Worst All Black RWC exits
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Mine go a bit like this:
Most angry as results due to selection/coach stupidity: 2019, 2003.
Most gutted: 1995.
Most gutted in person: 1999. (Actually, with the backline selections this can go in first as well.)
Angry but we got a bit screwed so was easier to take: 2007.
Resigned to the fact we weren't going to win due to the NZRFU decisions: 1991. (TBH this might just be hindsight, I think teenage me was doing a lot of swearing at the TV, especially at God for not letting MJ play Sundays.)
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2003 was a tough one, I was temping in Sydney and working with loads of Aussies and Poms.
On the Friday before the semi finals one feral chick from the Hutt proudly told everyone that “we’ll see youse ( meaning England ) in the final”…..we all know how that played out.
She never came back to work after that bold prediction.
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@nepia said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
Mine go a bit like this:
Most angry as results due to selection/coach stupidity: 2019, 2003.
Most gutted: 1995.
Most gutted in person: 1999. (Actually, with the backline selections this can go in first as well.)
Angry but we got a bit screwed so was easier to take: 2007.
Remarkably similar to mine.
1995 was the closest the ABs will likely ever come to having a Cinderella run. Fourth favourites going into the tournament and then Lomu and Mehrts play their second tests in the opener and it's off to the races.
1999 was a shock but I still thought it was a coin flip against Australia or South Africa if they made the final so I didn't really feel like we blew a certain RWC there (although Lomu firing up in England game, and then early in the semi did make one feel that we had turned a corner).
2003 was a shock. I was at the 50 point drubbing earlier that year in Sydney and wasn't privvy to a lot of the unrest in the camp. Absolute shock that one. But in hindsight understandable.
2007 I basically put in the same basket as the 2019 CWC Final. It wasn't to be... there was plenty to fault and nothing to fault at the same time.
2019 like many here I saw coming from a mile off after they didn't seem to learn any lessons after Chicago/Lions Tour/Twickenham/Dublin. That wasn't a side capable of winning three big tests in a row.
The issues in 1995 could have been solved with a better chef.
The issues in 2003 and 2007 could have been solved during the tournament.
The issues in 1991, 1999 and 2019 were probably too far gone before the tournament started. -
2019 was by far the easiest to take. Plain and simple we got smashed from the start and never looked like winning. It reminded me a bit of 2011 semi ABs v Wobs where the scoreboard flattered the losing side. There were plenty of signs in the few years leading up that the ABs would stumble and it was the first RWC loss for the ABs since 2007.
On the flip side though I found the adulation of Hansen a bit too much post RWC Semi final loss - the 3rd/4th match was like a farewell tour and there was next to no criticism of him/ABs after a stuttering last few years.
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@kiwimurph said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
On the flip side though I found the adulation of Hansen a bit too much post RWC Semi final loss - the 3rd/4th match was like a farewell tour and there was next to no criticism of him/ABs after a stuttering last few years.
He wanted to go in 2017, and I was stoked at the time that he stayed on. In hindsight, it would have been a good break - a dodgily drawn Lions series ravaged by injuries ... but at least not a loss. RWC was a bridge too far, and I think a lot of the people (team and coaches) got stale.
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@rotated said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nepia said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
Mine go a bit like this:
Most angry as results due to selection/coach stupidity: 2019, 2003.
Most gutted: 1995.
Most gutted in person: 1999. (Actually, with the backline selections this can go in first as well.)
Angry but we got a bit screwed so was easier to take: 2007.
Remarkably similar to mine.
1995 was the closest the ABs will likely ever come to having a Cinderella run. Fourth favourites going into the tournament and then Lomu and Mehrts play their second tests in the opener and it's off to the races.
1999 was a shock but I still thought it was a coin flip against Australia or South Africa if they made the final so I didn't really feel like we blew a certain RWC there (although Lomu firing up in England game, and then early in the semi did make one feel that we had turned a corner).
2003 was a shock. I was at the 50 point drubbing earlier that year in Sydney and wasn't privvy to a lot of the unrest in the camp. Absolute shock that one. But in hindsight understandable.
2007 I basically put in the same basket as the 2019 CWC Final. It wasn't to be... there was plenty to fault and nothing to fault at the same time.
2019 like many here I saw coming from a mile off after they didn't seem to learn any lessons after Chicago/Lions Tour/Twickenham/Dublin. That wasn't a side capable of winning three big tests in a row.
The issues in 1995 could have been solved with a better chef.
The issues in 2003 and 2007 could have been solved during the tournament.
The issues in 1991, 1999 and 2019 were probably too far gone before the tournament started.I think that’s spot on. I don’t think they deserved to win or were good enough to win in 91, 99, 03 and 19. They were the best team in 1995 and 2007 (you could argue they had the best 2 teams) and that’s why those hurt the most by far, particularly when considering the rather freakish circumstances surrounding those losses.
There has been some rotten luck as well. Aus were a bee’s dick away from losing to Ireland in 91. I don’t think the Irish would have had the legs to back that up in the semis and we would have (rather undeservedly) won the cup.
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@rancid-schnitzel said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
I think that’s spot on. I don’t think they deserved to win or were good enough to win in 91, 99, 03 and 19. They were the best team in 1995 and 2007 (you could argue they had the best 2 teams) and that’s why those hurt the most by far, particularly when considering the rather freakish circumstances surrounding those losses.
There has been some rotten luck as well. Aus were a bee’s dick away from losing to Ireland in 91. I don’t think the Irish would have had the legs to back that up in the semis and we would have (rather undeservedly) won the cup.
The inverse of that is true in 2003 though. The core of that Australian team who wouldn't win a Bledisloe Cup game between 2003-2006 went to extra time against England in the final, and we toweled them 3-0 the next year.
But adding to the sliding doors:
In1995 France/South Africa semi-final was robbery. We should have played France in the final. (but also if the pools were inversed, Lomu's game against England never happens and we play in the rain in Durban and who knows... )
In 1999 France should have been on the other side of the draw if Paddy O'Brien hadn't have bottled the Fiji/France game.
In 2003 - Mils in the corner.
In 2007 - Pick anything from Lauaki's suspension which was overturned too late for him to be included in the 22 onward.
In 2019 - Who knows the result of France vs England? But more realistically if Japan didn't tip over Ireland and we get Japan in the QF? -
The thing with RWCs is that with the exception of 87 there is one hairy game the eventual winner has to get through.
Basically in 95 and 07 ABs weren't able to get through that game.
In 91 it was Aus vs Ireland
In 95 it was both the final and the semi final for the Boks
in 99 it was the semi final for Aus
in 03 it was the final for England
in 07 it was the QF vs Fiji for Boks.
11 it was the final
15 it was the semi final ABs v Boks
19 it was the semi final Wales v Boks -
@rotated said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nepia said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
Mine go a bit like this:
Most angry as results due to selection/coach stupidity: 2019, 2003.
Most gutted: 1995.
Most gutted in person: 1999. (Actually, with the backline selections this can go in first as well.)
Angry but we got a bit screwed so was easier to take: 2007.
Remarkably similar to mine.
1995 was the closest the ABs will likely ever come to having a Cinderella run. Fourth favourites going into the tournament and then Lomu and Mehrts play their second tests in the opener and it's off to the races.
Fifth by my reckoning, and the preview mag I bought but since lost ...
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@kiwimurph said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
The thing with RWCs is that with the exception of 87 there is one hairy game the eventual winner has to get through.
Basically in 95 and 07 ABs weren't able to get through that game.
In 91 it was Aus vs Ireland
In 95 it was both the final and the semi final for the Boks
in 99 it was the semi final for Aus
in 03 it was the final for England
in 07 it was the QF vs Fiji for Boks.
11 it was the final
15 it was the semi final ABs v Boks
19 it was the semi final Wales v BoksNot to mention Samoa and Wales ...
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@booboo said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@rotated said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nepia said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
Mine go a bit like this:
Most angry as results due to selection/coach stupidity: 2019, 2003.
Most gutted: 1995.
Most gutted in person: 1999. (Actually, with the backline selections this can go in first as well.)
Angry but we got a bit screwed so was easier to take: 2007.
Remarkably similar to mine.
1995 was the closest the ABs will likely ever come to having a Cinderella run. Fourth favourites going into the tournament and then Lomu and Mehrts play their second tests in the opener and it's off to the races.
Fifth by my reckoning, and the preview mag I bought but since lost ...
I will stick too that story and can't see a compelling reason we would have been rated above Australia, France, England or the Boks (at home) going into it.
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@rotated Other than that we 'd beaten the Boks in SA in 92 and in NZ in 94,beaten the Lions in 93, had a record against Oz of 2-1-2 since the 91 RWC having drawn the last match in Sydney , had lost narrowly to England away with an under strength team and should have drawn the series against France in 04 but for the "try from the ends of the earth"
95 was probably the most even comp (pre the tournament) there's ever been. I still rated OZ the #1 because they'd given us the hardest matches and were reigning champs, SA at home were going to be a threat but I still fancied us. I didn't rate the Poms at all (the year didn't end in a 3). France were France and should have been in the final.
The reality was Lomu came good, Bachop came back and the debutants, Mehrts, Kronfeld and Osborne were the missing components that made for an outstanding team.
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@nzzp said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@kiwimurph said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
On the flip side though I found the adulation of Hansen a bit too much post RWC Semi final loss - the 3rd/4th match was like a farewell tour and there was next to no criticism of him/ABs after a stuttering last few years.
He wanted to go in 2017, and I was stoked at the time that he stayed on. In hindsight, it would have been a good break - a dodgily drawn Lions series ravaged by injuries ... but at least not a loss. RWC was a bridge too far, and I think a lot of the people (team and coaches) got stale.
You could have had Foster as head coach 2 years earlier?
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@nostrildamus said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nzzp said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@kiwimurph said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
On the flip side though I found the adulation of Hansen a bit too much post RWC Semi final loss - the 3rd/4th match was like a farewell tour and there was next to no criticism of him/ABs after a stuttering last few years.
He wanted to go in 2017, and I was stoked at the time that he stayed on. In hindsight, it would have been a good break - a dodgily drawn Lions series ravaged by injuries ... but at least not a loss. RWC was a bridge too far, and I think a lot of the people (team and coaches) got stale.
You could have had Foster as head coach 2 years earlier?
we'd still have lost the world cup, and now we'd have a combo of Rennie, Joseph, Brown, Robertson. As opposed to Foster, McLeod, Plumtree, Feek.
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@nzzp said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nostrildamus said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@nzzp said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@kiwimurph said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
On the flip side though I found the adulation of Hansen a bit too much post RWC Semi final loss - the 3rd/4th match was like a farewell tour and there was next to no criticism of him/ABs after a stuttering last few years.
He wanted to go in 2017, and I was stoked at the time that he stayed on. In hindsight, it would have been a good break - a dodgily drawn Lions series ravaged by injuries ... but at least not a loss. RWC was a bridge too far, and I think a lot of the people (team and coaches) got stale.
You could have had Foster as head coach 2 years earlier?
we'd still have lost the world cup, and now we'd have a combo of Rennie, Joseph, Brown, Robertson. As opposed to Foster, McLeod, Plumtree, Feek.
good point!
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@dogmeat said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@rotated Other than that we 'd beaten the Boks in SA in 92 and in NZ in 94,beaten the Lions in 93, had a record against Oz of 2-1-2 since the 91 RWC having drawn the last match in Sydney , had lost narrowly to England away with an under strength team and should have drawn the series against France in 04 but for the "try from the ends of the earth"
95 was probably the most even comp (pre the tournament) there's ever been. I still rated OZ the #1 because they'd given us the hardest matches and were reigning champs, SA at home were going to be a threat but I still fancied us. I didn't rate the Poms at all (the year didn't end in a 3). France were France and should have been in the final.
The reality was Lomu came good, Bachop came back and the debutants, Mehrts, Kronfeld and Osborne were the missing components that made for an outstanding team.
We'd lost our last test matches (or drawn in SA case) against every one of the other 1995 favourites. 1994 was the 3rd worst year in NZ rugby history up to that point (probably still is). (Edit: No, 1998 bumps it down to 4th worse)
NZ were a shambles who started to get it right about 1 month before the tournament.
I agree it was an even comp, though. But only the more anorak of NZ fans could have felt an inkling of something good in about April 1995. For most fans and media, it was more revisionist.
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@rapido said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@dogmeat said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@rotated Other than that we 'd beaten the Boks in SA in 92 and in NZ in 94,beaten the Lions in 93, had a record against Oz of 2-1-2 since the 91 RWC having drawn the last match in Sydney , had lost narrowly to England away with an under strength team and should have drawn the series against France in 04 but for the "try from the ends of the earth"
95 was probably the most even comp (pre the tournament) there's ever been. I still rated OZ the #1 because they'd given us the hardest matches and were reigning champs, SA at home were going to be a threat but I still fancied us. I didn't rate the Poms at all (the year didn't end in a 3). France were France and should have been in the final.
The reality was Lomu came good, Bachop came back and the debutants, Mehrts, Kronfeld and Osborne were the missing components that made for an outstanding team.
We'd lost our last test matches (or drawn in SA case) against every one of the other 1995 favourites. 1994 was the 3rd worst year in NZ rugby history up to that point (probably still is). (Edit: No, 1998 bumps it down to 4th worse)
NZ were a shambles who started to get it right about 1 month before the tournament.
I agree it was an even comp, though. But only the more anorak of NZ fans could have felt an inkling of something good in about April 1995. For most fans and media, it was more revisionist.
That's interesting. I read somewhere that the All Blacks were favourites going into every single RWC except for 1987. This was in the build up to 2011, so at that point it would have meant that the only one you'd won was the only one you weren't expected to win. Sounds like that might have been bollocks.
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@gibbonrib said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@rapido said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@dogmeat said in Worst All Black RWC exits:
@rotated Other than that we 'd beaten the Boks in SA in 92 and in NZ in 94,beaten the Lions in 93, had a record against Oz of 2-1-2 since the 91 RWC having drawn the last match in Sydney , had lost narrowly to England away with an under strength team and should have drawn the series against France in 04 but for the "try from the ends of the earth"
95 was probably the most even comp (pre the tournament) there's ever been. I still rated OZ the #1 because they'd given us the hardest matches and were reigning champs, SA at home were going to be a threat but I still fancied us. I didn't rate the Poms at all (the year didn't end in a 3). France were France and should have been in the final.
The reality was Lomu came good, Bachop came back and the debutants, Mehrts, Kronfeld and Osborne were the missing components that made for an outstanding team.
We'd lost our last test matches (or drawn in SA case) against every one of the other 1995 favourites. 1994 was the 3rd worst year in NZ rugby history up to that point (probably still is). (Edit: No, 1998 bumps it down to 4th worse)
NZ were a shambles who started to get it right about 1 month before the tournament.
I agree it was an even comp, though. But only the more anorak of NZ fans could have felt an inkling of something good in about April 1995. For most fans and media, it was more revisionist.
That's interesting. I read somewhere that the All Blacks were favourites going into every single RWC except for 1987. This was in the build up to 2011, so at that point it would have meant that the only one you'd won was the only one you weren't expected to win. Sounds like that might have been bollocks.
1995 is the most egrarious. But several other tournaments it is also probably contentious.
For actual proper betting favourites. NZ didn't have legal betting until 1996. So, it depends on how favouritism is measured. Only UK and Northern Territory (Centrebet) would have had any sort of betting market on rugby for the first 3 tournament.
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- Yes, NZ were probably favourites but the smart money would have been on the fast rising Australians who convincingly beat NZ in lead up. But NZ had been great from 87 to 90, so aura was legit. From an NZ POV - Concern - but (false) hope was there that they had a big one in them when needed.
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- Probably had eeked into favouritism again. After the horrors of 1998. Very similar to 1995, except this time with RWC in November rather than May the team had enough time to display to fans and media that they were 'back'. Probably favourites, but suffered worst defeat in history (to eventual champs) in the last match before the tournament. This is still NZ's worse defeat 22 years later.
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- Similar to pattern of 95 and 99. Had been crap but found form in RWC year and handed out record thrashings. I don't know official markets. But my gauge is NZ fans had it about equal favouritism with England who were the benchmark. Could the new found dynamism match England's experience. Theory/hope that hard grounds and heat of Australia in November may tip it NZ's way. I'd be surprised if foreign fans, media , markets had NZ favoutites in 2003 though? Maybe those 50 pointers in the Tri nations did do it?
Really, just shows how bad rugby punditry is, or was. 3 rebuilt, young and fragile teams. 2 being given actual favouritism or 1 assigned retrospective favouritism.
However. In summary:
1991 yes.
2007, 2011, 2015, 2019 - definite.
(2019 with the reek of creaking 1991 however - as discussed/predicted on this site from about a year out. But, runs on the board and all that ...) -
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