@chimoaus said in All Black backs' passing:

Perhaps the AB's need to go back and visit the Storm again. Their passing into space sure is impressive.

For most players on a league field there is only two things they need to be good at -- passing and tackling. Only the odd one has to kick, and the outsides catch a high ball, but a guy can be really good at league without any major skill except tackling and passing. Oh, and be fit.

The rest of the game comes from playing -- if you have the hand-eye co-ordination to pass, then you have it to catch. Nice if you can see space, but brute physical force will do instead.

So a league team better be good at passing.

Edit: not saying no league players don't have other skills, sometimes extraordinary ones. Just that passing and tackling are the key ones.

@act-crusader said in Springboks v Wallabies - Bloemfontein:

Nothing separating these two (mediocre) teams....

Wobblies have conceeded one point less. Still keeping their edge.

@salacious-crumb said in Wallabies v Boks - Perthfontein:

@Salacious-Crumb said in Wallabies v Boks - Perthfontein:

AMAZING STATS:

Both the Springboks and the Wallabies have played 101 102 Rugby Championship matches.

Of those, each side has won 42 matches, lost 57 and drawn 2 3.

Even more bizarre is that, in all of that time, the Wallabies have conceded 2,472 2,495 Rugby Championship points to South Africa's 2,473 2,496.

Updated.

AMAZING STATS:

Both the Springboks and the Wallabies have played 101 102 103 Rugby Championship matches.

Of those, each side has won 42 matches, lost 57 and drawn 2 3 4.

Even more bizarre is that, in all of that time, the Wallabies have conceded 2,472 2,495 2522 Rugby Championship points to South Africa's 2,473 2,496 2523.

Fixed again.

God, its hard to guess what is wrong with this team. The fact that we will probably not even make the play offs, let alone get promoted, means its a worse season than last year.

At the start of the year the coach publicly stated that "there was no excuses...the team had been settled for a year or two and they had the personal to get promoted." So what happened ?

Most people agreed that there were several issues from last year :- 1) Problems in the backline. 2) Inconsistent performances. 3) Failure to close out close games. 4) Better kicking.

Its probably fair to say that all those issues have been improved on but not eradicated. Statisticly we have improved in most areas but I'm wondering what can be read into statistics.....Manawatu for instance are dead last across both divisions for the number of carries, metres run and defenders beaten and are second to last in tackle success rate but are above us on the table.

What irks me most this year is how we have been unable to capitalize on advantage. Take the Auckland game where we had a 68% advantage in possession and a 72% advantage in territory yet got soundly beaten. The second thing is mistakes. Much of the Auckland trys came from simple mistakes by the Bay. And lastly is the failure of certain players to perform. Much has been talked about with regard Tiatia who was dangerous a couple of years ago but has been almost invisible this year. A handful of players have shone but many haven't...

Sadly a season that started with high expectations will stutter to an end soon. I wonder what excuses will be made by the admin and what changes will come next year.

@taniwharugby said in v Counties-Manukau:

@crucial been a constant theme this season and most noticeable in our last 4 games, and not just him though.

With the improvements the coaches have made, this appears to be one area they are getting so wrong

Not only in the short term (as in games) but if you are developing leadership surely you want them to learn how to close out games. How do you learn how to lead through the tough stuff from the sidelines?

Apparently we wont have it in 2018 as they are looking to change the date to Feb / March. Players were discussing this on friday or saturday from memory.

Got a good photo with Brooke on Saturday. Showed it to the wife but she doesnt appear to think its that good

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@higgins Eeeeww, don't say that! I'm so glad he has re-signed with the Landers for 2018, but already fear he won't be back with the Shield Snorters next season. He has "that" age for going overseas. 😞

@nepia said in Something to cheer us up:

@number-10 Damn, now I've gone and ruined our cheer ourselves up thread. Idiot.

Speaking of 1994 we took the French apart that year too - that was a good one to be at as well!

Indeed - after missing out on tickets, they put up some temporary seating in front of Harris stand, so got to go after all. Great game, and thanks for the penalty try Colin Hawke (s Bay)

@booboo Fenwick once tried to pick a fight with Frank Oliver. How dumb was that?

@steven-harris I understand Emerson has been in the All Blacks Sevens Development squad last season and I've seen him play several invitational sevens tournaments earlier this year via tournament livestreams. He is seriously good at it, but for some reason the coaches preferred the big boys and we've all seen that they weren't quick enough this year (and not great in some other aspects either). I hope the new coach will give him an opportunity.

Can't find a thread to post this so will do so here.

Tuned into Sky Sport One about 1o minutes ago and the Womens NPC game between Auckland and North Harbour was on. I'm pleased to be able to report that rugby has once again become the game that caters for all body shapes, long may that continue. I did not last long viewing as I had other things to do but the little I saw would not result in a feeling that a major increase in viewers in future was imminent.
Come to think of it some of Ken Laban's background statistics and information might be interesting to hear should he be the commontator! I suppose things that we are supplied with for guys rugby like weight of scrum, weight of front five and weight of front row would be taboo.

Good to get that result. Was doing the haka in the lounge at 8am at that ridiculous 14 point try for Otago after the call on K Pryor, but I guess we got away with a shocking call in the lead up to the match winning penalty when Matich dropped it near the ref so can't complain too much. Still a shame to let them get a bonus point.

Have to say although we're looking dangerous in the backs this year the forwards are really setting a platform. Rinakama, Moulds and Wright are consistently playing well. Think Moulds is finally standing out now - guess the increased game time for the Blues has benefitted him. Josh Goodhue played the best game I've ever seen him play for Northland - his ball carries were a step up on what he's done previously.

I think Douglas going into lock was a bit of a blessing for us - we had a mobile loose trio that really put Otago under a lot of pressure. Think that's our strongest loose trio although you could swap in K Pryor for either of D Pryor and Ram too. Think having Matich back tightens up the defence a lot.

Agree with @Gunner that Sam Nock is going well. Thought bar the one kick out on the full he was excellent again - he's winning the head to head battles most games. Jack Goodhue again stood out - he's looking like an AB playing Mitre 10 Cup. Clawed an intercept back but think he's still in the red. He is a very smart player and has some nice touches but has also been a big physical presence in midfield - makes him and Ranger such a handful. Thought Hyland was good again apart from getting exploited by a few kicks - that's definitely going to need looking at. His ball carrying and defence have been excellent. Alaimalo and Macilai again very good - you can see why they're statistically two of the more dangerous in the comp. Hopefully Alaimalo can get the 15 jersey for the Chiefs and see if he can kick on at that level. It will be interesting to see where Tamati Tua fits in for the rest of the season - can't see a place in the starting line up just yet.

Interesting to see how different players are standing out this year. When we weren't playing so well guys like Dan and Kara Pryor really stood out, however this year with the whole team really performing some of the other guys have started to step up like Ross Wright, Josh Goodhue, Nock and Hyland yet the Pryor brothers haven't been as prominent. Not saying they're playing poorly just not standing out quite as much as previously.

With Sam Nocks form you wonder if he will be a shot at the NZ Maori squad. Same with Ross Wright - he's been going well so far this season and the NZ Maori are short of propping depth.

@rapido you are right it does appear to show the guy with the bottle. I would have no issues with the actions of Stokes at the beginning but things do become cloudy the longer the video goes on. This is why police absolutely hate assault complaints coming out of drunken brawls. They are always fucking messy to investigate and often the victim's actions have led to his beating. Usually the person complaining to police is the one who lost the 'fight'.

Ooops, I forgot Aumua. He's been huge on a few occasions.
Alaimalo could win an Israel Folau lookalike contest. Not the finished product yet but very impressive (his try vs Otago was a beauty).

After Manawatu: Moulds, Macilai 4 each, Jack G, Josh G and Ram all get 1.

Tamati Tua 7
Ross Wright 6
Jack Goodhue 6
Rene Ranger 5
Jaycob Matiu 5
Jone Macilai 5
Kara Pryor 4
Solomon Alaimalo 4
Matt Moulds 4
Matt Matich 2
Jack Ram 3
Jordan Hyland 1
Dan Pryor 1
Sam Nock 1

@siam said in New Cricket Laws Coming Thursday:

@chris-b said in New Cricket Laws Coming Thursday:

@hooroo said in New Cricket Laws Coming Thursday:

@paekakboyz said in New Cricket Laws Coming Thursday:

Really like those - but wonder if any ump will have the stones to send someone off. Do we know of any recent instances that would have led to a send off?

That deliberate front foot no ball (in the Windies 20/20 comp?) would be a good example of no more bowling in that innings.

Good to see the bat sizes reigned in also - that was starting to get a bit out of hand.

Can you help me out with this? I don't understand why they would intentially bowl a front foot no ball??

Can't recall who Curtly Ambrose (I think) was bowling to, but the batsman charged him and got a warning - "If you don't stay behind your line, I won't stay behind mine!"

Paddy batch in that world cup, so the story goes

The man who put Malcolm Marshall over Extra Cover for 6... Doubt he would have had any fear at all!

@taniwharugby said in Steamers v Counties Manukau:

So 300mm is 11 inches short of the line.

Not sure what you mean by this but have amended my post to be clearer.

This is what the Laws say

When padding is attached to the goal posts the distance from the goal line to the external edge of the padding must not exceed 300mm.

So with the post on the line the depth of the pad can be 300mm max. That would mean that the square type of pad would be 300+300+gap for post wide along the try line. Probably close to say 800mm of target for grounding at the base

We're pretty fucking far from being a minnow in test cricket. We've got some world class players and a fair bit of talent to back them up. We slap the minnows, including Sri Lanka and the West Indies on a regular basis, and we've never even lost to Bangladesh (huh Aussie). In fact the only thing that really stops us improving is a complete and utter lack of test cricket. 4 tests in 18 months is ludacris!

It's even more of a shame now that we have one of the worlds premiere batsmen in our ranks, and he won't be able to show how good he is because he won't be playing.

What a joke.