Ohio. I'm back after a short hiatus, if it helps just imagine I went to South Africa to watch the final. So. What a final. I'd like to say was an even contest from the kickoff, but it wasn't. The Bulls were all over the Chiefs from go to whoa.

A few thoughts I had while watching the game [I had more but can't remember them]:

Why oh why did the Chiefs take the perfectly good 'rush' defence and turn it into a 'blitz' defence. If you get a chance to watch the game again, watch Kahui and Donald on defence. They rush up off the line and get in the faces of Steyn, Olivier and Habana. Good call. Except that if you're going to do something like that it's better if everyone does it.

What resulted was that Donald and Kahui left a huge channel on their inside and outside shoulders. A skip pass or dummy across the defense and the Bulls were through. And they did it again, and again, and again.

Donald's run to set up the Masaga try was opportunistic, but showed fantastic vision. For the rest of the match he was pretty ordinary.

For the Chiefs, a positive was the fact Lauaki had an outstanding match. For the country, if it means he gets and All Black jersey, that's shit. Also, Olivier's tackle on my boy de Malmanche was fucking awesome.

How freaky looking was that one woman the camera kept panning over? The one who looked like she'd had too much plastic surgery.

How amazing is Habana? The first try he scored he completely outran Kahui, even while bending over to scoop up the ball. And as for his intercept, if you watch it again, he's marking his man and has enough time to step sideways, before bursting through the gap and grabbing the ball. He also got involved in quite a few rucks.

Didn't Kaplan bounce up well after he got absolutely dominated in that tackle?

The Bulls were amazing and played an outstanding, near perfect rugby match. Many international teams would have struggled to beat them, which is probably the reason there'll be so many of them in Springboks jerseys.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. The Mallet is angry.

 

When we of the Dropkicks gave ourselves the name it was intended to be play on words.

Dropkicks being a kiwi colloquialism for a miscreant, simple of mind but strong of will and intention. It is also a style of kicking, most often for restarting a match, but also as the ability to score points (1 point in league, 3 points in rugby). What I witnessed on the weekend, the semi-final between the Crusaders and the Bulls, makes a mockery of the game of rugby.

Hailed as a great match between two great teams, the Bulls headed the Crusaders 30 something to 20 something. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m no Crusaders fan (but I would have liked them to win so that the Chiefs could have had a home final), and I admit that the Bulls are pretty cool, but I felt afterwards that a great injustice had been done and that the Bulls should not be hosting a final this weekend.

Why? The fucking dropkick.

The Bulls first five (Morne Steyn) kicked four of them. Four. Yup twelve points for (let me see if I get this right) failing to best the opposition defence. That’s right in rugby, you are awarded for failure. Failure.

Its like the whole bonus point for losing but not losing by much. For fucks sake, we are not at primary school any more. It’s not about making everyone feel good about themselves. The game of rugby is about seeing who is bigger, stronger and quicker and getting over the fucking try-line. [ed note: although the original scoring system was all about kicks we get what the Mallet means]

The cowardly dropkick scored from halfway, HALF-FUCKING-WAY, really got my blood boiling. The dropkick is virtually un-defendable, unless you have Usain Bolt in your team. I for one hate the bastard and reckon it should be removed from the game. Is this rugby we are playing or AFL?

Or if that is too extreme, make it a bit bloody harder. I’ve always thought it was pretty impressive when they hit a post – a lot harder than getting them between the buggers. Give them one post in the middle that they have to hit to get the points.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhh. The mallet is angry.

Well it's all come to an end. You probably know the score by now, but this not going to be a post about the game (I had thought about doing a Glog but couldn't be arsed getting my laptop out in the pub). Instead this will be a post about all those brilliant people who made this world cup as fun as it has been: the fans.

Here are some images of supporters just from today's game (note the girl with the Aussie flag on her cheek):

 

And here are some of the most special fans who showed up today (one of whom may have been stoned, shhhh). Note the range of emotions:

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And some more of the "regular" people: 

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I sadly couldn't find many snaps of South African fans, though if you look at the last photo (bottom right), you'll see one right at the bottom.

 

UPDATE: The Herald has just put up a great gallery of fan photos (click image below)

 

 

The Rugby World Cup finalists have been decided. So, who's going to win the cup: South Africa, or England?

Download Episode 38 - Semi-Final review | Final preview

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