@antipodean said in Springboks v Wallabies:

I've played with Larkham and it's amazing how much time he seems to have on the field. He reinforces my opinion of tremendously talented players don't make great coaches. I think that's because they assume a level of skill, calmness and awareness that other players don't have.

I recall that way he used to drift through while the defence were waiting for him to pass, and I was yelling for someone to nail the forkah!

Found the same thing with skiing and tennis. The best players do things instinctively, and struggle to enunciate what they do.

@tim Otago's Donald Brighouse, Hisa Sasagi and Melani Matavao as well as Shield Snorters's Stacey Ili and JJ Taulagi have also been selected for Samoa.

http://www.manusamoa.com/news-sru/87-uncatergorised/156-manu-samoa-squad-for-the-northern-hemisphere-tour-2018

I think with (my Cambridge blue eyes) Moulds, Olsen, and Ross Wright we almost have 3 best hookers in Blues territory. Nowadays Wright might struggle with throws given he doesn’t play there but still they all are very good. Yes I include Parsons in my consideration.

But couldnt even begin to suggest that about any other position.

@gt12 said in Stats Indicate Some AB Problems:

@no-quarter

Yeah, they don't tell the full story - of course - but it's not good reading.

Just for fun, before the test, what money would you get if you bet that Etzebeth (1) would have the same number of offloads as the entire AB team?

Pretty even. The big fella has a set of massive cannons that he loves to free up when he's not busy doing Bruno impressions.

Can't see the video bc its in NZ restricted zone, but there didn't seem to be much of the rant broadcast.

Would love to get a hold of that feed as I reckon with the whole grabbing Foley's jersey as a preview, it would have been fairly spesh.

@steven-harris haha are a few guys who still stood up, but TBF there were just huge lapses by almost everyone, we would spend good periods attacking, drop the ball, they score, pass it to them, they score, and if they didnt score, they'd almost score, then we might turn it over, then we'd turn it back over and they'd score.

One of the most disappointing and bizaare games I can recall (that includes the nightmare 2nd spell v HB the other week)

Expect we will be rolling out a 2nd string team next week (not willingly) for a match that means little bar getting a bit of confidence back before we face Waikato again.

But 71, wow... 🤯

Judging by the jokes surfacing in other threads, grandpa ChrisB may have provided the fern with a rival to 'When's the team named?'

@crucial move back to West Island already.

I haven't been around the schools system for a while now but certainly the rules were always being bent when I was coaching. Even if a state school won the battle over a private school offering fee assistance the next battle was from other State schools looking to bolster their sports programmes.

Local development coaches would openly tell good players that they should consider moving schools and that they could put them in touch with people that would assist. The biggest factor was 'we won't look at you for development if you aren't playing first grade, so go to a first grade school'. I knew of nobody with good rugby pedigree that was ever turned down as an out of zone enrolment no matter how over subscribed a school was.

I didn't necessarily have an issue with any of that as it was also mixed up with educational opportunities for often under privileged that you couldn't blame anyone for grabbing. Where my problem lay was that players with good potential that didn't/ couldn't move had no avenue to push their claims as their appearance at identification camps was a token gesture and the rep level was being run by the same folk with a vested interest in the boys already chosen at the 'better' schools.

I have witnessed identification days where players we had nominated would do the drills at a much higher skill level, with much more instinct and enthusiasm etc while others that couldn't even pass the ball properly off both hands would get selected primarily due to their school.

Again, I don't blame the schools in this but the Union who should be making sure that school politics doesn't interfere with identifying and supporting the best players in their region.

@duluth said in NPC 1st Div - Remaining Matches:

@dogmeat said in NPC 1st Div - Remaining Matches:

I think the top 4 are sorted

Probably.

Wellington should be favourites for their last two matches. However they aren't easy games. There's an outside chance they stop dead and Harbour benefits

The Auck win over Wellington was a killer. Now Welly find NH breathing down their neck.
CM have to scrapes many points as they can against a NH team with a new incentive

My pick is the top 4 will be:
Waikato
Otago
HB
Northland

Otago, BOP & Southland all have 3 games left.

Which will see us travel to Waikato, making this weekends fixture important for confidence, especially with Waikato having a shield challenge in the final weekend too.

@taniwharugby not too sure on the injuries,but being a week only in both cases,must be only minor..

@taniwharugby said in V CM:

pretty sure that all but seals the deal for us making top 4.

THat 2nd half capitulation v HB on Wednesday is gonna sting in the wash up me thinks.

Waikato 28 - Northland (A) Otago (H)
HB 23 - Man (H) Ta$man (A)
Northland 21 - Waikato (H) BOP (A)
Otago 20 - BOP (H) Waikato (A)

BOP 10 - Otago (A) Southland (A) Northland (H)

I see the final table being: Waikato 33, HB 29, Otago 27, Northland 25

Good win for the Taniwha today against a Premiership team.

Otago also have a home game v Ta$man still to play between the BOP and Waikato matches.

But you're right, the top four seem to have sorted themselves out.

Canes4life said:

<p>Suggestions have been made recently for Super Rugby to expand into the U.K/Pacific Islands.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I have come up with a tongue and cheek Super Rugby model for the future which you may like or highly dislike. Personally I don't want to see it expand but I believe this is the only way for it to work if it does.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Basically you have two conferences (North and South below). Each team within their respective conference plays one another in a throwback to the original Super 12.</p>
<p>The Top 4 from each each conference will then crossover and play Super Rugby Quarters finals, Semi Finals and then the Final (played at the venue of the strongest overall team).</p>
<p> </p>
<p>I've added four U.K teams, one American team and one pacific island team which adds to 24 overall teams.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>A positive to having two conferences would be the travel factor, meaning teams will not have to travel as far as they would in the current system.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>North Conference:</p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">1. Wales</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">2. Ireland</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">3. England</span></p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">4. Scotland</span></p>
<p>5. Sharks</p>
<p>6. Stormers</p>
<p>7. Bulls</p>
<p>8. Lions</p>
<p>9. Cheetahs</p>
<p>10. Kings</p>
<p>11. Jaguars</p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">12. America 2</span></p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
<p>South Conference:</p>
<p><span style="color:#ff0000;">1. Pacific Island</span></p>
<p>2. Blues</p>
<p>3. Chiefs</p>
<p>4. Hurricanes</p>
<p>5. Crusaders</p>
<p>6. Highlanders</p>
<p>7. Brumbies</p>
<p>8. Waratahs</p>
<p>9. Reds</p>
<p>10. Western Force</p>
<p>11. Rebels</p>
<p>12. Sunwolves</p>

The French and Italians might not like being left out. Maybe instead of having the four home nations work out some combined European teams which is probably never likely to happen due to club commitments etc. Also would this comp be played at same time of year or during the corresponding autumn - winter seasons for each hemisphere?

Particularly the goalkicker that hit the upright from directly in front.

@chris-b

The NDP is about keeping toxic personalities away from the squad.
Yet they’ve made an effort to keep him with the squad (as an additional player) two years in a row when he has missed selection.

The AB coaches have said they want to fix technical deficiencies (thanks Blues coaches!) That seems legit rather than inventing other reasons

@steven-harris agree with all that bar the call to take the penalty kick at goal...at that point in the game, I felt that was the smartest decision, and with the way the rest of that half played out, you could say it was the only smart decision made in the 2nd half.

Lack of smarts and having no feel whatsoever for the ref is a big problem.

Just because you are at the breakdown with all rights, if the ref calls hands off, you do actually need to listen.

This game was there for the taking, and the winner took a huge step towards a home semi final, alas it wasnt us.

The way the table is looking, we may still be sitting in the same place come the end of the weekend, so still have a realistic chance of making the top 4, but the way that 2nd spell and large parts of the first went, we will bow out in the 1st semi, again.

Stargazer said:

@nepia If MMT keeps on playing like this and gets sufficient opportunities with the Landers and plays well in SR, he may just take Akira's spot in the ABs. 😀

Well he is the odd man out of the Highlanders loose forwards, every one of them except him is an AB. A few goods outings on the bench for him next year and hey presto he'll be an AB.

The evolution of Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek:

alt text

Looking forward to this season. Hopefully my Winnipeg Jets can keep pushing onwards and upwards with their young superstar roster.

Toronto Maple Leafs are looking strong in their forwards with the recent signing of John Tavares but their defence is still suspect. Meanwhile the Ottawa Senators are doing the worst job of rebuilding in modern professional sports history. Another team doing a rebuild, the Montreal Canadiens, are my pick to be a surprise playoff team this season.

Nepia said:

@number-10 Pffft, we don't need facts.

Also, is that Harbour we're playing not Counties? I need to apologise to @Crucial and find out who's an out Harbour supporter so I can direct my abuse towards them.

Apologies accepted.