Hard News: The good guys
91 Responses
First ←Older Page 1 2 3 4 Newer→ Last
-
chris, in reply to
And the internets are filled with comments from gloating, boorish kiwi fans banging on
Straight. What is clear is that Gregan sure struck a nerve with his “four more years” burn way back when. Somehow the phrase doesn’t have quite the same level of pizzazz when recycled by commentators under news articles whose readership are largely New Zealanders. .
-
Wait, what…?
You are in central London and you’ve just won the World Cup and cleaned up at the World Rugby Awards: where do you go to celebrate?
Members of the victorious team were photographed emerging blear-eyed and worse for wear from the back door of Platinum Lace strip club, reports the Daily Mail.
With no strippers/sex-workers, reportedly. A friend bumped into the All Blacks in the London Koru Lounge, and literally had no idea who most of them were (she recognised McCaw, but had to Google to check she’d chatted with SBW). When she asked a couple if they were excited they told her that they were mostly just happy to be going home to see their family. The choice of venue sounds completely incongruous and slightly weird – perhaps there just wasn’t much in the way of ‘discreet’ venue hire.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11539712
-
Peter Darlington, in reply to
The choice of venue sounds completely incongruous and slightly weird – perhaps there just wasn’t much in the way of ‘discreet’ venue hire.
It's one of THE celebrity venues of choice in London, apparently. Does seem a bit weird, but there you go.
-
George Darroch, in reply to
It’s one of THE celebrity venues of choice in London, apparently. Does seem a bit weird, but there you go.
The more you know.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
The choice of venue sounds completely incongruous and slightly weird – perhaps there just wasn’t much in the way of ‘discreet’ venue hire.
The owner is Simon Warr, a New Zealander and former rugby player, old friends with McCaw.
Which explains why the club's private room is called the Koru Lounge.
It seems it's quite the celebrity haunt when it's open, which explains why the Daily Mail was waiting.
-
Nick Hanson, in reply to
That's fine, Gregan got to hear it live and in stereo at the end of the semi final, 2011. And yes it definitely did make it's mark when he said it in 2003, not because it was an effective sledge, but because it was gratuitous, (said as it was when the game was already won) and therefore beyond the pale.
-
chris, in reply to
Yeah I don’t know if it’s anything to aspire to, it’s either drunken Chinese whispers or we’ve switched countries, under this piece:
World media ??? That’ll be all except Australian rags that continually wrote insults about the AB’s. To the Daily Telegraph; FOUR MORE YEARS, to Genia; FOUR MORE YEARS.
Hombre with an encore here:
Where is Genia; FOUR MORE YEARS.
Beneath the same article Midnight Odyssey offers:
Four more years boys.
Can’t work out if that’s positive or negative. Likewise with Marcus Smith here:
Four more years!
Enjoy today, thank all concerned and start the clock for Japan 2019.And finally Tom49 in an article about the refereeing ascribes it correctly:
Four more years George!
Fortunately not all of our questionable spirit was mindlessly unoriginal, somewhere in all that there was a:
Waah waah Waaaallabies.
And the slightly more creative:
Michael Cheika and the Chokers…sounds like some kind of rock group!!
Squish probably deserves the final word:
Aussies. Doesn’t matter which way it goes they’re bad winners and bad losers.
-
I could watch this on a loop all day. Not normally a fan of Marshall but love how he just loses it at the end when Barrett crosses the line
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
That’s fine, Gregan got to hear it live and in stereo at the end of the semi final, 2011.
Gregan was actually good value on World Cup Weekly along with Jeff Wilson and Joel Stransky during the tournament. It was the most watchable of a surfeit of shows.
-
Russell Brown, in reply to
I could watch this on a loop all day. Not normally a fan of Marshall but love how he just loses it at the end when Barrett crosses the line
Thanks! Kinda fun to hear the three different commentaries.
-
Paul Williams, in reply to
Gregan was actually good value on World Cup Weekly along with Jeff Wilson and Joel Stransky during the tournament. It was the most watchable of a surfeit of shows.
Regarding the sledge, it's genius.
As to Gregan's character, I don't know him at all, but I'm happy to judge him on his deeds which include pouring cash into kids hospitals in NSW to support playgrounds and medical support for infants with various ailments. Forget what he did/didn't do on the field, he and his partner do great stuff for the young'uns.
-
chris, in reply to
it’s genius.
Totally, the euphoria of two world cup victories hasn’t dulled it. Wrongly ascribed or minced, it might just outlive him. Regardless of the fans' desired effect, bottling that moment and these attempts to hurl it back – however long after – as a trans-Tasman rival I imagine it's kind of gratifying for him on some level.
-
Regarding the sledge, it's genius.
Completely agree. No profanity needed. No boorishness. Like all great sledges its based on a fundamental truth. Just a perfectly timed skewer into the heart of NZ rugby fan insecurity, that made the 'choker' tag weigh that little more heavily on the fan psyche. If anything, that is why the relief of 2011, and the exclamation point of 2015 has revived the sledge - that hastily buried memory that we now can safely say has no more power. I slept so well on Sunday night :)
-
The modern form of that particular sledge might be:
'Form, or tears!'Cheika may have got Coach of the Year for improving a team...
Hansen just did what he's always done and went for constancy and consistency ...
..and the best. -
But it’s a world away from the image that shadowed him for years after he switched to rugby (and then, perplexingly, switched back to the NRL for a season)
Great piece Russell, but SBW played 2013 and 2014 for the Roosters inbetween Chiefs/All Blacks stints. Now off to sevens, hopefully for another gold medal...
But rugby crowds aren’t really like people who don’t go to games think they are. If anything, they’re a bit quiet.
Not if they're a Welsh rugby crowd! Or even a Scottish crowd. NZ fans really, really suck at being proper sports fans. I wrote about this around the Under-20 FIFA World Cup held here mid-year:
http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/sport/276846/opinion-foreigners-the-best-fans-at-our-world-cup
Notable absence of support from the most newsworthy politicians (who happen mostly to be male)?
No fan of our PM but Key did intend to show up for the Auckland Constellation Cup netball Test (which was awesome until the end - live netball really rocks), only the Cheerleader-in-Chief got stuck at an airport somewhere further south instead due to bad weather - Palmerston North IIRC.
And Aussie coach Lisa Alexander (who thought the support shown by fans and politicians here was great) then issued a heartfelt appeal for their PM to attend a Cup match back across the Tasman. Don't think their PM did, though.
-
Jon Briggs, in reply to
1:10 well spent. Or even 2:20, 3:30, ...
Post your response…
This topic is closed.