Reflections on the RWC Final

Easily, the greatest day in NZ sports history winning with our fourth choice first five and R. McCaw injured. Has there been a gutsier display from an All Black team. More like the halcyon days of NZ rugby than the airy-fairy recent years of expansive back play. This is real rugby. Fantastic.

The choice to retain Graham Henry and his team was correct. You can't beat experience! I repent of my belief he should have been dumped four years ago. Let's don't forget Wayne Smith and Steve Hansen.

Against my better judgment (as if I would know), Graham Henry's rotation policy was vindicated. Stephen Donald came on and was ready, he knew the calls, he was confident. Same with Cruden a week or so earlier. Without the rotation policy, they would not have been ready.

The AB fitness coach Nick Gill is a legend!

The AB's peaked against Australia which we had to do to get to the final. They looked jaded in the second half. Who cares, one point or one hundred, a win is a win is a win.

Rugby is as much a game of defence as attack, this proves it.

Why give player of the match to a losing Frenchman? They lost. It should have gone to the NZer who made the most tackles when the game was won by tackling.

The ref was awesome! Sensational, a World Cup Final decided by the players and not the ref. He was only 33, and maybe it is time to have more younger refs, they can keep up.

My previous blog about the French was right; they are dangerous, play their best rugby against us when they are written off. Thankfully the AB's clearly understood this and were ready—just.

Nice to hear a European All Black giving glory to God—go Brad Thorn. We should get him to Laidlaw to speak.

Is there a greater sports achiever in our history than Brad Thorn? Winner of Aussie League Comps 1997, 1998, 2000, 2006; State of Origin 1998, 1999, 2000, 2005; he played eight games for the Kangaroos. He was a part of the Crusaders Super-comp winning sides in 2001, 2008; the Canterbury team that won the NPC in 2004, the tri-nations in 2003, 2008, 2010. He was named as one of the twenty best players to play for the Broncos in 2007. Now he is world champion. Seventeen years as a rugby professional, and now off to Japan—his body will need some serious TLC as he ages.

Rugby at a world cup is a different beast to all other rugby. It is far more intense, physical, and won by power, force and guts. We now know what it is about and how to win. We should be able to plan better for the future.

Richie McCaw is a great leader. He has learned from adversity. He leads humbly, from the front, and with calmness in the fire.

A lot of players will now move on, but it is not as if the world should be thrilled as if the AB's will now get weaker. Richie is only 30. Kieran Read is brilliant. The Franks, Whitelock, Thompson, Cruden, Kahui, Jane, and Dagg; not to mention the waves of youngsters coming through, all suggests to me that the world's pain at the hands of the AB's will go on.

We need to win an off-shore world cup now to show the world that we can win it away from Eden Park.

I am so pleased for Christchurch—enjoy it people.

Ten Reasons Why A.J. Miller is NOT Jesus!

Note: Forgive me for the long blog, but this one really got me going! Last Sunday night on TV One's Sunday aired the report A.J. The Messiah. The program was the story of A.J. Miller in Queensland in Australia, who, unlike most of us, genuinely believes that he is Jesus. Miller appears at one level to be a normal Aussie bloke, in his early thirties, longish brown hair, unshaven, good looking, articulate and charismatic. Yet, unlike anyone I know but in the manner of other Messiah-claimants, he says without inhibition, "I am actually Jesus." He claims to remember vividly his former life and death including his experience of crucifixion. The memories supposedly began when he was 2 years old and realised later that he was Jesus around 33. In the program he writes on a white-board, "I am Jesus. Deal with it"—to applause from his congregation. He has disciples, some of whom claim to have been with him 2000 years ago including Mary Magdalene who is his "soul-ma

Evangelical Presbyterians’ Statement On Same Sex Marriage

I am involved in a group called Presbyterian Affirm. It is an evangelical group within the NZ Presbyterian Church which seeks to promote the gospel and the renewal of churches. A group of us under the leadership of Stuart Lange have worked to put together a statement on same-sex marriage. Our hope is that the government will not pass the legislation, believing that the legislation is not necessary and strays from God’s ideals for humanity. Here is the recently released statement. I would appreciate your thoughts on it. PRESBYTERIAN GROUP OPPOSES SAME-SEX MARRIAGE BILL Presbyterian AFFIRM, a widely-supported conservative network within the Presbyterian denomination, is speaking out against the Bill which would allow same-sex couples to marry, declaring its views in a “Statement on Marriage” (see below). Presbyterian AFFIRM believes that “marriage is a unique human institution and treasure” which has “always been about the pairing of a man and a woman”, and that re-definin

Tribute to Stuart Lange

For anyone who is interested, I have attached my tribute to Rev Stuart Lange here. He is a legend! It was fun to roast him.... A Tribute to Stuart Lange, No Longer Vice Principal Community of Laidlaw… But still church history lecturer… so not a good bye, but my way of Saying Thanks to you for your years as VP Community… Stuart Lange, not Langey; or Longey; or not langgggg.. but Lange! Or, as I like to put it, S.lang… Slang… for good reason. Stuart Lange, history prof, a man who truly embodies his subject; the quintessential historical prof… Slightly eccentric, crooked smile, hooked and bent nose… you know he has a crook elbow too, took the dog for a walk, hit the chain, smashed the elbow… Of course the dog was unharmed… No Surprise, a lover of animals, each year looking after the animals at the Massey Christmas drive through, donkeys, lamas… etc… Then there is his Einsteinlich hair… kind of a wild man of Southland look… in fact… Stuart Lange A face a cartoonist would die for! The ne

Nathan Bayliss said…

Brad Throne is a an absolute legend!!! It would be awesome have him speak here. Maybe graduation haha!! With regards with the rotation policy at the last world cup, I think the issue was it became something that it should never have been. It was a smart idea to develop depth in the squad so that when injuries came up, there were players who cold step up. What happened last time was it became more than that: it became the strategy in its own right, which was being used right up to the 1/4 final.
But that all history now. WE ARE THE WORLD CHAMPIONS!!!! YEAH!!!

October 24, 2011 at 11:18:00 AM GMT+13

Mark Keown

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