Sports Talk

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  • NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs 2017

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    Go Nashville!!!

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    @Rocky-Rockbottom said

    speaking of 2019, I see the Official Japan 2019 Rugby World Cup website's already up:

    Home

    thanks! very amusing site

  • Super Rugby Teams - Round Fourteen

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    i notice the study doent take in the islands.seem to remember Samoa had the most players born out of there country at at least one world cup

  • If Coles is out....

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    @taniwharugby said in If Coles is out....:

    I think what the Crusaders game showed is that he still has some ways to go....I like his play, has a lot of potential but think that game just showed this year is likely to be too early.

    Coles fit - he is in
    Taylor, incumbent back-up
    Harris - been around the squad and we know you don't lose your spot through injury
    Elliott - could step up but has never been in favour
    Coltman - been about squad
    Parsons - has a cap...

    So likely even too early as project type player, unless we cap him just to stop Italy getting him 😉

    Or other Tier Two nation he might qualify for like South Afric

  • George Bennett wins Tour of California

  • Dave MacKenzie Boston marathon winner

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  • BIL v Barbarians, Whangarei 3rd June 2017

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    Not long now!

  • Super Rugby Teams - Round Thirteen

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  • "Feed the Backs" video show

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    Yep been watching those, been an interesting show.

  • Other Super games

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    @Frye well I mostly only go to EP for AB games and tickets on halfway for that weren't anywhere near $400, plus last time I went for a Blues game at EP I didn't pay for my tickets....but I don't expect they were $400 as we had an Under 8 rugby team along with us too.

  • Super Rugby Fixtures - Round Twelve

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  • All Blacks vs Samoa confirmed

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    @nzzp said in All Blacks vs Samoa confirmed:

    @gollum said in All Blacks vs Samoa confirmed:

    @Crucial

    When you throw in the Welsh it'll either be the best atmosphere of any day at Eden park since the 92 World Cup cricket opener. Or it'll be a horror show where you leave at halftime.

    Probably the former... Probably

    I dunno, that famous League double header where they wound up burning seats was pretty out there. NOt a good day to have kids around, but hey.

    That's League though. Far less civilised.

  • The "other" round 11 Super Rugby games

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    @African-Monkey said in The "other" round 11 Super Rugby games:

    Quite an entertaining game I thought. Willie Britz and Uwe Helu have impressed all season for the Sunwolves.

    Most enjoyable contest of the weekend

  • Rugby Scholarships

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    Re Fifita. There is a Ferner that knows his story intimately and from the bits I have picked up this is also more complicated than simply being a 'poach for rugby reasons'.
    A lot of people have altruistically put time, money and support into the kid for primarily reasons of wellbeing. The rugby is a side effect of that and a pathway to achieve the outcome they were seeking.
    I would guess this is a similar story with many of these guys and it is a rough assumption that they are being given opportunities in life for rugby reasons. The rugby may be a means to an end or a lucky side effect.
    The schools do go looking for talent, that can't be denied, but in many cases it falls into their laps as well.

    The initial list probably also needs cutting down to those players only eligible for NZ because of residency gained during/after schooling.

  • Eric Murray goooone

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    @Mokey said in Eric Murray goooone:

    Veitch's open letter to Eric Murray in the Herald was one of the cringiest things ever.

    He didn't accidentally push his mrs down a flight of stairs did he?

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    Australia U20s to compete in World Championships

    Cody Walker, NSW Gen Blue U20s
    Harry Johnson-Holmes, NSW Gen Blue U20s
    Shambeckler Vui, Western Force
    Gavin Luka, Queensland U20s
    Jordan Uelese, Melbourne Rebels
    Efi Maafu, Queensland U20s, Wests
    Sama Malolo, Western Force U20s
    Ryan McCauley, NSW Gen Blue U20s
    Harry Hockings, Queensland U20s,
    Angus Blyth, Queensland U20s
    Angus Scott-Young, Queensland U20s
    Liam Wright, Queensland U20s
    Reece Hewat, Queensland U20s
    Lachlan Anderson, Australian Sevens
    Rob Valetini, Brumbies,
    Lachlan Swinton, NSW Gen Blue U20s
    Harry Nucifora, Queensland U20s
    Harrison Goddard, Melbourne Rebels U20s
    Hamish Stewart , Queensland Reds
    Liam McNamara, Australian Sevens
    Sione Tuipulotu, Melbourne Rebels U20s
    Nick Jooste, Brumbies U20s
    Izaia Perese, Queensland Reds
    Jack Maddocks, Melbourne Rebels
    Semisi Tupou, Melbourne Rebels U20s
    Dylan Riley, Queensland U20s
    Henry Hutchison, Australian Sevens
    Simon Kennewell, Australian Sevens

    Beth Newman  /  May 6, 2017 Reds speedster and sevens stars in Aussie U20s Reds speedster and sevens stars in Aussie U20s
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    @Megweya said in BIL Lions - Warburton: not the Test captain?:

    Gatland hinted at this about 6-8 weeks ago, talking about a "tour captain".

    In most recent tours the captain has been as a player unquestionably one of the first names on the teamsheet: Martin Johnson, BOD, Paul O'Connell.
    On 2 tours the captaincy has changed due to injury (2005, 2013) so it is possible that the captain will have to change regardless of the elevated-focus on the role.

    I think that Warburton is not one of 5 almost-guaranteed first-XV players (Furlong, Billy Vinipola, Murray, Sexton, Farrell).
    Is he a much better captain than Rory Best or Alun-Wyn Jones? No.
    Is he more of a game-changing player in the back-row than Sean O'Brien or CJ Stander? No.

    I think the captain's role is one area that Gatland has (rightly) hedged his bets. Warburton was Lions captain in Australia in 2013, more than that he already has "series-winning Lions captain" on his CV.
    So if SOB or CJ are blasting through their opponents ahead of the tests, I would not be surprised if Gatland and Howley tap Sam on the shoulder the week before the first Test and say "We'd like a quiet word ..." ©2013-SA-tour.
    BOD on how he found out he was dropped in 2013
    “I got the tap on the shoulder on Wednesday morning when I was at the coffee machine. Gats and Rob Howley wanted to have a quiet word.
    I realised a 'quiet word' in the meeting room was not a good sign. They were not about to ask me to be captain. That would have been said to me there and then.”

    It would go like this - Gatland/Howley: "Sam, it is a shame about your form (or that CJ/SOB on tour are streets ahead of you). We don't want to leave you out, but the other guys are better than you.
    It is not as if you won't ever have been a Lions Test captain - you've literally got the series-winner captain t-shirt.
    So be the nice guy that you are and for the team take it on your considerable chin that you will not be captain in the First Test."

    And Sam will say "Oh, OK Warren, Rob. I accept that you know best. Will I be on the bench?"
    "Yes, ... against the Chiefs, the Māoris and the Canes"

    As an Irish fan, I can say that it would not be the most controversial Lions Test non-selection that Gatland has ever made.

    The only difference to the 2013 line that they would have given to BOD is that this time they won't have to say "We can't pick you because we (Welsh coaches) think two Welsh players are better than you".

    They might even have to say to Sam "We can't pick you because we think two Irish players are better than you". (Or 2 Welsh, or 2 English - but not the 1 Scot (=Hogg; Seymour born in USA), nor the 3 Kiwis).

    If the tour-captain had been someone who had never played in a Lions test (Best, Hartley) or only ever had a Test as a replacement captain (Wyn-Jones), it might have been more destructive/disruptive to have not given that tour-captain the role of the test-captain.

    No love for Scots legends Finlay Calder and Gav Hastings in your opening paragraph? This is a shamefully anti Scottish post.

  • Where do you go to

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    @Stargazer said in Where do you go to:

    "Illegal streams" will probably be the answer. If

    If you find one - especially on Youtube, don't post it on here, over the last year I've had 3 I used to watch shut down by Sky literally the day after someone decided to post a full game on here.

    Pretty sure someone from Sky would at least lurk on the Fern - if only to get stories, so if its linked on here its dead.

    Its like saying to the Japanese "wow how majestic! look a very rare whale!"

  • RIP Doug Rollerson

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    @infidel said in RIP Doug Rollerson:

    A bit more history here.

    Gone are the days when the All Blacks backed up for their provinces after playing in a Test match the previous day. But on 13 September 1981, that is exactly what a group of them did in this memorable Wellington - Manawatu match at Athletic Park, won 28-10 by Wellington.

    This was not just the day after any regular Test match, but one of the most noted of all time - the third and deciding Test against the Springboks in their controversial 1981 series. Less than 24 hours earlier, the All Blacks, featuring several Wellington and Manawatu players, had just beaten of a flour bomb attack from the air and defeated the Springboks 25-22 on the park to clinch their volatile series.

    No fewer than nine players - Allan Hewson, Stu Wilson, Bernie Fraser and Murray Mexted for Wellington and Lachie Cameron, Doug Rollerson, Mark Donaldson, Geoff Old and Gary Knight for Manawatu - had played against the Springboks. Manawatu tighthead prop Gary Knight had both scored a try and been nailed on the head in a direct hit by a flour bomb dropped from a low circling Cessna plane, while Wellington wing Wilson had also scored a try and fullback Hewson had kicked the match and series winning penalty.

    A the BIL fans are talking about a tough schedule? Take a concrete pill the lot of ya!

    (Mind you, I think Gary Knight was actually made of concrete so a pill wasn't needed in his case.)

    As for Rollerson, I seem to remember him having a decent boot on him. Especially so in the days of the wet leather ball.