RWC15 Final: McCaw and Carter ensure stunning All Blacks make history

2015 RUGBY WORLD CUP

Preview - Full results - Review - Final

New Zealand 34
T: Milner-Skudder, Nonu, Barrett. P: Carter 4. C: Carter 2. DG: Carter
Australia 17
T: Pocock, Kuridrani. P: Foley. C: Foley 2

New Zealand Ben Smith; Nehe Milner-Skudder, Conrad Smith, Ma’a Nonu, Julian Savea; Dan Carter, Aaron Smith; Joe Moody, Dane Coles, Owen Franks, Brodie Retallick, Sam Whitelock, Jerome Kaino, Richie McCaw (c), Kieran Read.
Replacements Keven Mealamu, Ben Franks, Charlie Faumuina, Victor Vito, Sam Cane, Tawera Kerr-Barlow, Beauden Barrett, Sonny Bill Williams.
Australia Israel Folau; Adam Ashley-Cooper, Tevita Kuridrani, Matt Giteau, Drew Mitchell; Bernard Foley, Will Genia; Scott Sio, Stephen Moore (c), Sekope Kepu, Kane Douglas, Rob Simmons, Scott Fardy, Michael Hooper, David Pocock.
Replacements Tatafu Polota-Nau, James Slipper, Greg Holmes, Dean Mumm, Ben McCalman, Nick Phipps, Matt Toomua, Kurtley Beale.
Attendance 80,125 at Twickenham Referee Nigel Owens (Wales)
Kick-off 4pm GMT. Live on ITV1.

NEW ZEALAND captain Richie McCaw and legendary fly-half Dan Carter capped their splendid careers as the All Blacks became the first team ever to retain the Rugby World Cup.

Man of the match Carter was sublime, producing a near-perfect display with the boot as the New Zealanders won the William Webb Ellis trophy outside of their own country for the first time.

But, much more than that, the victory over Australia at Twickenham confirmed this All Blacks generation as easily the best team of its era.

Indeed, with little debate, they can be considered one of the greatest sporting outfits of all time.

Of course, for the 33-year-old Carter personally, this Final was one of those truly wonderful moments of sporting redemption after he had cruelly missed nearly all of the 2011 tournament through injury.

Not that this success came in as straightforward a fashion as the final scoreline perhaps suggests.

Yes, the first half at Twickenham was, in fact, a largely cagey affair with Carter striking three penalties in the first 36 minutes to one from his Aussie counterpart Bernard Foley.

It looked then as if the All Blacks would hold a no-more-than-handy 9-3 interval lead - but, as half-time neared, winger Nehe Milner-Skudder had other ideas.

An appropriate scorer in a match which waved goodbye to so many All Blacks legends, the 24-year-old, in many ways, is a representative of the next generation of New Zealand players to come through their awesome system.

If he is indeed the standard-bearer for the new era, then it would be fair to say that New Zealand rugby is clearly in safe hands.

Coincidentally, that is exactly what he showed when collecting a pass from McCaw to complete a fine, flowing move - and, following Carter's conversion, the half-time lead was a much more comfortable looking 16-3.

Early in the second period, it got even better for New Zealand as they extended their advantage to 21-3 following a virtuoso individual effort from another retiree Ma'a Nonu.

Starting from just inside the Australians' half, Nonu burst through the game line before out-sprinting three forlorn tacklers to complete a magnificent moment. What a way for him to finish.

The only question at that stage was whether the game was also finished as a contest - but, thankfully for the sake of the Final as a showpiece, the Wallabies were in no mood for giving up.

Their first proper breakthrough came 10 minutes after Nonu's try when full-back Ben Smith was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle deep inside his own 22.

From the resultant line-out, Australia made their numerical advantage count - and David Pocock, the best forward of the tournament, forced his way over.

Still, Australia needed more if they were going to truly threaten an amazing comeback - but still they would not give up - and, indeed, they made it two tries apiece with just over 15 minutes left.

Tevita Kuridrani was the scorer of the Wallabies' second, receiving a pass inside from Foley after Will Genia had kicked the ball from the back of a ruck down the right hand side.

New Zealand looked completely caught out by the Aussie resurgence - and, with just four points in it, there was a general feeling that somehow the contest was slipping away from them.

The mark of true champions, though, is to react quickly to adversity - and, within five minutes of getting a fright on Hallowe'en, the All Blacks could begin to breathe more easily again.

For, with only 10 minutes left on the clock, Carter executed only his eighth-ever international drop goal - and, as rare as they are, this was nevertheless a gorgeous kick from all of  40 metres out.

Of course, at a difference of seven points, Australia were still very much in the match, requiring only a converted try to tie.

So it was only when Carter knocked over a outstanding straight penalty from the half-way line with five minutes left that New Zealand were home and hosed.

Finally, it seemed they could relax a little - and, better still, they produced one more party trick, one more act to enjoy after the panicked Australians lost the ball in the New Zealand 22.

Ben Smith rushed forward and dinked a neat kick forward into the totally unoccupied opposition territory for Beauden Barrett to run onto.

Barrett himself kicked the ball forward towards the line before a kind bounce allowed him to collect and complete the job.

Notably, that try meant that, at an aggregate of 51 points, this was the highest scoring Rugby World Cup Final in history, a testament to the flowing nature of the second half.

As already pointed out on this blog, the north still has much to learn from the south about how to play this game even if Australia, of course, will take little comfort from that right now.

This was, after all, the All Blacks' day and the All Blacks' tournament - a World Cup for the glorious generation of McCaw, Carter, Nonu, Conrad Smith and others.

It seems only fair, though, to give the final word to match-winner Carter who summed up his emotions brilliantly in his post-tournament comments.

“It is a great way to finish my Test career,” he said. “I am pretty grateful to be where I am considering what happened four years ago. I’m so proud of the team.

"To win back-to-back World Cups is a dream come true. It’s a pretty strong group of guys. We try to do things no other team has done before. It’s a special feeling to be part of such a great team.”
 
RUGBY WORLD CUP HISTORY
New Zealand Champions 1987, 2011, 2015. Runners-up 1995
Australia Champions 1991, 1999. Runners-up 2003, 2015.

1991 SF	Dublin	New Zealand	6-16	Australia
2003 SF	Sydney	New Zealand	10-22	Australia
2011 SF	Auckland	New Zealand	20-6	Australia
2015 F	London	New Zealand	34-17	Australia

OVERALL HEAD TO HEAD
New Zealand 106
Australia 42
Draws 7

Can Newcastle United banish their derby woes?

PREMIER League stragglers Newcastle United and Sunderland face each other tomorrow at noon in the most important and eagerly anticipated Wear-Tyne derby in years.

The bottom-placed Black Cats, on three points, are without a league win all season while Steve McClaren's visiting Magpies are only slightly better off on six points.

Newcastle did get off the mark in some style last weekend, however - beating Norwich City 6-2 at St James Park thanks to four goals from Georginio Wijnaldum. Nevertheless, this derby match will surely be a different sort of game to that open encounter.

Undoubtedly adding further spice to the proceedings is the recent appointment to the hot-seat at the Stadium of Light of Sam Allardyce.

The self-styled Big Sam - who played on Wearside in the 1980-81 season - actually becomes Sunderland's fourth 'permanent' appointment in 30 months.

Previously, of course, Allardyce also managed Newcastle for an eighth-month period in 2007 and 2008.

But he was dismissed from Gallowgate when a run of poor results could no longer absolve his horrendous style of football - so it is fair to say there is plenty of recent history then.

Moreover, Allardyce would love to extend the bizarre sequence in this fixture which has seen Sunderland, despite all their instability, reel off their all-time best run of five wins in a row.

Most recently, the Mackems prevailed on Easter Sunday this year when Jermain Defoe scored the only goal with a fine volley just before half time.

Yes, that victory equalled the all-time record held by Newcastle when the black-and-whites had the fortune of taking on two embarrassingly poor teams from Wearside between 2002 and 2006.

This time, on home turf - and with a potential new manager bounce - bookmakers' favourites Sunderland will strongly favour themselves to break the record.

For there can be no doubt that a new manager has assisted the Black Cats in their recent run of derby success.

Incredibly, Allardyce's predecessors Paulo di Canio, Gus Poyet, and Dick Advocaat all beat Newcastle in only their second respective games in charge of Sunderland - and this will also be Allardyce's second match.

A proud man - though many would say an equally vainglorious one - he would dearly love to be added to that list, and use it as a springboard to guide Sunderland to safety.

After all, he has his own record to protect - that of having never been relegated in more than 20 years of management.

Indeed, he retains a very high opinion of himself, claiming he still envisages himself one day taking charge of England, a position which was denied to him in 2006.

Coincidentally, it was McClaren who got the nod as national team boss instead - though his reign ended in defeat and humiliation, with a failure to qualify for Euro 2008.

Now, McClaren - via Holland, Germany, Nottingham Forest, Holland again, and Derby County - has arrived at Newcastle and prepared for his first Wear-Tyne derby by sending an email to supporters.

"I don't need reminding that we have lost the last five derbies and for everyone associated with the club that is simply unbearable," McClaren wrote. 

"It wasn't so long ago that we won five in row and we are desperately keen and hugely motivated to turn the tide and bring the points back to Tyneside. 

"The atmosphere is always incredible and I think unique to the North East and we have to go there, stand up and be counted. There’s no question that our players understand what it means to win the derby."

Of course, McClaren has been able to approach the build-up to this match from an unfamiliar position of strength following the performance last Sunday.

For, while the three points against the Canaries did not take Newcastle out of the bottom three, the six goals tempered a swirling sense of discontent which a winless run inevitably brings. 

Additionally, McClaren seems to be settling on a more consistent selection, particularly up front where new signing Aleksandr Mitrovic and Spanish whizz-kid Ayoze Perez look a troublesome pairing. 

Indeed, Mitrovic could end up being the most important player on the pitch - but only provided he stays on it, of course. 

Unfortunately, for Newcastle, there can be no guarantee of that especially if the Serbian is as easily wound up in a hostile atmosphere as he was in his first few games in England which included a sending off against Arsenal. 

He has given his assurances, though - and so Sunderland may have to look elsewhere if they are to damage Newcastle 

That will likely mean targeting a shaky defence with Allardyce-style direct play - for, even in the fine win against Norwich, the Magpies' rearguard struggled at times. 

Also, Dutch keeper Tim Krul has been ruled out for the rest of the season with a severe knee injury sustained on international duty leaving Rob Elliott between the sticks. 

But, equally, Sunderland have struggled at the back this term, both teams having conceded 19 times in their nine games so far. 

Goals should be expected then - however, this will surely be a tighter, scrappier affair with the winning team, if there is one, succeeding only by a single goal.

It promises, as ever, to be a tense - though hopefully trouble-free - couple of hours.

ALL-TIME RECORD

Goals		Draws		Goals
224	Sunderland 50	49	53 Newcastle United	222

AT SUNDERLAND

Goals		Draws		Goals
104	Sunderland 25	28	21 Newcastle United	97

FIVE IN A ROW

	SUNDERLAND					NEWCASTLE UNITED
14-Apr-2013	won 3-0 (a) (Sessegnon, Johnson, Vaughan)				24-Feb-2002	won 1-0 (a) (Dabizas)
27-Oct-2013	won 2-1 (h) (Fletcher, Borini)				21-Sep-2002	won 2-0 (h) (Bellamy, Shearer)
01-Feb-2014	won 3-0 (a) (Borini (p), Johnson, Colback)				26-Apr-2003	won 1-0 (a) (Solano (p))
21-Dec-2014	won 1-0 (a) (Johnson)				23-Oct-2005	won 3-2 (h) (Ameobi 2, Emre)
05-Apr-2015	won 1-0 (h) (Defoe)				17-Apr-2006	won 4-1 (a) (Chopra, Shearer (p), N'Zgobia, Luque)

SEASON 2015/2016 SO FAR

	SUNDERLAND P9 W0 D3 L6 F8 A19 Pts 3 Top scorer: Defoe, Fletcher, Lens (2)					NEWCASTLE UNITED P9 W1 D3 L5 F12 A19 Pts 6 Top scorer: Wijnaldum (6)
08-Aug	Leicester City (A)	2-4	19th		09-Aug	Southampton (H)	2-2	7th
15-Aug	Norwich City (H)	1-3	20th		15-Aug	Swansea City (A)	0-2	15th
22-Aug	Swansea City (H)	1-1	20th		22-Aug	Manchester United (A)	0-0	16th
29-Aug	Aston Villa (A)	2-2	20th		29-Aug	Arsenal (H)	0-1	18th
13-Sep	Tottenham Hotspur (H)	0-1	20th		14-Sep	West Ham United (A)	0-2	20th
19-Sep	AFC Bournemouth (A)	0-2	20th		19-Sep	Watford (H)	1-2	19th
26-Sep	Manchester United (A)	0-3	20th		26-Sep	Chelsea (H)	2-2	19th
03-Oct	West Ham United (H)	2-2	19th		03-Oct	Manchester City (A)	1-6	20th
17-Oct	West Bromwich Albion (A)	0-1	20th		18-Oct	Norwich City (H)	6-2	18th

RWC15: Grim up north, glorious down south

2015 RUGBY WORLD CUP

Preview - Full results

QUARTER FINALS

Sat 17-Oct	SOUTH AFRICA	23-19	WALES	Twickenham
4pm	T: du Preez P: Pollard 6		T: G Davies P: Biggar 3 C: Biggar DG: Biggar
Sat 17-Oct	NEW ZEALAND	62-13	FRANCE	Cardiff
8pm	T: Retallick, Milner-Skudder, Savea 3, Kaino, Read, Kerr-Barlow 2 P: Carter C: Carter 7		T: Picamoles P: Spedding, Parra C: Parra
Sun 18-Oct	IRELAND	20-43	ARGENTINA	Cardiff
1pm	T: Fitzgerald, Murphy P: Madigan 2 C: Madigan 2		T: Moroni, Imhoff 2, Tuculet P: Sanchez 5 C: Sanchez 4
Sun 18-Oct	AUSTRALIA	35-34	SCOTLAND	Twickenham
4pm	T: Ashley-Cooper, Mitchell 2, Hooper, Kuridrani P: Foley 2 C: Foley 2		T: Horne, Seymour, Bennett P: Laidlaw 5 C: Laidlaw

SCOTLAND suffered Rugby World Cup heartbreak as a controversial late Australia penalty confirmed an all-southern hemisphere semi final line-up for the first time ever.

Bernard Foley kicked the three points to give the Wallabies a 34-32 victory - but, in a rare move, governing body World Rugby has since admitted South African referee Craig Joubert got his decision wrong.

Originally, Joubert gave the penalty after ruling Scottish prop Jon Welsh was ruled deliberately offside for playing the ball after a knock-on by a team-mate.

Instead, though, Australia should have only had a scrum for the knock-on as their scrum-half Nick Phipps had also touched the ball before Welsh.

Unfortunately, the situation has now got rather messy with Joubert being somewhat hung out to dry despite the rules of the game preventing him from referring the incident to the television match official.

Indeed, it is a shame that such an unexpectedly thrilling close contest will now likely only be truly remembered for a single moment in it.

Elsewhere in the quarter finals, Wales fell similarly just short against South Africa, despite having led 13-12 at half time and 19-18 with five minutes left in a thriller at Twickenham.

But, just as it looked as if the Welsh might hold out against immense pressure from the Springboks, Fourie du Preez's ran off the back of a scrum to score a match-winning try.

Later that evening, France were humiliated by a rampant New Zealand performance featuring nine tries - before, on Sunday afternoon, Argentina shocked an Ireland team ravaged by injuries.

Undoubtedly, that defeat would have still come as a hell of a shock for an Irish outfit which had won the last two Six Nations Championships and were generally considered the north's best chance of deep progress in this competition.

Then again, the Pumas have now won three of their four World Cup matches against Ireland who themselves have never made it beyond the last eight.

By contrast, Sunday will see Argentina play their second World Cup semi final following 37-13 defeat to South Africa in 2007 after which the South Americans applied to join the Six Nations Championship.

The application was flatly rejected and, five years later, the Argentines instead joined up with the big three southern hemisphere giants in what is now called the Rugby Championship.

There, the Pumas have found it tough going at times, winning just twice and finishing bottom in three of the four years in which they have competed.

Nevertheless, the regular exposure to the highest level of rugby in the world certainly seems to have improved their game - as Joe Schmidt's Ireland found to their cost.

Of course, the biggest failure from the north still undoubtedly lies with the hosts England.

Hoping at the very least for a glorious Euro 96-style failure in the semi finals, which nevertheless won the heart of the nation, England instead fell to successive devastating defeats to Wales and Australia.

Consequently, they became the first ever host nation to go out of its own World Cup in the Pool stages.

Somehow, for now, head coach Stuart Lancaster remains in position ahead of an official review which has been requested by Rugby Football Union chief Bill Beaumont.

Already, though, the reputation of the whole of this coaching set-up surely cannot be recovered.

In terms of selection, there has been little consistency with the worst of the confusion in centre pairing as England reverted to conservatism over flair.

On top of this, there was also the decidedly ill-thought-out - and possibly even pig-headed - policy of refusing to pick players currently playing outside of England. It was something which left a world-class player in Steffon Armitage sitting in France.

And, indeed, it was amidst this mess that skipper Chris Robshaw demonstrated totally muddled thinking when he opted to kick to the corner rather than the posts in the dying minutes of the match against Wales.

Unflustered fly-half Owen Farrell had, after all, produced an infallible performance off the tee and those likely three points would have kept England in their own tournament at the expense of the Welsh.

So the only forgivable reasoning behind Robshaw's decision to head for the corner came from a misguided attempt to repeat Japan's thrilling win over South Africa on the opening weekend.

In that match, Japan - trailing by three points - somehow won their first Rugby World Cup game for 24 years after turning down the chance of a draw by kicking for the corner.

Instead, Karne Hesketh crossed the line off the line-out to give the Cherry Blossoms a win - and assure World Cup infamy for this group of Japanese players.

The difference between the two situations was pretty stark, however.

While England were expected to challenge strongly on home turf for a second lift of the William Webb Ellis Cup, Japan were merely expected to put up a respectable showing ahead of their hosting of the next tournament in 2019.

Therefore, even though they were obviously losing on the pitch with seconds left, the Japanese - by pushing the Springboks so close - had already achieved their pre-tournament aim. They were effectively in a no-lose situation.

By contrast, England surely needed to take a purely pragmatic long-term view by not reducing their chances to a death-or-glory match against Australia. Any romanticism could come later, flushed with success.

Ironically then, it was ultimately Japan - and not England - who captured the heart of the host nation - and they were indeed desperately unlucky to be eliminated in the Pool stages.

The victim of rotten scheduling - their match against Scotland came only four days after that momentous win over South Africa - Japan were, in fact, the first ever team to go out at the Pool stage having won three matches.

Undoubtedly, the scheduling in this competition has left a lot to be desired - and the draw, which took place way back in December 2012, was also ridiculously early.

Otherwise, though, the organisers can consider the tournament to be a success with capacity crowds and lively fan parks enjoying games featuring all 20 of the teams.

The competitiveness of the Tier II nations is much improved with every team crossing the try-line and only one complete shut-out by South Africa against United States.

Inevitably, there have still been a few one-sided games but none has threatened to be a repeat of Australia 142-0 Namibia in 2003 or New Zealand 145-17 Japan in 1995. Yes, the Japanese have certainly come along way since then.

Naturally, none of this anaesthetises the pain felt by England, the hurt felt by France or go some way to solving the mystery of why Ireland never perform to their best at a World Cup.

Nor will it shine further light on still utterly unconvincing Tier I status of Italy - or soften the blow for the disappointed Welsh and the dejected Scots.

Instead, the final two weeks of the 2015 Rugby World Cup belong to the stronger south. Now for the biggest games in the rugby union calendar:

SEMI FINALS

Sat 24-Oct	SOUTH AFRICA	18-20	NEW ZEALAND	Twickenham
4pm	P: Pollard 5, Lambie		T: Kaino, Barrett P: Carter C: Carter 2 DG: Carter
Sun 25-Oct	ARGENTINA	15-29	AUSTRALIA	Twickenham
4pm	P: Sanchez 5		T: Simmons, Ashley-Cooper 3 P: Foley C: Foley 3