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.

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

@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).

@barbarian if you think we can just move on from the mis-spelling joke then you are grossly underestimating the number of cringe-worthy Dads that post here.

@MiketheSnow Fall could have avoided the collision by checking his run. The current laws have actually outlawed "only having eyes on the ball". They've mandated that players must be more aware when chasing high balls. And that's what he was doing - chasing, whereas Beauden was fielding the kick. The duty of care is on the chaser.

They did that to stop players clattering into their opposition while staring at the sky and then claiming innocence.

I don't for a second believe Fall intentionally tried to injure Beauden. But as it stands Beauden landed on his head and was concussed.

And you can bet your ass next time Fall is chasing a high ball like that he will check his run and avoid the collision, which is exactly the behaviour WR is trying to encourage with this.

Well shit, that all went extremely pear shaped.

England did to us what we did to Ireland last week, only when we get that dominance up front we score a lot more points. They came out firing and put us on the back foot from the get go then never let up. Massive credit there, that was a huge performance. Have they played their final though?

For us, after the initial onslaught we did somewhat get ourselves back into the game, but just pushed too many 50/50 plays and kept coughing it up at crucial times.

Cane was huge for us last week to nullify the Irish pack in the first 40. He's always been someone that thrives in the tight exchanges early on, so benching him was a pretty baffling deicison TBH. SB was OK but Cane provides a point of difference.

I love me some Jordie but he was only meant to be a squaddie. BFA on the bench would have been smart, especially given how early it is in Mo'unga's career. I would have subbed Richie early in the 2nd 40 and put Beauden back to 10. Experience matters in knock out matches and we needed calm heads after going behind early.

I was also surprised we didn't try and play Rieko into some form given how much of a game breaker he is.

But all of that is really just details when the forwards get smacked around like that. The English pack was amazing and Itoje showed just how good he is on the biggest possible stage.

It's been 12 years since we got knocked out of a RWC. I wasn't super confident we could get up a 3rd time, though the Irish game did give me some hope, but at the end of the day England were too good on the night. If you think back to 2015 we struggled to get up for the semi final against an SA team that had just lost to Japan. This time around we hit a far superior side.

So all in all I blame Ireland for losing to Japan and putting us on the wrong side of the bloody draw.

People that try and recalculate the score based on a couple of decisions, as if the game would have played out exactly the same way if different decisions were made, are beyond retarded.

@Snowy said in Parenting:

@No-Quarter said in Parenting:

Yeah I'm pretty sure he's going to play along this year at least to ensure he gets the outrageous presents he's asking for...

So you are actually going to get your son a diamond for Christmas?

What happened to a rugby ball, or a matchbox car or even a bike (not the town bike)?

Haha not a chance, as I already explained it's not a toy.

One challenge we have is he sees toys on YouTube and wants them, but they're not available in NZ. He really wants the Cloverfield toy this year (from the Cloverfield movie) but it's damn near impossible to get and costs a small fortune. "But Santa can just make it" he says. Little shit knows exactly what he's doing.

@Catogrande said in Parenting:

@MN5 said in Parenting:

@R-L said in Parenting:

@No-Quarter I'm dreading the day we no longer have Santa. A couple of weeks ago we had some work done on our chimney, some sort of thing that goes on the top of the pots needed replacing and she was very interested in what was going on (because the only reason chimneys exist is for a certain someone). The guy that did it was brilliant he was telling her that he's checking the chimneys for Santa and will let him know she's being good.

Fuck Santa. He never existed in my house. I’m not having some fat prick take credit for presents I bought.

Yeah. He decides who's good or bad? Fat judgemental fluffybunny.

Probably a fair point, the poor kids already have one fat judgemental fluffybunny to deal with.

@MN5 said in Parenting:

@R-L said in Parenting:

@No-Quarter I'm dreading the day we no longer have Santa. A couple of weeks ago we had some work done on our chimney, some sort of thing that goes on the top of the pots needed replacing and she was very interested in what was going on (because the only reason chimneys exist is for a certain someone). The guy that did it was brilliant he was telling her that he's checking the chimneys for Santa and will let him know she's being good.

Fuck Santa. He never existed in my house. I’m not having some fat prick take credit for presents I bought.

It's OK, most of them do actually figure it out in the end and realise it was you that was paying for the presents and creating a bit of magic at Christmas.

@canefan said in Parenting:

@No-Quarter my eldest must know at 9. But he plays along just in case the prezzies dry up. I am sure classmates with older siblings give the game away first

Yeah I'm pretty sure he's going to play along this year at least to ensure he gets the outrageous presents he's asking for...

OK so I'm not sure if my 7 year old set me up or not, but he came up to me the other day and said "this Christmas I want a diamond from Santa".

Not completely out of the blue, he has a bit of interest in gems and rocks in general, and without thinking I replied "diamonds are expensive'. His response was "well Santa would make it not pay for it, unless it's just you buying it and Santa is fake!!!".

I wriggled my way out of it by saying a diamond isn't a toy so I don't think Santa's elves could make it, but I think it's clear the jig is up now.

So, how old are your kids and have they figured out Santa yet? If so, how?

I suspect a kid in his class is giving it away.

I don't see what the big deal is, and am surprised at the accusations of "attention seeking". There have been sportsmen around the world either taking or not taking a knee, depending on what they want to do. Are we really saying people not taking a knee are attention seeking, and those that do are not? That seems like a ridiculous assertion.

There was a black player in the NBA recently that didn't take a knee, and when asked about it talked about his religion as a reason for not doing so. I'm atheist but am not so intolerant to think that someone's religious or spiritual beliefs are extremely important and personal to them, so would not just discount them out of hand as a cop out.

@antipodean said in The Folau Factor:

@Siam

White guy attacks brown guy for not kneeling to show solidarity with... brown people. Outstanding.

@kiwiinmelb said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

@mariner4life said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

One point from my perspective.

Mounga and Jordan the most dangerous players on the park, looking like top level players.

While our starting all black wingers just look average.

And for all our talk of midfield depth, the guys most likely to start the first test aren't showing much.

Okay 2 points.

I would actually consider Jordan to play right wing

Agree, a back three of Rieko, Jordie and Jordan is looking our best bet at this stage (IMO)

@Duluth said in Black Lives Matter:

@JC

There’s a large list of attributes a business can select. Other similar ones include ‘women owned’ & ‘veteran-owned’

I’d prefer no racial ones but this isn’t a big change

I guess some of the worst atrocities committed in human history have been along the lines of race, so when people see race being hyped up as an important defining characteristic they are rightly concerned.

As you say this on its own isn't a huge deal, but in the context of what seems to be a renewed focus on racial differences - starting in the States and spreading to other western countries - people will naturally push back on it.

It does feel like we're going backwards at the moment, and a lot of well intentioned initiatives are having some pretty obvious unintended consequences that are doing more harm than good.

@Bones said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

@taniwharugby said in Chiefs v Crusaders:

@Bones when have I steered you wrong?

In this thread!

@No-Quarter yeah I posted up the law. Refs ruling it like forward pass when it's different.

Sorry I missed that. Yup amateur hour.

Crusaders too good in the end, but that kind of decision is similar to what drives people crazy when it happens to their team against the ABs. You just can't afford really basic mistakes like that going against you if you want to have a chance, especially when it directly leads to a try.