Monday Crumbs - The All Blacks Won The World Cuuu...... Quarter-Final!
Fuck off Scotland
When you consider that we saw the greatest NRL Final ever a couple weeks and that the All Blacks' victory over France will go down as one of the best knockout performances in the Rugby World Cup, it's a pretty good time to be alive.
Cue a cheeky Drake and Future reference and cue everyone around Aotearoa doing a little humble brag about the All Blacks. It doesn't really matter whether you questioned the All Blacks or specific players like Dan Carter or Julian Savea and it doesn't matter if you had the faith all along and are now as smug as ever - the All Blacks played at their very best and that demolition of France was the result.
Well I guess it does matter ... if you want to be like a few media pundits who backtrack as good as politicians.
I'm not sure how I feel about the All Blacks' performance. Obviously when you watch any sports team who are so finely tuned or 'in the zone' like the All Blacks were, it's pretty cool and you can't do anything but enjoy the show. People now think that they understand Shag and how he was 'holding a few things back' but I didn't really see too much different (and I think the All Blacks wouldn't have played all their cards in merely the quarter-final), I just saw an All Blacks team who played with greater intensity, enthusiasm and skill than they had before.
Pause - does Dane Coles live in the backline?
While the All Blacks were excellent, France were pretty shit. The French were in the game right up until that Picamoles fella decided, in a rather strange moment to rub his fist in the face of Lord Richie. France were in touch with the All Blacks on the scoreboard and had just been given a penalty in good field position, which was subsequently reversed with Picamoles sent to the sin bin. That was the killer blow and it came in the first half - game, set and match.
All that talk of a mutiny, which came at the last minute and gave this game a funky twist is now extremely strange with the blessing of hindsight. Were the French foxing everyone, trying to build up the level of adversity and so on? Or was the French camp really a shit place to be thanks to a coach who isn't 'charismatic' enough?
Pause - Shag isn't very charismatic. That's such a French thing right?
France crumbled and the All Blacks were really good, hence the scoreline. I'm not ready to go nuts just yet though, as the mainstream media are.
I actually thought that the All Blacks had won the World Cup this morning, such was the kerfuffle made about this game and it raised this question in my mind - would this game be 'greater' than a gritty, defensive, tough performance in the final? Ponder that.
Also, the backlash that Craig Joubert is getting from mainly Scottish folk is interesting. Referees make mistakes and sometimes they make utterly bamboozling decisions but it's always a bit harsh to lay all the blame on the ref when there are so many more variables at play in a game of rugby/any other sport. I found this interesting because it showed how fragile winning/losing can be with dreams being shattered by the bloke blowing the whistle (whether rightly or wrongly, I don't really care).
Yes folks! Fire up that anxiety and get ready for another week of angst - all it takes is one funky ref's decision and it's all over.
Hey, at least we have the All Blacks representing Aotearoa excessively well to make up for that Chris Cairns guy right?
Prepare to be disgusted, as kiwi footballer Shane Smeltz kicked poor Mark Birghitti in the face in the A-League...
If you are looking for a new boxer to support after the whole Floyd Mayweather/Manny Pacquiao era then Gennady Golovkin is your guy. Golovkin defeated David Lemieux which gave the 34 year old boxer from Kazakhstan his 31st knockout in 34 wins and there's a high chance that Golovkin will now fight the winner of Miguel Cotto vs Canelo Alvarez. A win there would put Golovkin head and shoulders above his competitors and he'd be the best boxer in the world, just as boxing needs a new hero. Here's what I could find...
Manners kids, use your fucking manners!