pour en revenir aux polémiques sur l'arbitrage voici de nouveau la vision venue du Pays du Long Nuage Blanc.
"Yes – we are hearing the complaints about the referee and it is only natural – it was probably not the best refereeing performance, we definitely do not see any of the comments as being bad losers or complaining. But as New Zealanders, we are not too worried and also feel it is our redemption as we felt the refereeing at the 2007 cup was one of the reasons we exited the cup early.
Many of us recognise that our Press and also world media in general did not do a good job of unbiased reporting, especially leading up to the final – many had written off the French including an Irish betting agency who after the semi-finals paid out to those who bet on an AB’s RWC win (which I thought was disrespectful)– however the normal people in NZ did not feel this way and we knew the French could be unpredictable and would play with complete heart and soul)
The one explanation I can give for our press I guess, is that Rugby is our only sport we are good at, so we are super passionate about it to the point we get too patriotic – not our finest trait.
Many in NZ, including our press however acknowledge the great game that the French played and how lucky we were in many ways to win the cup.
We loved how they challenged the Haka and set the tone for the game and the fact they played with all their hearts made us stand up and applauded them as opponents
NZ definitely saved their worst game for last, however I feel that as we are the only unbeaten team in the competition (and the French had their chance to win despite the referee), we do deserve to be the Champions.
The French have and will always be the team that we remain most wary of, more so than even Australia and South Africa as you have the ability to turn us around and make us look average.
I hope your team is celebrated back at home, you had so much adversity going into the game, through the press, the coach/player relationship, losing 2 games and only just winning the SF, to come within a point of winning, should be seen as a major achievement."
let me funk you up