What a match !!!!!

- I lost $10 at the TAB that All Blacks would win the semi & another $5 that the all blacks would score the 1st try. Wrong on both counts :-( (tears every where).

Wallabies were the underdogs - TAB & other betting agencies had the All Blacks as at least 3:2 favs. But as always, the Wallabies seem to be at their best when the odds are agin them. From the moment the game began they took control.

They took the game to the Kiwis in the 1st minutes & were 1st to score. Sadly the All Blacks lacked a good kicker (jeeze they could have done with England's captain Johhny Wilkinson) & missed at least 6 points from penalties they missed. But the Aussie kicker Elton Flatley, only missed 1 all night.

The ref seemed to make some questionable decisions against the All Blacks on 3 sequential opportunities where the All Blacks were within yards of the Wallabies line. He awarded penalties to the Wallabies on each of these occasions which then allowed the Wallabies off in a big way. The Kiwis seemed to get penalised an extraordinary number of times but what can one say ?.

But without doubt the Wallabies taught the Kiwis that you *must* win your own line out ball if you want to score points - in the 1st half, the Wallabies seemed to know the All Blacks tactics & took the ball off them repeatedly.

The other outstanding aspect of the Wallbies tactics was that they made sure the All Blacks fantastic wing runners never had enough field to get around the Wallaby defence. That was sad - watching the best wingers in the world fail to get a good run. Right throughout the game the Wallabies also put up a brick wall of defence and that contributed to their excellent win.

Anyway the Wallabies have now set a record for being in three finals in a row & it will be interesting how they deal with Johnny Wilkinson in the final should the English win against France tomorrow night.

As a Kiwi it was painful in the extreme watching the world's best rugby team lose and having to give credit to the tactics of the opposing side.

I'd like to claim 'we wuz robbed' but I can't - we wuz out played !.

Cheers

Doug Marker
PS (the score was not dramatic & ahev to admit I have forgotten exactly what it was but was along the lines of 19 to 7 in favour of the Wallabies)