Field Theory by Hadyn Green

The Brat was at the game with her fellow referees and said that they were all blowing the South Africans offside at nearly every ruck. She says to look out at the wings, which are definitely forward of ruck very often

And before I forget: Tracey's stats

What, nothing on the yellow card that wasn't? The All Blacks would still have won though - unimaginative attacking play seemingly can't stand up to pinpoint razzle dazzle under the new rule interpretations, so long as the defence also works. When was the last time the Boks strung a decent attacking move together against NZ? They can do it against Aussie...

My first ABs game was that dull RWC quarter-final in Edinburgh. The best thing was the Scottish fans singing "You only beat us by 40" as tens of thousands of us made our way back into town, completely blocking all traffic.

What, nothing on the yellow card that wasn't?

So at 0:57-0:59 in this clip Rossouw doesn't kick McCaw [the offence he was sent off for]

That's not a kick, though it does look worse in the original wide angle shot at 00.54 than the slow-mo replays which had everyone in my lounge scratching their heads.

Girls kick each other harder than that in football. You know, the round ball code.

And before I forget: Tracey's stats

Showing McCaw, who didn't top any of the metrics last week, stepping up when he was needed this week, as a real captain does.

It's not the kick that's the problem, it's the bit where he tries to gently brush some of the sweat out of Richie's eyes for him...

Showing McCaw, who didn't top any of the metrics last week, stepping up when he was needed this week, as a real captain does.

And remembering that Tracey's stats are a little "Richie Centric" :) But in the booth the most notable players were Muliaina, McCaw, Mealamu and Franks.

Don't forget Weepu, thought he had a blinder. Kinda glad also to see Ranger left out, just don;t think he is the goods for test matches. Too many mistakes.

Safa complaining aside, you have to take your chances, which we did, you could argue that SA's first try shouldn;t have come after the dodgy Ranger penalty. We were the better team and deserved to win, simple as that.

Regarding the yellow card... it seemed to me that in all fairness if Rossouw was going to get sent off for starting the fight, then McCaw should have also been yellow-carded for continuing it.

I thought refs were pretty tough on players who fought back, and I was kinda surprised that McCaw stayed on the field when Rossouw got sent off.

I was particularly impressed by Israel Dagg's try - his zig-zag running to get through the defence reminded me of Christian Cullen - and it was GREAT to see that Mils still has the ability to put on a serious burst of speed when he needs to. Great tries!

I thought Ranger did pretty well actually - although he did have a bit of a case of Nonu-like dropsies a couple of times - but his work rate was pretty high I thought - he seemed to be everywhere at once for quite a bit of the game - and his try was very cleverly done, so I'm quite surprised they've left him out for the next test.

It was also great to see Weepu have such a blinder of a game. Of course, Hurricanes fans know how awesome he can be - and I'm still bemused as to why he was left out in the cold by the All Blacks selectors for so long. I think he runs rings around Cowan every time he plays... Very nice to seem him in the starting line-up for a change.

We (Wellington Batucada) were invited to march around the edge of the field and play samba to the arriving crowd for half an hour before the game started - you could hear us (very clearly) in the background as the guys up in the commentary box did the pre-match warm-up.

At one point they had a commentator on the field doing a little summary to camera as we marched and played behind him - I was amazed we didn't drown him out, but I guess that's the wonder of modern microphone technology for ya.

He referred to us as Batucada Sound Machine (not us) instead of Wellington Batucada but never mind. It was heaps of fun to play, and the half-hour seemed to go by in a flash.

I was quite surprised how well we were received by the crowd - they really seemed to be enjoying us - I just hope our playing didn't distract the commentators too much! We were very loud...

Actually, I think you'd find that deliberately kicking another player on the ground would get you an easy red card in soccer.

But I agree with Mark. Ritchie reacts to the attack on his eyes, not the kick.

Actually, I think you'd find that deliberately kicking another player on the ground would get you an easy red card in soccer.

Just ask Felipe Melo. Or David Beckham.

What freaked me at the time was how easily after he swung at Rossouw the Boks managed to surround McCaw and get him away from his support.

It reminded me of a certain 1984 NBA game between the 76ers and Celtics where Larry Bird had been on fire, was on 42 points, then Julius Irving got sick of being scored on and snapped. Charles Barkley and Moses Malone actually had Bird in a headlock on national TV while Irving laid into him. Could have easily happened there.

The yellow card - the Springboks have shown a surprising level of foolishness around foul play these past two tests. He did it right in front of the referee almost as if he was challenging the referee’s authority. The referee had no choice but to tell him who was boss. My view is player goes from fresh and boundlessly fit at the beginning of his career, then as he gets a bit older and a bit slower cunning and experience keeps him in the hunt, then, imperceptibly at first, cunning becomes dirty and experience becomes just old.

Despite all the euphoria over the All Black wins - and they are fine wins indeed - I am still uneasy. I am not sure if the style we are playing is a RWC tournament winning style. All I see is the same coaching panel playing the same sort of "total" rugby and heading for the same sort of ignominious exit at the hands of a negative, penalty kicking, stifling defensive effort as the last few RWC's.

All I see is the same coaching panel playing the same sort of "total" rugby and heading for the same sort of ignominious exit at the hands of a negative, penalty kicking, stifling defensive effort as the last few RWC's.

Given that two of the last three times we've been knocked out of the world cup it has been France that knocked us out, I'm not sure that's an accurate description of how they played.

All I see is the same coaching panel playing the same sort of "total" rugby

You see that with the Deans coached Wallabies against most sides. They struggle to win that way against the Springboks, but it's simply awful to watch against a side like Fiji, who just get shut out completely.

Something I forgot to mention anywhere but the title: this was the first time I had seen the All Blacks live.

I guessed that.