Four more years
Whisky to while it away

Garcon, deux whisky, si vous plais.

NZ – All Blacks, France – all blue. Whisky – all good.

When you're playing the blues, whisky is essential.

The French translated the haka, which seems weird. I can't imagine most NZers could give a reasonable translation of Ka Mate, indeed a fair number couldn't tell you anything about what it means and its?

Whisky, it goes with everything

...including French toast

The French translated the haka, which seems weird. I can't imagine most NZers could give a reasonable translation of Ka Mate, indeed a fair number couldn't tell you anything about what it means and its history.

When I worked at the NZ High Commission in London, I got regular requests?

DEFEAT
The Black hole of despair
E= MC2 is not true
Energy does not equal mass times the speed of light even squared

WIN
The Black wave of matter
Never How Much but
How many (Points)!!
(quod erat demonstrandum)!!

OBSCURE
Kiwi All Black
rara avis
sui?

There should be a world cup haiku competition for the semis.

MAKE THAT WINNER'S WHISKY
ON THE A.B. WALES RIDER

FRANCE, SAY BONJOUR TO CARDIFF
BUT AU REVOIR TO THE CUP!

MOST HATED FRENCH LETTERS
AB C YA MATE!

PARIS SAYS SACRÉ BLEU !
LES ALL BLACKS SONT SCARY!

NEVER MIND THE TOUR D'EIFFEL,
POUR SOME?

Quel Horreur!

Re the Haka: literal translations are always underwhelming, it's up to the translator to accurately reinterpret the spirit as well as the sense.

When you're playing the blues, whisky is essential.

Nice work Jeremy. Can I suggest one change that I think would make it perfect? (and win you the prize)

When you're beating the blues, whisky is essential.

"Only a mature drink could follow such a mature performance."

If we lose:

"At least the whisky's guaranteed to be mature"

Then you can pick a fullback at centre once more.

Whisky Galore:-

Stops you crying during the anthem

Needless to say the words are pretty underwhelming in English, as is the back story (Te Rauparaha hiding from his pursuers).

Wikipedia translates the Ka Mate haka as this:

__'Tis death! 'tis death! 'Tis life! 'tis life!
'Tis death! 'tis death! 'Tis life! 'tis life!
This the hairy man that?

And of course the words look silly when you write them out. They do for any damn song.

'Tangled?

For a win:
"Nothing's better than flogging the French except, maybe, a memorable malt"

In case of win: "The Aussies need a shot or three".

When has there ever been even the slimest possibily that the All Blacks could lose a quaterfinal?

While I think we will excrete (in the nicest possible term over France) and do the same over an injury hit Aussie?

Just what you need when?

When they're playing the Blues
Try some quality booze

You could even sample a commentator for 'try'...

(Same stipulation as above, it's still a riff on Jeremy's idea.)

When they're playing the Blues
Try some quality booze

You could even sample a commentator for 'try'...

(Same stipulation as above, it's still a riff on Jeremy's idea.)

Not really related the the guidelines set but better than the insipid efforts I made earlier
(though somehow I think I've ripped someone off)

Not really related the the guidelines set but better than the insipid efforts I made earlier
(though somehow I think I've ripped someone off).

Always possible, Felix.

Now.

WHO DID YOU BET ON FOR TOMORROW'S GAME???

Be honest, now.

Always possible, Felix.

Now.

WHO DID YOU BET ON FOR TOMORROW'S GAME???

Be honest, now.

Rob,
The obligatory happiness insurance bet I'm afraid. $20 bucks on the Frogs.

NH 2 – SH 0

(bugger)

So who's going to win the NPC then?

LOL

I think I owe Stephen Jones an apology. Turns out the prick was right all along.

Oh hell, I'd not thought about the sneering reaction these results will provoke.

I'm so ignorant of the ways of the RWC that I somehow thought the NZ vs France game was tonight, not last night, but I know it was?

Though maybe I should just get back to the here and now and save all that for later and just blame the ref.

Why not? If those sneaky bastards are going to keep scoring points on behalf of the evil ones, they deserve everything they get. :)

"I blame William Webb Ellis. If only he hadn't picked the ball up that day and ran with it we'd be spared all this grief."

He didn't it was all a pack of lies made up when he was 70 odd and was one of the?

I feel sorry for Ali Williams in particular — lost amongst the post?

And, yup, it does make it harder to swallow that the game turned on two serious refereeing blunders.

I'd have said one serious and one dubious but that's just quibbling... totally agree with you about Williams, he played his best game – Evans looked good too (for as long as?

Simple – we didn't even score the points value of the margin people were predicting!

At least no-one venting on the Herald thus far has blamed Graham Henry 'though – that man deserves a knighthood.

I'd have said one serious and one dubious but that's just quibbling...

Paul Waite at Haka is incandescent about the refereeing performance. You have to wonder about the wisdom of giving a game like this to a guy in his third year of professional refereeing.

But ... the idea is?

I know who I'll be supporting from here on in.

Argentina!

That's fine in a one sided game where you win by 20 instead of 30 but when there isn't going to be much in it, 14 points that may not have been scored in a?

I wonder if the All Blacks will meet up with the Wallabies at the airport on the way home for an early start to the summer?

Time to scrape the rust off the barbie and concentrate on the really important things.

Ah sanity returns, I can look forward to returning?

I really, really hope they get a decent welcome home. I would be disappointed if the mood of the country turned against them, because I don't think they played badly, and I don't think they lost the match themselves, if?

Prance & sneer indeed, someone needs to lay off the pot.

Would it be possible for you to post here even once without slinging off at another contributor? I really don't understand your attitude.

The sneering anticipated in the post you referred to is that inevitably forthcoming from Stephen Jones and?

I felt I had to give some?

It turns out they're not so good. One was out in the backyard burning his All Blacks jersey.

And just how flammable is the material that they play in these days?

The rather inept TV direction makes it hard to see exactly what happened, but it really does look like Jauzion milked it. He flies backwards with his hands in the air while McAllister runs back towards?

I'd like to see someone from the NZRU announce (and I paraphrase here) "stuff this for a lark, we're just going to spend the next four years preparing to be gracious hosts of?

Anyone hear the ads on Newstalk ZB for the Herald on Sunday and their World Cup guide? Counting down to the ABs semi-final, that was the gist. Oh dear.

Yep, and Radio Live was running ads for TV3 coverage of the "New Zealand- England semi-final" after France had won. I?

At least no-one venting on the Herald thus far has blamed Graham Henry

You haven't read Stuff yet then?

Wayne Barnes also happens to be the guy who was awful while reffing Tonga-South Africa. His calls?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wayne_Barnes

A little vandalism though.

At least now I can stop being so nervous :).

Still very proud of the AB's – they are judged by their own high standards, they at least went out on their shields, and I am sure they more than anyone will be feeling completely gutted.?

Must stop looking at those clips. The more I look at the sin-binning and the forward pass, the less philosophical I feel ...

I think I'm experiencing reverse grief – from acceptance to anger and depression in a matter of hours...

England and France both winning – who'd have thunk it? – what odds Scotland to fly the flag as well?

I now predict an "all-upset" weekend with Argentina beating England in the Final.

At least now I can stop being so nervous :)

I know, no more ulcers for me?

Although after the talking up of the Americas Cup, the Cricket World Cup, the Warriors etc, I'm getting used to this feeling.

I love this post on Kiwiblog. How's this sour grapes attempt?

"NZ needs to stop focusing on the world cup and that?

Must stop looking at those clips. The more I look at the sin-binning and the forward pass, the less philosophical I feel ...

Well, pop down to your local rugby club, volunteer to be a ref and spend a few wet, shitty Saturday mornings having abuse screeched at you by?

My advice would be to get some fine whiskey ;) and for the rest of the tournament just simply enjoy it with a good crowd. I know I will.

The players deserve better than to have refereeing decisions determine the outcome of matches.

Oy and vey... could someone explain to be what game's outcome isn't determined by "refereeing decisions"? What a pissy, sour little squirt of sour grape juice from David Kirk, and so the AB's?

My commiserations to the team. I hope they don't have to go through the same ordeal that the media and public put the 1999 team through.

Oh, they will, unfortunately. The nasty, recriminatory tone of some of the postings on the Herald and Stuff forums really makes you wonder about?

At least the whisky has a smooth finish, and mellow aftertaste...

What a pissy, sour little squirt of sour grape juice from David Kirk

I disagree almost entirely with your assessment of that column, Craig. In fact, he says almost immediately after the quote you used that the ABs should have been expecting 'close refereeing' and played accordingly. Additionally, his argument?

Oy and vey... could someone explain to be what game's outcome isn't determined by "refereeing decisions"?

Most of them aren't affected to quite the same degree this one was. Perhaps it was just France's day, but 17 of their 20 points came off those poor decisions.

Well, pop down to?

Gagh... I really hoped the AB's would win, because smug and jingoistic media commentary is marginally less obnoxious than bitter and bitchy.

Oh the irony!

McAllister's try ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufvg50IE3KM

McAllister's yellow card ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zpn-PUH0Me4

The fateful forward pass ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_9VkrFaJc4

Jeremy wrote:
Still looking for ad copy?
At least the whisky has a smooth finish, and mellow aftertaste...

You're still on form, then.

Few other random thoughts:

Yeah, the war metaphors really got my back up. It's also there in the sub-Churchillian Rod & Gunn sponsor copy too "let us go?

Whether they win or lose ... clearly the best in the world.

(I did briefly consider "Going up against the French ... you'll need a stiff one" but that's probably not usable ;-)

Robyn, no disrespect but it is hard to claim to be the best rugby team in the world if you haven't won a World Cup for 20 years.

Well, it seems to me that the RWC is just one way of measuring rugby greatness. Surely there's more to rugby than?

"Going up against the French ... you'll need a stiff one"

that's gotta be a winner!

A lot of the commetn on some other threads – the Herald in particular – was about how the NZers were too arrogant – possibly true, but I don't think that's the reason the ABs loss/

Of course. It obviously gives some people some sort of tall-poppy-slashing satisfaction to say?

I like his conclusion, although at the moment' I'd quibble about the word 'glorious':

This was not the kind of result that bears rational explanation, at least not at this moment in time. New Zealand made 36 tackles out of?

McAlister had another disagreement with young English referee Wayne Barnes in the dying minutes when he unsuccessfully attempted a dropped goal from nearly 50m out.

He said this wasn't the panicked action that some might believe.

"We had the advantage, the ref had his arm?

"Prominent New Zealand radio commentator Murray Deaker described the result as nothing short of a national disaster.

"Sadly we are a dumb rugby nation, we don't play the big matches well," he said.

"We play them in a boofhead way. We were a?

Oh the irony!

Paul: In a slightly different context, you bet your arse I was gutted like a freshly caught fish when my 'side' lost the last election. Didn't mean I couldn't accept Labour just got more fucking votes in a free, fair and properly run election – and was?

It is this kind of thing that gets my goat – "a national disaster" – talk about putting things in the right perspective.

Perhaps Muzza needs to pay a visit to the Christchurch Library's kid's education site on New Zealand disasters. He might learn that national disasters tend to involve?

He might learn that national disasters tend to involve death.

As opposed to wounded egos, which heal rather quickly when you stop picking at the scabs.

And when I've seen ten year olds handle lose a football match with considerably more maturity and grace than I've seen from their alleged elders and betters today, I respectfully suggest the 'irony' is not mine.

Which is excellent stuff in theory, especially if you didn't watch or care about?

Russell, have you re-watched the footage of the end of the match to see how long the ref had his arm out for during that period of advantage?

No, I didn't PVR it. What happened?

The picture of Richie McCaw at the media conference is heart rending. Poor guy. He's given the game and the public as much?

Which is excellent stuff in theory, especially if you didn't watch or care about the game.

Now, Russell – I don't particularly "care about the game", and am perfectly well aware that lots of people do. But I'd respectfully suggest that nobody thinks basic good sportsmanship is a matter of?

lolz, totally deserved
Learn to be less cocky even if rugby is the only thing your nation has

And who bothered to quote Deaker? I'm surprised he didn't blame the Lesbian Cabal.

Oh and Russell, dont watch the replay, all?

WTF has the last election got to do with it?

I take my politics as seriously as some people take rugby and put an enormous amount of time and effort into campaigning last time around. Really awful 'losing' by a little over two points, but sadly that's the way it?

Russell, have you re-watched the footage of the end of the match to see how long the ref had his arm out for during that period of advantage?

Caught that part now. He was actually signalling for a knock-on advantage, so perhaps his waving play on then wasn't so bad,?

I'm surprised he didn't blame the Lesbian Cabal.

Hayden: Dykeocracy Central have found out that softball, horse riding and women's golf are much more successful at 'recruiting' normal girls into the lesbotic lifestyle. Murray really need to keep his copy of the homosexual agenda up to date.

There are quite a few smiling bystanders who are enjoying putting the boot in though for some reason making random things up.

The ref cost us the game which is fairly obvious. It's not a crime to point?

We did manage to play against a team who did not commit an infringement for the last 51 minutes of the match

Well, there's a subtle difference between not committing an infringement and not being caught committing an infringement. ;-)

Hey, I take my politics seriously too – I don't always agree with your argument but you often make reasonable points – but this discussion didn't appear to be about politics? It was about rugby.

Yeah, I wasn't summoning any higher principles either. It was just a game of rugby,?

all of this is just deeply tedious for those of us not invested in the sport, so there's always going to be a certain level of glee from us when the whole thing collapses so spectacularly.

I gettit too, but this is becoming a referendum about rugby rather than, what?

rather than, what I'd hoped for at least, might be a therapy session ...

Well, I guess we can all be take solace that we're not this guy.

Unless one off us is that guy, in which case, uhh... sorry dude.

the way the media loses interest in covering any news stories for a good couple of weeks and devotes their energies to an in depth analysis of what color clothes a sports team is going to wear -

Well you would have enjoyed the TV ONE news tonight... or at?

The 2 penalties the ABs were awarded in the entire match was the lowest in the enitre tournament to date of 42 matches.

We?

..all of this is just deeply tedious for those of us not invested in the sport, so there's always going to be a certain level of glee from us when the whole thing collapses so spectacularly.

Glee? Jeez, Danyl, steady on.

I dropped the kids off at St Lukes for?

JP, perhaps they are the person that just won 5 million in powerball ;)

Nah, it's more likely to be another NZ Finance company.

tI think I can see where Craig is coming from (for once) – for those of us not interested in the game the world cup was mostly just an irritating, alienating experience: the saturation level marketing dressed up as nationalism, the irritating conversations with random [snip]
so there's?

Most people (men especially) were just sort of walking around in a daze.

That's how I walk around usually.

Or else it could have been the anti depressants. During the replay of the game on TV3 this afternoon they ran the JK ad for coming forward if you are suffering?

Yes, but don't forget there's a lot of us – more than you might think, and quite a lot posting here – who still love the game while having grave reservations (to put it mildly) about the elements you list.

Wordy McWord. You can be a fan and be critical?

So well done France. A truly remarkable display of discipline in a match where you had to defend for 70% of it.

Indeed. Although it's hard to see how the officials couldn't find something to penalise in this dying minutes incident on the French line. Jeez ...

Or else it could have been the anti depressants. During the replay of the game on TV3 this afternoon they ran the JK ad for coming forward if you are suffering from depression. I bet the phones have been ringing off the hook.

I was talking to a female friend?

The sneering anticipated in the post you referred to is that inevitably forthcoming from Stephen Jones and his like.

I like the look of the World cup now, the field looks wide open. I sort?

Indeed. Although it's hard to see how the officials couldn't find something to penalise in this dying minutes incident on the French line. Jeez ...

Rugby unfortunately is probably more influenced by the referee than any other sport. Though somebody might be able to think of others.

I have seen?

How about this for the comp:

At least the French don't play cricket.
Deaden your pain responsibly.
Whiskey Galore.

Righto

I have a lot of respect for match officials in league and rugby because they are horrendously bad to referee due to the rules and the interpretations and the fact that?

Disappointment is part of the human condition, so – it appears – is an wretched lack of proportion. Sorry, but I'm (perhaps disproportionately) narked off at hearing nonsense like we're all in a state of national mourning and losing a football game is any kind of 'national disaster'. Even?

It got to the point where I got home today and I realised that I had all these thoughts and ideas about the RWC and the All Blacks'?

Wellington/Hurricanes rugby have had a lot of good teams over the years, so to the rest of NZ, welcome to our?

Let's agree to disagree, I know where you're coming from and 'spect vice vera.

Quoted for 110-proof truthiness, Paul. :) Meanwhile, I'm just a little more depressed by this. Let's just say it's a rare day I'm on the same page as both the Sensible Sentencing Trust and Women's Refuge, but?

Glancing through the headlines and leaders around the news websites ( 'National Disaster!' 'Nation in Mourning!''Our Gods Have Fallen!' 'Our National Psyche has been Wounded!') I think there's going to be plenty of?

1. referee

"A good team can be beaten by bad officiating; a great team overcomes it"

I'd say that that is sports analogy of the worst kind. I will use the example of Tonga who were robbed of a possible victory over South Africa because the ref called time while there was?

Oh, and may I nominate Anton Oliver for Dork of the Day for this OTT military metaphor

Well we do a Dick of the Week on the Dropkicks and I think that those headlines will be mentioned.

but I'm not blaming him (any more)

Let's face it, we should've been 25 points up so that a couple of bad calls wouldn't matter.

OMG... you did not just go there, girlfriend! Howlingly vulgar at the best of times, but the timing was rather unfortunate, don't you think?

Heh – Onetime John(ny) Farnham manager Glenn Wheatley, who once attempted to score a gig for his suppurating protege at Australia's official Gallipoli celebrations (Murray McCully?

This is also why I have declared a week-long moratorium on all NZ mass media (apart from you guys). I even turned off National Radio this morning.?

"A good team can be beaten by bad officiating; a great team overcomes it"

Tongue was firmly in cheek, however great teams (tonga ?), dont need 30 seconds.

go with

Let's face it, we should've been 25 points up so that a couple of bad calls wouldn't matter.

victory by foul means is as sweet as victory by fair means

I was with you til then.

The sun is shining. Life goes on etc. Summer is well on its way, I had a lovely day yesterday?

Except we haven't kept winning, we've not won a?

And why, in such a tight game, did we not have a Sean Ftizpatrick or a Zinzan Brooke chipping away at the refferee to get us a critical penalty?

Good point. It's hard to imagine George Gregan failing to cajole one out of the ref in such circumstances.

Would that referee been as bad for the Wallabies with George Gregan in his ear? Would we have lost if we had milked a few penalties shots as a result of sly, dirty, Fitzpatrician cunning?

Thats a good point too – that is still the thing that amazes me about?

Hey, a France – Argentina final would have a certain symmetry to it – first and last game of the tournament.

yes I agree, although the French loss to Argentina could be what made it possible for France to beat the AB's. The difference is that France had their slaughtering?

In ice hockey, we have one referee, and two linesmen, but the roles are?

Perhaps at this level the coach of each team could be entitled to a limited number of challenges (say 1 per half)

::coughAmericanFootballcough::

Perhaps at this level the coach of each team could be entitled to a limited number of challenges (say 1 per half) of the ref's descion based on the TV coverage. An appeal to the TV ref like for tries.

Just watching the South Africa/Fiji replay and flabbergasted by the?

I agree, Rugby has nothing to do with war.

"I have stated here before that the French hold rugby dear in part due to the fact that during the German Occupation, rugby was the only thing men were allowed to gather to do, on the penalty of death."

is Myth building promoted by a bunch?