Who is the best team in the World?

All I can say is, I'd love to see the All Blacks or Wallabies put 94,000 folks in the stands for a Union game. Eat it.

And you roasted us? What, 76 minutes trailing and you think you roasted us? We had two terrible touch kicks come straight back and we just about tackled ourselves off of our feet. How many times did we send you back in the tackles? We had your number for over 75 minutes. Dream on, you never roasted us. Don't give yourself too much credit.

EDIT: What are you lot on about? This statement/question clearly pertains to Saturdays game and I was just clearing up the fact that we were in no way roasted in the last game. Far from it. it took you lot the full 80 minutes to take the lead and you got it off of quite an obvious forward pass but hey, that happens.

@ Taraboy - No need to have a go at the ref. You see, the first time we get a ref that actually attempts to do his job and monitor the AB's at the breakdowns and your chaps don't look nearly as invinicble as in previous games. He was not perfect but by far the best Northern Hemisphere ref in the tournament so far. Oh how I pray I get to see some cold, bitter New Zealand tears in the semi-finals of the World Cup next year, as you bunch are getting quite irritating with all your self-gratifying chirps. I always thought NZers were the modest type.

If that's all the third answerer can say then he's got nothing.

In 2010 the All Blacks have beaten the Springboks 3-0, which is payback from last year. And the All Blacks and Wallabies can pack more than 94,000 in the stands. I remember a Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney where the attendance was almost 110,000.

The Springboks showed today they are not anywhere near as fit as the All Blacks. You would expect that in the high veldt, the Springboks would outlast the All Blacks and have the stronger last 10 minutes. However the opposite happened, which means the Springboks are lacking in fitness.

Well said MODADC, thank goodness there are some gracious Kiwis among you. Yes the AB's are the best at the moment, and yes the Springboks lost last night, but I for one am not unhappy. The SB's are on their way back, so enjoy your moment, while you can.! The Boks played well, and were in the lead for most of the game. If I was a AB supporter I wouldn't have been too happy with my team last night even with the win, the Boks gave the game away, by taking off their key players, but if not for that and a few mishaps the Boks would have taken it! So I know too by this game that the AB's are not as good as you think they are, they were rattled especially in the first half! Consider too we had our best on the bench, and were playing a few fairly inexperienced players, eg de Jong, Aplon, Louw, and van der Merwe and Hougaard, yet we still nearly beat your all-star side! No boys I know you will never admit it, but I bet you all got a big scare last night, and we all know too that the SB's will be back better than ever.!

ABs are the best.

Great to see Ritchie and the crew stick it to the Bokke in their great big shiny new stadium and on their home patch.

The Africans still have a lot of work to do if they want to be competitive. The rules just don't favour big fat unfit mongrels lumbering around giving everyone the bash, killing the ball and having some little twerp drop kick points from the other side of half way.

Smit's 100 games are an achievement but lets face it- he is a dinosaur in today's game, adapt and evolve or become extinct.

Australia and NZ are paving the way forward for a brand of rugby that is fun to play and watch. You would think the world champions would be able to pluck their heads out of their own beehinds and get with the program.

Surely Africa has more. Austraila and NZ haven't even got out of 2nd gear yet and the Bokke are still in park.

Meh. Seems a bit rhetorical and snobbish to be a genuine question.

One of the biggest problems with some of my fellow kiwis is they rest on our laurels too much. Some of us truly do come across as ungracious in winning. Can't we just enjoy wrapping up another successful southern season and look forward? I certainly think the boys that matter are doing that. Does gloating to complete strangers online really help fans keep a smile on their face?

Yes the AB's just won against SA on SA soil (should have been closer - McCaw's try was borne off a clear forward pass 3 phases back). Yes they are fast becoming the best looking AB squad I remember seeing. (I remember saying the same in 2007). Yes they are currently number one on IRB's rankings. (They normally are except in RWC years)

All of that is nice, and the results of this squad are encouraging. But for me, the "best team in the world" is the team that has the RWC in the closet. So the answer to your question is South Africa.

If you are asking in the current context (yes, I know you are), the AB's are clearly setting the global benchmark.

But let's be realistic. The World Cup is the definitive answer to this question. This is especially true in the case of NZ more than any other tier one nation, as it has been an elusive and frustrating dream for 24 years by the time the next one rolls around. Compounded by the fact that our boys perform like this in between cups. Such is the cut-throat nature of RWC finals.

Lets be happy that the AB's are in good shape. But lets save the celebrations for the RWC. Ask the question again then.

Yes the AB's are the no1 team in the world at the moment, and they deserve to be, they have taken rugby to a new level , which I cannot see any other side matching them.

Let's hope they can maintain this standard up until the world-cup (barring injuries to top players or lost of form)

Actually your question could apply to the AB's at anytime in the last 15 yrs of pro-rugby and probably minus say 1999,it would be the AB's as no1 team all the time (which worries me abit ) 1995,1999,2003, and 2007, oh well ! let's enjoy there success for the moment.

MODADC is the kind of fan I used to enjoy sitting next to at games and sounds a proper gentlemen - well done for putting it so well. I regret that the internet's greatest weakness is to allow gloating and unsportsmanlike abuse to people you'll never even meet with no fear of a consequence. Perhaps the Bokke should start wearing badges which say "Nigel Owens is a 'hunt'" cos he missed the forward pass and hold up signs abusing him at test matches for the rest of his career, it would be in keeping with the "justice" farce.

I fear if we as fans of this great game continue this it will end up like soccer or parts of rugby league, where the fans cannot mix and that would be a real shame.

That said, winning the TN (and going 5 for 5 including an altitude win) is clearly harder than a world cup win and the players (and their genuine fans) deserve a lot of praise.

Stagg you got roasted do not doubt it .... just as you guys smashed as last year 3-0 we did the same to you hardy ha-ha.

As for the crowd there is only one team in world rugby that sells out every stadium they play in newsflash it is not the one dimensional boring Boks it is the AB's baby choke on that fat sav.

Where is the whinge about the ref ? ..... that's right you got the best calls out of him and still lost hahaha man up and choke on the Blackness Staggy we are better than you. 3-0 3-0 3-0 WWW

ps i will get up at three in the morning to watch PDV cry any day of the week

Get your facts right too AB's vs Aus 28 August 1999 in the Sydney Olympic stadium before the reconfiguration had 107402 people so once again SA is second best EAT IT STAGGYY WAGGYY

NZ is undoubtedly the best team in the world at the moment, they beat SA 3 times in a row, have already clinched the Tri Nations and they did it in superb fashion. I think the Boks proved however that NZ is definitely not untouchable, they were smashed back again and again on Saturday and dare I say - Out played for 75 minutes, like John Smit, I also thought they had done enough to win and like John Smit I was also horribly disappointed by his missed tackle that gifted NZ the win. I think SA let themselves down most of all. I also thought that they were playing the dumbest brand of rugby with 7 minutes to go. It was a simple matter of keeping possession, going through the phases and winding down the clock.

@ Taraboy: If your post was an attempt at luring out a rant about the ref, you can consider it unsuccessful, but you are welcome to send me a private message and we can swap out incidents we thought Mr. Owens handled incorrectly.

Hopefully by the time Taraboy becomes TaraMan, your mother would have given you a lesson in humility and how to be gracious in victory.

the allblacks (new zealand) is currently the best team in the world... with dan carter kicking the conversions they have an amazing track record. though currently in the tri-nations cup they have been having a bit of a run with south africa (springboks)... but definantly the AllBlacks are the best team player/ tactical wise.