@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@booboo said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@chester-draws said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@mariner4life said in All Blacks v Springboks:

@akan004 cherry pick to make the sky fall?

how about looking at it like this. in 21 tests we are 17-1-3. In 13 of those tests we have hosed them.

We lost a game where we had 14 blokes for 3/4s of the game
We lost a dead rubber Bledisloe away.
We lost one of the best tests in years.

You know, now i think about it, we are 0-3 where we have scored less points than the opposition. That's not what you expect from a team with this much talent.

Try looking at it this way. We never, ever lose big. if it's a loss, it's by a bee's dick. We are balls deep in every game we play. That's a pretty sweet position to be in.

What you say is true, except the implication that somehow winning big a lot is good.

Say what? It's bad? Since when?

Winning isn't bad. Just that winning big isn't necessarily better than winning small.

Our recent massive victories over the Boks was not good preparation for the last game.

We have a game plan that I think tends to magnify our strengths and our weaknesses. When we play well we win by lots. But we equally come unstuck when it doesn't work.

I'd prefer a game plan that moved away from this emphasis on counter-attack, and assuming we wear our opposition down. I'd like to see us able to work on penetrating solid defences.

Because when we hit the 2019 RWC you can bet no-one, crazy Australians aside, will attempt to beat us playing open rugby.

But history has shown us that teams step up at the World Cup and a well organised, determined defence can be really hard to break down without taking a few risks. The All Blacks showed they could score 6 tries against such a defence without the defence every really crumbling.

Hansen's message to J Barrett and A Smith (for it was they who took the bad decisions that led to tries) is not don't take quick throw-ins or don't take tap penalties . It will be don't take quick throw-ins from a kick that left the whole Bok defensive line in your face and don't take tap penalties when there is no huge gap to exploit. The whole mantra of the ABs since Henry took over is to make decisions based on what you see - the mantra is not "put away the razzle-dazzle until you're desperate". There will be mistakes playing like that but by forcing the opposition defence to make tough decisions under pressure eventually the gap will appear and the tries will come.

One of the reasons the ABs never got much continuity (and zero tries) was the ridiculous number of infringements by the Lions. It felt like every time the ABs had possession in the Lions half, then there would be a penalty. And a man down and in those conditions, you have to take your penalties. And they were all kickable yet BB missed a couple of sitters. 10 kickable penalties in all - when you see a number like that, you wonder how the Lions were never on a team warning for repeated offences - especially as the offside line seemed to disappear completely at times.

Just got home from the game after not being online. Interesting to read the thread start to finish and just so many premature calls made ....

Looks like NZ are half an excellent side and half a poor one. It's basically Tauranga keeping things together. What a maestro Kane is as usual walking to the wicket after just one ball.

Great atmosphere at the game. English fans supporting the Windies and NZ fans mostly in their early 20s and mostly pissed.

I've enjoyed this thread as a small place of sanity where rational rugby fans gather to discuss the game. Please stop any references to wars and cowardice etc as we really don't need it here.

So far I haven't seen any complaints by Joe Schmidt about the game - that is good for Ireland. He's a canny chap, he'll be learning the lessons and planning for the next time.

If Kane's stats were to exactly match those of the last 4 years (looking back from today) - in 8 years time he would be 34 and have

137 tests
45 hundreds
61 fifties
12742 runs
57.92 average

What T20 has done is produce a current generation of batsmen who have very poor defensive technique. Even some of players who appear to have good/respectable records in test cricket. They plant their feet, have a good eye and hit through the line. If the ball comes on and is not deviating, they marmalise it. They can, and have, scored big in test cricket but also get a lot of low scores when conditions are tricky.

Which is why England's dangerous middle to lower order appear to be a strength in test cricket when it is Bairstow, Stokes, Moeen etc but all of them don't really have the technique to survive the moving ball - hence why there collapses. Same with Australia, Mitchell Marsh is a flat track bully.

It really stands out when you watch the likes of Root, Smith, Kane and Kohli. While Smith is unorthodox, he does know how to stay in for long periods.

Rant over.

Do old viewers remember Lee Grant on here and his spouting about a young kid called Beale who was going to be a great and single-handedly save Australian rugby? I think he's finally arrived, hell of a game he played last night.

From what I have seen of Kane he is very much in form - but India have been very good at frustrating him with a nagging line and length and he has uncharacteristically thrown his wicket away 3 times. It doesn't help when the openers are out so early as he knows they need 300 to compete and with Taylor being a slow starter, one of them has to force it a little.

Now if the Indians would just pitch a couple short outside off, a couple on the pads and throw in some half volleys then things would be very different. They could learn a lot from watching NZ bowling ....

Can anyone show me an example of a classy boozy team celebration?

@machpants said in NZ vs. Aust - Japanese yawn edition:

You see mad eye hooper bursting a gut to limit beaudy getting towards the goal posts, the winger just leave him to it. He maybe a knob but he puts in a hundred every time

After he has retired, that will be my abiding memory of him. Sprinting to chase a back he has no hope of catching but never giving up.

Back on Akira Iaone, it was very entertaining to watch the endless times he ran straight at, over, through Aaron Smith from the back of the scrum - credit to Smith for doing his best to stop him.

@dogmeat said in EPL 19/20:

@KiwiPie said in EPL 19/20:

I'd like to see Brentford go up

@sparky said in EPL 19/20:

Notts County lost 3-1 in their playoff to Harrogate

Fucking Karma

Come on the mighty Bees (is that their nickname?). I honestly don't mind Fulham going up but I have a Brentford supporting friend who will be over the moon to see his name in the top flight for the first time in his lifetime.

Meanwhile, I'm fairly sure Notts will now plunge into a relegation battle next season and see if we can find another league to get to know.

All live at https://www.thesilverfern.com/tipping/ - all change as there were no tips from @taniwharugby

@dogmeat Haha. Never in doubt! I'd like to see Brentford go up just to see another team in the top flight that haven't been there in my lifetime. If it's Fulham then that's 2 bouncing straight back up and at least one of them will go straight back down. Brentford probably will to but they will be a novelty

Brentford win 3-1 in the second leg and win 3-2 on aggregate so it's looking good for a West London derby in the playoff final.

@sparky said in EPL 19/20:

@Higgins Playing Harrogate at Wembley on Saturday for a place in the Football League.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11768/12036238/notts-county-and-harrogate-to-square-off-in-national-league-play-off-final-at-wembley

Yes it is very exciting. Harrogate is one of the smaller clubs at that level and Notts about the biggest so it is a bit of a David v Goliath contest. We really need to go up - then it is just 3 more seasons until we're back at the top level!

@dogmeat said in EPL 19/20:

First 20 minutes were a bit concerning but Fulham came into the game more and more. Two absolutely gorgeous goals has put them in control but it's not over yet. An early goal to Fulham at the Cottage should kill it though.

Mitrovic will hopefully be back for Thursday as well.

C'mon Swansea

Great free kick from a man called Neeskens who really had to play football with that name. We don't want Cardiff back and hopefully Fulham have learned some lessons from the last time (but knowing football clubs, probably not!)

Results are up to date at https://www.thesilverfern.com/tipping/

Paj topped all scorers this week with 57, both results and margins picked. He went for Crusaders 33-34 Hurricanes which was very accurate - not so accurate for going for 6 tries apiece! He's up to 13th but still 52 behind TR who through consistent accumulation finds himself with a lead of 22 over Winger. DK also into the top 10 with the 2nd highest score of 51.

TR into the final of the TSF Cup with Sportboy. Played out over the next 2 weekends.

@dogmeat Not unless QPR had got a late goal against West Brom.

On the Forest/Swansea switch, good to see Swansea scored their 4th at 90+1 and Forest gifted an OG at 90+6

That championship promotion battle was intense - all 3 of them didn't win. Having won every game after lockdown, Brentford got to the point of needing one win out of 2 to go up and lose both games. Fulham didn't win on the final day leaving West Brom to crawl over the line as automatically promoted.

Incredible finish for the final play-off spot.

Forest 3 point clear of Swansea and with a goal difference of +11, Swansea on +6. Forest at home and Swansea away. Seemingly no way for Swansea to get in the play-offs. Forest lose 1-4, Swansea win 1-4 and Swansea are in by a single goal. As a Notts County fan this makes me laugh!

Man U only draw against West Ham - Chelsea are pumped 5-3 by Liverpool. A draw will be enough for United and Chelsea to be in the top 4. Leicester need a win to get there as they are playing United. Chelsea play Wolves - if Chelsea lose, Leicester finish 4th with a draw.