Help me fill in the blanks about Kiwi excuses in the past rugby world cups...?

Question

1987- All Blacks won it well done! Excuse: Good rugby?

1991- All Blacks went out to Australia in Semi final. Excuse:_____?

1995- All Blacks went out to South Africa in the final. Excuse: Food poisoning.

1999- All Blacks went out to France in the Semi final. Excuse:______?

2003- All Blacks went out to Australia in Semi final. Excuse:______?

2007- All Blacks went out to France in quarters. Excuse: Bad refereeing by Wayne Barnes.

Answer 1

1991: most people claim we had an old ageing team that simply were past their best before date. We kept the majoirty of the team from 1987. They remained unbeaten from 1987 until 1990. By the time the 91 RWC came around it was an old team who simply were inferior to the great Australian team that year. There were also massive divisions in the team (between players) and some odd selections like the dropping of Buck Shelford. Ever heard of the BRING BACK BUCK campaign??? You will still see those signs pop up all around the world in the strangest of places (such as cricket games in India when NZ isn't even playing). IMO that Australian team was magnificent and they were clearly the better team.

1995: you can also add that the ref was bribed (gold watch) and they were playing in a hostile environment (SA is not the easiest country to win in). But again SA were on fire that day and deserved the victory in a very close game. The food poisoning claim has never been proven.

1999: the french were dirty (eye gauging, t******e grabbing etc), some ridiculous selections were made such as: best fullback in the world was moved to centre (Cullen), best winger in the world was put at fullback (Wilson), best halfback in the team was put on the bench (Justin Marshall). In the end we had an inexperienced forward pack that got dominated by the french (to beat the french you have to beat them up front) and the french played brilliantly and with a lot of passion.

2003: We didn't have a good goal kicker (which was a big mistake, MacDonald had as many kicks as the Aussies but missed most of them), we had a fullback at centre who was not ready for the position, our first five (Spencer) was erratic and couldn't tackle. There was some dodgy refereeing in that game too, Mils Muliana had a try disallowed in the opening 5mins, I have watched the replay a thousand times and it is a close call but I believe he scored. From the resulting movement Spencer threw a wide pass which was intercepted by Mortlock (try to OZ). There were some harsh penalties against the ABs and George Smith (Ocker) should have been yellow carded (at least) for his late tackle on Justin Marshall. He hit him very late and ended up ending Marshall's game and his career for the ABs (his last game). At the end of the day the Aussies played brilliantly and I don't know if any other team could have beaten them that day.

Well there are some excuses mixed in with some of my opinions. We have certainly been unlucky but we should have been able to overcome all our defeats very easily we only have ourselves to blame.

Answer 2

we played to many soft games in our pool...it was stupid.

we came up agaisnt france unprepared,to relaxed from playing p**s easy games/

Answer 3

Reasons for past losses are irrevelant

If we lost, we lost - get over it

Concentrate on the future( we cant change the past) we can infulence the future

Answer 4

1991 Could say Buck Shelford as dropping him from the AB’s was an absolute disgrace. Dropping a captain with a 49 win and 1 draw record from 50 AB matches is ridiculous. We lost a lot of direction from that. Lost to a better side that year, plain and simple. I had the Aussie’s pegged as tournament favourites and they done the job. One look at their backline and you will see why they won. Class everywhere

1995 Don’t buy into the food poisoning thing. Beating South Africa in South Africa in the biggest game ever in South Africa was always going to be a big ask. It’s not an easy place to win. Ask Aussie. They are 1 of their last 12 there.

1999 Straight out choke. No denying that.

2003 Beating Aussie in Aussie is not an easy assignment. Considering we had only won 3 of our last 10 against them in Aussie leading up to that game, we were probably overrated a bit.

Answer 5

I dont think naming excuses will make a difference, NZ failed unluckily again for the 5th time so no need for excuses just to say NZ are unlucky at world cup events.

Answer 6

If you have lifted The Webb Ellis Cup then I think it would be Appropriate to foward your Questions...If NOT?...Then do something Productive in this Sports Column will yah'....

Grow Up PLZ!

Answer 7

You know, losing is not a very familiar experience when you are an All Black. So, it is natural to ask questions when it does happen.

The English, on the other hand, have had all the losing experience in the world and have also invented the most bizarre excuses ancient and modern man will ever hear.

Answer 8

Leave them alone, the Players themselves (apart from most of them walking off the field and not shaking hands with the French) have shown their fans how to behave, quiet dignity.

Kiwi rugby fans are anything but.

Answer 9

the only 1 i can fill is is 2003 we had aa stupid coach who was in love with canterbury rugby wile he was coach we lost players such as christian cullen nd jonah lomu thats all i got 2 say bout that also can i say to the people below me 1st marshall played vs the lions in 2004 and i have actually seen videos of players throwing up on the sideline in the 95 world cup tht dont happen just coz they lost