Hurricanes Hunters beat Crusader Knights 19-12 to kick off the afternoon of footy.

I thought the Rebels played close to their maximum capability given the roster they have. The Brumbies were maybe a bit below par but that was mostly because their lineout went to shit when they lost the starting hooker early.

Rebels' Hosea is a very good, athletic lock from our U20s program who looks like he could be the goods 🤔 so it is only a matter of time before he goes to Europe. Let's hope he gets a few Wallabies Tests in before then. Young.

Damon Murphy is such a shit ref. Refused to even look at the last feet at ruck time, ignoring the Brumbies for the first 25 minutes as they repeatedly infringed. Lonergan stole about half a metre for that final kick, and that is also on Murphy being useless, regardless of the result. He also couldn't tell that the Brumbies didn't have a dominant scrum, giving them a penalty for wheeling, and letting the Ponies' 9 delay the feed too often.

I'm not sayign the Brumbies are a bad team and don't deserve to win; their midfield versus the Reds will be worth the price of adminission alone. But fuck they get a legup from the officials, and Caydern Neville is a useless niggly fuckwit.

@booboo said in SR Australia Round 3: Waratahs v Western Force:

@nta said in SR Australia Round 3: Waratahs v Western Force:

Having slept on it, I'm happy with the improvement. Again it was a step up from last week, tho against a weaker opponent. It is still going to be a long season, and a lot of these guys aren't going to feature in Wallaby gold this year.

Just hope NSWRU HQ get over their complete lack of self-awareness and leave Penney in place.

Read an article on Fox I think. It's all NZ's fault: Hore, Gibson, Penny ...

Checks out. 😉

I wouldn't blame Penney tho.

@old-samurai-jack said in Chiefs v Highlanders:

@frank Frizzel did OK but yeah, in contrast, Akira looked like he was made for test rugby. His impact was pretty impressive.

He just needs to repeat it for a few games in a row, frizell debut for the abs was good from memory

@duluth How is there an argument on this? The ref under that post is surely the only one who can see if has gome between the uprights! FFS I a Canes man but can't believe anyone seeing it on tv or somewhere in ground thinks they got better angle. There are getting to be some serious whingers in our our game!

@pakman watching the nations cup on the prime app on a few telly's, it was crap.

@kiwimurph said in SR Australia Round 2: Reds v Rebels:

That was a good game.

Personally although I supported Reds ,I thought game was a little disappointing. A bit pissed that refs are missing laws of the game while trying these new variations. Much as I dislike saying it no way should our(Reds) first try of been allowed under the laws that say you can only take a ball by hand and not swim back. I hope that not coming back into our game.

@act-crusader said in Game of three halves - Blues/Crusaders/Chiefs - 20/02, 12pm:

Agree. Nock has huge upside I reckon but will need time.

is looking like his time is now, was starting to look good last Super season, until he was dropped, presumably for a off-field incident (breach of team rules form what I heard) but was superb for Northland.

Am thinking Christie will get first chances though, but we know how attritional things are, so he will get his shot.

@nta Swinton will definitely help. Harris at 6 was anonymous.

I wonder what's going to happen with captaincy with Gordon presumably out - Sinclair seemed to take over the captaincy but he was off the bench - does Sinclair start at 8?

I turned this off with 20mins to go. Felt like the game had gone for three hours already.

@stargazer said in Highlanders vs Hurricanes pre-season:

@machpants With Hickey gone, the Canes basically only have one ten, JGB, who is pretty average. Leger is a midfielder, Jordie and Love are fullbacks. Just shit recruiting.

But surely your not surprised....

@Kiwiwomble said in Crusaders vs Highlanders pre-season:

this seems to be working currently, don't know if it will stay up

Awesome Cheers for that @Kiwiwomble

Photosport gallery:

https://photosportnz.photoshelter.com/gallery/210213-Game-of-3-Halves-Preseason/G0000WAmARXB0J4I/C0000azGTB7px3Ds

@chimoaus of they could give the AR a laser pointer and he shines it in the eyes of the offending player to let him know 🙂

I think generally once players know they wont get away with it, they will adjust thier own behaviour.

@Tim said in Argentina Two: Newcastle, 28 November:

https://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/rugby/all-blacks/300176709/tri-nations-how-many-all-blacks-make-team-of-the-tournament

Chaparro was monstered by Tupou. LH has to be Moody, or failing him, Slipper.

Think I'd take Alemanno OR Phillip, matched with Whitelock.

And hard to go past Matera as fetcher.

@Chris-B said in Argentina One: Parramatta, 14 November:

@nzzp Also being fair, today's probably about the second time I've mentioned Romano in two years.

I probably commented on his performance vs Tasman at the time. 🙂

Edit: I don't mind being the President, Founding Member and Principal Spokesman of the Will Jordan fan club!

Shit!

I've had a hangover today.

Can't remember much about last night, but I've just logged on and club membership is through the roof!

And, while I've been nursing myself back to health there has been a coup.

I've been removed as President and some unimaginative bastard calling himself "Ian F." has declared himself El Presidente.

Strange character - prattling some line that, "Thanks to Will, I'm an Era not an Error after all".

@Dice said in Premiership Final - Auckland v Tasman (Free entry):

Congrats Tasman and @Chris-B . Probably would've won by more if Christie's service wasn't so slow.

He probably had his worst game for the season in the final.

Belated congratulations to the hawkes Bay, despite there being nothing to like about your union since Ian MacRae,(another poach from the West Coast!😜) retired. Fittingly the same nickname as the most beloved AFL team.

Nah, Fair dues played really good rugby and have a log to look at. Deserved victors, and a great season, you strange fucks 😉

@Cpt-Kumera Good commitment!

@taniwharugby said in Championship Semi: Otago v Northland:

@Steven-Harris yeah most of our props are the weak links in our pack, in that thier fitness leaves alot to be desired which affects thier decision making and execution (penalties, defensive lapses, hands)

A problem endemic to NZ rugby at the moment.

@Crazy-Horse said in Premiership Semi-Final: Auckland v Waikato:

@Kirwan said in Premiership Semi-Final: Auckland v Waikato:

@Crazy-Horse said in Premiership Semi-Final: Auckland v Waikato:

@Kirwan said in Premiership Semi-Final: Auckland v Waikato:

@African-Monkey said in Premiership Semi-Final: Auckland v Waikato:

I'm 50 mins into this game and geez does TJ have money on Waikato to win? Every decision that goes Auckland's way he sulks like a baby and has done nothing but rip into them when they make an error.

It’s painful, hopefully they give Nisbo the final.

I suspect the reason why some don’t hear it is they kind of agree with TJs anti-Auckland stance. Difference is they aren’t paid to basically promote a sport.

Look at that Oz league commentator that makes a basic try seem like it was orgasmic. It’s almost like he likes the sport or something.

I can't speak for others, but I am not anti Auckland, or anyone else for that matter. I just don't care enough for that shit.

I have asked before, but someone give examples on how he is so mean to Auckland/Blues so I can see what I am missing. I recall TJ being critical and sounding frustrated at the Blues a few seasons ago when they were playing dumb rugby, but at the same time just about everyone on here were expressing the same frustrations.

Lately I have been hearing TJ shooting his load over some of the young Auckland players - Rayasi and Sullivan spring to mind.

Auckland does something good, muted enthusiasm. Opponent does the same thing, creams his pants.

Auckland makes a mistake, goes on a multi minute rant. Opponent does the same thing, doesn’t get mentioned.

Example from this game, Auckland player gets shoulder charged off the ball, with the whiplash effect it looked like it nearly knocked him out.

He goes on and on about it was a harsh penalty.

His job is to commentate, not cheerlead his favourites. Every other province gets a local colour commentator, and they generally keep him in check when he starts talking shit.

If we can’t replace this dickhead, then at least pair him with an ex Auckland player that can call him out when he displays his bias, and crucially can sound enthusiastic for the Auckland team in the biggest rugby market in the country.

Yeah I recall him going on about the shoulder charge but saw it as him not agreeing with the penalty, not an anti Auckland thing. But I acknowledge that could come across as anti Auckland if you had a horse in the race.

Reminds me of people saying Justin Marshall favours the Crusaders in his commentary, but from my perspective as a Crusader supporter it seems the opposite. It's like he deliberately goes against the Crusaders to appear neutral. We all see and interpret things differently.

And you would have a point if it was just me going on about his bias, but even non-Auckland fans notice it.

@Nepia said in Championship Semi: Hawke's Bay v Taranaki:

@Winger said in Championship Semi: Hawke's Bay v Taranaki:

@KiwiMurph said in Championship Semi: Hawke's Bay v Taranaki:

Fakatava better be on the AB radar next year.

Shame he can't move to the Canes for 12 months. He would very likely start week after week

Almost like the Canes should have locked him up on Billy Proctor style contract ....

Maybe the HB players are more open to offers from other team. I would be if I lived in HB (and was good enough for a super rugby contract). As opposed to Wellington

@NTA no! This is the last time I try to explain reading a refs mind on a discussion forum! 😭

@Rapido Great impartial comments , 9 times out of 10 , I support the Magpies , but when the Taniwha played them for the shield .
Fakatava threw at least 3 forward passes off channel 1 runners
I was alongside 2 guys from the Hawkes Bay media and even they were shaking their heads , if you miss one forward pass, that’s one thing , but 3 of them in practically the position on the field , 🤦‍♂️..did not effect the result at the end of day , but certainly was not what the quality off officialdom you be getting at this level.

@NTA said in Bledisloe Four: Brisbane, 7 November:

@Nepia said in Bledisloe Four: Brisbane, 7 November:

I don't think those fans exist (Australians maybe?)

Only as good as your last 2 Tests, boys. 😎

We've got the Foster * that we can lay on the table through this dark, dark time.

I had two moments of pure happiness this year - yelling at my tv until we lost the shield and yelling at my tv until we stayed up

I think Waikato has been training with Wellington on how to derail your season wow what a slide...

@Winger his shoulder I think he was grabbing it if we had made the semis we might have won the whole thing with some actual leadership.

@Daffy-Jaffy said in Otago v Tasman:

@Kiwiwomble Grapevine (S. Harris) says that Gatland is off to the Chiefs.

Yeah, heard that too, we also have koroi who is capable which is all we need as third choice

@mikedogz having Read there for most of the season will have been great for the team too.

Dunno if this has been posted, but 1st time I seen it

@mikey07 I feel your pain, we've got the players but they just seem like they don't give two shites. They are a rabble and their attitude stinks. I mean half the team were just sitting back and watching on Sunday. Disgraceful.

Am away this weekend so miss the BOP v Harbour match. What a huge one that will be! Back in time for the final v Waikato though. That is assuming that Tasman and Auckland maintain their current approach through semis. I can dream....

@ACT-Crusader said in France Vs Ireland, Six Nations 2020:

Really enjoyed this match. Fickou on the wing didn’t go too bad. Looks like he’s put on a bit of muscle.

French halfback Dupont was superb.

French attack was well organised with lots of ball runners and support players in motion.

And Edwards has given them steel

@Chiefy07 I am not sure we would have won with Hawkins. We would have won with a first five eight that kicks well and leads the team around the park. Hawkins kicks have no length, he takes ages to wind up and kick and has been charged down this year because of it. I prefer Wiseguy to him because he carries at the line better. However that said Wiseguy and Johnny also need to work on their kicking games. I think thy both have more upside.

..and Counties fans will be a bit happier now

Taranaki starting to take control