New Zealand's All Blacks - Team of the decade

 

South Africa might currently have the World Cup and the tri-nations title and been voted the 2009 IRB Team of the Year - but there can be little doubt New Zealand have been the Team of the Decade despite missing out on two World Cups won by England (2003) and South Africa (2007) respectively.
In fact, the Boks are only ranked fifth on win percentage in this time, despite having the next best number of wins after New Zealand.

The Springboks' low winning percentage stems from the lean years between 2000 and 2003, when they won only 23 and drew one of their 46 Tests.

 

England's strong stats come largely from the same period when under Clive Woodward they won just about everything they contested.

The Boks played the most Tests (125) winning 76 for a 60,8% win ratio. New Zealand played 122 Tests and won exactly 100 for an 82% win ratio.
That equates to 10 Tests won per year from an average total of 12,2 Tests played in each of the 10 years.
The All Blacks underlined their supremacy over the period by also scoring 133 more tries than the next best attacking side, Australia.
New Zealand scored 526 tries (4,31 per Test) compared to the 393 of Australia (3,20 per Test) and South Africa's 384 (ave.3,1). Argentina, with only 85 Tests played, averaged 3,7 tries per Test.
The All Blacks beat the Springboks in 16 of the 24 Tests played during the decade - and four of the eight Bok wins came with Peter de Villiers as national coach, three of them this year.

It is interesting to note De Villiers has the second best winning ration of any Bok coach after Nick Mallett.

 

During the decade, New Zealand averaged Test scores of 36-16.

Yes, the All Blacks were the best and most consistent over the decade and won almost 60 % of their matches against the Boks despite this year's three consecutive losses.

But they still don't have the World Cup, and interestingly Ireland, second on winning percentages, also have an inferior competition  (Six Nations and world Cup) record to France, who are only fourth on the list.

 

The All Blacks will host the 2011 Rugby World cup and it has yet to be seen whether home advantage will aid the All Blacks in their world cup quest or whether it will add further pressure on them which could lead to another slip up.

 

Whatever happens in the next decade the All Blacks will have three chances to become World cup Champions (2011 in NZ, 2015 in England and 2019 in Japan). 

United star handed work permit

Senegal international Mame Biram Diouf will be able to complete his move to Manchester United next month after finally being granted a work permit. The 22-year-old striker moved to Old Trafford from Norwegian side Molde in the summer before immediately being loaned back to the Norwegian side. He has scored four times in 12 appearances for Molde this season to bring his total tally to 33 goals in 75 matches for the club. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said earlier this month of Diouf, who has represented his country on one occasion: "If you're talking about value then you can look at our young boy Diouf. "He's been training with us and is looking very exciting. That's the kind of situation we're good at - finding young players who can develop at the club and at 22 years of age he's looking very good."

Nemanja Vidic bothered by Manchester United's loss to Aston Villa

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By Will Ashwell

defender was disappointed his side failed to make ground on league leaders after the Red Devils slipped to a loss to

The stopper recently recovered from injury to ease United's defensive injury crisis but will be disappointed with his return to the first team.

“We are very disappointed. We had a game at home and the chance to share the first position with Chelsea but we didn’t take it," Vidic told the club's official website.
“I think we did the best we could physically. We tried but I don't think we had the patience in the final third and we didn’t take our chances; that’s why we lost the game.”

Vidic felt Villa took their opportunity which was the difference in the encounter.

He added: “I’m disappointed to concede because they didn’t have many chances but they took the best one they had.

"That’s what football is all about, scoring the goals that win games. They did their job and I’m disappointed we didn’t take the three points.

"After they scored they tried to defend and use the pace of Agbonlahor and Young on the counter-attack. They are a hard team to play against - they close you down and fight for every ball. They also have pace up front and in the end they go home happy."

Vidic hopes the reigning champions can take advantage of their encounter Tuesday with Wolverhampton.

"This is our best chance to play well, score goals and bring the confidence back," insisted Vidic. "It’s important when you lose a game to have the next one quickly, so you can play better and fix what you did in the last match."

Fergie's injury woes worsen

 

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has confirmed that both John O'Shea and Jonny Evans will be out until January, as the injury crisis at Old Trafford continues to hit hard.
O'Shea has been troubled by a thigh injury, while Evans has been unable to shake off a calf problem, with Ferguson's defensive options having been decimated for the Champions League trip to Wolfsburg.
Rio Ferdinand (back) and Nemanja Vidic (flu) also miss out, while Wes Brown (hamstring) is unlikely to recover in time to feature.
Ferguson told reporters: "There's no good news with all these injured players. We've left several players behind and have a lot of thinking to do about team selection.
"We know we have a difficult task picking a back four that can unite together and give me good organisation and good passing ability, considering we don't have natural centre-backs.
"As we've explained with Rio Ferdinand, we don't have a time schedule for him and John O'Shea and Jonny Evans are both out until January.
"They're out for a few weeks and they're the major injuries as it stands."
Meanwhile, Ferguson has played down recent rumours linking his club with a move to sign Wolfsburg's star striker Edin Dzeko.
He added: "It is an age-old story. Every time someone does well against Manchester United we are going to buy him the next day.
"There is nothing from Manchester United at this moment concerning Edin Dzeko."

SABAH JUARA PIALA AGONG SIRI KE 27

Sabah menikmati kejuaraan Piala Agong untuk kali ke 2 dalam tempuh 3 tahun selepas menewaskan ATM dengan kemenangan tipis 17 - 15 dalam keadaan padang yang sebahagiannya becak di Pangkalan TUDM Subang. Shah Alam, petang semalam.
Selepas menjuarainya pada kali pertama tahun 2007 apabila menewaskan Selangor dipadang Uni Malaya, Sabah tidak turut serta pada tahun berikutnya tetapi kembali dengan semangat tinggi untuk membuktikan mereka masih mantap walaupun pada awal tahun lalu, rata-rata pemain Sabah telah mennikmati kejuaraan Piala Super KRM ketika mewakili Sandakan Eagles.

Sementara itu dalam perlawanan bagi menentukan Juara kategori Plate di antara Negri Sembilan dan Johor berkesudahan dengan kemenangan besar N.Sembilan 32 - 0. Walaupun pada peringkat permulaan N.Sembilan sedikit kucar kacir disebabkan kelewatan kehadiran pemain mereka ke padang, pengalaman mereka yang sentiasa bermain diperingkat  tinggi digunakan sepenuhnya untuk mengawal pemain-pemain muda Johor yang nampak goyah terutamanya dalam mengekang kombinasi gerakan 2 pemain warga Fiji yang mewakili N.Sembilan.  Dengan 4 try di separuh masa permata dan tambahan lagi 2 try di separuh masa ke 2, N.Sembilan membawa pulang medal Juara kategori Plate Piala Agong 2009.

Y.B. Datuk Peter Pang, Timbalan Ketua Menteri Sabah yang juga merupakan Exco Belia dan Sukan Sabah, yang turut hadir menyaksikan perlawanan akhir pada kali ini, sudi menyampaikan Piala dan cenderamata kepada Juara dan Naib Juara Piala Agong siri ke 27. Sementara Y.Bhg Dato' Muhammad Muhiyuddin, Presiden KRM sudi menyampaikan medal bagi kategori Plate.

Jawatankuasa Pengelola Kejohanan ingin merakamkan ucapan jutaan terima kasih kepada semua yang telah menjayakan kejohanan pada kali ini. Jika terdapat sebarang kekuranga dan kecacatan pihak kami ingin memohon maaf dan akan cuba memperbaikinya di masa akan datang.