The Silver Fern

@Landers92 said in 2025 All Blacks v France series:

This has probably been said in the match thread which I haven’t yet read but I’d like to post it in here anyway without sounding like too much of a homer.

For Fabian Holland to go 80 minutes on test debut in the tight 5 is an incredibly rare feat and one that deserves a lot of credit.

The fact the coaches have that trust in him already says a lot. Was also the leading tackler for the All Blacks with 17 if I remember correctly. Massive effort from the big man.

Main thing is he did his core roles well and shows he didn’t look out of place. Super stoked for the guy. Also glad I don’t look silly after pumping him up since he arrived at Otago.

Huge future ahead in the black jersey, locking depth is starting to look like a strength.

Yup him and Lio-Willie had solid outings. Certainly the best out of the new brigade.

On the forwards.
Very nice to see a big man dominant in the middle of our lineout. They know it's going there, but they can't stop it.
Newell seems to do quite a bit of breakdown work.
Taylor very good - I'd still swap him with Samisoni and give the latter 40 minutes flat out for strong carries in traffic, then Taylor the rest of the game - a more accurate thrower and leader to close out tight games.
Vaai was okay at 6, worked hard as always. As someone said where's our PSDT/Wilson - that's not really going to be Vaai. Not sure a lock at 6 matches the desire to play fast and wide.
CLW pretty good - solid, no errors, nothing that says to me that he'll be world XV and the winning of games against the best teams though, and I'd have to question how many stop-gaps we need.
Savea, not bad but not the same standard as his super form?
Overall our set piece was good, and our rucks were generally pretty quick though we did give up several turnovers while hardly getting any ourselves - despite Savea and Kirifi both playing.

Ferner you'd most like to have $48 whiskeys with: @mariner4life .

Just to prove how subjective these polls/player ratings are the Stuff (Marc Hinton) and ODT (Hayden Meikle) player ratings couldn't be more different. Take Proctor, for example. Hinton gave him a 7, and Meikle a 5. I know which one is closer to reality.

@Canes4life the old one they used to do (c 2000 - 2010, player values fluctuated, you had like 3 trades a round I think (which wasnt ideal, especially with so many byes in current format, so what they could do is allow unlimited trades on players in bye week or listed as injured, subject to your salary obviously)

@bayimports said in Movie review thread...:

@Catogrande said in Movie review thread...:

@bayimports

Could not not try it. Baled after 20 minutes. Utter shit. I will never doubt you again.

I was drunk enough to get through all of it, such a shame after the original

I really liked the first but turned off within the first 10 mins of the sequel.

I think I just find it difficult to suspend disbelief when 140lb women are taking hits from full-grown mercs, shrugging them off and throwing them around like ragdolls. Even if they're immortals.

@MajorRage said in My Turn ... Running Down A Dream:

I was going to get pissy and say start your on thread, but every notification gives me a reason to re read this thread and bring back the good times.

I injured my ankle so had 6 month out. Back in now, Althoigh I’ve got an extremely tight hammy so currently just on the rower. Joys of being old.

Awesome work @African-Monkey. You should be very proud of yourself.

Yeah I do apologize as you did start the thread. I was going to start a while back, but saw you had the same interest and thought I'll come in and be a dick and blend in and join you.

I do hope you make a full recovery and hope you can make it back on the roads again. You were making some really good progress with your times.

Thanks to @Kirwan, @Duluth and anyone else who have kept the Fern the best place to be wrong about rugby online.

The rest of you free riders can all get stuffed.