For the record: I'm supporting you guys.

just threw up in my mouth a little

Wow. Just when you thought everyone had the complacency knocked out of them, Ireland Schmidt the bed.

@Frank said in RWC: Japan v Ireland (Pool A):

Schmidt is on to "Hometown."

Ireland are usually the most disciplined team on the pitch but they came out on the wrong end of a 9-6 penalty count, with Schmidt hinting at some frustrations at referee Angus Gardner – who the Ireland head coach had curiously decided to criticise as recently as Thursday.

“We’ll go back and have a look at it,” said Schmidt. “I certainly understand the frustrations of some of the players and in discussing things with them based on what I saw on the monitor, it’s not too dissimilar from the last time we had this referee.

https://www.the42.ie/ireland-world-cup-japan-schmidt-4828766-Sep2019/

"Our brand of cynical bullshit finally got called on us. It happened with this referee last time but we were too stupid/arrogant/complacent to understand and rectify this either in our preparation, or during the game"

I've played suburban rugby in Sydney.

Every fucking Kiwi I played with or against was an All Blacks trialist.

Just ask them.

@geebee said in RWC Final: England v Springboks:

@NTA nah its true,and remind me where you are from and why you are here please?

Australian. Long time contributor here, and I've had my share of disagreements with these kiwi bastards but I'm not about to spout fuckwit statements like "not world champs to me".

Wind your neck in, you've got school tomorrow

@dogmeat said in 2018 Football World Cup:

So how bad must Saudi be?

Some post-match thoughts based off some halftime thoughts I put elsewhere:

Losing Sinckler early did hurt the Poms in the close channels. Not the scrum tho, oh no. In any case, a situation like this is both a strength and weakness of an EJ game plan: he finds the right guys for the roles from the available talent, builds that game plan, and then it suddenly can't be adjusted on the fly.

Pommy handling looked ordinary early on, because they weren't settling into the game - like the ABs last week. Needed some phases, a bit of structure, set a few rucks to get the rhythm of the defence but also their own attack.

I can't remember the commentators calling Tuilagi, Daly, Watson, or May once in the first half. This is a result of their forwards not keeping the ball, and being in the right areas to do it.

On the scrum: I am still not sure why Itoje starts at TH lock in that team. Lawes is slightly bigger and should have been working on a spot as starting behind Sinckler for some time now, because that is where the English scrum fell apart.

The English scrum builds its reputation on big grunt and cohesion, not necessarily tactical nous. Having a dirty great pair of donkeys in the second row helps any prop, but Cole and Marler have seen the wrong side of refs in the recent past for not packing straight, even against those packs perceived as weaker (e.g. Wallabies). Last night he got a poor effort from Itoje in the second row, and you could see this either side of halftime when the Boks had the feed:

i) Before the break, Itoje at TH lock and the scrum bends behind Cole
ii) After the break, Itoje at LH lock (Kruis came on at the half for Lawes) and Vunipola got folded

The interesting bit for me - and the lesson for EJ and Mitchell - was the next 2 scrums where the Boks (despite replacing both props around 44 minutes) got ascendancy again on their own ball BUT Marler came on and on England ball, they set much better then chose their moment to drive.

Overall, I thought Itoje had a poor game BUT this is what happens when you're not getting an armchair ride from the rest of your forward pack. I think he should really be blindside flanker for England where his speed and size are better suited.

And yes I know I've just spent a fair few bytes talking Itoje, but really nothing compared to the boner that English Rugby have for him.

After that couple of scrums, things settled back down to where the Saffers had the upper hand. This happens sometimes when you've just finished belting one prop and they bring a new one on - Koch didn't adjust for Marler or the improved drive of Kruis off England ball. Its important to note that since they change the hooking law back to the old-school method, winning your ball seems harder for a lot of sides, but once it is under the second row, the battle is all about timing of the shove, and England did it poorly without the ball and occasionally well, with.

There was that period midway through the first period where England strung together multiple phases and started to look good BUT, like England teams of yore, they got into a muddle once the missing part (Sinckler) didn't give them the go-forward they needed.

Changing gears: the contrast of performance for Pollard between the Wales and England games caught my eye. Very passive against Wales - wasn't even chasing his own kicks because they had a winger to put everyone onside. Last night he was much more active in chasing kicks, attacking the line, and getting involved around the ruck including some good tackling. Was he in cotton wool against the Welsh, then told to go for broke? Dunno but I think it was a little surprising to the England backs to have Pollard - who is a solid unit - suddenly in their faces. Looked like one of the tweaks Rassie made to "win" a final rather than "not lose" a semifinal.

English back three a bit lacking under the high ball. Lot of cheap turnover right there and must say they're much better on attack, which didn't fire last night.

Last thing for now: Cheslin. Fucking. Kolbe. Yeah sure the try was amazing but even better was the way he knocked Courtney Lawes over - difference of 30cm and 35kg, mind - every time the Poms ran the big unit at him. It happened about 4-5 times by my count, and was a clear tactic for the blindside to try and isolate him. Only one time did the little bloke not complete the tackle, but still cleaned him up for someone else to attack the ball.

@Snowy said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@Bones said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@canefan said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@Machpants All that and brains too!!

She's an absolute dumpster fire on twitter.

Should we care?

I don't really want to talk to her.

"Yes determine the dinner split using the Law of Quadratic Reciprocity if you want. Very impressive. I've got a hotel room waiting so chop chop"

@Paekakboyz said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@NTA you've perfected that look haven't you

Yep, but with less hair.

@nzzp said in NZ Politics:

Ex politician, no power, so an easy target to hit. If people did that with actual people in power it'd be a differnet story...

Sounds like he was pretty easy target regardless. Did he ever volunteer to go on while he was a sitting MP?

@canefan said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@Bones just looked. Sorry NTA its not in a tits out kind of way

@Mokey said in NZ Politics:

Honestly, I don't know why he wanted to go on TV after election night. Barry and Campbell etc were shitty to Nikki Kaye all evening and she didn't do anything wrong. How exactly did JLR think it was going to go down with his track record and an acerbic interviewer?

He looks a bit dim, and an attention whore, so maybe its that?

I thought the interview was great. I wish a few of our journos would call out politicians on their bullshit here face to face - all we get is sycophantic mewling or Murdoch triumphalism about very average re-announced policies.

I bemoaned our journos being toothless on twitter once and a couple of them said "we're just there to report the facts" which is fucking bullshit - they're meant to turn up, report, investigate, and then call people on their bullshit.

@canefan said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@Bones said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@canefan said in Hawt discussion (lots of PG13 gifs/pics):

@Machpants All that and brains too!!

She's an absolute dumpster fire on twitter.

In what way?

Please be in a tits-out-crazy-kinda-way

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

OOoooooooo I don't really want to ask this as I'm reasonably ignorant with front row goods and bads but are we over-egging the pudding saying how well our props went given the oppositions historic rubbishness at being a front row strength?

No.

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

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

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

That would be you if other teams aimlessly kicked to yours.

Actually the ABs did a couple of times, but we don't have Caleb Clarke.

Teach Koroibete to catch

That was actually taken care of - had a shocker.

@Steven-Harris said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

Can you imagine Caleb Clark and Salesi Rayasi on the wings for the All Blacks ..?, that would be a handful for any defence , with Wil Jordon or BB at the back, that would terrorise most backlines in the world ..in my opinion Rayasi has been superb in the Mitre 10 cup.

I've not seen much of either, but how are their kicking boots? Just wondering about territorial game as not everything is about running it back.

@mariner4life said in Bledisloe Two: Auckland, October 18:

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

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

That would be you if other teams aimlessly kicked to yours.

Actually the ABs did a couple of times, but we don't have Caleb Clarke.

my guess was, some of those infield box kicks were deliberate so that the ball was away from those 2 blockers teh Wallabies have used to effectively to break up the kick chase.

that might be wishful thinking though.

I think more just backing the AB line defence to do the job - which it didn't a few times, and the scramble defence to clean up the rest - which it did more often than not.