@yeetyaah said in Manawatū v Wellington:

NMS almost doing a Clarke by crushing Love there

Just watched it again and nah that was a tackle, just unlucky for Love.

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@steven-harris said in Northland v Otago:

@kiwiwomble fair play to your boys , rewarded for some very impressive defence.., not entirely sure what to make of your team , on paper it looks a very strong team with plenty of Super Rugby experience and an All Black first five to direct them around.

Yeah, what I find most annoying is we had several players that I thought played well, arscott, ioane, koroi, lentjes and Gilbert all played well….just rarely at the same time or not in the same way

Northland applied a lot of pressure, I think one or two better passes or options and yeah, they could have put 40 on us in those middle 65 minutes

@bovidae agreed on those things. Naholo missed tackle badly for Waaka try. Thought game was won then for Waikato but some bad decisions by F Smith and the loss of Roe's cool tactical head cost them. Mcwhannell was great but whole tight five were very effective.

@arhs 18 players from the toa. I think awesome give some chance . Lots of injuries too. Will be there

Just saw this photo on Facebook. Hugh Renton getting a bit of banter from his former team mates haha.

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There is also a premium article on Rugbypass, pointing out similar errors. In addition, the lack of growth in attacking plays, with the same plays that were used Vs Fiji& Oz, also used Vs boks. Not only that, they've been around since the Hansen era

The try mentioned is the Savea one, which was just saying beaudy brilliance, and not a set play

The try highlighted the possibilities for the All Blacks had they schemed deliberately for what they were facing, instead of rolling out Foster’s same old menu and trying to take on the Springboks in areas of strength like the maul.

Based on their two games against the Springboks, Rennie and his staff looked far superior to the All Blacks brains trust when it came to game planning for the world champions.

They tailored their game to the opposition to attack the weaknesses, whereas the All Blacks naively went brazenly forward trying to attack South Africa’s strengths and it backfired.

This should be a key lesson for Foster’s All Blacks moving forward. In the organised parts of the game, they cannot change the pieces performing the roles, run the same plays against everyone and expect them to work.

There needs to be some flexibility there and more thought into the process.

The fact that they were running the same starter play with McKenzie on the left wing showed a certain level of naivety that, to no surprise, blew up.

In tight test matches where counter-attacking opportunities dry up, the All Blacks will need to have a clinical set-piece attacking plan which, at times, needs to be adjusted for the opposition.

They might have the most attacking talent in the world, but they still need decent plans to be devised to help them get the match-ups and space they need to let their skills shine.

You cannot roll up and play the same against Fiji as you do against the Springboks and expect to win handsomely.

It could work, or it could just as easily blow up like it did twice in the Rugby Championship..

@nta said in Wallabies v Pumas II:

Good press conference from Rennie.

"In my day it was a sprained ankle. Now it's syndesmosis which is apparently worse..."

Not sure that you need us to send you Moses, you've been playing quite well the last few games.

@frank said in Otago v Taranaki:

How did future All Black Josh Lord go?

I don't think Lord was used as a lineout target at all in the 1st half as Hoeata and Sowakula were the main options. It was only once Hoeata went off injured that Taranaki changed their lineout calls.

@arhs said in -URUGUAY v USA Live on You tube now -:

And Chile beat Canada too. 2 unexpected results in RWC qualifying

Any more eye gouging?

@act-crusader I agree though Canterbury got away with continually holding on to players after cleaning them out at the ruck so wasn’t all Wellington’s way.

@stargazer said in BOP v Wellington:

@dice Kirifi called himself a speed bump in one of his posts on instagram.

probably thinking about organising parties instead of playing rugby.

@dagrubster said in Wales v All Blacks 30th Oct NH Tour:

I think Ireland will be extremely difficult.

Almost always. I just think that it's post-Schmidt and AB's will have enough to unlock Ireland in a tight game, after playing a B-ish side vs Italy.

It's the one week turnaround to France in Paris that worries me. I reckon they'll drop one of these two games.

I'd rather they target France tbh to get a psychological edge before the RWC but it's a tough finish to the year. Could only be tougher if England replaced Ireland or Wales on the itinerary.

@taniwharugby said in Northland v Waikato:

@dice the origin of the Turtle...iirc Rangers was in response to the move Digby Ioane was busting out at the time

Geez, I missed your post.

@kruse said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

@rancid-schnitzel said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

@antipodean said in All Blacks vs Springboks I:

One thing TSF is terribly good at is straw man arguments.

It's entirely fine and proper to point out a player isn't up to Test rugby at that stage of their development. That doesn't rule out maturity and improvement. It certainly doesn't rule out criticism.

Again that's not the argument. It's when a player is ripped to shreds as being shit, not up to it etc. And again let's stop pretending nuance is a thing here.

Nuance is a thing everywhere. If only you can recognise/understand it.
And it's "balderdash".
Boulder Dash was a sweet little computer game.

Stick to reviewing shitty Movies. It's a much better use of your time.

It's a feeling I haven't had in a while as a Wallaby fan: to be happy with a comfortable win, but feeling we played a bit below our best. We left at least three tries on the park. JOC bombed one, Nic White didn't realise the law around grounding on the post pad had changed (unforgiveable), and a few times we lost our cool with numbers out wide.

But our general play around the park was as good as it's been in a long time. Defended well, secured our own ruck ball, created space and then exploited it with simple catch-and-pass. Our 10-12-13 is the best it's looked since the Foley-Giteau-AAC axis at the 2015 World Cup.

Sets up our NH tour really nicely. Not sure how undermanned we will be but that England game looks very enticing.

@yeetyaah I don't think you can describe Hames as a commentator of Tasman games, more a cheerleader

One of the intriguing things about this season is highlighted by Daryl Gibson's own words:

"He's really lifted training, obviously having the All Black captain in our team is a real lift for our players. Certainly to see him train at the intensity he trains at for our younger players and even our senior pros, to know that's the level you've got to be at if you want to be at the very best." (Source: Rugby: All Blacks skipper Sam Cane charts return to rugby after long layoff )

While you'd expect the All Blacks captain to lift standards at training, the couple of pre-lockdown training sessions I stumbled across looked relatively chilled. To be fair, not every session can be run at 100%, but so far it's not looking good on the park against better prepared teams.

The coaching team can genuinely point to injuries. I suppose it's hard to know how much preparation comes into some injuries, or not.

@higgins Sorry, I couldn't find it either. He was named in the Wellington XV squad in 2003, and the Wellington Lions in 2003 and 2004.

Edit: I found this article:

Centre Willie Lafaele stole Christian Cullen's thunder as a Wellington XV beat Hawkes Bay 38-11 in a representative rugby match on a soggy Maidstone Park in Upper Hutt yesterday.

All Blacks selector Mark Shaw and most of the 1000-plus crowd had come to see All Blacks discard Cullen make New Zealand coach John Mitchell eat humble pie, but left none the wiser after the fullback produced an unconvincing display.

It wasn't that Cullen played badly. He scored a good individual try, sparked several counter-attacks, including engineering a 60-metre effort to wing Sireli Bobo.

But he kicked aimlessly at times and generally appeared to lack the urgency of a player who should be on the brink of World Cup selection.

In contrast, former NZ Colt Lafaele was a ball of energy, outstanding in all aspects of the game.

Looking at the finalc score, it wasn't a close game.

@tim Jared had a good game around the paddock , but was shaded by Ross Wright at scrumtime

@machpants said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

@nta said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

@smuts said in Wallabies v Springboks II:

Congrats Aussies. First time in forever that I’ve not even watched the highlights. Hope it feels great.

Cheers. Not a great couple of games by your okes but hopefully they'll take it out on the ABs 😉

I don't know much about your coach, but a quick wiki search shows he's Rassie's man, and TBH it smacks a little of nepotism. Hopefully there is a bit of a shakeup and the Boks find their groove. And some fitness training!

One thing on which I agree with Keo: trying to play like someone else is just going to hurt the Boks. Use their strengths by all means, but they've not yet made sure they can execute that to the level required against faster teams.

That would never happen in the ABs……

Not a little smack, no...

@machpants said in All Blacks vs Pumas II:

@majorrage said in All Blacks vs Pumas II:

Still plenty to talk about on that game, so not going to lock it over one of the silliest spat's I've seen on TSF.

Ball, not the Man, team.

Is there an award for that?

Get in line, amateurs.

We were discussing this leaving the stadium and joked that NZR would issue an apology during the week.

@canes4life Yep, and despite Riccitelli leaving.

@kiwipie said in Hawkes v Bay of Plenty - Shield Match!:

@cpt-kumera said in Hawkes v Bay of Plenty - Shield Match!:

Interesting chase and mitch got subbed early in the 2nd. The last 4.5 years they been our best players

Some of Tiatia's kicking was poor in that first half. And Trask wasn't a calm head at 10. We looked much better with Black at 10 and Trask at 15.

I was pretty happy you left Black on the bench as long as you did, imagine losing to an Of Plenty team with a Manawatu poach at ten. Talk about indignity.

Not perfect but all we ever want is performance with some heart and skill. Wins will come but so much better.

@no-quarter said in All Blacks vs Pumas I:

@cgrant said in All Blacks vs Pumas I (yay we’re not playing the Aussies again):

I know most of the Ferners prefer Mo'unga to BB but the latter launched his backline perfectly against the Argies last Sunday. It was smooth and direct. I can't remember Mo'unga doing the same with the black jersey. Of course, Mo'unga is a far better goalkicker but with Jordie taking the goalkicking duties, this could not be a problem anymore. Moreover, defensively, BB is superior to RM, IMO.

The jury on Mo'unga is still out for me, he struggles against a committed defense and tends to just shovel the ball on when they are getting up in his face. Loved what I saw from Beauden in this match, taking the line on despite the hard tackling from the Argies, created lots of space and time for those outside him. That said, Beauden hasn't exactly been very consistent, so he needs to string some performances together. I'm 50/50 on who starts and who is on the bench.

Very 50/50 indeed, in a healthy way though.

Gregor Paul just wrote a fanboi/fluffer piece after the first Pumas match about BB on the "RugbyXV" site but made a reasonable point that BB and Jordie look very comfortable together and had great understanding, no surprise. He kind of presented it as the Barrett brothers vs Mounga and McKenzie ... not sure I agree!

I'd rather they lock in a key moving part and make Jordie the #1 full-back, THEN decide 10. Richie Mounga at 10 and BB at 15 always seem to play like an unconscious "battle of the egos" for my eyes.

Regardless, BB had a really excellent game.

@machpants said in Wallabies vs Springboks I:

@frye said in Wallabies vs Springboks I:

alt text

Malherbe hardly in fine fettle either.

Can you imagine what he's gonna look like after retiring? 😲

Foster? 😜

must have been a cold day..

@nostrildamus said in Wallabies vs All Blacks 3 (Perth):

ooh baby
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/rugby-union/he-s-back-quade-cooper-to-wear-wallabies-no-10-jersey-against-springboks-20210909-p58qcx.html

Too traumatised to face ABs, so now Noah is a mental wreck from the same!

I have another apology for the AB coaches, I thought in an earlier Bledisloe the coaches had the bench replacement timing all wrong. Maybe, but it is clear that a bigger issue is, the AB bench just isn't of the same calibre.

@smuts said in Springboks v Pumas 2 - 21 August:

@bones it’s all relative… I’ll show myself out.

Subliminal...so the ref is related to one or many green jersey wearers? 😉

@sidbarret not the first team to look toothless in that position against this bok team. Won’t be the last either.

really wish I had unfollowed this thread

@bayimports said in Auckland v BOP:

boo, no one wanted covid as the reason..

Gutted

@kiwimurph said in Waikato vs Wellington:

Super teams should be eyeing up Ratima.

He's got a Kelleher thing going. If he's lucky that will lead to a pornstar wife at least.