Semi Finals

[Beattiespastie]

Big South African fan myself Baggy and it broke my heart seeing them miss out by a whisker. Burger was always my favourite player and a man who typifies SA rugby with his hard as nails style and great engine. Burger is one of those players who could readily have stepped into an All Blacks boots and done a great job. Having said that Richie McCaw must rank in the top 5 best rugby players of all time? McCaw has everything and even in his 14th year as an AB ( itself a remarkable achievement ) he still plays to an incredibly high standard. The Northern Hemisphere should be worried by the progression of Argentina in this years World Cup by virtue of the style of rugby they have been playing. Their off loading game has been outstanding and the way they keep the ball in hand is admirable compared to the kick & chase game we rely on. ( Ulster v Cardiff game summed up how awful kick and chase game can be - dire game but at least it didn't rain ).

[Russ]

Schalk Burger is an utter twunt

Yes he has overcome some adversity but twunts like that have no place on the rugby pitch

[Beattiespastie]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

[BuckRogers]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

Top bloke? No, dirty eye gouging bast@rd. He should have got a 12 month ban, at least, for what he did to Fitzgerald in 2009.

[Spiffsson]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

Top bloke? No, dirty eye gouging bast@rd. He should have got a 12 month ban, at least, for what he did to Fitzgerald in 2009.

Poor old Luke-ma-no-Hands has never been the same player since!

[bazzaj]

New Zealand v South Africa-I am not getting carried away with New Zealands obliteration of France.
France were shockingly bad and most decent sides would have put 30 points minimum on them the way they defended.
Pressure is a great leveler as the one thing the South Africans do is deliver pressure.
They themselves have been under pressure since the opening game and for the first time its is off them.

It will on the other hand all be on the All Blacks as clear favourites who themselves have not experienced the slightest pressure since the opening game and I can`t see the South Africans standing off them and watching them play like the French did.

The difference between South Africa and other sides is that they are not intimidated by the silver fern.
Quite the opposite I think they actually thrive on it.
I really think this one will go the wire as it has done on the last 3 occasions between these sides.

Australia v Argentina- Shades of 1991 the way that the Aussies got out of jail against the Scots and they will possibly feel because of that, that history can repeat itself. A lot of the squad will have experienced defeat to the Argies so overconfidence should not be a problem so I think its fair to say I can`t see anything other than an Aussie victory in this one.

At some point I will get something wrong.
Its almost like I know what I am talking about.
As I said later on in this thread I thought Pocock would be key and to be fair I thought he was the best player on the pitch by a country mile despite AAC getting the offical MOM award.
Mind you there was people here not so long ago saying that they would prefer our very own AT to AAC.
Jesus wept.

[againstthehead]

Now Bazza, I don't think you went as far as saying the kiwis would win ye ballix. But yes, apart from that a good preview!! Need your prediction for the final now so I can put my mortgage on it!

[solidarity]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

Top bloke? No, dirty eye gouging bast@rd. He should have got a 12 month ban, at least, for what he did to Fitzgerald in 2009.

And if he was one of the 'two big signings coming to Ulster?

[solidarity]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

Top bloke? No, dirty eye gouging bast@rd. He should have got a 12 month ban, at least, for what he did to Fitzgerald in 2009.

And if he was one of the 'two big signings coming to Ulster?

Well Luke Fitgerald would poop himself for a start.

He isn't.

Blast. He's just the sort of player we need, hard 'n' ugly.

[BaggyTrousers]

Schalk Burger is an utter twunt

Yes he has overcome some adversity but twunts like that have no place on the rugby pitch

Drop dead you know I don't really mean it Rusty, I do wish Agen a very short life mind you. Now there is a twunt.

[shamalicious]

Pocock or Fardy please!

[BaggyTrousers]

Schalk Burger= hard as nails/ uncompromising/ruthless/ leader/top bloke.

Top bloke? No, dirty eye gouging bast@rd. He should have got a 12 month ban, at least, for what he did to Fitzgerald in 2009.

Couldn't have done it to a more useless ballix........ I forgave him instantly. Besides, we were all young once.

What is remarkable given our recent appalling discipline that Ulster haven't been done for fingers in eyes, ball grabbing or biting. Even P3s bite on Hartley was dismissed as "he deserves it for his attempted "sleeper" move ".

[BaggyTrousers]

Pocock or Fardy please!

Normally you see Oz's back row and its Pocok, Hooper and the boy with the beard, but Fardy played a massive part today.

[BuckRogers]

Couldn't have done it to a more useless ballix........ I forgave him instantly. Besides, we were all young once.

What is remarkable given our recent appalling discipline that Ulster haven't been done for fingers in eyes, ball grabbing or biting. Even P3s bite on Hartley was dismissed as "he deserves it for his attempted "sleeper" move ".

Probably due to the fact there's about as much malice in our pack as a my mothers WI knitting club and accordingly our ill-discipline is generally a result of rank stupidity rather than pre-meditated thuggery.

[Russ]

Pocock or Fardy please!

Normally you see Oz's back row and its Pocok, Hooper and the boy with the beard, but Fardy played a massive part today.

4 times in the game he stood at 13 shot out of the line and smashed an argie into the turf