it appeared to be against NZ . I won't therefore be forming an objective view of Joubert's performance until I watch it again. And I don't think I can take the tension involved for a few days ...

England rugby fan wrote:

Comfort wrote:

Also, Warburton's was a red-card offence, it could have been yellow (as had been awarded earlier in the tournament for similar tackles) but the referees who awarded those decisions werent the ones picked to ref the later stages of the tournament (from what I remember - surely someone will correct me if im wrong).

It could have been a yellow but that would have been the wrong decision as proven by the citing office who told Walsh and Poite they were wrong in only awarding yellow cards and that the "tip tackle" is a red card offence and hence the other players were banned. For some reason did officiate in the knockout stages, Walsh was there referee for the England v France game and Poite was a touch judge in the Ireland v Wales game.

Think we're in agreement on this one dude! It was a red-card, the offences that were awarded yellow, should have been red aswell.

It'll be a different monkey in 2015. The one that says "no-one's ever successfully defended the RWC". He gets about a bit