For this post you are going to have to remember a few things, so here's a list:

1. The All Blacks v Ireland game last month in which temperatures dropped considerably
2. The picture we found after that game
3. The Argentinean performance at the World Cup (beating France twice and getting to 3rd in the world rankings)
4. That movie Alive, about rugby players in the Andes (who knew Ethan Hawke was in that film?)

Right? We sorted with all those things in your head? Good, now combine them all together and you get a basic picture of... Rugby X-Treme!!! (something called "X-Treme" deserves three exclamation points).

The basic idea is rugby played at full speed and contact at a ski resort in the Andes:

The game uses rugby sevens laws but the field size depends on the
terrain. Added to that, the mountain nature of the sport means that the
field is seldom flat and all the action is played out at altitude so
the thin air adds to the extreme nature.

Rugby X-treme started quietly in 2005 at the Cerro Bayo Ski Resort of
Villa La Angostura but the growth has been so notable that during the
2008 winter season two tournaments have already been played and four
more resorts are bracing themselves for their own Rugby X-treme events.

Fancy a chip-and-chase? But it's not just for crazy amateurs. Tournaments often have Pumas in them and past competitors include Juan Martín Fernández Lobbe and IRB Sevens World Series all time leading try scorer Santiago Gómez Cora.

The sport is now so popular with players that it actually has a "season" of six tournaments. This incredible (mad) love of playing the game may make Argentina a real New Zealand-style rugby powerhouse of the future.

From the NZ Herald, reporting yesterday's (absolutely brilliant, heartstopping) NZ win over Argentina in the Olympic hockey qualifying tournament...

With barely a second to play and a penalty stroke shootout looming, the Black Sticks yesterday snatched a dramatic 3-2 win over Argentina to grab the 10th - and final - spot in the 12-team men's Olympic tournament.

Hold on. 10th and final spot, in a 12 team tournament? Is the Granny forgetting the two qualifying tournaments still to come in Japan and China?

Well, the World Cup is over - with a whimper? or a bang? The Dropkicks discuss the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final and 3rd/4th play-off, as well as the 2007 Air NZ Cup Final, and Athletes and Dicks of the Week.­

Download Episode 40 - Rugby World Cup Final | Air NZ Cup Final

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).

<<<Caution SPOILERS>>> 

Well here we are for the third-fourth play off. Some people say they don't care, but I do. Why? Because this looks like it will be a better game than the actual final. That and the Argentinean and French supporters look much prettier than the English and South African. (Jokes guys, just jokes). Also the winnerof this game gets a bronze medal, the losers get...nothing. Somehow 4th place is the worst thing in the World Cup. Nobody wants to be 4th.

There is the first of a million shots of Chabal (he's not that good people!). He's got one blood red eye, seriously, not photoshopped or nothing.

Paul Honiss starts the game and is now the world's most capped referee.

Despite Hamish McKay being rested for the final (groan) the English commentators show they can foot it with the stupidist: "this is what we've been waiting to see at the world cup, well we've already seen it once and so now some people want a different result"

The game has only just started but the pace and the flair with which the guys are throwing it around is awesome.

A small tussle breaks out and the Argentineans break it up with hugs and pats on the back. Damn they're good sports.

Jeebus what are they doing! Both teams are playing like it's the dying seconds and they need a try! Argentina have now twice taken the tap in their own 22.

In what might a record for this world cup it is the 17th minute before points are scored. Just looking at the play before the penalty I can see that there will most likely be another fight or two during this match.

The commentators mention that one of the Argentineans has a "huge boot on him". I'm imaging one of those shoes you get if one of your legs is too short.

Try to Contepomi. Good build up, the French didn't actually do anything wrong but it was a good drifting offence beating a not-as-good drifting defence.

A text from Stephen: "I think [commentator] Simon Mannix is dating Contepomi"

Another try to the Argies. The French look tiiiired. And it was Omar Hasan Jalil who got the try, the man who neck is wider than his ears.

OMG the French halfback, Elissalde, just start stomping on an Argentinean lock who was legally playing the ball on his feet. And now he's picking a fight and ... shit, he just tried to head-but the Argentinean. Does he think he's Zidane?

Another "fight". The French seem to love slapping the faces of the Argies, and the Argies seem to love baiting them.

And actual punches have been thrown. Honiss is gonna have to send someone off. But they can't get a number so instead, another warning.

Two yellow cards to end the half. One for Rimas Álvarez Kairelis: constant infringement. One for the French Captain, Raphaël Ibanez: dangerous rucking. In anger Ibanez throws a waterbottle at the touch judge, which I thought was a red card offense (striking the ref).

So that TV3 can show ads we miss the second half kick off.

OK the oranges at half time didn't calm anyone down. Someone is going to lose their head...literally. It won't be Jilal though, his neck's too big for that.

Pichot shows why I would vote him player of the year. Being sneaky around the scrum. A bit later he gets a French knee to the nuts.

Another amazing open field try for Argentina. Their hands are amazing. Hernandez surrounded by four Frenchmen gets a pass away and then it's on!

A massive cheer for Chabal running onto the field. I'm sure it's because he's a caricature. It's like having Obelix on the field. Or rather Mikey Mouse.

Honiss sends off an Argentinean for a high late shoulder charge on Chabal that wasn't any of those. Still that's what happens when you listen to Stuart Dickenson. Note the tackle sends Chabal flying, he gets up crying about his shoulder. Mannix says "yes that will hurt".

Damn! Argentina get ANOTHER break out running try. Frickin heck, this one goes end to end. AND they're one man down!

Pichot meets the "old style" of French rugby as it looks like Harinordoquy grabs his throat on the ground.

A nice try for France that looks like the ones the Argies have been scoring.

The Argies make a sub and when the new man comes on he kisses the man he's replacing. A loverly little peck on the cheek.

After a fairly good period of play by the French, Contepomi scores another one for Argentina. As he puts the ball behind him in celebration he hits a Frenchman, the Frenchman punches Contemponi in the nuts.

In the post-match interview the French captain basically threatens the Argentineans. He says how they should savour this as he doesn't believe they have a generation [of players] to follow through and that they'll be preparing for the next France vs Argentina.

Man of the Match = Pichot. (My partner says he's hot).

The Rugby World Cup finalists have been decided. So, who's going to win the cup: South Africa, or England?

Download Episode 38 - Semi-Final review | Final preview

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).

<<<Caution Spoilers>>>

Here I am in the Occidental pub in Wellington ready for the second semifinal between Argentina and South Africa. In order to get an accurate prediction I put 15 Springboks and 15 Pumas (or mountain lions) in a cage. After an initial bit of trepidation the Pumas came out the bloody victors, as such, my money is on Argentina as long as at least one of their team is a big cat. (To those pedants, yes, I am aware that the cat in the above picture is an African leopard but the Argentinean logo features a jaguar not a puma anyway).

I remember the last game I watched here also featured Argentina. That time it was a close loss to New Zealand. Then there was some weird guy in a cloth cap urging the ABs on with weird heavy breathing.

I love how the Argentinean national anthem has a 5 min instrumental

I'm joined by Triple T

Schalk Burger slips over to a great many laughs in the pub. (Still no word from our South African readers on how to pronounce his name though. TV3 is saying "Skulk")

And now we are joined by Stephen

Goodness gracious du Preez is quick! South Africa is pretty good at those intercept tries. My suggestion to Argentina: don't pass it.

Hamish McKay exclaims how that try was completely against the run of play. Yes Hamish, interceptions usually are.

Sorry for the break in commentary. I was eating my brekkie, I don't recommend the scrambled eggs. While I was away AJ Whetton called the South African pack "mental". And the teams traded penalties.

Jeez Argentina play some exciting rugby. Bryan Habana is going to have to do a lot more than he has recently to win player of the year.

Steve Walsh calls advantage over and then, goes back for the advantage. Good call Barnes...I mean Walsh.

Habana scores a fast solo try, again its against the run of play. My advice to Argentina: let South Africa keep the ball, that way they are less likely to score.

Omar Hassan Jalil has come on for Argentina: Stephen said he played for Wellington. I'm gonna look that up later. - (UPDATE: Turns out Stephen was right, he played for Wellington  back in 2000ish. Omar is also a Baritone, loves Opera and is finishing his debut album in which opera is mixed with Tango and elements from Argentine folk music.)

Another try against the run of play. Seriously Agentina, you don't want the ball.

Second Half

We've started joking about how fat Os du Rant used to be. How fat was he? He was so fat that he affected the tides.

After we talked the third umpire out of awarding the try to Argentina he gives it anyway, (we were sure it was a knock on).

South Africa say screw you to "big brother" and take out a sideline camera man, to great cheers from the crowd here.

Steve Walsh really should call off his trip to the Pampas. His calls of advantage are very short and make no sense after Argentina lose it after only making two metres.

That's game over for the Argies. Habana scores his second break-out try.

I'm off to work.

added later - While I'm waiting to pay the Argentinean frustrations begin to grow and a small fight breaks out after a South African high tackle. Walsh sends off Juan Smith for the tackle but he really should've sent off Burger instead for charging in. Actually what he should've done is send off half a dozen of each team then let them play "sevens".

A bit after that Contepomi gets really fed up and back hand smacks a Springbok. For which he is sent off. When the final whistle blows the Argentineans are not as disappointed as, say, the French were. Contepomi comes running out and hugs Burger and there is some communication between the two that looks like "I'm sorry about, no hard feelings". Wow that's good to see. There is a clear difference between an Athlete and a Sportsman (or woman).

Who will win? Well there will be no “Lock of the Week” this week.

England v France

Of all the countries England has gone to war with (which as it turns out includes nearly every country at this World Cup) France would be the one who they really went to war with. It’s a rivalry like Fraser and Ali. The Dust-up in Denis, The Showdown in the Stade.

England have shown true grit and determination in getting to this point but will it be enough to counter a resurgent French who don’t want to be shown up on their home turf?

The French are known for throwing big games in World Cups. They’ve been to the final twice on the back of upsets and lost their nerve twice. England might be able to use this to their advantage.

Then again France hasn’t lost to England in a loooong time.

It’s almost too close to call but I give the edge to France for their titanic effort last weekend.

South Africa v Argentina

South Africa have become the tournament favourites but we all saw what little that means. They also carry with them the pride of the Tri-Nations teams. With out a South African win, we’ll be forced to listen to the continued bleating of Mr S Jones of Wales.

Argentina, however, are not exactly going to be pushovers. Their record against the Springboks is 0-11, but that is an old stat. And South Africa haven’t faced the Pumas since 2005 when:

the Springboks returned to Argentina in November, they faced a much stronger Pumas side, with most of their European-based players present. The Pumas took a 20-16 lead into the half-time break at Vélez Sársfield. While they faded in the second half, they were not embarrassed, losing 34-23.

So facing a team that has beaten Scotland, Wales, Irleand, France, England, and the B&I Lions since 2005 can South Africa afford to follow the same “no respect” line they did against Fiji, just because “they’ve never lost to them before”?

Nope. My pick is Argentina by a margin of seven.

After polling of readers and listeners the Dropkicks have now swung their support in behind Los Pumas (at least for the next game). Hence our spiffy new banner.

Yes the Spanish is probably wrong, but that's what happens when you start by not being able to speak English no good.

Viva Los Pumas!
 

I can’t believe its Thursday already and I haven’t put up anything about the other two non-upset quarterfinals.

South Africa – Fiji

What we said:

South
Africa is not Wales and Fiji have little chance of an upset... South
Africa dominate all of the important stats especially the forward-based
ones…Fiji will go out and do what they always do: play sevens.

The numbers (updated after the last table showed Fiji won!):

Stat	Fiji	South Africa
Points for	20	37
Tries	2	5
Tries per m.o.p.*	0.05	0.12
Points per m.o.p.	0.5	0.9
Handling errors	11	11
Handling errors per m.o.p	0.28	0.27
Kicking percentage (place kicks)	100%	63%
Successful tackles	82%	85%
Own lineouts won	92%	86%
Opposition lineouts won	14%	8%
Own scrums won (%)	89%	100%
Scrums won against the head (%)	0%	11%
Turnovers per tackle made	0.07	0.05
Turnovers per minute of opposition possession	0.10	0.13
Time spent in own 22	8mins 27secs	4mins 42secs
Penalties conceded	7	7

 *minute of possession

Apart from the lineout
and the kicking South Africa seemed to run the show. What I don’t have
here is the fact that at 60mins the scores were equal at 20. Fiji
didn’t show any respect and really did back themselves to win.

This does not bode well for South Africa. They are due to face a very confident and well rounded Argentinean team.

Argentina – Scotland

What we said:

Only
four weeks ago people would have said that this match-up between
Argentina and Scotland would be close but that the Scots would win.
It’s amazing what a victory over France and Ireland can do for a team.
Not to mention hard and fast defensive rugby, good kicking, smart
tactics and a winning attitude

It seems though, that the Argentineans are better at getting the ball back off you and I am a strong believer that turnovers win games

The Argentineans are the only team I have seen so far that has the overall pace that matches the All Blacks.

Argentina look the business and are my “Lock of the Week”

The numbers:

Stat	Argentina	Scotland
Points for	19	13
Tries	1	1
Tries per m.o.p.*	0.02	0.03
Points per m.o.p.	0.5	0.3
Handling errors	9	12
Handling errors per m.o.p	0.22	0.31
Kicking percentage (place kicks)	80%	75%
Successful tackles	83%	93%
Own lineouts won	85%	95%
Opposition lineouts won	5%	15%
Own scrums won (%)	88%	75%
Scrums won against the head (%)	88%	75%
Turnovers per tackle made	0.13	0.05
Turnovers per minute of opposition possession	0.28	0.10
Time spent in own 22	3mins 22secs	4mins 53secs
Penalties conceded	8	6

*minute of possession

Well a 19-13 isn’t really “Lock of
the Week material. But they did enough for victory. I think perhaps it
was actually Scotland playing better than Argentina playing worse. Then
again Argentina’s no-tries-against record is in tatters.

Scotland
has kept their 0.30 rate of handling errors going, which is not so good
to see. But they did well in the lineout snaffling 15% away from the
Argentineans. Still turnovers once again tell the story. Argentina won
the ball in the ruck and maul every three and a half minutes that
Scotland had it. Scotland only got the ball back every 10 minutes that
Argentina had it.

This is where Argentina won the game. They
only had 51% of the possession but it was their ability to get the ball
back off Scotland that enabled the victory. I don’t have the breakdown
but I imagine that a lot of Scotland’s penalties would have come from
holding on to the ball.

Scotland can be congratulated on playing better than they have so far but Argentina are fast becoming the team to beat.

It's post-mortem time with the Dropkicks, who analyse just where the All Blacks went wrong in their Rugby World Cup quarter-final against France. Also: some thoughts on the other quarterfinals, and Athletes and Dicks of the Week.

Download Episode 37 - Quarterfinals review

Subscribe to the Dropkicks Podcast (iTunes users click here).