Awesome afternoon of rugby (day rugby is so much more enjoyable!!), and so good to finally get along to a test again.

With a 7 year old, 2 year old and a wife 30 weeks pregnant we were not keen on the idea of public transport so we drove to the ground at around 1PM so we could park close(ish). By 1.30 all parks within cooee were gone so we were glad we got there nice and early. Had a picnic, let the boys play for a bit, then made a leisurely stroll down the road to the game.

Wife was decked out in her Wallabies gear, standing out in a sea of black, bless her. A tough afternoon for her lads thankfully, and the 7 year old let her know ALL about it haha.

Atmosphere was great, especially when the ABs clicked into gear after 15 or so minutes. That was an improved performance as you would expect, albeit in far better conditions which helped some of our players thrive.

Best moments of the afternoon was when they brought up Eroni Clarke on the big screen a couple of times. The second time was right after Clarke's epic run that set up Ardie's try and he got such a massive cheer he had to acknowledge the crowd. He looked proud as punch.

Some random thoughts on the game, bearing in mind I haven't seen it on TV:

• I thought 20 points flattered us; but for some more clinical finishing from Aus it could have been a damn sight closer.
• Aus picked up where they left off last week and dominated the first 15. It was only individual brilliance from Beauden and then Clarke that kicked us into gear. It does feel like we are still too reliant on that to get into a game, better defensive sides won't allow that to happen so easily.
• On Clarke, fark me what a performance from the 21 year old. He looks made for test footy. It's highly likely Bridge would have got the nod again if not injured, and without Clarke the ABs would have once again lacked the firepower needed to break open the test. The selections are going to be an ongoing concern with Foster at the helm.
• RM is electric in broken play, which is why I like him on the bench coming on against tired legs. In a tight test he doesn't lead the team around the park, and as we found out last week if the conditions are difficult he can be found wanting big time. That said, Beauden is not exactly well suited to the role either, but he has a damn sight more experience trying. Fact of the matter is we don't have a 10 that can really take control of a game when the opposition defense has come to play like we did with DC.
• Beauden was simply superb in the first half, which helped take some pressure off RM who grew into the game and had some fantastic touches to set us away.
• Frizzel is a very solid player but he doesn't seem to possess the power Akira does. I really hope they give Akira a good crack as he has the potential (only that right now) to be our next Kaino.
• Coles made a real difference and is back to his best (which is better than Taylor's ceiling). Great to see after his serious injury concerns a year or so back.
• ALB is a fantastic all round player and solidifies our midfield big time. He needs to be 12 with JG 13. I can only assume they have JG closer in to help defend the channel as RM is a bit of a liability there.

Overall a really enjoyable game in the sun with both teams willing to play attacking footy. Still a lot of question marks over this AB side, and I can see some very squeaky bum times ahead in Sydney and Brissie, but nice to keep the Eden Park fortress in tact with a comfortable win in the end.

The fact that they’ve picked a team that so many on the Fern wanted makes me nervous. As a collective we have a strong proven record of not having a fucking clue what we are talking about.

I missed the game as my wife decided to go into labor - as a Wallabies supporter I guess from her perspective childbirth is less painful than watching them play the ABs so fair enough.

Have caught the highlights - geez we scored some great tries eh? Squire's was a thing of beauty, the angle he ran and the perfectly timed ball from BBBR. Orgasmic. Also loved how Moody lined up a couple of backs on their goalline and just smashed the fuck through them.

Great to see us put Beauden into some space as well, he's a very different player to Carter but fuck we can tear teams apart if we use him like we did last night.

Well, it must have been an incredibly tough week for the players. All things considered that's a really good effort, never looked like losing. Proud of that effort.

@Stargazer said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

Have you guys considered the possibility that the fact that you don't understand why the MoH has advised an extension of 4 days, may have more to do with poor reporting by the media and not so much with there not being good reasons? Or with the fact that only the main point of the MoH advice is communicated but not the details underlying it?

If they need a few more days of contact tracing to get a reasonable level of certainty that they've found all the contacts related to this cluster that they need to find and that no infections related to this cluster will pop up at unexpected places, then there's likely an operational need for that. What's so hard to understand about that?

LOL this made me laugh, talk about defending Jacinda to the hilt. What does the media have to do with this? She had a press conference all to herself, which could go for as long as she wanted, to lay out the reasons for extending the lockdown. Instead she made some vague comments about getting better prepared. All while businesses die. And I'm not talking about big business here; Amazon, Facebook, Foodstuffs etc etc are all absolutely killing it during Covid. Bezos is worth a gazillion dollars now. I'm talking about small and medium businesses, the ones everyday NZers have absolutely slogged their guts out to build from the ground up, watching them go up in flames as politicians with no skin in the game extend lockdowns and tell them they can't open for business due to a virus that has a 99% survival rate.

It's nonsense and people have had enough. The cure is worse than the virus, by some stretch now, and a lot of people are in for a world of hurt over the next two years if we keep locking down every time we get a sniff of the thing.

This is the most nervous/excited I've been for a game in around 6 days.

@Crucial said in Coronavirus - New Zealand:

On the flip side to govt errors, I'm not listening to one whinge about lockdown levels unless those making it can confirm that they are also being sensible.
I can't believe the number of people that are walking past requests to sanitise in shops, not using the QR codes, standing in close groups chatting, grouping in aisles of shops to talk, stopping in doorways etc etc.
They will all moan and blame others for failures but can't do the basics themselves FFS.

Fuck we have a bad blame culture in this country.

Sorry Crucial, but get the fuck out of here with that shit. We complied with the most draconian lockdown in the world and completely gave up our rights for ~6 weeks while businesses died and peoples mental health deteriorated. I heard Bloomfield speak recently and he said he was surprised by how compliant the population was (in a good way).

We then didn't only flatten the curve, we smashed the fucking thing. We then heard our government heaping praise on themselves saying we were the envy of the world.

While this was happening there was countless "compassionate" exemptions being granted, including two women WITH Covid that somehow managed to drive the length of the North Island without stopping. Which is of course completely ridiculous, but apparently the government thought we were stupid enough to believe that. We now find out that most staff at the border aren't even being tested? WTF?

People are pissed because it's been obvious for a while that it's been nothing but blind luck stopping another outbreak. I said earlier in the thread that it was inevitable we would get another outbreak, not because the virus simply cannot be contained, but because there was no way we were going to contain it with the incompetence of this current government who were too busy reading their own press to actually plug the many holes at our border.

"Go hard and go early" is the mantra of the government, all while our border leaks like a sieve. It beggars belief.

If Adern is warning against "border perfection" - I.E. expect there to be issues at the border and breaches - then why in the ever living fuck are we striving for complete elimination? That means we have to keep locking down every time it gets in. Which is just such a fucking absurd idea I don't even know where to begin. We are facing economic ruin at the hands of an idiotic government.

@Kirwan @Duluth

You were asking for feedback from anyone that thinks this is a bad idea. I think it's a great idea, but, the only thing I'd say is that given people are paying I hope you don't feel more responsibility/pressure to keep delivering new features etc. Obviously the improvements you've been making are awesome, but also appreciate that you both have lives so I wouldn't want this to encroach on your personal lives too much.

I think I speak for everyone when I say we are pitching in to keep the site running, and away from the prying eyes of our overlords Google, so we don't expect you to suddenly increase your workload now that members are putting in a couple of dollars.

Really appreciate the effort you guys have put in to give us all a place to rant about our favourite sports (as well as other things).

@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

While we're on the topic of ludicrous....can we stop appointing Clarke as the next superstar midfielder? He's had one and a bit tests on the wing.

An Ardie-Clarke midfield would be barnstorming.

@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

Oh yeah my one big bugbear from this game - our kick chase is awful. 99% of the time there is absolutely zero pressure on receivers, not even close. I guess it worked ok in this game but it's frustrating to watch the opposition given a free pass.

100%. There was one kick we put up into the sun and then hardly chased. The Aus player completely lost it and it bounced back in field. A decent chase would have had them in some strife there!

@pakman said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter Agree with pretty much all of this, but TBF if RM hadn't made game's pivotal tackle things could have been quite different.

Was it ALB that dived in to stop Koribete grounding the ball after he landed on RM? Fair play though RM tried to put the required hit in and it did enough to stop the try. I don't think his defensive issues are through lack of trying, it's something that I'm sure will improve with time as it did for BB who struggled there early on as well

@Derpus said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@Rapido Toomua going off was the real turning point i reckon. Defensive lynch pin and no 2nd 5 on the bench.

Tupou too, to a lesser extent.

But also the strategy across the park from the start was wrong - we had no chance.

Toomua was a huge loss and contributed to some of the more erratic play from the Wallaby backs. They needed cool heads out there today.

Awesome afternoon of rugby (day rugby is so much more enjoyable!!), and so good to finally get along to a test again.

With a 7 year old, 2 year old and a wife 30 weeks pregnant we were not keen on the idea of public transport so we drove to the ground at around 1PM so we could park close(ish). By 1.30 all parks within cooee were gone so we were glad we got there nice and early. Had a picnic, let the boys play for a bit, then made a leisurely stroll down the road to the game.

Wife was decked out in her Wallabies gear, standing out in a sea of black, bless her. A tough afternoon for her lads thankfully, and the 7 year old let her know ALL about it haha.

Atmosphere was great, especially when the ABs clicked into gear after 15 or so minutes. That was an improved performance as you would expect, albeit in far better conditions which helped some of our players thrive.

Best moments of the afternoon was when they brought up Eroni Clarke on the big screen a couple of times. The second time was right after Clarke's epic run that set up Ardie's try and he got such a massive cheer he had to acknowledge the crowd. He looked proud as punch.

Some random thoughts on the game, bearing in mind I haven't seen it on TV:

• I thought 20 points flattered us; but for some more clinical finishing from Aus it could have been a damn sight closer.
• Aus picked up where they left off last week and dominated the first 15. It was only individual brilliance from Beauden and then Clarke that kicked us into gear. It does feel like we are still too reliant on that to get into a game, better defensive sides won't allow that to happen so easily.
• On Clarke, fark me what a performance from the 21 year old. He looks made for test footy. It's highly likely Bridge would have got the nod again if not injured, and without Clarke the ABs would have once again lacked the firepower needed to break open the test. The selections are going to be an ongoing concern with Foster at the helm.
• RM is electric in broken play, which is why I like him on the bench coming on against tired legs. In a tight test he doesn't lead the team around the park, and as we found out last week if the conditions are difficult he can be found wanting big time. That said, Beauden is not exactly well suited to the role either, but he has a damn sight more experience trying. Fact of the matter is we don't have a 10 that can really take control of a game when the opposition defense has come to play like we did with DC.
• Beauden was simply superb in the first half, which helped take some pressure off RM who grew into the game and had some fantastic touches to set us away.
• Frizzel is a very solid player but he doesn't seem to possess the power Akira does. I really hope they give Akira a good crack as he has the potential (only that right now) to be our next Kaino.
• Coles made a real difference and is back to his best (which is better than Taylor's ceiling). Great to see after his serious injury concerns a year or so back.
• ALB is a fantastic all round player and solidifies our midfield big time. He needs to be 12 with JG 13. I can only assume they have JG closer in to help defend the channel as RM is a bit of a liability there.

Overall a really enjoyable game in the sun with both teams willing to play attacking footy. Still a lot of question marks over this AB side, and I can see some very squeaky bum times ahead in Sydney and Brissie, but nice to keep the Eden Park fortress in tact with a comfortable win in the end.

@Nepia said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

Fosters main body of work as a head coach is traumatising the fuck out of Chiefs fans for years. You may as well chuck the role to fucking Hammer next based on that.

FFS, that's like saying Candyman 3 times, If he ever becomes AB coach I'm going to blame you and extract vengeance.

Oh how we laughed about Foster back in the day

Fosters main body of work as a head coach is traumatising the fuck out of Chiefs fans for years. You may as well chuck the role to fucking Hammer next based on that.

@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter so assistant managers with no full Manager job experience never get promoted either then?

Not to the top of the most successful organisations in the world they fucking don't. They practice running the cutter elsewhere first, and PROVE they are up to the job, before they are even considered for the role.

So no to Rennie then?

Did you miss his work with the Chiefs?

I missed them playing test rugby!

I have no qualms promoting coaches that have come up through the ranks in NZ and had success at Super level. Not a huge fan of making them go overseas and coach other top tier countries before being considered.

Success at Super level being the important part there.

@Bones said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter so assistant managers with no full Manager job experience never get promoted either then?

Not to the top of the most successful organisations in the world they fucking don't. They practice running the cutter elsewhere first, and PROVE they are up to the job, before they are even considered for the role.

So no to Rennie then?

Did you miss his work with the Chiefs?

@taniwharugby said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

@No-Quarter so assistant managers with no full Manager job experience never get promoted either then?

Not to the top of the most successful organisations in the world they fucking don't. They practice running the cutter elsewhere first, and PROVE they are up to the job, before they are even considered for the role.