The Rugby World Cup Final takes place on Sunday 23rd October at Eden Park (New Zealand’s largest rugby commercial property), after six weeks of gruelling matches between 20 nations.
But what have been the main talking points throughout the World Cup and what can we expect to see from the final? Movehut investigates.
The England rugby team have been far from the public’s eye during the tournament, mainly due to their actions off the pitch.
13 September:
Just two days after the Rugby World Cup began, Mike Tindall (the England captain), made headlines after being spotted in a club in Queenstown getting up close and personal with an unnamed blonde, who he later stated was ‘an old friend’.
29 September:
The Rugby Football Union (RFU) suspended Dave Alred (Assistant Coach) and Paul Stridgeon (Fitness Coach) after they illegally switched the ball to help Jonny Wilkinson kick better against Romania.
2 October:
A hotel employee accused three players of subjecting her to rude banter.
9 October:
Manu Tuilagi was detained by Auckland police and was given a warning after jumping off a ferry before it had docked.
Will Carling, former Harlequins player stated, “They let Martin Johnson down, they let fellow players down and they let the fans down. All this goes to the very top of the RFU. People talk about players but there has been enough going on within the union itself, vacant positions and votes of no confidence etc. It starts there and that needs to be sorted out as well as what happened with the squad.”
So what can we expect to see in the final?
In general, not many host nations get to play in the final of a major sporting event, let alone play against a team that they have comfortably beaten before. So when New Zealand play France on Sunday, will we see a comfortable victory for the all blacks?
New Zealand beat France in the 1987 World Cup, but have since lost to them when big favourites in the semi-final in 1999 and also in the 2007 quarter-final. New Zealand are firm favourites to win, priced at 1/8 with France at around 7/1, so can France shock them again? Graham Henry, the New Zealand Coach is not getting ahead of himself: “The job hasn’t been done yet. I think it’s really important that we understand that and that we get our feet back on the ground over the next two days and build again for this test.”
“It’s a huge game of rugby. We’ve got a lot of history with France in the rugby World Cup and we respect them,” Mr Henry added.
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