@Machpants said in World Rugby chairman election:

Ugh nothing like a bit of corruption and nepotism to really help stink the place up

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/121047624/convicted-fijian-killer-nominated-for-key-world-rugby-role--with-french-backing

is there any role Cliff Curtis can't play?

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Scott Barrett (39)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Ardie Savea (48)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

Jordie Barrett (22)

fuck off

@gt12 said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

TJ Perenara (68)

fuck off

Welcome back Bart

Try this little known website called grindr. I reckon lions fans will be all over it

As New Zealand and Australia get set to do battle on the sporting field once again, this time in the Bledisloe Cup, the one-time pinnacle of International Rugby, i think it is only fair that we, as kiwi fans, take a moment to spare a thought for our Australasian cousins. The realists among them are starting to come to terms with the reality that their star has faded, and they are no longer the sporting superpower they once were.

Around the turn of the century, Australia could lay claim to being the best all-round sporting nation on the planet. Not a huge population, they still managed to excel in a number of discipines:

• Tennis: Their two best players in Hewitt and Rafter spent time at #1, and won multiple Grand Slams. The Woodies, particularly Woodbridge, could lay claim to being the best doubles players ever. It was a golden time

• Cricket: Undisputed kings of all forms, unbeatable at home, nigh unbeatable away, with a host of all-time greats; and in the discussion as the greatest cricket side of all time

• The Olympics: Sydney was a triumph of an event, with the home nation taking home 58 medals, including 16 gold. THis flowed in to 2004, where they took their tallies even higher, across a huge number of sports

• Motor Cycling: Mick Doohan was coming off 5 straight MotoGP championships, while Troys Corser and Bayliss were winning Superbike titles repeatedly

• The Socceroos were assembling their greatest ever side that would eventually get out of the Group Stage of the World Cup, including such luminaries as Cahill, Kewell, Schwarzer, Viduka, Aloisi, Bresciano

• And of course rugby. 3 super sides were always at the pointy end. The Reds topped the table in '99, The Brumbies were tussling with the Crusaders for the claim to be the best team in the comp. And this flowed to the Wallabies. '99 World Cup. 01 Lions. Multiple wins over the All Blacks, legit claim to be the best team in the world.

And this isn't an exhaustive list, their league team was more dominant, it seemed no matter what they played, they won. A true golden age.

Compare and contrast with today

• In tennis, their two best players are a couple of douchebags universally reviled by their own fans, who can't even be fucked playing at Wimbledon

• The cricket side has slipped to 4th in the world records, and closer to little old NZ than the top of the table. Series losses home and away are now the norm, rather than a cause for shock. Players were on strike a week ago because they couldn't afford to buy a 2nd Italian sports car

• In the Olympics, Australia's plummet down the medal table has been stark. Medal totals have halved, and again, they are closer to little old NZ than the top of the table.

• Do they still ride Motor Bikes? Daniel Riccardo seems like a bit of a dude in F1, but hardly in a position to actually win anything.

• The Socceroos are in a fight to qualify for the next World Cup, despite playing a bunch of impoverished nations.

• And of course the rugby. Super teams winless against NZ opposition. One team fighting their death in Court. The Wallabies are unable to bank a win at home against Scotland any more. Grass roots on it's knees. A bad Bledisloe series, and the public could switch off, for good this time.

So, dear All Black fans, while you are having your pints this weekend, celebrating the return of test match rugby, and the opening of the once-revered South Hemisphere competition, take a second and commiserate with our trans-Tasman cousins. They are going through a tough time of it, it's never easy getting used to a new reality.

I am fucked if i would sit in a Ryan Crotty stand. The fucking thing would break just before half time.

@taniwharugby said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

Getting alot of work done though!

you're among friends here mate. No need for the bullshit

Sorry nick and barb, this isn't really aimed at you, you guys haven't gone full whinge (just sort of half)

But fuck this whinging, bleating and crying from the Australian rugby fraternity this year. They should be embarrassed.

My guess is it's born of frustration. This year was not supposed to go like this. The established narrative after the world cup was of a team on the rise. The all blacks were supposed to be going the other way.

Instead its been a horror year. Their super rugby teams were bent over and railed. They got whitewashed by the poms. They list in South Africa, and tried their hardest to lose the game in aus as well. We have given them a nearly unprecedented 3 game mauling. And along the way they've played some mind-numbingly poor rugby, compounded by some strange selecting.

And what have we heard from the rugby community in aus? Not even excuses, just bleating. This weekend had been the worst, fuck me "we didn't get awarded a tryyyyy. Waaaah" in a game you got gaped by 27, and with even an average international kicking performance it's more like 33.

Your media has lost the plot, your coach can't find answers, and all the focus is external. What happens if you win 2 from 5 on tour? Who are you going to blame then?

We did this to ourselves. And by us, i mean you, because AB fans don't lose. Endless, and i mean, endless social media; sports forum; phone in; fucking smoke signal whinge fests after every single game looking to absolve everything and everyone for any loss, because the ref fucked us.

We are not shit at rugby, we were fucked by the ref. How could the ref miss that minuscule knock on that we only found in super-slow-mo? Isn't he professional? It's a fucking conspiracy against my team/in favour of that team.

Rugby fans are obsessed by referees. Look at any match thread. Who is the ref? Oh shit, really? he hates us. He loves them. He hates breakdowns. He won't let us scrum. He once missed a knock on against my team 8 years ago that i have decided cost us the game. Fuck that guy. He's a cheat. French refs are shit. Aussie refs are shit. Bok refs are shit. English/Irish/Welsh refs are too slow to keep up with the game.

So world rugby listened, and gave you this clusterfuck. Where we have guys who aren't good enough to be refs watching TV and whispering shit in the refs ear "you missed a very marginal thing back there, we better check it. if we don't we will get accused of cheating" so back we go. And then we better find a penalty, or this will look like a farce.

Add in endless replays on big screens to get howls of outrage from pissed up idiots in the stands, and it gets infinitely worse.

We bought this on ourselves. And this toothpaste isn't going back in the tube. The day we got rid of it, someone is going to knock on before scoring against Ireland, no one is going to see it until after it's awarded, and the internet is going to explode. World Rugby will never allow that to happen.

that is depressingly hilarious

so, injury aside, basically last week is all Reiko's fault? Everything else was apples? Fuck me dead

What the fuck is that midfield?????? If it is all about supporting Mo'unga on defense to the detriment of the play at 12 then that is damning

Is that the worst AB forward pack in recent memory? Savea still at 8??? fuuuuucking hell. Patty T has his training wheels on at test level, and the dude next to him has a handful of minutes under his belt. The guy off the bench is limited, and hasn't played in months. These guys need to go up like 5 gears.

What the fuck is DMac doing there?

BB at fullback and no Bridge makes the backline marginally better than last week, but with the muddled midfield it's close...

@taniwharugby said in Has Hansen gone stale?:

so, if we do retain the RWC, are we happy with this loss to get it?

Do we want our unblemished record v Ireland back or a 3-peat? Think I'd take the former TBH...not sure us winning 3 RWC's in a row does the game or tournament any favours.

i want to win everything, all the time, while at the same developing an entire squad of test quality players, and new innovative rugby

Is that too much to ask?

Curry with another 49 as the Warriors beat the Sixers

The play-ins for the West should be good fun

@bayimports said in NRL 2021:

@mariner4life said in NRL 2021:

The Cowboys obviously like sucking if the reports are true and they are going to offer Chad Townsend $2M over 3 years.

Do you think it could just be an attempt to put pressure on Reynolds to sign?, or perhaps Reynolds has said no unofficially? Clearly they are after somone to game manage as opposed to be chief creator.

i hope it's something like that. i really do.

The Cowboys obviously like sucking if the reports are true and they are going to offer Chad Townsend $2M over 3 years.

@kirwan i think i have watched that video 3 times today

@machpants the books are hugely overrated after the first couple. I could not care less if he never finishes the story.

@kiwipie said in EPL 2020/2021:

I think the main reason the ESL will fail at this point is that they have pretty much just made it up on the spot without really working out the details.

see, that can't be right. there is no way they have done this without having plans in place. these guys aren't that dumb

but they might be that arrogant i guess.

@dogmeat said in Climate Change:

@snowy What surprises me; given that every 16 year old ever has always been the font of all wisdom, is why she was given the oxygen that she was?

Don't want to shoot the messenger (no really) but why did she become such a thing? Says everything about modern society that a smug, self satisfied, clearly manipulated nobody with nothing but a well oiled media campaign was able to berate the world and gain so much traction.

It genuinely bemuses me.

how dare you!

@dogmeat said in EPL 2020/2021:

@mariner4life In typical Fern fashion, I agree but I don't agree.

I think fans hate the friendlies and don't get excited by qualifying tournaments because England have consistently achieved at that level for a couple of decades. But when the actual tournaments come round. ING-GA-LUND!!!

Even if they're shite. What I enjoy about football is the tribalism of its supporters. When a big international tournament comes around that gets replaced by nationalism. For most of the players too.

romantic. Bit in the age of 350-odd thousand quid a week, not sure it still holds water. But then i can't prove it so i'll leave it.

i am actually really interested in how this plays out now. who blinks? have these clubs burned to many bridges? or are UEAFA and the FAs too tied to the broadcast money they provide?

@shark said in Pasifika SR team:

NZ Rugby should get a team in the Gallaher Premiership. Take all the financial advantages of being based in London with a partisan ex pat audience and pinch all their players from other GP teams who've previously invested heavily in getting NZ players there. Ring any bells?

wasn't this floated at some point? Or was it just a chat around here?

@dogmeat said in EPL 2020/2021:

Sure the American owners have a hard on for the NBA model but the NBA is the pinnacle of that sport. For football that is still the international game. Is Kane really going to abandon England and the World Cup for a few more million he doesn't really need?

I'm not sure that's true. There is still the romantic side of representing your country, but i get the impression for the fans and the vast majority of players, Club comes first.