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Honolulu_Blue
11-22-2003, 06:57 AM
SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




SPOILERS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




























STILL THERE BE SPIOLERS HERE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!





























An excellent event. A truly worthy World Cup final. The Aussies started off strong, really taking it to favored English side in the first 10-15 minutes. They scored on wonderful try.

The rest of the half belonged to England. They dominated play and Australia rarely saw England's side of the field. After an excellent try by Robinson and two penalty kicks by Johnny Wilkinson (who is currently at the top of his sport), England took a 14-5 lead into halftime. Everyone pretty much figured it was over. England tends to start off slow and dominate in the second half. This is mainly due to their physical and punishing style. Given the weather conditions (rainy with a bit of breeze), everything seemed to signal an English victory.

The Aussies would not go away. England still carried the majority of the play in the second half, but failed to score at all. Australia held on and managed to kick convert three penalties (including one in the last minute) to tie the match at 14-14, sending it into 'extra time.'

Extra time is two ten minutes halves (no sudden death). England struck first with another another penalty from Mr. Automatic Johnny Wilkinson, giving England a quick 17-14 lead. Australia threatened in the second half of extra time, getting the ball deep into English territory on a few occassion. Finally, the invetible happened, and England was called for a penalty. The Australian fly half (Flately) converted the penalty, knotting the game back up at 17-17. There were about two minutes left to play...

England gathered the ball back and quickly pushed down the field. After gaining a number of yards on a combination of quick runs and power they moved in position for a drop kick. The got the ball back to Wilkinson. To this point, though he had converted on most of his penalties (perhaps all), he was 0-2 on drop kicks. There was under minute to go, if the extra time ended in a tie, it would go to two more 10 minute halves, but this time it was sudden death.

The ball went back to Wilkinson. As everyone expected, he performed the drop kick.... And it split the uprights! England has it! 20-17 with only seconds remaining! England got the ball back, kicked it out and that was it.

England is your 2003 Rugby World Cup Champions!!

A great sporting event. Truly exciting and this is coming from a person whose watched all of six or seven rugby games in his life. I don't understand the penalties and have only the loosest graps of the rules. Still, it was high drama and a sport played at the highest level. A joy to watch.

SirFozzie
11-22-2003, 07:10 AM
Blue: I was about to post something about this, but do you mind putting a SPOILERS on this?

Us here in the USA are going to see the game on a 72 hour tape delay.. I know the result, but I want to watch it "live", and anyone who knows rugby at all should watch the game ;)

And I have an intermediate idea of the penalties, having watched both rugby union and its other code, rugby league.. so if there's any one who wants to know a primer, let me know ;)

David
(the FSW Fanatic)

Honolulu_Blue
11-22-2003, 07:17 AM
Originally posted by SirFozzie
Blue: I was about to post something about this, but do you mind putting a SPOILERS on this?

Us here in the USA are going to see the game on a 72 hour tape delay.. I know the result, but I want to watch it "live", and anyone who knows rugby at all should watch the game ;)

And I have an intermediate idea of the penalties, having watched both rugby union and its other code, rugby league.. so if there's any one who wants to know a primer, let me know ;)

David
(the FSW Fanatic)

Fozzie. An excellent point. Spoiler warning added. Sorry 'bout that.

SirFozzie
11-22-2003, 07:20 AM
NP.

:)

20-17 To the EN-GER-LAND!

I swear, Johnny Wilkinson deserves a knighthood..

or a job in the NFL <G>

That was ICE water in his veins. Only thing I can compare it to is Adam Vinatieri's Super Bowl winning kick (and his "Snow Bowl" kick against oakland) in the Pats Super Bowl run). Absolutely perfect.

Honolulu_Blue
11-22-2003, 07:28 AM
Originally posted by SirFozzie
NP.

:)

20-17 To the EN-GER-LAND!

I swear, Johnny Wilkinson deserves a knighthood..

or a job in the NFL <G>

That was ICE water in his veins. Only thing I can compare it to is Adam Vinatieri's Super Bowl winning kick (and his "Snow Bowl" kick against oakland) in the Pats Super Bowl run). Absolutely perfect.

It was. An excellent kick, but not surprsing at all that he made it. The guy is terrific and has carried England for the entire year. I have the upmost confidence in his kicking.

There was some talk about Wilkinson going to the NFL. But that would be an embarassment. He certainly could it and do it well, but he'd be wasted as a kicker. He is so sound all around at every aspect of the sport. He's a rugby player through and through.

SirFozzie
11-22-2003, 08:15 AM
Agreed. I hope we don't have any aussie members, they are probably pissed off about the end :)

mattwakeman
11-22-2003, 08:21 AM
Well here in England we are just about as happy as we can be. Not only have we won the cup but to top it all we beat the Aussies as well. The match was just so draining to watch that it was just untrue! World champions (and not to have a cheap dig at US sports but at least the whole world had a chance to participate in these finals) and it feels real good :)